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diff --git a/42393-0.txt b/42393-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6b2619 --- /dev/null +++ b/42393-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17156 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42393 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 42393-h.htm or 42393-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42393/42393-h/42393-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42393/42393-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + https://archive.org/details/sarchedonlegendo00whytrich + + + + + +SARCHEDON + +A Legend of the Great Queen + +by + +G. J. Whyte-Melville + +Author of "Roy's Wife," "Black but Comely," "Market Harborough," +etc. + +Illustrated by S. E. Waller + + + + + + + +London +Ward, Lock & Co., Limited +New York and Melbourne + + * * * * * + + TO + THE RIGHT HONOURABLE + AUSTIN LAYARD, D.C.L., + HER MAJESTY'S MINISTER AT MADRID, + THE + FOLLOWING ROMANCE IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, + AS A TRIBUTE OF + ADMIRATION TO THE GREAT DISCOVERER, + WHOSE SKILL, COURAGE AND RESEARCH HAVE + EXCAVATED FROM THE DESERT SANDS + THE ARTS, ARMS, AND RECORDS OF A MIGHTY NATION; + WHOSE LEARNING AND PERSEVERANCE + HAVE RESTORED AN IMPORTANT LINK IN THE + WORLD'S HISTORY, + LONG SEVERED IN THE OBLIVION OF THE PAST. + + ONSLOW GARDENS, + _June, 1871_. + + * * * * * + + + + +[Illustration: "THE STARTLED HORSEMAN DREW REIN."] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +The Seven Stars. + + "They watch him who wakes--They watch him who sleeps--him who + speaks--him who is silent--the guilty, the blameless: there is none + on earth who is not watched."--_Bhuddhagosa Proverbs._ + + I. The King of Beasts 9 + + II. Merodach 16 + + III. Semiramis 24 + + IV. The Temple of his God 33 + + V. The Stars in their Courses 40 + + VI. A Dreamer of Dreams 47 + + VII. The King of Nations 55 + + VIII. The Lust of the Eye 63 + + IX. The Pride of Life 71 + + X. A Banquet of Wine 79 + + XI. Like to Like 87 + + XII. The Gods of the Heathen 94 + + XIII. Mother and Son 102 + + XIV. Strong as Death 110 + + XV. The Queen's Petition 118 + + XVI. Cruel as the Grave 125 + + XVII. The Divining Cup 133 + + XVIII. A Lying Spirit 141 + + XIX. The Feast of Baal 148 + + XX. Gone to the Stars 154 + + +Ashtaroth, Queen of Heaven. + + "From love comes grief, from love comes fear; he who is free from + love knows neither grief nor fear."--_Bhuddhagosa Proverbs._ + + XXI. Who is my Brother 162 + + XXII. The House of Bondage 170 + + XXIII. Pharaoh on the Throne 177 + + XXIV. The Captive in the Dungeon 187 + + XXV. The Wisdom of the Egyptians 193 + + XXVI. Deliverance 199 + + XXVII. In the Desert 206 + + XXVIII. A Ride for Life 216 + + XXIX. The City of Refuge 221 + + XXX. Loth 229 + + XXXI. Willing 235 + + XXXII. Bread and Salt 243 + + XXXIII. Parted 250 + + XXXIV. Forlorn 257 + + XXXV. The Lion's Cub 263 + + XXXVI. The Power of the Dog 270 + + XXXVII. The Wings of a Dove 276 + + XXXVIII. Bond and Free 284 + + XXXIX. In the Gate 292 + + XL. Unveiled 298 + + +Nisroch the Avenger. + + "Your sin follows steadily behind, as the cart-wheel follows the + draught-bullock."--_Bhuddhagosa Proverbs._ + + XLI. A Serpent on a Rock 304 + + XLII. Before the Altar 311 + + XLIII. The Snare of the Fowler 317 + + XLIV. The Veiled Queen 325 + + XLV. Aryas the Beautiful 332 + + XLVI. A Wind from the South 339 + + XLVII. The Fenced City 345 + + XLVIII. Sons of the Sword 355 + + XLIX. Faithful unto Death 361 + + L. A Fool in his Folly 365 + + LI. Bow and Spear 372 + + LII. Lost and Won 379 + + LIII. Sharing the Spoil 385 + + LIV. Counting the Cost 392 + + LV. The Voice of the Charmer 398 + + LVI. Requited 405 + + LVII. Betrayed 411 + + LVIII. Who is on my Side 417 + + LIX. Forgiven 424 + + LX. Lost in the Dark 430 + + + + +SARCHEDON + + + + +The Seven Stars + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE KING OF BEASTS + + +Dying in the desert--stretched, limp and helpless, in the darkening +waste--poured out like water on the tawny sand--two specks poised high +above him in the deeper orange of the upper sky--a wide-winged vulture +hovering and wheeling between the stricken lion and the setting sun. + +Dying in the desert--grim, dignified, unyielding, like a monarch slain +in battle. So formidable in the morning--the herdsman's terror, the +archer's dread, the savage wrestler in whose grasp horse and rider went +down crushed, mangled, over-matched, like sucking fawn and unweaned +child--fierce, tameless, unconquered--a noble adversary for the noblest +champions of the plain--but ere the last red streak of evening faded on +the dusky level of their wilderness, a thing for the foul night-bird to +tear and buffet--for the wild ass, wincing and snorting, half in terror, +half in scorn, to spurn and trample with her hoof. + +Pitiful in its hopelessness, the wistful pleading of eyes gradually +waning to the apathy of death; pitiful the long flickering tongue, +licking with something of a dog's homely patience that fatal gash of +which the pain grew every moment more endurable, only because it was a +death-wound; and pitiful too the utter prostration of those massive +limbs, with knotted muscles and corded sinews--of that long, lean, +tapering body--the very emblem of agile strength--which, striving in +agony to rear but half its height, sank down again in dust, writhing, +powerless, like an earthworm beneath the spade. + +No yell, no moan--only a short quick breathing, a convulsive shiver, and +the occasional effort to rise, that time by time soaked and stained his +lair with darker jets of blood. + +So those specks on the upper sky widened into two huge soaring vultures, +while the wing of a third brushed lightly against the fallen lion's +mane, as the foul bird ventured nearer its coming banquet, croaking +hideous invitations to others and yet others, that emerged, as if by +magic, from the solemn cloudless heaven. + +Far back into the desert, varied here and there by clammy clotted spots, +lay a single track of footprints, closer together, less sharp, round, +and clearly-defined, as they dragged towards the end. Many a weary +furlong had he travelled, the king of beasts, on his journey here to +die; and yet he never was to reach the patch of arid reeds that instinct +bade him seek for a last shelter--the scanty covert where-with nature +prompted him to shield his death agony from the remorseless bird of +prey. + +It is a royal sport to-day. It was a royal sport, no doubt, thousands of +years ago, to rouse the kingly lion from his haunt of reeds, or rock, or +cool dank quivering morass, in those wide plains that stretch between +the Tigris and the Euphrates, the Mesopotamia of the ancients, the +Naharaina of its present migratory tribes. A royal sport, when followed +by a queen and all her glittering train, defiling from the lofty porches +of Babylon the Great, the tramp of horse and ring of bridle, with steady +footfall of Assyrian warriors--curled, bearded, erect, and +formidable--with ponderous tread of stately elephants, gorgeous in +trappings of scarlet, pearls, and gold, with stealthy gait of meek-eyed +camels, plodding patient under their burdens in the rear. Scouring into +the waste before that jewelled troop, herds of wild asses bruised and +broke the shoots of wormwood beneath their flying hoofs, till the hot +air was laden with an aromatic smell; the ostrich spread her scant and +tufted wings to scud before the wind, tall, swift, ungainly, in a cloud +of yellow dust; the fleet gazelle, with beating heart, and head tucked +back, sprang forward like an arrow from the bow, never to pause nor +stint in her terror-stricken flight, till man and horse, game and +hunter, pursuer and pursued, were left hopelessly behind, far down +beyond the unbroken level of the horizon. Was not her speed of foot the +strength and safety and glory of her being? Nor could the desert falcon +strike her save unawares, nor the cruel Eastern greyhound overtake her +save when she had lately drunk her fill from the spring. + +But the monarch of the desert, the grim and lordly lion, sought no +refuge in flight, accepted no compromise of retreat. Driven from his +covert, he might move slowly and sullenly away; but it was to turn in +savage wrath on the eager horseman who approached too near, on the +daring archer who ventured to bend his bow within point-blank distance +of so formidable an enemy. Nevertheless, even the fiercest of their kind +must yield before man, the conqueror of beasts; before woman, the +conqueror of man: and on the shaft which drank his life-blood, and +transfixed the lion from side to side, was graven the royal tiara of a +monarch's mate, were cut those wedge-shaped letters that indicated the +name of Semiramis the Great Queen. + +Fainter and fainter drooped the mighty frame of the dying beast; one by +one large red drops plashed heavily on the sand beneath him, as the +first bright stars of a Chaldean sky blazed from the clear depths of +heaven. The perishable was fast fading below. Was that indeed eternal +which shone so pure and pitiless above? + +Great Babylon lay spread out, massive, mysterious, and indistinct, in +the shades of coming night. Here and there, huge piles of building +loomed vast and shadowy against the sky, far below these, amidst the +tents, houses, palaces, and gardens within the town, glittered and +flashed a world of lamps and torches, scattered bright and countless as +the stars in that other world above; while rearing its head, like some +ghostly giant, high over shaft and column, fortress, palace, and +obelisk, rose a lofty tower that seemed to demand of heaven its secrets, +and bade defiance to the sky. + +Here, on the summit of this tower stood a human figure, gazing fixedly +on the planets already visible, scanning the heavens with rapt +attention; calm, serious, abstracted, wrestling, as it were, with all +its mental forces, for the triumph of intellect, the mastery of thought. + +It was Assarac, priest of Baal, reading the stars, as a student reads a +book writ in some symbolical language of which he holds the key. + +Assarac the priest, the man for whom in that voluptuous climate, amidst +that gorgeous people, delighted in splendour, in pleasure, in luxury, in +warfare, glory, arts, arms, and magnificence, the world could furnish +but one attraction--the insatiable craving of ambition--to lull which he +must rule supreme; therefore he trained himself, night and day, with the +weapons of victory, seeking diligently that knowledge which constitutes +power. + +The act of worship is amongst all creation indigenous and peculiar to +man. As he alone stands erect and raises his front without effort +towards heaven, so he bends the knee in reasoning adoration, neither +cowering down with his head in the dust, nor grovelling on his belly, +like other creatures, in abject fear; but wanton, unstable, and +extravagant even in his noblest aspirations, this viceroy of earth has +been ever prone to waver in his allegiance, eager to amplify his worship +of the one true God into a thousand false religions, more or less +beautiful, poetical, and absurd. Amongst these, none could be less +unworthy than that earliest form of superstition which attributed to the +celestial bodies certain properties of power and knowledge, such as +could affect the present no less than they predicted the future. Man's +intellect felt elevated and purified by scientific communion with the +book of Fate as written on the luminous pages of the sky, while his soul +seemed scarce debased by an adoration that lifted it at least to the +visible and material heaven. On the wide-stretching plains of Western +Asia, in the warm cloudless Assyrian night, with the lamps of heaven +flashing out their radiance in uninterrupted splendour from the centre +to the boundless horizon, it was no wonder that students and sages +should have accepted for deities those distant worlds of fire on which +eyes, brain, hopes, thoughts, and aspirations were nightly fixed--the +guides of their science, the exponents of their history, the arbiters of +their fate. + +While the rude camel-driver, as he plodded by night through the +trackless desert, relied, no less than the early mariner, for progress +and safety on the stars, priests in their temples, kings in their +palaces, consulted the same changeless, passionless, inscrutable +witnesses, for the web of policy, the conduct of warfare, the +furtherance of love, desire, ambition, or revenge. Ere long, by an +inevitable process in the human mind, the instructor of their course +came to be looked on as the originator of events; and that which began +only with an assumption that it could foretell, was soon credited with +the power to bias, to prevent, or to destroy. + +Then arose an idolatry which seemed irresistible to the noblest and +boldest nations of the ancient world, which, notwithstanding their own +sublime creed, possessed a strong fascination for the Chosen People +themselves. Yav, Nebo, Bel, and Ashtaroth[1] came to be worshipped as +living deities, reigning and revealing themselves through the planets +that bore these names. The Seven Stars[2] were believed to time the +inevitable march of the universe to their seven tones of mysterious +music, unheard by mortal ears only because it never ceased nor faltered +in its eternal diapason. The twelve months of the year were sacred, each +to its especial luminary. Thirty stars were worshipped as the Consulting +Gods. Twelve to the north, twelve to the south, were believed +respectively to compel the destinies of living men and dead, the whole +twenty-four bearing the title of Judges of the World. And finally, lest +superstition should overlook one single object of its adoration, or +idolatry fail in the smallest detail to sin against its Creator, +priests, temples, sacrifices, and votive offerings were assigned to +those countless worlds that gem a Southern night, under the collective +title of the Host of Heaven. + +[Footnote 1: Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, and Venus.] + +[Footnote 2: Rather the seven spheres, or the five planets with the sun +and moon.] + +Assarac looked abroad, above, around, below--with the confident glance +of a monarch who reviews his powers, with the critical attention of a +calculator who sums up his total, with the visionary gaze of a prophet +who forecasts his destiny, yet not entirely without something of that +astute and wary expression which on the magician's face seems to scan +and dominate, while it half mistrusts, the implements of his art. + +He was yet a young man, to count by years, and his dark almond-shaped +eyes had lost none of the fire and softness which are only combined +before middle life; but above his black eyebrows there were lines traced +deep in the tawny forehead, and at his temples a few white hairs already +mingled with the black bushy ringlets that, confined by a fillet of +gold, were drawn back in clustering profusion to his neck and shoulders. +His arms, but for the heavy gold bracelets that clasped their wrists, +were bare, as were his strong muscular legs from knee to ankle; he wore +sandals, fastened by straps; of embroidered leather crossing and +recrossing so as to form no slight protection for foot and instep. His +long gown of white linen, open to the breast and looped so as to give +the legs freedom of action at the knee, was bordered with cunning +needlework wrought in tissue of gold and scarlet silk, its arrow-headed +characters displaying many a dark sentence and time-honoured record. A +tasselled cord fastened it at the waist, and a deep fringe also of +scarlet tissue, hung below its edges, while an ample cloak, white and +embroidered like the gown, fell from one shoulder and trailed behind the +priest as he stood erect and motionless, looking out into the night. + +On his solid earrings, on his golden bracelets, on the fillet that bound +his forehead, on the very clasps that secured his sandals, was graven +the mystic circle that, with or without its winged figure, constituted a +memorial and a symbol of fate, omnipotence, and eternity. If he +worshipped the stars, he could yet conceive of a power so supreme as to +control and dominate their influence: nor could his religion in its +aspirations for this ineffable essence find a better emblem of its ideal +than that geometrical figure which has neither beginning nor end. + +He bore in his hand a lotus-flower lately gathered, and was careful, +with something of superstitious reverence, to preserve its freshness; +though once, when it caught his eye by chance, a smile of mingled scorn +and curiosity wreathed his full red lips; but he looked aloft again the +next instant with a keener and more rapt attention in his gaze. If he +speculated on the symbolical interpretation of the plant, it was not +_there_ he sought the power and lore that should enable him to control +his kind. + +Though he carried two knives in his girdle, though his limbs were +massive and muscular, his chest deep and his head erect, the man's +habits seemed those of peace and study, not of action and warfare. His +face, for all its indications of intellectual virility, was somewhat too +rounded in outline, too full and flaccid, rather perhaps unmanly than +effeminate, and bearing an expression of sustained effort, as of one who +continually strives to hide and overcome a consciousness of unmerited +degradation. There was no sign of beard about the well-cut lips, nor on +the firmly-moulded chin; and for Assarac the priest it was too obvious +that the domestic affections must ever remain a sealed book--his hearth +must be the sacred fire of his worship, and the starry canopy of heaven +his home. + +"And what have you given me?" said he, rising his hand towards the +glittering world above, with a gesture that denoted quite as much of +defiance as devotion. "What have you given me, O my gods, in exchange +for the glow of youth, the dignity of manhood, the rapture and the folly +and the sweet sorrow that are common, like cool breezes and running +streams, to all but such as me? No wife, no child! None of the treasures +others guard so jealously; but, in compensation, none of the fears that +bid the brave man cower and the strong man quake. What have you given +me, O my gods? The thirst for power, the desire to rule, the knowledge +that causes brave and strong to bend and quiver like reeds in the +Euphrates before the breeze that hurries down its stream. You have given +me wisdom to forecast men's lives and destinies; it is strange if he who +has a knowledge of the future cannot control and warp the present to his +will. I have torn open your scrolls by force of hand; I have compelled +you to reveal your secrets by sheer strength of intellect--ye are my +gods indeed, and I your priest and servant; yet is there something +working here in this forehead, in this breast, that seems to dominate +you as the goad rules the elephant, as the bridle turns and guides the +foaming war-horse on the plain! Your strength, your knowledge, and your +fire are mine--mine until these reasoning powers are dulled--these +senses enervated by luxury and indulgence. Prophesy--prophesy! Trace for +me in your shafts of light the story of that which is to come: show me +the future of Assarac the priest--his growing knowledge, his indomitable +struggles, his successful encounters, the culminating glory of his +career. Show me the destiny of that fairest, bravest, fiercest of +women--the diamond of the East! whose white arm conquers nations, whose +flashing eyes set towns and palaces and kingdoms all ablaze--beautiful, +proud, and pitiless--Semiramis the Great Queen; of her lord, the king of +nations, the grim old champion who scoffs, forsooth, at your power, O my +gods! and trusts only in the strength of his right arm and in his sword. +Shall ye not avenge yourselves for his scorn and unbelief? Shall not +Assarac your priest rise on the war-worn monarch's ruin to a splendour +before which the glory of Ninus and all his line shall pale, even as ye +pale yourselves, eternal host, before the Lord of Light who comes with +day?" + +Even while he spoke, the dying lion, far off in the desert, turned on +his side with one quick gasping moan, one convulsive shudder of his +mighty limbs, ere they grew rigid and motionless for ever, breaking +short off in his death-pang the shaft on which was graven a royal tiara +and the symbol of the Great Queen. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MERODACH + + +The boldest war-horse was never too courageous to wince and tremble at +the smell of blood. + +A solitary rider speeding across the surface of the desert, smooth, +swift, and noiseless, like a bird on the wing, found himself nearly +unseated by the violence with which the good horse under him plunged +aside in terror, swerving from a low dark object lying in his path. +While the startled horseman drew rein to examine it more closely, he +scared two sated vultures from their work, the gorged birds hopping +lazily and unconcernedly to a few paces' distance. Already the gray +streaks of morning were tinged with crimson, as they flushed and widened +on the long level of the horizon; and the lion, dead at nightfall, was +picked nearly to the bone. + +Ere dawn had fairly broke, and long before the gold on bit and +bridle-piece caught the first flash of sunrise, the traveller had sped +many a furlong on his way, and the vultures had laboured back to +continue their loathsome meal. He had been riding the live-long night, +yet his good horse seemed neither blown nor wearied; snorting, indeed, +in the very wantonness of strength, as he settled down again to his long +untiring gallop, and cleared his nostrils from the abomination that had +so disturbed him in his career. + +"Soh, Merodach!" said his master, "my gentle bold-hearted steed! I never +knew you shrink from living foe, be it man or brute; but you would not +trample on a dead enemy, would you, my king of horses? Steady then! At +this rate we shall see the tower of Belus springing out of the plain, +and the black tents by the Well of Palms, before the sun is another +spear's length above the sky-line of this half-cooled sand. Steady, my +gallant horse! Ah! you are indeed fit to carry him who takes the message +of a king!" + +Merodach, or Mars, no less sensible of his lord's caresses than he was +worthy of the praises lavished on him, arched his crest, shook his head +till his ornaments rang again, and increased his speed, for a reply. + +He was in truth a rare and unequalled specimen of his kind, the true +pure-bred horse of the Asiatic plains. Strong and bold as had been the +very lion he was leaving rapidly behind him, beautiful in his rounded +symmetry of shape, and so swift that Sarchedon, his rider, was wont to +boast only one steed in all the armies of the King of Assyria was able, +with a man's weight on his back, to outstrip the wild ass in her native +plains, and that steed was Merodach. Horse and rider seemed a pair well +matched, as they flung their dancing shadows behind them on the sand. +The arms of one and accoutrements of the other shone ablaze with gold in +the splendour of the morning sun. Both seemed full of pride, courage, +mettle, and endurance, counterparts in strength and beauty, forming +when combined the fairest and noblest ideal of the warlike element in +creation. So they galloped on, choosing their course as if by instinct, +through the trackless waste. + +Long before noon a lofty tower seemed to grow, cubit by cubit, out of +the horizon. Presently the walls and palaces of a city were seen +stretching far on either side along the plain, like a line of white surf +on a distant shore. Then strips of verdure, intersecting each other with +more frequency, as a network of irrigation filtered the waters of the +Euphrates through many a trickling stream, to fertilise the desert in +the neighbourhood of Great Babylon. Yet a few more furlongs of those +smooth untiring strides; a startled ostrich scudding away on long +awkward legs before the wind; a troop of wild asses standing at gaze for +a moment, to disappear with snort and whinny, and heels glancing upward +through volumes of dust; a fleet gazelle scouring off in one direction, +a desert-falcon darting through the sunlight in another; and Sarchedon +could already descry that knot of feathery trees, that sprinkling of +black tents, that low marble structure of dazzling white, which, under +the name of the Well of Palms, afforded a landmark for every thirsty +wayfarer journeying to the Great City. + +But, except the sea, there is no such fallacious medium through which to +estimate distance as the sun-dried atmosphere and unbroken expanse of +the desert. Ere they reached those scattered tents and halted at the +Well of Palms, neither man nor horse were unwilling to enjoy a moment's +respite from their exertions; while the former, at least, was suffering +from a protracted thirst, which under those scorching skies made a +draught from the desert spring such a cordial, such an elixir, as could +not be pressed from the choicest grapes that ever blushed and ripened +under the Assyrian sun. + +Springing off Merodach's back, his master drew the embossed bit +carefully from his favourite's mouth, pressing his head down with a +caress towards the water, while he administered, like a true horseman, +to the needs of his servant before he slaked his own parched lips, or so +much as dipped his hand in the cold, clear, tempting element. But +Merodach, though he pointed his ears and neighed joyfully, scarcely +wetted his muzzle in the marble basin; thereby affording a proof, had +any been wanting, of his celebrated pedigree and stainless purity of +breed. His young lord was not so abstemious. He looked about, indeed, +for a drinking-vessel; but would have done very well without it, had not +a shadow come between him and the sun as he was in the act of stooping +to immerse face, lips, and nostrils in the sparkling water. With the +ready instinct of one whose trade is war, he sprang erect, but bowed his +head again in manly courtesy when he saw a girlish figure bending over +him to dip her pitcher in the fountain. + +"Drink, my lord," said a very sweet and gentle voice from the folds of a +thin white veil. "When your thirst is quenched, your servant will take +her payment in news from the army of the Great King." + +He was young, bold, gallant, born under a Southern sun; but had +Ashtaroth, Queen of Heaven, come down in person to accost him, with a +pitcher of water in her hand, he must have drunk before he could utter a +syllable in reply. + +The girl watched him, while he emptied the vessel, with such tender +interest as women take in the physical needs of one to whom they render +aid, and refilled it forthwith, showing, perhaps not unconsciously, a +lithe and graceful figure as she bent over the fountain. + +"Thanks, maiden," said he. "You have put new life into a fainting man; +for I have galloped over many a weary league of sand, and scarce drawn +bridle since yesterday at noon." + +"The poor horse!" answered the girl, laying a slender hand on Merodach's +swelling neck. "But my lord comes doubtless from the camp, and has +joyful tidings to bring, or he had never ridden so far and fast. What of +the Great King? and O! what of Arbaces? Is he safe? Is he unhurt? Is he +well?" + +There was a tremble in her voice that denoted intense anxiety, and the +pitcher in her hand shook till it overflowed. + +Sarchedon marked her agitation with a sense of displeasure, +unaccountable as it was unjust. + +"The Great King," he answered, raising his right hand quickly to mouth +and eyes while he named him--"the Great King has triumphed, as he must +ever triumph when he mounts his war-chariot. The captain of the host is +well in health, unwounded, though foremost in battle;--trusted by his +lord, feared by the enemy, and honoured of all." + +She clasped her pretty hands together in delight, while the pitcher, +escaping from her grasp, poured its contents into the thirsty soil and +rolled under Merodach's hoofs, eliciting from the horse a prolonged +snort of astonishment and disgust. + +"You are indeed a messenger of the gods!" said she--"welcome as the +breeze at sundown; welcome as the rains of spring; welcome to the Great +Queen and her people yonder in the city; but to none so welcome as you +have been to me!" + +"Indeed!" he answered in a cold, measured voice. "Have I then brought +tidings of one so very dear to you?" + +"None can ever be so dear," she exclaimed with a light laugh, musical +and pleasant as the whisper of the rippling fountain--"none will ever +love me so well--none shall I ever love half so dearly in return! +Arbaces is my father, and every day since he mounted his chariot at the +head of the Great King's captains have I watched here with my maidens, +to catch the first gleam of his armour when he returns, to learn good +tidings of him by the first messenger who rides hither from the camp. +Not one has yet arrived but yourself, my lord. I say again, may all the +host of heaven befriend you, for to me you are welcome as the dawn!" + +It was unaccountable that his heart should have bounded so lightly at +her speech, that his tone should have been so much softer while he +replied: + +"I am bearing tidings from a king to his queen,--from the conqueror of +nations to his people in the greatest city of the earth. I have to +relate how we slew and spared not, crushing and trampling down the enemy +as an ox treads out the ripened corn; breaking their chariots of iron; +taking their fenced cities by assault; capturing and bringing away men, +women, and children by thousands and tens of thousands. All that I have +to tell is of honour, glory, and victory. Yet I speak truth when I swear +to you, maiden, by the light of morning, that whatever recompense it may +please the Great Queen to bestow on the lowest of her servants, to have +met you here to-day at the Well of Palms, and to have gladdened you with +assurance of my lord your father's welfare, is to me the richest and +brightest reward of all." + +"You have noble triumphs to report," she answered hurriedly, and drawing +her veil closer, as if he could see the blood rushing to her cheek +behind its folds. "Great victories, but not without fierce warfare--many +a broken shield and shivered spear, and deadly arrow quivering in its +mark! And you, my lord--have you escaped scathless? Has this good horse +borne you always unhurt and triumphant in the press of chariots?--Yes, I +know it, in the hottest fore-front of the battle? O, it is dreadful to +think of!--the wounded, the dying, the fallen steed, the pitiless +conqueror--those we love, it may be, gasping out their lives on the +trampled plain, and then to watch on the walls of the city, or here by +the Well of Palms, for the horseman that never comes! Pardon me, my +lord: I speak too freely. Let me give you to drink once more from the +fountain; then will I gather my maidens about me, and depart in peace." + +He took her hand in his own, nor did she withdraw it. + +"You are not alone?" he asked. "The daughter of Arbaces does not travel +unattended so much as a bowshot from the city walls?" + +"My damsels are in those tents," she answered, "my camels are kneeling +in the shade. I have no need of guards nor horsemen. Over many a league +without the ramparts of Babylon her father's fame is a tower of defence +for the daughter of Arbaces." + +"The daughter of Arbaces!" he repeated. "Maiden, so long as I eat bread +and drink water I will remember her by that name." + +"And by her own," she added hurriedly. "The servant of my lord is called +Ishtar. It was my mother's name, and Arbaces loved her well." + +"Ishtar!" he murmured--and his rich low voice dwelt softly on the +syllables--"Ishtar, the fair pure queen of night! 'twas well chosen, in +good truth; for the moon shines ever gentle, mild, and gracious, like a +true goddess." + +"And changes, my lord, like a true woman!" laughed the girl; but +continued in a graver and more respectful tone: "The day wears on--he +who carries a king's tidings must be diligent on the way. I thank my +lord for his favourable notice of his servant, and I bid him farewell." + +Then she gathered her dress about her, recovered the pitcher, and walked +away towards her tents, modest, stately, and graceful--a goddess in +gesture, as in name. + +She turned once, nevertheless, when he was busied adjusting the bridle +in his horse's mouth, and drew her veil aside while he might have +counted ten. The large serious eyes, the perfect oval, the pale delicate +beauty of that young face haunted him, even to the towers and ramparts +of haughty Babylon, even amidst the shouting crowds who thronged her +brazen gates. + +There is a spirit that, whether for good or evil, when it takes +possession of the heart of man, must needs tear and rend, stanch and +soothe, torture and perplex, or elevate and encourage, each and all in +turn; but, be it a blessing or a curse, it fills the tenement, occupies +the whole temple, and when it vanishes, leaves but bare walls and a +riven altar to mark the sacred spot that it has scathed and blasted ere +it passed away. + +Merodach galloped on, swift, mettlesome, untiring, regardless of the +many leagues he had traversed, as he was unconscious of the double +burden that he bore. + +Nearing the city, Sarchedon could not but admire the stupendous walls +that frowned over him as he rode at a slower pace through scores of +tents and lodges of wood or sun-dried bricks scattered through the +richly cultivated garden-grounds without the rampart walls, that, rising +to forty cubits in height, were yet so wide as to admit of three +chariots being driven abreast along their summits, flanked with lofty +towers standing out in pairs, bluff and bold, like defiant warriors, and +utterly impregnable to assault. Between every two of these, large gates +of brass, worked in fantastic ornaments representing gods, men, and +animals, amongst which the bull was the most conspicuous, stood open +from sunrise to sunset, while through their portals passed and repassed +a busy crowd, swarming like bees in and out of the rich and magnificent +city, her own especial residence, which the Great Queen had created to +be a Wonder of the World. What mattered waste of life and treasure, +starving families, fainting peasants, the sinking slave and the +task-master's whip? Each countless brick in all those leagues of +building might be moistened with tears and cemented with blood, every +stone raised on the crushed and mangled corpses of its founders; masses +of marble, slabs of alabaster, roof, tower, and pinnacle, beam of cedar, +and parapet of gold, might tell their separate tales of famine, disease, +misery, and oppression--what matter? The Great Queen said, "Raise me +here a city by the river that shall be worthy of my name!" and +straightway up-sprang, on either bank of the mighty stream, such +structures of pride, splendour, and magnificence, as were not to be +surpassed by that very tower of man's defiance to his Maker, about which +their foundations were laid. + +Passing within the walls, a guard of Assyrian bowmen turned out to greet +with warlike honours the messenger from their monarch's camp; their +exertions were even required to clear a passage for him as he rode +through the crowded streets--men, women, and children thronging and +pressing in as he passed on, shouting a thousand cheers and +acclamations, striving with each other to touch his feet, his garments, +the horn of his bow, the carved sheath of his sword, the very trappings +and accoutrements of his horse. With all his desire for dispatch, it was +necessary to rein Merodach back to a foot's-pace; and many a dainty +flower fell whirling down on the young warrior, many a charm and amulet +was cast with unerring aim on his knees and saddle-cloth, while he paced +forward under stately palaces, solemn temples, or broad terraces glowing +like gardens with bright-robed Assyrian women, who flung their veils +aside to shower greetings and welcome on the brave. + +The watchman at the gate had long expected such a one. With the first +glint of his armour in the distant waste the news spread like wildfire, +and the whole population of the city was astir. + +So he rode slowly on, the observed of all; and still, turn which way he +would, above that sea of faces, amidst that mass of triumph, splendour, +and gorgeous colouring, floated like a star shining through a mist the +pale spectral beauty of the gentle girl whom he had left an hour ago at +the Well of Palms--even the shouts that rent his ear seemed to reëcho +from afar in an unearthly whisper, "Ishtar, Ishtar! pure, sacred, and +beautiful queen of night!" + +The streets were wider, the buildings more magnificent, the crowd, if +possible, denser, as he proceeded through the city. + +Presently, reaching a wide flight of low broad marble steps, flanked by +those colossal bulls with eagles' wings and human heads, that +represented the strength and solidity of the great Assyrian empire, he +halted to dismount; for a cloth of gold and scarlet had been rolled out +from top to bottom, and down these stairs were marching a body of +white-robed priests with slow and solemn gait, their centre figure +walking three paces before the rest, and advancing obviously to hold +conference with the messenger from the camp. + +Then the young warrior took a jewelled signet from his breast, and with +a low obeisance pressed it to heart, mouth, and forehead; while over the +eager multitude came unbroken silence, as Sarchedon tendered to Assarac, +high-priest of Baal, his token from the Great King. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SEMIRAMIS + + +The silence lasted but a short space. When his lord, ere he accompanied +that priestly escort into the palace, bestowed one parting caress on +Merodach, shouts longer and more deafening than ever went up into the +sunny sky. The good horse, led away by half a dozen negroes, now seemed +to attract universal attention; for Sarchedon had disappeared between +the gigantic bulls of stone that guarded each entrance to the royal +dwelling. His armour, here and there defaced with sword-stroke or +spear-thrust, his dusty, travel-stained garments, and, notwithstanding +bodily strength and warlike training, the weary gait of one who has seen +the sun set twice without quitting the saddle, were in marked contrast +to the glittering splendour and refined magnificence of all that +surrounded him. The marble steps, skirted by their entablatures of +gilding and sculpture coloured to the life; the broad level terrace, +glistening and polished like a steel breastplate inlaid with gold; the +regal front of the costly palace itself, with its colossal eagle-headed +figures, its winged monsters, couching or erect, its sacred emblems, its +strange deities, its mystic forms, tributes of adoration offered to a +host of gods, as the long succession of lifelike carvings on the walls, +brought out in high relief with boldness of design and brightness of +tint, were memorials of the triumphs won by a line of kings. + +Here were represented the pleasures of the chase, the vicissitudes of +war, the lion, the stag, the boar, the wild bull, beasts, landscapes, +rivers, chariots and horsemen, warriors, captives, towers, and towns. +Above rose a hundred stately pillars to support their painted chambers +roofed with cedar and other precious wood, inlaid in elaborate and +fantastic patterns, brilliant with vermilion or other gaudy colours, and +profusely ornamented with gold. Over these lofty rooms rose yet another +story, on ivory columns carved with the utmost skill that Indian +handicraft could produce and Bactrian triumphs furnish, under a roof of +which the very battlements and parapets were plated with silver and +gold. + +High above all towered the sacred structure of cedar, which formed that +mysterious retreat, remote from the gaze of man, where none might enter +but the monarch alone when ministering in his holy office, and combining +in his own person the sacred characters of priest and king. + +Assarac left his retinue at the gate of the palace, where stood two +pillars of sardonyx to render poison innocuous should it pass through, +and over which a gigantic carbuncle flashed its lurid rays, that seemed +to shed an angry gleam even in the darkness of night. He bade Sarchedon +follow, and the pair strode swiftly on through a cool and spacious +hall, propped by as many columns as there were days in the Assyrian +year, or furlongs in the circuit of the city walls, till, having thus +traversed the palace at its narrowest part, they emerged once more on a +paradise or garden, where the first object that met their eyes was a +wild stag roused from his lair, and scouring with all the freedom of his +native mountains to the shelter of a neighbouring thicket. + +"She seldom hunts within these gardens now," was the priest's comment on +this startling incident. "She cares for no tamer pastime than to ride +the lion down, and shoot him with bow and arrow when at bay. There are +none left here since my lord the king slew three with his javelin not a +bowshot from where we stand; so she must away to the desert, or the +mountains beyond the great river, for the sport she loves so well. +Follow me close; you might lose yourself in this pleasant labyrinth, and +it is death, my friend--by impalement too!--for any one caught +disturbing the game." + +He looked keenly in the other's face while he spoke, and seemed +gratified to observe that the young soldier received this announcement +with perfect unconcern. + +Notwithstanding the power of an Assyrian sun, its rays could not +penetrate to the darkling path by which they now threaded a tangled +thicket of verdure--the tender flickering of green leaves above their +heads, the sweet carol of song-birds in their ears, and a carpet of +velvet turf beneath their steps--while they followed the course of a +rippling stream, guiding them by its murmur, rather than its leap and +sparkle, back to the light of day. Emerging from this grateful shade, +they found a broad sheet of water spread at their feet, its surface +dotted with wild fowl, its banks fringed with flowers, reflecting in its +dazzling mirror a temple of silver and ivory raised in honour of Dagon, +the fish-god, and much affected by the Great Queen, who, leaving her own +especial palace, loved to retire here with her women and wile away the +hottest hours of the summer's day. + +One of these attendants seemed in expectation of the priest; for, +appearing suddenly in the portico of the temple, she made him a sign to +follow, and led the way, wrapping her veil so carelessly about her as +to afford ample opportunity for contemplation of her charms. At another +time Sarchedon might have observed with greater interest the jetty locks +and rich Southern colouring of this smiling dame; but besides his +new-born taste for beauty of a fairer, paler, and more gentle type, his +heart was beating, as it had never beat in the hurtle of chariots and +press of horsemen, at the thought that he was about to enter her +presence with whose name the whole world rang. + +Immediately within the entrance of this temple hung a curtain of crimson +silk embroidered in lotus-flowers of gold. Assarac raised the hangings, +and stepping quickly aside, gave place while he let them fall behind his +comrade. Sarchedon, prostrating his forehead till it touched the cool +shining floor, found himself alone with the Great Queen. + +The temple was circular, paved, panelled, vaulted, in ivory and silver, +the latter wrought and frosted with exceeding taste and skill, the +former carved into a thousand fantastic patterns, delicate and elaborate +as needlework. In the midst, a fountain threw its jets of silver to the +roof, falling back in silvery showers to an ivory basin, of which the +sparkling waters were thus continually moved with a refreshing drip and +murmur. White doves flitted about the building, or cooed their drowsy +love-song, perched peacefully on pinnacle and shaft. An odour of some +subtle perfume, like incense mingled with the scent of flowers, stole on +Sarchedon's senses; while he became aware of a figure reclining on the +couch of silver and ivory over against the entrance. He dared not raise +his eyes, and it was but the hem of her garment that he looked on, while +he heard the low musical tones of that enchantress who was destined to +subjugate the world. + +"Rise, trusty messenger," said Semiramis; "fear not to tell me your +tidings for good or evil, and speak with me face to face. He must needs +be welcome who carries a token from my lord the king." + +Sarchedon sprang to his feet at her bidding, and stood before the queen, +as fair a specimen of youth, manhood, and warlike grace as could have +been selected from the countless myriads that formed her husband's +hosts. He averted his eyes, nevertheless, and kept his head bent down +while, plucking from his breast the jewel that had already gained him +admission, he replied: + +"The light of the queen's countenance dazzles the eyes of her servant. +Let him take courage to look but once, and be blind for evermore!" + +While he spoke he laid the signet on a silken cushion under her feet. +She glanced at it carelessly enough, and bent her eyes on the young +warrior with a smile, half soft, half scornful. + +"Am I then so dangerous to look upon?" said she; "the face of a queen +should be gracious to a faithful servant. I say to _you_, Look and +live!" + +A thrill of intense triumph and pleasure shot through him with her +words. He took courage to scan the form and features of that celebrated +woman, whose intellect and beauty had already made her mistress of the +mightiest nation in the East. + +She was beautiful no doubt, in the nameless beauty that wins, no less +than in the lofty beauty that compels. Her form was matchless in +symmetry, so that her every gesture, in the saddle or on the throne, was +womanly, dignified, and graceful, while each dress she wore, from royal +robe and jewelled tiara to steel breastplate and golden headpiece, +seemed that in which she looked her best. With a man's strength of body, +she possessed more than a man's power of mind and force of will. A +shrewd observer would have detected in those bright eyes, despite their +thick lashes and loving glance, the genius that can command an army and +found an empire; in that delicate, exquisitely chiselled face, the lines +that tell of tameless pride and unbending resolution; in the full curves +of that rosy mouth, in the clean-cut jaw and prominence of the +beautifully-moulded chin, a cold recklessness that could harden on +occasion to pitiless cruelty--stern, impracticable, immovable as fate. + +But Sarchedon only saw a lovely woman of queenly bearing, glancing +approval on his glowing face. His Southern nature seemed to expand like +a flower in the sunshine of her smiles. + +His looks could not fail to express admiration, and she, who might have +been satiated with homage, seemed well pleased to accept as much as he +had to offer. + +Bending towards him with a gesture of condescension, that was almost a +caress, she bade him advance yet nearer to her couch. + +"And now," said she, "that you have looked on this terrible face of mine +without perdition, tell me your tidings from the camp. What of the war? +what of the host? what of my lord the king?" + +"The war is ended," he answered briefly; "the host is victorious. My +lord the king will return in triumph ere another day be past." + +She started, but controlled herself with an effort. + +"Enough," she answered haughtily and coldly; "you have done your +duty--you are dismissed!" + +Then she clapped her hands, and from behind the silken hangings appeared +the woman who had guided Sarchedon into the temple. + +"Kalmim," said the queen, still in the same constrained voice, "take +this messenger to Assarac without delay; bid the priest report to me, at +sunset, all the details he can learn from him regarding the host. But +stay"--her tone changed to one of winning sweetness, soft, sad, and +irresistible--"not till he has had food and rest. You have ridden day +and night through the desert; you have looked on your queen's face and +lived. Take courage, you may live to look on it again." + +With the last words she turned on him one of her rare intoxicating +smiles, and the strong soldier left her presence helpless, confused, +staggering like a man who wakes out of a dream. + +Within the gardens, or paradise, belonging to the royal palace stood a +vast pile of building, dedicated to the worship of Baal, and surrounding +the lofty tower of Belus, raised on the same site, and nearly to the +same altitude, as that by which human rebellion presumed to offend after +the Flood. Here, at the head of a thousand priests, dwelt Assarac in +solemn state and splendour, officiating daily in sacrifices offered to +the gods of Assyria, and their numerous satellites--Assarac, who +combined in his own person the leadership of religion and of politics; +for, during the absence of Ninus on his Egyptian expedition, it had been +the ambitious eunuch's aim to share, if he could not guide, the queen's +counsels, and, as far as he dared, to centre in his own person the +executive of government. + +Sarchedon found himself, therefore, again threading the shady paths by +which he had come, but on this occasion under the conduct of a guide +less swift of foot than the priest but, as became her sex, more nimble +of tongue. Kalmim made no scruple of unveiling, to afford her companion +the whole benefit of her charms. + +"A good beginning indeed," said this saucy dame, with a smile that did +justice to the reddest lips and wickedest eyes in Babylon; "you are in +favour, my young lord, I can tell you. To have seen her face to face is +no small boast; but that she should take thought of your food and rest, +and bid me charge myself with your guidance through this deserted +wilderness! why, I cannot remember her so gracious to any one +since--well--since the last of them--there, you needn't look so bold at +an unveiled woman--I ought never to have brought you here alone!" + +It was almost a challenge; but he was busy with his own thoughts, and +made no reply. Kalmim, unaccustomed to neglect, attributed his silence, +not unnaturally, to exhaustion and fatigue. + +"You are weary," said she kindly; "faint, doubtless, from lack of food, +and would not confess it to save your life? O, you men, how your pride +keeps you up! and why are you only ashamed of those things in which +there is no disgrace?" + +He compelled himself to answer, though his thoughts were far away. + +"I am not ashamed to be faint and athirst. I have ridden two nights and +a day, and drank water but once--at the Well of Palms." + +"The Well of Palms!" she repeated, her woman's wit marking his +abstraction, and assigning to it a woman's cause. "It is the sweetest +water in all the land of Shinar. It would taste none the worse when +drawn for you by the daughter of Arbaces." + +"Ishtar!" he exclaimed, while his whole face brightened. "You have seen +her--you know her! Is she not beautiful?" + +Kalmim laughed scornfully. + +"Beautiful!" she echoed, "with a poor thin face, white as ivory, and +solemn as Dagon's yonder, in the fishing-temple! Well, well! then she +_is_ beautiful, if you like; and we shall learn next that she is good as +well as fair!" + +"What do you mean?" he asked, stopping short to look his companion in +the face. + +Kalmim burst into another laugh. + +"I mean nothing, innocent youth!--for strangely innocent you are, though +the beard is budding on your chin. And a modest maiden means nothing, I +suppose, who frequents the well at which every traveller from the desert +must needs halt--who draws water for warriors to drink, and unveils for +a stranger she never saw before! Yes, I am unveiled too, I know; but it +is different here. The queen's palace has its privileges; and, believe +me, they are sometimes sadly abused!" + +"Not by one who has just left the light of her presence," answered +Sarchedon, angered to the core, though he scarce knew why. "I have never +been taught to offend against the majesty of a king's house--to believe +a fenced city taken because a bank is cast against it, nor a woman my +lawful prize because she lifts her veil." + +Next to making love, Kalmim enjoyed quarrelling. To tease, irritate, and +perplex a man, was sport only second to that of seeing him at her feet. +She clapped her hands mischievously, and exclaimed, + +"You are bewitched, my lord! Confess, now. She unveiled to turn her eyes +on you before you got to horse and went your way. Is it possible you do +not know who and what she is?" + +"Good or evil," he answered, "tell me the truth." + +"She bears her mother's name," replied Kalmim; "and, like her mother, +the blood that flows in her veins is mingled with the fire that glitters +in the stars of heaven--a fire affording neither light nor heat, serving +only to dazzle and bewilder the children of earth. Arbaces took a wife +from that race whom, far off in the northern mountains, the daughters of +men bare to the spirits of the stars, tempting them down from their +golden thrones with song and spell and all the wiles of grosser +earth-born beauty;--deceiving, debasing the Sons of Light, to be by them +deceived and deserted in turn, left to sorrow through long years of +hopeless solitude and remorse. Old people yet speak of some who had +themselves heard the voice of mourning on those mountains in the still +sad night--the shriek of woman wailing for the lost lover, in whose +bright face she might never look again! Ishtar, the wife of Arbaces, +possessed her share of the unearthly influence hereditary in her race. +Her husband became a slave. He loved the very print of her feet on the +sand. Travelling here from Nineveh, while this great city was building, +he halted in the desert, and Ishtar walked out from her tent into the +cool starlight night. They say he followed a few paces off. Suddenly she +stopped, and stretched her hands towards the sky, like one in distress +or pain. Rushing forward to take her in his arms, she vanished out of +his very grasp. At sunrise a camel-driver found Arbaces senseless on the +plain, and Ishtar was seen no more in tent or palace. But all the love +he bore the mother seemed henceforth transferred to the child. Doubtless +she has bewitched him too. Beware, my lord--beware! I have heard of men +leaving real springs in the desert for shining rivers and broad +glittering lakes, that faded always before them into the hot +interminable waste. I am but a woman; yet, had I your chance of fortune, +I would think twice before I bartered it away for a draught of water and +an empty dream!" + +He seemed very sad and thoughtful, but they had now reached the temple, +and he made no reply. A white-robed priest received the young warrior at +its portal with every mark of respect, and ushered him into the cool and +lofty building, where bath, raiment, food, and wine, he said, were +already prepared, casting a look of intelligence at Kalmim, who answered +with as meaning a glance, and one of her brightest smiles. Then dropping +her veil, since nobody was there to see her handsome face, she tripped +back a good deal faster than she had come to her duties about the person +of the Great Queen. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE TEMPLE OF HIS GOD + + +In the hierarchy of Baal, as in other religious orders, false and true, +it was deemed but right that the priests should want for nothing, while +the altar was well supplied with offerings. To one who had dismounted +from a two nights' ride, such luxuries as were scattered profusely about +the temple of the great Assyrian god formed a pleasing contrast to camp +lodging and camp fare. + +If Sarchedon, weary and travel-stained, was yet of so comely and fair a +countenance as to extort approval from the queen herself, Sarchedon, +bathed, refreshed, unarmed, clad in silken garments, and with a cup of +gold in his hand, was simply beautiful. Assarac the priest, sitting over +against him, could not but triumph in the sparkle of that bauble by +which he hoped to divert and dull the only intellect in the Eastern +world that he believed could rival his own. + +The servant of Ninus and the servant of Baal sat together on the roof of +a lower story of the temple; below them the pillars and porticoes of the +outer court, behind them vast piles of building, vague, gloomy, and +imposing in the shades of coming night. High over their heads rose the +tower of Belus, pointing to the sky, and many a fathom down beneath +their feet the stir and turmoil of the great city came up, terrace by +terrace, till it died to a faint drowsy murmur like the hum of bees in a +bed of flowers. The sun was sinking in uninterrupted splendour behind +the level sky-line of the desert, and already a cool breeze stole over +the plains from the hills beyond the marshes, to stir the priest's white +garments and lift the locks on Sarchedon's glossy head, while for each +it enhanced the flavour and fragrance of their rich Damascus wine, +bubbling and blushing in its vase of gold. Between them stood a table, +also of gold, studded with amethysts, while the liquor in their golden +cups was yet more precious than the metal and brighter than the gem. + +Something to this effect said Sarchedon, after a draught almost as +welcome and invigorating as that which he had drained in the morning at +the Well of Palms; while, with a sigh of extreme repose and content, he +turned his handsome face to the breeze. + +"It is so," answered Assarac; "and who more worthy to drink it than the +warrior whose bow and spear keep for us sheep-fold and vineyard--who +watches under arms by night, and bears his life in his hand by day, that +our oxen may tread the threshing-floor, and our peasants press out their +grapes in peace? I empty this cup to Ninus, the Great King, yonder in +the camp, in love, fear, and reverence, as I would pour out a +drink-offering from the summit of that tower to Ashtaroth, Queen of +Heaven." + +"And the Great King would dip his royal beard in it willingly enough, +were it set before him," answered the light-hearted warrior. "I saw him +myself come down from his chariot when we crossed the Nile, and drink +from the hollow of his buckler mouthful after mouthful of the sweet +vapid water; but he swore by the Seven Stars he would have given his +best horse had it been the roughest of country wine; and he bade us ever +spare the vineyards, though we were ordered to lay waste cornland and +millet-ground, to level fruit-trees, break down water-sluices, burn, +spoil, ravage, and destroy. Who is like the Great King--so fierce, so +terrible? Most terrible, I think, when he smiles and pulls his long +white beard; for then our captains know that his wrath is kindled, and +can only be appeased with blood. I had rather turn my naked breast to +all Pharaoh's bowmen than face the Great King's smile." + +Assarac was deep in thought, though his countenance wore but the +expression of a courteous host. + +"He is the king of warriors," said the priest carelessly--"drink, I pray +you, yet once more to his captains--and beloved, no doubt, as he is +feared among the host." + +"Nay, nay," answered the other laughing, for the good wine had somewhat +loosened his tongue, while it removed the traces of fatigue from his +frame. "_Feared_, if you will. Is he not descended from Nimrod and the +Thirteen Gods? Brave, indeed, as his mighty ancestors, but pitiless and +unsparing as Ashur himself." + +"Hush!" exclaimed the priest, looking round. "What mean you?" + +"I have not counted twenty sunsets," answered the other, "since I saw +the Great King's arrow fly through buckler and breastplate, aye, and a +brave Assyrian heart too, ere it stuck in the ground a spear's length +farther on. He has a strong arm, I can bear witness, and the man fell +dead under his very chariot; but it should not have been one of his own +royal guard that he thus slew in the mere wantonness of wrath. Sataspes, +the son of Sargon, had better have died in Egypt, where he fought so +bravely, than here, under an Assyrian sky, within a few days' march of +home." + +"Sataspes!" repeated the other; "and what said his father? It is not +Sargon's nature to be patient under injury or insult." + +"His dark face grew black as night," answered Sarchedon, "and the +javelin he held splintered in his grasp; but he bowed himself to the +ground, and said only, 'My lord draws a stiff bow, and the king's arrow +never yet missed its mark.'" + +"It was a heavy punishment," observed Assarac thoughtfully. + +"And for a light offence," answered the other. "Sataspes did but lift +her veil to look on the face of a virgin in a drove of captives who had +not yet defiled by the Great King's chariot. She cried out, half in +wrath, half in fear; and ere the veil fell back on her bosom, the +offender was a dead man." + +"Did the Great King look favourably on the virgin?" asked Assarac. "A +woman must needs be fair to warrant the taking of a brave man's life." + +"I scarce heeded her," answered Sarchedon. "She came of a captive race, +whom the Egyptians hold in bondage down yonder, imposing on them servile +offices and many hard tasks--a race that seem to mix neither with their +conquerors nor with strangers. They have peculiar laws and customs in +their houses and families, giving their daughters in marriage only to +their kindred, and arraying their whole people like an army, in hosts +and companies. I used to see them at work for their task-masters, +moving with as much order and precision as the archers and spearmen of +the Great King." + +"I have heard of them," said Assarac; "I have heard too that their +increasing numbers gave no small disquiet to the last Pharaoh, who was +wiser than his successor. Will they not rise at some future time, and +cast off the Egyptian yoke?" + +"Never!" answered the warrior scornfully. "It presses hard and heavy, +but this people will never strike a blow in self-defence: they are a +nation of slaves, of shepherds and herdsmen. Not a man have I seen +amongst them who could draw a bow, nor so much as sling a stone. Where +are they to find a leader? If such a one rose up, how are they to follow +him? They are utterly unwarlike and weak of heart; they have no arms, no +horses, and scarcely any gods." + +Assarac smiled with the good-humoured superiority of an adept +condescending to the crude intelligence of a neophyte. Did he not +believe that through the very exercise of his profession he had sounded +the depths of all faith, here and hereafter--in the earth, in the skies, +in the infinite--above all, in himself and his own destiny? + +"Their worship is not so unlike our own as you, who are outside the +temple, might believe," said he, pointing upwards to the glowing spark +on the summit of the tower of Belus, which was never extinguished night +or day. "I have learned in our traditions, handed down, word for word, +from priest to priest, since the first family of man peopled the earth +after the subsiding of the waters, that they too worship the sacred +element which constitutes the essence and spirit of the universe. If +they have no images, nor outward symbols of their faith, it is because +their deity is impalpable, invisible, as the principle of heat which +generates flame. If they turn from the Seven Stars with scorn, if they +pour out no drink-offering, make no obeisance to the Queen of Heaven, it +is because they look yet higher, to that mystic property from which +Baalim and Ashtaroth draw light and life and dominion over us poor +children of darkness down here below. Their great patriarch and leader +came out of this very land; and there is Assyrian blood, though I think +shame to confess it, in the veins of that captive people subject now to +our hereditary enemies in the South." + +"The men are well enough to look on," answered Sarchedon, "but, to my +thinking, their women are not so fair as the women of the plain between +the rivers; not to be spoken of with the Great Queen's retinue here, nor +the mountain maids who come down from the north to gladden old Nineveh +like sweet herbs and wild flowers growing in the crevices of a ruined +wall. If this people are of our lineage, they have fallen away sadly +from the parent stock." + +"What I tell you is truth," replied Assarac; "and I, sitting by you here +to-night, have spoken with men whose fathers remembered those that in +their boyhood had seen the great founder of our nation--old, wrinkled, +with a white beard descending to his feet, but lofty still, and mighty +as the tower of defiance he reared to heaven, though suffering daily +from torment unendurable; and why? Because of the patriarch and chief of +the nation you despise." + +Through all the Assyrian people, but especially amongst the hosts of the +Great King, to believe in Nimrod was to believe in Baal, in Ashur, in +their religion, their national existence, their very identity. + +The colour rose to Sarchedon's brow as he passed his hand over his lips, +scarcely yet darkened with a beard, while he answered haughtily, + +"Nimrod was lord of earth by right of bow and spear. No man living, +backed by all the gods of all the stars in heaven, would have dared to +dispute his word, nor so much as look him in his lion-like face!" + +"And yet did this old man, lord only in his own family--chief of a tribe +scarce numbering a thousand bowmen--beard the lion-king in the city he +had founded, in the palace where he reigned, in the very temple of his +worship. The patriarch reasoned with him on the multitude of his gods; +and Nimrod answered proudly, he could make as many as he would, but that +while they emanated from himself they had supreme dominion on earth and +over all in heaven, save only the Seven Stars and the Twenty-four Judges +of the World. Then the patriarch took the king's molten images out of +the temple, kindled a great furnace in the centre of the city, and in +the presence of all Nineveh, cast them into the midst." + +Sarchedon started to his feet. + +"And the king did not hew him in pieces with his own hand where he +stood!" exclaimed he. "It is impossible! It is contrary to all reason +and experience!" + +"The king could scarce believe his eyes," continued Assarac, smothering +a smile, "when he saw his sacred images crumbling down and stealing away +in streams of molten gold. It is even said that he uttered a great cry +of lamentation and sat on the ground a whole night, with his garments +rent, fasting, and in sore distress. This I scarcely think was the +fashion of the mighty hunter: what I _do_ believe is, that he sent a +company of bowmen after the offender with orders to bring him back into +his presence, alive or dead. They pursued the patriarch through the +Valley of Siddim, till they came to the bitter waters; and +here"--Assarac put his goblet with something of embarrassment to his +lips--"here the stars in their courses must have fought against Assyria; +for our warriors turned and fled in some confusion, so that the daring +son of Terah escaped. Then it is said that he prayed to his God for +vengeance against our lion-king, entreating that he who had been +conqueror of the mightiest men and slayer of the fiercest beasts on +earth, should be punished by the smallest and humblest of that animal +creation it had been his chief pleasure to persecute and destroy. His +God answered his prayer, though he raised no temples, made no golden +images of man, beast, bird, nor monster, and sacrificed but a lamb or a +kid in burnt-offering on the altar of unhewn stones in the plain. + +"A tiny gnat was sent to plague great Nimrod, as the sand-fly of the +wilderness maddens the lion in his lair. Under helm or diadem--in purple +robe or steel harness--at board and bed--in saddle, bath, or war +chariot, the lord of all the earth was goaded into a ceaseless encounter +where there was no adversary, and exhausted by perpetual flight where +none pursued. + +"Then he sent for cunning artificers, who made for him a chamber of +glass, impervious even to the air of heaven, so that the king entered it +well pleased; for he said, 'Now shall I have ease from my tormentor, to +eat bread and drink wine, and be refreshed with sleep.' + +"But while he spoke the gnat was in his ear, and soon it ascended, and +began to feed on his brain. Then the king's agony was greater than he +could bear, and he cried aloud to his servants, bidding them beat on his +head with a hammer, to ease the pain. So he endured for four hundred +years; and then he--then he went home to his father Ashur; and when the +Seven Stars shine out in the Northern sky, he looks down, well pleased, +from his throne of light, on the city that his children have built, and +the statue of gold they have raised to his name." + +"And this is true?" exclaimed Sarchedon, whose love of the marvellous +could not but be gratified by the priest's narrative. + +"True as our traditions," answered Assarac, with something like a sneer; +"true as our worship, true as our reason and intellect, true as the +lessons we have learned to read in the stars themselves. What can be +truer? except labour, sorrow, pain, and the insufficiency of man!" + +"Every one to his own duty," replied the young warrior. "Slingers and +bowmen in advance, spears and chariots in the centre, horsemen on the +wings. It is your business to guess where the shaft falls; mine is but +to fit the arrow and draw the bow. I am glad of it. I never could see +much in the stars but a scatter of lamps to help a night march, when no +brighter light was to be had. The moon has been a better friend to me +ere now than all the host of heaven. Tell me, Assarac, can you not read +on her fair open face when I shall be made captain of the guard to the +Great King?" + +"What you ask in jest," said the other, smiling, "I will hereafter +answer in sober earnest. I go hence to the summit of that high tower, +and all night long must I read on those scrolls of fire above us a +future which they alone can tell--the destiny of nations, the fate of a +line of kings, nay, the fortunes of a young warrior whom the queen +delighteth to honour, and who may well deserve to sleep to-night while +others take their turn to watch." + +Thus speaking, he spread his mantle over a heap of silken cushions, +disposed at the foot of the stairs leading to the tower of Belus so as +to form a tempting couch, in the cool night air, for one who had ridden +so far through the heat of an Assyrian day. + +He had not ascended three steps towards the tower, ere Sarchedon, +overcome with fatigue, excitement, and Damascus wine, laid his head +amongst the cushions and fell into a deep sound sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES + + +Casting his eye on the fire of fragrant wood that burned in its brazen +tripod at the summit of the tower, passing his fingers, as it seemed, +mechanically through its flame, and with the same unconscious gesture +touching his right eyebrow, Assarac leaned his massive figure against +the parapet, plunged in a train of deep engrossing thought. + +The tapering structure he had ascended was built, as his traditions +taught him to believe, for purposes of astral worship and observation. +It afforded, therefore, a standing-point from which, on all sides, an +uninterrupted view of the heavens could be obtained down to the horizon; +yet the eyes of Assarac were fixed steadfastly on the great city +sleeping at his feet, and it was of earthly interests, earthly +destinies, that he pondered, rather than those spheres of light, hanging +unmarked above him in the golden-studded sky. + +A soft but measured step, the rustle of a woman's garment, caused him to +turn with a start. He prostrated himself till his brow touched the +brickwork at her feet, and then, resuming an erect position, looked his +visitor proudly in the face, like a teacher with his pupil, rather than +a subject before his queen. + +"Assarac," said Semiramis, "I have trusted you with a royal and +unreserved confidence to-night. I do not say, deserve it, because your +life is in my hand, but because our wishes, our interests, and the very +object we aim at, are the same. Many have served me in slavish +subjection through fear. Do you serve me with loyal regard as a +friend?" + +She laid her white hand frankly on his arm, and he, priest, man of +science, as he was, ambitious, isolated, above and below the strongest +impulses of humanity, felt the blood mount to his brain, the colour to +his cheek, at that thrilling touch. + +"Your servant's life," he answered, "and the lives of a thousand priests +of Baal, are in the queen's hand to-night; for doth she not hold the +signet of my lord the king, sent with Sarchedon from the camp in token +of victory? And more than my life,--my art, my skill, the lore by which +I have learned to compel those gods above us, are but precious in my +sight so far as they can advantage the Great Queen." + +"You will unfold the mysteries of the sky," she replied eagerly. "You +will bid Baalim, Ashtaroth, and all the host of heaven speak with me +face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. If you will answer for +the gods up yonder," she added with a touch of sarcasm on her sweet +proud lip, "I will take upon myself to order the actions of men below." + +"Something of this I _can_ do," said he gravely, "or I have watched here +night by night, and fasted, and prayed, and cut myself with knives +before the altar of Baal, in vain. But, first, I must ask of the queen, +doth she believe in the power of the gods? Doth she trust her servant to +interpret truly the characters of fire engraved by them on the dark +tablets of night?" + +She scanned him with a searching look. "I believe," she said, "thus +far--that man makes for himself the destiny to which hereafter he must +submit. I believe the gods can foretell that destiny, and I would fain +believe, if I had proof, that you, Assarac, their faithful servant, +possess power to read up yonder the counsels of the Thirteen, and all +their satellites." + +"What proof does my queen desire?" asked the priest. "Shall I read off +to her from those shining tables the plastic mouldings of the future, or +the deep indelible engravings of the past?" + +The queen pondered. "Of the future," she replied, "I cannot judge +whether they speak true or false. Were they to tell me of a past known +only to myself and one long since gone from earth"--she sighed while +she spoke--"I might give credit to their intelligence, and shape my +course by those silent witnesses, as men do in the desert or at sea." + +"Look upward, my queen," answered Assarac, "and mark where the belt of +the Great Hunter points to that distant cluster of stars, like the +diamonds on your own royal tiara. Faintest and farthest shines one that +records her past history, as yonder golden planet, glowing low down by +the horizon, foretells her future destiny." + +He stopped, and from a vase of wine that stood near the sacred fire, +sprinkled a few drops to the four quarters of the sky. "I pour this +drink-offering," he said, "to Ashtaroth, Queen of Heaven! Shall I tell +the Queen of Earth a tale I read in those stars forming the symbol +which, rightly interpreted, contains the name of Semiramis?" + +The queen nodded assent, turning her beautiful face upward to the sky. + +"Could it all be true?" was the wild thought that fleeted for an instant +through his brain, "and had not Ashtaroth herself come down from heaven +to look on her adoring votary?" + +With a glance almost of awe into the queen's upturned countenance, +Assarac proceeded: "I read there of a city in the South, a city beyond +the desert, pleasant and beautiful in the waving of palms, the music of +rushing waters, built on the margin of a lake, where leaping fish at +sundown dot the glistening surface, countless as rain-drops in a shower. +On its bank stands a temple to that goddess who, like Dagon, bears half +a human form, terminating in the scales and body of a fish. Very fair is +Derceta to the girdle, and, womanlike, fanciful as she is fair. Near her +temple dwelt a young fisherman, comely, ruddy, of exceeding beauty and +manhood, so that the goddess did not scorn to love him with all the +ardour of her double nature, only too well. + +"Yet it shamed her of her human attributes when she gave birth to a +child, though the stars tell me, O queen, that never was seen so +beautiful a babe, even amongst those borne by the daughters of men to +the host of heaven. + +"Nevertheless, a foul wound festers equally beneath silk and sackcloth; +so that the goddess, in wrath and shame, carried her infant into the +wilderness, and left it there to die. + +"Behold how Ashtaroth glows and brightens in the darkening night. Surely +it was the Queen of Heaven who sent fair doves to pity, succour, and +preserve that child of light, tender as a flower, and beautiful as a +star. Day by day the fond birds brought her fruits and sustenance, till +certain peasants, observing their continual flight in the same +direction, followed their guidance, and found by a rill of water the +laughing infant, bearing even then a promise of beauty to be unequalled +hereafter in the whole world." + +There was pride and sorrow in the queen's deep eyes as she fixed them on +the seer, and whispered, + +"Ask, then, if it had not been better to have left the child there to +die." + +"The stars acknowledge no pity," was his answer. "It is the first of +human weaknesses cast off by those who rule in earth or heaven. Had they +not written the destiny of that babe by the desert spring in the same +characters I read up there to-night? They tell me how, in her earliest +womanhood, she was seen by Menon, governor of ten provinces under my +lord the king. They tell me how Menon made her his wife. They tell me, +too, of an amulet graven with a dove on the wing, which that maiden wore +hidden in her bosom when she came veiled into the presence of her lord." + +The queen started. + +"How know you this?" she exclaimed almost angrily. "I have never yet +shown it even to my lord the king." + +"I do but read that which is written," he answered. "They tell me also +how, when she shall part with that amulet, it will purchase for her the +dearest wish of her heart at the sacrifice of all its powers hereafter. +Its charm will then be broken, its virtue departed. She never showed it +man save Menon; for the governor of those wide provinces stretching to +the Southern sea would have gone ragged and barefoot, would have given +rank, riches, honours, life itself, for but one smile from the loveliest +face that ever laughed behind a veil." + +"They speak truth," murmured the queen; "he loved me only too well." + +"It was written in heaven," continued Assarac, "that the servant must +yield to his master, and that a jewel too precious for Menon was to +blaze in the diadem of the Great King. I read now of a fenced city, +frowning and threatening, far off in an Eastern land; of a bank cast +against its ramparts, and mighty engines smiting hard at its gates; of +archers, spears, slingers, and horsemen; of the king of nations seated +on his chariot in the midst, pulling his grey beard in anger because of +the tower of strength he could in no wise lay waste and level with the +ground. But for Menon and his skill in warfare, the besiegers must have +fled from before it in disorder and dismay. One morning at sunrise there +were heard strange tidings in the camp. Men asked each other who was the +youth who had ridden to Menon's tent in shining apparel, devoid of helm +and buckler, but armed with bow and spear--beautiful as Shamash the God +of Light, so that human eyes were dazzled, looking steadfastly on his +face. + +"Ere set of sun the Great King had himself taken counsel with this +blooming warrior; ere it had risen twice, Menon was made captain of the +host, and the work of slaughter commenced; for the proud city had +fallen, and the gods of Assyria were set up in its holy places, to be +appeased with blood and suffering and spoil. + +"When the host returned in triumph, they left a mighty warrior dead in +his tent over against the ruins of the smoking town. No meaner hand +could have sufficed to lay him low, and none but Menon took Menon's +life, because--Shall I read on?" + +A faint moan caused him to stop and scan the queen's face. It was fixed +and rigid as marble, pale too with an unearthly whiteness beneath that +starlit sky; but there was neither pity for herself nor others in the +calm, distinct articulation with which she syllabled her answer in his +own words--"Read on!" + +"They teach me," he continued, "that Menon could not bear his loss, +after she had left his tent whose place was on the loftiest throne the +earth has ever seen. When the triumph returned to Nineveh, there sat by +the Great King's side, in male attire, the fairest woman under heaven. +She guided his wisest counsels; she won for him his greatest victories; +she raised his noblest city; she became the light of his eyes, the glory +of his manhood, the treasure of his heart, mother of kings and mistress +of the world; but she had never yet parted with her amulet to living +man. All this is surely true; for it is written in those symbols of fire +that cannot lie, and that trace the history of the Great Queen." + +Semiramis turned her eyes on him with a look that seemed to read his +very heart. The priest bore that searching glance in austere composure, +creditable to his nerve and coolness; though these were enhanced by a +vague conviction of his own prophetic powers, the result, no doubt, of a +certain exaltation of mind, consequent on his previous fasts, his +studies, and his long hours of brooding over deep ambitious schemes. +After a protracted silence, she sighed like one who shakes off a heavy +burden of memories; and, giving her companion the benefit of her +brightest smile, asked him the pertinent question: "Is it the amulet +that controls the destiny, or the destiny that gives a value to the +amulet? Do the stars shed lustre on the woman, or is it the woman's fame +that adds a glory to her star?" + +For answer he pointed to a ruby in her bracelet, sparkling and glowing +in the light of the mystic flame. + +"That gem," said he, "was beyond price in the rayless cavern of its +birth. Nevertheless, behold how its brilliancy is enhanced by the gleams +it catches from the sacred fire. The stars shine down on a beautiful +woman, and they make of her an all-powerful queen." + +"All-powerful!" repeated Semiramis. "None is all-powerful but my lord +the king. To be second in place is to be little less a slave than the +meanest subject in his dominions." + +He took no heed of her words. He seemed not to hear, so engrossed was he +with his studies of the heavens, so awe-struck and preoccupied was the +voice in which he declaimed his testimony, like a man reading from a +sacred book. + +"She whose counsels have won battles shall lead armies in person; she +who has reached her hand to touch a sceptre shall lift her arm to take +a diadem; she who has built a city shall found an empire. Walls and +ramparts must hem in the one; but of the other brave men's weapons alone +constitute the frontier: as much as they win with sword and spear so +much do they possess. The dove is the bird of peace; and for her whom +doves nourished at her birth there shall be peace in her womanhood, +because none will be left to contend with the conqueror and mistress of +the world." + +He fell back against the parapet of the tower, pale, gasping, as if +faint and exhausted from the effects of the inspiration that had passed +away; but beneath those half-closed lids not a shade on the queen's +brow, not a movement of her frame, escaped his penetrating eyes. He +could read that fair proud face with far more certainty than the +lustrous pages of heaven. Perhaps he experienced a vague consciousness +that here on these delicate features were written the characters of +fate, rather than yonder above him in the fathomless inscrutable sky. +She seemed to have forgotten his presence. She was looking far out into +the night, towards that quarter of the desert over which Sarchedon had +ridden from the camp, where an arrow from her own quiver lay under the +bleaching bones of the dead lion. Her eyes were fierce, and her +countenance bore a rigid expression, bright, cold, unearthly, yet not +devoid of triumph, like one who defies and subdues mortal pain. + +Such a glare had he seen in the eyes of the Great King when he awarded +death to some shaking culprit--such a look on the victim's fixed face, +ere it was covered, while they dragged him away. + +It was well, thought Assarac, for men who dealt with kings and queens to +have no sympathies, no affections, none of the softer emotions and +weaknesses of our nature. The tools of ambition are sharp and +double-edged; the staff on which it leans too often breaks beneath it, +and pierces to the bone. Moreover, it would have been wiser and safer to +commit himself to the mercy of winds and waves than to depend on the +wilfulness of a woman, even though she wore a crown. Already the queen's +mood had changed: her face had resumed its habitual expression of calm, +indolent, and somewhat voluptuous repose. + +"No more to-night," she said, with a gracious gesture, as of thanks and +dismissal. "There is much to be done before the return in triumph of my +lord the king. To-morrow you will carry my commands to the captains +within the city, bidding them have all their preparations made for the +reception of the conquerors. Let them assemble their companies under +shield; let the chariots and horsemen be drawn up in the great square +over against the palace; and let the archers look that their bows have +new strings. You can answer for your own people here?" + +"For every hand that bears a lotus in temple, palace, or streets--two +thousand in all, without counting the prophets of the grove, and the +priests of Baal, outside the walls." + +"Enough," said the queen; "you have done well. I, too, can read in the +future more and mightier things than you have imparted to me to-night." + +She wrapped her mantle round her to depart, not suffering Assarac to +attend her one step on her way. Kalmim, she said, was waiting in the +garden, and would accompany her to the palace. So she walked slowly down +the winding staircase, grave, abstracted, as though revolving some +weighty purpose in her mind. At its foot she started to see the +recumbent figure of Sarchedon buried in profound sleep. + +Was it a fatality of the stars? Was it an impulse of womanhood? She bent +over that beautiful unconscious face till her breath stirred the curls +on its comely brow, then, with a gesture almost fierce in its passionate +energy, snatched the famous amulet from her neck, and laid it on his +breast. + +"It is a rash purchase," she muttered; "but I am willing to pay the +price." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A DREAMER OF DREAMS + + +He was sleeping, yet not so sound but that his rest was visited by a +strange and terrifying dream. + +He thought he was in the desert, galloping his good horse in pursuit of +an ostrich, winged with plumes worthy to tuft the spears that guarded +the Great King's tent. But for all his efforts of voice, hand, and +frame, Merodach laboured strangely in the deep sand, of which the +long-legged bird threw back such volumes as to choke his lips and +nostrils, wrapping him in a dim revolving cloud, that whirled and +towered to the sky. Like a stab came the conviction that he was in the +midst of the pitiless simoon, and he must die. Once more he strove to +rouse Merodach with heel and bridle; but the horse seemed turned to +stone, till, plunging wildly, he struggled forward, only to sink under +his rider and disappear beneath the sand. Then the cloud burst asunder +to reveal the glories of a dying sunset, fading into the purple sea. + +He was on foot in the desert, fainting, weary, and sore athirst; but he +heard the night-breeze sighing through palms and whispering in lofty +poplars; he heard the cool ripple of water against the shore, and the +pleasant welcome of a stream, singing in starts of broken melody as it +danced down to meet the waves; then he saw a yoke of oxen, a camel at +rest, a few huts, and a boat drawn up high and dry on the beach. + +He was no longer a warrior in the armies of the Great King, but a rude +fisherman amongst fishermen. He ate of their bread, he drank from their +pitcher; yet was he still hungry and athirst, still wore a sword at his +girdle and carried a bow in his hand. + +He took his share of their labour; he drew in their nets. It seemed to +him he had seen their faces before, though they knew him not; but he +marvelled why they moved so slowly, and neither spoke nor smiled. While +he helped them, too, it was as if the whole weight of rope and meshes +hung on his arm alone. So night fell; and they took him into a hut, +pointing to a cruse of water and a mantle spread in the corner, but +withdrawing in the same sad silence, calm and grave, like those who +mourn for the dead. + +He could not sleep. The moon rose and shone in on him where he lay. +After long hours of tossing troubled waking, a figure blocked the window +where her rays streamed in on his couch. Then a great horror came over +him without cause or reason, and tugging hard to draw his sword, he +found it fastened in the sheath. Solemnly, slowly the figure signed to +follow. Leaving his couch, he felt his heart leap, for it resembled +Ishtar! But in the porch of the hut he seemed to recognise the clear +proud features of the queen. Nevertheless, when its face was turned to +the moonlight, he knew it was Assarac under the garb of a fisherman, but +bearing the lotus-flower always in his hand. Without exchanging word or +look, with averted eyes and stealthy steps, these two set the little +bark afloat and took the oars. Then at last was broken the long weary +silence, by a voice that came up from the deep, saying, "Ferrymen, bring +over your dead!" + +Light, buoyant, and high in the water, the boat had danced like a +sea-bird on the surface; but now, though never a form was seen nor sound +heard, she began to sink--deeper, deeper, so that the waves seemed to +peer over her sides, leaping and sporting about her in cruel mockery, as +though eager to break in and send her down. + +It was a hard task to row that heavy freight out to sea. Weary and +horror-stricken he tugged at his oar till the sweat dropped from his +brow. + +The moon went down, and a great darkness settled on the waters--the +thick clogging waters, through which their oars passed so heavily. Was +it the sea of the plain whereon they were embarked? Yes, surely, it must +be the sea of the plain, the Dead Sea. + +Was he never to approach the term of this numbing oppressive labour? +Must he row on for ever and ever, without pause or respite, having bid +his last farewell to the shores of earth and the light of day? Thus +thinking, he felt the boat's keel grate against the bottom, while the +oar started from his hand. + +He took courage to look about him; but mortal eye could not pierce that +thick darkness; and though the toil awhile ago had been so severe, a +chill air curdled his blood, and crept into his very heart. + +Still and silent as the grave seemed that shadowy land, till the same +voice he had heard on the other shore called out the name of one he knew +well and loved with a brother's love. There was no answer; but the boat +lightened perceptibly, and her keel no longer touched the shingle. + +Another name was called, and yet another, always in the same calm +passionless accents, always with the same strange solemn result. + +At every summons the boat rose higher in the water. When Sataspes was +called, she swung to the flow and wash of the sluggish wave against her +sides; at the name of Ninus, the Great King, she floated free and +unencumbered as before she put out on her mysterious voyage. + +With a heart lightened as was the boat that bore him, he pushed her off +to return; for something warned him that now his task was done. He would +fain have spoken with Assarac; but the surrounding gloom seemed so to +oppress his lungs and chest, that the words formed by his tongue could +not find vent through his lips. + +Once more he was bending to the oar, when, as it were out of his own +heart, came a voice whispering his name, "Sarchedon! Sarchedon!" in low +sweet tones, which yet he knew vibrated with the sentence of his doom. + +An unseen power raised him to his feet, and would have lifted him to +shore, but that the priest held him back by his coarse fisher's garment, +which dragged on chest and throat till he was fairly choked. Then, in +extremity of fear and agony, he found his voice to call on Assarac for +help at the moment when his vesture, yielding to the strain laid on it, +parted asunder to let the cold night air in on his naked breast. + +So he awoke, scared, trembling, panting for breath, and even in his +waking seemed still wrapped in the gloom of that Isle of Shadows--seemed +still to catch the tread of muffled footsteps, the breath of airy +whispers, faint echoes from another world. + +In that age, and amongst a people ever striving after a mystic ideal, +yearning for communion with a higher world, dreams, and the +interpretations thereof, were held of no small account. + +Sarchedon, warrior though he was, and, like his great chief, little +imbued with the superstitions of his time and country, could not yet +pass over such a scene as his imagination had even now pictured without +much cogitation and concern. He sat up and considered it in no small +perplexity, inclining to regard the vision now as an omen of fortune, +anon as a warning of fate. In his suffocating struggles to wake, his +hands had been pressed close against his breast; a few moments elapsed +ere he became conscious that he held in them a jewel he had never seen +before. Rising from his couch at the foot of the tower, he hastened to +examine it by starlight under the open sky. It consisted of an emerald, +on which was cut the figure of a dove with outspread wings, following, +as it seemed, the course of an arrow flying upward through the air. That +it had come to him by supernatural influences during his sleep, he never +doubted, and interpreted it, as men always do interpret the +inexplicable, in the manner most agreeable to his own wishes. This dove, +he said to himself, must mean the girl he had so lately seen at the Well +of Palms; for what could be more dove-like than the maiden sweetness and +innocent bearing of Ishtar? The arrow doubtless signified, in its upward +flight, his own future career. He would become illustrious as a warrior, +and Ishtar would follow him in his brilliant course to fame. Was it an +arrow, or the initial of a name? He was forced to confess, from its +shape and direction, that it seemed intended to represent the weapon +itself, and not the letter of which he would fain consider it a symbol. +Nevertheless, it must be a sign that the gods intended him for great +things, and it should be no fault of his if the only woman who had yet +touched his heart did not share with him the good fortune thus promised +by the stars. + +Meantime it wanted many hours of dawn; so he returned to his cushions +and mantle for the remainder of his night's rest, stopping by the table +at which he had sat with Assarac in the evening for a pull at the golden +flagon, not yet emptied of its good Damascus wine. + +Nevertheless, long before sunrise, he awoke refreshed, invigorated, +happy; feeling the amulet resting on his breast, he accepted its +presence for a fortunate omen; and ere daylight paled the beacon-fire on +the tower of Belus, was galloping Merodach through the desert on his way +to the Well of Palms. + +"Surely," thought this dreamer, "she will be watching there for the +first glitter of spears that shall give token of her father's return? +Then will I tell her when to expect the host, and how to distinguish +between its vanguard and the spearmen of its strength, having Arbaces at +their head, who march with the chariot of the Great King. She will give +me to drink, and I will say unto her, Maiden, as this draught of water +to one athirst and stifled with the desert sand, so is a whisper from +the lips and a glance from the eyes of the fairest damsel in all the +land of Shinar to him who has ridden from the great city only to look on +her face ere he departs to see her no more. Then she cannot but lift her +veil, and speak kindly to me, bidding me tarry but a few moments, while +she draws water for my horse. So will I tell her the whole tale; and +hereafter, when my lord the king has rewarded his warriors for service +done with bow and spear, I will take to Arbaces a score of camels, a +hundred sheep, and a talent of gold, together with the armour I won of +that swarthy giant beyond the sweet river; and how shall he say me nay? +So will I lead her home to my tent, and then shall I have attained full +happiness, and need ask for nothing more on earth." + +Thus it fell out that Kalmim, arriving in the temple of Baal soon after +daybreak, missed both the object of her real and her fictitious search. +The queen after a heated restless night, bade her chief tiring-woman +seek in that edifice for an amulet, which Semiramis affirmed she could +only have dropped at the foot of the tower of Belus, where some one, she +added, was sleeping, who must be brought to her and interrogated +forthwith. Kalmim's experience, in her own person and that of her +mistress, led her at once to guess the truth; therefore she hurried off +to apprise Sarchedon he was wanted without delay in the royal palace. On +her arrival, it might be said that she found the nest still warm, though +the bird had flown; for a priest was carrying away the cloak and +cushions that had formed the young man's couch, and his dark eyes +glittered with a roguish smile while he peered into the flagon of +Damascus, to find little left in it but dregs. + +"These warriors seem to know the use of good wine when they can get it," +said he, "and I doubt not it sings and mantles under helm of steel no +less than linen tiara or fillet of gold; but they clasp bow and spear +through many a long night for one that they spend with goblet of Ophir +in hand. Men sleep little in the camp too, and feed sparingly, they +tell me, nor day after day must they be cheered by the sight of a +woman's veil or the sound of a woman's voice. To say nothing of a fierce +enemy and a place in the fore-front of the battle between two hosts in +array, where it is scarcely more dangerous to fight than to fly. Truly +it is better to be a servant of Baal than of the Great King." + +"It is better to be a boar in the marshes than a lion in the mountain!" +retorted Kalmim with high disdain; "a vulture battening on a dead camel +than an eagle striking the wild goat from its rock! Conquering or +conquered, up or down, a warrior is at least a _man_, and a match for +men!" + +"While a priest is a match for women," answered the other, laughing. "Is +that what you would say? Nevertheless, Kalmim, it must be a priest who +will serve your turn this morning, for there are here a thousand in the +temple, and never a hand among us to draw bowstring or close round the +shaft of a spear." + +"There was a warrior in the porch even now," replied Kalmim; "a goodly +young warrior with dark flowing locks, and a chin nearly as smooth, +Beladon, as your own. What have you done with him? He bore hither the +Great King's signet, and if he has come by harm, not all the gods of all +your temples will shield you from the fair face that never looked on man +in anger but he was consumed." + +Beladon, a handsome young priest, with bright roguish eyes and swarthy +complexion, turned pale while she spoke--pale even through the rich +crimson of his cheek and the blue tint of lips and chin, where his beard +was close-shaven, and rubbed down with pumice-stone in imitation of +Assarac's smooth unmanly face. + +"The youth lay here scarce an hour ago," said he, trembling. "He mounted +the noblest steed that ever wore a bridle--a white horse, with eyes of +fire--and rode off through the Great Brazen Gate into the desert like an +arrow from a bow. Surely he will return." + +Kalmim burst out laughing at his discomposure. + +"Surely he will return!" she repeated; "and when he does return, surely +you will bring him to me by the path through the great paradise without +delay. Semiramis hath been dealing justice amongst the people since +sunrise, but she will pass the heat of the day as usual in the fishing +temple, and you will find me in its porch. You do not fear to present +yourself before Dagon? His worship requires no sacrifice of sheep nor +oxen, no blood of priests to flow from the gashes they cut in their +naked flesh, before his altar." + +She spoke in a jesting tone ill befitting the solemnity of the subject, +and he answered in the same vein. + +"The sheep and oxen we offer are consumed without doubt by Baal himself, +while his servants live miraculously on the light of his countenance and +the fragments that he leaves! Touching our self-inflicted wounds, +notwithstanding all the blood spilt before the people, we scarcely feel +the pain; and this too cannot but be by a miracle of the god. I make no +secret with you of our mysteries. Tell me, in return, what mean these +warlike preparations that have set the whole city astir to-day?" + +Her tone was still of banter and sarcasm. + +"Would you wish the Great King to be received," said she, "with no more +ceremony than a shepherd bringing a stray lamb in from the wilderness on +his shoulders? When he returns a conqueror, shall not the triumph be +worthy of the victory?" + +"But if every man who can bear arms is to stand forth in array with bow +and spear; if the women and children, on pain of death, are not to come +down into the streets; if the priests of Baal and the prophets of the +grove are to be marshalled like warriors, with knives unsheathed and +sacrificing weapons in hand, our welcome will seem to Ninus more like +the assault of a fenced city than the return of my lord the king to his +home!" + +"So be it," answered Kalmim. "It is not the flash of a blade or the +gleam of a spear that will frighten the old king. By the serpent of +Ashtaroth, he fears neither man nor demon; and when his queen raised a +temple in Bactria to Abitur of the Mountains, he profaned his altar and +defied the Chief of the Devils in sight of our whole army. It angered +her, and she hath not forgotten it. Why, men say, he believes no more in +Baal than--than you do yourselves!" + +He looked about him in alarm. + +"Hush!" said he. "It is not for me to judge between my gods and my lord +the king. The divining cup of Assarac has not failed to tell him that +Ninus shall one day take his place with the Thirteen Gods. It may be +that he knows the golden throne is waiting for him even now." + +He scrutinised her face narrowly, but saw on it only a light and +careless smile. + +"Were I the queen, I'd have a younger one next time," was her reply. "Of +_your_ years, say you? No, thank you, Beladon--not for me. Well, you may +come with me to the Jaspar Gate and as far as the outer court; I dare +not pass alone through all those oxen, lowing, poor things, as if they +knew not one of them would be left alive to-day at noon." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE KING OF NATIONS + + +Leaning on his spear within a day's march of the Great City, the tall +figure of a warrior loomed massive and indistinct in the early light of +morning breaking on the Assyrian camp. Line by line, shade by shade, as +dawn stole slowly upward, his form came out in bolder relief. Presently +a dark blurred mass, some few paces off, took the shape of a sleeping +camel; soon shadowy tents, dusky banners, spoil, arms, accoutrements, +all the encumbrances of an army on the march, grew into their real +outline, filled with their respective colours; and the man's features, +under his steel headpiece, became plainly visible in the light of day. + +He was arrayed in the utmost splendour of armour and apparel. The +former, inlaid throughout with gold, shone bright and polished like a +mirror, though the goodly silks and heavy embroidery that formed the +latter were sadly rent and frayed by the press of many a hot encounter, +the wear and tear of many a weary march. He wore in his girdle a short +straight sword with jewelled hilt and ornamented scabbard, carried a +bow and quiver of arrows at his back, and a shield studded with precious +stones on his arm. From his shoulders hung an ample mantle of crimson +silk, bordered with deep fringes of gold; while the head of the spear, +or rather javelin, on which he rested, though broad, sharp, and heavy, +was plated and ornamented with the same costly metal. + +In such an arm it seemed no doubt a formidable weapon; for the man's +square frame and weighty limbs denoted great personal strength; while +his marked features wore an expression of habitual fierceness, in +accordance with a swarthy complexion, thick black brows, and ample +curling beard. + +He was buried in thought of no pleasing nature, to judge by the working +of his lips and the scowling glances he directed towards a tent standing +apart, of which two upright spears tufted with ostrich-plumes marked, +and seemed to guard, the entrance. + +As morning brightened, the whole camp came into view from the mound +where he kept guard, and whereon the Great King's tent was pitched--a +camp of many sleeping thousands, ranged in warlike order under a hundred +banners drooping heavily in the still clear air. + +Suddenly the warrior started from his listless attitude into life and +action; for a light step was approaching, and a figure advanced to the +tufted spears that denoted the abode of royalty. + +"Stand!" he exclaimed in threatening accents, advancing his shield and +raising the javelin to strike. "Nay, pass, Sethos," he added with a +scornful laugh. "I have no orders to stop the king's cup-bearer; but you +are on foot betimes this morning, though you wot well the old lion stirs +not before break of day." + +Sethos patted the wine-skin under his arm--a homely vessel enough, +though its contents were to be poured into a jewelled cup. + +"The old lion laps ever at sunrise," said he; "and the hunter who brings +him to drink need not fear to enter his lair." + +"Fear!" repeated the other with an accent of contempt. "He who deals +with lions must forget the meaning of the word. 'Tis thus, man, they are +trapped and tamed." + +"Of a truth," answered Sethos, "I once believed that in all the hosts of +Assyria or of Egypt was to be found no frown so dark as gathers on the +brows of the Great King when he is angered. By the beard of Ashur, +Sargon, I have seen a fiercer look of late on the face of one who used +to be ready with smile and wine-cup as with bow and spear; and it comes +from under the helmet, my friend, that keeps _your_ head." + +"Have I not cause?" muttered the other, speaking below his breath in the +quick concentrated accents of intense feeling. "When the host marches +into Babylon, and the women come out with song and timbrel to welcome +the conquerors; when each man makes his boast, showing his treasure, his +spoil, and the captives of his bow and spear; when my lord the king +rewards his servants, giving gifts--to this a dress of honour, to that a +beautiful slave, to another a talent of gold and spoil of household +stuff--what shall be done for Sargon, the king's shield-bearer, +returning childless and bereaved by the king's own hand? Boy, it is well +I hold not your place. I might be tempted to mix that in the cup which +should cause Ninus to pour out his next drink-offering amongst a host of +heaven in whom he professes to have no belief." + +"Dangerous words," answered Sethos, "and empty as they are rash. Why, +man, you yourself cover him in battle with his shield. It is but +lowering your arm a cubit, and the king's life is in your hand." + +"I could not do it," said Sargon, drawing himself proudly up. "It shall +never be said that the great Assyrian fell to point of Egyptian arrow, +or gash of Bactrian steel. Nay; though the fire on Sargon's hearth may +be quenched, his name extinct, let Ninus fulfil his destiny, and sit +amongst the gods like his forefathers. It may be they are waiting for +him even now. Listen, Sethos; he calls from his tent. Hie thee into the +lion's den, and pour him out such a morning's draught as shall keep him +fasting from blood at least till noon." + +Sethos--a handsome light-hearted youth, who as the king's cup-bearer +enjoyed many privileges and immunities, of which he availed himself to +the utmost--passed swiftly between the tufted spears, and with a low +prostration raised its curtain, to enter the tent of the oldest and +mightiest warrior in the world. + +Ninus, half risen from his couch, ruder and simpler than that of any +captain in his host, stretched his long gaunt arm with impatience for +the wine he so craved, to replenish the exhausted energies and wasting +powers of extreme old age. The Great King's face was pale and sunken; +his eyes, deep in their sockets, were dull and dim; while his thin +scattered locks, shaggy brows, and long flowing beard had turned white +as snow. Nevertheless, the wreck of that mighty frame, like some hoary +fortress crumbling and tottering into ruin, still showed the remnant of +such grand proportions, such fabulous strength as was allotted to the +men of olden time, when earth was new and nature inexhaustible. Yet was +it whispered through the host, that as their fiercest champion would +have seemed a mere child by the side of their king in his prime, so was +Ninus but as a babe compared with great Nimrod, his ancestor, the god of +their idolatry, and mighty founder of their race. + +Sethos tendered the wine-cup as in duty bound, then stood with hands +crossed before him, and looks bent lowly on the earth. The king drained +his morning draught to the dregs; and for a moment there rose a faint +flush on the ashen features, a lurid glow in the wan weary eyes--but +only to fade as quickly; and it was a sadly tremulous hand, though so +broad and sinewy, that grasped his wine-cup; while the deep voice came +very hoarse and broken in which he asked Sethos, + +"Who waits outside? Is it near sunrise?" + +"Sargon, the royal shield-bearer," was the answer, "has been on guard +since cock-crow; and Shamash, Prince of Light, will doubtless show +himself above the horizon so soon as my lord the king appears at the +door of his tent." + +Ninus bent his shaggy brows in displeasure on the volubility of his +servant. + +"Halt!" said he. "Rein in thy tongue, lest the dogs have their share of +it without the camp. Fill yet again; and let me hear no more of this +endless jargon about the gods." + +It was death to laugh in the king's presence; but Sethos, replenishing +the goblet to its brim, did not repress a smile. The old warrior's +second draught seemed somewhat to renew his strength. + +"Reach me that gown," said he--"the heavy one; and the girdle yonder. +Fool! that in which hangs the sword--my good old sword! Ha! if Baal and +Ashtaroth had done for me but one half the service of horse and weapon, +they might take their share of the spoil, and welcome. By the belt of +Nimrod, they shall not have one shekel more than a tenth this time! +Thirteen gods, by my beard, and every god a thousand priests! Why, it is +enough to ruin the richest king that ever built treasure-house. I must +reduce them. I will about it at once, when the people are busy with the +triumph. I wonder what _she_ will say--my beautiful! I angered her long +ago, when I refused to worship Satan up yonder in the mountains. I would +be loath to anger her again, though I will worship nothing but the eyes +that are watching fondly for my return." + +Old, exhausted, weary as he was, there came a gentle look over his grim +war-worn face while he thought of the woman he loved so fondly, whom it +had cost him so much of crime and cruelty to possess. But the passion of +acquisition, almost inseparable from age, was strong in the king's +heart; and it chafed him to think the votaries of Baal should so largely +share in the fruits of this his last and most successful expedition +beyond the Nile. + +Sethos, standing before him in the prescribed attitude of respect, +marked every shade of his lord's countenance, drawing his own +conclusions, and preserving his usual air of imperturbable good humour +and self-conceit. + +The early flush of sunrise now stole under the hangings of the tent, +crimsoning the cup-bearer's feet where he stood, so that his sandals +looked as if they had been dipped in blood. + +"Bid them sound trumpets," said the king. "Go tell Arbaces that the +vanguard must set themselves in array at once. Where is Ninyas? He +should have been waiting before his father's tent ere now. Wine, sloth, +and pleasure--he loves them all too well. Yet the boy drew a good bow in +his first battle, and rode through Pharaoh's horsemen, dealing about him +like Nimrod himself. Go, bring him hither; and, Sethos, as you pass +through the camp, order the captain of the night to call in the watches. +So soon as the camels are loaded I shall march." + +A warrior to the very marrow, Ninus loved such minute details as the +marshalling of a vanguard, or the ordering of an encampment, better than +all the pomp of royalty; and felt more at ease in steel harness, on the +back of a good steed, than seated in purple and gold, with the royal +parasol over head, the royal sceptre in hand, an object of worship to +adoring crowds in ancient Nineveh, or even great Babylon itself. + +His son Ninyas, on the contrary, though scarcely yet verging on manhood, +was already steeped in sensuality, and a slave to that reckless +indulgence of the appetites which so soon degenerates from pleasure into +vice. His grim father perhaps would have been less patient of excesses +and outbreaks in camp and city but for the lad's exceeding beauty and +likeness to his mother, Semiramis, whose race and womanly graces were +reproduced with startling fidelity in those delicate boyish features, +that lithe symmetry of form. + +Sethos was a prime favourite with the prince, who approached his +father's tent, leaning on the cup-bearer's shoulder, in respectful +haste, denoted by his flushed face and disordered apparel. Though +careless of the displeasure with which Ninus visited such unwarlike +negligence, as he was of everything save the folly of the moment, he had +put on neither harness nor headpiece, had neither taken a spear in his +hand nor girt a sword upon his thigh. + +The old king's shaggy brows lowered till they almost hid his dull stern +eyes. + +"What maiden is this," said he, "who comes thus unveiled into the camp +of warriors? Go, take needle in hand, and busy them with cunning +embroidery if those unmanly fingers be too dainty to bear the weight of +heavier steel." + +It was death to laugh in the king's presence, death to assume any other +than the prescribed attitude with bowed head and crossed hands; +nevertheless a merry peal rang through the tent, the boy tossed the +king's goblet in the air, and caught it again, while his fresh young +voice answered lightly, + +"There is a season for all things, father, and I like fighting at the +proper time as well as old Nimrod himself. But this is a day of victory +and rejoicing. I begin it with a drink-offering to my lord the king." + +He held the cup to Sethos while he spoke, laughing to see how little of +the generous fluid was left in the wine-skin. His mirth was contagious, +and the old lion smiled a grim smile while he laid his large wrinkled +hand on the lad's shoulder, with a kindly gesture that was in itself a +caress. + +"Begone with you!" said he, "and if proven harness be too heavy for +those young bones, at least take bow and spear in hand. It was thus your +mother came riding into camp the first time I ever saw those arched +brows of hers. You have her fair face, lad, and something of her proud +spirit and wilful heart." + +He looked after the boy sadly and with a wistful shake of his head; but +just then a trumpet sounded, and the old warrior's eye gleamed, his +features assumed their usual fierce and even savage expression, while he +summoned his armour-bearer to rivet harness on his back, and the +captains of his host to take their short, stern orders for the day. + +And now the whole camp was astir. Tents were struck and camels loaded +with a rapidity only acquired by the daily repetition of such duties +under the eye of discipline and in presence of an enemy. Ere long, where +horses and beasts of burden had been loosely picketed, or wandering half +tethered amongst bundles of unbound forage, between the lines of dusky +weather-stained tents--where spears had been piled in sheaves, amongst +cooking utensils and drinking vessels--where bow and arrow, sword and +shield, helm and habergeon, had been tossed indiscriminately on +war-chariots, horse furniture, or scattered heaps of spoil--where the +movable city had seemed but a confused and disorganised mass, was fairly +marshalled the flower of an Assyrian army, perfect in formation, +splendid in equipment, and no less formidable, thus disposed in its +smooth motionless concentration, like a snake prepared to strike, than +when drawn out in winding shining lines to encircle and annihilate its +foe. + +Even the captives had their allotted station, and with the spoil were +disposed in mathematical regularity, to be guarded by a chosen band of +spears. These prisoners were of two kinds, separate and distinct in +every detail of feature, form, and bearing. The darker portion, some of +whom were so swarthy that their colour looked like bronze, scowled with +peculiar hatred on their conquerors, and, as it seemed, with the more +reason that several bore such wounds and injuries as showed they had +fought hard before they were taken alive, while a whiter-skinned and +better-favoured race, with flowing beards, high features, and stately +bearing, who kept entirely apart and to themselves, seemed to accept the +proceedings of their captors in the forbearance of conscious +superiority, not without a certain sympathy, as of those who have +interests and traditions in common with their masters. + +The admiration of all, however, was compelled by the imposing appearance +of those war-chariots and horsemen that formed the strength and pride of +an Assyrian army. + +As the old king, tottering somewhat under the weight of his harness, +appeared at the door of his tent, the entire host was set in +motion--bowmen and slingers in front, followed by a body of horsemen +glittering in scarlet and gold, raising clouds of dust, while their +trumpets sounded above the neigh and trample of those horses of the +desert that knew neither fatigue nor fear; then, with stately even +tread, marched a dark serried column of spears, bearded, curled, and +stalwart warriors, every man with shield on arm, sword on thigh, and +lance in hand; next, the war-chariots, thousands in number, with a roll +like distant thunder, as they came on in a solid mass of moving iron, +tipped with steel. After these a few priests of Baal, weary and +dejected, walking with but little assumption of sacred dignity, bore the +image of a bull and a few other idols small and portable, but formed of +molten gold. These hurried on, as if they feared to be ridden down by +the king's body-guard who succeeded them, picked champions, every one of +whom must have slain an enemy outright with his own hand, mounted on +white steeds, and glistening with shields and helmets of gold. In their +rear rode Arbaces, the captain of the host, and immediately behind him +came the chariot and led horse of the monarch himself. + +As these reached the mound on which the royal tent was pitched, the +whole force halted, and a shiver of steel ran like the ripple of a wave +along their ranks, while every man brandished his weapon over his head, +and shouted the name of the Great King. + +Ninus stood unmoved, though for an instant the wrinkles seemed less +furrowed on his brow. They gathered, however, deeper than ever, when his +quick eye caught sight of Ninyas reclining in his chariot, with his +favourite Sethos beside him, and a cup of wine half-emptied in his hand. + +The king's own chariot was in waiting; but he caused it to pass on, and +bade them bring his war-horse, a fiery animal, that came up curvetting +and champing at its bit. Sargon, with the same scowl that had never left +his face, went down on hands and knees for his lord to mount with +greater advantage from off his back, and Ninus, settling himself in the +saddle, while the war-horse plunged with a force that would have +unseated many a younger rider, looked his son fixedly in the face, +observing in a tone of marked reproach, + +"Couches for women! chariots for eunuchs! May you never learn to your +cost, boy, that his good horse is the only secure throne for an Assyrian +king!" + +Then he signed with his hand, and while trumpets rang out, and warriors +recovered their weapons, a globe of crystal, emblematic of the sun, and +suspended above the royal tent, was illumined by a priest with sacred +fire. As it flashed and kindled, the whole army set itself in motion, +and the King of Nations was once more on the march towards his last +triumph, after his last campaign. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE LUST OF THE EYE + + +Babylon the Great had pranked herself out in holiday attire, like some +loyal and splendid dame arrayed to welcome her lord. From the Gates of +Brass in her southern wall to the temple of Baal towering in her centre, +squares, streets, and terraces were hung with scarlet, blazing with +gold, and strewed knee-deep in flowers. Her population were shouting by +tens of thousands on either bank of the Euphrates, which ran through the +heart of the city, while even the broad river was dotted with boats of +every shape and colour, fantastic, gaudy, and beautiful as the exotics +on the tanks of those paradises or gardens which formed her +distinguishing characteristic and her pride. Myriads of women waved +their veils and scarfs from roof and balcony in endless perspective, +while countless children added a shriller echo to every cry of welcome +as it rose. + +It was remarkable, however, that, contrary to custom on similar +occasions, none of the weaker sex were to be seen in the streets. Such +had been the decree of the Great Queen; a decree enforced by the +presence of so strong an array of warriors as denoted the mighty +resources of an empire, which could thus furnish a formidable army at +home to receive an army of comrades returning from the frontier. + +Besides these champions of bow and spear, masses of white-robed priests +occupied the porches of every temple and every open space dedicated to +sacrifice throughout the city; while others, chosen from the servants of +Baal, and therefore under the immediate influence of Assarac, were +scattered through the crowd, conspicuous amongst the gay dresses and +glittering arms of their countrymen by their linen garment and the +lotus-flowers in their hands. + +Of these, Beladon seemed the busiest and most voluble, gliding from +group to group with plausible words and impressive gestures, which +nevertheless left on his listeners a nameless sense of dissatisfaction +in the pageant, the victory, and general results of the Egyptian +campaign. + +Amongst the warriors perhaps this discontent was most apparent, +amounting indeed to a sentiment of insubordination, which lost nothing +in strength and bitterness from the observations of the priest. + +"A feeble war," said he, addressing himself to the captain of a band of +spearmen who occupied one of the Brazen Gates--"a distant country and a +doubtful success. Few captives, I have heard, little spoil, and the +frontier remains where it was." + +"Not much to boast in the way of fighting," answered the other, a +stalwart warrior curled and bearded to the eyes. "Look at the vanguard +passing even now. Scarcely a dinted shield or a torn garment in their +ranks; every bowman with a whole skin and a quiver full of arrows at his +back. It was not thus we marched in from Bactria, when I myself could +count three scars on my breast, and one on my face that you may see +there even now; ay! and bore on my spear the head of a giant whom I slew +in sight of both armies with my own hand. Ninus laughed, and swore I +hewed at him like a wood-cutter at a broad-leafed oak in the northern +hills. I wonder if he will remember me to-day." + +"The Great King hath forgotten many a stout blow and faithful service +since then," answered Beladon. "The lion grows old now, his teeth are +gone, and his claws worn down. Ere long he will take his seat among the +Thirteen Gods, my friend, and Ninyas, his son, will reign in his stead." + +"He is a leader of promise, I have heard," said the other, "who can set +the battle in array; ay, and strike hard in the fore-front too, despite +his slender body and winsome woman's face." + +"Winsome indeed," replied Beladon, pointing upward to where the queen +sat in state on the wall amidst her people. "Is he not his mother's son? +and has he not inherited her very eyes and smile?" + +"She would make the noblest leader of the three," swore the captain of +spears. "By the serpent of Ashtaroth, she has more skill of warfare than +the Great King himself; and I have seen the Bactrians lay down their +arms and surrender without a blow, when she drove her war-horse into +their ranks. You are a priest, and priests are learned in such matters. +Have you never heard that she is something more than woman?" + +"The gods will take her to dwell with them in their own good time," +answered Beladon gravely, but smothering a smile as he reflected on +sundry feminine weaknesses and caprices of the Great Queen, freely +discussed by the priests of the inner circle in the temple of Baal. +"More than woman," he muttered, moving away to another group of +spectators--"more than woman in cunning, more than man in foresight, +more than the lion in courage, more than a goddess in beauty! The day +must come when she will rule the world! Assarac is her chief +adviser--Beladon is high in the counsels of Assarac--and so, what +matters a gash or so before an altar, a little reserve amongst the +people, compared with the prospect that opens before us, if only we were +rid of this fierce old unbeliever, who fears neither gods above nor men +below?" + +Then he moved a few paces on, and bade a listener mark how the queen had +turned the course of a stream out of her gardens round the royal palace +to fill the fountains of the city, wondering in the same breath how +Ninus would relish the alteration--Ninus, who a few years back had +levelled walls, streets, and temples to enlarge the borders of a +paradise for his game. This observation having won sufficient attention +from the crowd, he proceeded to discuss the value of provisions, a +subject of interest to all, reminding them that grain had been strangely +cheap during the king's absence from his dominions, and marvelling why +millet should have gone up in price as the conquering army advanced +nearer and nearer home. Were they better or worse for the Great King's +presence, he wanted to know; had they been athirst or ahungered while +Ninus was far away making war on the frontier; and why was it that now, +on the day of his return in triumph, they began to feel scarcity and to +be sparing of the children's bread? Men looked blankly in each other's +faces, and shook their heads for a reply; but such seed is never sown on +barren ground, and it dawned on many minds that their city, which after +all was not of his own founding, but his queen's, would have been none +the worse had the Great King never come back from the war at all. + +A hundred priests prating to the same effect in a hundred quarters +produced no contemptible result. Discontent soon grew to disloyalty, and +men who at daybreak would have asked no better than to fling themselves +in adoration under the king's chariot-wheels were now prepared to +receive him in sullen displeasure, and, as far as they dared, with +outward demonstrations of ill-will. + +Yet, like clouds before the northern breeze, all these symptoms of +disaffection were swept away by the first glitter of spears in the +desert, the first trumpet blast without the walls giving notice of his +approach--to return, when the triumph and the pageant should be over, +when the shouting and the excitement should have died away. + +There was one, however, who watched the alternations of temper in the +multitude as a steersman in shoal water watches the ebb and flow of the +tide. Assarac's keen intellect penetrated the wavering feelings of the +people, while his daring ambition aimed even at the overthrow of a +dynasty for the gratification of its pride. He had long dreaded the +return of Ninus as a check to his own power over the populace and +paramount influence with the queen. The old lion loved neither priests +nor priestcraft, and would have had small scruple in putting all the +servants of Baal to the sword, if he suspected them of treachery or +revolt. Had the army marched back from Egypt weakened and disorganised +by the fatigues of its campaign; had the numerous force within the walls +showed stronger symptoms of impatience and discontent; in short, had his +materials seemed but inflammable enough to take fire at a moment's +notice, Assarac would not have hesitated that one moment in applying a +torch to set the whole Assyrian empire in a blaze. + +But the priest, though swift to strike his blow, was also patient to +abide his time. The Great Conqueror's army marched home as it had +marched out, strong in numbers, in courage, in supplies--flushed +moreover with an easy victory and a sufficiency of spoil. Warlike +enthusiasm is of all excitement the most catching, and the hosts within +the city were fain to greet their brethren-in-arms with at least the +semblance of cordiality and good-will. Not thus on the day of his +triumph was the old lion to be taken in the toils. Assarac, in his place +of honour as high priest, standing near the queen, watched every turn of +her countenance, and bethought him that the stars in their courses +afforded no such difficult page to read as the text of a woman's heart. + +Semiramis was attired with a magnificence that, enhancing her own +unrivalled beauty, seemed to envelop her in splendour more than human. +When she raised her veil to look down on the crowd, an awe came over the +people, so that they forbore even to shout. It seemed as if Ashtaroth, +Queen of Heaven, had descended in their midst; but a single voice +finding vent at last, such a pent-up burst of cheers rose to the sky, +that her fair face turned a shade paler, and to him who was scanning it +with eager gaze of curiosity and admiration, it seemed as if a moisture +rose in her deep dark eyes. + +The shouts of the people were caught up again and again. Clad in a robe +of golden tissue, crowned with a diadem of rubies and diamonds set in +gold, wearing the star-shaped ornaments round her neck that denoted her +divine origin, and on her breast the most precious jewel in the empire, +representing a cock and a crescent-moon, emblems of that homage to the +Evil Principle which she had herself inculcated on the nation; wrapped +besides in the halo of her own surpassing beauty, it was scarce possible +to believe she was only a woman after all, of the same mould, the same +nature, the same passions, with the drudges they had left pounding corn +and drawing water at home. From gilded warrior to naked slave, from the +captain in his chariot to the leper at the wayside, not a man, as he +looked on that lovely face, but would have felt death cheaply purchased +by a kind word or a smile. And these were lavished on one who was asked +to encounter no danger--scarcely to perform an act of homage, in return. + +Sarchedon, flushed, dazzled, bewildered by the position, found himself +installed at her right hand, chief officer and prime favourite, placed +there ostensibly as bearer from the camp of the Great King's signet; in +reality, something whispered to his astonished senses, because he had +pleased the eye and taken captive the fancy of the queen. + +Many a stolen look had he intercepted that could but be interpreted as +of high favour and approval. Once she fixed her eyes on the amulet, +which, in ignorance of its ownership, he wore openly round his neck, and +seemed about to speak, but checked herself, sighing languidly, and +turning with impatience to Assarac; while she questioned him about the +details of the pageant, wondering why the vanguard, already marching in, +should be thus far in advance of the main body and the Great King. "Was +the army so encumbered with spoil? Had they so many captives? Were there +beautiful women among them? She had heard much concerning the daughters +of the South--Sarchedon could tell them--was it true the women of Egypt +were so dangerously fair?" + +Once more she bent her eyes on the young warrior, and was not displeased +to mark the colour deepen on his cheek, while bowing low he answered, +with his looks averted from her face. + +"I thought so till I returned to Babylon from the host. But a man who +has once seen the glitter of a diamond is blind thenceforth to the +lustre of meaner gems." + +"Your eyes must have been strangely dazzled," replied Semiramis with +exceeding graciousness; "and the diamond that so bewildered you--was it +rough from the mine, or cut and set in gold? Did it sparkle in the zone +of a maiden, or in the diadem of a--" She stopped short with a faint +laugh, adding in a more reserved tone, "She was no Egyptian, then, but +one of our own people, whose beauty thus reached the heart at which +Pharaoh's bowmen have been aiming in vain? Shall I press him to name +this victorious archer? Kalmim, do you plead guilty? Is it you? or you? +or you?" She looked round amongst her women while she spoke, and one +after another, trying hard to blush, bowed her modest disclaimer with +glances of admiration, not unmarked by the queen, at the warrior's +handsome face and figure, set off by the splendid armour and apparel in +which he stood. Even Semiramis, proud, conquering, almost omnipotent, +liked him none the worse that it was obvious the other women would have +liked him too, if they dared. But Assarac, ever watchful, ever jealous +of his own interests, which centred in the dignity of the Great Queen, +now interposed. + +"The land of Shinar has been the land of beauty ever since the sons of +heaven came down to woo her daughters on the mountains beyond the two +rivers," said the priest. "Even before the days of the Great Queen, has +not Ashtaroth the beautiful reigned ever goddess of the Assyrians? +Ashtaroth, with her golden crown, enrobed in streams of light!" + +"Ashtaroth trampling the lion beneath her feet!" added Semiramis, with a +curl on her lip and a dangerous glitter in her eyes. + +"Ashtaroth with the serpent in her hand," retorted Assarac, lowering his +voice to a meaning whisper. "The emblem of cunning, stratagem, and true +wisdom. Think not it is her star-like beauty, her golden crown, her +lustrous robes, that dominate the world. No; it is the counsel of the +serpent she carries in her hand!" + +The queen flung up her head. "I require no counsels," said she, "from +priest or serpent. When I spear the wild bull, I ride my horse freely +against his front. When I shoot the lion, I aim mine arrow straight at +his heart. Warriors bolder than the wild bull, fiercer than the lion, +must needs go down before the weapons of Semiramis!" + +It had been an ungraceful boast, but for the sweet smile, the soft +glance, that accompanied her words, causing them to convey a loving +invitation rather than a warlike defiance. + +Sarchedon's heart was thrilling and his brain burning. The sweet +intoxication of vanity possessed the one, the fiery spark of ambition +kindled in the other. He muttered low, that "to be slain and trampled +under foot by the Great Queen was a nobler lot than to drive a +war-chariot over prostrate nations," and was raising his eyes to learn +how the humility of such an avowal would be received, when his face +turned pale, and he started like a man who leaps to his feet at the +approach of danger. + +Not half a bowshot off, looking fixedly towards him, was the gentle +troubled face of Ishtar, on the terrace of her father's palace, watching +for the chief captain's return. + +The queen did not fail to detect his agitation and its cause. Her eyes +flashed, her delicate mouth shut close on the instant as if with a +clasp, her features set themselves like a mask, a beautiful mask, but of +the hardest steel. So looked she when she rode the lion down and pierced +him to the heart; so looked she when she urged her chariot through the +ranks of an enemy, over heaps of slain; so looked she when she +administered justice from the Great King's tribunal, and turned pitiless +from a suppliant pleading hard for life. The glance she shot at the +daughter of Arbaces was that of an unhooded falcon eyeing the gazelle +upon the plains. + +And at the same moment glances, pleading, passionate, longing, as of +that same gazelle when she nears the desert-spring, were directed +towards Ishtar from a gorgeous chariot passing slowly in pompous march +of triumph through the Brazen Gate, while veils were waved, steel +brandished, and the acclamations of ten thousand voices rose higher and +higher; for in that chariot stood their future king, the young Ninyas, a +living reflection of his mother, bright, delicate, and beautiful as the +queen herself. + +She marked her son's admiration of the pale fair girl; she marked +Sarchedon's uneasiness; but whatever thoughts were busy in her royal and +lovely head, she looked abroad into the desert and held her peace. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PRIDE OF LIFE + + +As the glittering procession defiled in proud array through the gates of +that imperial city, Babylon might well be proud of her children. The +most warlike nation on earth had assembled to greet the flower of its +army returning from conquest; and the warriors of the old king bore +themselves like men who are conscious they deserve the meed of triumph +accorded to their fellows. Each black-browed spearman, so bold of +feature, so open-eyed, so curled and bearded, stalwart of limb and +stately of gesture, marched with haughty step and head erect, as though +he felt himself the picked and chosen champion of a host. Archers and +slingers assumed the staid dignity of veteran captains, while the very +horses that drew the war-chariots champed, snorted, and swelled their +crests as if they too were conscious of the reputation it behoved them +to uphold. + +Far as stretched the triumph--so far indeed that its van had already +reached the temple of Baal, while its rearguard was yet below the +sky-line of the desert--every link in that chain of victory afforded +some object of interest, admiration, or pride to the spectators. These +were the bows that had been bent to such purpose in their first pitched +battle with the ancient enemy, when Egypt was worsted and driven back +upon the Nile. Those strong and stately spearmen, so bronzed, so +scarred, so splendid in dress and armour, were the very warriors who had +withstood the fury of all Pharaoh's chariots and horsemen, nor yielded +one cubit of ground, though sore out-numbered and beset, while they +covered the Great King's passage of that famous river. Close in their +rear, with clang of trumpet, clash of steel, and ring of bridle, came +trampling four abreast the famous horsemen of Assyria; and men told each +other, with kindling eyes and eager gestures, how the steeds that drank +from the Tigris and the Euphrates had charged to the gates of Memphis +and been stabled in the temples of the Stork. + +Next, with horses gorgeously caparisoned, trapped, plumed, and stepping +daintily under the rein, rolled on the terrible war-chariots of iron, +that, with their scythes of steel, mowed down the ranks of an enemy in +broad swathes of slaughter where they passed. Each car, besides its +charioteer, held a heavily-armed warrior under shield, with bow and +arrows, sword and spear; three horses plunged abreast, two of which were +harnessed to the chariot, while a third, linked only with its fellows to +the bridle, was driven along-side in readiness to replace a maimed or +fallen steed. This formidable array, which struck with awe even the +accustomed senses of the bystanders, was compared by them to the chest +and body of the army, while the horsemen represented its limbs and feet. + +Immediately in rear of that moving mass of metal rode the captain of the +host, less distinguished for splendour of array than personal dignity of +bearing and such a noble face as must have been beautiful in youth. To +please his fierce old master, he followed the example of Ninus, and +abandoned his chariot for the back of so goodly a steed as could only +have been bred in the plain between the rivers. If a thousand +acclamations rent the air while this stately veteran came galloping on, +managing his war-horse with all the grace and pliancy of youth, they +were increased tenfold when he drew rein beneath the terrace where stood +Ishtar and her maidens, halting for a moment, while he looked fondly +upward at his daughter and his home. + +With the gesture of a child, she stretched out her arms towards him, as +if she would fain have leaped down into his embrace. Sarchedon, looking +on her from the wall, was but one of many thousands who felt her +innocent beauty thrill to his very heart. Nevertheless, Assarac, +narrowly watching Semiramis, observed her cheek turn a shade paler, +while the hard pitiless expression came back to the queen's unrivalled +face. + +Arbaces made no long delay. Waving his hand towards his daughter, and +glancing proudly round on his applauding countrymen, he paced slowly on, +while a whisper ran through the crowd: + +"Stand close--here they come! Welcome to the golden helmets! Honour to +the guards of the Great King!" + +Two by two, mounted on white horses with scarlet trappings, arrayed in +silks of white and scarlet, with shields and helmets of burnished gold, +came flashing on this picked and chosen body--every man of whom, +selected for strength and beauty, must also have distinguished himself +by an attested act of daring in the field. In their centre floated their +standard, likewise of scarlet, and on its folds was embroidered in gold +the figure of Merodach, god of war, standing on a bull with a drawn bow +in his hand. The arms of these champions were bare to the elbow, their +legs to the knee; but their persons were otherwise defended by close +scale armour, thickly inlaid with gold; precious jewels studded the belt +and pommel of each man's sword, and the shaft of his spear; the fringes +of their gowns were inordinately long, their beards and hair elaborately +curled and perfumed. It was evident that these guards of royalty +esteemed themselves no less ornaments than champions of the Assyrian +host. + +Sarchedon's eyes flashed, and his cheek glowed with pleasure while they +passed. He was proud to think that these were his own special comrades +and brethren-in-arms; that it was from their glittering ranks he had +been detached with the royal signet and tidings of the Great King's +return. + +The queen marked his enthusiasm; and, bending kindly towards him, +demanded in a soft voice, scarce above a whisper: + +"Who are these, Sarchedon? To my eye, they seem the goodliest and +best-favoured men in the armies of Assyria." + +"They are my comrades," he answered proudly; "the guards of the Great +King: the meanest of us holds himself equal to a leader of ten thousand. +Arbaces Tartan[3] is our captain, as he is captain of the host." + +[Footnote 3: Tartan, the general in command.] + +"And Sarchedon would look nobly at their head," she answered, with one +of her bewildering smiles. "It may come to pass yet for him who knows +when to strike and when to forbear. Hush! there are higher destinies +written in the stars than the posting of a few tinselled spearmen to +watch the slumbers of a king!" + +He was equal to the occasion. O, heart of man! so strong and bold when +beset by danger or privation, so weak and untenable when assailed on the +side of vanity! He replied in a low and trembling voice, "It is honour +enough for me. Yet is there one post I would rather hold--one watch I +would give my life to keep, if only for a day!" + +"You shall not pay so dear a price!" she answered gently. "Take a lesson +from the amulet on your own breast. See how that loving bird follows the +arrow's flight. So long as her career is upward, the shaft can never +pierce her heart. 'Tis a fair and precious jewel--let no temptation lead +you to part from it. I will examine it more closely hereafter." + +"It is my queen's!" he exclaimed. "As is my life, and all I have." + +"Keep it till I require it of you," was the answer. "And now tell me, +Sarchedon, amongst these goodly warriors, whom think you the fairest and +the comeliest?" + +"There are none in all the host to be compared with him now passing +beneath us in his chariot," said Sarchedon boldly. "None other face of +man or woman half so fair--but one!" + +Such words conveyed no mental reservation--though his own heart told him +he had over shot the truth. But punishment for his duplicity followed +quickly on the offence. + +Another of those rare smiles stole over the queen's face, as the +acclamations of the multitude rose higher than before to greet him who +must hereafter be their king; and Ninyas, reclining in his chariot, +accepted with indolent good-humour that loud and boisterous welcome. +His shield and spear were laid aside--his bow and quiver hung at the +back of the chariot. On his head, from which the dark curls were combed +back so daintily, he wore no helmet of defence--only a light linen tiara +bound by a circlet of gold. Robes of violet silk floated loosely round +his exquisite shape and womanly roundness of limb, while he carried a +jewelled drinking-cup, long since emptied, in his hand. It was the +attire--the attitude--the appearance of a votary of pleasure hastening +to the banquet, rather than of a tired warrior returning from the field. +Nevertheless, it may be that a character for prowess, cheaply earned +enough by a king's son in battle, lost nothing of its value among the +thoughtless crowd, for an affectation of effeminacy, only excusable in +one of such youth, beauty, and reputed valour. The queen, looking down +on him well-pleased, could not refrain from exclaiming: + +"My son is indeed comely! Yet is it the comeliness of a woman rather +than a man." + +"There is but one woman on earth more fair," whispered Assarac in her +ear. "Nevertheless, were she down yonder in male attire on a +war-chariot, and he sitting amongst us here in the royal robes of a +queen, I doubt if the change would be suspected by one of all that +countless multitude now gazing in admiration on both." + +She started, not expecting to receive her answer from the priest, and +bent her brows in deep thought, mingled with displeasure, as she +observed the uneasiness of Sarchedon, eagerly watching certain movements +going on below. + +Guiding the horses, by the side of Ninyas, sat Sethos, the king's +cup-bearer, who being in high favour with his young lord usually +accompanied him in his chariot, both to battle and to the chase. Perhaps +not entirely without a purpose, he drew rein immediately under the +terrace where stood Ishtar and her maidens, at the instant when a posy +of flowers, projected innocently enough by the damsel herself, came +whirling down at the feet of her future king. + +Ninyas looked up quickly; and even in that moment of vexation Sarchedon +could not but remark the winning smile, that, brightening all his face, +enhanced her son's extraordinary resemblance to Semiramis. + +The young prince lifted the flowers, and put them to his lips with a +graceful salutation. Then he bent his head to Sethos, and the latter, +taking the cup from his lord's hand, flung it deftly upward so as to +light on the terrace within a cubit of where the damsel stood. + +"Keep it for the sake of Ninyas," called out the giver, as he bowed his +head once more; whispering in the ear of Sethos, while the chariot moved +slowly on, "That comely maiden, pale and tender like a lily in a +paradise, is better worth the taking than all the beauty of Egypt, +captives of our bow and spear." + +"And my lord has won her with an empty cup," answered laughing Sethos. +"When he flings aside the maiden, like the goblet, may I be there to +catch her ere she falls!" + +Though the populace applauded loudly, as it was natural they should +applaud such an action of mingled gallantry, condescension, and +insolence, a shudder crept over Ishtar from head to heel, and she moved +the skirt of her garment to avoid touching that gift of a future +monarch, as if it had been some noxious reptile in her path. + +Semiramis did not fail to note how the daughter of Arbaces shot more +than one imploring glance at Sarchedon, that seemed to deprecate a +jealousy of which she was aware, while conscious of not being answerable +for its cause. It was perhaps more in character with the spite of a +woman than the dignity of a queen that she should have leant towards the +young warrior, and addressed him with such marked demonstrations of +favour as could not fail to be observed by Ishtar, whose perceptions and +feelings were now strung to their highest pitch. + +She might even have shown him greater condescension than was either +royal or prudent, but for the renewed intervention of Assarac, who once +more took possession of her ear, speaking so as to be heard by the queen +alone. + +"My directions have been carried out," he whispered, "and of every +hundred men assembled in the streets, ten are warriors and four are +priests. The people admire, but partake not in the triumph; they shout, +but their hearts go forth less freely than their voices. There is +discontent abroad, and even displeasure, relating to this conquest of +my lord the king. The men of war who have gone down with him to battle +are like to be ill-satisfied with their share of spoil. Those who have +remained within the walls already jeer and point the finger at the +unhacked armour and whole skins of their returning comrades. Our own +followers, servants of Baal and prophets of the grove, whisper strange +auguries, and the stars themselves declare that Ninus is destined ere +long to take his place among the gods. Caution, Great Queen! caution! I +must away on the instant, to be in readiness at the head of a thousand +priests who will receive the king on the steps before the temple. He +loves not such receptions, and holds but little with offerings and +sacrifices to the gods; nevertheless, even Ninus must not, _dare_ not, +beard the whole host of heaven in this their very stronghold. He will +make the ceremony short and simple as he can, however, and every priest +that ever laid knife to his own flesh before an altar will feel outraged +and aggrieved. You have the Great King's signet. Keep it safely. That +jewelled toy is worth ten thousand chariots of iron and as many +horsemen. Behold, the guards have now passed on. See what a handful of +priests are pacing with his chariot--an empty chariot, too; and look how +few in number and scant in metal are the molten gods that go before him +to battle. He comes. I say again, Caution, Great Queen! caution! and for +a space forbear!" + +Pointing his warning with an expressive glance towards Sarchedon, +Assarac bowed reverently and withdrew. + +Semiramis turned a shade paler, and for one moment a shudder seemed to +creep from her brow even to her feet. The next she stood forth to mark +her lord's approach, erect and beautiful, the stateliest queen, as she +was the fairest woman, in the world. + +Immediately in rear of the royal standard passed on the war-chariot of +the Great King, containing his charioteer and shield-bearer. Sargon's +lowering brow was black as night, and to the vociferous greetings of his +countrymen he returned but a silent scowl. In the brief space that had +elapsed since the cruel slaughter of his son, the man's nature seemed +wholly changed. His very beard, formerly so black and glossy, was +streaked with grey, and the dark eyes now dull and downcast, glowed +with lurid light as though from some inner fire. Few, however, remarked +this alteration in the aspect of the shield-bearer; for with the first +glimpse of Ninus, shouts of jubilee rose once more from the people, and +in that moment of enthusiasm, assembled Babylon could not have afforded +a fuller, fairer welcome to mighty Nimrod himself. + +The Great King came on at a foot's pace, reining his steed with that +craft of practised horsemanship which outlasts failing sight, lost +activity, and bodily powers impaired by age. His large, gaunt frame, +though bowed and tottering, swayed easily to every motion of his steed; +his broad loose hands, though numbed and stiff, closed with unimpaired +skill on spear and bridle; while ever and anon, with some vociferous +cheer or stirring trumpet-call, the drooping head went up, the dim eye +sparkled, and for a space in which bow might have been drawn or +sword-blow stricken, Ninus looked again the champion warrior of the +world. + +The king had abstained from all outward pomp of attire or panoply; he +wore neither diadem nor tiara, but a steel helmet, much dinted and +battered, guarded his brow. Save for the lion's head embossed in its +centre, his shield was the plainest, as it was the most defaced, that +passed into Babylon that day; while neither his horse's trappings nor +his own accoutrements could compare in splendour with those of his +guards who preceeded him on the march. But his sword was a span longer, +his spear some shekels heavier, than any other in the whole Assyrian +host, and none, looking on that renowned conqueror, so formidable even +in decay, but would have recognised him for the bravest and mightiest +fighter of his time. + +Slowly, sternly he came on, receiving the homage and acclamations of his +people with a royal indifference not far removed from scorn. The press +of chariots, the clash of steel, all the wild tumult and fierce music of +battle, could scarcely now call the light to his eye, the colour to his +visage. What was a mere peaceful triumph but an unmeaning pageant, a +protracted and somewhat wearisome dream? His grim old features sank and +lowered till it seemed to the nearer bystanders that they were looking +on a corpse in mail. + +But once the Great King's face brightened, the blood rushed redly to his +cheek, and his strong hand shook so on the bridle, that his good horse, +accepting the signal, bounded freely in the air. Then he turned ghastly +pale, drawing his breath hard, and trembling like a maiden or a child. + +Beaming down on him from the wall with her own bright smile, he saw the +face that had haunted him in those long night-watches for many a weary +month--the face that, of all on earth, had alone made itself a home in +his fierce old heart. + +The wild joy of battle was indeed over, but for him the calm of peace +had come at last. From his saddle where he sat to the wall whence she +smiled down on him, not a score of spear-lengths divided him from +Semiramis, looking fonder and more beautiful than she had ever appeared +even in his lonely dreams. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A BANQUET OF WINE + + +On the first night of his return from conquest, it was customary for an +Assyrian king, his captains, and chief officers of state to be received +by his consort with a banquet, offered to their special entertainment. +The stars were already out, the moon was rising from the desert, when a +thousand torches, flaring on the summer night, lit up the central court +of the royal residence with a fierce red glow, vivid as the light of +day. It brought out in strange grotesque relief the gigantic sculptures +on the wall, till winged bull, man-faced lion, and eagle-headed deity +seemed but fleeting flickering shadows, that moved, threatened, and +retired as the night breeze rose and fell. It played in variegated hues +on the columns of porphyry and jaspar that supported the upper story, +blackening the remote recesses of its lofty chambers, while marble +pillar, shaft of alabaster, carving, cornice, and capital blushed in +crimson flame. It shed a ruddier lustre on wine, fruit, and flowers, the +rich profusion of a royal table, glittering from massive chalice and +ancient flagon, blazing in jewelled cup and vase of burnished gold. The +brilliant gems, the costly robes, the stately figures of those noble +guests, were enhanced tenfold by its power; while the king's wan face +showed paler, fiercer, ghastlier than ever, in that strong searching +glare. + +The procession had been long, the triumph protracted and wearisome; +sacrifices offered, not ungrudgingly, to the gods, had delayed him with +observances he loathed, ceremonials he despised; and Ninus had been in +the saddle since daybreak. It was not strange then that Arbaces, his +chief captain, sitting over against him, should have felt his heart sink +while he looked on the ashy war-worn face, from which he had so often +gathered counsel and resource, picturing to himself that he saw a dead +monarch presiding, stark and grim, at his own funeral feast. + +The king sat for a while with his head sunk on his breast, to all +appearance thoroughly out-wearied and overcome; but after Sethos had +filled his cup more than once, a feeble light came into his eyes, while +he glared around with a haughty air of inquiry, that seemed rather to +threaten the absent than welcome those who were present at his festival. +He looked sternly satisfied, however, with the number and importance of +his guests--men who formed the props of his throne and the very bulwarks +of his empire. There was Arbaces, captain of the host, firm in position +as in character, a sage counsellor, a skilful leader, and a stout man of +war in close fight, hand to hand; there was Sargon, his shield-bearer, +who slew before the gates of Memphis, in single combat, seven Egyptian +champions, one by one, and vowed in the hearing of both armies, that as +he had sacrificed these to the Seven Stars, so would he take life after +life from the host of Pharaoh till the Consulting Gods, the Judges of +the World, and each of the Assyrian deities, had been propitiated with a +victim. Scowling and silent, Sargon sat apart at the banquet; and a keen +eye, scanning him warily and by stealth, noted the seal of murder set +upon his brow. + +There was Assarac too, the scheming priest, unwarlike indeed in form and +nature, yet owning a more daring spirit, a more enduring courage, than +the fiercest archer who ever drew bow from a war-chariot--Assarac, +present in virtue of his office to pour out drink-offerings, to peer +into the divining cup if required, above all, to watch with jealous +supervision the temper and opinions of those who surrounded the king. +Though aware that Ninus disliked, suspected, and would have put him to +death without scruple, his eye never quailed, nor did his speech falter; +and when he raised his goblet, filled to its brim, the eunuch's hand was +firm and steady as a rock. + +These last-named persons, with the older leaders and captains of ten +thousand, were placed near the king; but scores of younger warriors, +rising in fame, comely in person, and splendid in apparel, thronged the +lower and more noisy extremity of the board. Over these, amongst whom +Sarchedon was not the least remarkable, presided Ninyas, distinguished +no less for his beautiful face and magnificent attire than for his deep +draughts, reckless hilarity, and boisterous freedom of discourse. + +"Once more in Babylon," said he, "after months of toil and heat, and +worst of all, that torturing thirst! After those weary marches by day, +those endless watches by night, welcome to the land of palm and +pomegranate, peace and plenty, women and wine! What say you, Sarchedon? +Well, I trow that, being of his guard, your duty bids you echo the Great +King. The old lion cannot hear you where you sit; you may speak the +truth freely as if you were reading the Seven Stars. Confess, now. None +but a fool would go forth in warfare who could stay to revel and sleep +at home." + +Sarchedon, though familiar with camps, was also no stranger to the +usages of a palace. + +"My lord did not seem of so peaceful a mind," he answered, "while he +drove his war-chariot through the archers who lined her vineyards when +we invested the city of Pasht, or it had cost us a weary siege ere we +broke in pieces the idols of the Cat!" + +"Well said, Sarchedon!" was the vain-glorious reply. "Why did we not +push on, as I advised? By the gods of my fathers, I swear to you, that +if Ninyas had been your leader but for one week, rather than the Great +King, he would have left the Ethiopians to lose themselves amongst the +marches in our rear, fought a pitched battle on the plain by the sweet +river, and you and I would have been drinking wine of Eshcol in the +palace of Pharaoh at this moment." + +It may be that Sarchedon had his own opinion of the strategy which +should have conduced to so triumphant a result. He answered gravely +enough: + +"My lord confessed even now that he was far better in the palaces of +Babylon. Is he not satisfied with the spoil, the captives, and the +cheers of the people? They lifted up their voices when he passed to-day +as it had been great Nimrod himself." + +"The lazy drones!" laughed his well-pleased listener. "When I come to +rule, they shall have something more to do than shout, I promise them. +Reach me that flagon, I pray you--nay, hold! I am like my scoffing old +sire, in one respect at least--I pour all drink-offerings down my own +throat! No; what pleased me best to-day was neither spoil nor glory nor +the voices of fools. It was the face of a maiden sweeter than the +honeysuckle and fairer than the rose. Did you not mark her Sarchedon? or +were you so busy in attendance on the queen, my mother, that you had +eyes for none beside?" + +Stifling the hideous misgivings that rose like a flood in his heart, +Sarchedon answered with forced calmness: + +"My lord must have passed to-day under the glances of a thousand +damsels, and every one his handmaid. The comeliest of all were standing +behind Kalmim, in attendance on the Great Queen." + +"You are blind! by the beak of Nisroch, you must be blind!" exclaimed +the excitable young prince. "Take Kalmim herself--for when she has tired +her head and painted her eyes she is the best of them, since the queen +loves not too much beauty so near her own--but take Kalmim, I say, and +tell me whether she shows not like a camel beside a courser when you +compare her with the daughter of Arbaces. O! never bend your brows and +look so scared towards the chief captain. He cannot hear us up there; +and, by the belt of Ashur, the king's voice raised in anger is enough to +deafen a man in both ears! What can have chafed the old lion to make him +roar so fiercely, even over his food?" + +In truth, the deep harsh tones of Ninus, loud and overbearing, were +heard above the ring of flagons, the clatter of tongues, all the din +that accompanies a feast--even above the vibration of the lyre, the roll +of the drum, the soft sweet music floating on the night air from an +unseen gallery, far off amongst the pillared corridors that surrounded +the open court. + +Like the lion to which his graceless son compared him, Ninus was lashing +himself into rage. His theme was the rapacity of priests, and, to use +his own words, the extortions of the gods. + +"Ten thousand of you!" roared the old warrior, turning fiercely on +Assarac, of whom he had asked a question relating to certain details of +the day's pageant. "Ten thousand demons! and for Baal alone. By the +beard of Nimrod, he should be better served than any of us his +descendants, who must needs feed the hungry swarming brood. And you +would have me believe that there are gods as many as stars in heaven? +Hear him, Arbaces! You and I have set armies in array ere this, so +strong that our trumpets in the centre carried no sound to the horsemen +on the wings; but if we are to have a thousand gods, and every god ten +thousand priests, it will pass your skill and mine to devise how such a +multitude may be ranged in order of battle. And one company of my bowmen +would put them all to flight ere you could ride a furlong! Ten thousand +priests of Baal! Ten thousand vultures tearing at a dead carcass! I trow +there will be little left for the desert-falcon that struck the prey. +You read the stars, forsooth, and can foretell the future easily as I +can forget the past! Go to! Will you compute me the share of spoil I am +likely to assign to-morrow for your entertainment and the altars of your +gods?" + +Without compromising one jot of his own dignity, the wily eunuch's +answer was yet temperate and respectful to the Great King. + +"My lord is himself the child of Ashur and of Baal--the father gives +freely to the son, requiring only honour and reverence in return." + +"Fill my cup!" thundered the king to Sethos, who ministered hastily to +his wants. "I have not found it so," he continued, harping still on the +theme that thus chafed him. "The honour and reverence I pay them +willingly, though they keep me standing long enough in their temples, +and, perhaps because they sit so far off, it seems hard to make them +hear. But if honour and reverence are to signify, sheep and oxen, wine, +jewels, raiment of needlework and heaps of treasure, they have had their +share from Ninus--henceforth I will follow the example of those poor +slaves we found in Egypt, the captives of our captives, who worship but +one God, and offer him neither silver nor gold!" + +"Therefore are they but servants to the servants of my lord the king," +replied Assarac, unabashed by the frowns of Ninus and the open derision +of certain veterans, who took their creed from their leader, as they +took their orders--without comment or inquiry. + +"Prate not to me!" was the angry answer; "I have scores of them down +yonder bound in the outer court amongst my Egyptian captives. I cannot +tell, Arbaces, what hinders me now, this moment, from sending you with a +handful of spearmen to clear his temple of its white-robed locusts, and +drive in these strangers, Egyptians and all, to worship Baal in their +stead." + +The chief captain, who to certain scruples of religion added those of +custom, policy, and propriety, would have ventured on expostulation; but +Assarac interposed. + +"The gods, thy fathers, who look upon us to-night!" said he, in a stern +loud voice, that awed even Ninyas and the younger revellers into +attention while he pointed gravely upward where the stars were shining +down in their eternal splendour on all the royal magnificence and +glittering profusion of that feast in the open court. + +At the same moment, sweeping round the outer walls of the palace, +vibrating through its long corridors and lofty painted chambers, there +rose a cry, so wild, so pitiful, so unearthly, that it arrested the +goblet in each man's hand, froze the jest on his lip, and curdling the +blood in his veins, caused him to sit mute and petrified, as if turned +to stone. + +The Great King started, and bade Arbaces summon up his guard; but +Assarac's voice was heard once more, solemn and majestic in its notes of +warning and reproach. + +"The gods, thy fathers!" he repeated, looking Ninus sternly in the face, +"who have spared the blasphemer, but visited his sin on the innocent +cause thereof. Hear those Egyptian prisoners mourning for a comrade this +moment passed away, wearied and out-worn by a toilsome march to the +house of his captivity, stricken and thrust through by the iron that has +entered into his soul!" + +It was indeed such a wail of bereavement and despair as was to rise +hereafter through all its length and breadth in the land of the South, +because of the terrible punishment that visited her people, "from +Pharaoh that sat on the throne to the captive that was in the +dungeon"--on that awful night, the climax of successive judgments, when +"there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there +was not one dead." + +As these long-drawn notes of woe swelled, sank, and swelled again, the +king's first emotions of horror were succeeded by a fresh outbreak of +wrath. It might have gone hard with the sorrowing herd of captives, and +perhaps not one had been left to mourn for another, but that the old +lion's fury, redoubled by its momentary check, was at this juncture +wholly diverted and appeased. A burst of music, so loud, so full, so +jubilant, that it drowned all other noises in its grand triumphant +swell, announced the entrance of Semiramis; and like the Queen of Heaven +rising from the dark back-ground of night, this Queen of Assyria, +blazing in jewels, and robed in the light of her incomparable beauty, +stood forth a shining vision from the black shadows of the gateway, to +move with stately step and slow through long lines of admiring +revellers, ere she made her royal obeisance before the throne of gold, +where sat the Great King. While she traversed the lower end of the +court, Assyria's chosen warriors, the goodliest men of all the East, +rose from the board and bent them low in courtly reverence, like a bed +of garden-flowers doing homage to the south wind as it passes by. With a +mother's love and a queen's dignity, she laid her hand on the shoulder +of her son Ninyas, while he bowed himself before her; but it was a +feeling stronger than the one, and but little in accordance with the +other, that bade her pause by the side of Sarchedon and whisper tenderly +in his ear. + +He started, colouring to his temples--two or three young warriors +glanced enviously at their favoured comrade; but it was dangerous to +observe too narrowly the motions of royalty, and each man fixed his eyes +in deep humility on the hem of her garment as Semiramis moved proudly +on. + +Ninus stirred uneasily where he sat. He would fain have risen to meet +his queen, and taken her in his gaunt embrace to the fierce old heart +that knew no other want; but such an innovation was not to be thought of +even by the conqueror of the East, and he could only reach towards her +the golden sceptre that lay on a cushion at his feet. + +While she pressed it to her fair white brow, there came a light in the +old king's haggard face that told of the loving spark too often kindled +but to be quenched in sorrow, the blind trust born to be betrayed, the +fond unreasoning pride in another that goeth before a fall. + +This final ceremony broke up the banquet. With loud peals of music, the +king and queen, waited on by their personal attendants, betook them to +their respective dwellings, between which ran the Euphrates, though +under the broad river a tunnelled passage afforded free communication +from one to the other. Arbaces and Sargon followed closely behind their +lord, as Kalmim and her group of women accompanied the queen. Ninyas, +pushing round a mighty flagon, called Sethos to his side, and swore he +would not stir till midnight; an intention loudly applauded by many of +the younger revellers, who gathered joyously round their prince. In the +change of places that ensued, Sarchedon made his escape from the +banquet, hastening through the outer gates to cool his brow in the night +air, while he communed with his own perplexed aspiring heart. + +The queen's soft breath seemed still upon his neck, her whisper +thrilling in his ear. What could she mean? "Follow the shaft! Fly on, +fly upward!" Was it possible? Could the stars have written for him such +a destiny as these words seemed to imply, or was he deceiving himself +like a fool? And how was this upward flight to be accomplished? A +thousand wild impossible longings and fancies filled his brain, but +shining calmly through them all, like the moon amidst clouds and +storm-wrack veiling a troubled sea, rose the gentle image of the girl he +really loved. Could he give her up? Must it so soon come to an end, +this dream, so short, so sweet, so cruel in its hour of waking? At any +risk he was resolved to see her once again; that very night, that very +hour, before the gods had time to cast his lot for him without recall. +He hurried, like a ghost, through the shadows of the silent courts +towards the palace of Arbaces. + +But Ninyas, while he filled cup and emptied flagon, by no means lost +sight of those interests and pleasures which, in his royal opinion, +constituted the chief advantages of his station as a prince. Sarchedon +had not moved ten paces from his seat to leave the revellers, ere the +king's son whispered to the king's cup-bearer, "Follow him, Sethos. A +wise hunter never loses sight of his hound till he pulls down the deer." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LIKE TO LIKE + + +Deep in his own thoughts, and wholly unconscious he was watched, +Sarchedon hurried through the outskirts of the palace, traversing, with +one passing glance of curiosity and compassion, an open space in which +the Israelitish and Egyptian captives lay bound. The voice of mourning +was hushed at last among these sufferers, save where some weeping woman, +waking, as it were, to a sense of intolerable misery, pressed both hands +against her throat, and thus enhanced the long vibrations of that dismal +wail--so piteous, so keen, so thrilling, that it stirred the very jackal +in his lair amongst the vineyards without the city walls. + +Groups of these prisoners sat or grovelled on the ground, in attitudes +expressive of the utmost sorrow and desolation. Here was a wounded +archer, one of Pharaoh's choicest marksmen, gnawing his bonds in +impotent rage and shame, while he cursed the javelin that disabled +him--the comrades who had fled and abandoned him to be taken +captive--the gods in all their different earthly shapes of goose, bull, +falcon, stork, and locust, whom he had worshipped faithfully by the +Nile, that they might leave him here in Babylon to die. There was a +cluster of children, the elder sleeping the calm lovely sleep of youth, +the youngest prattling, laughing, stretching its little arms towards the +stars. And beside them, on her knees, their tawny mother, with head +bowed down, dark eyes fixed, dim but tearless, and thoughts far away in +the South, by a rude hut raised on props above the river, where last she +saw him stark, motionless, and gashed from brow to breastplate, the +lover of her girlhood, the husband of her heart, the father of those +dear ones, dragged, without hope of return, into the land of their +captivity. Wherever grieved a dark-skinned mourner, from brawny warrior +to tender maiden, there seemed to be embodied the very abandonment of +woe; while a few Ethiopians, surprised by hazard amongst Pharaoh's +auxiliaries, before they had time to run away, wept and bemoaned +themselves, with a force of lungs and vehemence of gesture, so unbridled +as to border on the grotesque. + +But somewhat apart, treated, as it would seem, by their Assyrian +conquerors with less rigour than the rest, a handful of prisoners had +disposed themselves, with scrupulous attention to decency of attitude +and bearing. Conversing little, and only to each other, their low tones +were forcible and expressive; their demeanour, grave and gentle, was +marked with a certain sad dignity and grace. Though dark of beard and +hair, they were far less swarthy in complexion than their fellow +sufferers, and while nobler of stature and fuller of limb, lacked the +sinuous ease and pliancy of movement so remarkable in the slender +Egyptian. Their high features, kindling eyes, and curved nostrils +partook of the peculiar beauty general amongst their present masters; +but they showed none of the haughty self-assertion, the lofty warlike +bearing, of the fierce Assyrian race. Such kin they seemed to their +conquerors as the dog to the wolf, the ossifrage to the eagle, the +patient ox in the furrow to the fiery wild-bull of the fell. + +Presently silence came over them, and taking advantage of the laxity of +their fetters, one and all rose to their feet and stood erect. Then he +who seemed eldest and gravest spoke a few words in a loud solemn voice, +to which the others listened attentively, responding at intervals, with +heads sunk on their breasts. Sarchedon, hastening past, had yet time to +observe their motions, and marvelled, in his own mind, if this could be +a religious ceremonial, thus divested of all pomp and outward form; no +sacrifice of blood, nor drink-offering poured out, nor altar +raised,--only deep awe and reverence impressed on every face, courage, +love, and trust beaming in each worshipper's eyes. The white robe of a +priest of Baal flitted through the darkness round the circle; but +Sarchedon's heart was filled with a sentiment that left no room for +interest or curiosity, save on one subject, and he sped towards his +goal, longing only for the moment that should bring him face to face +with her he loved. + +The moon was low in the sky, yet gave light enough to have guided him on +his way, even had not every step of it been familiar as the handle of +his sword. Was it strange he should have found so readily a path that +led to the home of Ishtar? that he should have had access to the roof of +a dwelling adjoining the palace of Arbaces? that the girl herself should +have been restless, unable to sleep, and fevered with a desire to spread +her carpets and cushions under the sky in the cool night air by the +parapet of her father's house? + +No, it was not strange; and the reason seemed simple enough as explained +in a low measured chant, by a rich sweet voice--richer and sweeter that +it was toned down and suppressed--which thrilled and scorched through +every fibre of the young girl's being, while Sarchedon poured forth his +heart in passionate pleading conveyed through the fanciful imagery of +the East. + + "I pass'd without the city gate, + I linger'd by the way; + The palm was bending to her mate, + And thus I heard her say, + + 'The arrow to the quiver, + And the wild bird to the tree; + The stream to meet the river, + And the river to the sea. + The waves are wedded on the beach, + The shadows on the lea; + And like to like, and each to each, + And I to thee. + + 'The cedar on the mountain, + And the bramble in the brake; + The willow by the fountain, + And the lily on the lake; + The serpent coiling in its lair, + The eagle soaring free, + Draw kin to kin, and pair to pair, + And I to thee. + + 'For everything created + In the bounds of earth and sky, + Hath such longing to be mated, + It must couple, or must die. + The wind of heaven beguiles the leaf, + The rose invites the bee; + The sickle hugs the barley-sheaf, + And I love thee. + By night and day, in joy and grief, + Do thou love me?' + + The palm was bending to her mate, + I marked her meaning well; + And pass'd within the city gate, + The fond old tale to tell." + +When he ceased, she rose on him like a ghost, from behind the parapet. +In another moment her veil was up, her sweet lips parted in a greeting +that was rather breathed than spoken, and both hands were abandoned to +the caresses of her lover. + +"Ishtar," he murmured, "queen of my heart! I scarcely dared to hope, and +yet I _knew_ I should find you here." + +"I thought not you would come," she whispered, for a girl's modesty +thinks no shame to veil with ingenuous falsehood the truth of which she +is really proud. "But I could not sleep--I could not rest under a +roof--the war is over--my own dear father has returned safe. O +Sarchedon! this has been such a happy day." + +It was the first time she had called him by his name, and the endearing +syllables dropped like honey from her lips. It was no more to be "noble +damsel," "my lord's handmaiden," but "Ishtar," and "Sarchedon," because +they knew they loved each other with all the rich warmth, the stormy +passion of their race and climate. + +"A happy day!" he repeated, rather bitterly; "and a day of victory for +the fairest maiden in the land of Shinar! Think you it was such a happy +moment for _me_, Ishtar, when I saw the love-gift hurled from our +prince's chariot to your feet?" + +She had not been a woman, could she have quite suppressed a double sense +of triumph--of vanity gratified by the homage of a prince, and, sweeter +far, of pride in his own avowal that she could excite the jealousy of +him she loved. Very tender was her smile, very soft and kind her glance, +while she replied: + +"You may judge how I value the gift when I tell you the handmaidens are +shredding herbs in it even now. Yet is he a goodly youth, our young +lord, and a comely--fair he must surely seem in _your_ eyes, Sarchedon, +for is he not the very picture of his mother? and _you_ of all men would +be loath to dispute the beauty of the Great Queen." + +It was a feminine thrust, and planted fairly home; but here in Ishtar's +presence it rather roused in him a feeling of alarm, lest he should lose +the blossom in his hand, than any wish to reach the riper and costlier +fruit hanging above his head. + +"Beloved!" he answered gravely, "the desire of queens and princes is +like the hot wind of the desert, that blasts and scorches where it +strikes. It matters little what befalls Sarchedon, if he loses her who +has become the jewel of his treasure-house, and the light of his path. +With the young prince, to see is too often to covet, and to covet, too +surely to possess! It may be, that ere the days of triumph are over, he +will have asked you of Arbaces in marriage, and whither shall I go for +comfort then, if I am to look nevermore on the only face I love?" + +That face showed strangely pale in the wan light of the stars and +crescent moon. There was a thrill of deadly fear in the whisper that +appealed so piteously for succour and protection. + +"Save me, Sarchedon, save me! It would be worse than death. What shall I +do? What shall I do?" + +He pondered, pressing the hand he held fondly to his eyes and forehead. + +"Arbaces would not barter you away for treasure, like a herd of camels +or a drove of captives?" he asked, after a pause. + +"My father loves me dearly," she answered. "I know he fears to lose me; +for he has often said, if I were to vanish from his side, like my +mother, he would never wish to come out of his war-chariot alive!" + +"She was a daughter of the stars," said Sarchedon abstractedly; "their +love is fatal to mortal men! You see, I have learned it all, and yet I +care not--I have but you in the world!" + +The daughter of the stars, he thought, had surely transmitted her +celestial beauty to the girl who now bent fondly over him, and shook her +head. + +"They say so!" she answered. "But Arbaces is loath to be questioned, and +I know not what to think. She may have been the child of a priestess of +Baal, espoused to the god. I cannot believe that the stars have come +down from their thrones for the love of women in these later days, since +the plague of waters in the olden time, before the great tower of Belus +was built. I only know I would I had my mother's beauty and my father's +fame, and the wealth of the Great Queen, that I might bestow it all on +the man I love. You would be rich, Sarchedon, and of high repute; while +I should be----very, very happy!" + +"Then, if Ninyas sent to ask you of your father," whispered the young +warrior, "you would be loath to go and rule over him and his in a palace +of gold?" + +"Better to serve Sarchedon in a tent of goat's-hair," was the answer; +"better by far draw water at the Well of Palms for your herds, your +camels, and the fair horse you rode that happy morning; better to be the +meanest and lowest of your slaves, than never see your kind face again!" + +Vanity, pride, ambition--the dazzling career open to him--the lustrous +beauty of the queen: what were they to such love as this, but the flash +and glitter of tinsel, compared to the ray of a real diamond? If a +thought of Semiramis and her fatal favour crossed his brain, it did but +spur him on to secure his happiness ere she could thwart it, to remove +Ishtar, ere it was too late, from the sphere of the queen's displeasure, +and the still more dangerous admiration of her son. + +"Then I will ask you of your father before another day has gone down!" +exclaimed Sarchedon, stealing his arm round that lithe slender figure, +leaning over the parapet, like the palm-tree bending to meet her mate. +"To-morrow will I send into the court below a score of camels and a +hundred sheep, with a suit of the truest armour that ever brought the +captain of a host unwounded out of battle, and my young men shall say to +Arbaces--'they seek but Ishtar in return.'" + +"So my father will summon me from amongst my maidens, to know if +peradventure his daughter's heart hath gone forth to him who is so +lavish of sheep and camels, so skilled in choice of armour, and what +shall I say then?" + +Only from the depths of a young girl's heart, happy and triumphant in +her honest love, could have risen the smile that beamed on Ishtar's +face. It was reflected in Sarchedon's eyes, while he answered: + +"The daughter of Arbaces will tell him, that where her heart has gone +forth, thither must Ishtar needs follow, and she will be mine!" + +"And she will be yours!" repeated the girl, with a great sob of womanly +happiness, tempered by maiden shame, the blood rushing to her face, +while she hid it on her lover's breast. + +Fast as her heart was beating, it had scarce counted a score of +pulsations ere tramp of horses, call of servants, and flash of torches +in the court below, announced the return of Arbaces from his duties +about the Great King. + +No sooner had he dismounted at the porch of his palace than the fond +familiar voice was heard, asking loudly for his daughter; and gliding +like a shadow from the embrace of Sarchedon, she was gone. + +Yet even in that brief moment during which her brow was pressed against +his bosom, she had discovered the amulet he wore, and knew, as women +only do know such things, that it was not there when she saw him last. + +Perhaps to an impulse of female tenderness was added the stimulant of +female curiosity, when she whispered, even in the act of escape: + +"To-morrow, beloved one, at the same hour. You will tell me then whence +comes that jewel, and--and--if it was given you by the queen!" + +Turning stealthily to depart, with his hand on the amulet, doubtful +whether he would not tear it from his neck and trample it under foot, +but in the mean time leaving it where it was, Sarchedon felt conscious +of a strange depression, of vague misgivings, as though some future evil +were casting its shadow about him ere it came. The air felt heavy, the +night was darker, the stars had become dim. It seemed a different world +as he passed along the silent streets towards his home, and those keen +senses of his, quickened by the practice of war, must have been +strangely blunted, that he neither saw the form nor heard the footsteps +of one who had watched his interview with Ishtar from first to last. + +Sethos, no less nimble of foot than he was light of hand and heart, made +such good haste in returning to the queen's palace, that he found Ninyas +still seated at the banquet, flushed with wine, and more reckless, more +impetuous, as he was more beautiful, for the excess. + +"You are a trusty hunter," laughed the prince, steadying his uncertain +steps as he rose with a hand on his favourite's shoulder, "and you +followed the good hound bravely to the thicket where lies the deer? What +think you? Is she worth the bending of a bow?" + +"My lord had already wounded her with a random shaft," answered the +cup-bearer. "It is the daughter of Arbaces, who flung him the posy of +flowers as his chariot passed beneath her in our triumph." + +The intelligence seemed to sober Ninyas on the instant. + +"And it is Sarchedon who contends with me," said he, pondering. "By the +brows of Ashtaroth, the sport grows to earnest now, and the prize will +be won by him who can strike first!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE GODS OF THE HEATHEN + + +Hastening from the queen's palace towards his stolen interview with +Ishtar, Sarchedon had not failed to observe the white robe of a priest +in the neighbourhood of the Israelitish exiles, though his +preoccupation forbade his identifying the person to whom it belonged. +Sethos, on the contrary, whose wits were more at their master's service, +had no difficulty in recognising Assarac, and marvelled in his own mind +what interests could exist in common between the haughty servant of the +Assyrian god, and this fettered prisoner, a captive even amongst the +captives of the Great King's bow and spear. Could he have overheard +their conversation, his curiosity would indeed have been sharpened, but +any ideas he might have previously conceived regarding supernatural +influences must have sustained a shock very confusing to his +understanding and his faith. + +His interests, however, were of the earth, earthy, and he left to such +aspiring spirits as the high priest of Baal those abstruse speculations +which would fain penetrate the mysteries of another world. + +Assarac only waited till the last of the revellers had departed, the +last of the thousand torches flaring in the palace court had been +extinguished, to glide through the band of captives and lay his hand on +the shoulder of him who seemed chief amongst the Israelites. + +"Arise," said he, "my brother. Comfort your heart, I pray you, with a +morsel of bread and a draught of wine, while your servant spreads his +mantle for your ease, and loosens the fetters on your limbs." + +He took the cloak from his own shoulders while he spoke, and folded it +round the prisoner, releasing him at the same time from the chain that +clanked and rung with every movement of wrist or ankle. + +The Israelite accepted these good offices with the imperturbable +demeanour he had preserved through all the incidents of his captivity. +Standing erect by the priest of Baal, he seemed to look on his liberator +with a mild and condescending pity not far removed from contempt. + +Scanning him warily and closely in the dubious starlight, Assarac could +not but admire the lofty bearing and personal dignity of this chief +amongst a nation of bondsmen. His marked features, dark piercing eyes, +ample beard, and venerable aspect denoted the sage and counsellor, while +his well-proportioned figure, with its shapely limbs, inferred an +amount of physical strength and activity not always accompanying the +nobler qualities of the mind. + +There was a strange contrast between the eunuch's shifting restless +glances, his looks of eager curiosity, half doubtful, half scornful, +altogether suspicious and dissatisfied, with the expression of quiet +superiority and contented confidence that glorified the Israelite's +face, imparting to it a calm majesty like the light of sunset on a +mountain. + +"You offer bread," said he, "and pour out wine unto him who hath neither +cornland nor vineyard. Therefore shall your harvest and your grapes +return you an hundredfold." + +"Baal will not suffer me to want," replied the other. "Shall I, then, +see my brother hunger and thirst, while I have enough and to spare? Are +you not of our race and kindred? Are not your oppressors our ancient +enemies? Do we not come of one lineage and worship the same God?" + +The Israelite pointed upward to the stars, and shook his head. + +"Our fathers have taught us otherwise," said he solemnly; "and I, Sadoc +the son of Azael, standing here in the bonds of my captivity, protest +against your idols, your temples and your worship, your gashes and +drink-offerings, your winged monsters, your sacred tree, and all the +thousand unworthy forms to which you degrade the majesty of the +Omnipotent and the Infinite!" + +Assarac smiled with the frank liberality of a disputant who in admitting +his adversary's premises narrows, as it were, the field in which to do +battle. + +"Symbols," he answered, "symbols; the mere outward efforts of that inner +spirit of worship which must find vent, like the mind of man, through +the senses. He can see but with the eye, he can hear but with the ear, +he can impart his thoughts only in those forms of speech that his tongue +has learned to frame, and his fellows have skill to comprehend. How +shall you express the principle of heat but by fire? How shall you +comprehend the majesty of light but through the sun? How can you form a +nobler ideal of spirits, gods, and departed heroes than in those serene +and silent witnesses who never weary of their endless watches in the +unfathomable night?" + +"So you send a thousand labourers to the mountain," replied Sadoc, +pointing scornfully at the sculptures on the palace wall, "and bid them +rend the granite from its unyielding sides till they have hewn out a +creature such as was never seen in earth or sea or sky--a creature of +make and qualities in direct defiance to that nature you profess to +reverence--winged like a bird, headed like a man, limbed like a bull--a +monster, grotesque, impossible, imposing only from its gigantic size and +truthful outline. You rear it up at a prince's doorway, and call on men +to fall down and worship before the hoofs of that which is lower than +the lowest of the brutes in the system of creation!" + +"Are you a priest among your people?" asked Assarac quickly. + +"Every head of a family is the priest of his own household," was the +dignified reply. "There need no mysteries for a worship sublime as the +eternal heavens, and clear as the light of day." + +"Yet surely you cannot move the multitude without extraneous influences +stronger and more tangible than those truths of the inner shrine which +we the initiated know and accept at their real value," argued Assarac. +"That very figure which you scorn speaks to the senses of the Assyrian +nation far more forcibly than all the promptings from within that ever +moved a prophet to leap and howl and gash himself with knives before an +altar, while he foretold great actions and mighty events that should +never come to pass. Not a spearman in the Great King's host but, when he +looks on these carven blocks of granite, walks with a prouder step and +shakes his weapon in a stronger hand. He sees in that mighty frame the +over-powering forces that have made his race conquerors of the world; in +that majestic face, calm and indomitable, the true spirit of victory +marching unmoved over the ruins of an empire as over the ashes of a +peasant's hearth; in those unfurled wings, the ubiquity of a dominion +that can command ships for the sea, camels for the desert, and horsemen +swarming like locusts to overrun the fertile plain. It is no +representation of mere nature evoked by the toil, skill, and indeed the +sufferings of countless labourers, but of that spirit which dominates +and subdues nature for its own aggrandisement and fame. Where is the +type of godlike dominion to be found, if not here, in this impersonation +of conquest: strength, intellect, and audacity combined?" + +Sadoc pointed to an Egyptian child sleeping a few paces off with a +wild-flower grasped in its little hand. + +"Is there less of the godlike power," said he, "in the skill that put +together leaf and blossom for the delight of that poor infant, who has +no other joy nor comfort?" + +Assarac pondered. + +"There must be gods," he replied, "as there are stars, differing in +magnitude and glory. Dagon hath dominion on the waters, Anu and Abitur +in the mountain, Merodach raging in battle is yet subject to Ashur, and +even that monarch of the mighty circle yields to his irresistible +superior, and bows before the sentence of Nisroch, with the eagle's +head." + +"And your Nisroch," continued the Israelite; "hath he not also a master +at whose word he spreads his wings and flies to the uttermost parts of +the desert? Whence comes he? Who gave him his eagles head and his +feathered shoulders? If he is substantial, he must be perishable; and +when he has passed away, who will make another god for the land of +Shinar, and what shall he be called?" + +"You speak with reason," replied the priest of Baal, "and you speak to +one who has watched many a long night from the summit of the tower above +us, and pored on those starwritten scrolls till his brain reeled, to +learn that mystery which rules the heavens, and apply it to the +government of men below. You speak wisely indeed. Who shall make a god +for the land of Shinar? He it is who shall bring the whole Eastern world +beneath his feet." + +"I speak not of gods made by men's hands," answered Sadoc. "The time +must surely come ere long when there will be one worship of the true God +through all the earth, as there is one sun that shines over the whole +heaven. Clouds may obscure it for a season, but no less doth it exist in +its warmth and splendour, giving vitality to creation and light to day." + +"When there is but one worship, there will be but one dominion," argued +Assarac. "The altar and the temple will then become the judgment-seat +and throne, while the high-priest will be the true monarch and ruler +over all. Listen, my brother; for indeed here in the house of your +captivity you have found a friend. I am a priest of Baal, as you behold; +but in truth I am no hot-brained votary who mistakes his own intoxicated +frenzy for the inspiration of a god. My subordinates may gird their +loins to leap and run and gesticulate, shedding their own blood the +while in crimson streams. Such extravagances are foreign to my nature, +and below the dignity of my worship. I am a priest of Baal, but I am +also an Assyrian descended from a line of warriors, and to me the +greatness of my country is the paramount object and interest of life. +What else have such as I, who are severed, without being alienated, from +their kind? To extend an empire founded by our father Nimrod from the +Bactrian mountains to the Southern sea, to behold the standards of +Merodach waving on the confines of Armenia and over the gates of +Memphis, while conscious that I, Assarac the priest, had set in motion +the armies of victory and guided the march of triumph, were worth all +the fire-worshipper's dreams of luminous immortality, all the starry +thrones of the gods who are supposed to be looking down in judgment on +us even now." + +"And when your wishes have been fulfilled," said Sadoc quietly--"wishes +only to be accomplished through much bloodshed, cruelty, and sin--you +will not be one whit happier than now." + +The other laughed in scorn. + +"Is fame nothing?" he asked. "Is power nothing? Is it nothing to cast +down the mighty from their golden thrones, and to raise the lowly, as I +have raised you to-night, from fetters of iron and a bed on the cold +earth? Teach me the lore of your worship, as I will impart to you my own +secrets of priestcraft, and hereafter--ay, sooner than you may think--I +will set you in judgment over a score of nations, in a purpled robe, +with a sceptre in your hand." + +"_My_ lore!" repeated Sadoc, with a sad smile. "You would deem it +beneath your understanding, as it would be above your practice. It is +but to do justice, and to love mercy, dealing with man as before the +face of God." + +"But surely you have learned important secrets amongst the Egyptians?" +urged Assarac, somewhat disappointed with this exposition of the +Israelite's simple creed. "Surely they have taught you mysteries of +magic and the art of divination, in which they boast their proficiency, +handed down, as they profess, through scores of dynasties and hundreds +of successive generations. Or is it true that your nation have been the +teachers, and Egypt, with all her pride, is but the pupil of a people +who took with them from this very land the art that we, its present +inhabitants, have lost, the spells that compel gigantic spirits to work +out their behests--rearing colossal buildings, causing wide tracts of +desert to blossom like the rose, bidding the very waters of the great +deep to subside and overflow at their will?" + +"You know not our nation," answered Sadoc, "nor have you felt the iron +hand of our oppressors, who practice the forbidden arts of which you +speak, but with no result that hath ever spared groan or stripe to a +single captive. The Israelite must toil under the scourge for his scanty +morsel of bread. The great river indeed rises and falls at the command +of one who is mightier than our task-masters, and who will not surely +forget his people for ever in their bonds; but for the huge shapeless +structures--the gigantic monster idols of the South--they are reared by +a magic of which blood, sweat, and hunger constitute the spells, under +the fierce eye that never sleeps, the cruel hand that is never raised +but to urge, and smite and destroy. Yet when our fathers were driven by +famine into Egypt they found there one of their own people, reigning +wisely over a prosperous nation, and second only to Pharaoh on the +throne; they found themselves honoured guests where now they are +degraded prisoners, friends and allies where now they are hated and +despised, masters, in truth, where they are slaves! And slaves to those +who are themselves sunk in the degradation of a vile and brutal +idolatry." + +His eye blazed, and his very beard seemed to bristle with anger, while +he spoke. It was in such flashes of indignation or excitement that the +likeness of kindred races was to be noted on the features of Israelite +and Assyrian. + +"You scorn the gods of Nimrod," replied Assarac, with a sneer; "but the +fathers from whom we claim a common descent have taught _us_, at least, +a nobler impersonation of our worship than the goose, the serpent, the +stork, the locust, and the cat! If we choose the lotus, the fir-cone, or +the beetle to convey an idea of that reproductive power in nature, +always existing even when dormant, as the flower in the bud, or the +blade in the seed, at least we do not hang our temples with carvings of +the humblest animals, the most loathsome reptiles, and the meanest +utensils of our daily life! It is baser, I grant you, to adore the stars +than the principle which gives them light, baser to kneel before the +sculptured image than the god it represents; but basest surely of all +worship is that practised by the cruel Egyptian, the enemy whom _we_ +have humbled, the master who is grinding _your_ people into dust!" + +"Our God will surely free us," said Sadoc, in a low mournful tone. "It +cannot be that we, the lineal descendants of his favoured servant, are +to remain for ever in the house of bondage, eating the bitter morsel of +slavery, weeping tears of blood under the task-master's lash! But we +have neither arms nor leaders; there is no proven harness in our +dwellings, nor sword, nor shield, nor spear. How are we to go out from +our enemies in the garb of peace, with our wives and children in our +hands? And yet, I pray that it may come to this--I, for one, would march +out fearlessly to die in the wilderness rather than gather another +armful of straw, bake one more brick for the useless structures that +only bear witness to our sorrows and our shame." + +The pride of race, the intense consciousness of a peculiar destiny, in +all ages an inheritance of the sons of Abraham, gave to the words of +Sadoc a truth and bitterness, marked with no slight satisfaction by the +scheming priest of Baal. + +"Hands that have toiled so skilfully for their task-masters," said he, +"can surely strike a blow in their own behalf. Courage that has borne +long years of suffering and privation will not fail at the moment of +liberation and revenge. You and yours are of our blood and lineage. You +shall be no captives in Babylon, as you have been in Egypt. This very +night I will take order for your food and lodging--nay, fear not, they +shall be found you without the temple, if indeed you entertain any +scruples as to entering the abode of Baal--and you shall return to your +own people in safety and honour, as a son returns to the dwelling of his +father with a gift in his hand. You will tell them that here, in the +great city, our warlike Assyrians look on the Israelites as their +kinsmen and friends; that when the oppressed rises against the +oppressor, and the children of Terah resolve once for all to throw off +the Egyptian yoke, they will see a cloud rising out of the desert from +the trampling of horses, countless as locusts in a west wind--they will +hear a thousand trumpets sounding far and wide from the hosts of the +Great King!" + +The Israelite's eye sparkled and his cheek glowed but he answered +solemnly, + +"It must be a mightier king than yours, who leads us forth into the +wilderness out of the house of our captivity." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +MOTHER AND SON + + +Not the least sumptuous range of halls and chambers in the queen's +palace had been devoted, from his boyhood, to the accommodation of her +son. Here, surrounded by his own servants, he had lived ever since he +could walk alone in princely state and magnificence, imitating, though +on a less extended scale, the splendour of the Great King's court, and +exacting from his attendants those ceremonious observances which +somewhat chafed his father's spirit, causing the fiery old warrior to +break out in words and gestures savouring rather of the swordsman's +impatience than the monarch's dignity. Here too he had been trained +under the queen's own eye in manly exercises befitting his rank, +practising mimic warfare on the wide terraces of the royal dwelling, and +even hunting the lion in dangerous earnest through its spacious +paradise, a wilderness in the heart of the swarming city. + +It had been the policy of Semiramis, as it was her pleasure, to keep the +future monarch under her own eye and within her immediate influence, +teaching him to depend on her alone for all his occupations and +amusements, thus obtaining an ascendancy over his young mind, which +daily custom rendered so easy and natural, that he never attempted to +shake it off. + +Arrogant at the feast, valorous in the fray, reckless and unscrupulous +in the gratification of every passing desire, every whim of the moment, +he was yet in his mother's presence the same loving wayward child, who, +though wilful and petulant, had ever looked to her alone for succour and +encouragement, had run to her knee with a bruised skin or a tear-stained +face, and would have begged of her, with equal confidence, a bunch of +grapes and a string of pearls worth a king's ransom. + +It was not strange then, that, waking from his heavy slumbers after the +banquet, with a vague impression of some unfulfilled desire burning at +his heart, his first wish was for his mother's presence, even before he +remembered the purpose for which he wanted her assistance and advice. + +Semiramis, on this the morning after his return from a campaign in which +her boy had won no slight reputation as a warrior, passing into his +chamber according to custom, found him, as she had often found him +before, tossing, heated, and restless on his couch, pushing his short +dishevelled locks off his brow, while he turned on her a glance, half +mirthful, half imploring, from eyes deep liquid and beautiful as her +own. + +The queen's head was tired, her dress arranged with the utmost skill and +care, while in her gait and bearing there was a dignity of repose no +less graceful than becoming; but if her dark locks had been unbound, her +robes shaken into disorder, and her fair face heated with the flush of +mirth, pleasure, or excitement, surely never had been seen so wondrous a +resemblance as existed between that unquiet youth on the couch and the +beautiful woman who bent over him to lay her hand against his hot +forehead with a gesture of endearment and caress. + +"What ails my boy?" asked Semiramis, looking fondly down on her +graceless offspring. "Was the triumph yesterday so long and wearisome? +the wine of Eshcol last night so rough and new? Or has he left his heart +among the daughters of Egypt, in exchange for the fame and high repute +of valour he has brought with him from the Nile?" + +"I wish I had never gone there!" answered Ninyas petulantly. "I wish the +reins had rotted in his hand who turned my chariot from the Gates of +Brass to leave Babylon and all the pleasures it contained!" + +"It would not have been like your father's child," said the queen, "to +have forborne going forth to warfare with the host. You would not be +_my_ son," she added more tenderly, "did not your heart leap to the +rattle of a quiver and the roll of a chariot, wheeling at a gallop +amongst the spearmen. Think you it was no pain to me when I sent you +down yonder to learn your first lesson in war, under the eye of my lord +the king? But you have made yourself a name for valour, and I am +content." + +"Valour!" repeated Ninyas. "Men have a strange way of computing courage +and portioning out the fame, which is indeed of small value when you +have got it. Is it such a great deed to be driven under shield in a +chariot of iron through ranks of half-armed wretches flying for their +lives? I saw one of our bowmen stand his ground in a vineyard, when we +passed the Nile, having three arrows in his limbs and a spear through +his body. But Arbaces scarce cast an eye on him as he drove by in hot +haste to bring up the rearguard of spears; and I thought, if a man would +be accounted mighty, it were well to be born a king's son. Valour +indeed! That very day, an hour later, I would have bartered all the +valour and all the fame of the Assyrian army for a cup of the roughest +wine that ever burst a skin. I love pleasure, for my part; and whosoever +will have it is welcome to my share of hunger and thirst, long marches, +weary sieges, heat, privation, night watches, and all the troubles of +war." + +The queen smiled, well pleased, as it would seem, with this frank +confession of opinions, in which of all women on earth she was the least +inclined to share. Had she been a man, she thought, the saddle should +have been her only home, the spear never out of her hand. Not even +Ninus, with his insatiable desire for fame, should have flaunted so far +and wide the banners of Assyria, so pushed the conquests of the mighty +line founded by Nimrod the Great. And yet here was one of her own +blood, her very counterpart, who, being of the stronger and nobler sex, +could sit calmly down in the flush of his youth to scoff at warlike +honours, to confess his unworthy preference of inglorious ease and +material pleasures to the immortality of a hero. + +"For one so young," said she, "you have already attained to high +dignity. Even my lord the king has spoken of you as a judicious leader +and a man of valour in fight. Arbaces himself was obliged to admit,--my +son, you are ill at ease,--Arbaces, I say, though so devoted to the +king's interests that he seems to look with an evil eye on the king's +successor, could not but acknowledge that on the field you were a worthy +descendant of the line of Ashur; though in camp, he added, the example +of one prince was more injurious to the discipline of armies than the +taking of ten towns by assault, with all the license and outrages of a +storm." + +There was enough of his father's nature in the lion's cub to bring the +flash to his eye, the scowl to his brow, while he listened. + +"Arbaces dared to speak thus of _me_!" he exclaimed, springing to his +feet, and grasping instinctively at a gilded javelin standing against +the wall. "He must be a bold man, this chief captain of the Assyrian +host." + +"He must be a bold man," repeated the queen, "since he is _your_ enemy +and _mine_." + +"Let him beware!" said the prince. "I can take up my mother's quarrel as +heartily as my own. He will have no woman to deal with if he crosses +_me_. And yet," he added, sinking back on the couch, and turning his +head aside amongst its cushions, "there is not in the whole empire one +whom I would so gladly call my friend." + +A shade of perplexity crossed the queen's brow; but she forced a +careless laugh while she asked, + +"What have you, the future ruler of all the earth, to gain from this +war-worn spearman, whose very existence hangs on the breath of your +father, my lord the king?" + +He turned to her with one of the caressing gestures of his childhood; +and even the queen's steadfast heart wavered for a moment in the +merciless prosecution of her schemes. + +"Mother," he said, "you have never denied me from my youth upward what +I asked. Give me now the daughter of Arbaces, and I am content. If she +be withheld from me, I care not to look on an unveiled woman again." + +As the light of morning creeps over a fair landscape, the queen's smile +brightened her face into matchless beauty; as the summer sky is mirrored +in the lake, that smile was reflected on the glowing features of her +son. Again how comely they were, and how alike! + +"Is she then so fair," asked Semiramis, "this pale slender girl, to whom +you flung a cup of gold yesterday from your chariot in return for a posy +of flowers? Such exchanges, my son, are made every day in follies like +yours; but I did not believe that a bow drawn thus at random could have +sent its shaft so deftly through the joints of _your_ harness. Is there +magic about the girl, that she draws men to her feet with a mere look +and sign? I have heard that her mother was a daughter of the stars." + +"The daughters of earth are good enough for me," replied the prince. +"But if this one comes not into my tent, I will never look in the face +of woman again." + +"The tent is not to be despised," answered Semiramis, glancing round the +gilding and vermilion, the beams of cedar, the inlaid flooring, the +purple hangings, of that painted chamber. "And she must be difficult to +please, if she find fault with its lord. Nevertheless, there are +obstacles in our way. Arbaces would surely neither wish nor dare to +oppose us, and, if he did, could be silenced or removed. But how shall +we set aside the opposition of my lord the king?" + +"He would never consent," said Ninyas. "I know it too well. The +mill-stone is not harder than the heart of the Great King. May he live +for ever!" + +"May he live for ever!" repeated the queen. "Those of Nimrod's race are +indeed immortal; and you have little to hope from the lapse of time. +Tell me, my son--do you really love this girl so much?" + +"I would give my whole life afterwards," he answered passionately, "to +bring her here into my dwelling for a year and a day." + +At the moment, no doubt, he spoke truth. The stream of a passing +inclination, stemmed by opposition and difficulty, had swelled into a +torrent of desire he had neither power nor inclination to control. + +"And if you might take this fair dove to your bosom," continued the +queen, "would you consent to forego Babylon and its pleasures? Would you +make your escape in secret, and remain for a season in seclusion, until +the wrath of the Great King was overpast?" + +"I am ready to go now," answered the impetuous boy. "My horses are of +the purest breed in all the land of Shinar. I will fly with her to the +ends of the earth." + +"You need not go farther than Ascalon," replied his mother with a smile. +"In mine ancient stronghold, rude and timeworn though it be, I can still +count many a friend who would beard Ninus and all his line at my +lightest word. And the common multitude are devoted to my service far +more than in Nineveh, or even here in Babylon, which but for me would +still have been a mere hamlet of huts in a marsh. My son, if ever you +come to rule, trust no longer to the people's gratitude than while you +have benefits to confer: the loyalty of a nation is seldom proof against +a rise in the price of corn. Nevertheless, in lofty Ascalon you may be +safe and secret enough, until time and my constant entreaties shall have +softened the resentment of my lord the king. The girl is willing, of +course," continued the queen, tenderly and in a half-sorrowful tone; +"for such faces as yours are made to be the ruin of all who look on them +too freely." + +No woman, she was thinking, could resist that smile of her boy's--so +fond, so winning, so like her own. + +Ninyas hesitated; and once more his hand stole towards the javelin by +the wall. + +"There must be neither delay," said he, "nor hesitation. The girl would +love well enough without doubt; but--but--" here the blood flew to his +temples and the angry light to his eye--"another has seen her, and would +fain make her his own: one who brought here tidings from the camp before +the host marched in--a goodly youth and a brave warrior. Nevertheless, +he must die." + +"Not so," exclaimed the queen, turning pale. "Believe me, this is a +matter to be carried through by the fine wit of woman, rather than the +strong hand of man. You must abide wholly by my counsel. I have never +failed you, my son. Shall I fail you now in this your great need?" + +It is possible that, had he trusted implicitly to his mother's guidance, +her heart might have been softened and her purpose set aside even now; +but he flung his head up impatiently, and threatened where he should +have confided or cajoled. + +"I will not wait a day!" he exclaimed angrily. "I will not sit still +while another is in my place. Sarchedon loves this girl very dearly, and +in a few hours I may be too late." + +"Sarchedon does _not_ love her," hissed the queen through her clenched +teeth, while her face turned white. "Foolish boy!" she added, recovering +her self-command, "with all your manhood and your valour, you are as +much a child as when you cried on my knee for a lotus-flower or a +pomegranate; and you must even have your toy to-day, at any sacrifice, +though you tire of it to-morrow, like the wilful babe you are." + +"I am satisfied when I have what I want," answered Ninyas. "Is it not so +with us all, from the Great King to the spearman that marches by his +chariot? Even Ninus will chafe and roar and lash himself into rage like +the lion of the desert, if the merest trifle runs contrary to his whim. +Am I not his _son_, mother, as well as _yours_?" + +"You are more easily ruled than your father," answered the queen. "And +it is well for you, my boy, that with your mother's form and features +you inherit her temperament--joyous, placable, and easily moulded to the +wishes of those you love." She spoke in a light, bantering tone, not +entirely devoid of scorn. "Carry your toy with you, if so it must be; +but do not murmur at the measures I take for your safety, nor quarrel +with the restraint that can alone preserve you from the king's anger, as +a young warrior chafes under the weight of that harness which fences +death from his heart." + +"I only ask for the daughter of Arbaces," was his reply. "Give me the +desire of mine eyes, and do with me what you will." + +"You shall carry her off from her father's house to-night," said the +queen. "Follow my counsel, and you shall pounce on the girl, swift and +secure as the hawk when she strikes a partridge on the mountain. Ride +out of the Great Gates, taking Sethos, or some one attendant whom you +can trust, with bow and spear, as though you purposed hunting the lion +in the desert. Let none see you return, but steal back to the city in +the darkness of night. I will take order for such a band of spearmen to +be under arms as no single household could attempt to resist, and I will +place one at their head who knows neither compunction nor remorse. With +these you shall force the gate of the chief-captain's palace. When they +have gained possession of the court, I need scarce tell you, my son, so +lately returned from warfare, the rights of those who occupy the +stronghold of an enemy--the women's apartments are not far to seek. A +shawl may be round her head, and the girl herself on the back of your +best horse or swiftest dromedary, in less time than it will take to put +to the sword such few servants as Arbaces can muster in the first watch +of night. Ere the alarm is sounded and the city in arms, you should be +many a furlong off in the desert, galloping towards your place of +refuge, like a wild stag to the hill." + +"And Arbaces?" asked Ninyas. "He has the courage of a lion. He will +resist to the death." + +"Arbaces will take his chance like another," answered the queen coldly. +"An adversary who stands in the path, my son, must be ridden down ere we +can pass on. Nevertheless, I will not have a hair of _your_ head fall in +this business. A few priests of Baal shall accompany the spearmen, wrap +one of their linen robes about you, and thus avoid detection as well as +danger; but do not neglect to wear your armour underneath. Is that a +proven harness I see yonder, thrown aside in the corner?" + +"It is inlaid with gold," answered Ninyas lightly, "and curiously +wrought; but Pharaoh's bowmen have blunted many a shaft on it, and it +turns the thrust of a spear as it were a bulrush." + +While he spoke, the queen had taken a helmet from amongst the other +pieces of armour, and placed it, laughing, on her brows. + +"They say I am like my mother," exclaimed her son, "in face and bearing. +By the beauty of Ashtaroth, it must be true! When I look at you I seem +to see my own image on the march stooping down to drink from a stream!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +STRONG AS DEATH + + +It is well known that secrets are not to be kept from princes, and that +for royal ears "the bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that +which hath wings shall tell the matter," however scrupulously it may be +hidden from curiosity of lower rank. Sarchedon's interview with Ishtar +had been witnessed by Sethos, who reported it, as in duty bound, to +Ninyas; and although that wilful youth, ignoring, according to custom, +everything running counter to her wishes, never mentioned it to his +mother, the whole affair came to her knowledge very soon after Semiramis +had quitted the apartments of her son. It may be that in Assyrian +palaces, below the surface of forms and ceremonies, stole an +under-current of interest, intrigue, and license, which, eddying upward +on occasion, troubled the courtly waters to the brim, and those who +lived habitually in an atmosphere of luxury and magnificence refused to +deny themselves certain relaxations of the heart or senses, that +relieved the peasant's toil, and sweetened his hard-earned fare. + +Sethos was a comely youth with laughing eyes. Kalmim a black-browed +dame, joyous of temperament, and pleasant to look on as a summer's +morning. It was natural that the woman's maturer tact and greater +experience should lead the king's cup-bearer into confidences it had +been wiser to withhold; and whatever Kalmim learned of good or evil, +within or without the city walls, she lost no time in imparting to her +mistress. + +Semiramis listened, to all appearance undisturbed. Only the most +practised of tire-women could have marked how the blue veins about her +temples traced themselves more distinctly, how the colour turned a shade +fainter in her cheek. + +And yet what rage and self-contempt were tearing at her heart! That she, +whose wishes were daily anticipated almost before they were formed, who, +never since she arrived at woman's estate, and succeeded to her royal +inheritance of matchless beauty, had left a desire ungratified, should +find, here in Babylon, the citadel of her power, the very throne, as it +were, of her dominion, a man who could resist the one and undervalue the +other, preferring, to the Great Queen's favour, and such a destiny as +the mightiest monarch on earth might envy, the smile of a sickly girl, +the simple follies of a homely, humble, unpolluted love! + +"Tire me nobly, Kalmim," said she, sitting before a mirror of burnished +silver, that reflected her faultless form from head to foot. "There must +be no crevice in mine armour to-day--not a fold must be ruffled, not a +plait laid awry, since I go hence straightway into the presence of my +lord the king." Thus to her woman, but to her own heart: "He will be on +duty about the gates. He shall see how fair that face is he has dared to +despise, and look on the beauty he undervalues, till he turns faint and +sick and dizzy in its rays. I will crush him to the earth, and when he +sues at my feet for the hope I bade him but yesterday to entertain, I +will turn coldly away, and leave him to perish like a trampled worm. But +he shall not go to this girl for comfort in his despair--no, he shall +die! I have said it; he shall die! O Sarchedon, Sarchedon, I could not +hate you so bitterly, did I not love you so well!" + +And all the while not a quiver moved her eyelid, nor caused her jewelled +hand to shake, while it smoothed the soft dark hair on her brow; the +fair bosom itself, white, smooth, and polished, seemed also hard and +motionless as marble. How different, the thought struck her, as she rose +to depart--how different was that stately figure sweeping past the +mirror from the flushed and panting woman, who, with shining eyes and +heated cheeks, and dewy lips apart, had bent over the sleeping form of +Sarchedon, to drop her love-token in the breast of him on whom she had +set her heart! And yet, could it be because she had lost him, she asked +herself, with fierce rage and longing, that he was a hundredfold more +precious now? + +There are women whom it is very dangerous to love, as in Eden there +stood a tree that it was death to taste. But the forbidden fruit was +gathered nevertheless; and these beauties seem to allure more than their +share of victims, to win more than their natural meed of triumph. +Perhaps it is their destiny to avenge on mankind the common wrongs of +their sex, and to fall at last by the very weapons they have wielded so +successfully in their march over a host of slain. + +The old king's eyes were dim, and his senses failed him perceptibly, as +life waned gradually, yet surely, like an unfed lamp, or a leaking +vessel of wine. The pomp of royalty, the joy of battle, the feast, the +pageant, the bright steel quivering in his grasp, the good horse +bounding between his knees, what were they all now but shadows, +memories, vague, idle dreams of the past? Was this the hand, he was fain +to ask himself, that drew the heaviest bow in the broad land of Shinar, +the arm that could drive a javelin through and through the lion's heart? + +Yonder upon the wall was sculptured many a deed of prowess, many a noble +triumph of warfare or the chase. Warriors in long array were marching to +the battle or the siege; archers bent their bows, slingers and spearmen +smote and slew and spared not; horsemen galloped, chariots rolled, and +vultures soared over heaps of corpses. A bank was raised against a city, +the battering-ram laid to its gates, while amidst a shower of arrows and +javelins men were falling headlong from its walls to feed the fishes in +the river below. + +Again, linked in a cruel chain, the line of captives paced slowly by, +bearing on their shoulders children, household stuff and goods, equally +the spoil of their conqueror. The men marched sullenly, with downcast +looks; the women beat their breasts and tore their hair. Here, with hook +in his victim's nostrils, or knife to flay his naked flesh, a fierce +warrior tortured some poor suppliant slave. There, proffering for a +tribute the productions of his country--garments, gold, grain, animals +wild and tame--some cringing wretch implored mercy at the feet of his +executioner. But amongst all these scenes of strife, glory, and rapine, +one figure still predominated, tall, fierce, and stately, the high tiara +bound about its brows, bow and spear in hand; but, whether careering in +the war-chariot over prostrate enemies, or sitting on the throne of +state under the royal parasol, there was still poised above its head the +winged mystery within a circle that heralded the sacred person of a +king. + +Could this be the same Ninus, he asked himself, whose limbs, so stiff +and aching, now endured his silken robes with less patience than once +they had carried his iron harness, whose head wavered and nodded on the +lean neck that was once a tower of strength, proud, erect, colossal, +like a column of stone? + +And that winged figure in the circle. What was it? Did it really hover +over them to protect the race of Nimrod in battle, or was this too a +myth, a fable, a mere imposition of the priests? Should he know when he +went to join his ancestors? and would it be long--how long!--ere he took +his place among the stars? + +There was not much to leave, after all! The wild bull had been driven +from the plains, and could be found in no nearer fastness than the +northern mountains now. He had himself exterminated the lion within the +paradise round his palace, and it was weary work to ride in search of +him over the scorching desert. Even the rush of battle was not what it +used to be. Where were the men of the olden time, such as the champion +he slew in Bactria, who stood two palms' breadths higher than the +tallest warrior of either host, leaning on their spears to witness the +single combat between a giant and a king? Or that fierce Ethiopian in +the first Egyptian campaign, whom Pharaoh's chief counsellor had made +captain of his armies for his matchless valour, and whose sturdy assault +caused Ninus to reel and stagger where he stood, ere the swarthy +swordsman went down under the buffets of the Great King, then in the +vigour of his prime? But in his last expedition the armies of Egypt +seemed to give way without a struggle before his spear, and it was +hardly worth while to bid his chariot driver turn his hand into the +press of battle. Even the wine of Eshcol was tasteless now; the wine of +Damascus worse, and the feast had become loathsome to him as the fray. +He was weary of it all, could give it up without a regret, but for the +queen. + +Feeling, in spite of his angry protest against his own misgivings, that +the link which bound them together grew slighter every day--that, like a +frayed bowstring, it must snap at last, and leave her free,--the love in +his fierce old heart began to be tinged with a savage and unreasoning +jealousy, such as made him intolerant of every glance she directed at +another, of every moment she was absent from his side. He had summoned +her to his presence with all those forms and observances, the necessary +ceremonial of royalty, which chafed him now more than ever; and in his +impatience he bade the light-footed Sethos hurry to and fro to see if +the queen and her train of attendants were not yet at the gates, +although from where he sat in his throne of state he could command a +noble approach, some furlongs in length, through double lines of +colossal monsters, leading to the wide entrance of his palace. + +A jewelled cup, filled to the brim, stood neglected at his hand. Ever +and anon he stormed at Sethos because the wine had lost its flavour, and +the queen tarried so long. + +"I could put on and prove ten suits of harness," said the angry old +monarch, "in less time than it takes a woman to tire her head! And yet +one hair of that comely head is surely better worth preserving than the +whole of this worn-out body of mine, that hath scarce strength left to +draw a bow or empty a cup. Saw you not, Sethos, how fair she looked on +the wall above us when we rode in, slender and pliant like a spear +bending beneath a truss of forage? Who was attending her, boy? My memory +halts and fails me now worse than a ham-strung steed." + +"Kalmim, my lord," answered the cup-bearer, "with certain of the women, +and Sarchedon." + +He was too good a courtier to mention Assarac, dreading the storm a +priest's name was likely to bring down in the king's present mood. + +"Sarchedon," repeated Ninus--"one of my own guards. A stout warrior +enough, in the boy's play we call fighting now, and a comely +youth--ruddy and comely as a maid. How came he absent from his duty in +the ranks?" + +"He had been sent by my lord from the host with the Great King's signet +to the queen," was the reply. "He has remained in attendance on her ever +since." + +The old face turned gray with some hidden pang, and the blood-shot eyes +rolled savage under their shaggy brows. + +"By the beard of Nimrod, I will take better order with these golden +guards of mine!" exclaimed the king. "Do they think, because Pharaoh and +his bowmen are no longer flying before my chariot, I have beaten my +sword into a pruning-hook, and have forgotten how to mount a war-chariot +or set a company in array? Where is this deserter now?" + +"He is on duty at the great entrance," was the respectful answer. "My +lord the king may see him from where he sits." + +Sarchedon, in truth, with a handful of his comrades, was on guard at the +palace gate, conspicuous even amongst those goodly warriors by the +beauty of his person and the splendour of his attire. + +Ere the king could summon him to his presence, his attention was +diverted by the approach of his wife, followed by the women of her +household; a fair and fragrant company, that wound through the avenues +of winged bulls and colossal monsters, like a growth of wild flowers +trailing across the surface of a rock. + +The king's eyes were not too dim to mark every movement of the woman he +loved. His old heart began to beat faster and the blood stirred in his +veins. + +How fair and noble was the bearing of that shapely figure, as it glided +on with the measured step that became her so well! How delicate and +beautiful the pale face! so easily recognised even at a distance from +which its features could not be distinguished, and bringing back to him +as it was unveiled now, on entering her husband's dwelling, that +well-remembered morning in Bactria, when she rode into the camp serene +and radiant, like a star dropped down from heaven. + +What was this? He started, and half rose from his throne; for she had +paused amongst the guards, and one of them had fallen on his face at her +feet. + +Semiramis, who was above all the forms and ceremonies that trammelled +weaker natures, breaking through them at will in court, camp, or +palace, had resolved to take signal vengeance on Sarchedon whenever she +should see him, careless alike whether they met in the desert, on the +house-top, or here in the formidable presence of the king. She knew how +to stab him too, and determined, at whatever cost to her own feelings, +she would drive her thrust home. + +How beautiful he looked, standing there in his golden helmet, with the +scarlet-bordered mantle falling from his shoulders, and the white tunic +reaching to his knee! Not Menon, she thought, when he wooed her by the +silver lake that mirrored the towers of Ascalon, was half so fair; but +Menon loved her dearly, while this man--well, she would make him eat the +hardest morsel, drink the bitterest waters of affliction, and afterward +he should die. What would be left her then? The love of this old dotard, +the hollow pageantry, the empty pleasures, the heavy magnificence of a +court. How she loathed them all! And what good would it do her even to +attain supreme power if she must rule alone, without companionship, +without sympathy, without love? + +She had wavered in her purpose a hundred times ere she stepped as many +paces. She was inflexible when she bade Sarchedon come forward from the +line of his comrades, irresolute while he advanced and pitiless once +more as he prostrated himself at her feet. + +"You are entitled to ask a request," said she, very coldly and +haughtily, "as having borne hither the signet of my lord the king. It is +my part to intercede with him in your favour, and the old custom in our +land of Shinar bids him grant your desire, even to the half of his +kingdom." + +His eyes lightened with pleasure, and her heart turned to stone. Yet +even in that moment she marked that he still wore her amulet round his +neck. + +The name of Ishtar was on his lips, but some instinct of the palace--it +may be something in the queen's face--forbade him to pronounce it. He +had wit enough to bow his forehead in the dust, and to answer, + +"I do but desire the light of her countenance, and permission to abide +in the service of the Great Queen." + +She was not deceived by his submission, though her eyes shone with a +softer lustre while she continued, "Is there no treasure you covet, no +post of honour you desire, no maiden in the whole land of Shinar you +would fain take home with you to your tent?" + +"I may not lift mine eyes to Ashtaroth," was his cautious reply. "If I +must needs choose from among the flowers of earth, I would beg of the +Great Queen to give me Ishtar, the daughter of Arbaces." + +She was ready with her blow. Looking him full in the face, with the calm +pitiless smile of one who puts some wounded reptile out of pain-- + +"It is too late," she said, in hard cutting accents. "The damsel has +been promised to my son. Even now the prince is lifting her veil to +salute his bride!" + +In his agony he fell forward, grasping the queen's robe wildly in his +hand. + +The Great King sprang to his feet, his beard bristling, his very +eyebrows shaking with ungovernable anger. For a space he could not even +find voice to speak. Then he burst out, + +"By the blood of Nisroch, it is too much! He has laid hands on the queen +before my very face! Were he flesh of my loins and bone of my body, he +should be consumed to ashes. Ho, guards, away with him! Cover his face +and lead him forth!" + +A score of hands grasped the offender, a score of spears were pointed at +his breast. Though it was her own act, nay, _because_ it was her own +act, a strong revulsion of feeling caused the queen's stately form to +shake from head to foot: and in that supreme moment she swore to her own +turbulent heart that, come what might, even to the fall of the Assyrian +empire, Sarchedon should _not_ die! + +She passed swiftly to the throne, and lifting the king's sceptre, laid +one end of it against her forehead, while she placed the other in his +hand. + +"My lord," she said, "this is the feast of Baal. It is not lawful to +slay an Assyrian born during the worship of the great Assyrian god." + +There shone a red light in the king's eyes that meant death, and the +foam stood on his lip. When he looked thus, it was in vain to sue for +pardon. Nevertheless, he passed his wrinkled hand over the fair brow of +the woman kneeling at his feet. + +"Be it so," said Ninus. "To-morrow he shall die at sunrise. The king +hath spoken." + +Then the guards looked furtively in each other's faces; for all men knew +from such a judgment there was no appeal, in such a sentence no hope of +mercy or reprieve. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE QUEEN'S PETITION + + +Sarchedon was hurried away in the custody of his former comrades, who, +pitying the fate their experience taught them was inevitable, had yet +discretion to take him from the presence of Ninus ere some hideous +cruelty or mutilation should be added to his punishment. They were +hardly out of the king's sight, however, when a priest of Baal, arriving +in breathless haste, brought an order from Assarac to deliver up their +prisoner in the temple of the god. On the festival of that national +deity, unusual respect was paid to the sacerdotal character; and as, +even amongst the guards of the Great King, Assarac's policy had taught +him to cultivate friendship and acquire influence, the high priest's +behest was obeyed readily, as if it had emanated from Arbaces or even +Ninus himself. + +Sarchedon therefore became only so far a prisoner that he was not +permitted to pass the guards at any point of egress from the sacred +building, but might roam at large through its spacious chambers, +speculating on his chances of escape when night should fall, and he +could take advantage of such secret communications as his knowledge of +its votaries taught him must surely exist between the temple and the +town. + +Meantime, however, he was a caged bird, yearning wildly for freedom +because of her whom he dearly loved. The queen's shaft was shot deftly +home, and the poison with which it had been tipped did its work as +cruelly as the pitiless archer could have desired. It was madness to +think of Ishtar in the arms of Ninyas; to feel that, whilst he was a +prisoner here, she might even be struggling for personal freedom, +perhaps calling on _him_ to save her in vain. + +But men trained to warfare acquire the habit of reviewing calmly all +sides of a dilemma, neither undervaluing its difficulties nor despairing +to vanquish them; especially they take into consideration the bearing of +probabilities and the important doctrine of chance. It was not long +before Sarchedon reflected he had himself seen Arbaces under shield and +helmet within a brief space of the queen's arrival at her husband's +palace; that if the espousals of his daughter were really taking place +with a prince, the chief captain would hardly be absent from such a +ceremony; and that Semiramis might have thought it not below her dignity +to tell him an absolute falsehood for reasons of her own--reasons, he +suspected, that ought to be flattering to his self-love and conducive to +the safety of his person. It was impossible to mistake her avowed +interest, her obvious condescension, her changing moods and the +bitterness with which she accosted him in their late interview under the +very eyes of the Great King. If Semiramis loved him, he thought, she +would surely provide for his escape; and the first use he would make of +his freedom should be to seek Ishtar and urge her to fly with him at +once. Merodach could bear them both far beyond pursuit into the desert, +where they would find a hiding-place from the king's merciless hatred +and the queen's more cruel love. + +Sarchedon, then, imprisoned in the temple of Baal, was hardly so ill at +ease as the wilful imperious woman whose reckless malice had brought him +to captivity and shame. + +The old king scowled at her with fierce jealousy and rage as her eyes +followed the retiring form of the culprit, hurried out of the royal +presence with judicious promptitude by his comrades; but from the first +moment Ninus ever looked on that winsome face, he had found in it a +charm his heart was powerless to resist, and he was half subdued already +ere she leaned towards him with tender confiding grace, and crossing her +hands over his gaunt arm, rested her brow on them, while she murmured in +low soft accents, + +"I thank my lord that he has turned no deaf ear to the voice of his +handmaiden. But enough of this. It is not well that Ninus should be +moved by the misconduct of a thoughtless spearman born under an evil +star. I have been summoned hastily to his presence. I feared he was ill +at ease. Is it overbold of his loving servant to ask what ails my lord +the king?" + +"Nothing ails me," was the impatient answer; "nothing but the clamour of +women's voices and the senseless outcries of priests. I sent for the +queen," he added more gently, "because she is the light of mine eyes and +the priceless jewel of my treasure-house." + +Semiramis rose erect, and bowing her lovely head, stood with her hands +crossed in the prescribed attitude of humility proper for a subject. + +She knew right well that in no position could she show to more +advantage; the pride of her bearing softened, the tender graces of her +womanhood enhanced, by its expression of shy compliance, of loving +submission to her lord. + +"His servant hasted hither," said she, "on the instant the king's +command reached her palace. I had scarce time to tire my head and smooth +my robes. Yet I would fain look my best and proudest in the sight of my +lord the king." + +He gazed on her with a fond admiration that was touching to see in that +war-worn old face, softening its rugged outlines and bringing into the +sunken eyes something of the wistful fidelity with which a dog watches +for the smile of its owner. + +"Tired by a score of handmaidens," said he, "blazing in a hundred +jewels, or dishevelled and disrobed, with her free locks floating to her +knees, not the Queen of Heaven herself is to be compared to my queen, +fair and matchless to-day as on that bright morning when I saw her ride +through the camp like a vision, bow in hand, and granted her the very +first boon she asked me, for love of her sweet face and her soft +pleading eyes." + +"And am I still so fair?" smiled the queen, while a flush of hope, +triumph, and pride in conscious beauty deepened the colour on her cheek. +"Nay, I shall scarce be brought to believe he is in earnest unless I can +prevail on my lord the king to grant me once again the request I lay at +his royal feet. If he loves me, surely he will not refuse; and--and I +_think_ he loves me a little still!" + +"I will have him flayed alive who gainsays it!" answered Ninus. "I have +ceased to love most things now, from the roar of battle to the bubble of +a wine-cup. But may I burn like a log of cedar in the fire of Belus when +I cease to love my queen!" + +She shot at him one of those glances she could command at will, in which +mirth, tenderness, and modesty were blended with the fire of love. "I +believe it," she murmured gently. "Such an affection as ours is written +in the stars, and kindles into flame at the first meeting of those who +are destined for each other. It seems but yesterday that my lord burst +on my sight like Shamash, god of day, rising in splendour on the camp, +and I turned my head away to bury my blushing face in my hands, +because--because, already I loved him only too well." + +With the thrill that vibrated in every fibre of the old king's frame +arose the invariable accompaniment of sincere affection--a sense of +uncertainty and unworthiness. + +"I was a stout warrior then," said he, "and not so uncomely, for one +whose life had been spent in saddle and war-chariot; but the colour has +faded on my cheek now, and worse, the fire has gone from my spirit like +the strength from my limbs." + +There was a plaintive ring in the deep hoarse voice, that must have +touched any heart, save that of a woman with a purpose in view. + +"Not so!" she exclaimed, hanging fondly about him. "Not so, my lord, my +love, my hero! I swear by the host of heaven, that to me you are more +noble, more kingly, more beautiful now, in the dignity of your past +deeds and mature fame, than in all the vehemence and ardour of your +impetuous manhood. Nay, my beloved," she added, half playfully, half +sadly, while clinging yet closer to his side, "it is not I alone who +think so; there were looks shot at my lord as he rode through the +streets from the brightest eyes in Babylon, that had I not known full +surely I was his only queen and love, would have made me so miserable I +had fled straightway to the desert, and never looked on the face of man +again." + +Is there any age at which the male heart becomes insensible to such +flattery? With ebbing life and failing vigour, battered and out-worn by +a hundred battles, glorious in the splendour of a hundred victories, the +Great King might surely have been above that boyish vanity, which counts +for a triumph the empty gain of a woman's fancy; yet Ninus smiled well +pleased, and Semiramis felt that her petition was already more than half +granted, her game more than half won. + +"They know a stout spearman when they see one still," said the old hero +proudly, "and they judge by the ruin, doubtless, what the tower must +have been in its prime. Well, well, it stood many an assault in its day, +and from hosts of many nations, nor thought once of surrender, till my +queen here marched in and took possession, with all the honours of war." + +"And she has held it since against every woman in the world!" murmured +his wife, with another of those resistless glances, and a bright flush. +"Is it not so? Keep me not in the agony of suspense. Let me have the +king's word for my great happiness, and swear, by the head of Nisroch, +to grant me my desire!" + +"I must hear first what it is," said the old warrior playfully; but +observing the tears start to her eyes, he added in fond haste, "Nay, +nay, beloved, the queen's petition shall be granted, whatever it be, +even to the half of mine empire." + +"It is more than that!" exclaimed Semiramis, with a smile as ready as +her tears. "It is the whole empire I desire! I would fain sit in the +seat of my lord the king, but only for a day." + +Ninus shook his head. "You are like your boy," said he fondly. "Do you +not remember when we took Ninyas for the first time to hunt the lion +outside the walls, and the lad must needs ride Samiel, the wild +war-horse, that bent to no hand but mine? By the blood of Merodach, he +wept like a maid, and I had not the heart to refuse him; but when he was +fairly in the saddle the tears soon dried on his cheek, for the horse +broke away with him like the wind of the desert, from which he took his +name. I tell you, while I stood there dismounted, I must have felt what +men call fear! I never knew how I prized the boy, till my horse brought +him back to me unhurt. Samiel loved not to be far distant from his +lord; and now Samiel is dead, and his rider worn-out, and the +queen--what was it the queen asked? That she too should ride a steed she +cannot control? Does she know the pride of the Assyrian people, the +turbulence of the crowd, the daily clamour for sluices to be opened and +granaries unbarred, the craft of the priests, the false witness borne at +the seat of judgment, and the weight of the royal word, which may not be +recalled?" + +But for the last consideration, the heart of Semiramis might have been +softened towards one who, with all his crimes and cruelties, had yet +been tender and loving in his home. The thought, however, of Sarchedon's +doom, ratified and rendered inevitable by those fatal words, "The king +hath spoken," swept all other considerations to the winds, and she never +looked truer, fairer, fonder than now, while she answered in a tender +whisper: + +"My lord granted his request to our son at the sight of his wet eyes. +Shall he withhold from the mother her soul's desire, because she cannot +weep save when she fears to lose her place in the heart of the Great +King?" + +His head sank on his breast; he was soon weary now, withering, as it +seemed, more hopelessly in the confinement of a palace than in the freer +atmosphere of a camp. "Name it," said he--"it is granted: the king hath +spoken." + +Her eyes blazed with triumph, and the rich crimson mantled in her cheek. +"I have in my possession the signet of the Great King. I ask to keep it +until to-morrow at noon." + +"I have said it," was the reply. "But what use will my queen make of a +toy that has often cumbered my hand more wearily than ever did bridle, +spear, or shield?" + +"I will but use it to my lord's advantage," answered Semiramis calmly. +"Is not to-day the feast of Baal, and shall not the Great King go up at +nightfall into the cedar house on the roof to burn sacrifices, and pour +out drink-offerings before his god? There will be long procession of +priests, much leaping, howling, and gashing of themselves at the altars; +the prophets of the groves too must pass before my lord, bearing earth +and water, fir-cones, caskets, gold, frankincense, and gifts. My lord is +weary even now. Let him take his rest undisturbed to strengthen him for +the tedious labours of the night. Meanwhile I hold the signet of the +Great King and his authority. I will provide for the safety of the +nation, and for our own." + +He was getting drowsy, and his eyes were already half-closed. + +"You have my signet," he murmured. "Send to Arbaces, and advise with the +chief captain for setting of the watch. And that presumptuous +spearman"--here he blazed up with an expiring flame--"see that he be led +forth at dawn. I have spoken, and he who dared to cross the queen's path +must die before the rise of another day." + +"Before the rise of another day!" she repeated mechanically; adding, as +she gathered her robes about her to depart, "I thank him that his +handmaiden hath found favour in his sight. I cover the feet of my lord +the king, and I take my leave." + +But she turned at the great gate for one last look at the sleeping form, +mighty even in its ruin, and formidable in the abandonment of its +repose. + +Proceeding from the palace, Semiramis paused to whisper a few words in +the ear of Arbaces. The chief captain seemed surprised, and even +discomposed by the purport of her communication; but there was no appeal +from a command backed by the royal signet, and placing her hand, with +the jewel in it, against his forehead, he prostrated himself and +withdrew. Had he remained, his discomfiture might have been even greater +to observe the queen in deep consultation with Assarac, while Sargon, +the king's shield-bearer, remained, as if in waiting, a few paces off. +The eunuch's head was erect and his face bright with triumph; he wore +the air of a man on the eve of some great enterprise requiring skill, +courage, and intellect, but having at the same time perfect confidence +in his own power to carry it through. + +"Is all ready?" asked Semiramis in a hollow whisper, while her cheek +paled, and a strange fire shone in her dark eyes. + +"All is ready," answered the priest, in composed and measured accents, +as of one who states the details of a duty satisfactorily fulfilled. +"Double guards have been placed at the city gates; fifty thousand +archers, and as many spearmen, are mustered under arms. Not a strained +shaft nor a frayed bowstring amongst them, and every man with his hand +on his weapon, devoted to the queen's interest for life and death!" + +"We shall scarcely need them," was her reply. "I have commanded Arbaces +to remove his own especial power without the walls. Has my son gone +forth, and have you taken order for bestowing him in safety to-night?" + +"A company of spearmen will escort him," said the eunuch, "and will +guard the child and its new toy on the road to his refuge at Ascalon. +The king's signet will insure the obedience of such warriors as are +required to force the palace of Arbaces, and if the chief captain +resists with the strong hand, his blood be on his own head!" + +"More slaughter!" exclaimed the queen sorrowfully. "O that the road to +power were not mired so deep with blood! But it is too late to turn back +now. Your life, my own, that poor condemned spearman of the guard--all +are at stake to-night; and we must not, we _dare_ not, stop. Is Sargon +to be trusted? Yonder he stands, waiting for his orders even now." + +"Assarac glanced to where that warrior was stationed, a few paces off, +silent, erect, immovable, with the scowl of undying hatred on his brow. +The priest smiled--and the queen thought his smile more fearful than the +shield-bearer's frown--while he replied: + +"A captive in the dungeon longs for light, and a gourd in the garden for +water; but what is their desire to a father's thirst for vengeance on +one who has shed the blood of his child?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +CRUEL AS THE GRAVE + + +The queen passed on a few paces without speaking, yet glanced towards +Assarac, who walked respectfully at her side, as though she had +something of importance on her mind. At last she observed carelessly, +"That spearman who has incurred the displeasure of my lord the king. Is +it not the messenger who brought me the royal signet from the camp? +These guards are all somewhat alike; yet I seemed to recognise his face +as he fell so untowardly at my feet." + +"The same," answered Assarac, in his calm unmeaning tones. "A goodly +youth, and a stout warrior enough, by name Sarchedon. He has been +bestowed in the temple of Baal under my authority, safe at least till +nightfall. Nor can he escape, though guard and priest are out of call; +for there is no egress from the last chamber in the painted gallery on +the upper story where I have placed him, and whence he could scarcely +fly were he to borrow all the wings of Nisroch, whose image stands over +against the entrance to his stronghold. But it is not of him I would +speak," continued the priest, keenly noting, though he never seemed to +raise his eyes above the hem of her garment, the queen's burning cheeks +and air of breathless interest. "From sunset to sunrise have I watched +and waited for the decree of the Seven Stars, poring over the scroll of +fire they unrolled for me, till my brain was giddy and mine eyes were +dim. Great Queen, there are no secrets in the future for him who has +learned to read the book of heaven. It teaches me that in the darkness +of this night shall dawn unclouded glory for the land of Shinar, and +supreme empire for her who is fairest and bravest among women. As the +goddess Ashtaroth is Queen of Heaven above, so shall the great Semiramis +be Queen of Earth below. The Seven Stars have spoken it, and they cannot +lie!" + +He wondered at her preoccupation, contrasting with the attention she had +lately shown her present listlessness and apparent indifference to the +splendid destiny thus prophesied. Something almost of scorn passed over +his brow, while he reflected, that if the mighty engine of ambition +failed to move her intellect, he had yet a subtler instrument with which +to touch her heart. + +Presently she roused herself to ask, "Did the stars promise only that I +should be great, or will they permit me also to be happy?" + +"The queen's greatness," answered Assarac, "like her beauty, is +inseparable from her very being. Her happiness, like the robe that +covers it, can be put on or off at will." + +"You are right," she exclaimed, while the resolute look he knew so well +passed over her beautiful face down to the very chin. "And she who +stands panting at a fountain were indeed a fool not to stoop and drink. +Tell me, then, their behests. What the stars bid me, that will I do." + +"The Great Queen cannot read from the book of heaven so readily as a +humble priest, the lowest of her slaves, though this lore, too, will I +aspire to teach her at some future time; but there lies in the temple, +fairly writ out in the Assyrian character and plain as the flight of an +arrow through the air, a scroll that teaches us poor servants of Baal +the rudiments of those mysteries into which the ruler of a mighty empire +must needs inquire. It is to be found in a secure chamber of the painted +gallery under the winged image of Nisroch our god." + +While he spoke, not the slightest curl of his lip, the faintest +inflection of his voice, betrayed a hidden motive, another meaning from +that which the plain straightforward words seemed to convey. Yet the +queen glanced very keenly in his face, while she stopped short in her +walk and turned towards the temple, observing only-- + +"It is not yet near sunset. I shall have light to read the scroll." + +Then she dismissed Kalmim and her women, desiring that she might be +attended only by the priest of Baal, in whose steps, nevertheless, +Sargon followed like his shadow. + +Arrived within the porch of the temple, she gave a great sigh of relief, +as though she luxuriated in the refreshing coolness of those spacious +halls, with their smooth shining floors, their countless columns, their +vast shadowy recesses, that spoke of calm and secrecy and repose. She +had not gone far, ere Assarac stopped and prostrated himself at her +feet. + +"Let not the queen be wroth with the lowest of her servants," said the +wily eunuch, "if he ask permission to be relieved for a brief space from +attendance on her person. There is so much to be prepared for the feast +of Baal, so many details to arrange for the sacrifice of to-night, that +I must neglect my duties no longer. The scroll lies where all who pass +may read, and when the Great Queen has studied it enough, if, standing +in this spot, she will but clap her hands thus, those shall be within +call who can summon me to her presence without delay." + +Semiramis frowned, though the frown did but mask a smile. + +"It is scarce a royal reception," said she; "nevertheless, be it so. I +am content to breathe this cool and grateful air for a space, ere I +return with Kalmim and the women to my palace across the river. You are +dismissed." + +He rose and retired, making a sign to Sargon, who watched his every +movement, that caused the shield-bearer to follow him forthwith. + +Clear of the queen's presence, Assarac pointed to a table on which stood +a golden flagon and drinking-cups of the same metal. + +"Not even to-day?" said he, while the other shook his head in token of +dissent. "Trust me, Sargon, you will be faint and athirst before all is +done." + +"Not a drop of wine shall cross my lips," answered the shield-bearer in +a fierce determined whisper, "till I have dipped my hands in the blood +of him who has injured me. I have sworn it by the splendour of Nisroch. +It is the oath of the Great King!" + +"Is your vengeance, then, so deadly?" asked the eunuch, in a tone of +pity that obviously chafed and aggravated the passion it seemed to +commiserate. "Surely ten score of sheep, five yoke of oxen, a hundred +camel-loads of barley, or a talent of gold should absolve the shedder of +blood from farther reparation. In our land of Shinar the laws are +merciful, and do not exact life for life." + +"There is a law in man's heart," replied Sargon, still in the same low +concentrated accents, "that sets aside the law of nations and the +artificial ordinances of priests. See here," he continued, plucking from +his girdle a knotted bowstring, limp and frayed, which he put in the +other's hand; "a reader of the stars should be able to tell a simple +spearman how many knots on that bit of twisted silk go to the score." + +"It needs no great study to perceive that but one is left here now," +answered Assarac with an inquiring look into the other's face. + +"The bow from which I took that string had been bent many a time in the +Great King's service," was the reply; "and a shaft it sped but seldom +missed its mark. I have covered Ninus under shield, and defended him +with my body, when arrows and javelins were flying thick as the sands of +the desert before a south wind. I have waged my life, poured out my +blood freely for my lord, and he has rewarded me with his own royal +hand." + +"He is lavish enough," observed Assarac, "be it gold or stripes, honours +or death, that he awards. May the king live for ever!" + +"May the king live for ever!" repeated his shield-bearer, "a god among +gods, a star in the host of heaven. If an empty throne be waiting for +him up yonder, may it soon be filled! When I saw my boy fall stark dead, +the blood gushing from his mouth and nostrils, I prostrated myself and +did obeisance to the Great King; but I drew that string from my bow, and +in it I tied a score of knots, swearing with each a deadly oath, that by +the splendour of Nisroch I would be avenged ere the twentieth was +undone. Since then I have loosed a knot with every sunrise; and lo, a +priest of Baal counts, and tells me there is but one left!" + +Beneath its sallow skin a terrible smile rounded the fleshy outlines of +the eunuch's face. His voice, however, remained firm while he +whispered-- + +"We understand each other, and there must be no wavering--no escape--no +mercy!" + +Between his clenched teeth the shield-bearer's answer came in single +syllables, hissing like drops of blood on a burning hearth-- + +"Such wavering as stayed the cruel hand, the deadly bow! Such escape as +was afforded that light-footed youth, whom only an arrow's flight could +overtake! Such mercy as he showed my boy!" + +"Come with me," was the high-priest's reply; and the two ascended a +spiral staircase of carved and polished wood-work, leading to the Talar +or cedar-chamber on the roof of the temple, where at nightfall sacrifice +was to be offered, and drink-offerings poured out in person by the Great +King to his Assyrian god. Here they drew from a store-chamber within the +wall several bundles of reeds, which they strewed in profusion over the +wooden floor of the cedar-house, and which Assarac sprinkled assiduously +with a certain fluid from a phial he had kept hidden beneath his gown. + +"Every precaution must be taken," observed the priest with another +hideous smile. "But if it be the will of his ancestor Ashur to descend +for him in a chariot of fire, and these reeds thus saturated should +catch the flame, then must the Great King, if he be not overcome with +wine and sleep, escape by yonder narrow staircase. His shield-bearer +will lie in wait there to help him down." + +Sargon nodded, and his white teeth gleamed between the curls of his +jetty beard. + +"It is a faithful servant who thus risks life with his master," +continued the priest. "When a subject approaches the king in his sacred +office, the punishment is death." + +"Death!" repeated Sargon, and his hand stole to the haft of his +two-edged sword, while he burst into a mocking laugh. + +Semiramis meantime, left to her own devices, strolled through the long +corridors and lofty halls of the temple with wavering steps and slow, +that yet bore her nearer and nearer the chamber at the end of the +painted gallery, where Sarchedon was lodged. Opposite its entrance stood +an eagle-headed figure of Nisroch, with beak and wings of gold. On this +the prisoner's eyes were fixed, as he watched the lapse of time by the +fading sunlight on its burnished edges, and, looking only for +deliverance in the carelessness of the priests, longed for darkness, +that he might explore the temple and find for himself some secret +passage through which to gain the town. Thus gazing, it was with no +assumed start of surprise that he marked the queen's beautiful figure +and shining raiment emerge like a vision from under the very shadow of +the god; and while he prostrated himself at her feet, he could not +forbear covering his eyes with his hands in honest doubt whether he were +face to face with a woman of real flesh and blood, or with some illusive +creation of his own excited fancy. Perhaps no intentional flattery could +have been so grateful to the queen, whose daring nature was yet +sufficiently feminine to be tempered with a certain reserve and +restraint in the presence of a man she loved. + +Semiramis looked tenderly down on the kneeling form at her feet, leaning +towards it with the graceful pliancy of the palm-tree as she bends in +the evening breeze. + +"Rise, Sarchedon," she whispered, dwelling fondly on every syllable of +his name as it passed her trembling lips; "this is no time for empty +homage and unmeaning form. Know you not that you are to die with +to-morrow's dawn?" + +Even that hideous prospect, even love for another woman burning at his +heart, could not veil the passionate admiration that blazed from his +eyes while he looked up in the fairest face beneath the sky. + +Meeting his glances, her own kindled into fire. She laid her white hand +on his shoulder with a gesture that was almost a caress. But the hand, +so firm to draw a bow, to grasp a sceptre, to record a doom, shook like +a leaf of the great tamarisk-tree in her own gardens. + +"I have come to save you," she continued in a voice that sank lower and +lower with her failing breath. "Was I not the cause of your offence? Do +I not share your crime? I cannot let you die!" + +He scarcely believed his senses. Could this be the royal lady who had +ruled so calmly half the nations of the East--this panting, trembling, +eager woman, changing colour, mood, and bearing with every throb of her +beating heart? It was hard to find voice for the conventional +declaration, that "he was the lowest of her servants, and his life lay +in the hand of the Great Queen!" + +"Your life, Sarchedon," she murmured. "If your life be indeed mine, what +more can I desire? See, you shall take it back. It is a free gift; and +again I am all alone. A queen, forsooth! Who would be a queen, to burn +like Ashtaroth in heaven with fire kindled in her own heart, having none +to counsel, none to cherish, none to love?" + +He had sprung to his feet. He looked on the beautiful woman standing +beside him, and every manly instinct of his nature rose to answer her +appeal, so touching, so bewildering, and so fond. The very contrast of +her flushed temples and disordered looks with those royal robes of state +might have turned a cooler brain, and no consideration of danger or +duty could have caused him to forbear exclaiming, + +"I have but one desire on earth--to live and die at the queen's feet!" + +Never had she bestowed on Ninus, perhaps never even on Menon, the +husband of her youth, such a smile as now beamed from eyes and lips and +brow on the impulsive warrior, who had scarcely spoken ere something in +his inmost heart bade him wish his words unsaid. Her lithe and shapely +figure swayed towards him, as if, but for his outstretched arms, it must +have fallen. The perfume of her hair surrounded and intoxicated his +senses; her breath was on his cheek, her sweet lips scarce a palm's +breath from his ear, while in gasping broken syllables she murmured, + +"Not at her feet, Sarchedon, but at her heart! Nay, more, you shall----" + +[Illustration: "NOT AT HER FEET, SARCHEDON, BUT AT HER HEART!"] + +Had Nisroch descended bodily from his pedestal, or Ninus started up like +a ghost from the gaping floor, Semiramis could scarcely have changed so +suddenly to the cold impassive rigidity of marble. Following the +direction of her stony gaze, Sarchedon beheld, emerging, as it were, +from the very pannelling of the chamber, a dark face and armed figure he +recognised as those of the shield-bearer. Sargon, returning by a secret +passage from strewing reeds on the floor above, had thus unwillingly +interrupted an interview which his own instincts told him it was very +dangerous to have witnessed. With oriental readiness, indeed, his +countenance assumed an expression of unconscious stolidity; but in his +heart he knew that the queen's eye had identified him. And it was too +late. Sarchedon, though without a weapon, would have sprung at the +intruder, but the queen laid her hand, firm enough now, on his arm. + +"It is not time," she said in accents so unmoved, so pitiless, that they +made his blood run cold. "To-morrow, Sarchedon, we meet again here, at +the same hour." Then changing her tone to one of the deepest tenderness, +added, "I will claim that amulet you wear before the whole of Babylon;" +and so, whispering "farewell," was gone. + +When she vanished from his sight, Sarchedon could almost have believed +he was mocked by the illusions of a dream. + +Ere she left the temple, Semiramis did not fail to clap her hands, and +summon Assarac to her presence. With more than usual graciousness, she +bade him attend her to the gate, and when beyond the hearing of certain +priests who were busied about their usual offices, asked with a smile, +"that shield-bearer, Sargon, is a stout warrior, I have heard. Can you +depend on him?" + +"To the death!" answered the eunuch. "Less will not serve him. He +requires blood for blood." + +"If the flames do their work, there need be no bloodshed," was the +reply. "But of course he must never leave the temple alive." + +"Of course," assented Assarac; and so the Great Queen passed calmly on +to her own royal dwelling beyond the river. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE DIVINING CUP + + +His queen's command, backed by the signet of the Great King himself, was +a matter that brooked neither hesitation nor delay; and Arbaces, +retiring from the royal presence, reflected with considerable +apprehension on the order he had received from Semiramis. Like many +other veterans in the Assyrian army, he was devoted, body and soul, to +Ninus, reverencing him perhaps less as a monarch than as the famous +warrior, who had led armies to victory again and again. There is no bond +so close as that which is drawn by companionship in privation, danger +and adventure--by a share, however small, in that military glory, before +which all other fame pales to a wan and feeble light. But between his +tried captains and a despotic leader of whose authority there can be no +jealousy, as there can be no cavil at his command, exists the community +of interests, the mutual and reciprocal confidence of hounds with their +huntsman, the wild deer in the mountain with the broad-fronted +master-stag of the herd. + +Arbaces, riding slowly towards his palace, while a score of bearded +retainers paced beside his steed, shook his head in grievous doubt and +perplexity as to his duty in the present crisis. + +"To move without the wall at an hour's notice," thought the old warrior, +"that tried host, which has even now marched in, triumphant and +well-found in every detail, from a successful campaign; the veterans of +Ninus, trained under his own eye in the field, on every man of whom I +could depend as on myself, that he would shed his last drop of blood for +the glory of the Great King--to leave Babylon at the mercy of the +priests and that gilded army, which professes allegiance only to the +queen--thus to place ourselves, weakened and defenceless, in the hands +of such men as Assarac and Beladon, crafty intriguers who would shrink +from no secret crime, though they would tremble like girls to set a +company in array against an open foe--is it right? Is it wise? Is it for +the safety of the Great King? It is on my head. I must obey. Yet will I +make one effort to save him from himself, even though he consume me in +his wrath while I speak with him face to face." + +Drawing rein as he came to this conclusion, Arbaces dispatched +messengers to the captains of the host, summoning them to meet at his +own dwelling with the utmost promptitude; and, turning his horse, rode +off at speed towards the palace of the Great King. + +As he galloped through the wide streets, sitting erect and fair, his +golden armour gleaming in the sun, his long beard waving in the wind, +many an eye looked after him with glances of respect, admiration, and +even regard for the successful warrior, the noted captain, the right +hand and counsellor of Ninus himself. Stalwart water-carriers staggering +between their jars--tawny fruit-sellers sitting amongst their gourds +under booths at the street side--the very leper, grovelling and scraping +himself in the dust, had heard of his achievements, and envied rather +than grudged him his horses, his wealth, his splendour, his beautiful +daughter, and his warlike fame. + +How could they tell he was risking all these with every stride of his +good steed, from a sense of unquestioning loyalty to the grim old +monarch, who might put him to death on the spot for entering his +presence unrequired? + +Ninus in the camp was to be accosted by the meanest soldier; Ninus on +the seat of judgment turned a willing ear to the lowest of his subjects; +but to intrude on Ninus in the palace was a capital offence by royal +decree, by the custom of the olden time, and by the laws of the land of +Shinar. + +Nevertheless, Arbaces waited for no announcement, but flinging his +horse's rein to be held by a captain of ten thousand on duty at the +gate, strode swiftly through vast halls and shining corridors till he +reached the summer chamber of the old monarch's privacy. Two stalwart +spearmen at the entrance, guards of his own selection, made way for him +with looks of wonder and awe, while the chief captain, desperate as +though leaping with lowered point and raised buckler to the breach of a +fenced city, dashed headlong into the presence of the Great King. + +Ninus sprang to his feet, and once again the light of battle gleamed in +his eyes. + +"Welcome," he exclaimed, "my trusty servant!--welcome, as the sound of +trumpets that bids Assyria charge with chariots and horsemen along the +whole line! It can be no light matter, by the beard of Ashur, that +brings you thus into my presence. Reach your hand to the sceptre, and +out with it, man. Is the city in revolt? Hath Armenia sent us a +defiance? Are the rebels of Philistia swarming at the gate? O, I am +weary, weary to madness of this drowsy inaction! Tell me it is something +that shall force me to saddle and war-chariot. Bid me shake a spear +under shield once again, or you had better have leaped into the air from +the tower of Belus, rather than flown here thus, quivering and aimless, +like a random shaft from a wet bowstring!" + +Little reassured by the alternative, Arbaces hastened at least to take +hold of the royal sceptre, and thus secure himself against the worst +consequences of his indiscretion; for pardon was invariably accorded to +him for whom the king extended that emblem of sovereignty with his own +hand; but he dreaded the old warrior's disappointment to learn there +seemed no excuse for a recommencement of the game he loved so well, and +it was only because he was a brave man to the core that he looked his +lord steadily in the face while he said firmly, but respectfully, "O +king, live for ever! I speak not as the lowest of slaves to the highest +of masters; I speak as warrior to warrior, as man to man. Arbaces asks +Ninus if he has ever deceived him in council, or failed him in the +field." + +"Never!" exclaimed the king, on whose kindred spirit the other's manly +bearing produced such an effect as might have been expected. "Never," he +repeated, sitting down again, while the weary look crept over his gray +old face. "You have been true to me as the buckle of my belt, the handle +of my blade. Old servant, old friend, old comrade, something tells me I +shall never tighten one nor draw the other again." + +Arbaces burst into tears. The practised warrior, who had seen towns +sacked, foes slain, and captives flayed alive without a quiver of +sympathy, a throb of pity, was not proof against this unaccustomed mood +in his stern old master. Slave as he really was, slave in presence of a +fierce and irresponsible despot, his heart filled with a painful, +piteous sympathy that unmanned him, and he wept. + +The king's harsh laugh, covering, it may be, some kinder sentiment than +derision, and hoarse with other weakness besides the cough of age, +recalled him to himself. + +"Go, get a spindle!" exclaimed Ninus. "Surely, but for that rugged face +and grizzled beard, I had believed it was an old woman standing at my +footstool with wet eyes to pray for her son's release out of the +clutches of Arbaces, rather than the Tartan himself, whom I have seen +many a time in haste, anger, and perplexity, but never in sorrow nor in +fear." + +The other's face brightened with joy and pride; but he had a duty to +perform, and neither exultation in his lord's approval, nor dread of his +displeasure, would prevent his carrying it out to the end. + +Assuming the usual attitude of respect, and thus dropping, as it were, +to his proper level of humility, the chief captain demanded meekly, + +"Is it the king's pleasure to hearken, while the lowest of his servants +makes report concerning the ordering of the host, and setting of the +night-watches as in the day of battle?" + +"What have I to do with the day of battle?" answered the king testily. +"This is the day of priests and prophets, sacrifice and drink-offering, +waste of time, treasure, and good wine. May Nisroch consume them all to +ashes! Day of battle!--by the beard of Nimrod, day of folly rather, and +weariness and shame! Thou too must needs come prating about it. Well, +say on." + +"The whole army of Egypt has been commanded to encamp without the +walls," observed the other curtly. "Is this the pleasure of my lord the +king?" + +"Without the walls!" repeated his angry master. "Who dared give such a +fool's order at such a time? And you too: have you thus disposed the +host, scattered from their centre, and incapable of concentration or +movement? By the belt of Ashur, you are a bolder man than I thought, to +come and tell me this!" + +"I took my orders from the Great Queen," answered Arbaces, "and she +delivered them with the royal signet in her hand." + +Ninus calmed down at once, while on his face came the smile that was +never seen there, but in the presence of Semiramis, or at the mention of +her name. + +"It is well," he said. "Had it been any other man in the host but +yourself, who came here unbidden to question such an authority, his face +had been covered and his place should have known him no more. The king +hath spoken." + +His old heart thrilled while he thought how this unmilitary disposition +of his army was but another instance of the queen's love and care; +another proof of her confidence and affection. She would spare him all +incitement to exertion by thus withdrawing for a time his favourite +occupation, would exact a proof of his trust in thus confiding his +personal safety and his kingdom to those who were avowedly at her own +disposal. Well, he might not have many more opportunities to please her. +Let the queen's fancy be indulged unquestioned, and her commands obeyed. + +While he dismissed Arbaces, rudely enough it may be, according to his +wont, there was yet a rough kindliness underlying the haughty manner and +fierce peremptory tones, that caused the chief captain's heart to sink +with a sense of depression, a vague foreshadowing of evil he had never +felt before. As the subject raised his head, after the usual +prostration on leaving his king's presence, the eyes of master and +servant met. At the same moment, the same thought seemed to fall like +ice on the heart of each, that henceforth neither should look in the +other's face again. + +Wearily and slowly the chief captain paced back towards his home, the +good horse under him partaking, as it seemed, in his rider's +discomfiture. It was a sore and saddened heart, contrasting painfully +with his elation on the day of triumph, when he rode so proudly beneath +its walls, that he now carried through the lofty portals of his palace. +He had, however, one consolation left in the presence of his daughter. +So long as she remained under his roof, it seemed to her father there +was still peace and rest and tranquil happiness at home. + +"The girl," said he, with his Oriental turn of thought and expression, +"is like a light in the dwelling, a lily in the garden, a fountain in +the court." + +But his apprehensions were not destined to be relieved by the return of +those whom he had sent to summon the principal captains of the host. +With the first who prostrated himself before the Tartan while he +dismounted came evil tidings, which each successive messenger arrived +only to aggravate and confirm. + +Ispabara, chief of the spearmen, a tried warrior and leader of repute, +had been removed from his command, and cast into prison. Even now the +force that hitherto acknowledged his authority was defiling through the +great gate to quit the town under another captain. Scarcely was this +startling announcement digested when a second breathless runner appeared +to say that Sabacon, the captain of the chariots, had been summoned +hastily to the presence of the Great Queen, and had not since been heard +of. Meantime, the whole strength of the chariots of iron were already +massed in the plain by the Well of Palms. + +"What of Belasys and his trusty bowmen?" exclaimed Arbaces in deep +concern and perplexity, while a third light-footed youth laid his +forehead to the ground ere he made his ill-omened report. + +"Let not my lord be wroth," was the deprecating reply. "Belasys cannot +be found. The bowmen are in confusion, but Taracus has received orders +to command them under the signet of my lord the king, and has marched +them out by companies through the different gates of the city. The men +of Nineveh refused to move, and were scattered like chaff before the +wind by the horsemen of the Great Queen. Dagon! how the blue mantles +rode through and through their ranks, piercing, hewing, trampling them +down and sparing none! Men say their bowstrings had been cut when they +encamped last night by the temple of Baal. The women of Nineveh shall +look from their walls in vain, for by the Thirteen Gods I think not a +score of that northern band can have escaped alive!" + +"And all this on the feast-day," muttered Arbaces, turning into his +house with a heavy heart. + +It was obvious that some deadly plot had been contrived--some fearful +catastrophe was imminent. It needed but little of his warlike experience +to remind him that an army thus scattered, while disorganised by a +change of leaders, would be useless for all purposes of resistance or +offence. + +Of the queen's object he could form but vague speculations; for the +means she had employed to carry it out, he could not repress a sentiment +of admiration, considerably dashed with fear. That the authority which +devolved on her with the royal signet had been employed to place the +city of Babylon, and with it the great Assyrian empire, at her mercy was +too apparent; but he hesitated to believe she would use the power she +thus owed to his affection, for the destruction of her husband and her +king. + +Arbaces was a man of energy and action, accustomed to sudden peril, +fertile in the resources by which it should be met. But he was also +superstitious and a fatalist. It is possible that he might have +organised some scheme for the defence of his old master, made some +effort to avert the storm that was gathering over the royal head, had it +not been for one of those trifling events on which the fate of an empire +has sometimes been known to turn. + +Exhausted and perplexed, he called for wine almost as he left the +saddle. Ishtar, who had been watching for her father's arrival, sprang +joyfully forward and ministered to his wants, bringing him the restoring +draught in a golden cup, beautifully carved, chased, and set with +precious stones. + +The girl's step was free and buoyant; her bearing joyous, her sweet face +radiant in the light that once in a lifetime glorifies every child of +earth with a ray direct from heaven. + +The sun was setting, and a stream of crimson from its level beams +crossed the shining floor beneath her feet. Suddenly she stopped, and +looking wildly into the cup, turned pale--pale even in that rich glow of +evening, tinging hands and robe and hair with red. + +"O, father!" she said, "do not drink. It looks like blood!" + +He set the wine down untasted, and covered his eyes with his hands. + +"Enough!" he muttered. "Who shall strive against Nisroch, or flee from +him who hath the four winds of heaven for his wings? The Seven Stars +have spoken, and it is well!" + +Then there came on him a great trembling and fear; for he looked on his +daughter, and wondered who should protect her when he was gone. His own +head, the life of the Great King, the fate of the empire, seemed as +nothing compared to the safety of that beloved being--the child of his +bosom--the one ewe lamb of his fold! + +It was the divining cup of his race from which Ishtar had unwittingly +been about to give him to drink, and he would have been as loath to +defile his father's tomb, or question his father's honour, as to doubt +its gift of prophecy, or make light of the warning it proclaimed. + +He believed firmly enough that a pure maiden, looking into this +mysterious vessel at any crisis of her fate, would there behold +reflected, as in a mirror, a presentiment of that good or evil which the +future held for her in store. And what had she seen now? By her own +confession, to her obvious dismay, a hideous sea of blood! + +He dismissed her from his presence gently, kindly, yet with a stern +sorrow that forbade her to remonstrate or disobey. Then, alone at last, +in the hall of his stately palace, he rent his mantle from hem to hem +with a great cry of anguish, and sat down on the bare floor, unnerved, +unmanned, in a paroxysm of horror and despair. + +Above him, grand and imposing in the shadows of coming night, loomed his +own sculptured image on the wall--proud, erect, triumphant--driving at +speed in his war-chariot over a field of slain. + +So darkness gathered round original and likeness: the fierce conqueror +helmed and plated, bow in hand--the prostrate figure, with rent +garments, bowed in misery to the dust. And the stars came out in golden +lustre--mellow, benignant, radiant--smiling down, as it would seem, in +peace and good-will on the sleep of Babylon the Great. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A LYING SPIRIT + + +In the meantime, not only to his temple had been confined the +preparations of his servants for celebrating the festival of the great +Assyrian god. Throughout the city, wherever shrine was sculptured or +altar reared, garlands had been woven, drink-offerings prepared, droves +of animals made ready for sacrifice, and trenches even dug to carry off +the blood that was to flow like water with the fall of night. The +priests of Baal swarmed in every open space, singing, shouting, +gesticulating with frantic leaps, and bare knives brandished to threaten +their own naked breasts. Nothing was left undone that could excite the +fanaticism of the multitude, and their hot Assyrian blood soon rose to +boiling pitch under the wild excitement of the hour. Men's eyes flashed, +their cheeks glowed, while they rent the air with cries in honour of +their deity, and troops of women, with dishevelled hair and unveiled +faces, might be seen beating their breasts, waving their arms, even +dancing in grotesque unison with the mystic transports of the priests. + +The prophets of the grove, too, had taken possession of every eminence +that might boast a leaf of verdure, every green and wooded spot, both +within and without the walls, for their comprehensive worship of the +host of heaven, figured as it would seem by the countless blossoms and +perennial vitality of their sacred tree--typical, it may be, of that +which long ago in Eden "stood in the midst of the garden, good for food, +pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise;" or +that of which he must eat who would live for ever, and which seemed to +have promised, far back in the buried ages, yet another tree of +expiation and suffering, on which the Great Sacrifice was to be +offered--the Great Sacrifice of immeasurable love and pity, that the +sense of man cannot fathom, nor his words describe, nor his narrow heart +conceive. + +In all idolatry, in the darkness of every superstition, however foul and +debasing, is there not some faint reflection of that true dawn which +shall hereafter brighten into perfect day? + +Amongst the crowds that surged and swayed in the main streets of the +city, carried away by present enthusiasm, and agape for fresh +excitement, might be seen many a proud dark face, with black curled +beard and hair, looking calmly, triumphantly, it may be even scornfully, +on the seething shifting throng. These faces all bore the same impress +of quiet daring and prompt resolve, satisfied to bide the right time +patiently, yet ready at any moment to strike the fatal blow. Their +haughty looks and stern self-confidence disclosed the temper of that +army which, having been left at home to protect the empire during the +last campaign, had assumed to itself the title of the Great Queen's +host, affecting to take its orders directly from Semiramis, to be at her +especial service, and devoted primarily to her interest or person, +rather than to the empire or the king. + +It needed less knowledge of human nature than was possessed by Assarac +to foresee that such a distinction between two such forces, as had now +entitled themselves respectively the armies of Egypt and Assyria, was +likely to produce feelings of jealousy and rancour, ready at any moment +to break out in open hostility. The eunuch, despite attentive study of +the stars, had not failed to read that book diligently which closes +every page with every passing day, sealed to the curiosity that is fain +to anticipate its coming chapters, but standing fairly open for those +who would learn the probabilities of the future from the records of the +past. He judged men's thoughts less by their deeds than their +inclinations, and calculated their future conduct rather from their +passions than their interests. It was through his advice that the army +of Egypt had been scattered over the surrounding country, and that of +Assyria, or the queen's host, concentrated in the city, by timely use of +the Great King's signet. With military decision, unexpected perhaps in +one whose avocations seemed unwarlike, as his character might have been +thought unmanly, he had seized, and caused to be securely guarded, the +principal gates of the city, the sluices that dammed its stream, even +the tunnel under the great river, which afforded communication between +the palaces of the king and queen. He had neglected no precaution; had +provided for every emergency; had corrupted one army, disorganised +another, maddened the priests, inflamed the multitude, set his snares in +the very path of the noble prey he had determined to destroy; and calmly +awaited the result. + +Beladon looked on his chief with the admiration of a neophyte for some +grand professor of his art. It seemed strange to see one on whom the +fate of an empire depended, whose slightest hesitation might involve +with his own the ruin of all his supporters, so calm, so confident, so +unmoved. Not the careless, pleasure-seeking Sethos, whose only business +in life was to fill the king's cup, as his chief recreation was to sun +himself in Kalmim's eyes, could have seemed less interested in the +mighty preparations going forward than was the prime mover and origin of +all. Nay, that thoughtless youth _did_ wear some slight air of +perplexity on his brow while he crossed the open space between the +temple and the royal palace, on his way from the apartments of the +prince. + +"What is this cloud coming up from the desert now?" said the cup-bearer +to the priest, as they met under shadow of the sacred building, and +observed, by such of its graduated steps as were still exposed to the +scorching glare, that not many hours had yet to pass before night. "The +Great King covers his feet in his summer-chamber; the queen tans her +fair face and heats her Southern blood hurrying to and fro, from palace +to temple, from hall to gallery, from the prince's apartments to the +royal judgment-seat. Kalmim keeps silence, which is in itself a marvel, +shaking her head, as if she knew more than she would tell; while in the +midst of these signs and wonders, Ninyas sends and bids me ride with him +into the desert in this stifling heat, as a man would say to his friend, +'Brother, you are athirst and an hungered. Here is a melon and a +water-jar. I pray you eat and drink.' What does it all mean, I say? The +desert forsooth! By the light of Ashtaroth, I never wish to travel the +desert again, after the toil and thirst and suffocation of that endless +campaign!" + +"The prince means to hunt the lion, no doubt," answered Beladon, "under +the eyes of Ishtar, or to speak plain, in the light of the rising moon." + +Sethos pondered. + +"A lion at bay is no pleasant companion," said he, "by moonlight or +daylight either. It is not the smile of a fair woman he puts on, I can +tell you, when your horse comes up with him, and he begins to look you +in the face." + +"I know which is most dangerous," replied the priest; "but I doubt if +Ninyas feels a wise man's fear for either one or other. Nevertheless, +the hunter at night may be a prey before dawn; and the child that cries +to its mother for the moon must be pacified ere it wake the household." + +"You speak in parables," answered Sethos, yawning, "and during the heat +of the day too! I cannot interpret parables, nor do I believe much in +priests. Well, at least I am free of the palace for to-night, and have +done with the Great King till to-morrow at dawn." + +"Till to-morrow at dawn," repeated the other, adding, in a tone of light +yet meaning banter: "When the lion turns to bay, Sethos, what is the +hunter to do then?" + +"He must drive an arrow through the wild beast's heart," was the reply, +"unless he likes to sleep in the desert with nothing on but his bones. +There is no compromise with the lion; if you slay not _him_, he will +surely slay _you_." + +"He will surely slay _you_," repeated the other in the same tone. "It is +a wise saying, though spoken by the king's cup-bearer. Nay, be not +wroth with me, Sethos. I love you well, partly, I think, because you are +not over-wise nor thoughtful, and a man may speak with _you_ freely, not +stopping to pick his words as if the plain truth would burn his lips. +Take my advice: ride your best horse to-day, and water him freely before +you mount. When Ninyas comes back from hunting, turn into the desert and +gallop for your life." + +"Where must I gallop?" asked Sethos, in some natural anxiety and alarm. + +"Where?" repeated the priest. "Anywhere but back to Babylon. Ascalon," +he added thoughtfully, "perhaps it would be the safest refuge, after +all. If you go by the way of the Dark Valley and the Bitter Waters, you +might reach it well enough." + +"And the Great King's draught at sunrise?" said the cup-bearer, +reverting to the first duty of his daily life. + +"The Great King's draught is provided for," was the answer. "See, +Assarac ascends the steps of the temple. I must prate here no longer. Do +as I warned you. Farewell, I am loath to part, for I think we shall +never meet again." + +Little reassured by so ominous a leave-taking, Sethos hastened to make +ready for the expedition to which he had been summoned by the prince. +Though greatly perplexed and at a loss how to act, he decided so far to +follow his friend's counsel as to select a true-bred steed of the plains +on which to accompany Ninyas, permitting the good horse to drink its +fill ere the bridle was put in its mouth. He slung also a little bag, +containing a handful or two of dates, to his saddle-cloth, and might +have completed farther preparations but that he was sent for to attend +on his future monarch without delay. + +Ninyas was already mounted and impatient to be off. His beautiful young +face glowed with excitement, and a fever of longing shone in his eager +eyes. Somewhat to the cup-bearer's dismay, he found that he alone was to +accompany the prince, though the latter muttered a few indistinct +sentences about attendants on foot and horseback, who had been directed +to meet them outside the walls; but it struck Sethos, himself no +inexperienced hunter, that for one who intended to make war on the king +of beasts in his native fastnesses, it would have been well to carry a +few more arrows in the quiver, a somewhat stiffer and heavier javelin in +the hand. + +With his unusual comeliness and graceful bearing, the person of Ninyas +was as well known in the streets of Babylon as that of the mother to +whom he bore so marvellous a likeness. Recognised and greeted with +enthusiastic acclamations as he passed on, his progress through the city +was one continued ovation. And Sethos wondered more and more to observe +that his young lord selected the most public thoroughfares for their +ride, although the absence of his usual guards, the waiving of all state +or ceremony, seemed to infer that he wished to depart unnoticed and +unknown. + +More thoughtful than he had ever been in his life, the cup-bearer +followed close on the prince's heels, anxious, silent, and sadly +embarrassed by the warning he had lately received. Ninyas, on the +contrary, laughed and jested with the crowd, breaking through the +habitual reserve that existed between his father's subjects and the +royal descendant of the gods with a joyous freedom that sat gracefully +enough on one so young, so renowned, and, above all, so fair. + +In an open space not a furlong from the gate by which they were about to +leave the city, the multitude seemed at its thickest. The prince's horse +could scarcely move in a foot's pace, although those against whom it +pressed prostrated themselves to the ground, kissing the body or +trappings of the animal, and even the feet of its rider. Much excitement +had been caused here by a huge altar of turf raised to Baal, gay in a +profusion of flowers, girt with the usual trench, and surrounded by a +numerous circle of priests, leaping, shouting, waving their arms in +paroxysms of an excitement too unbridled to be wholly feigned. As Ninyas +came to a halt almost in their midst, one of these, springing +frantically in the air, caught hold of the prince's bridle, and +brandishing a broad curved knife, laid his own breast open with a wild +flourish that cut, however, little more than skin-deep. + +It was a startling figure, standing there so tall and lean, naked to +the waist, and bleeding freely from its tawny sinewy chest. The thick +black hair and beard were matted together in foul disorder, the piercing +eyes rolled and glittered with the light of madness, while a long-drawn +howl of mingled agony and triumph denoted that the votary was under the +inspiration of his god. + +Sethos trembled, the horse of Ninyas pawed and snorted while his rider +smiled in scorn; but the crowd, swaying to and fro, caught the +excitement of the moment, and a whisper running from lip to lip like +wildfire rose to a shout of "Prophesy, prophesy! He foams, he writhes! +Baal has come down on him! Prophesy, prophesy!" + +Another gash, a hideous laugh, a long-drawn dismal wail, and that +unearthly figure, towering above the rest, hovering as it were with arms +extended towards the prince, took up its parable in raving incoherent +utterances, while the gleaming teeth and restless features worked in +frightful jerks, like the contortions of a man in a fit. + +"I am Nerig! I am Zachiah! I am Abitur of the Mountains! I have fought +with Merodach, and lain with Ashtaroth, and spoken with Baal face to +face! Mine eyes are opened, and I, even I, behold the things of earth +and heaven. I am no man, not I, to be born of woman, scorched with fire, +slain with steel. I am three devils in one--Nerig, Zachiah, and Abitur +of the Mountains--three devils, and yet I cannot lie, for it is not I +who speak, but Baal! Baal has come down on me, and cast out the devils, +and hereafter will I write them a bill of divorce, that they know me no +more; and the voice of Baal cries, 'O king, live for ever!' and the +finger of Baal points to this goodly youth, and bids him reach his hand +to take the sceptre, draw his girdle to wear the sword; and the fire of +Baal falls on my heart and consumes me, constraining me to cry without +ceasing, 'To-morrow, and to-morrow, and yet to-morrow!' It is spoke +below; it is writ above! O king, live for ever!" + +Then the foam flew from his mouth, and he fell on his face, stark and +senseless, under the very feet of the prince's horse. Swerving aside in +terror, the animal's hoof struck sharp on his defenceless head, and he +lay there to all appearance a dead man. + +But neither amongst his comrades nor the bystanders was an eye turned on +him in pity, nor an arm stretched to raise him from the earth. The looks +of all were bent on their future monarch and favourite, now hastening to +depart. + +As Ninyas disappeared through the city gate, once more a shout went up +into the sky; and like the countless birds of morning, with their +various notes of welcome to the rising sun, all these voices had but one +burden, one chorus, and thus it ran: + +"The gods cannot lie! Baal hath spoken. O king, live for ever!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE FEAST OF BAAL + + +With the last rays of the sinking sun, as its crimson disk went down +into the desert, there rose from the echoing temple such a clang of +cymbals, such a bray of trumpets, such a wild burst of loud triumphant +music, as caused to ring again her hundred brazen gates, and warned +Great Babylon, through all her countless palaces, that the sacrifice by +fire was now to be perfected before their god, and the sacred feast of +Baal consummated with the close of day. + +At this given signal, thousands of torches flared out on balcony and +terrace, innumerable lamps gleamed and twinkled in bower, grove, and +garden; while from the beacon-fire that crowned the tower of Belus a +thin red flame shot up into the night, like the tongue of an angry +serpent reared on end to strike. Far below, in street and square, were +massed the eager expectant multitude, their white garments and dark +faces brought into strong relief under that fitful glare; while above +them, in grand imposing perspective, loomed long avenues of the mighty +bulls of granite, with wings unfurled and stately human mien, calm, +stern, colossal, types of majesty and strength. + +Not a warrior was to be seen; not a bow nor spear, nor so much as the +glitter of a headpiece; but every tower at every gate, every stronghold +and place of concealment within the walls, swarmed with armed men; while +in the paradise that surrounded the palace of the Great Queen was +arrayed such a force as would have sufficed to sack the whole city in an +hour. + +Semiramis, dressed in royal robes, with the royal tiara on her head, saw +them served with food and wine ere she went down their ranks in person; +while every captain of a thousand, for himself and his command, swore +fidelity to the queen, to Ninus, to the dynasty of Nimrod, especially to +the young prince, who was destined hereafter for the throne of the Great +King. + +In all her varying moods, the present seemed to suit her best; and many +a fierce bowman remembered afterwards how lovely the queen had looked +under the shade, as of coming sorrow, that clouded her gentle brow--with +how tender a grace she seemed to take leave of each man individually, as +if something warned her she was bidding them a last farewell. When she +retired into her palace, not one but looked on its walls with something +of that sweet sad longing which thrills a lover's heart who gazes on the +dwelling of his mistress, on the casket that contains his priceless +pearl. + +But it was whispered in the rank that she had been seen afterwards in +the direction of the temple, disguised and unattended, desirous perhaps +of witnessing unrecognised the procession and ceremonies in which her +sex forbade her to take part. + +The pageant began on the very threshold of the Great King's palace, from +which Ninus emerged at sundown, arrayed in his royal robes, with the +royal tiara round his brows, the royal parasol held above his head. He +wore a long flowing garment of silk reaching to his ankles, embroidered +in mystic characters, edged with fringes and tassels of gold. Over this +a second robe or mantle, trailing behind him, of the sacred violet +colour, open in front, and bordered, a palm's-breadth deep, with an +edging of gold. His long gaunt arms were bare, save for the shining +bracelets that twined like serpents round his mighty wrists. He wore his +sword also and two daggers, being the only man armed in the whole +procession, except his shield-hearer, who, on the present occasion, in +right of his office, bore the state parasol even at night, and was bound +to attend his king as far as the upper story of the temple, on which the +Talar was reared, but not a step farther for his life. + +Those of his friends who were near enough to observe Sargon's face +hardly recognised him. Usually so swarthy, he had now turned deadly +pale, and the strong warrior's limbs dragged under him, as if he too, +like his worn old master, were closely approaching the end. + +Though men cast down their eyes before his splendour, appearing only to +study the hem of his garment, they yet knew that the Great King looked +very sad and weary; that his feet bore with difficulty that towering +frame, which was still so massive a ruin; that the brave old face had +grown wofully livid and sunken, the fierce eyes dull and tame and dim. +Even the martial spirit of his race seemed to have died within him. + +But it blazed up yet once more ere it went out for ever. When Assarac, +at the head of twenty thousand priests, prostrated himself in the +entrance of the temple, with a welcome, as it were, to his royal +visitor, there passed over the Great King's face a light of sudden wrath +and scorn. + +"To-morrow!" he muttered. "To-morrow! When a fire hath licked up the +locusts, mine oxen shall tread out the corn!" + +And Assarac, bending low in deepest reverence, heard the implacable +threat, accepting it calmly, without a quiver of pity, remorse, or fear. + +Shouts louder than any that had preceded them rose from his people as +the Assyrian king went up into the temple of his god. He never turned to +mark it. The dull listless apathy had come over him again, as if some +instinct told him that not thus, amongst odours of incense and oblation, +sounds of harp and tabor, lute and viol, in the mellow lustre of festive +lamps, gaudy with blazing gems and robes of shining silk, bearing +peaceful offerings, surrounded by white-robed priests, should a +warrior-king look his last on the nation of warriors he had ruled! + +At this point the cymbals clashed in a yet wilder burst of melody; a +chant, sweet, measured, and monotonous, was taken up by a thousand +practised voices; while in every part of Babylon, where shrine had been +adorned or altar raised, torch was laid to fagot, steel to victim; +streams of blood filled the new-cut trenches, fumes of sacrifice rose on +the evening breeze, loud shrieks and yells went up from his maddened +worshippers, while, leaping like demons in the fire and smoke, naked +priests of Baal raved and writhed and cut themselves with knives in +honour of their god. + +One man alone stood looking on unmoved. He was dressed as if for a +journey, with a long staff in his hand. His attendants, much interested +in the proceedings, held a few asses, large powerful animals of their +kind, at a short distance off. It was the Israelite out of the land of +Egypt, whom Assarac had released from his bonds, at liberty, and about +to depart. He looked very sad and thoughtful; there was less of scorn +and pity in his eye, though once, roused, as it appeared, by some +unusually intemperate outbreak, a cloud of resentment passed over his +face, and he muttered-- + +"Infinite mercy! Infinite patience! How long, Lord, how long?" + +Then he withdrew from the crowd to place himself in the centre of his +little band, where, formally and solemnly, he shook the dust from off +his feet ere he mounted an ass; and so, followed by his handful of +countrymen, proceeded gravely through the Southern Gate, outward to the +desert. + +Within the wide area that encircled the temple of Baal, his priests, +though so numerous, were drawn out in orderly array that must have +gratified the military eye of the Great King. Terrace by terrace the +long lines of white stretched in endless perspective, every votary, from +bearded patriarch to boy-faced eunuch, with a lotus-flower in his hand. +To the image of each deity in turn, as it was borne before the monarch, +they prostrated themselves with devout obeisance; while at every +prostration clouds of smoke ascended from the altars, golden cups were +emptied in drink-offerings, and blood spouted from the throats of fresh +victims as sheep and oxen fell prostrate at the propitious moment under +one well-directed blow. + +Shamash passed on--the god of light, with his burnished disk +representing the sun's dazzling surface, and identifying that statue of +solid gold, under the weight of which its bearers, tall stalwart +priests, seemed to fail and labour; Ishtar too, with her pale reflected +beauty, like the moon she typified, gentle sister to the Lord of Day; +and Bar and Nebo, versatile, pliant, representations of progress, +improvement, human intelligence and skill; Merodach, king of battles, +bold, defiant, standing on the lion's back bending his bow; and +Ashtaroth, spirit of beauty, love, and light, peerless, radiant, +alluring, with the bright star on her forehead and the serpent in her +hand. Other images followed, of different minor influences: winged +monsters threatening man, or coerced in turn by some superior +spirit--the beetle, the scorpion, lions with human faces, wild bulls +fighting head to head, or flying from each other heel to heel; Dagon, +with more than human beauty to the girdle, foul, hideous in fins and +scales below; Ashur too, monarch of the godlike circle; and Baal +himself; Nisroch with the eagle's head, the burnished pinions, supreme, +all-powerful, immutable, the Destiny from whose award there was no +appeal, from whose vengeance no escape. Lastly, the symbolical and +mystic representation of some power that must yet be superior even to +Fate, some abstract essence, some intelligence infinite, inconceivable, +expressed, vaguely enough, by a circle of gold encompassing a wheel of +wings. + +Only on such solemn occasions as the present was this emblem carried in +the place of honour, immediately preceding the monarch, when he +officiated in the sacred capacity of priest as well as king. It seemed +to be regarded with an awe-struck reverence by all; and even Ninus, +impatient as he was of such ceremonies, believing in little but his +queen and his sword, could not forbear a gesture of respect while he +passed beneath it, at the lowest of the steps he was about to ascend +into the secluded precincts of the Talar. + +Here Assarac, with another prostration, laid at the royal feet a square +casket of gold, and a representation of the fir-cone, worked in the same +metal, emblematic, as it were, of the two elements, fire and water; the +inflammable properties of the fir-cone, with its reproductive vitality, +representing the generative powers of heat; while the golden vessel +seemed suggestive of that fluid which, pervading all nature and +embracing the whole earth, tempering and allaying the ardour of its +opposite, may be considered as the feminine influence in creation. + +Thus flung down before him, these offerings signified that the Great +King in his present capacity assumed vicariously the attributes of +Ashur, or even Baal himself. Assarac, with considerable ceremony, now +presented a cup of wine, for his sovereign to pour out in drink-offering +to the host of heaven so soon as he should have reached the summit of +the temple. While Ninus took it from the high-priest's hand another look +of immeasureable scorn passed over the old lion face--a look that seemed +lost on the eunuch, whose final prostration expressed the deepest +homage, the utmost devotion, that could be rendered by a subject to his +king. + +The Southern night had fallen; the stars came out by countless thousands +in the calm fathomless sky. Once more, high above trumpet-peal and clash +of cymbal, lute and viol, harp and tabor, rose a deafening +heart-stirring shout--irrepressible tribute of honour and admiration for +the greatest warrior of a great warlike line. It was the farewell of his +Assyrian people to their Assyrian king. + +While it rang in his dull old ears, and brought the light back to his +dim old eyes, the heavy folds of a curtain hanging at the foot of that +sacred staircase he alone was privileged to ascend, parted, to close +again for ever on the grand old form, noble even in its last decline, +and majestic in the very ruin of its decay. + +Assarac drew a long breath of relief; and Beladon, at the extremity of +one of the lower terraces, whispered to the priest standing next him, + +"What think you, brother--will they come down for him to-night in +chariots of fire, as it is written in the stars?" + +To which the other replied: + +"Sacrifices and drink-offerings have been rendered, enough to propitiate +a thousand gods; and surely brother, the stars cannot lie." + +But on the face of his people, from which he had never turned in fear +nor scorn, it was the Great King's destiny to look no more. Ascending +into the seclusion of the Talar, he had no sooner entered its +cedar-house than a strange lethargy and drowsiness enwrapped his senses. +Ere he could pour out his drink-offering to the four quarters of heaven, +his eyes grew heavy, his perceptions failed, his feet seemed glued +amidst the rushes, strewed ankle-deep on the wooden floor, and he sank +wearily into the throne prepared for him, like a man overcome with +sleep. + +He must have been dreaming surely, when in a corner of that chamber, at +the level of his feet, he saw a dark face, brought out by a sudden glare +of light--a face of which the stern lineaments, familiar surely, yet now +so distorted as to be unrecognised, denoted some set purpose +inassailable by pity or remorse. In the gleaming eyes, fixed steadfastly +on his own, he read a horror that seemed to freeze his blood; but even +then in his ghastly trance the stout old heart laughed within him, to +acknowledge no sense of fear. + +Yes; he must be dreaming. What else could mean these gathering shadows +that oppressed his lungs, that smarted in his eyes, that numbed his +faculties? He was in a glow of torpid warmth now, conscious but of a +heavy drowsiness, broken by leaping flashes of light; while there passed +before him, like a spirit floating across a sea of fire, the delicate +head, the pale proud face, the matchless beauty of his queen. He +stretched his gaunt old arms, he strove to rise, to cry out; but his +limbs failed him, his head drooped, his tongue clove to his mouth. + +"A dream," he thought again; "surely a dream." + +But it was the last dream of the Great King, fallen into that sleep from +which he never woke on earth again. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +GONE TO THE STARS + + +Bowed in the dust, his heart torn with anguish, as his mantle was rent +from hem to hem, Arbaces grovelled on his chamber floor, blind to the +shades of coming night, deaf to the sounds of sacred riot and religious +festivity that rang through all the city round. He was like a man in a +trance; and yet, though such noises were powerless to rouse his +faculties, they woke at once to a distant echo, that his practised ear +knew for the tramp of an armed party, to a faint familiar music his +fighting instincts warned him was the clink of steel. + +With one spring he leaped to his feet, snatched spear and shield from +the wall, drew his sword-belt tighter round his loins; and so, with +prospect of danger and necessity for action, felt he was a man again. + +Brave and wary, he ran on to a terrace of his palace which overlooked +the court. His heart sank to perceive that it was already filled with +spearmen, amongst whom two or three white-robed priests of Baal were +conspicuous. Something told him then that his enemies were upon him. +Remembering his fidelity to his old warrior lord, and the hostility he +had never shrunk from provoking in that monarch's service, he knew, even +while he recognised the spearmen as belonging to the queen's army, that +some powerful conspiracy was in the ascendant, and he must die. At the +same instant came across him the warning that Ishtar had read in his +divining cup, under the semblance of blood. + +They were in the court; they were crowding to the staircase. The only +chance of saving his daughter was to make such a desperate stand before +the women's apartments as should give her time to escape by the terrace +on the roof to an adjoining dwelling, and thence fly to take refuge. +Where? Not in the temple of Baal; not in the palace of Semiramis. No, +the last hope of safety must lie under the roof of the Great King. + +Most of the retainers were absent, partaking in the festivities of the +night. Half a score or so gathered round him on the stairs, and of these +he must dispatch one to warn Ishtar that they were assailed. + +Even in that anxious moment he remembered how, long ago, he had held a +pass in Bactria, though sore out-numbered, and the Great King said it +was well and bravely done. + +They called on him to surrender. They must search his palace, said +their leader--one who had formerly been under his own command, whom he +recognised as a bold, remorseless, and desperate man. + +"You have no authority," replied Arbaces, eager but to gain time, minute +by minute. "I am chief captain of all his hosts, under my lord the +king." + +The other was prompt and resolute enough. + +"May the king live for ever!" said he mechanically; adding, in short +sharp tones, "Open out, spearmen! Advance, archers, and bend your bows!" + +The front rank of spears stepped aside, unmasking a line of bowmen, with +every weapon drawn to the arrow's head. + +To pause was instant death. Arbaces raised his buckler, leaped down the +staircase, and dashed into their midst. + +At first, archers and spearmen gave way before the assault of that +practised warrior; but what was one in the midst of scores who had sworn +to put him to death? With a gash from temple to chin, with a spear-head +in his body, a javelin through his thigh, he fell where he had been +lying when they roused him, under the very feet of his own image, +sculptured on the wall to celebrate his fame. + +An arm was raised to strike, the angry steel quivered above his head; +nevertheless that threatening spearman had followed Arbaces to victory +more than once, and he would have forborne to slay his old leader, had +he dared. But a hoarse voice rose, fierce and savage, above the din. +"Strike," it said, "and spare not! Baal hath spoken, and the stars +cannot lie!" + +The pitiless words came from a priest whose white robes hovered on the +skirts of the encounter. They were followed by a downward thrust, a gush +of blood, and a hollow groan. Turning on his face to die, Arbaces gasped +a few broken syllables. The spearman who slew him, less remorseful now, +like a wild-beast that has tasted blood, heard them many a night +afterwards in his dreams, though they only murmured, "The king hath +spoken. O king, live for ever!" + +Panting, pale, beside herself with fear, Ishtar had taken refuge, as her +father bade, on the roof of the palace, with the intention of escaping +thence into the street. At the very spot where she had met Sarchedon, +watched a cloaked figure, and her heart leapt for one wild moment with +the thought that the man she loved had dropped from the skies to save +her at her need. Ere she could perceive he was not unattended, almost +before she was conscious of her illusion, she found her arms pinioned, a +shawl cast over her head, and herself borne forcibly away on stalwart +shoulders, while a sweet soft voice whispering terms of passionate +endearment in her ears, left no doubt as to the object and results of +the outrage to which she was exposed. + +Blindfold, gagged, half-stifled, she scarcely felt she was carried +rapidly down several steps into the street ere she became unconscious. +With the fresh air outside the walls, her senses returned, and she knew +by its sidelong pace and the rate at which it travelled that she was +riding a powerful dromedary, docile as an ox, swift as a courser, and to +all appearance no more sensible of fatigue than a boat. + +Then a horror of despair came over her; for she felt that those two she +loved best in the world must be lost to her for ever. Had Arbaces been +alive he would have rescued her. In such a captivity as seemed imminent, +how was she ever to set eyes on Sarchedon again? The shawl was still +round her head; but its folds had been loosened, so that she might +breathe more freely; and she could perceive the soft surface of the +desert sand passing beneath her, as she glided on smooth and noiseless +like a ghost. Utterly broken down, she bowed her head on her knees in an +agony of despair; and still that whisper stole into her ear at +intervals, with its hateful protestations of a love she loathed and an +admiration she despised. + +So she journeyed into the desert, while her father lay dead in the court +of his palace, and her lover sought her wildly, hurrying to and fro in a +paroxysm of grief and fear. + +Once, in an early stage of her fearful journey, she was conscious that +the dromedary had been urged to its utmost speed. She fancied, too, that +she could distinguish shouts, and other sounds of strife. Muffled and +confused, it was fortunate for her that she did not know their cause. + +With the first shades of evening, Sarchedon had taken advantage of the +darkness to escape. He had no difficulty in finding an egress from the +temple of Baal; nor did he meet with any interruption from the priests, +who, busied in their several offices, bore without exception an air of +considerable excitement and preoccupation. One figure indeed he passed, +wrapped in a mantle that completely shrouded face and form, of which +there was something feminine in the graceful outlines, though the height +was as the height of a man. It never moved, nor seemed aware of his +presence, when he glided by, remaining in an attitude of profound +meditation, conscious only of its own engrossing train of thought. Could +he have seen the beautiful face, so fixed and rigid, behind that veil, +could he have read the purpose burning under that gentle brow, he would +have fled from the Great Queen in horror and loathing, faster even than +he hurried towards Ishtar in anxiety and hope. No sooner was he clear of +the temple than his spirits rose, his energy returned, and his project +of escaping from Babylon with her he loved while there was yet time grew +to a fierce over-mastering desire, like that of a man who is suffocating +for the air which is his life. + +Hastening to his home, he made ready Merodach for a journey, and bridled +the good horse with his own hands; then took his way through the city, +now ablaze with innumerable torches and ringing with sounds of festival, +towards the palace of Arbaces. + +But the streets swarmed with revellers, and his progress was necessarily +slow. When he arrived at the well-known dwelling, it was too late. + +The dead body of the chief captain lay stark and grim where it had +fallen. The servants had fled, the place was empty, and Ishtar nowhere +to be found. + +In such a catastrophe the first impulse of a brave man seems to be one +of resistance and defiance, as though his combative instincts were +aroused, and he could face his fate more calmly because he feels the +worst has come at last. Cool and collected, Sarchedon soon satisfied +himself that the woman he loved had been carried away by force from her +father's dwelling; and a few cautious questions in the streets enabled +him to discover the gate by which she had left the town. + +Little by little he learned the maddening truth, and traced her through +the gardens and vineyards that surrounded the city walls into the +desert. Once on the sand, with a rising moon to help him, he could track +the footmarks of her dromedary surely as the bloodhound tracks a wounded +deer. He had not travelled many furlongs ere he came up with a small +band of wayfarers, plodding on their patient asses into the wilderness, +and recognised the Israelite whom Assarac had released, and to whom, +during his captivity in the camp of the Assyrians, Sarchedon had himself +done more than one slight service. + +He reined in his horse, and learnt that a party such as he was in search +of had passed them not long before. There were scarce half a score; they +were armed; they travelled fast; their horses were of the noblest breed, +and the dromedary in their midst seemed to have the wings of the desert +wind. Had he not better tarry with his informants where they meant to +encamp till morning? He would never overtake those whom he pursued. + +For the first time that night he smiled while he patted Merodach's neck, +and put the good horse into a gallop once more. + +Stretching on with that long untiring stride, he was aware of a solitary +horseman wandering aimlessly towards him, and riding at a foot's pace. +For all ages it has been a true saying, that he whom one meets in the +desert must be friend or foe. Sarchedon bore down on the other, and +halting in front of him, discovered, to his great surprise, that it was +Sethos. + +The cup-bearer, who accompanied Ninyas on his fictitious lion-hunt +outside the walls, had taken the earliest opportunity of leaving his +young prince, when the latter rode back at sundown to the city. +Impressed by the vague warning of Beladon, he had followed as far as he +could the advice it accompanied, and turned his horse's head towards the +desert, as directed by his friend. + +But it was not in the nature of Sethos to persevere for any length of +time in a course requiring sustained energy or self-denial. The fatigue +of the long ride before him soon suggested itself painfully to his mind. +Babylon with all her charms allured him irresistibly, now that he had +really turned his back on her temptations; Kalmim's dark eyes seemed to +plead with his own inclinations against an abandonment of courtly life, +an exchange of luxury and pleasure for hardship and privation. + +It was not long before he guided his willing horse back towards the +city, and so, pacing leisurely through the cool night air, came against +his friend, galloping in fiery haste on his errand of life and death. + +"Have you seen them?" exclaimed Sarchedon, pale, fierce, and breathless. +"Shall I catch them? How long have they gone past?" + +"Seen what?" asked Sethos in turn, marvelling at the other's disturbed +looks and wild imploring eyes. + +In a hoarse whisper, in the low quick accents of a desperate man, +Sarchedon briefly described the party of which he was in pursuit. + +"If it was daylight, they would be in sight even, now," replied the +other; and was entering into a long description of the dromedary's +extraordinary speed and powers, which he had not failed to observe, +although the little band had passed him at a pace which forbade his +identifying those who composed it, when Sarchedon, giving his +bridle-reins a shake, went away again in more furious haste than before, +neither wishing him farewell, nor thanking him for tidings that seemed +so welcome and yet so sad. + +"A woman," thought Sethos, nodding sagely, and thinking he would be back +with Kalmim by to-morrow's dawn--"a woman must needs be the cause of all +this turmoil. Surely there is wormwood with the honey, and a two-edged +sword in the scabbard of velvet and gold." + +But when did such pithy saws ever preserve a man from foolish deeds? Or +where is the armour of proof to fence his heart from a pair of soft +eyes, the mantle of wisdom that is not shrivelled to shreds in the +breath of a burning sigh? Sethos rode steadily back to Babylon, and +Sarchedon galloped on into the desert, like a falcon stooping for its +prey. + +Piercing as were his eager eyes, sharpened of love and hate and fear, he +was aware, by the swelling of Merodach's proud neck and the horse's +voluntary increase of speed, that they were nearing the object of +pursuit long ere his sight could distinguish certain dusky shadows +flying like vapours before him, but looming larger as his gallant +war-horse gained on them with every stride. + +"Merodach," he muttered, "king of horses, you are worthy of your name!" +Then, in husky frantic tones he shrieked out: "Stand, cowards, stand!" + +They were within ear-shot, and the dromedary was forced to its utmost +speed; but a horseman wheeled round, and halted not a bowshot from his +approaching enemy, supported by a follower, who bore his shield. + +"It is a spirit," said the latter; "it is Abitur of the Mountains!" + +"Fool, keep your arm down and cover me," replied the other, while, +bending his bow behind the buckler, he took a long steady aim. + +Swift and straight as Sarchedon dashed in, the arrow flew swifter, +straighter yet. It pierced through steel and silk and gold embroidered +baldrick; the very feathers that winged it were draggled red in blood. + +Faint, sick, and dizzy, the strickened man lowered himself on his +horse's neck, while stars and moon and desert sand spun round him like a +wheel. Had not Merodach's instincts taught him to obey its movements, +balancing himself as it were under the swaying body, his rider must have +fallen headlong to the earth. + +So while the successful archer and his shield-bearer followed their +party well pleased, Sarchedon, helpless, senseless, yet cleaving still +to the saddle, was carried back at a gallop towards Babylon, over the +same ground that he had traversed so gallantly when he bore the signet +of Ninus to his queen. + +Once more the good horse snorted at an object in his path--snorted and +swerved aside, casting his rider heavily to the sand, where lay a +framework of gaunt white ribs, with a strip or two of putrid flesh, +black and festering on the bones. + +For a moment the shock brought him to life. While his horse scoured away +riderless, Sarchedon was aware, as if in a trance, that he had fallen +across a splintered arrow bearing the same mark as that which was +drinking his own life-blood: a royal tiara, and the symbol of Semiramis +the queen. + +Ere he closed his eyes again, he saw a sheet of flame quiver in the sky. +It flared above the city where his gods had come down in chariots of +fire to take back with them the person of the Great King. + + + + +Ashtaroth, Queen of Heaven + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +WHO IS MY BROTHER? + + +Sarchedon, stretched senseless in the desert, bled so freely, that he +must have bled to death but for the sand on which he lay. Its fine +particles served to stanch the wound ere life was quite extinct; and +though very faint and feeble, the mysterious spark was not so wholly +quenched but that a tender hand might nurse it into flame once more. + +Sadoc and his little band of Israelites, journeying peaceably on, so +long as their asses seemed to travel without fatigue, and finding their +course through the wilderness by the stars, were about to halt for the +night, when they came across the prostrate form of the Assyrian, very +white and death-like in the moonlight, lying near the lion's skeleton in +their path. Those were patriarchal times, and it was not the nature of a +son of Abraham, witnessing such a calamity, to "pass by on the other +side." Sadoc was down by the helpless figure in an instant with his hand +on its breast, rejoiced to trace the feeble flutterings of its heart. +What little skill of surgery he possessed came into practice forthwith. +He forced some drops of wine between the clenched teeth; he drew the +arrow, and poured oil into the gaping wound; he tore his linen garment +into strips for a bandage; and lifting the wounded man on his own beast, +walked patiently by its side, until they reached a fitting spot of +encampment for the night. + +That Sadoc should have been thus journeying in freedom and honour, while +his Egyptian fellow-captives were bewailing their bondage in the heart +of Babylon, was due to one of those strokes of policy in which Assarac +the eunuch took especial pride. + +Ever since her subjection under an Eastern people of wandering and +warlike habits, counting their possessions by their flocks, but showing +rather the rapacious instincts of the wolf than the meek and gentle +nature of those creatures they loved to tend, Egypt had learned to hate, +even more than she feared, all races of mankind that lay nearer the land +of Morning than herself. She had not long shaken off the loathed +supremacy of the Shepherd Kings ere she employed her new-found strength +in making war on the nations of her eastern border--the formidable +Philistines, the terrible sons of Anak, and the mighty empire of which +Nimrod was the founder, ruled in succession by a line of heroic kings. +As her victories increased, so she enlarged her territories, until she +became powerful enough to contest with her Assyrian rival the supremacy +of the Eastern world. + +Perhaps that protracted famine, which wasted other countries, and for +which the wise and high-minded stranger whom Pharaoh had made his regent +provided so skilfully, may have enhanced her relative resources as it +weakened her neighbours; perhaps the balance in which nations are +weighed was so adjusted by that Supreme Power, to whom worlds are but as +grains of sand, through other means; but it came to pass that the more +Southern and less warlike people contended with varying success against +their ancient enemy; and to proud Assyria the very name of Egypt was as +an offence that stunk in her nostrils, a wound that spread and festered +in her flesh. + +It was a day of triumph, therefore, in great Babylon when her fiery old +monarch returned victorious from his Egyptian campaign, and the common +multitude rejoiced to tell each other how their hereditary foes had been +humbled, how Memphis and Thebes had seen the banners of Ashur flaunting +defiance at their gates, his horsemen encompassing their walls; but +wiser heads reflected on the small amount of real gain represented by +all this glory, of real damage inflicted on the enemy by an invasion +that had obtained no concession of dominion, no increase of national +power. What were a few herds of cattle, a drove of captives, a heap or +two of gold, garments, armour, and common spoil. Like the subsiding of +their own river, this ebbing wave of war left, perhaps, increased +fertility where it had passed, in the stern lessons of experience +learned by those who were honourably worsted in hard-won fight. Egypt +was little weaker in numerical force than when the Great King entered +her territories; in skill, confidence, and spirit, she was actually +stronger than before. + +These considerations were not overlooked by the wisdom of Semiramis; +while to Assarac's far-seeing eye, the sapping of Egyptian strength, by +every means at home and abroad, seemed the surest and safest policy for +the attainment of his one paramount object--the aggrandisement of his +country, and through her supremacy, his own. + +It did not escape his penetration, that Assyria's great rival was vexed +with a sore at her very heart, to prove a constant drain on her +resources, an object of daily anxiety and alarm. By a flagrant breach of +faith, an unscrupulous desecration of the rites of hospitality, she had +converted a race of exiles into a nation of slaves. Those who came to +her for bread had indeed received a stone, and the hand she once +stretched to them in friendship was now clenched in menace, or fell +heavily in blows of tyranny and oppression. As the Israelites increased +in numbers, like certain herbs that spring into growth and vitality more +profusely, the more they are trampled under foot, the wiser Pharaohs +began to realise the danger they incurred. No state, however powerful, +could be safe having a numerous race of aliens mixed, yet not mingling, +with its native population, strangers in thought, feelings, usages, +above all, in creed and worship. They might be tamed with hard work, +disheartened by ill-usage, coerced and kept down in every mode that a +remorseless policy could suggest, still nothing less than their +absorption or extinction could give security to their conquerors; and +Providence permitted neither the one nor the other. + +They lived, a people apart, dogged, unresisting, suffering with but +little complaint, yet preserving, apparently for consolation under the +bitterest hardships, some strange confidence in their future, some +mysterious trust in a Power before which Pharaoh and his bowmen should +be swept away like locusts in an east wind. They worked in sad +suggestive silence, they earned their morsel of bread with sweat and +blood and tears; but they had no voluntary dealings with their +task-masters--neither ate nor drank with them, married nor gave in +marriage, bought nor sold. + +Much of this Assarac had already learned from intercourse with the many +strangers who crowded to the great mart of Babylon out of the South; +much from his conversation with Sadoc, whom he had liberated, not +without a purpose. By the Israelite's narrative, he verified his own +information concerning the captive people, and won the other's +confidence in his sympathy with their sufferings, his desire to right +them by the unanswerable arguments of sword and spear. His plan, he +thought, was not unworthy of his own intellect and the glory of the +Great Queen. + +To send back this venerable Israelite, as an emissary to his countrymen, +promising them the powerful aid of Assyria at the time when they should +see fit to cast off the Egyptian yoke; exhorting them to rise +unanimously from within, while all the force of Ashur pressed on the +enemy from without; thus to obtain complete conquest, to extend +unbounded dominion over the land of the South; and, finally, when the +sway of the Great Queen should extend from the sands of the Libyan +desert to the farthest mountains of Armenia, to place this strange +people in some district suited to their habits, there to become hewers +of wood and drawers of water for the Assyrian nation. What matter? They +would have served his purpose, and might be cast aside like a frayed +bowstring or the shaft of a broken spear. + +But the wily eunuch was perplexed by the coldness with which the +Israelite received, while he accepted, these warlike overtures. Sadoc +seemed to have but little confidence even in the mighty resources of +Assyria; little faith in chariots of iron, and horsemen countless as the +sands by the Red Sea. + +"Our fathers," said he, "came down into Egypt, directed by the finger of +our God. When he thinks fit, he will lead us out of the house of our +captivity into a land of corn and wine and oil, where we shall worship +him in freedom, teaching our children, and our children's children, +that he only is mighty, and that the gods of the nations are in his +sight but as chaff winnowed from the threshing-floor, as smoke from a +burnt-offering, that melts into empty air." + +Nevertheless, he was satisfied to take with him to his captive people +the good tidings of promised assistance at their need, and journeyed +back to Egypt, pondering deeply on the prospect of a path to freedom +thus opened out by the assurances of a priest of Baal. + +It was characteristic of the man and of his national habits, that he +refused all guard or escort for his long and toilsome journey. His own +servants, taken captive at the same time with himself, and a few asses +bearing a slender store of water and provisions, formed the whole troop. +Thus scarcely half a score of wayfarers gathered round Sarchedon, to +preserve him from a lonely death on the desert sand. + +Long days the little company plodded on, taking by choice the most +frequented route, in order to avoid those wandering and predatory tribes +of the Philistines, whose hand was already against every man, as "every +man's hand was against them." But the domestic policy of Semiramis had +made her name a terror to these pitiless spoilers; and many a swarthy +robber, who would have scorned to quail before the face of Ninus +himself, trembled at the ghastly punishments inflicted on his kindred by +order of the Great Queen. They believed her--and not entirely without +reason--to be omnipotent, omnipresent, beautiful as morning, terrible as +the lightning, pitiless as fate. + +Wide tracts of desert, therefore, stretching between the different wells +and stations that enabled travellers to proceed in a direct course to +Egypt, though lonely, were as secure as the main streets of Babylon +itself, especially since they had been so recently trodden by the +returning army of the Great King. Sadoc's only anxiety was the +insufficiency of water on their way; his only apprehension, lest his +patient should die ere he could bring him into the land of strangers he +was forced to call his home. + +It was weary work for the sick man in the wilderness, after he had +recovered consciousness and began to regain strength day by day. He had +never known before with what force that merciless sun could pour down on +his face and hands, with what a glare it could be refracted on his +aching eyes. How he sickened for the bright translucent waters of the +mirage, though he knew them false and illusive as a dream! How he +loathed the protracted crawl, the unbroken sky-line, the palms that +promised rest and refreshment, but seemed never a furlong nearer, as he +journeyed sadly on! The ass's patient step, the monotonous jingle of its +bell, the heat, the thirst, the unvarying interminable sea of sand, the +longing for something green, were it but a leaf, a blade of grass, a +single bulrush, became almost maddening; and when at noon they halted to +fling themselves gladly down in any cubit's-breadth of shade they could +find, no palace had ever seemed so commodious, no hangings of silk or +velvet so grateful, as the dark lines cast by a clump of slender +palm-trees, the protection of some uncovered boulder jutting from the +surface to offer repose and shelter--the "shadow of a great rock in a +weary land." + +The Assyrian's constitution, however, was sound, as his frame was strong +and agile. Ere he reached the confines of Egypt, his health was +reëstablished, he had strength to look his destiny firmly in the face. + +The wayfarers rose from their encampment before dawn. With the first +streaks of morning the summits of the mighty Pyramids--already +time-honoured records of long-past ages and exhausted dynasties--peered +daily above the horizon. Crossing the frontier, Sadoc pointed them out +to his companions, while over his usually gentle brow swept an +expression of fierce anger and hate. + +"Behold them!" said he--"the monuments and the archives of our masters, +detailing like a scroll the history of their cruelties, their +iniquities, and their oppressions. I tell you, the mortar that daubs +them has been tempered with human blood. Every brick is cemented with +tears of women and children, every slab founded on the body and bones of +a murdered man. I know their cruelties; for is not my own nation crushed +and tortured every hour to complete their like? I know that the Egyptian +is without compunction or remorse; that in life he would shrink from no +crime, as he would accept any privation, but to secure a palace for his +resting-place after death. Vain, frivolous, pleasure-seeking, this +people--living but for the empty gratification of the hour, jesting, +dancing, posture-making, revelling in wine and flowers--can yet erect +for the vile body they are so loath to leave tombs that might contain an +army, that shall outlast countless generations of their slavish, +tyrannous, blood-thirsty, and luxurious race." + +"They are skilful warriors," answered Sarchedon, whose only experience +of the Egyptian was under shield; "but they cannot stand against the +chariots of Assyria. Why do not your people rise and cast off their +yoke?" + +The Israelite shook his head. + +"Who is to lead us?" said he, "and whither are we to go? Shall we take +our little ones in our hand, and wander forth to the wilderness without +food, without arms, without flocks and herds, skins of water, beasts of +burden, and means of daily life? How shall you conduct a multitude like +ours through the desert? Where shall we encamp at night, and whither +bend our steps at dawn? If we fled to the South, we should arrive at +fathomless rivers, impassable mountains, troops of evil spirits and +demons, the servants of Seth and Abitur, if indeed, our task-masters +tell us truth, that the hideous square-eared offspring of the Great +Serpent has been expelled to the confines of Ethiopia. Shall we move +eastward to be a spoil to the terrible children of Anak and the fierce +tribes of Philistia, who live but to slay, ravage, and destroy? Should +we seek the land of our fathers, to find it occupied by our own +nation--a race of warriors, men of fierce countenance, worshippers of +many gods? No, my son, no. While we remain in Egypt, we have bread, +though it be moistened with tears; we have safety of life and limb, +though we are subject to outrage, insult, and ignominy; we have a home +like the weary ox in the stall, and food like the ass at his master's +crib." + +"And you can bear it!" exclaimed the fiery Assyrian. "I had rather go +out afoot in the desert to die of hunger and thirst with my bow in my +hand!" + +"We bear it," answered the other gravely, "because of the promise to our +father Abraham, in which we believe. We shall _not_ bear it a day +longer, when the time comes and the man!" + +They were approaching a small cavalcade of Egyptians, journeying in an +opposite direction. It consisted of a nobleman and his attendants on +some party of pleasure or business. The two principal figures were +seated in a light fanciful chariot, gaudily painted, drawn by a pair of +desert-born steeds, chestnut and grey. Contrary to the custom of the +Assyrians, who usually drove at a gallop, these proceeded in an airy, +lofty, trotting pace, their heads borne up, their yoke highly +ornamented, and their trappings heavily fringed with scarlet, blue, and +gold. In the car sat its lord, accompanied by his charioteer, who held +the reins, and attended by some score of servants on foot and +horseback--lithe, slender, laughing varlets, fancifully dressed and +garlanded with flowers. As this noisy throng approached, the Israelites +drew aside to let them pass, halting respectfully, and saluting their +present masters with deep humility. The Egyptian lord whirled by with no +more notice than a scornful smile; but his people laughed and jeered at +the way-worn travellers, mocking their speech and gestures with flippant +insolence and scorn. + +"Go to," said they, "shepherds and sons of shepherds! Go, seek your +straw and burn your bricks! So shall ye build houses and tombs for your +masters, and temples for your master's gods. Shepherds and sons of +shepherds, go to!" + +Sarchedon's grasp tightened round the tent-pole he carried in his hand. +The fiery temper illness had not subdued would soon have broken in on +their mirth; but Sadoc's restraining touch was on his shoulder, while +the Israelite's grave accents whispered in his ear, + +"And these be our masters. Better, indeed, the gripe of the demons or +the sword of the Anakim. Better, far better, the iron yoke of Assyria +than such degradation as this! How long must we endure--how long?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE + + +Advancing into Egypt step by step, the slavery of the captive people +became more obvious, the tyranny of their task-masters more offensive. +The fierce Assyrian could not patiently brook scoff and insult levelled +at his companions; but he controlled himself in deference to the wishes +of his preserver, and they reached Sadoc's home without any such overt +act of violence as would have brought the whole party into trouble. + +It was but a miserable hut of mud and reeds, standing a few leagues +without the walls of a city which Sarchedon had heretofore visited as a +conqueror--a city of palms and palaces, stately in its long avenues of +sphinxes, gaudy in the variegated paintings of its brick-built walls, +thronged with a dense population, glittering in a profusion of luxury, +dedicated to its tutelary deity the Cat. + +Somewhat removed from the bounteous river, on the rise and fall of which +depended their fertility and even their existence, the adjacent fields +were irrigated with all the skill that science and experience could +suggest. Their surface--moistened judiciously by canals, ditches, and +water-furrows--was alive with a thousand husbandmen. Hoes were plying, +buckets swinging, shrill voices rose on the serene air, and lean arms +gesticulated with a vehemence ill-proportioned to the amount of labour +accomplished or the importance of the subject discussed. All seemed +bustle, plenty, and prosperity, save in the huts of these poor +Israelites, that stood apart, types of the loathing in which their +inhabitants were held by a people with whom, in the days of famine long +ago, their fathers had come to dwell. + +Lighting down from his beast, Sadoc bade his guest welcome, somewhat +mournfully, to so squalid a home. Then turning to the dark-eyed youth +who had run out to take the ass's bridle in his hand, he asked eagerly, + +"And the river, my son--how many cubits hath it risen?" + +"Fifteen cubits, O my father!" replied the other, bowing himself in +reverence, and kissing the hem of the old man's dusty travel-worn skirt. + +"Praise be to our God!" ejaculated Sadoc; "we shall not then suffer +famine added to hard labour and heavy blows. And thy mother, thy +brethren? Is it well with them? Bid them fetch water for his feet, and a +morsel of bread to comfort the heart of this stranger, who hath come to +abide within our gates." + +Whatever might have been wanting in luxuries, Sarchedon found amply made +up for by the good-will with which his host's family applied themselves +to promote the comfort of their guest. The daughter of the house, a +tender little maiden yet far off womanhood, brought water for his feet, +and was not to be dissuaded from washing, drying, and chafing them with +her own hands. The young men lost no time in choosing from the fold a +kid to kill, dress, and set on the table forthwith. Barley-bread was +furnished by the mother, with butter, dried locusts, and a piece of wild +honey-comb. Fresh water stood to cool in jars of Egyptian earthenware; +nor was a skin of good wine wanting to crown the humble meal; for Sadoc +was an elder of his people, and a man of mark, even amongst the haughty +conquerors by whom they were oppressed. + +When it had somewhat warmed his heart, the old man seemed to brace +himself for a confession that had weighed on his mind ever since he +lifted the wounded Assyrian on his own beast, and resolved to bring him +home with him into the land of his captivity. Filling his guest's cup, +he bade him observe the shadows of declining day and the crimson of +sunset, tinging the solemn face of a gigantic sphinx in marble, visible +from the window of their hut. + +"My son," said he, "our people will be called to their tasks at dawn. +Not a male of the Israelites must be absent, when the servant of Pharaoh +beckons with his whip to count us, family by family, and man by man. Our +dwellings are searched, our very sick are summoned. There is but one +master who claims precedence of the Egyptian, and his name is Death. My +son, it is out of my power to conceal you here. Look around, and satisfy +yourself. You must cast in your lot with us, as though you belonged to +our people; and I will account for you as an Israelite who has made his +escape with me from our captivity in Babylon the Great." + +"I would not willingly bring danger on your household," answered +Sarchedon, "but I pray you remember that I am wont to handle bow and +spear. My fingers are not skilled to use mattock, hoe, and trowel; my +nature, too, does not calmly brook chiding, and refuses altogether to +abide blows." + +"It is not for long," urged Sadoc. "I beseech you be patient for a +little space. The time may come when you shall return to Assyria with +the good wishes of a whole nation to speed you on the way." + +"It cannot come too soon," answered the other, whose heart was with +Ishtar, and whose only hope of recovering some traces of her lay in a +speedy return to his own country. "I owe you my life, indeed; and but +for you, should have been bleaching in the desert, stripped to the bones +by jackal and bird of prey; yet what is life without honour, without +liberty, without love?" + +"Without faith rather," said Sadoc, grave, sorrowful, and dignified. +"The only possession the greedy Egyptian cannot ravish, the only jewel +Pharaoh's arm is not long enough to seize--too lofty for his reach, too +pure for his diadem, too precious for his throne. My son, there is a +something even in the weeping captive's breast that may be greater, +nobler, more enduring than the glory of warriors and the pride of +kings." + +"There are but two motives," answered Sarchedon, "to stir a brave man's +heart: the hope of warlike fame, the desire of woman's love." + +Sadoc smiled sadly. + +"And when the warrior is down in battle," he replied, "or pining in the +dungeon--when the woman turns false and cold, or her fair face is fixed +in death--what is left then to him whose arm has striven but for his own +vain glory, whose worship has turned from the God of his fathers to a +creature weaker and lower than himself?" + +"A man can always die," answered the Assyrian, "when there is nothing +left to live for, as he falls asleep when the sun has gone down into the +wilderness. How shall you compel _him_ who has no fear of death?" + +"Death!" repeated Sadoc. "And is it, then, so much more dreadful to die +than to live? Is rest more terrible than labour, fulness than want, +peace than strife? Which is nobler, the courage of resistance or of +attack? Which best fulfils the purpose of creation?--the ox, plodding +obedient to the goad, or the wild ass, spurning control beneath her +hoof? I will show you to-morrow a whole people displaying such calm and +patient fortitude as shames the proudest triumphs of Assyria, with her +line of kings from Nimrod the Great down to that fierce old warrior +whose chariots rolled here, as it seems, but yesterday over a heap of +slain, and whose name to-day bids the false Egyptian tremble and turn +pale. My son, the hour may yet come when Pharaoh shall be humbled to the +dust, and we shall live like brethren with our kindred once more in the +land of Shinar--the land of our fathers, the land of our inheritance, +and of our hope. In the meantime, though the night has seemed long and +weary, morning may be close at hand." + +With these words, he spread a couch for his guest, and betook himself to +slumber. Sarchedon, looking round the hut, remembered it was of such a +shelter he had dreamed, sleeping beneath the tower of Belus, in the +temple of the Assyrian god. + +It was to hard reality, though, that he woke under the gray morning sky. +Company by company, as his host had warned him, family by family, and +man by man, the Israelites were summoned to their tasks. As he marched +to the scene of labour, between two sons of Sadoc, one a tender +stripling, the other a stalwart broad-shouldered youth, shame crimsoned +the cheek of the practised warrior, thus to find himself identified with +a nation of slaves. + +An Egyptian task-master, daintily attired, and mounted on a pure-bred +steed of the desert, pranced to and fro, marshalling the band of +workmen, threatening, and indeed striking hard with his whip, such as +failed to obey his orders, either from weakness of body or inability to +comprehend them. The sun was not a palm's-breadth above the horizon ere +more than one pair of naked shoulders were already scored with blood. +The lash was even raised for an instant over Sarchedon's head, but +something in the Assyrian's eye must have altered its direction; for it +curled round the massive neck and deep chest of Sadoc's elder son +instead, who accepted his stripes with a sullen patience, that denoted +some set purpose, some hope of vengeance at no distant date. + +"Go to! ye are idle, ye are idle!" was the unceasing reproach of the +pitiless Egyptian, while he hurried his gang forward at such a pace as +disordered even the light-armed bowmen who formed their guard. + +These Sarchedon recognised, by their shields and head-pieces, for a +company which had fled before a handful of his own comrades, at the +passage of the Nile by the Great King. + +How strangely the past came back to him!--the fierce excitement, the +restless variety, of war; the royal signet; the ride through the desert; +Ishtar's loving face; and the Great Queen's maddening smile. It seemed +impossible that he should be trudging on foot a peasant, a prisoner, a +slave. O for an hour of Merodach!--a bowshot's start, with the horse's +head turned towards home! He would have time, he thought, for one blow +at that painted task-master, and so, hurling him to the dust, swing +fairly into the saddle, and away! + +He was roused from his dreams by the back of his companion's hand +significantly touching his own, while it passed a rope into his grasp; +and at the same moment a monotonous chorus broke on his ear, to which, +while an Egyptian beat time with his hands, each Israelitish labourer +lent as much voice as his lungs could spare from the severity of his +toil. + +Their day's work was to move a few cubits on its way the colossal image +of Pharaoh, cut from a block of granite, destined to form at some future +period the ornament of a tomb, grander, costlier, and more spacious than +the palace in which he reigned. Sarchedon, looking upward at the +ponderous image, with its long cunning eyes, its grave cruel face, its +shapely limbs designed in the harmony of true proportion, could not but +admire the resources that had thus hewn a mountain into a statue, and +brought it inch by inch over many a weary furlong, to gratify the pride +and enhance the glory of a king. Firm, erect, sedentary, its hands +spread calmly on its knees, there was something in the very attitude of +the giant that suggested power unquestioned, irresponsible, without +pity, and without fear. + +Levers were employed at every step to raise the weighty mass +sufficiently for the insertion of rollers, on which it proceeded +wearily, slowly, painfully, yet surely propelled by the efforts of a +captive nation, whose straining muscles quivered under the labour, whose +blistered hands burned over the cable, whose spirits were broken by +slavery, as their backs were torn with stripes, yet whose voices, +keeping time with their exertions, swelled a mournful cry in honour of +their oppressor: + + "Work, my brother, rest is nigh-- + Pharaoh lives for ever! + Beast and bird of earth and sky, + Things that creep and things that fly-- + All must labour, all must die; + But Pharaoh lives for ever! + + Work, my brother, while 'tis day-- + Pharaoh lives for ever; + Rivers waste and wane away, + Marble crumbles down like clay, + Nations dwindle to decay; + But Pharaoh lives for ever! + + Work--it is thy mortal doom-- + Pharaoh lives for ever! + Shadows passing through the gloom, + Age to age gives place and room, + Kings go down into the tomb; + But Pharaoh lives for ever!" + +The task-master on his spirited little steed was here, there, +everywhere; now giving out the words of the chant, to which, dropping +his bridle, he clapped his hands in time; now directing a broken lever +to be replaced, the position of a roller altered, a hook secured, a rope +greased, or a fainting labourer revived by smart application of the +lash. The sun was high, the heat suffocating; even Sarchedon, inured to +the toils of war, longed for any catastrophe, however dangerous, that +might release him from the insupportable hardships of his task. + +The sand became softer, the men more fatigued, the ponderous image +rocked, wavered, and stood still. In terror of the lash, a simultaneous +effort was made, a cable snapped, and some score of Israelites were +hurled panting to the earth. + +Amongst them fell the younger son of Sadoc, a weakly stripling, whose +labour Sarchedon, working between him and his brother, had endeavoured +to spare by his own exertions. When the others scrambled to their feet, +this lad lay prostrate, too faint to rise. + +The task-master arrived at the scene of disorder almost as quickly as +the casualty took place. His eye glared fiercely on the boy's slender +shoulders, bare to the waist; his hand went up to strike; but even while +the lash whistled round his head, the Egyptian's wrist was clasped by an +iron grip, that shook him in the saddle where he sat. Sarchedon's eye +looked very fierce and resolute, his arms seemed powerful enough to have +torn the threatening horseman limb from limb. + +The latter foamed with rage while he struggled to release himself from +the Assyrian's grasp. The Israelites gathered round, the guard of bowmen +were fairly shut out by the crowd, a thousand tongues clamoured, a +thousand eyes glared vengeance, and the mocking colossus looked down on +all that turmoil with its eternal inscrutable smile. + +"By the Queen of Heaven, if you move a finger, or speak a syllable, I +will strangle you on the spot!" said Sarchedon, in those low distinct +tones men use when they mean to waste little more breath on words. + +There was enough similitude in their languages for the Egyptian to +understand his meaning; but had it not been so, he could scarce have +mistaken the other's attitude and bearing. The oath too, and the man's +determined face so close to his own, warned him that this was no +Israelitish slave, but one of those formidable enemies from the North, +before whom he had seen the choicest of Pharaoh's bowmen turn and flee. + +What could it mean? What did this stranger in the land of Egypt, +naturalised, it would seem, amongst her slaves? This was no time to +inquire while those slaves crowded round so wildly, as though eager for +an outbreak, of which his life would too surely be the prey. Men learned +discretion in the service of the Pharaoh's, and though he trembled and +turned pale, he did not lose his presence of mind. + +"Lift the youth from the ground," said he earnestly, "and take care of +him if you be indeed his brother. Bring here water!" he added, raising +his voice--"wine, if you have it. Stand off from him, Israelites, and +give him air! Make way, there, for the bowmen to bring him help!" + +Thus craftily summoning the guards to his assistance, he extricated +himself from the perplexity of his position, and ordering the youth's +brother to take him home, excused from farther labour, resumed the +direction of affairs; but during the rest of the day blows fell less +thickly among the Israelites, and the solemn senseless image made a +shorter journey than usual towards its final resting-place. + +Returning at nightfall to his hut, Sadoc found it surrounded by a +company of bowmen. The tale of bricks his family were required to +provide for the king's use had been increased one-tenth, and Sarchedon +was to be carried into the presence of Pharaoh without delay. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +PHARAOH ON THE THRONE + + +To be carried into the presence of Pharaoh!--words of significant +import, suggesting speedy condemnation and summary punishment. With arms +strapped tight to his body, with feet bound together under his horse's +girth, guarded on either side by mounted bowmen, surrounded by scores of +their comrades on horseback and on foot, Sarchedon rode slowly on +through the night, and at dawn found himself before the portals of a +flourishing town dedicated to the worship of Bubastis, as revealed in +the outward semblance of the cat. + +Here, in one of the noblest cities of his dominions, Pharaoh was +administering justice, according to custom. At sunrise the Egyptian king +ascended his judgment-seat to dispose without appeal of all cases laid +at the royal feet. Therefore had Sarchedon been conducted hither, +through the hours of darkness, to receive the award of his crime. + +As they neared their destination, the adjacent country began to teem +with life. Cows and oxen, speckled, spotted, and ring-streaked, dragged +the plough through a lately-irrigated soil, the former doing their work +far more nimbly than their weightier brothers. Playful calves leaped and +frisked behind, marked, like their dams, with the brand of their +respective owners. Slender husbandmen, naked to the waist, followed in +pairs, scattering seed over that rich and generous surface. Scores of +birds from the banks of the neighbouring river followed their movements; +while a steward or overseer in every field directed the toil of the +labourers, taking account of their expenditure and their stores. Peace +and plenty seemed to reign throughout the land, and Sarchedon could not +but reflect he might be looking his last on a world of light, life, +labour, and prosperity. + +Unlike his own Assyrian cities, there were no bowmen on these walls, no +guard in this capacious gate, through which all seemed free to pass at +will. Two gigantic sphinxes, indeed, couched half-a-bowshot apart, kept +watch in majestic gravity on either side. Two colossal idols, cat-headed +and of compound form, half man, half monster, faced each other at the +entrance; but within, a crowded market, swarming with peasants, glowed +in gaudy luscious fragrance of fruit and flowers. A thousand tongues +chattered, a thousand arms gesticulated; the ass munched its provender; +the sacred stork pushed its long beak at will into woven basket or +wicker pannier. Merry faces and broad smiles gleamed in the morning sun. +A burst of cymbals rose in the warm serene air, and Pharaoh went up to +his golden judgment-seat, the birthplace of those unanswerable decrees +that signified life and death. + +As his guards hurried Sarchedon along the streets, much interest and +curiosity seemed excited by the personal appearance of the prisoner; +while comments flew from lip to lip on his stature, his bearing, and the +probable punishment of his crime. + +"Stately as a sycamore," said one, apparently a carpenter by trade, "and +hard as a tamarisk; he will bear impalement as seasoned wood stands +soaking, without a warp. If they keep water from him, my friends, we +shall find him alive on the fourth day." + +"Impalement!" interrupted an old hag, grandmother to the first speaker; +"Pharaoh will never order such a goodly youth to the stake. No, no. Let +him be carefully disembowelled; give me a measure of myrrh, a pound or +two of cassia, and a handful of spice--I wouldn't ask you for cinnamon, +oil of cedar, nor palm-wine--and if he look not as tall and comely a +thousand years hence as at this moment, may I never touch salt or +natron, iron probe or linen swaddlers, again." + +"Fie, mother!" said a good-humoured peasant, emptying a basketful of +onions and lentils at the feet of a purchaser. "Pharaoh is merciful, +though he lives for ever. The youth may escape with the loss of his +shapely nose, or at worst a thousand blows on the soles of his feet. By +the talons of our Cat, 'tis a goodly measure of manhood; 'twere pity to +make a mummy of it before its time. Why, what hath he done?" + +"Ay, what hath he done?" echoed a score of voices, to be answered by a +score of extravagant surmises. + +He had slain an Israelite! Bah! they would fine him a quarter of wheat, +and let him go. He had murdered an Egyptian! It was a hanging matter; +but here at Bubastis their dams and banks were raised by working gangs +of such criminals. He would escape with hard labour for life. Not much +worse than their own peasant lot, after all. Better, forsooth, in so far +that such miscreants paid no taxes, and Pharaoh found them enough to +eat. No, it was a blacker business than this. He had insulted a priest; +he had blasphemed Athor; he had put his finger in his mouth to ridicule +Horus; he had said openly that Osiris was a falsehood and Isis a harlot; +he smote Anubis in the muzzle, mocked with feline sounds the majesty of +Bubastis; outrage of outrages, spat on the sacred bull itself! He was a +spy, a stranger disguised as an Israelite, a Philistine--nay, a child of +Seth, with square ears--a worshipper of Abitur in the mountains, a +devil, and a son of devils! Away with him! down with him! slay him! tear +him limb from limb! + +The wave gathered force as it advanced; the popular indignation swelled +into ferocity. Instead of merry good-morrows and happy laughter, the +air was filled with yell and shriek and wild revengeful howl. Faces, but +now smiling in content, were distorted with brutal hate and cruel lust +for blood. The crowd surged and swayed through the market-place, +leaping, bristling, closing in like wolves about their prey. Could they +have reached the Assyrian, he must have been torn to pieces ere he +lifted a finger in self-defence. But for those whose trade is war there +exists a professional instinct of brotherhood stronger than any +prejudices of nationality, any credulity of fanaticism. The bowmen who +guarded him recognised in Sarchedon one of their own calling, and made +common cause with a warrior, even against their kindred and countrymen +vociferating for his blood. With the unerring rapidity of discipline, +they formed round their charge in double rank, forcing their way at a +steady even tramp through the wavering crowd, and so opening a space on +every side, kept it clear by bending their formidable bows. + +Advancing thus in a long avenue of colossal sphinxes brightened by the +morning sun, they arrived at the entrance of the royal palace. Here, +with an infuriated yell, the populace made a final rush; but were beaten +back by the archers, at the cost of a few broken heads and bloody faces, +though, fortunately for the prisoner, without loss of life or injury to +limb. + +The judgment-seat of Pharaoh--a throne of solid gold, elevated on +twenty-four steps of the same metal above the raised floor on which +accusers and accused were stationed face to face--seemed to blaze in a +flood of sunlight, that bathed it from the open sky above. + +The palace, Sarchedon observed, was built, like those of his own +country, round an unroofed court. It differed but little from the +dwelling of an Assyrian king in architecture and general plan, but was +even more profusely decorated, in a greater variety of sculptures, +minutely designed, gaudily-coloured, and representing many of the lowest +reptiles and animals with a fidelity not entirely pleasing to the eye. + +Here, besides the fox, the jackal, the porcupine, the lizard, the +locust, and the asp, were an infinity of compound monsters, the produce +of a theology which persisted in embodying every attribute of its ideal +under a form, however grotesque, that should give tangible expression +to its idolatry. Such were the winged goat, the serpent-headed lion, the +griffin with pinions spread and feathered crest striding over its +mysterious triad of flowers, the bitch, dragging her homely chain, +hanging her heavy teats, canine in all her properties but her sleek +bird's head and delicate beak. Things that creep and things that fly, +from the stork and the raven, the crocodile and the ichneumon, to the +serpent, the beetle, and the bat, filled every interstice on the +variegated walls; while between the crowded figures closely-packed +hieroglyphics recorded for initiated readers the history, the nature, +and the occult signification of each. Deeds of arms too and field +sports, from taking of towns and spearing of the river-horse to +numbering of captives and snaring of song-birds, were handed down to +future ages in imperishable carving; while, at stately intervals, solemn +and majestic, here in the palace of the Pharaohs, towered the statues of +those numerous gods in whom Egypt had ever trusted for succour at her +need. + +Osiris, the great benefactor and founder of their nation, the inventor +of agriculture, mechanics, all arts necessary to life; who taught men +how to plough the earth and train the vine; who, in his contest with +Typhon, the principle of evil, was cut asunder into six-and-twenty +pieces; and who, as every true Egyptian firmly believed, would return in +his original form at some future epoch to judge and regenerate mankind. + +Had not Isis yonder, his wife and sister, collected the fragments of his +dismembered body to put together and embalm the whole ere, summoning the +high-priest from each of all her temples, she confided to him, and him +alone, as she caused him to think, the sacred deposit, so that each +carried away what he believed to be the body of his god, under solemn +oath that he would never divulge to living man the place of its +sepulture, persuaded that his own temple was the revered and sacred +spot? This mighty deity of the future and the past here revealed himself +for his worshippers to adore in the massive statue of a bull! + +Isis, too, with her ten thousand names, sat in a place of honour over +against her lord; and near her Horus, their son, with finger on his lip, +emblem of princely modesty and discretion, supported by his +half-brother, Anubis, the wise and faithful, with human form and a dog's +sagacious head. Multiplied too in many a niche and along many a lofty +corridor, stood erect and threatening the figure of that deity to whom +the city was especially sacred, worshipped under the semblance of a cat. +Avenues of cat-headed monsters kept watch in hall and passage; while +presiding, as it were, in the very entrance of the court, stood a +gigantic image of granite, wearing the short ears of the sacred animal, +its sleek round head, and cruel feline smile. + +Immediately behind this dazzling throne, constituting it indeed the very +tribunal of the Pharaohs, watching, as men believed, over sentence and +acquittal, accuser and accused, might be seen the statue of a female +figure, with blinded eyes, serene impassive face, and wings spread out +in front, as though grasping and embracing all within their sweep. This +was Thmei, emblematic goddess of truth and justice, whose essential +attributes were thus typified in her outward form: the blinded eyes +signifying her impartiality, the calm visage her indifference to +consequences, the wings instead of hands her incorruptible nature, +inaccessible to the bribes it was impossible for her to accept. + +Standing between his guards, still pinioned and secured, Sarchedon's eye +took in all these details of Pharaoh's sumptuous palace ere the glare of +burnished gold permitted him to observe the judgment-seat and its +occupant. After a time, however, he was able to distinguish the person +of a pale slender sallow man, showing like the wick of a lighted candle +through a blaze of shining raiment, dazzling jewels, and royal Egyptian +state. Pharaoh's attitude was one of extreme exhaustion and fatigue; his +face looked very sad and weary, but in its long narrow eyes, low brow, +and prominent chin there lurked a strange resemblance to the pitiless +features of that colossal figure which was destined hereafter to keep +watch over his tomb. + +A case had just been disposed of, trifling, indeed, in its details, and +scarcely worth the intervention of a monarch; but it was the custom of +Egypt, that wherever Pharaoh held his court, he should administer +justice in person, from the pilfering of a handful of lentils to +desecration of an idol, blasphemy against a god, or resistance to the +authority of the king. A dozen strokes of the bastinado had been +awarded for the first offence. Sarchedon, accused of the last, was +brought forward by the archers, and placed at the lowest step of the +throne. + +"Unbind him," said Pharaoh, looking round on his men of war with +something of scorn. Then, in the prisoner's own dialect, he addressed +him shortly and sternly: "You are an Assyrian. What do you here?" + +The tone was of one who had never known opposition, and the keen dark +eye wandered over Sarchedon from head to foot with something of the +cat's expression, pausing carelessly before she makes up her mind to +pounce. + +"My life is in the hand of Pharaoh," answered the prisoner. "I will not +deny my nation nor my name." + +"What brought you into Egypt?" continued the king, still in the same +scornful indifferent accents. "Have you any knowledge of my country and +its customs?" + +"I came here first as a conqueror," answered the haughty Assyrian. "It +was not for _us_ to learn the manners and customs of the Egyptians, but +to impose on them our own." + +The guards, who understood him passably well, exchanged looks of +consternation at this imprudent reply; but something like a smile +crossed Pharaoh's face, and sinking back into the throne, he observed +carelessly, + +"Let his accusation be read out." + +It was the law of Egypt that, even in the presence of the supreme +authority, all judicial proceedings should be reduced to a written +statement, comprising the charge, the evidence on both sides, and the +defence. It was believed that thus only could be avoided the bias of +skilful oratory and impassioned eloquence, where an offender was +pleading for his life. + +A priest--distinguished by gravity of demeanour and wisdom of aspect no +less than by the purity of his linen garments and the reverence he +seemed to command from the bystanders--now read from a roll of papyrus +the terms of the accusation with which the prisoner stood charged. It +set forth in simple language that "he this Assyrian stranger, having +come surreptitiously into the land of Egypt, had there consorted, of his +own free will, with their slaves the Israelites, tampering with their +patriarchs, and inciting that stiff-necked people to revolt; that he +had even headed the outbreak of a gang during a temporary respite from +their labours--an indulgence, it added, which ought never to have been +permitted by the task-master; had hurled that functionary from the +saddle, and well-nigh slain him while bleeding and helpless on the +ground; that such an enormity was in itself an insult to the majesty of +the king, an outrage on the Egyptian nation, and a crime only to be +expiated by death. He laid his charge at the feet of Pharaoh, who, like +Thmei, was the embodiment of truth, justice, and wisdom, and would live +in power and glory for ever." + +From out the blaze of splendour flaming round the throne came again that +calm and scornful voice, wearily enunciating the usual formula, + +"Produce your witnesses." + +Two or three archers belonging to the force that had guarded the working +gang of Israelites here stepped forward, and with them, to the +prisoner's consternation, the younger son of Sadoc--that fragile boy, in +whose defence he had brought down the wrath of Egypt on his own head. + +The poor youth had been on horseback since nightfall. Unaccustomed, like +his nation in general, to the exercise of riding, he was a pitiable +object of soreness, fatigue, perplexity, and alarm. The archers gave +their evidence clearly enough. It amounted to little more than the bare +facts of the case. Then they dragged the young Israelite into the +terrible presence of Pharaoh, pale and faint with mortal fear. + +"What needs all this weight of testimony?" exclaimed the prisoner in a +loud bold voice. "It is but heaping weariness and vexation on the head +of my lord the king. I deny that I have urged a nation to rebel against +its rulers. I admit that I opposed by force the violence that would have +scourged a helpless child lying in the dust. If this be deadly crime by +the laws of Egypt, would that we had given you a milder code when the +children of Ashur came of late to seek you with bow and spear. I have +spoken. My life is in Pharaoh's hands. Let him take it how and when he +will." + +The king looked round on his captains and counsellors with a passing +gleam of animation in his eyes. + +"This is a bold fellow," said he. "Which of you would dare speak thus, +while looking death in the face so close?" + +Nobody answered; but a murmur went round the circle, to the effect that +"Pharaoh lived for ever!" + +The king turned to a venerable man who, with the exception of that +indispensable official the fan-bearer, stood nearest the throne, and +asked him, + +"Have these sons of shepherds been numbered according to the royal +decree?" + +"The king hath spoken," was the subservient reply, while with a low +obeisance a roll of papyrus was laid at the royal feet. + +The fan-bearer handed it to his lord, who scanned it with an angry +frown. "So many!" muttered Pharaoh; "and so poor a tale of work! +Increasing, multiplying, swarming over the land, while they lay it waste +like locusts! Sleeping more than they labour, devouring more than they +produce, hoarding substance, no doubt, and having children at their +desire. Is Pharaoh's arm shortened, or has my hand waxed faint? I must +take order with this scum of nations, lest at last they outnumber us, +spreading through the land to eat it away like a sore. I have reached to +them the sceptre of my protection; it is time they should feel the edge +of my wrath!" + +Round the king's neck hung a small image in gold of Thmei, goddess of +Truth, corresponding in every respect with the statue that towered above +his throne. A similar ornament glittered on the breast of the old man +whom he addressed, denoting the regent of his kingdom, a magnate second +only in power to Pharaoh himself. When such an official possessed the +wisdom and courage to oppose the royal decree, for the king's own +welfare and that of his people, his granaries were full, his subjects +prospered, and, to use their own expression, "the land sung for joy." +Too often, however, he was only the echo of his lord. + +"The breath of Pharaoh's nostrils shall consume them," was his answer to +the king's outbreak, "even as the wind sweepeth a plague of locusts into +the sea." + +Again the evil smile passed across that weary sallow face. Sensual, +selfish, and indolent as was the great ruler of the South, he had yet +the political wisdom that foresees a crisis, the subtlety that prevents +it, and the resolution that opposes it when it comes. His smile, while +it boded no good to the children of Israel, indicated at the same time +that he considered his regent an imbecile old man. The facts of the case +now laid before him had been detailed to his private ear long before he +ascended the judgment-seat, and had been discussed with one of his +confidential advisers; a magician of no mean repute, whose keen +intellect and scientific knowledge influenced his lord no less than did +the startling resources of his art. + +This trusted counsellor had pointed out to Pharaoh the impolicy of +permitting one of the Assyrian nation to remain amongst a +people--situated in their very midst--whose increasing prosperity +tyranny and oppression seemed powerless to keep down; and the king +recognised in the bold out-spoken prisoner now before him such a leader +as the Israelites might be glad to obey, should they determine on a +general rising to cast off the Egyptian yoke. True, they had neither +arms nor horses nor war-chariots of iron; but they were formidable +nevertheless in their numbers, their organisation, and their dogged +persistence in some strange inscrutable belief. Pharaoh resolved to find +out more of this stranger from the enemy's country ere he let him slip +through his grasp either by acquittal or condemnation to death. + +Assuming, therefore, an air of rigid impartiality, the king turned to +the Israelitish lad, whose terror caused him, as it were, to wither and +shrink under the royal eye. + +"You have resisted authority," said Pharaoh, "and created a tumult; but +you are young, and the king is merciful. Take him back to his +dwelling-place," he added sternly to the archers; "scourge him, and let +him go." + +Then, while the lad, more dead than alive--dreading, perhaps, his weary +ride homeward fully as much as the subsequent punishment--was led away +between two bowmen, the king once more addressed himself to Sarchedon, + +"Assyrian," said he, "your crime, according to our law, must be punished +by impalement. Nevertheless, while I inquire farther into your case, I +grant you a few days' respite before you die. Remove him, and put him in +safe ward. Pharaoh has spoken." + +The deep response, "Pharaoh lives for ever!" rose from every quarter of +the court, and Sarchedon was hurried out of the royal presence, even as +a ragged old peasant hobbled into it to demand justice on his neighbour, +who had robbed him of a string of onions and a half-emptied gourd. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE CAPTIVE IN THE DUNGEON + + +A certain rough sympathy for his impending fate seemed elicited from his +guards, as they forced Sarchedon through the palace, down a dark +passage, bricked and vaulted, that led to some remote place of security, +unvisited by the light of day. + +"You should have held your peace, man," said one, easing a little the +belt that bound the prisoner's arms. "To bandy words with Pharaoh is to +throw scalding broth in the air, and stand under where it falls. Had you +feigned to be stricken dumb with fear, now, not daring to raise your +eyes in the face of my lord the king, you might have escaped with the +loss of your nose and tenscore stripes on the soles of your feet. But +that long tongue of yours has made it a hanging matter, believe me, no +less, if not impalement, which is worse." + +"Tush, brother!" interrupted his comrade, a comely archer, not +unconscious of his sleek dark locks, marked brows, and other personal +advantages; "a man can die but once. Better be stuffed and swathed +decently in a large cool resting-place, with plenty of room and shade, +than limp about in the heat a hideous object, crippled and disfigured +for life." + +"A man can die but once," repeated Sarchedon stoutly, repressing the +shudder that, in this dark downward passage, chilled him to the bone. "I +had hoped, however, to fall honourably from my war-chariot in the +fore-front of battle, rather than hang by the heels like a trapped +jackal, to rot and blacken, till my bones are stripped by the birds of +prey." + +"What matter?" observed the first speaker, accepting with resignation +the misfortunes of another. "Men come to the same resting-place, travel +the road how they will. Even the Great Sphinxes and the three royal +tombs must crumble down at last. It is only Pharaoh who lives for ever." + +Thus speaking, he thrust a bunch of onions and a lump of barley-bread +into Sarchedon's hands, unbinding them at the same moment while +dexterously pushing him through a door, which he shut and bolted on the +outside, leaving his own homely meal with the prisoner, whom he thus +consigned to solitude and gloom. + +The Assyrian listened to the retiring footsteps of his escort as a man +hanging over an abyss marks the last strands parting of a rope that +links him to life and light of day. When they faded into silence, he +seemed to taste already the bitterness of death. Unlike the Egyptian, +however, that fatalism which sinks without effort to despair was no part +of the Assyrian's character, and he soon roused himself to examine the +strength and quality of his prison-house. + +It was a cell of liberal dimensions, sunk deep into the earth, bricked +throughout and with vaulted roof, admitting a feeble glimmer from one +narrow loophole, which communicated with the passage he had left. The +more minutely he studied it, the more convinced was he that his dungeon +afforded no chance of escape. + +He felt the walls on each side, not leaving a single brick untouched; he +searched the flooring carefully for some inequality that might give hope +of a subterranean passage or concealed egress; but in vain. The work +seemed even and level, smooth as granite, and no more to be tampered +with than the pitiless rock itself. + +Wearied at length with his exertions, his ride through the night, and +the events of the morning, he made up his mind to die, and in the +meantime munched his barley-bread and onions ere he laid him down to +sleep. + +It seemed that he had scarcely rested an hour before the door of his +cell was opened, to be shut again ere he could spring to his feet. Food +and wine, however, of the best quality had been left for his +refreshment, and to these he did justice, notwithstanding the +exigencies of his situation and the prospect of a painful death. + +So the time dragged wearily on, the faint streak of light that stole +into his dungeon affording the prisoner no means of calculating the days +as they passed by. His meals, though served regularly, were brought by a +shrouded figure that vanished, phantom-like, before he could accost it. +No sound from upper earth penetrated these gloomy regions. It seemed to +Sarchedon that he was forgotten of men, and, as he somewhat bitterly +reflected, deserted by the gods. + +Could Baal not see him here, sunk surely but a fathom deep below the +surface--Baal, in whose service he had so often drawn bow and brandished +spear? Nor Ashtaroth, lovely Queen of Light, to whom, young, comely, +gallant, he had tendered an adoration not unmixed with something of +poetry and romance? Nor any of the Great Thirteen, wheeling aloft in +their golden cars? Nor one amongst the countless host of heaven? Was +this the reward they vouchsafed their worshipper? and would that other +God, of whom Sadoc spoke, have left him thus to die? He summoned all his +manhood, and it failed him; he drew on his courage, and found it but a +dogged form of despair. He felt the want of something to lean on, +something to trust in, something to help him from without, like a blind +man seeking a friendly grasp to guide his steps. He wished he had +questioned the Israelite more minutely as to that mysterious creed of +his, which taught men they could never be alone nor friendless; that +present with them always, but nearest at their greatest need, was a +power unseen, unheard, tender, compassionate, yet irresistible and +superior to Fate. + +Alas, it was too late now! He turned to the wall, with something of +hopeless apathy, and fell to thinking of Ishtar, fingering the while +that amulet round his neck which had clung to him through all his +troubles, and in which he put some vague superstitious trust. + +He felt persuaded it was mysteriously interwoven with his destiny; and +if this charm too had played him false, like all else, it must be time +to die, since he was indeed ruined and undone. + +Thus pondering, he started fiercely to his feet; for in an instant the +whole cell seemed ablaze with light, not on fire, but glowing in a mild +yellow lustre, which faded back to gloom ere his dazzled eyes could +distinguish more than the outline of a shrouded figure standing in the +midst. Some wild hope shot through his heart that it might be the +phantom of his love come to bid him farewell; but a moment later he +remembered his sentence, and prepared to confront a messenger from +Pharaoh, sent doubtless for the purpose of leading him forth to die. + +"I am ready," said the prisoner sternly. "I might strangle you where you +stand, before you could summon help; but what would that avail me? You +are but doing your duty. Lead on. 'Tis almost worth a life to see +daylight once more." + +"Life is dear," was the answer, "to the reptile in the mud, no less than +to the eagle in the sky. It should be doubly dear to a man of war, who +is the bulwark of a host and the favourite of a prince." + +Sarchedon started, and looked piercingly at the speaker, whose voice, +calm, low, and grave, seemed not entirely strange to his ear; but the +cell had again become so dark, he could make out no more than a cloaked +form and closely muffled face. + +"What mean you?" said he. "Did Pharaoh send you here to jest with me +before I die?" + +"I am indeed sent by Pharaoh," was the answer; "Pharaoh, who, through my +lore, can read events passing at Nineveh, at Babylon, at Thebes and +Memphis, clearly as here in the City of the Cat. Have you never heard, +my son, of the magic of the Egyptians?" + +"I have _heard_ of it," replied the out-spoken warrior. "But my +experience of your people is at bowshot distance, and more than once at +point of spear. They are skilful marksmen, I tell you fairly, and sturdy +men of war enough with push of steel. They needed but little magic to +help them when it came to downright blows. Yet we drove them before us, +we sons of Ashur, as the lion drives the wild ass across the plain." + +"The wild ass may yet spurn the lion with her hoof," answered the other. +"But what are sword and spear and human might to those forces we can +summon from the world of spirits at our will? Would you not tremble, my +son, to behold Typhon or Abitur of the mountains standing here on the +floor between you and me?" + +"Seeing is believing," was the reply of the stout-hearted Assyrian. + +"I will not test your courage so far," said his visitor; "the more that +I know it true as the steel you ought to wear on your thigh even now. +Nor would I dare to summon such powerful aid as those I have named +except at utmost need, or by the desire of Pharaoh himself. +Nevertheless, I will show you here on the spot such manifestations of my +power as will put to shame all the lore acquired from your lofty towers +or your wide Northern plains. Which of your star-readers will bid this +dry rod blossom like the almond-tree, or cause a fresh lotus to spring +up in flower from the arid soil of that cemented brickwork beneath our +feet?" + +While he spoke, the same glow as before, though somewhat milder in +lustre, shone through the cell, revealing to the astonished prisoner a +slender figure draped up to the keen black eyes, that never seemed to +leave his own. The magician, if such he were, looked imposing neither in +gravity of age nor majesty of stature; yet Sarchedon felt a strange +consciousness that he was in the presence of one superior to himself. + +He watched with eager curiosity every motion of his visitor. + +The latter brought out from beneath his robe a lamp of transparent +glass, traced with mystic characters in waving lines of gold, and which +shed the radiance that had so startled the Assyrian. Over the lamp he +brandished a rod some two cubits long, apparently of polished ebony; and +immediately a cloud of aromatic vapour filled the cell, hiding him for a +space from the prisoner's sight. When it cleared away, he reached to +Sarchedon the branch of an almond-tree, equal in length to the rod he +had carried in his hand, green, full of sap, and fragrant in a rich +growth of blossoms bursting into flower. + +"The warrior can take life," said he gravely, "and the king can level +fenced cities with the plain. Is not he greater than king and warrior +who can call into existence that which these have only power to +destroy?" + +Sarchedon gazed on him in mute astonishment and awe. That the magician +should have thus appeared in a dungeon of which the walls denoted no +possibility for secret entrance was of itself surprising enough; but to +inhale its fragrance, and behold in luxuriant blossom that which his own +eyes had told him was but now a dry rod of ebony, could only be +accounted for by supernatural influences; and he became a firm believer +in magic forthwith. He made a last stand, however, for his incredulity, +exclaiming almost unconsciously, + +"You must have brought it beneath your cloak." + +There was something of the kindly patience with which one instructs a +child in the other's tone, while he replied, + +"Seeing is indeed believing, as you even now averred. See, then, my son, +and believe!" + +With that, he cast his mantle from his shoulders, and stood forth erect, +letting its folds wind about his feet, and showing in the pure white +robe that enveloped his person like a pillar of alabaster on a black +pedestal. His features were still shrouded; but his eyes gleamed with a +mocking fire. + +Once more, while he passed his hand over the lamp, a cloud obscured the +dungeon as before, but for a somewhat longer space. When it cleared +away, he lifted his dark cloak from the floor, and there at the +prisoner's very feet, springing, as it seemed, from the hard brickwork, +bloomed a fresh lotus, the flower that every son of Ashur deemed +specially sacred to his country and his gods. + +Sarchedon was a brave man in battle; braver, indeed, than the average of +his countrymen, whose courage, perhaps, was their noblest quality. Had a +score of Pharaoh's archers been bending bows all round him, he would +have died like a lion in their midst, without a sign of weakness or +fear; but it was no part of his creed to set at defiance the powers of +another world, and he fell prostrate before his visitor in abject +humility, covering his face with his hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE WISDOM OF THE EGYPTIANS + + +The magician raised him kindly, tempered to a pale mild light the lamp +he had set down, and wrapping his cloak around him as before, fixed his +eyes on the prisoner with that calm scrutinising gaze which had +dominated the fiery spirit of the warrior from the first. + +"Have no fear," said he. "I came not hither through the solid earth that +I might destroy you, or I had created but now the greedy monster of the +river, the deadly serpent of the brake, rather than a fruitful branch +from our Egyptian orchards and the sacred flower of your own Assyrian +plains. Is it enough? or shall I show you here in this deep dark cell +greater and more terrible examples of my power?" + +"No more, my lord!" answered the Assyrian, who felt his courage, though +beginning to reassert itself, unequal to farther trials of a like +nature. "No more, I entreat you; for although I fear not mortal enemies, +I have no wish to meet the sons of Seth in all the terrors they bring +with them from the South; nor has Baal befriended me so stoutly, that I +would trust to his assistance in an encounter with Abitur face to face." + +"Blaspheme not Baal!" was the sarcastic reply. "Think you that he can +see down into the earth from his seat up yonder amongst the stars, or +that he would deign to aid you if he could? Has he not votaries by tens +of thousands in great Babylon, who offer him daily their goods, their +blood, their lives? Has he ever descended to his temple for one of them, +or made the least sign that he could taste the savour of their +sacrifices, could hear their prayers, take note of their outcries and +their wounds? Will Ashtaroth give you light in your dungeon, Nebo come +to release you from captivity, Dagon bring you to eat and drink, or +Shamash himself show pity while you are writhing under his very eyes on +the stake? These are your gods, O Assyrian! And you can venture to +compare them with ours--with Thmei, of eternal truth and justice; with +Osiris, benefactor and regenerator of earth and heaven: with wise +Anubis, and subtle Thoth, and Isis, fertile, lavish, glorious in her ten +thousand names!" + +"There are gods enough in both countries," answered Sarchedon; "and I +have heard the Great King swear by them all, that it was strange out of +so large a host he had never set eyes on a straggler yet. But I have not +heard of Assyrian priest, I tell you frankly, who can claim such +dominion over the powers of nature as you showed me even now." + +"And you think a man had better force Abitur to do his bidding than +implore succour from Baal in vain?" said the other, with a sneer. + +"Why not?" was the reply. "I carried a spear already in his royal guard +when Semiramis persuaded the Great King to rear an altar for the worship +of Abitur in the mountains beyond old Nineveh. It crossed him sore; for +he never endured such ceremonies with patience, complaining that he +could feed a score of companies with fewer bullocks than were slain to +satisfy one single god. But the queen's eyes have power in them to draw +men whither she will, and Ninus would do her bidding readily as the +humblest archer in the host. So we marched up into the mountains at +midnight, every man with bow and spear, axe and mattock. Plane, cedar, +and broad-leafed oak fell by scores under so many willing arms, while +the stoutest spearmen raised a lofty altar, and dug deep trenches, to +carry off the blood, bringing in bullocks and sheep for slaughter, that +we had driven up with no small trouble from the plains. Ere long we +built up such a fire that the watchmen on the walls of Nineveh +proclaimed the mountain was ablaze; and when the burnt offerings were +made ready, there rose such a smoke that the gods could have seen but +little of what we, their servants, were about beneath it. Perhaps it was +too thick even for him to penetrate, whom we went there to honour. I +know the Great King's wrath was kindled; for he caught up spear and +shield, bidding the demon come out if he dared, and speak with him face +to face." + +"Did Abitur make no sign?" asked the other, with the same covert mockery +in his tone. + +"There were shrieks heard in the mountain more than once before dawn," +answered Sarchedon; "but they seemed too shrill and faint for the voice +of man or demon. Some of the queen's women, who went up with her, +affirmed they were cries of lamentation from those daughters of earth +scorched in the olden time by the embraces of the stars, wailing that +they could not die till they had touched their spirit-lovers once again. +And the queen inclined to think so too." + +"But you--what did _you_ think?" inquired the Egyptian, not repressing a +smile. + +"I was of the guard," replied the Assyrian simply; "and I thought with +the Great King that the women in the mountain were fairer and fresher +than in the plain; also that our spearmen were ever somewhat hasty and +eager with those who would be wooed, before they were won. But we +marched down again to Nineveh at sunrise, and for my part, I saw no more +of Abitur than I had seen of Baal." + +The other pondered, as if he scarcely listened. Presently he looked up, +and asked, + +"This queen of yours--is she, then, so beautiful?" + +It was a topic on which Sarchedon could be eloquent, even in a dungeon. + +"Beautiful!" he repeated. "In Assyria all our women are beautiful; but +by the side of the Great Queen the fairest of them show like pearls +against a diamond. You have seen morning rising, serene and radiant out +of the east--the brow of Semiramis is purer, calmer, fresher than the +dawn. When she turns her eyes on you, it is like the golden lustre of +noon day; and her smile is brighter and more glorious than sunset in the +desert--sweeter, softer, lovelier than the evening breeze amongst the +palms. To look on her face unveiled is to be the Great Queen's slave for +ever more." + +"You have looked on it more than once it seems, and to some purpose," +was the answer. + +"I have seen her in silk and steel," replied Sarchedon, "robe and +diadem, helmet and war-harness. Deck her how you will, she rivals +Ashtaroth, Queen of Heaven, herself. There is not her equal on earth. +'Tis thought, indeed, that she is more than mortal, and will never taste +of death." + +"Like Pharaoh," said the other, laughing outright. "Nevertheless, if she +have many guards stout and devoted as yourself, there can be small risk +for that fair body of hers from outward foe. Yet I have heard she mounts +a war-chariot and bends a bow with the bravest warriors in your host." + +"I was in Bactria," answered Sarchedon, "when the Great Queen surprised +ten thousand spearmen of the enemy with the royal guard alone, and a +handful of horsemen she had begged of Ninus to bring in corn from the +plains the night before. She drove her war-chariot through the thickest +of the press, ere we could close in on it, and when we came up with her, +she had but one arrow left in the quiver, while around her lay a circle +of slain. Her cheek seemed a little flushed, but the smile was on her +lip, and her eyes shone softer, lovelier, kinder than ever. The Great +King swore that of all the captains in his host, she was the wariest and +boldest, but he forbade her sternly such ventures of battle for the +future. 'How shall I tarry, when my lord is in front?' was her answer, +gentle and low as I am speaking to you now. He would have taken her in +his arms then and there, before the assembled host. Perhaps he did; but +she had scarcely spoken, when the trumpets rang out an alarm that the +Bactrians were upon us, and I was down with an arrow through my ribs, +almost ere you could have bent a bow. But for Sargon, the royal +shield-bearer, who dragged me from under a broken chariot and a dead +horse, I had never lifted spear again. The next time I saw the queen she +was riding single-handed against a lion, that had slain two of her dogs, +and put her people to flight." + +"Single-handed!" exclaimed the Egyptian, "and against a lion! But you +made in to help without delay?" + +"You know not our laws of the land of Shinar," replied Sarchedon. "He +who draws bow at the royal quarry loses his right hand; he who takes a +prey before the prince forfeits his life. I had been safer lying naked +under the beast's very jaws than riding in unbidden between the lion and +the Great Queen. Yet would I have ventured too, for the sake of her +matchless face, but that while I stood watching, she brought her horse +within a spear length of the mighty brute, and drove an arrow right +through his heart from shoulder to shoulder. I turned rein then; for I +knew Semiramis would like well to stand alone over the dead carcase, and +jeer at her attendants as they came up." + +"Brave, wise, politic," observed the Egyptian, "and yet no doubt a very +woman to the core. What think you now? Would she rule prudently over the +land of Shinar, if the Great King were gathered to his fathers amongst +the stars?" + +"No woman may reign over the sons of Ashur," was the answer. "We only +owe allegiance to a king. It is our privilege and our law." + +"But hath she no favourites, this bold and beautiful archer?" pursued +the other, turning his lamp so as to mark every line and shade of the +prisoner's countenance. "None that share her sports and influence her +counsels? The Great King waxes old; does the queen look kindly on _none_ +of all the fair and noble warriors about the palace or in the host?" + +Not a quiver of his eyelid would have escaped the Egyptian's notice, but +Sarchedon's brow was open and unconcerned, as his tone was loyal, while +he replied, + +"I am a prisoner, alone here in a dungeon; you are--what are you? A +priest, an enchanter, a magician, backed, for all I can tell, by a +company of Pharaoh's archers and a host of spirits from the Southern +mountains. But were you and I standing two naked men in the +market-place, that question had been answered with a buffet; were we in +harness on the plain, it were well worth push of spear and clash of +steel." + +The Egyptian laughed once more--heartily this time, and without +disguise. + +"I am your friend," said he, "and you will not believe it. A powerful +friend, too, as I have shown you, and one who, while able to crush you +as a man crushes a locust beneath his hand, would yet lend you all the +resources of his art for your solace here and your deliverance from +captivity hereafter." + +"You cannot set me free!" exclaimed Sarchedon, a delightful hope +breaking in to cheer him like the dawn of day. + +"I can foretell the future," answered the magician, "clearly, certainly, +as you can relate the past. Behold this lamp: see, I darken it to a +faint pale gleam. Look on it, and tell me what it shows." + +In vain Sarchedon strained his eyes. + +"A line of waving gold within the crystal," said he; "no more." + +"Such is the blindness of him whose sight has not been sharpened by +learning," replied the magician. "You are as the rower labouring at the +oar, who can but see the ripple he leaves behind, and the banks on the +river-side that he has passed. I am the steersman who scans the coming +rapids, the rocks in mid-stream, the calm and comely reach of smooth +water that sleeps beyond. I look into the crystal, and I behold a youth +stretching his arms in freedom, rubbing, with unfettered hands, his eyes +dazzled by the light of day. I follow him into the presence of Pharaoh. +I behold him on the king's right hand, clad in a dress of honour, +drinking costly wine of the South from a cup of gold. He mounts a goodly +steed, he talks joyfully with one of dress and bearing like his own, a +troop of the sons of Ashur close round him, he rides away into the +desert, and I see him no more. That youth bears a strange resemblance to +him who stands before me now, with clasped hands and wondering eyes, a +captive in the strongest dungeon ever built at the command of Pharaoh by +a nation of slaves." + +Sarchedon again prostrated himself at his visitor's feet. + +"If you tell me true," he exclaimed, "I am the faithful servant of my +lord for ever more." + +"You will remember me when you are in Babylon," returned the other. "You +will recall the wisdom and power of the Egyptians. You will tell your +countrymen the wonders that I, the least and lowest amongst their wise +and great, have shown you without an effort, and you will not forget +that I have been your friend, even in your extreme need. Farewell! He +who sent me summons me back to his presence, and we shall not meet +again!" + +Even while he spoke, a thick cloud of aromatic vapour filled the dungeon +as before; when it cleared away the visitor was gone, and Sarchedon, +looking blankly about him, began to think he had been the sport of his +own fancy, beguiled by the illusions of a dream. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DELIVERANCE + + +Had his bodily powers been weakened by starvation, his mind, enfeebled +in proportion, might, he thought, have played him false. But no; food +and wine had been supplied with constant regularity; and testing his +faculties in every way he could think of, he found them equal to any +effort of observation or reflection he desired to make. Once more he +tried the walls of his dungeon, and failed to discover the slightest +symptoms of an opening through which the visitor could have passed. This +seemed less surprising, as the blossoming of the ebony rod and sudden +growth of the lotus in flower denoted supernatural powers, which might +well penetrate a cubit of brickwork and a fathom or two of solid earth. +These wonders he accepted without question as worked by the spells of +that magic lore which could compel the gods themselves to do its +bidding; nor did he see reason to doubt, in his simple credulity, those +glimpses of the future which, though sealed to his own eyes, seemed +clear as day to his companion. + +And that companion--who and what could he be? Sarchedon, whose ideas of +a magician were of the vaguest, had yet some indistinct persuasion that +such a professor must be old and stately, with long gray beard and +thoughtful wrinkled brow. His late visitor, however, could scarcely yet +have reached middle life, and on his countenance, so far as he had +observed it, was stamped the wary vigilance, the keen foresight, of the +man of action, rather than the serene and saddened wisdom that denotes +the man of thought. Those eyes, too, haunted him strangely. Where had he +seen the piercing gaze, half pitiful, half mocking, that seemed to +master a man's inmost feelings, and scorn them while it read? He grew +very restless and uneasy now. He paced to and fro in his dungeon, +clenching his hands, grinding his teeth, longing with wild feverish +desire to breathe the desert air, and strike a blow for liberty in the +light of day once more. + +He had been calm, quiet, almost resigned when captivity seemed +inevitable, and death near at hand. + +The time dragged on so, that again he slept, despairing, exhausted, +heart-sick with hope deferred. As usual in calamity, the darkest hour +was that which brought the dawn. + +He was woke by the measured tramp of marching men. The door of his cell +opened, and a strong light streamed in, showing the passage outside +filled with archers. He drew himself together, like a wolf amongst the +hounds, resolved on fighting to the death; but the captain had fallen at +his feet, and was pressing the hem of Sarchedon's garment to his lips. + +"Let my lord look favourably on his servant," said the archer, "whose +happy lot it is to conduct him into the presence of Pharaoh, there to be +clothed in a dress of honour, and to stand at the right hand of my lord +the king." + +Confused, bewildered, all the more that he recalled the magician's +words, Sarchedon followed his conductor from the dungeon, gazing about +him amongst the guard like a man in a dream. Passing down their ranks, +he recognised him who had bestowed on the prisoner his own scanty meal +at the cell-door. The Assyrian wrenched from his tunic a golden clasp in +the form of a serpent--the only ornament save his mysterious amulet left +on his person--and thrust it in the bowman's hand as he went by. The +latter kissed it reverently, while he whispered in the next man's ear, + +"A good deed is like a handful of millet cast into the Nile. After many +days, lo, the river goes back to its bed, and leaves you a harvest!" + +"True enough," replied his comrade. "As our proverb runs, 'When the +waters wane, then sprouts the grain.' But the harvest of thy good deeds, +my friend, would be reaped but once in seven years at best." + +"Silence!" interrupted his captain; and the archers closing in the rear, +escorted Sarchedon ceremoniously to the palace. + +Here he was received by sundry officials gorgeously attired, and +obviously belonging to the royal household, who vied with each other in +rendering him every service that could be offered by inferiors to their +lord. They ushered him into a cool and spacious chamber, rich in +fantastic decorations, and ornamented with coloured figures of beast, +bird, and reptile. Here they stripped and rubbed him with fragrant +ointments; conducting him thence to the bath, from which two active +Ethiopians extricated him, grinning from ear to ear as they dried his +stalwart frame with the finest cloths, kneading and chafing limbs and +joints till his whole person glowed and tingled from the friction. Then +they brought him such a dress of honour as might become the favourite of +a king; and placing before him roast kid, parched locusts, milk, spices, +honey, wine, and fruit from Pharaoh's own table, left him to be served +by half a score of such Egyptian officials as waited on the king +himself. + +Presently the same captain of archers who had brought him from the +dungeon appeared at the door of his chamber, prostrating himself with +extreme humility ere he ventured to advance. + +"When my lord has eaten and drank," said he, "and comforted his heart, I +am sent to conduct him into the presence of Pharaoh. Thy servant is the +bearer of good tidings. Let him find favour in the sight of my lord." + +"There needs not so much ceremony," answered Sarchedon. "Are we not +warriors both?--enemies yesterday, perhaps enemies to-morrow, in the +mean time friends and comrades to-day?" + +"My lord speaks good words to the lowest of his servants, out of the +fulness of his own heart. How shall I answer him whom the king +delighteth to honour according to his greatness? What am I but dust +beneath the feet of my lord?" + +While he spoke thus humbly, it was evident to the Assyrian that his +conductor did but veil under this affectation of extreme deference a +strong professional jealousy and an intense hatred of race. He +recognised in the Egyptian warrior's dress and harness the distinctive +marks of a certain company, celebrated in Pharaoh's armies for their +warlike prowess--a company that the Great King, with a handful of his +body-guard, had driven to the very gates of Memphis, during his last +campaign. Its captain would fain have been bending a bow to-day against +the Assyrian's breast, rather than thus humbling himself at every step +before a national enemy; but his first duty was to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh +had commanded that the prisoner should be brought to him with all the +honours of a prince. + +They proceeded in silence through the lofty halls and corridors of the +palace, traversing that well-remembered court, in which stood the royal +judgment-seat--silent and deserted now but for several cats, arching +their backs and rubbing their sides against the pedestal of their own +special deity, and a pair of storks, each standing on one slender leg, +with head tucked back and wary eye, in the places of accuser and +accused, at the steps of Pharaoh's throne. + +"I little thought to have come here again," said the light-hearted +Assyrian, "save as a doomed man passing naked to the stake; and, behold, +I march by in a dress of honour at the head of a hundred archers. Who +shall say what a day may bring forth?" + +The well-drilled features of the Egyptian forced themselves to smile. + +"Man is but a vain thing," he answered sententiously--"a strained shaft, +a riven harness, a broken bow! But the king's hand stretches far and +wide. He giveth or taketh away, setteth up or casteth down, and Pharaoh +lives for ever!" + +The last four words he spoke in a loud voice, falling immediately on his +face; for they were entering the royal banquet-hall, at the extremity of +which the king sat in person, under a canopy of state, attended only by +his cup-bearer and the official who carried his fan. + +A venerable man, whom Sarchedon recognised as having stood at his right +hand while the king administered judgment, now stepped forward, and +conducted the guest to a place of honour provided for him, apart from +the great lords and captains, who were ranged all down the hall. Passing +before the royal table with a low obeisance, the Assyrian could not but +be gratified by the reception accorded him: Pharaoh even raised the wine +to his lips in acknowledgment of his guest's salute, while in the dark +eyes that gleamed over his cup, Sarchedon thought he recognised +something of that mocking mirth which had so disturbed him in the +magician's gaze, who foretold the term of his captivity. But he was +destined to higher honours yet; for no sooner had he taken his seat than +a portion of meat and a cup of wine were served him from the king's own +table, by no less a person than the old man who had conducted him +thither--Phrenes, governor of Egypt, second only in rank and authority +to Pharaoh himself. + +Adopting a tone of confidential intercourse, as with an equal, this +magnate now bade Sarchedon look round amongst these lords and captains +for the familiar face of a countryman. Had he not been so accustomed to +wonders of late, he could scarcely have believed his eyes when he +observed Sethos, gorgeously attired in the Assyrian fashion, seated like +himself in a place of honour, and pouring out a drink-offering to the +gods of his own land, ere he quenched his thirst with the choicest wine +of Egypt from a cup of gold. + +"He will scarce recognise you in that dress," said Phrenes; "but it was +the command of Pharaoh to make amends for the mishap of your ill-usage +and imprisonment, by such honours as are paid to the prince who is next +the throne. He must needs be a man of mark at home for whose sake an +Assyrian king sends his own cup-bearer with an embassy to Pharaoh." + +"An embassy to Pharaoh!" In the last stage of astonishment, Sarchedon +could only repeat the other's words. + +"No less," assented Phrenes. "And you must not take offence if I tell +you it arrived here not a day too soon. Your accusation was a heavy one, +and the penalty of your crime was death. These sons of shepherds begin +to overrun the land. Some of our wisest counsellors would rejoice to be +rid of them once for all; but Pharaoh loves well to see great buildings +growing to the skies, cubit by cubit, and day by day. He would not +willingly let this people go. Meanwhile they increase and multiply till +it seems that ere long they will outnumber their lords. If they had +arms, or could use them, it might come to a bad ending. We keep them +down with labour, and tame them with blows; nevertheless, if a leader +should rise up amongst them, they have it in their power to vex us sore. +You had not crossed into the dominions of Pharaoh a day ere your person +and character were as well known to us as they are now. When it came out +that yours was the daring hand which smote the Egyptian, we did you the +justice to believe you were a dangerous offender, and condemned you +accordingly, even before you were accused." + +"Your opinion of me far exceeded my merits," answered Sarchedon, who did +not fail to perceive he had run a very narrow risk. "To which of the +gods, then, did I owe my unexpected deliverance?" + +"Neither to Thmei nor Thoth," replied Phrenes. "Justice and policy alike +counselled a short examination and a speedy sentence; but Pharaoh"--here +he dropped his voice with an affectation of extreme caution--"Pharaoh, +whose wisdom is infallible, determined that you should be kept in safe +ward until he had caused you to disclose the inmost secrets of this +captive people with whom you had cast in your lot." + +"I could have told him nothing!" exclaimed Sarchedon; "nor would I have +turned traitor to the hand that succoured me for the half of his +kingdom." + +"It is well, then," answered the other calmly, "that the question was +never asked. It must be a loud shriek to reach upper earth from those +dungeons of ours; and in my opinion, though Pharaoh thinks otherwise, +knowledge is bought too dear even from a criminal at the price of +torture." + +Sarchedon shuddered. Glancing across the hall at the king's calm cruel +face, he could not help thinking how fruitless would have been an appeal +for mercy, how hopeless an attempt at escape. "Had you tortured me to +death," said he, "you would have gained nothing for yourselves but +shame!" + +"There was fortunately no need," replied the other with exceeding +courtesy. "Ere Pharaoh had leisure to attend to your affairs in person, +lo, there comes a cloud of horsemen out of Assyria, bearing rich +presents, speaking honeyed words, yet demanding plainly enough that you +should be delivered to them unhurt; threatening vengeance if a single +hair of your head had fallen while in our charge. And Ninyas, it seems, +is no more to be trifled with than his father." + +"Ninyas!" repeated Sarchedon. "Doth the Great King then rule no longer +in Babylon?" + +"Have you not heard?" replied the other. "Ninus has gone to his gods, +wherever they may be, and Ninyas his son reigns in his stead. If the new +king's counsellors be like that gaudy youth who hath ridden here on +behalf of his lord, sound wisdom must be less sought after than shining +raiment about his throne." + +He signed with something of contempt towards Sethos, who had now caught +sight of his countryman, and, being well warmed with wine, was showing +as much satisfaction as seemed compatible with the dignified presence in +which he found himself. The banquet, according to the custom of the +Egyptians, was prolonged to a late hour. When the guests could eat and +drink no more, singing-women entered the hall, bearing fruit and flowers +and golden measures of the rarest wines. These were succeeded by dancers +conspicuous for their beauty, and much appreciated by Sethos, who could +not refrain from audible comments on their charms. Wrestlers also, and +tumblers of the other sex, relieved them at intervals; and if Sarchedon +in his heart more admired the upright forms and noble proportions of his +countrymen, he could not but admit that the pliancy of limb and subtle +dexterity of those Egyptians were beyond praise. + +The sun had long set, and scores of lamps were flashing their radiance +over the revellers, ere a slow sad dirge swelled through the palace, +while an image of Osiris, swathed in mummy-clothes, and stretched +corpse-like on a bier, was borne to the feet of Pharaoh himself. Then +Phrenes, who, to his weightier avocations, added that of Master of the +Feast, raised his hands aloft for silence, and in the hush of voices +spoke that solemn warning with which it was the custom of Egypt to close +its richest entertainments: + +"What is man? Nothing. What is life? Nothing. What is death? Nothing. +For we are born at an adventure; and when we go hence, it will be as +though we had never seen the day. Life, though short, is weary; death, +though unwelcome, is not to be escaped. Let us, then, enjoy the good +things that are present; let us comfort our hearts with wine, and +gladden our faces with oil, and crown our locks with flowers: for wine +hath lees and oil hath dregs, and ere set of sun the lotus herself shall +have faded and passed away. Let none go fasting to his bed, nor joyless +to his grave, because in sleep there is neither mirth nor mourning; +there is neither good nor evil in the tomb. What is man, then? Nothing. +But Pharaoh lives for ever!" + +Then the strangers passed once more before the king, Sethos and +Sarchedon receiving each a costly present, the other Assyrians being +also gladdened with gifts according to their rank. It would have seemed +beneath the dignity of Pharaoh to hold converse with strangers in +person; but Phrenes, when he bade them farewell, took occasion to +enlarge on the power and riches of his own country, reminding the +visitors of its arts, its fertility, its resources in peace and war. +Lastly, retaining him for a moment behind his companions, he whispered +in Sarchedon's ear, + +"Forget not how the captive in his dungeon found favour in the sight of +my lord the king. He bids you think of Pharaoh when you are exalted in +your own country, and above all, he warns you, despise not the wisdom of +the Egyptians." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +IN THE DESERT + + +Once more in the saddle, once more in the light of day, once more in the +boundless desert, free as the wild ass devouring the plain, the +long-winged hawk darting across the sun. Sarchedon set his horse to its +speed, and circled round the troop of warriors who accompanied him, in +sheer ecstasy of liberty and motion. How could he refrain? Was it not +life itself to feel beneath his limbs the old familiar swerve, and swing +and long elastic bound? fingering with light and skilful touch the +quivering rein, to which every motion answered, like the chord of an +instrument responsive to the practised hand of a musician? to borrow +from the animal under him, till each quality seemed his own, the speed +of a wild deer, the strength of a mountain bull, and the gentle generous +courage peculiar to a good horse alone? Yes, it was worth long days and +nights of captivity, of restless slumber and weary waking, of listless +apathy and dull sickening despair, to back a steed, wear sword on thigh, +and shake a javelin in the pure still air of the wilderness once again. +He said as much to Sethos, while they turned in the saddle to look their +last on the great pyramids of Egypt, sinking into the plain behind them. +The cup-bearer, moderating his companion's pace, like his own, to the +springing walk of their pure-bred steeds, expressed, as usual, his +earnest desire to behold the walls, pinnacles, and brazen gates of great +Babylon, with her pleasures and her repose. + +"A place, my friend," said Sethos, "that I was sore afraid you would +never see again. A fallen man in the desert is more commonly picked up +by jackals than Israelites; and it is not every horse that would take +another rider back, as did Merodach, to the very spot where he laid his +master on the sand. By the belt of Nimrod, I always said, for camp or +march, charge or chase, I have not found such a steed in the Great +King's host as the white horse with the wild eye." + +"Brave Merodach!" answered Sarchedon; "I would I were across him now. +Bold, gentle, and true, I never saw him frightened, and I never felt him +tired." + +"He was scared that night, nevertheless," said Sethos. "He came by me +like a stone out of a sling, even as I reached the middle gate in the +southern wall; but the archers on watch turned him back, and when I +caught his bridle, he let me lead him through the crowded streets like a +dog. By the brows of Ashtaroth, it was a night not to be forgotten in +Babylon, while the great tower of Belus has one brick standing on +another." + +"Was there a tumult, then?" asked Sarchedon. "Our countrymen need but +little to stir them into action at a festival." + +"Not so much a tumult," answered the cup-bearer, "as a great awe and +horror over all. The streets were thick with people; but men looked in +each other's faces, and scarce dared ask what might come next. Some told +me that the skies were raining fire and brimstone on the temple of Baal, +and that ere dawn of morning the whole city was to be consumed; some +that the Bactrians had vanquished our Great King's host, all scattered +about in the plain; that their elephants could be seen from the walls, +and that even now the fiercest of their mountaineers were advancing to +the assault." + +Sarchedon laughed. + +"Such tidings should have vexed you but little," said he. "Did you not +remember how we put them to flight by the Red Lake, from which our +warriors drank so freely, believing it was wine? I slew three of their +slingers at its very brim with my own hand." + +"I remembered nothing," answered Sethos, "but that when they drew the +sword they smote and spared not, old men and maidens, mothers and +children, the warrior in harness, and the wounded at their feet. If the +Bactrians were in truth over the wall, I bethought me whether it were +not best to leap on Merodach, and gallop back into the desert from +whence I came." + +"It was a stout-hearted resolution," laughed Sarchedon, who knew the +cup-bearer's courage to be beyond suspicion, but had not forgotten the +disinclination to hard work, hard fare, and hard blows his friend was +never ashamed of owning. "And what prevented this dignified retreat of +the Great King's chief officer before an old woman's fable of an +impossible attack?" + +"Speak not lightly of women, old or young," returned Sethos. "If these +make love, those make pottage; and thus two of man's chief needs are +satisfied. I repeat, I had begun to think gravely of flight, when I met +one in the crowd who was neither man nor woman precisely, but a priest +of Baal. He told me that his god descended at nightfall in a chariot of +fire, and had carried the Great King back with him to the stars. This +was the light I saw flaring in the sky over the city, while I approached +the gate." + +"I saw it too," observed Sarchedon. "When I fell heavily to the ground, +there passed before my eyes, as it were, a sheet of flame, and then I +remember nothing more, till I found myself on an ass's back, faint and +weak, swaying from side to side, but supported by that good old man who +picked me off the sand." + +"It was true enough," continued Sethos, "though told by a priest. While +I was riding about on a fool's errand, uncertain where to turn my +bridle, and you were galloping to and fro, with diverse wild purposes I +do not yet clearly understand, but which seem to have cost you somewhat +dear, our Great King went up into his Talar to pour out a drink-offering +to Baal. The god must have been thirsty, since he came down to wet his +beard with wine in person, and Ninus must have been in milder mood than +usual to mount the flaming chariot at his desire. Well, the Thirteen +have gained a stern comrade, and the land of Shinar has lost the +stoutest warrior that ever crossed a steed." + +"We shall see his like no more," answered the other. "He was the last of +those mighty men begotten by Nimrod to rule over the sons of Ashur with +sword and spear. But it is written in the stars that the Great King +lives for ever; and though Ninus be gone, doth not Ninyas his son reign +in his stead?" + +"Doubtless," was the reply. "So soon as the father set foot in his +flaming chariot, the diadem of Ashur blazed on the son's bright comely +brow. By the glory of Shamash, he shone beautiful as morning when he +showed himself to the people with the royal circle over his head, the +royal sceptre in his hand. There was a something changed in him too; I +know not what--a dignity of bearing, a smoothness of gesture, a quiet +courtesy to all--and he looked in his dazzling raiment more like a god +than a king." + +"Was there, then, no outbreak?" asked Sarchedon. "Unlike old Nineveh, +the people of Babylon must be reined with the strong hand, in great and +sudden changes such as these." + +"With the strong hand!" exclaimed Sethos. "Why, the spearmen of the +queen's host were drawn up in battle array by hundreds at the corner of +every street, while bowmen clustered on wall and tower like locusts +about a fig-tree. No man dared murmer if he would; and I think none who +looked in his fair face could have desired a nobler king than Ninyas." + +"And the queen?" said Sarchedon. "How fares it with Semiramis in her +woe?" + +"The queen remains hidden in her palace," replied his friend; "not to be +seen of men while she makes her moan, rending her garments and +scattering ashes on her head. Alas for the pride of her beauty, the pomp +and power of her dominion! Surely her glory passed away with the smoke +of the great sacrifice. Ninus ruled half the earth with his frown, and +she ruled Ninus with her smile. But all is changed now." + +"Has she, then, so little influence over her son?" asked Sarchedon, +reining his horse to a halt in his preoccupation, while he pondered on +his own future, and how it might be affected by these strange +unlooked-for events. + +Ninyas, he had reason to believe, loved him but little; and the +queen--he scarcely dared think of the terms on which he stood with the +queen. In every direction his path seemed beset with difficulties. But +for Ishtar, he could have been satisfied to remain in Egypt for ever, +even in the dungeon--Ishtar, whom perhaps he was never to see again. He +recalled the words of the magician; but their comfort was very vague and +hollow, compared with the steadfast belief of Sadoc, whom no troubles +seemed to perplex, no anticipations of evil to overcome. He almost +envied the carelessness of his light-hearted comrade, who proceeded with +his narrative as though it were but the detail of a lion-hunt or a +festival. + +"Ninyas seems resolved to reign in person--a great king, not only in +name, but in authority, who bears sword as well as sceptre, and tarries +longer in the seat of judgment than at the banquet of wine. I could not +have believed a man's nature might be thus changed in the putting on of +a tiara. When I prostrated myself in his presence, it seemed as though +years had passed since he dismissed me in the desert, and rode back +unattended into Babylon. Yet the interval was less than a day. And +Merodach: he sent for the good horse to his royal stables, and caressed +him fondly with his own hand." + +"Merodach loves not strangers," replied Sarchedon. "But if Ninyas +desires him, how shall his servant say him nay? Is not my life in the +hands of the Great King? Something warns me, nevertheless, that the +horse finds more favour in his sight than the rider." + +"You speak thus in your ignorance," said Sethos. "Had he lost the great +ruby from the handle of his sword, he could scarce have looked more +anxious, more concerned. If you find not that you are first in favour +when we return, never believe a king's cup-bearer again. Is it not for +this I ride at your right hand so humble even now? Think of us when you +come to high honour; but do not forget you owe more to your horse than +your friend." + +"I can well believe it," returned the other, smiling. "I have always +trusted less in the man than the beast. Nevertheless, I am loath to be +ungrateful, and will take care to remember both." + +"Had I not been leading Merodach through the streets," continued Sethos, +"I should not have been seen of Assarac; but the priest, knowing the +white horse afar off, bade some archers clear a passage, and beckoned me +to his presence. When he learned all I had to tell, how I had left you +but a short space before the horse came flying by me riderless through +the desert, he seemed unusually thoughtful and concerned: you know how +rarely his face betrays his thoughts, how good or evil seem powerless to +affect him, and yet there came a frown on his brow, a wicked fire in his +eyes, while he listened to my tale. I could hardly learn whether he was +pleased or angered, anxious for your safety or eager to know your fate. +He tarried but an instant. Leaders and warriors were thronging round him +for orders, and you would have thought him captain of a host setting the +battle in array, rather than priest and eunuch preparing a sacrifice for +his gods. He seemed calm enough while he gave his directions; but the +same evil look gleamed in his eyes again when he bade me yield up +Merodach in charge to his attendants, and return at day break to the +palace. What more was done in Babylon that night must be related by +others; for I was wearied sore, and when I lay down, without so much as +taking off my harness, I slept as sound as all the Pharaohs--who live +for ever--in their tombs." + +"And with daybreak you learned what had befallen Ninus?" asked +Sarchedon. "Of a truth, my friend, you must have felt that you woke to a +new world." + +"Not so," replied the other. "In the city, save that the guards had been +doubled, all was orderly and unchanged. The prophets of the grove had +discontinued their leapings and howlings and brandishing of knives. The +priests of Baal were busy cleaning gore and garbage from their temple. +In the royal palace I found the old servants of Ninus, with the queen's +archers, as usual, keeping their listless watch. When I prostrated +myself at the threshold, it seemed as though I must needs fill the +king's cup, and give him to drink with the first rays of the morning +sun." + +"A good old practice," observed Sarchedon, "and, if I know him, not to +be discontinued by Ninyas during his reign." + +"You do _not_ know him, it seems," replied the other; "for I came no +nearer his presence than the golden-winged bull in the middle of the +Great Court. Here I was stopped by Assarac, who bade me attend the king +armed and mounted within an hour at the southern wall. When I tendered +the wine-cup, he laughed, and said these old-world practices were to be +discontinued for the future; but I have no fear I shall lose my office, +nevertheless." + +"You are little given to despair," said his friend; "I know that of +old." + +"As chance would have it," resumed Sethos, in perfect good faith, "I +fell in with Kalmim, wearing her garment rent and her hair about her +face, but otherwise little vexed with woe; and she found time to bid me +keep heart, for that none of my honours, said she, would be taken away, +but rather new rewards added thereto; and in this she spoke truth, +though I scarce believed her at the time, for I thought Ninyas would +have done well to place me on his right hand in sight of all the people. +So I got to saddle with a heavy heart, and hastened me to the southern +wall, where I found the king and but two attendants--mountain-men, well +skilled to take a prey. Ninyas rode to and fro amongst the vineyards on +Merodach, turning the beast to his hand as though it had borne him ever +since it wore a bridle." + +Sarchedon's face fell. + +"I shall never ride him again," said he. "When a man has once backed a +horse like Merodach, he would take him by force from his own brother." + +"Ninyas seemed to love him well," replied Sethos, "for his palm was +never off neck or shoulder, and I swear by Ashur I saw him once press +his lips against the horse's crest. But he seemed strangely hurried and +restless, holding little discourse with me, but consulting eagerly the +mountain-men who accompanied us. One of these bade me point out the +exact spot at which Merodach passed me in his flight, and of this I +could make sure because I remembered how a single palm was growing there +by a spring. When we reached it, Ninyas laid the rein on Merodach's +neck, and, lo, the horse broke eagerly into a gallop, stretching away +over the desert at speed, so that it cost us some trouble to keep him in +sight. The king never touched his bridle, but let the beast bear him how +and where it would. My horse was already failing under me, when they +halted at a spot where lay a splintered arrow and a few large bones +picked white and bare. Merodach stood still, snorting and trembling, +while the tears fell from the king's eyes. Then the mountain-men +alighted, and showed how a human body had lain here the night before, +and how it had been lifted carefully by one whose footmarks were to be +traced, deep and wide, under his burden. Also, how others had gathered +round, leading their asses; and even boasted they could distinguish the +prints of that on which the fallen man had been disposed. "Can you track +them?" asked the king in a hoarse whisper; and he promised a reward of +camels and oxen, costly raiment, and a talent of gold each, if they +could follow up the chase successfully, and return with good tidings of +its result. + +"The mountain-men earned their wages fairly. It was not long ere they +brought back to Babylon such intelligence as seemed to cause the king no +little concern and anxiety. But that his royal word was passed, I think +Ninyas would have impaled them both, having no better news to tell. They +had traced you into Egypt, they said, and had left you lying in prison +by the decree of Pharaoh, under sentence of death. I would have given +you up, my friend, then; but our young king, it seems, abandons not his +servants at their greatest need. He sent for me to the royal palace, and +though I entered not his presence, I was received in the outer chamber +by Assarac, who clad me in a dress of honour, and threw a chain of gold +about my neck. You never saw such workmanship! Had the links been but of +bronze, they were so wrought as to be worth a score of camels each. They +prate of their gold and silver down yonder," added Sethos, with a +backward nod, "but I would defy the whole of Egypt, with all her +furnaces, to produce such a chain as that!" + +"You were wise not to bring it with you," observed Sarchedon. "They are +skilful thieves, and would have stolen it from round your very throat +while you slept." + +The cup-bearer's swarthy cheek reddened. + +"I gave it away," said he, "for all my haste, ere I laid hand on bridle +to ride southward. I know not if 'tis so with _you_, Sarchedon, but I +can keep nothing from a woman that she desires of me--not even the +secret of my dearest friend. They seem to have some strange power over +our wills, like that by which I turn this good horse under me with the +rein." + +Sarchedon thought of Ishtar, and held his peace. + +"The eunuch's directions," continued Sethos, "were brief enough. He +wastes few words, you know, when there is need of action. "You will +mount at noon," said he, "and ride without delay to the steps of +Pharaoh's throne, wherever he may be. You will take valuable presents. +Such a troop will accompany you as can protect you from violence or +insult. To Pharaoh's own face you will deliver the words of the Great +King, bidding him the salutation of brotherhood and peace, but demanding +the body of his Assyrian prisoner alive and unhurt. If he refuse, or if +a hair of Sarchedon's head have fallen, you will break your bow asunder, +and cast the fragments at his feet, telling him you will return to claim +them with an army of the sons of Ashur, to which the last that entered +Egypt was but as the lizard in the garden to the mighty monster of the +Nile. Be lavish, peremptory, and bold. The king hath spoken." You may +believe, my friend, that I turned my head more than once, thinking I +might be taking my last look of beautiful Babylon. To beard Pharaoh on +his throne with a handful even of the bravest horsemen in Assyria seemed +an action savouring little of wisdom or common prudence; but, as the old +king used to swear, Nisroch strikes with him who trusts his own right +hand. So, when I _did_ find myself in Pharaoh's presence, I spoke out as +if the hosts of Assyria stood in array a bowshot from my back. Small +reason had I to complain of my reception. A king in person could not +have been greeted with a nobler welcome. What riches! what luxury! what +splendour! I would we had taken their whole country when we fought so +hard to cross their river under the old king's leadership. Pharaoh must +have been weakened to some purpose, or he had scarce listened patiently +to a demand which seemed well-nigh a defiance. There was delay, indeed, +ere they produced you, and I feared for a time you had been slain in one +of their secret dungeons; but I took my bow from my back in presence of +Phrenes, and made as though I would break it across my knee. The old man +turned white with fear, and that very day I beheld you at the banquet of +wine, seated in a place of honour and apparelled like a king's son. Then +my heart leaped within me; for I knew that we were both safe, and might +hope to drink the wine of Damascus within the walls of Babylon once +more. I would we had a cup of it now!" + +Sarchedon was silent. His friend's account of the means by which an +imprisonment that seemed so hopeless had been cancelled, a decree of +Pharaoh reversed, perplexed him more and more. + +That he should have attained thus suddenly to the favour of Ninyas, on +accession of the latter to his father's throne, was perhaps to be +accounted for by one of those caprices to which he had already seen men +owe great honours and promotion under the authority of a despot; but +that the king should have ridden in person to discover his track, should +have actually shed tears of pity for his supposed fate, was so strange, +that he left to future events the solution of such a riddle, resolving +for the present to content himself with the improvement in his +prospects, and the hope that, when free and amongst his own countrymen, +he might succeed in obtaining some traces of the fate of Ishtar, some +clue to the perpetrators of that outrage by which Arbaces lost his +life. Deep in his own heart he swore never to rest until he had +recovered his lost love and avenged the slaughter of her father--blood +for blood. + +Thus journeying northward through the plain, at a rate which promised +ere many more furlongs were passed to bring them across the confines of +Egypt into their own land of Shinar, they observed a cloud of dust +rising on the sky-line behind them, and extending so far along the +horizon that it threatened to encompass their little troop in its +embrace. Swiftly as they travelled, it seemed to advance more swiftly +still. The Assyrian horsemen looked in each other's faces with blank +dismay, but none liked to be the first in expressing a hideous +apprehension that curdled at each man's heart. Nevertheless, reins were +instinctively tightened and horses pressed to increased speed. Presently +Sethos laid his hand on his companion's bridle-arm, and pointed +ominously to the rear. + +"Behold the red simoon!" he whispered. "The demon of the desert has +spread his wings from side to side, and there is no escape. It is the +will of Nisroch. When he breathes in our faces, we must die?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A RIDE FOR LIFE + + +The little troop had been picked from the boldest horsemen of Assyria. +Not a man but would have spent life freely under the banner of Ashur, +and charged home into the host of an enemy, though out-numbered ten to +one. Their warlike traditions, their national character, their pride and +self-respect, had taught them to shrink from no professional danger, to +yield before no living foe; but the bold faces were pale now, and the +proud eyes haggard. They rode in wild disorder, as though flying before +the shadow of death; while the pure-bred steeds that bore them snorted, +and shook their bridles gaily, exulting in the glory of their strength, +the easy freedom of their speed. + +The simoon, even in its natural terrors, might well be an object of +dread to man and beast. No fate seems much more horrible than to be +overwhelmed and drowned in a storm of sand. But the Assyrian had been +also taught to regard this danger as a supernatural foe, a gigantic +demon of the desert, hidden in lurid clouds, advancing swift, +insatiable, portentous, swallowing furlongs at every stride, to seize +and stifle him in an inevitable embrace. + +Even Sethos caught the infection, and pushed his horse to its speed with +reckless energy, panic-stricken as the rest. + +Sarchedon could not forbear a laugh. + +"Hold!" he exclaimed, while he shot with some difficulty to the front, +raising his bow horizontally above his head to stop the undisciplined +flight. "Hold, fools and faint of heart! Can you not turn for one look +in your enemy's face, ere you scour away before him like a herd of +frightened deer? Stop, I say; lest I drive an arrow through the foremost +of ye, and leave him to be picked clean by the vultures ere the sun goes +down!" + +"The simoon!" gasped the leading horseman, pressing wildly onward +without pause. + +"The simoon!" repeated Sarchedon, seizing the other's bridle, and thus +bringing him to an involuntary halt. "Do you call yourself a son of +Ashur, and not know better the arms and apparel of your enemy? Can you +see the violet spot that marks the demon's eye, the purple hem that +borders his garment, the golden spangles that glitter through his veil? +For shame, man! And you, too, Sethos; I could not have believed you +would turn and fly, with bow and spear in hand, from a bushel of dust +flung up on the wayside!" + +Thus arguing, storming, and gesticulating, he succeeded in pacifying the +terror of his comrades, who consented to halt for a space and breathe +their horses, while they scanned the appearance that had given rise to +their alarm. The peril, when they examined it more coolly, was none the +less threatening that its cause seemed in no way supernatural. The +clouds of sand had indeed increased both in extent and volume; but +through the folds of that dusky curtain gleamed here and there a sparkle +of steel, while at its skirts an opaque winding line denoted to a +warrior's eye the approach of a strong body of horse. + +The Assyrians became somewhat reassured, though Sethos and Sarchedon +looked doubtfully from each other's faces to the advancing host. Already +they could distinguish fluttering garments, uplifted spears, and the +banners of Egypt waving over all. + +"He has sent to fetch us back!" exclaimed the cup-bearer. "He has +repented him of his counsel, and we have not done with Pharaoh yet!" + +Sarchedon burst into a mocking laugh. + +"Have they wings like the south wind," said he, "that they hope to +overtake the horses of Assyria in the open desert with heads turned for +home? If, as in good truth it seems, there be too many to fight, let us +put on at speed, and the hosts of Pharaoh shall toil after us in vain." + +They galloped on accordingly at a steady even pace, which, while it +could be kept up for a considerable distance, gained surely though +gradually on their pursuers. + +But the desert, flat, open, and boundless as the sea, has also its ports +and havens, to which men put in for fresh water and repose, thus +diverging from the straight line of their direct course. The Assyrians, +therefore, now resuming the shortest way to their own land, found they +had described an arc, of which, in order to overtake them, their +pursuers needed only to speed along the chord. And thus it fell out +that, nearing a range of rocks, one of the few landmarks in the +wilderness, they came suddenly on an ambush of Egyptian horsemen, who +had pushed forward to post themselves in that hiding-place. + +The little troop now found an enemy in front and rear, the latter +overwhelming in numbers, the former too strong for so scanty a force to +break through. + +They halted, and took counsel, inclining to dash forward in a desperate +charge, when an old man rode out from the ranks of their opponents, +making signs of parley and peace. + +Even a bowshot off they recognised Phrenes. Sarchedon and Sethos +advanced therefore to meet him, bidding their comrades remain in the +saddle with bows bent, watching every movement of the Egyptians. + +The old man broke his spear across, and cast it at their feet in token +of amity. + +"Your servant has ridden far and fast," said he, "to bid you return into +Egypt, and look on the light of Pharaoh's countenance once more. Behold, +my lords, these also are your servants, sent to bring you in honour to +his palace beyond the Nile." + +"We have taken our leave of my lord the king," returned Sethos +courteously, but keeping his horse well in hand under him; "Pharaoh has +given gifts to his servants, bidding them depart in peace. Why, then, +should we return at an untoward season, to the encumbrance of my lord +the king?" + +Phrenes cast one glance back amongst his followers, a glance not +unobserved by those he addressed, while he replied: + +"What am I, that I should interpret between my lords and the king my +master? I pray you, now, return with me of good will. So shall you come +to great honour, and sit on thrones in the land of Egypt." + +While he spoke, he edged his horse gradually round, showing no slight +skill in the art of managing it, so as to place himself between the +Assyrians and their comrades. + +"Not a bowshot will I return," answered Sethos, "until I have fulfilled +mine embassy, and sought in the land of Shinar a new command from the +Great King." + +The Egyptians, meanwhile, continued to move their horses imperceptibly +nearer the two Assyrians, who were now separated from their companions. +The cup-bearer, suspecting treachery, held his bow in readiness with an +arrow fitted to the string, while his movements were exactly copied by +the Assyrians, narrowly watching and mistrusting the parley. Sarchedon +too grasped a broad-headed javelin, prepared to hurl it at a moment's +notice into the ranks of the enemy. + +"I bid you once more in peace," said Phrenes, holding up his hand as it +seemed for a signal to his followers. "If you think to resist the might +of Egypt, your blood be on your own head! Pharaoh lives for--" + +He never finished the sentence, with the conclusion of which it was +doubtless intended that the two isolated horsemen should be surrounded +and taken prisoners. The cup-bearer's bowstring rattled even while he +spoke, and Phrenes fell heavily to the ground, with a shaft quivering +in his heart. At the same moment Sarchedon's weapon transfixed the +nearest Egyptian, and a storm of arrows from the Assyrians created no +small confusion in the rest of the band. Horses reared, men lost their +seats and weapons, shouting, storming, jostling each other, and looking +in vain for some one to direct; while the Assyrians turned bridle +without delay, to speed over the plain at a pace which put them many an +arrow's flight from their enemies ere the latter had sufficiently +recovered to form line and bend their bows. + +It was a ride for life through the desert. The rest of Pharaoh's army +had been advancing rapidly during the parley; their horses were fresher +than those they pursued; and it would have been madness for the +Assyrians to dream of resisting such a force, if it should succeed in +overtaking them. Sarchedon seemed to see the well-remembered gloom of +his Egyptian dungeon gathering round him once again. His horse, too, +began to fail, labouring to keep up with its companions. Bitterly did he +now regret the childish enthusiasm that had tempted him to waste its +strength and mettle at the commencement of their journey. + +"It is enough," said he. "My time is come. I will strive all that one +man can to delay a host. Peradventure when they have slain or taken me, +they will suffer you to escape unhurt." + +"Not so," replied Sethos, looking anxiously over his shoulder. "They +gain on us but little. Nay, take heart, my friend; we may baffle them +yet. Surely we are in the land of Shinar now. And yonder, by the beard +of Nimrod and the beauty of Ashtaroth! I see the City of Towers, and the +Silver Lake glittering in the sun!" + +"It is but the paradise of the desert," answered Sarchedon sadly. "I +have ridden after it many a weary hour, but never reached it yet." + +In spite of the enemy's rapid approach, Sethos reined in his horse, and +shaded his brows with his hand, in sore misgiving that he was the dupe +of that mirage which is so remarkable an effect of a level surface, a +rarified atmosphere, and a dazzling sun. Then he observed with the +utmost calmness: + +"Lofty palms, and shining pinnacles, and golden waters, all these adorn +the paradise of the desert; but who hath yet seen the banner of Ashur +floating over its walls? If those be not the towers of Ascalon, may I +never drink a cup of Damascus wine, nor drive an arrow through a false +Egyptian heart again! We are safe, my friend. Look yonder at that +glitter in the sky-line; it is the flash of sunlight on the western +sea." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE CITY OF REFUGE + + +The fugitives pressed on apace, Sarchedon's horse, though wavering and +exhausted, vindicating nobly the purity of its lineage, a race of which +none ever failed to answer the rider's hand and voice, ask what he +would; but when they stopped, they fell stone dead. Nevertheless, the +foremost Egyptians gained ground too surely, and ere the Assyrians came +under the protection of a friendly city, the swiftest of their pursuers +had already halted to bend their bows. + +A volley of arrows whistled round Sarchedon's head, who arrived last +within the welcome shelter of the walls, bristling with bowmen, prepared +to defend it against a host. As the great gate closed behind him, he +heard the war-cry of Ashur swelling to a shout of triumph; while the +baffled Egyptians, making the circuit of the place at a gallop, wheeled +round and withdrew into the desert, as though content to abandon their +prey. + +"I never wish to look on Pharaoh's face again," said Sethos, drawing a +long breath of relief, while leaping nimbly to the ground, he loosened +the girths of his panting steed. "I have fronted the Great King in his +wrath, and it seemed like passing through a burning fiery furnace, that +scorches the beard and blisters the skin; but under the cold eye of +Pharaoh, I could feel the chill of death creeping into the marrow of my +bones." + +Sarchedon did not answer. His heart was beating fast, and all the blood +in his body seemed surging to his brain; for amongst the spectators +looking down from the housetops on the entrance of their countrymen, he +had caught sight of a veiled figure, that had in it something of her air +and gestures who was never absent from his mind--the object of his +search, the desire of his life, the woman he had loved and lost. + +It was but a momentary glimpse. The figure disappeared almost as soon as +seen. Nevertheless, for Sarchedon there was henceforth but one aim, one +interest, in the whole city of Ascalon. + +His progress through the streets reminded Sethos, though on a less +splendid scale, of the Great King's return after his successful Egyptian +campaign, with its greetings, its enthusiasm, its shouts of welcome, and +casting down of flowers on the warriors' heads, though the numbers were +scanty, compared to the population of imperial Babylon, the height from +which the garlands dropped but mean and humble, measured by the +pinnacles and terraces that crowned the City of Palaces, throned on her +mighty stream. + +Long before it could arrive beneath her walls, the watchman at the gate +of Ascalon had espied this scanty troop of his countrymen advancing +through the desert, pursued by an enemy from that south on which it was +his duty to keep a sleepless eye. Ere Sarchedon became satisfied that he +was making for a tangible stronghold, and not an illusion of the sandy +wilderness, the city had been alarmed, and its Assyrian garrison, tried +warriors all, were at their posts. Scores of bowmen therefore lined the +streets through which the little party passed. Many a broad hand +tendered its grasp of welcome and good-fellowship to the comrade who had +baffled yet one more danger, foiled the hated Egyptian with bow and +spear yet once again. Agron, the Captain of the Gate, a young warrior in +whose company Sethos had often emptied the wine-cup, spending days and +nights of revelry amongst the material joys of his beloved Babylon, +himself accompanied them to the stronghold of the city, now brightened +by a certain appearance of luxurious indulgence, added to its usual +aspect of defence and grim security. + +"Here," said Agron, "you shall be brought into the royal presence, with +the rising of to-morrow's sun. You shall be sped on your way to Babylon +under such a guard as may laugh Pharaoh and all his chariots to scorn, +if indeed they dare thus pursue their venture into the land of Shinar. +Fear not, my friends; you shall ride out of Ascalon almost as swiftly as +you rode in, and I wish it had been the will of Nisroch that I might be +permitted to accompany you." + +"Are you then so weary of the City of Towers?" asked Sethos, smiling +gaily on a group of women who were pelting him with flowers from an +upper story. "It seems to me that here, as elsewhere, Ashtaroth shines +down in light through the eyes of these southern damsels, and that Agron +may bask in her beams no less pleasantly than at home." + +"Ashtaroth!" repeated the other scornfully, "and the City of Towers! Say +rather Shamash and the City of Fire! Where shall you find a palm's +breadth of shade in the whole town at noon, or a green thing within a +day's march of the walls? There was a fountain here over against us when +we arrived; but the sun licked it up ere we saw him rise three times, +dry and clean as a dog's red tongue licks a platter. For duty, it is +watch and ward day by day, with your headpiece scorching the very hair +off your brow, and alarms throughout the night, every time a camel +tinkles its bell within or a jackal howls for hunger without. As to +pleasure, if you care not to fly your hawks over a plain so barren that +the very wormwood refuses to show a twig, or to follow a lion as sulky +as yourself for lack of food, who burrows into a cave when you come up +with him, you must be content to tie knots in your bowstring, and so +keep count of the days of your captivity, as they pass by and bring no +change." + +"But you hold a high post," said Sarchedon absently, for his thoughts +were still with the veiled figure that vanished so quickly from his +sight. "You have a noble command, and great honour amongst men." + +"And receive gifts from travellers entering in," added Sethos. "Caravans +out of Egypt, merchants from the coast, spoilers of the desert, who must +needs replenish quiver and sharpen steel, none can pass through without +doing homage to the keeper of the gate, and his hand is never empty +whose beard brushes the dust. Tell me, Agron, are there not bales of +silk piled in thy dwelling, myrrh, spices, inlaid arms, and talents of +gold, ay, and a captive maid or two, fresh and rosy as the dawn on those +eastern mountains from which she comes?" + +Agron laughed loud. + +"How long would she abide with me at the gate, think you, after the +prince had heard of her white skin and ruddy cheeks? No, my friends, +wayfarers are driven from our walls as if they brought a pestilence in +their very garments. For recompense, I have stern command and scornful +look; for food, camel's flesh and dried locusts; for handmaiden, an +Ethiopian wench, black and rough as a goat's-hair tent; and for +drink--well, for drink--you are a king's cup-bearer, Sethos--I can give +you, as you will presently confess, a skin of wine equal to the richest +you ever pressed at dawn for thirsty old Ninus. May he live for ever! +Hush, man! we are now within the royal gate, and none speaks here above +his breath who values the safety of his tongue." + +Thus cautioning his companions, Agron guided them through a massive +portal, into the central fortress of Ascalon, constructed to hold a foe +at bay even in the last extremity, were the outer walls destroyed, and +the town itself razed to the ground. + +As a bulwark against Egyptian aggression, and a check to the excesses of +those wild tribes that, from the earliest period of history, seem to +have made the desert their home, Ascalon had been fortified with all the +appliances of defence which the experience of Ninus could suggest; and +perhaps, as the birthplace of the queen whom he loved so dearly, had +acquired in his eyes a fictitious value that caused him to regard it +with jealous and constant supervision. Its central fastness was +therefore in proportion to the strength of the whole place, nor did it +fail to impress both Sethos and Sarchedon with feelings of awe and +wonder, quite incomprehensible to the light-hearted captain of the gate. +For Agron, this lowering fortress seemed but a dreary prison, only +preferable to the tomb, because of the hope that he might at last resume +life and light amidst the luxuries of Babylon the Great. Ascalon, as the +queen remembered it, was a glittering city, beautiful in architecture, +pleasant with verdant bowers, and ripening dates, and voice of rushing +waters. As Agron found it, shorn of beauty to enhance its strength, it +was a grim solemn citadel, denuded of palm and paradise to make room for +frowning rampart and threatening tower, drained of its bubbling streams +that they might fill its moats and ditches, retaining nothing of its +ancient loveliness but the blue sea and the silver lake, that continued +to mirror its rugged features in age truly and faithfully as the smiling +freshness of its youth. + +Making signs to them of silence and discretion, the captain of the gate +led his comrades through a succession of massive portals and vaulted +passages, to a chamber lined with cedar wood, taken, as it were, out of +the wall itself, and lit but sparingly by an aperture communicating with +the roof. + +"The prince will not see you," said he, "because he sits at the banquet +of wine, and he holds by our ancient custom of Ashur, which forbids the +clashing of cups and counsel; but you are fasting men as yet, and you +may see _him!_" + +Thus speaking, he drew aside a heavy curtain that had hitherto darkened +their hiding-place, and disclosed a sufficiently sumptuous +banqueting-hall, in which feasted some twenty or thirty guests, of whom +at least half a score were women, unveiled, with flushed cheeks, +disordered raiment, and garlands of flowers clinging to their loosened +hair. + +Keen as the desert hawk's, Sarchedon's eye took in the gay assemblage at +a glance. There was less of disappointment than relief in the deep +breath he drew to miss the woman he loved amongst these restless, +lavish, and alluring forms. + +Ninyas sat in their midst, gorgeously attired as was his wont, with a +jewelled drinking-cup in hand, pledging his male guests at the lower end +of the board with loud hilarity, or whispering softly in the ear of one +of those fairer companions by whom he had surrounded himself. The good +humour of princes is contagious. To the royal challenge, men raised +their goblets full and set them down empty; to the royal jest, women +replied with peals of laughter and protestations of disapproval; while +the royal whisper was answered by blush, and smile, and smothered sigh, +more flattering than the wildest outbreak of mirth. + +"I told you so," said Sethos in his friend's ear. "He was anxious about +our embassy and could not remain in Babylon, but removed here to be +nearer the land of Egypt." + +"His mind seems easy enough now," answered Sarchedon; while Ninyas, +taking a lotus-flower from his own garland, and steeping it in wine, +twined it through the flowing locks of a free and laughing damsel, +leaning across a comrade, till her head almost reclined on the prince's +shoulder. + +As she suffered him to fasten the flower in her hair, it was evident to +those watching above that she made some vehement though mirthful +declaration, accompanied by many gestures of affected reluctance and +denial; presently, on a remark of the prince, her retort called forth an +over-powering burst of laughter, and Ninyas, taking the collar of gold +from his neck, wound it as a bracelet round her arm. + +In the meantime goblets had been emptied freely, eyes began to shine, +voices to rise, and the confusion of tongues became every moment more +and more unintelligible. The captain of the gate, though a stout +warrior, possessed, like his two comrades, a leavening of that +discretion which, even if laid aside in camp, cannot be dispensed with +at court. He judged it time to retire. + +"Those are full men down yonder," said he, with a meaning smile, "and ye +up here are fasting from all but desert air, and mayhap a mouthful or +two of desert sand. Had you taken your places at the banquet amongst the +others, with your feet washed, your locks combed, and garlands on your +heads, there would have seemed no shame in all this revelry, because you +too would have been merry with wine. That which is but decent mirth to +one who rises from a feast, looks like rank folly to another who is +about to sit down. Let us go hence, and you shall comfort your hearts +with bread ere I show you the place of your repose. To-morrow Ninyas +will speak with you face to face, in the light of the rising sun." + +He conducted them accordingly to the lodging he himself occupied when +not actually on duty at the city gate, placing before them such fare as, +notwithstanding his protestations of its unworthiness, was exceedingly +acceptable to their sharpened appetites, and producing a measure of +Damascus wine, that even Sethos, in his official capacity, pronounced +irreproachable. It proved, indeed, of so tempting a quality, that Agron +seemed well inclined to let the gate take care of itself, while he +assisted his guests in its consumption, expostulating earnestly with +Sarchedon on his insensibility to the merits of the matchless +vintage--"ripened," as he boasted, "in the brightest beams of an +Assyrian sun, pressed by the whitest feet that ever danced under a +mountain-maid, stored in royal cellars, and worthy, if ever wine was, to +be placed before the cup-bearer of a king." + +Sethos admitted its flavour, comparing it to that with which he had been +regaled in Egypt at Pharaoh's own table, not disparagingly, yet so as to +enhance in his listeners' esteem his own importance as a man of +pleasure, a man of counsel, and a man of action. + +"Their feasts," he observed gravely, "are spread more fairly than ours, +their dishes are more sumptuous, their attendants more numerous. There +is not the profusion of fish, flesh, and fowl that we waste in our land +of Shinar; but dainties are brought at any cost from the extremities of +Libya and the other side of the southern mountains. They would be +ashamed to hear the heifer lowing in the court for her calf smoking on +the board at which they sit, with knife in hand. Is it not so, +Sarchedon? You tarried longer as a guest of Pharaoh than I did myself." + +"My own experience is chiefly of prison fare," was the answer; +"nevertheless, though the lodging was somewhat strait and gloomy, I can +in no wise complain of the food. The bread of my captivity was meat and +wine, not to mention a barley-cake and a bunch of onions thrust into my +hand by the archer who led me to my cell." + +"Barley-cake and onions!" exclaimed Agron. "They fight passing well--I +pray you suffer me to fill your cups--passing well, indeed, these nimble +friends of ours, for men who fare no better than that!" + +"Fight!" repeated Sethos, in high disdain. "Call you it fighting, +forsooth, to set the battle in array, advancing in countless columns +with levelled spears and waving banners, only to halt in orderly line, +sound a trumpet, and retire discomfited before the sons of Ashur have +time to bend their bows? Fight, comrades! I tell you, that for real +fighting, man to man, hand to hand, foot to foot, and buckler to +buckler, there is but one nation on the face of the earth." + +"And but one champion in that nation," observed his host, with a covert +smile at Sarchedon. + +It was not lost on the merry nature of Agron, that his good wine already +sang in the brain of the king's cup-bearer. + +"You are my friend, and judge me too favourably," replied the latter, in +perfect good faith. "I am no boaster, by the quiver of Merodach! yet I +may say, that this belt of mine girdles a man who never shrank from +buffets with the Egyptian at a score, ay, a hundred to one! The sun has +scarcely set since the chosen host of Pharaoh, his chief captains, his +chariots and horsemen, surrounded me in the desert, as--as I surround +this goblet in my grasp. Did I yield? Did I fly? No. I retired to--to +draw them on, as it were, and loosen their array. What! thou art a +warrior--thou knowest my cunning of defence--my skill--" + +"In retreat?" asked the other, laughing outright. + +Sethos gazed on him angrily, and tried to rise; but resuming his seat, +burst out laughing too. + +"In retreat, in advance," said he, "in press of battle--when and how you +will. They came on at a gallop, with their spears down. I reined-in, and +stood like a rock, with my wine-cup--I would say, with my bow--laid +across my arm thus. Then I fitted an arrow to the string, and Sarchedon +will bear me witness--Is it not so? Why, where is he? Surely he was here +not a moment ago. Sarchedon, I say, will bear me--" + +But turning round for better summons of this additional testimony to his +valour, he found himself so unsteady, that he was fain to give up the +search and the subject together, fixing his attention rather on the +flagon, which he and his host finished in company ere they sank into a +sound and not entirely sober repose. + +Sarchedon in the meantime, anxious and sick at heart, had risen from the +revel unobserved, and retired to his assigned resting-place, where, +notwithstanding the day's exertions, sad thoughts and burning memories +banished sleep from his eyelids, peace from his troubled heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +LOTH + + +A lover's perceptions are not easily deceived; neither veil nor mantle +can hide that subtle, mysterious idiosyncrasy which makes the one woman, +while wholly distinct from the rest, a type and ideal of her sex. It was +indeed Ishtar whom Sarchedon had seen amongst the spectators of his +entry into Ascalon, nor is it necessary to add that she had recognised +him almost ere he passed through the gate. In those long weary days +since they parted, how many drink-offerings had she poured out, how many +prayers had she offered to Baal, Nebo, Merodach, all the host of heaven, +especially to Ashtaroth, Queen of Love and Light! Behold them accepted +and answered now! Her lover was in the same town with her; all the +cunning she had practised to keep him at bay whose ardour she so +loathed--her assumed fatigue, her feigned sickness, her feminine arts of +defence--were to be rewarded at last. Doubtless she would meet Sarchedon +in the streets--on the wall--what matter where?--before another sun had +set; and to look in his face, if only once again, would be happiness +enough for Ishtar. Her influence over the volatile young prince gave her +authority in his household, so that she could roam unquestioned through +all parts of the town and fortress where he reigned supreme. Sarchedon, +tossing uneasily on his couch, little thought whose hand had trimmed the +lamp by his head, strewn the rushes on his floor, and filled with the +purest coldest water in Ascalon the pitcher that stood ready to his +hand. + +During the first watch of night, Ishtar paced to and fro in her own +chamber, restless, perturbed, fevered with a wild joy far too keen for +happiness, her whole being, sense, heart, and brain, filled with the +image of the man she loved. When the archers had been relieved on the +wall, and the spearman's echoing tread had died out among the ramparts, +a well-known footfall passed along the gallery to her chamber: she +recognised, with indescribable fear and loathing, the step of the man +who loved _her_! + +Ninyas, weary of a banquet too late prolonged, of wine poured out too +freely, tresses unbound too readily, smiles lavished ere he provoked +them, and favours offered that he had little inclination to ask, broke +up the sitting with less than his usual cordiality, and flung his +festive garland under foot with something of the petulance shown by a +spoiled child, that destroys its playthings because of the one +unattainable gaud it has been forbidden to possess. + +His male attendants discreetly emptied their goblets and held their +peace; but some of the women showed signs of displeasure and discontent +ere they withdrew; Rekamat, indeed, a comely dame from the northern +mountains beyond Nineveh, who deemed her own ruddy cheeks and amber hair +too rare beauties thus to be wasted in Ascalon, spoke her mind freely +enough. + +"My lord is wrath," said she, "with his handmaidens, because, forsooth, +we grudge neither word nor deed, dance nor song, to do him honour. Shall +we not rejoice in the light of his countenance, as the golden fruit of +the palm deepens under the rays of a southern sun? When the date is ripe +it should be gathered ere it fall." + +"The dates are musty, and the palm-tree bare," answered Ninyas; "I am +weary of it all!" + +"Let not the anger of my lord be kindled," replied Rekamat in a voice +that betrayed considerable irritation, "while I tell him he is plunging +his hand through the thorns to pluck a cluster of wild-grapes; he is +pouring streams of fair water on a growth of bitter wormwood, and yoking +a team of oxen to plough the desert sand. O, my lord, have you not free +choice among all the birds of heaven? and cannot you refrain from the +poor gray linnet that sits sad and moulting in her cage?" + +"The linnet's plumage is sleek, and her song pleasant to hear," retorted +Ninyas with a mocking laugh. "The vulture's neck is bare and peeled, her +voice an ugly croak." + +"I thank my lord for the comparison," replied Rekamat, now quivering +with vexation. "He used not to think so when he hunted the lion under +the walls of Nineveh: the vulture had bright eyes and sweet tones when +she flapped her wings in Babylon before the Egyptian campaign, and my +lord seemed well-pleased to find her hovering over him in Ascalon when +he arrived with half-a-score of attendants, and a maiden swaddled up in +sere-cloths on a dromedary. O that I had never come here! never seen +this hideous, hot, and hateful town! never, never, _never_ looked on the +face of my lord!" + +Skilful in the science of such warfare, Rekamat burst into a storm of +sobs, veiling her bright face with her delicate hands, to hide the +tears, which were not perhaps forthcoming so freely as she could wish. + +It was no part of the prince's nature to soften at sight of a woman's +distress, real or simulated. He laughed heartily now, and she turned on +him like a tigress. + +"My lord has yet to learn the first lessons of manhood!" she exclaimed. +"What do I say? Am I not a fool to look for a warrior's beard on a boy's +chin? Out on the smooth cheek and the white skin! Give me the heart, I +say. As bright Ashtaroth is my witness, I would I were Prince Ninyas but +for a single day!" + +She was very handsome with her burning cheeks and flashing eyes. It may +be, that all the evil in her listener's disposition woke up at her +petulance and audacity; but his countenance remained unmoved, his voice +seemed unusually gentle, while he asked, "Why?" + +She looked in his face scared, dominated by the quiet tones that to her +feminine apprehension seemed more threatening than the loudest outbreak +of wrath. + +"Why?" she repeated. "Because I would cherish the faithful heart that +beats only for me, while the stubborn slave who dared to mock my power +should be thrust out with scorn into the wilderness." + +"Have you done?" asked Ninyas, still in the same placid tones, with the +same hard unchanging smile. + +She fell at his feet now, and her tears began to flow in sad earnest. In +her anger, she had been ready enough to run the risk of offending him; +but she shrank from paying the penalty. + +"I am but as dust in the sight of my lord," was her reply. "It is for +the prince to command, and for his handmaid to obey." + +"To-morrow, at dawn," said Ninyas, "you will sit in the gate of the +city, with your garments rent and ashes scattered on your head. In the +sight of archers and spearmen, and all the people of Ascalon, you will +draw water from the well to wash the feet of Ishtar, as she takes her +place of honour, doing homage to the beauty of her who is the chosen of +your lord. I have spoken." + +Then he turned coldly away, leaving the prostrate beauty cowed and +defeated, though maddened with the bitter prospect of her humiliation. + +Notwithstanding his self-assertion, however, Ninyas proceeded on his +undertaking with feelings of considerable annoyance and ill-humour. To +be baffled by one woman was bad enough, but to be flouted for his +failure by another was irritating in the extreme. He resolved that this +trifling must be borne no longer, that the royal favour he offered must +be accepted forthwith. What! the girl was in his power, after all! He +had not wavered when her father lay slain on his own hearth; why should +he hesitate now? She must be taught her lesson, here in this grim lonely +fortress, and learn to accept with becoming gratitude the honours thrust +upon her by the gods. + +Bold, reckless, unfeeling, he possessed the chief elements of success; +but he was young, and left out of his calculations the thousand wiles +and stratagems through which, in all encounters of their wits, a man is +invariably out-manoeuvred by a woman. + +While he entered her chamber, the girl felt her heart stop beating and +her whole frame tremble like a leaf. She dropped her veil, nevertheless, +with a steady hand, standing erect, to all appearance calm and +motionless as a statue. + +A flaring torch of pine-wood, dipped in pitch and fixed in a ring of +bronze against the wall, shed its wavering glare on these two comely +figures, playing over the sparkling jewels and festive garments of the +one, while it deepened into gloom and mystery the shrouded outline of +the other. Costly articles of furniture were scattered about the +apartment, such as ivory couches, dressed skins of beasts, silken +cushions, and tables of elaborate Egyptian carving. On one of these +stood two jewelled cups, and a flagon sparkling with amber wine from the +south. + +Ninyas paused at the threshold; then advancing on that silent inmate, +took her hand, and passed his arm round her waist. + +"I have quitted lighted hall," said he, "and circling wine-cup, because +of the Lily of Ascalon, without whom there seems no savour in the feast, +no mirth in the revellers. My lily is drooping here in solitude--lo, I +come to transplant her to a fairer garden and a richer soil." + +Quick as thought she flashed one glance into his beautiful face, and +made up her mind even while she looked. + +"His servant felt cruelly disappointed that my lord bade her not to the +banquet," was the deceitful answer. "It is to my shame and sorrow, if I +have in any way displeased my lord." + +Thus speaking, she disengaged herself gently from the encircling arm, +and fell at his feet in an attitude that expressed the utmost humility, +but made it exceedingly difficult for Ninyas to embrace her again. + +"You know," said he, "that you are always welcome to your prince. Come +when she will and how she will, he only desires to lay the lily in his +bosom, and place Ishtar beside him on a throne." + +"Then my lord is no longer wroth with his handmaid," said she, unveiling +and rising to her feet, while she called into her beautiful eyes a look +that thrilled her admirer to the core. "I have sat here silent and sad, +thinking that the cloud between us was never to pass away. Lo, my lord +looks favourably on his servant, and she is glad in the light of his +smile once more." + +Rejoiced, no less than surprised, by the happy turn matters seemed to +have taken, pluming himself also on his own wisdom in having left her +for a space to herself, all the heart Ninyas possessed flew to his lips +while he exclaimed: + +"I love you, Ishtar! love you better than power, riches, a warrior's +fame, a king's throne, the wine I drink, the very air I breathe! O, I +love you so, my pure and precious pearl, that I sometimes think the +pleasure can never pay me for the pain!" + +Fickle, self-indulgent, unstable as he was, yet in the fierce impulsive +ardour of his youth he meant it--honestly and heartily--for the time. + +Ishtar could not repress a sense of triumph in the consciousness of her +power--a power that should serve to baffle the gaoler even now, and +unlock the prison door. + +His eyes followed her with fond glances, while she moved to the table +and filled a wine-cup to the brim. It must have been a colder nature +than his that could resist the winning grace with which she offered him +to drink. + +"My lord will not refuse to pledge his handmaid," said she, "in token of +forgiveness and good-will?" + +He emptied the cup at a draught; for indeed to this impulsive young +prince there was a keen zest in every phase of luxury and indulgence: +the lust of the eye, the pleasures of the senses, feast and frolic, wine +and women--he loved them all too well. It was the strongest vintage of +the South, and succeeding his previous potations, its effects were +apparent at once. His cheek paled, his glance wandered, there came a +thickness in his speech, while he sank among shawls and cushions, +inviting Ishtar to sit beside him on the couch. Though it sickened her, +she suffered him to caress her hands, her arms, the fragrant wealth of +her flowing hair. Once more she filled for him. Once more he drank to +her beauty, her promotion, her coming happiness. + +She had ceased to fear him now; for the strong wine, though it blazed in +his eyes and inflamed his senses, fastened his limbs, like a chain of +iron, to the couch. + +Stretching his arms back to embrace her with the caressing gesture of a +child, he looked up in her face, betraying even more of mirth than +either love or longing in his own. + +She watched him, as the physician watches the sick man about to die; and +though an icy cold crept over her, she never smiled more sweetly than +while she took his beautiful head in her hands and pillowed it on her +own beating heart. + +In that fair smooth bosom thoughts of agony and horror were lurking, as +there are foul monsters and hideous secrets, wrecks and remnants and +dead men's bones, hidden beneath the smiling surface of the sea. She +longed for the wine to work its office--all the more wildly that he wore +a dagger in his girdle--and she prayed with her whole heart she might +not be driven to use that. + +Softly, sweetly, she sang him a drowsy lullaby, not a quiver on her lip +nor tremble in her voice, while she soothed him with tender care, like a +mother hushing off her child. + + "Sleep, my love, sleep; rest, my love, rest; + Dieth the moan of the wind in the tree, + Foldeth her pinions the bird in her nest, + Sinketh the sun to his bed in the sea. + Sleep, sleep--lull'd on my breast, + Tossing and troubled, and thinking of me. + + Hush, my love, hush; with petals that close, + Bowing and bending their heads to the lea, + Fainteth the lily, and fadeth the rose, + Sighing and sad for desire of the bee. + Hush, hush; drooping like those, + Weary of waking and watching for me. + + Peace, my love, peace; falleth the night, + Veiling in shadows her glory for thee; + Eyes may be darken'd, while visions are bright, + Senses be fettered, though fancy is free. + Peace, peace; slumbering light, + Longing and loving and dreaming of me." + +At last! He would not wake now till dawn. She kept her eyes from his +dagger, lest she might be tempted to make too sure; then disengaged +herself with cautious sinuous dexterity from the undisturbed sleeper, +and, slipping the ring off his finger, stole noiseless as a shadow from +the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +WILLING + + +Hurrying through the corridors of the fortress, she passed the chamber +where Sethos and Agron, who had assiduously emptied their flagon, were +sleeping that sound and dreamless sleep, from which men are with +difficulty aroused until the draughts they have swallowed cease to +affect the brain. + +Neither had taken much thought in bestowing himself decently to rest. +The cup-hearer, stretched on the floor, still grasped a goblet in his +hand; while the captain of the gate, retaining, as it seemed, some vague +consciousness that his duties demanded unceasing vigilance, remained +seated at the table, his head pillowed on his arms, his whole faculties +so steeped in slumber that an enemy might have stormed the walls and +penetrated to the heart of the fortress, yet scarcely disturbed his +repose. + +With womanly foresight and precaution, Ishtar snatched a loaf of bread +and a handful of dates from the board, lifted mantle, bow and quiver +from the corner where these had been flung aside, and went her way. + +Sarchedon, tossing restlessly on his couch, courted sleep in vain. To no +purpose had he quaffed draughts of pure cold water, extinguished his +torch, and resolved to force his faculties into repose. + +The veiled figure he had seen on entering the gate thrust itself on his +senses. It might have been--it must have been--Ishtar! She was in the +same town, perhaps under the same roof. And if so, what had been her +fate since they parted? How came she in Ascalon, but by a violence and +treachery that could only have the basest object, the cruellest results. +Each after each, these maddening thoughts seemed to goad and sicken him, +like successive stabs, when their current was suddenly arrested by a +light step on his chamber-floor, the faint rustle of a garment at his +side. + +Starting to his feet with an exclamation of defiance, it was smothered +ere spoken by a soft hand laid to his lips, while the dear familiar +voice murmured in his ear, + +"Sarchedon my beloved, it is I--your own Ishtar! Hush, for your life! Be +silent, be obedient, and follow me." + +Was he dreaming? Was he in his right senses? This, at least, could be no +illusion of fancy. The glowing form panted in his arms, the sweet lips +were glued to his own. Even in that crisis of danger and suspense she +could spare him a moment of rapture, in her clinging close embrace. If +these were dreams--he prayed to Ashtaroth--let him never wake again! + +But despite of, perhaps because of, her affection, the woman retained +all her faculties, her common sense and presence of mind, while the man +was lost and bewildered in the tumult of his unexpected happiness. She +girded the sword on his thigh with her own hands, buckled Agron's bow +and quiver at his back, whispered caution once more, and so led him +through gloomy passage and vaulted archway to the outer court. + +Here the starlight showed him the loving eyes, the fair, fond face, he +had thought never to see again but in his dreams. Looking down on that +pure open brow, angry suspicions, hideous misgivings fled from his +troubled spirit, as evil dreams and phantoms of the night vanish with +dawn of day. + +"I am happy now," she murmured, "and I am safe. To-morrow it would have +been too late." + +But for this timely avowal, he might have urged her with a thousand +ill-advised questions, productive only of delay. Now he pressed the hand +that guided him gratefully to his lips, and she knew that he thanked her +from his inmost heart. + +"We have not a moment to lose," she whispered, as they made for one +corner of the court, where a continuous chewing of provender, and an +indistinct mass topped by two or three swan-like necks and motionless +heads, denoted that certain camels were at rest. "By to-morrow's dawn we +must be many leagues from Ascalon, and it is now the middle watch of +night. The dromedary that brought me here is the fleetest in all the +land of Shinar. He laughs at the wild ass, and scorns the desert wind in +its wrath. Sarchedon my beloved, if you and I were mounted on him, a +single bowshot outside the gate, we should be safe!" + +"They have fleet steeds," he answered, thinking of Merodach, and wishing +the good horse stood ready saddled for him now. + +"Steeds!" she repeated. "The fleetest that ever spurned sand would +labour, after that ill-favoured beast, like gorged vultures after the +long-winged hawk of the desert. Rouse him, Sarchedon, and fasten our +provender to his side. Beware! he is surly and savage; but he can travel +far and fast, untiring as a ship on the sea, swift as a bird in the +air." + +Thus speaking she helped him to secure the trappings of the unwilling +dromedary, disturbed from its repose, not without many angry +protestations, couched in discordant screams and fierce attempts to +bite. It was not long ere he had mounted and placed her behind him on +the creature's back, which then rose slowly to its knees and feet, +stretched its long neck with an inquiring gesture into the darkness, +blew the dust out of its nostrils, and shuffled with awkward sidelong +gait into the town. + +Those soft spongy feet roused no echo in the streets. The dromedary +passed on under its burden, like an ungainly ghost, without disturbing +spearmen in the fortress or archer on the wall. + +When the gate was reached, however, the fugitives found it too well +guarded. In Agron's absence, his subordinate was prepared to be +unusually vigilant and alert. + +The watchman challenged from the rampart, the archers mustered by +scores, bending their bows; a single torch shed its light on the +officer's warlike face and weapons, the clamps of the ponderous doors, +Sarchedon's bow and quiver, the dromedary's sullen head, and the feet +and hands of Ishtar, as she sat exalted over all. + +"None can pass out after nightfall," said the officer, levelling his +spear. "Turn back your beast and go your way. You can come hither again +at dawn." + +Sarchedon felt the hand of Ishtar press his shoulder as though to +inculcate silence and caution. Trusting to her resources he held his +peace. + +"Where is the captain of the gate?" said she, in a tone of anger deep +and imperious as a man's. "I demand to see Agron; we do not speak with a +common spearman of matters pertaining to the Great King." + +His instincts of discipline bade him screen his commander, while he +obeyed an appearance of authority so well sustained. + +"Let not my lord be wroth," said he, peering up into the darkness, in +hope of recognising the high official with whom he spoke. "The captain +of the gate is even now visiting his watchmen on the wall. At his return +he will doubtless give my lord liberty to pass out. In the meantime the +royal orders are strict. May the King live for ever!" + +Whispering to an archer, he bade him run with all speed, and apprise +Agron of the difficulty, but showed no disposition to relax his own +vigilance at the gate. + +"Fool!" exclaimed Ishtar, in the same deep tones. "Will you wear your +head to-morrow at sunrise? or do you wish it set here over the gate, +while your body is flung from the wall to make a morning meal for the +jackals? Know you not this token? Do you dare disavow the signet of +Ninyas in his own royal abode?" + +She held out the ring stripped from the Prince's finger in his drunken +sleep, and was not surprised to see the Assyrian officer prostrate +himself humbly before the jewel. He thought the manner of its +forthcoming unaccountable and irregular, the hand that tendered it +strangely white and delicate; but that was no affair of his. The +Prince's signet, here in Ascalon, conferred supreme authority on its +bearer, and he must simply obey. + +He lowered his spear; the archers unstrung their bows; the heavy gate +swung back; the dromedary paced leisurely through; and Sarchedon was +alone with Ishtar in the desert--free! + +They made but little haste while within bowshot of the walls. To arouse +suspicion would have been fatal. The stars gave light enough for a +practised archer to make sure of his mark. But when they had traversed a +few furlongs, Sarchedon could not resist a smothered cry of triumph, +while he urged the dromedary to its speed. The air from the sea blew +fresh and pleasant, lifting his locks and cooling his temples as he +hurried on, while every sense seemed sharpened, every muscle +strengthened by the rapidity of his flight. Behind him was sorrow, +outrage, and imprisonment; before him freedom, love, and joy. He could +scarce control his feelings; for was not Ishtar leaning on his shoulder? +and had he not gained all he desired in the world? + +Looking back in the beloved face of her who was to share his future, it +startled him to see it so pale, that in the starlight it was like the +face of a corpse. + +She had borne up bravely through difficulty and danger; but when the +crisis was past, and she knew her lover in safety, the strength that +self-sacrifice and devotion afford a woman at her need failed her +without warning; and she sank heavily against Sarchedon, faint, +helpless, inanimate, but clinging round him to the last. + +So the stars paled, the sky brightened, turning to pearly gray, and +clear faint green, primrose, orange, crimson, and molten gold. The sun +rose in his glory, bathing earth and heaven in floods of dazzling light. +The sand glowed, the waste widened, and still the dromedary travelled on +with free, unfaltering strides, swift, straight, and noiseless like an +arrow from a bow. + +Ninyas, waking out of his heavy slumbers, looked about him in a dim +confusion of thoughts that gradually resolved themselves to a sense of +irritation tinged with shame. + +The voice of Ishtar still seemed ringing in his ears, signs of her +presence--jewels, garments, articles of feminine luxury--were strewed +about the apartment; but she who made the charm of all was nowhere to be +found. He called, he clapped his hands, he rose, yawned, stretched +himself, and observing his finger bared of its accustomed jewel, the +whole truth flashed on him at a glance. + +He actually trembled with rage and self-contempt. To have been put off +so long, and thus outwitted at last! He could have inflicted on her the +severest punishment in all the code of Assyrian cruelty, and laughed her +to scorn the while, had she been within reach. His perceptions, +especially where self was concerned, were vivid enough; and the loss of +his signet showed him too clearly that not only had the bird escaped +from his hand, but that she was beyond the walls ere now, flown out of +reach for evermore. + +He had as yet vouchsafed no audience to the fugitives from Egypt, and +had indeed taken little notice of their arrival, reported during his +protracted carouse; so he was ignorant that Sarchedon had been his guest +for a night, and thus repaid his hospitality. It was maddening enough, +however, without this aggravation, to reflect that the woman he proposed +so to honour, should have preferred to his royal favour the danger and +hardships of a sudden flight into the wilderness. Ninyas felt he must +avenge himself on anything and everything that came to hand. + +The captain of the gate was obviously the first person to be +interrogated, brow-beaten, and disgraced. + +Agron, collecting his faculties after his debauch, and learning with +some anxiety from the report of his subordinate, that the gate had been +opened by royal order before the morning watch, was in no wise reassured +when he received a summons to attend the Prince forthwith. Bold as he +had proved himself many a day in battle, his cheek paled, and his +fingers trembled, so that he could hardly draw the buckle of his girdle, +or straighten the quiver at his back. + +Ninyas had bathed his temples, combed out his abundant locks, and +adjusted his apparel. Not a trace of his late excess was perceptible +save a slight flush, which perhaps rather enhanced the beauty of his +delicate cheek; and only those who knew him well could have detected in +the mocking calm of that fair womanly face signs of a storm that would +burst anon. + +Agron, however, while he prostrated himself before his lord, felt that +he was a doomed man. + +"I missed you from the banquet yesterday," said Ninyas, with exceeding +graciousness; "was it that my trusty captain remained to handle bow and +spear at the gate, rather than wine-cup at the board?" + +"The Prince hath spoken," answered Agron, steadying his voice by an +effort. + +"Not a mouse could have crept through, then, without your sanction," +continued his lord. "O, I know your vigilance, and shall reward it +richly as it deserves." + +Agron could but listen and tremble. + +"The fleetest dromedary in the land of Shinar was tethered in the court +of the fortress when the sun set yesterday. I have heard it passed out +of Ascalon, bearing a double burden, before the morning watch. Are these +things so?" + +It was obvious that the Prince had already made himself acquainted with +the truth. Agron only faltered out, + +"The rider bore the royal signet. What am I, that I should canvass the +commands of my lord?" + +The voice of Ninyas grew softer, his manner more gentle every moment. + +"You are an Assyrian captain," said he, "a trained man of war from your +youth. Rehearse me, lest I forget them, your duties as chief watchman at +the gate." + +Agron felt that the shadow of death was overtaking him fast, while he +replied, + +"Thy servant quits not his post on any pretence until relieved, but at +the express command of my lord. He visits the walls." + +"Enough!" exclaimed the Prince, bursting into fury at last, while his +cheeks kindled, his eyes blazed, and he looked like an angel possessed +by a fiend. "Coward! and slave! out of your own mouth you are judged, by +your own words you are condemned! All last night you were absent from +your post, passing the wine cup, striking the timbrel--what do I know or +care? And the gate of Ascalon was left open and unguarded as the great +market-place in Babylon. For such an offence there is a fitting +punishment, never yet remitted amongst the sons of Ashur.--Cover his +face, and lead him forth! I have spoken." + +Then, while the archers in attendance seized on their late commander to +fulfil the awful sentence, Ninyas turned with a calm brow and sweet +smile to a stately official standing near, and said, + +"Those fugitives from Egypt--I can attend to their matters now. Bring +them into my presence." + +The official seemed greatly troubled. + +"Let not my lord consume me utterly in his displeasure," said he. "One +of them hath escaped in the night, and there is but one left." + +It was in vain to calculate the Prince's changing moods. He laughed +aloud. + +"The more fool he to stay in the town since the gate stood open," was +his reply. "Put him in the fortress-dungeon, and keep him there on +bitter waters and bread of affliction till I send to bring him out. Now +lead the horses round, and unhood the hawks. I have done enough justice +for one sitting. Let us ride forth into the wilderness to take a prey!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +BREAD AND SALT + + +The dromedary travelled fast; but its pace, rough and fatiguing even to +Sarchedon's athletic frame, was especially trying to his companion. +Anxiety and agitation had done their usual work; so that when Ishtar +recovered from her swoon, refreshment and a short interval of repose +seemed absolutely necessary, if she was to continue her journey through +the night. Towards noon, therefore, her companion thought it wise to +halt at a convenient resting-place, where a clump of palms flung their +slender shadows over a desert spring; and while the dromedary, after +drinking its fill, browsed on the few dried shoots afforded by the +scanty vegetation of the wilderness, Sarchedon did all that a lover's +care and a traveller's experience could suggest for her comfort who was +thus confided to his affection. + +"You were wise," said he, forcing on her a share of their provision, "to +carry off this morsel of food from Agron's table. I know the stations +well at which we can halt to drink, and that good beast yonder, though +he will grow leaner and leaner, can journey on with unfailing strength +till the sun has risen twice again. Eat, then, and spare not; for on the +edge of the desert, when we have passed the bitter sea of the plain, +there are cities of refuge, where we can obtain such food as we require +for man and beast, ere we go on our way rejoicing to the country between +the rivers and the cool mountains of the North." + +"Your path is mine," answered Ishtar, with a fond smile; "I am not so +faint and weak of heart now, but I am very weary, and would fain sleep." + +He disposed his mantle so as to shade her yet more securely from the +pitiless sun, pillowed her head on his own broad breast, and watched her +slumbers with feelings pure and holy as his whose loving eyes are +resting on the face of the dead. + +Presently he became himself heavy with sleep, and strove in vain to keep +his faculties on the alert. He could not move a limb without disturbing +his charge, and it was not long ere his sight grew dim, his head began +to droop: with keen searching glances he swept the horizon round, and +then gave way, dropping at once into a deep and dreamless sleep. + +The sun was low when he woke with a start that roused his companion +also. The snorts and restless motions of the dromedary, straining at its +tether, denoted danger. The sleepers sprang to their feet, and looked in +each other's faces with anxious eyes. + +That danger was indeed very near. A cloud of dust had approached within +a furlong. Through its dusky veil could be heard and seen the tramp of +horses, the glitter of spears. + +"They must be Philistines!" "It is Ninyas!" were the exclamations that +rose to their respective lips; while Sarchedon, snatching the broken +loaf and few remaining dates from off the sand, released the dromedary, +lifted Ishtar hastily to her seat, and took his own place before her on +the animal's back. + +Urging it to the utmost, he was painfully conscious that although +swifter and more enduring for a long journey, it was not so nimble as a +horse in an effort of a few furlongs. Ere it had attained its full +speed, the enemy were within bowshot. Already an archer had halted and +was taking aim. + +Stung with the knowledge that, from their relative positions, he was +shielded by the body of Ishtar, Sarchedon pursued his flight in an +oblique direction, guiding the dromedary now to the right, now to the +left, in such alternate curves and bends as he thought might baffle the +hostile marksman. An injury to the beast on which their safety depended +would, he knew, be only less fatal than the wounding of Ishtar herself. + +The Philistine dismounted to draw his bow with exceeding care and +precision. Sarchedon felt the dromedary wince beneath him. In a few more +paces the animal's speed sensibly slackened; and, looking back, it +sickened him to see certain red drops soaking in on its track through +the sand. The successful archer had remounted to follow his companions, +who were rapidly nearing the fugitives. + +"It is hard," muttered Sarchedon, grinding his teeth in rage and +despair. "But ten out of all the horsemen of Assyria would suffice to +bring us through, and for the want of them we must perish. We are +forgotten of Nisroch, and are doomed!" + +Ishtar's face turned very pale, while she pressed her lips on his +shoulder, and murmured: + +"Better even here, my beloved, than in Ascalon! Behold, the time is +come, and in death we shall not be divided!" + +Their pace was now reduced to a walk: the arrow had sped deeply home, +and the dromedary, pierced through its loins, tottered at every step. +The Philistines gathered round, calling on their prey to halt. + +Sarchedon glanced at his own weapons--a bow, some half-score shafts, and +a short straight sword. Then he measured the strength of his +opponents--fifty horsemen at least; champions of exceeding stature, +fierce and terrible; children of Anak; objects of dread even to the +warlike sons of Ashur--in arms against all men, holding their tenure of +the wilderness by right of bow and spear. + +The dromedary stopped, drooping its head, groaning and shivering in sore +fear and pain. Sarchedon made signs of surrender by unstringing his bow +and casting it on the sand. The tallest of the Anakim threw up the spear +he had levelled, and reined his horse along-side of the dromedary; his +tribe gathering round, hemmed in their captives with an armed circle. + +Sarchedon was ordered to dismount. While he obeyed, Ishtar too alighted +nimbly on the ground. She had scarcely touched it ere the dromedary sank +to its knees, struggled, and turned over on its side. In the shock, that +loaf of broken bread on which the ill-fated pair depended for support, +rolled to the leader's feet, and he lifted it greedily from the earth. +He had not tasted food for many hours, and instinctively began eating, +even while he gave directions to secure their prisoners. Here and there, +like a scurf of mildew incrusted on some prison-wall, a white saline +crystallisation flecked the sand at their feet. + +Ishtar, separated from her lover, sprang at the chief's hand, tore from +him a morsel of the broken loaf, dipped it in these shining particles, +swallowed it hastily, and seizing the hem of his coarse homespun +garment, claimed the protection of her act. + +"Bread and salt!" said she, "the host's honour--the guest's right! I +demand the safeguard of bread and salt!" + +It was unanswerable. To have renounced the duties such an appeal exacted +would have been to forfeit rank, character, respect in the tribe, +authority in his own tent. Had she been his deadly enemy, thirsting for +his blood, who had slain his kindred, carried off his maidens, defiled +his father's grave, there was no help for it--she had eaten of his bread +and salt! Henceforth his relations with her must be those of courtesy, +friendship, and support--even to drawing of sword and bending of bow in +time of need. + +"It is enough!" said the chief; turning to his followers: "Place the +damsel on my own steed--I will myself lead it gently to our tents. For +her companion, he at least is a captive and a slave. Disarm him, and +bind him fast. Bread and salt is the only obligation I regard, and I +swear, maiden, by your own comeliness, you were but just in time." + +He laughed while the last morsel disappeared down his stalwart throat. +Ishtar, casting longing looks at Sarchedon, could not refrain from +tears. + +The Anakim had taken his sword from his thigh, and bound him securely +with his own bowstring. He learned by the chief's gestures that Ishtar +was safe for the present from insult or ill-usage, and this was his only +consolation. Standing, too, among his captors, he saw how hopeless would +have been resistance, even had there ridden at his back those ten +Assyrian horsemen he longed for so heartily but now. Himself a man of +goodly stature and powerful frame, he did not fail to remark that the +least of these giants towered fully a span over his own head, while +their weighty limbs and fierce bearing brought to mind all the stories +he had heard of their warlike prowess, their haughty defiance of Ninus +himself,--who hugely admired, while he waged a war of extermination +against them,--the many deeds of desperate courage for which they were +celebrated, and the marvellous strength which made a common proverb of +the question, "Who shall stand before the children of Anak?" + +It was natural enough for these sons of the desert to show considerable +interest in the dying dromedary. An animal of such extraordinary +qualities, as their critical eyes told them it possessed, would have +been a far more precious capture in the wilderness than a score of +maidens beautiful as Ishtar, a host of warriors stalwart as Sarchedon. A +creature that, travelling on without stint or pause, from rise to set of +sun, could leave their fleetest horses panting many a league behind, was +simply the most valuable property a robber by profession could possess. +Therefore, not until the last resources of their skill and experience +had been exhausted to preserve life, did they turn sorrowfully from its +carcase to the rider who had fallen into their hands. + +There seemed some difficulty in disposing of him. Two loose mares, +indeed, followed by their foals, had galloped up with the troop; but of +these the chief, twisting his bowstring into a halter, mounted one, +while the cumbrous furniture of the dead dromedary was packed on the +other. Sarchedon could hardly be expected to keep pace with his +conquerors on foot, and they took counsel accordingly. + +"Better slay the Assyrian where he stands," said a swarthy giant, coolly +balancing the profit and loss of retaining an inconvenient prisoner. +"The sand is hot, the way weary. It seems cruel to bid him walk, and men +like us, my brothers, cannot ask their steeds to bear a double burden." +He looked proudly round on his kindred, adding conclusively, + +"Besides, we have mouths enough to fill in the tents where our wells are +already dry, and there is no millet left to grind!" + +"You have said it, my brother!" exclaimed his nearest comrade, tall and +savage as himself, raising, while he spoke, the spear that Sarchedon +felt another movement of that brawny arm would drive home to his heart. +Nevertheless, his eye quailed not, nor did his cheek turn pale. A true +son of Ashur, he could look death in the face without flinching. The +striker paused with grim approving smile. His comrades, gathering +round, expressed in hoarse gutturals their admiration of such manly +courage. + +Ishtar's looks had never left her lover. Riding beside the chief, she +caught him by the garment, and claimed his interference. + +"I am your guest," said she, "here in the open desert, even as under the +shadow of your tents. All of mine should be sacred in your eyes, and I +call upon you to save that man's life." + +In two bounds of his lean active mare he was beside the prisoner, and +his powerful grasp had seized the threatening arm. + +"Hold!" he thundered out. "If I see fit, I will reserve that work for +myself. And now, damsel," he added, turning to Ishtar, "you claim this +man's body, and why?" + +Trembling with fear, she could only think of one unanswerable plea. + +"I am his wife," she answered, blushing, with downcast eyes. + +"His wife!" repeated the chief. "Who is he, then?" + +Thoughts of ransom, flight, freedom, flitted through her brain, all to +be accomplished with less difficulty by the prisoner of humble grade. + +"I will speak truth to my lord," said she, "and so find favour in his +sight. His servant is but a simple archer in the hosts of the king of +Assyria." + +"What are you doing here in the wilderness," was the next inquiry, "many +days' journey from the walls of Babylon and the footstool of the Great +King?" + +"The servant of my lord has been a prisoner in the land of Egypt," +replied Ishtar; "he was taken by the spearmen of Pharaoh. I followed him +into captivity, and ministered unto him till we found a fitting time to +escape." + +"But the dromedary?" pursued her questioner. + +"We stole it," she answered simply; and the son of Anak became less +inclined to doubt the probability of her statement. + +"An archer?" he repeated, pondering, as it seemed, with all his might. +"But for the damsel herself, the tale seems likely enough; yet must the +wives of his captains be marvellously fair, when a mere bowman in the +Great King's host can come by so white a skin as that! Nevertheless," +he added, turning to Ishtar, "if he be in truth an archer, and you his +wife, no doubt he can bend a bow to some purpose, and you are not afraid +to trust his skill. We shall prove you both on the spot." + +With these words, he halted his followers and gave them the order to +dismount. Sarchedon's arms were then freed, and a heavy bow, requiring +no slight strength to draw, was placed in his hands. Though surprised, +they laughed to observe that he was equally master of the weapon with +the tallest man in their tribe. + +One of the band then measured out, spear-length by spear-length, the +distance of a furlong on the desert sand. It seemed a considerable +flight for an arrow; but every child of Anak was bowman from his youth, +just as he was horseman, swordsman, spearman, and spoiler of all who +came across his path. + +The chief himself, lifting Ishtar from the saddle, led her to the spot +his follower had marked out. Then, taking off his own belt, he buckled +it so as to form a loop half a cubit in diameter. + +"Hold this in your hand," said he, "and stretch your arm to the +farthest. If an archer of the Great King is skilful as the Assyrians +boast, he can drive me a shaft through that loop without risk to a hair +of his wife's head." + +In vain Sarchedon protested; in vain he entreated that he might be +pitted against the fiercest champion of the tribe with sword or spear, +foot to foot and breast to breast. + +"No," said the Anakim; "the damsel told us he was an archer. As an +archer he shall be proved. Surely it is the wife's duty to give life, if +need be, for her lord." + +Not a shade was on Ishtar's brow, not a tinge of fear in eye, mouth, or +attitude, while she stood there over against him firm, erect, and +beautiful; but Sarchedon felt his heart turn sick, his head swim, as he +thought with horror of the result, should his hand fail him, or the +desert wind divert the arrow but a cubit from its course. + +He could not; no, he could not. Once, twice, he took aim--slowly, +steadily, with true unfaltering eye--but the third time his powerful arm +drew the bow to its utmost compass, directing its shaft at the sky, and +sending it high over Ishtar's head, to quiver in the earth as far behind +her as the marksman stood in front. + +"An archer! an archer!" exclaimed the Anakim with one accord. "Not a man +of us, with the wind against him, could have measured such a flight as +that!" + +"An archer, and a good one," assented their leader; "but the damsel is +no wife of his, nevertheless. If he were indeed her lawful lord, he had +not surely weighed the scratch of an arrow on her skin against his own +freedom and his life." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +PARTED + + +Thus arguing according to his lights, the chief directed that Sarchedon +should be secured once more, and, much to the dissatisfaction of the +troop, that they should place him on their horses in rotation, +journeying by turns on foot. Although Ishtar failed to make as good +terms for her lover as for herself, she had in no way forfeited the +protection she acquired so discreetly, and rode by their leader's side, +at the head of the band, as an honoured guest rather than the captive of +his bow and spear. Nevertheless, all her thoughts were engrossed by his +welfare whom she so dearly loved; her whole mind was bent on forming +some scheme for his security and freedom. Alas! it was to no purpose +that she wrung her hands and racked her brain. Sarchedon had fallen into +the power of men for whom human life and human suffering were of less +account than the wormwood that lay bruised beneath their horses' feet. +If a captive proved troublesome, what matter? It was but the push of a +spear, and they were rid of him once for all. + +Nevertheless, these children of Anak, though possessing themselves on +occasion with the strong hand of whatsoever they desired, had yet, like +other spoilers, peaceful relations with certain traders whose +propensities for barter could be of inestimable value to men against +whom every gate was barred, every wall guarded, through all the cities +of the plain. With these merchants their dealings were honourable +enough, the man of trade seldom failing to make exorbitant profit from +his transactions with the man of war. This mutual barter comprised +almost every one of the ruder articles required for support or +destruction of life. Horses, arms, camels, dates, bread, honey, +mare's-milk cheeses, even goodly raiment of needlework, were exchanged +freely; while a fair-faced maiden to adorn the tent, a stalwart youth to +keep the herds, were more than all other merchandise sought after and +desired. + +Thus it came to pass that Sarchedon, though out of favour with his +captors--who, like most practised horsemen, cared not to journey much on +foot--escaped a fate that seemed imminent each time some wrathful giant +dismounted to make room for the prisoner, and swore freely, by his gods, +that if this inconvenience was to continue through another day, he would +take such order with the Assyrian as should prevent him from ever riding +on horseback again. + +Night was falling fast when the troop approached the encampment of their +tribe; a temporary residence to be broken up and removed at an hour's +notice, on the slightest occasion. Rude goats'-hair tents were scattered +here and there, scarcely visible in the deepening gloom. Two or three +camels lay at rest amongst half a score of horses, fastened by the +forefoot, that neighed, screamed, and fought savagely, whenever the +loosening of their tethers permitted them to approach each other within +striking distance. A few giants, sauntering lazily about, took little +notice of the new arrivals, and their tall stately women scarcely lifted +veil for a glance of curiosity, so busied were they in twisting +bowstrings, repairing harness, grinding corn, pressing cheeses, or +baking loaves in the embers of a scanty fire for their lords; but two +swarthy travel-worn men, looking like dwarfs amongst the towering +figures that surrounded them, came forward to accost the chief with +words of extravagant welcome and looks of eager curiosity. These were +traders from the north, who examined the veiled figure of Ishtar with +professional interest, expecting, no doubt, to secure a golden profit by +her purchase. + +In this hope they were disappointed. With extreme courtesy the chief of +the Anakim conducted her to a tent standing beside his own, in which, +after a long loving look at Sarchedon, she disappeared, and was seen no +more. + +The Anakim seemed well pleased to find these dealers, with whom they had +so often traded, thus inmates of their camp. The leader, after disposing +of his fair guest by consigning her to the care of a stately beauty, +tender of heart as she was gigantic of frame, came out to meet them, and +at once broached a proposal that found immediate favour with his +followers. + +"The captive is a goodly youth," said he; "a stout warrior, an expert +archer--tall and strong too for an Assyrian. What say you? These +northern merchants are our brothers--shall we not sell him to them for a +price?" + +"Let him go," exclaimed his listeners with one accord; "he is fair, he +is precious, he is a man, even amongst the children of Anak. But the +traders from the north have eaten of our bread and drunken from our cup. +All we possess is theirs, and they shall have him--at a price!" + +Then the elder of the traders--keen-eyed, voluble, energetic--put in his +word: + +"You have many mouths to feed, my brothers, here within your tents. +Millet grows scarce, and the wells are running dry from day to day. We +also have a long journey before us in the desert. Our water-skins are +empty, our camels over-loaded. What have we to do with a captive who +eats and drinks, yet must be carried from day to day like a bale of +goods? How are your servants to bring this encumbrance with them from +city to city, till they reach their home in the mountains beyond the +great rivers of the plain?" + +"You will sell him for a talent of gold in the first market you enter," +was the answer. "Is he not a comely youth? Fair and strong, and of a +ruddy countenance? We have taken no such prey since we rode, without +ceasing, four days and nights to spoil the City of Palms, by the western +sea." + +"The Assyrians have more slaves than enough," answered the trader, +"since they brought captives up from Egypt, by scores and by hundreds, +at the chariot-wheels of the Great King. Nevertheless, are we not +brothers? You shall deliver him as a gift, and take two suits of +raiment in exchange." + +"He is yours, my brother," said the chief, "and my tents are yours; my +horses, my camels, my handmaidens; the sword on my thigh, and the bow in +my hand. But shall I give my brother ripened dates and receive from him +only their broken shells? Add to the raiment a measure of myrrh, at +least, and three cruses of oil." + +"With a new pack-saddle," suggested a bystander, whose own +camel-furniture had reached the last stage of decay; while a dozen more +took up the cry, insisting on such articles as each thought necessary to +his own comfort or equipment. + +"Some twisted rope for hobbles!" + +"A bale of silk from Tyre!" + +"Two skins of wine of Eshcol!" + +"An embossed girdle!" + +"A shield of brass!" + +"A score of new bowstrings!" + +"Or fifty shekels of silver, and no more said," exclaimed the trader, +turning from side to side, with the air of a man overcome by his own +liberality. + +"Add to them a hundred," urged the chief; "and go thy way, thou and thy +camels and thy servants, with the goodly slave I have given thee." + +"One hundred shekels, and he is mine," returned the trader, placing his +hand on the Assyrian's shoulder in token of ownership; and thus becoming +the possessor of Sarchedon at something less than the price of a good +horse. + +Regret was fruitless--resistance impossible. Bound hand and foot, he +could but grind his teeth, and submit. + +The merchants made ready their camels forthwith, taking advantage of the +coolness of night to journey through the desert, and guiding their +course by the pilotage of the stars. So noiseless was their departure, +after the bustle of concluding their bargain subsided, that they had +disappeared with her lover in the darkness, ere Ishtar knew they were +clear of the encampment. Seeking the spot where she had last seen +Sarchedon, to find it empty, the maddening truth flashed upon her, and +she could bear no more. Sick, faint, despairing, she uttered one +plaintive cry, and fell senseless on the sand. + +The first of the tribe who found her, lifted that drooping form, with +the ease and something of the pitiful admiration with which he would +have picked up a broken lily, and bore her gently to the chiefs tent. +Here she was tended carefully during the night, its gigantic owner +stepping softly to its entrance at intervals to assure himself of her +state. With morning she was able to rise, and as her faculties resumed +their vigour, she realised the whole force of the blow that had fallen. + +Ishtar's nature, however, was one which is only found amongst women. +Shrinking instinctively from everything approaching to pain or +danger--fond, trusting, sensitive, and docile--she could yet brave and +endure all things on behalf of those she loved; identifying herself so +wholly with their welfare as to forget her own fears, her own weakness, +and combining with the martyr's patient courage that cheerful energy, +which, looking only to duty, overcomes, by sheer persistence, the +difficulties it ignores. Sorrow might bend, but could not break her +spirit. Like certain flowers which, tread them down as you will, lift +their fair heads directly the crushing footstep has passed on, it rose, +for all its meekness, the more invincible, because of its misfortunes. + +Satisfied that Sarchedon was fairly gone, she set herself the one single +task of recovering him. Was he sold into captivity? He must be bought +back. Was he lost? He must be found. That should now be her sole object +in life; and no sooner did she feel strong enough to stand upright than +she began her work without wasting another moment in consideration or +delay. + +Seeking the chief of the Anakim, whom she found without the encampment +leading his mare to water, she placed herself in his path, standing +erect and motionless till he approached. Then she rent her garment to +the hem, and, lifting a handful of sand, poured it over her head. + +"The servant of my lord is in sore distress and perplexity," said she: +"to whom should she come for help, but to him of whose bread and salt +she has eaten within the shadow of his tents?" + +The mare was rubbing her head caressingly against his breast; he pushed +her away, extending both arms in token of sincerity, and replied, "All +that I have, my life, and the lives of my tribe, herds and horses, bows +and spears, are at the disposal of my guest." + +"My lord speaks well," answered Ishtar. "But words are vain. Like the +flight of a bird through the air, they leave no track. It is the steed +and the camel that stamp their mark on the sand." + +"The tongues of the Anakim are small and feeble," said he, "their arms +long and weighty. Desire of me what you will. It is a gift, before it is +asked." + +"What have you done with the Assyrian?" she murmured eagerly. "How fares +he? Whither is he gone? You will not deceive me!" + +"You are my guest," returned the chief, "and I _cannot_ deceive you. The +Assyrian is sold into captivity; ere now he has journeyed many a furlong +over the plain towards the city of the Great King." + +"Is he, then, bound for Babylon?" she asked, with something of hope +rising in her eyes. + +"I know not, of a surety," was his answer. "Yet I think these northern +traders, possessing so goodly a captive, would hardly pass within a few +days' journey of the great city, and fail to visit its market. They will +treat him well, and if he finds friends to redeem him, he may soon be +free. No doubt in Babylon he will sell for nearly a talent of gold, and +we let him go at a hundred shekels of silver! Half the price of a camel! +Truly there is injustice in the desert as in the city!" + +This reflection was unheard by Ishtar, being indeed but the echo of the +chief's own thoughts, and spoken aside, as it were, into the ear of his +mare. + +There seemed a vague hope, then, of seeing Sarchedon once again. The +girl seized her protector's hand, and, stooping but a little, pressed it +against her forehead. + +"You will take me under safe conduct to the gates of Babylon?" said she. + +He pondered, looking very grave. + +"Will you not abide with us in our tents?" he asked. "Will you be cooped +up in the walls of a city, when you might roam over the desert free as +the wild ass on the plain? Take thought, damsel, once more, as a man +fits a new bowstring when his arrow has missed its aim." + +"Had I a quiverful," she replied, "I can see but one mark for them all!" + +"You are my guest," said he stoutly; "and go where you will, it is my +duty to speed you safely on your way. You shall ride this my own mare, +the most precious of my possessions, and Lotus-flower, swift, easy, +gentle, will bear you like flowing water. But I must leave you, damsel, +under cover of night, in the vineyards that fringe the great city. If, +for every horseman who leaps to the saddle when I shake my spear, I +could muster a score, then should you enter Babylon through a breach of +fifty cubits in the wall. But a wolf or a jackal would meet with more +mercy than a child of Anak from the Assyrians when they set upon him, a +hundred to one! I have spoken." + +Their journey was begun accordingly. Ishtar, mounted on the chief's +favourite mare, led by its owner, and guarded by a score of the stalwart +sons of Anak, journeyed in security and comfort through the wilderness, +until they reached its confines, and entered a territory over which +Ninus, and more especially Semiramis, had thrown the protection of their +severe and pitiless laws. Here they lay hidden by day, advancing swiftly +and silently under cover of night; and Ishtar could not withhold her +admiration from the extraordinary skill and sagacity shown by these +professional spoilers in concealing their encampment on their march. On +such expeditions as the present, they were careful to ride their mares; +for these animals, docile and gentle, either loose or picketed, never +disclosed their presence by those paroxysms of neighing and screaming to +which their less tractable brothers were exceedingly prone. + +At length, soon after dawn, Ishtar found herself alone with the chief at +an easy distance from the great city. Taking the ass of a poor peasant, +who dared not even protest against the spoliation, he had dismounted his +guest from the high-bred mare, and placed her on the humbler animal's +back. The troop had been left many a league in the desert. Their leader, +at the utmost personal risk, was within a short ride of Babylon. It was +time to depart, and thus he bade his charge farewell: + +"May thy corn never fail nor thy well run dry! May thy vines yield a +hundredfold, and men-children play round thy feet! Thou camest into my +tent like the breeze from the mountain. Though the breeze passeth on, +the tent is glad because of the coolness it hath left. The desert is +boundless, and we scour it far and wide. Behold! Where rides a son of +Anak, there hast thou a brother. I have spoken." + +He swung himself on the mare from which he had lately dismounted, caught +Lotus-flower by the bridle, and sped away like the wind. + +She watched the gigantic form till it disappeared amongst the dust +raised by those two fleet animals, of which toil and privation seemed in +no way to diminish the mettle or speed; then she looked towards Great +Babylon, towering in state, with her glittering pinnacles, her flashing +gates, her frowning, forbidding walls, and felt that she had lost a +friend. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +FORLORN + + +She had lost a friend, and where was there another left? Her father +slain, her home despoiled, the man she loved sold into slavery and +carried she knew not where: could human lot be more lonely, more +hopeless? Yet she never lost heart. Plodding on in lowly guise, riding +that humble animal, there was yet dominant in her tender frame a hopeful +courage, such as does not always animate the warrior in his chariot, a +spirit of self-reliance and self-devotion that would have ennobled a +sceptred monarch on his throne. + +Reaching the well-remembered spot where she used to watch for the return +of Arbaces, where she had first met Sarchedon riding home with tidings +from the Great King, it was no wonder that she saw the Well of Palms +through a mist of tears. + +Nevertheless she dashed them hastily from her eyes, and summoned all her +energies, when she became aware of a troop of horsemen moving rapidly on +her track. To be discovered by these, she knew too well, would entail +the risk of insult, perhaps injury, and the certainty of delay. While +they were yet afar off, she leaped from the ass, and, taking advantage +of her familiarity with the locality, concealed herself behind a broken +wall that skirted the fountain, while the animal jogged leisurely home, +to the relief and comfort of its disconsolate owner. + +So near the great city, a solitary wayfarer was an object of little +interest. She soon perceived she had escaped observation by the +movements of the party, who galloped on towards Babylon without +diverging to visit her hiding-place. She determined, however, to remain +concealed yet a while longer, and had no cause to regret her caution, +when a single horseman, detaching himself from the rest, approached the +marble basin of the Well of Palms, as if to water his good white steed, +ere he passed on. + +Half a bowshot off, she recognised the animal with a start of fear, +suspense, surprise, sweetened by a thrill of love. She could not be +deceived: it was Merodach! That spotless frame, those glancing limbs, +that gallant bearing, could belong to no other animal in the land of +Shinar; and where Merodach bent to the rein, it seemed cruelly hard +Sarchedon's should not be the hand to guide. + +[Illustration: "SHE COULD NOT BE DECEIVED: IT WAS MERODACH!"] + +Watching with fond and eager eyes, she turned sick and faint, while she +crouched down, like some poor hunted fawn, into her shelter; for on its +back, soothing the good horse with many a gentle word and tender caress, +sat the form of him whom most she feared and hated in the bounds of +earth. Yes; the beautiful face she seemed yet to behold lulled on her +own breast, in flushed and drunken sleep, was surely there, within a few +paces, gazing dreamily into the distance; while Merodach, scarcely +wetting his dark muzzle in the water, pawed and snorted in restless +impatience to rejoin the companions he had left. + +What was Ninyas doing here? Had the prince pursued her from Ascalon? was +he on her track, and searching for her even now? could she escape him, +neither in the city nor the plain? All these thoughts whirled through +her brain, while she lay still as death, scarcely daring to breathe, +peering at her enemy through a crevice of the crumbling wall with pale +face and wild dilated eyes. + +The horseman seemed moody and abstracted--strangely lavish of caresses +for his steed, strangely indifferent to the heat of the sun, the ripple +of the fountain, everything but his own engrossing thoughts. Without +dismounting, he sat wrapped in meditation for a space of time that +appeared interminable to the watcher, ere he woke up, as it were, with a +start, and, curbing his beast's impatience, rode away at a walk to enter +the city by a different gate from that which the party he had left were +about to pass through. + +Emerging from her shelter, though not until the white horse and his +rider had disappeared in the distance, Ishtar felt sadly perplexed. To +abide by her present hiding-place would be imprudent in the highest +degree, for the Well of Palms was the resort of every traveller who +approached Babylon on its southern side. If she retraced her steps, and +fled once more into the wilderness, she must perish from thirst and +fatigue; for to be afoot in the desert without a camel was to be adrift +on the sea without a boat; and she had even abandoned the honest +plodding beast that brought her thus far after she left her gigantic +protector at sunrise. She almost wished now she had remained in their +tents with the Anakim, intrusting to those tameless denizens of the +waste her own safety and the task of eventually recovering her lover. + +She saw no other course left but to trudge wearily on, and pass, if +possible, unnoticed through the gate of Babylon, there to seek high and +low some real friend, who, for her father's sake, would give her bread +to eat, a roof to cover her, and aid in the one object of her life. + +Wrapping her veil closely round her, counterfeiting as well as she could +the gait and bearing of a woman advanced in years and of humble grade, +Ishtar toiled slowly forward, carrying indeed a sorely laden heart into +that glittering capital of splendour, luxury, and sin. + +The troop that had so disquieted this forlorn and friendless fugitive +trampled bravely on, raising clouds of dust, through which flashed the +magnificence of their arms and apparel, as a beautiful face sparkles +and blushes through its tawny veil. Without waiting for the detached +horseman, they hastened towards the city, galloping, it seemed, from +sheer exuberance of spirits rather than from any actual necessity for +speed. The principal figure in the group, to whom the others turned +obsequiously for guidance, was Assarac; and the eunuch's bearing, as he +managed his steed with the graceful ease of an Assyrian born, was +dignified and commanding in the extreme. + +By his side rode Beladon, laughing, talking, gesticulating, proud to +show his countrymen that a priest of Baal could back a horse and bend a +bow with the best of them--that if his sacred character debarred him +from seeking fame in the war-chariot, he was yet a true child of Ashur +for skill and daring in the chase. + +His eye gleamed, his cheek glowed; there were stains of blood on his +linen garments; and from his horse's chest dangled the muzzle and fangs +of a full-grown lion, that had fallen since sunrise to his bow. + +He was never weary of detailing this achievement, dwelling in boundless +satisfaction on his own success and the formidable size of his prey. + +Assarac listened, with his usual imperturbable smile. + +"I called on Baal," said Beladon, "and urged my good horse to his speed; +for already the lion was scarce the cast of a javelin from the reeds, +and had he reached his thicket, I must have gone in and finished him on +foot. By the belt of Nimrod, I can tell you it was no comely face he +showed me when I came up with him. His eyes glared like the carbuncles +on the palace-gate, and he bared all these fangs that hang here at my +horse's breast, as who should say, Behold! a score of proven warriors, +and every one an enemy! I drew my bow thus--to my very ear--and as he +rose on his hind-legs, I pierced him straight and true right through his +open mouth, then turned my hand and galloped off across the plain, lest +he should rise up ere life was extinct, and tear my good horse limb from +limb in his death-pang." + +"So the spearmen gathered round and slew him," observed Assarac. + +"The spearmen gathered round and slew him," repeated the other, "after +they found him disabled by the might of this right arm. When I turned +back and got down to measure his carcass, there was my shaft driven +through the roof of his mouth, cleaving his very skull." + +"Was there not an arrow in his body when he fell?" asked the eunuch. + +Beladon coloured and looked vexed. + +"The king had, indeed, loosed a shaft at the beast when first we roused +him," said he. "Doubtless, the royal hand never misses its mark." + +"Had you come between Ninus and his prey in the olden time," observed +the other, "not all the host of heaven could have turned aside his +wrath. He would have impaled you before set of sun." + +"He loved the chase dearly," answered Beladon, "as did the Great Queen, +and Ninyas too, till lately. What has come over him now? He leaps to the +saddle at dawn--hasty, eager, excited, as though every beast of chase +between the rivers must be swept away forthwith, slaying and sparing +not--then, after one fierce dash at the wild-bull, one savage thrust at +the lion, leaves his followers, as he left us even now, to ride slowly +home, sad, moody, and alone. Always on the same steed too. It seems as +though he cared for nothing under heaven but the white horse with the +wild eyes." + +"'Tis a good beast," answered the other, scrutinising the face of his +follower, "and worthy to bear the person of a king." + +"A good beast indeed," said Beladon simply, "and belonged once to as +good a warrior as ever lifted spear or emptied wine-cup. It seems but +yesterday that Sarchedon brought back the Great King's signet, and made +his night's lodging with us in the temple of our god. What has become of +him now? I would we knew!" + +"I would we knew!" repeated Assarac in a careless tone, as if he only +echoed the other's sentiments, not as if he would have given wealth +untold, deemed no waste of blood or treasure too lavish, for the +information. + +Reining their horses to a walk, the gaudy troop had already passed +through one of her gates, and entered the crowded streets of Babylon. +Thinking their king was amongst the party, his people gathered round in +considerable numbers, and appeared disappointed to miss the beautiful +face and form they so seldom looked on now. It was a common remark +amongst all classes, that the wild, free-living, free-spoken young +prince had become strangely solemn and reserved since his accession to +the throne. There was far less revelry in the palace than in the days of +stern old Ninus. His son seldom rode abroad through the streets or +showed himself to his people. The shadow of the priests of Baal seemed +over the monarch, and it was known that Assarac had great influence in +the royal counsels. As is usual in such cases, the favourite came in for +a larger share of obloquy than his lord. + +Nevertheless, there is always enough popularity about a gay cavalcade to +insure its welcome in a pleasure-loving city like Babylon. Assarac could +not but observe that, although there were dark frowns and angry glances +in the outskirts of the crowd, the nearer spectators shouted their +welcome cordially enough, pressing in to kiss the trappings of his +horse, the hem of his garment, with all the transitory enthusiasm of +their impressionable nature. + +"Tis an easy people to rule!" whispered Beladon in the ear of his +superior. "Believers in Baal, and a thousand gods besides; mark the +reverence they pay your sacred character. Surely the sons of Ashur love +the linen vestment of the priest." + +"Were not their shouts yet louder, their welcome kinder, to the scarlet +and steel of the Great King's horsemen, when he marched in from Egypt?" +returned Assarac. "Trust me, Beladon, they bend lowest when they carry +the heaviest load. They love deepest where most they have to fear." + +"And they fear Baal," said the other. + +"Only because they know not Nisroch," replied Assarac. "God or man can +be great for this false fickle nation only until there cometh a greater +than he. Do they not offer homage willingly to Abitur of the Mountains? +And why? Because they dread his power, not knowing its nature nor its +extent. Their ruler should indeed be a god in all but benevolence. He +must have no natural sympathies, no human weaknesses, no remorse, no +pity, and, above all, no fear." + +"There is but one man in the land of Shinar who is above and without +these softer failings of his kind. May I sit on his right hand +henceforward, as to-day!" was Beladon's insidious reply. + +Though half despising the flattery of his follower, Assarac smiled. Yet +it did not escape the other's observation, ever on the alert, that in +the eunuch's smile lurked an expression of weariness and sorrow almost +amounting to pain. + +"The king has faithful followers," said he "and wise counsellors--may he +live for ever!" + +The crowd hemmed them in very close; his last sentence, though uttered +in a low voice, was caught up and repeated by a thousand tongues. +Through the noise and confusion that prevailed, only Assarac could hear +the whisper of his subordinate, + +"Baal is great. What are kings and princes compared to the mighty +Assyrian god? Let Baal rule alone in Babylon and through all the land of +Shinar; while Assarac, the interpreter of his will to the people, twines +the sacred lotus round the royal sceptre, he needs but stretch out his +hand to take." + +"As the serpent of Ashtaroth twines round a man's heart!" answered the +other. And Beladon, looking in his face, marvelled to see it drawn and +white, as of one who strives with an agony of mortal pain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +THE LION'S CUB + + +It was but according to an established principle of nature and general +law of race, that the descendants of Nimrod should entertain a keen +predilection for the chase. In this particular Ninyas, notwithstanding +habits of luxury and effeminacy at home, formed no exception to the +princes of his line. He was never so happy as when urging a good horse +to speed after the scudding ostrich, loosing a grim leopard from its +leash to spring on the fleet antelope, tracking with fierce and heavy +hounds the footprints of some lordly lion on the desert sand, or +watching with eager eyes his long-winged falcons wheeling and stooping +in the desert sky. Skilled in bodily exercises, sitting his horse with +the graceful ease of constant practice, flushed, panting, joyous, he +rode to and fro, beautiful as a woman and radiant as a god. + +After that night of revelry, on which he so lowered the pride of +Rekamat, to be in turn foiled by Ishtar, it was not strange that this +wayward prince should wake from a feverish sleep in the very worst of +humours; but having relieved his irritated feelings by condemning the +captain of the gate to a painful death, and settled himself in the +saddle for a long day's pleasure on the plain, he felt sufficiently +comforted to enter with considerable zest into the amusement of the +hour. + +While his horse was fresh, he had succeeded in approaching within +bowshot of some wild asses to wound one of the herd wantonly and +uselessly, with an arrow from his own royal quiver. He had fairly ridden +down and secured an ostrich of unusual plumage, breaking the bird's long +legs by a blow from the club, which he flung while galloping at speed +with marvellous dexterity. His leopard had not failed to strike an +antelope at the first pounce; his hawks never once missed their quarry, +nor delayed returning obedient to the lure; moreover, he had brought an +old male lion to bay, and, riding in on him, wounded the monster so +severely with his spear, that although it had crawled for refuge into +certain inaccessible rocks, it must have died before night; and as none +of his servants had come up to help him, the glory was exclusively his +own. + +Accordingly, when he paced back into Ascalon at sundown, weary and +dishevelled, yet happy and triumphant, he felt at peace with mankind; +revenge seemed hateful, anger impossible, and all he thirsted for was a +cup of wine. + +Dismounting within the gate of the fortress, it was served as his foot +touched the ground. Then he bethought him of the fugitive from Egypt, to +whom he had not yet granted audience, and desired that this visitor +should be brought into his presence forthwith. Sethos, in his dark and +cheerless apartment, scooped out of the very rock on which the fortress +stood, received such a summons with considerable dismay. The care taken +to secure him, the dreary nature of his lodging, the coarse food brought +by his only visitor, a spearman, belted with bow and quiver, grim, +silent, and armed to the teeth, denoted that his offence, whatever it +might be, was considered of exceeding gravity, and that in all +likelihood his imprisonment would soon be terminated by death. + +Bold and joyous as was his nature, the cup-bearer followed his conductor +with a sad brow and a heavy heart. He knew the prince's character well, +and a peal of laughter from his lord, while he bent low at the royal +feet, served by no means to allay his fears. + +"So I have kept him in ward from sunrise to sunset," exclaimed Ninyas, +shaking his sides and wiping his eyes, in the exuberance of his mirth, +"little guessing who he was! The Great King's cup-bearer, the curled and +scented ornament of all the Assyrian host, the daintiest flower in the +whole of dainty Babylon; for whom the royal banquet was but a coarse +meal of broken meat; the royal court, blazing with a thousand torches, +but a dim and dismal den. And I ordered him bitter water and bread of +affliction; shut him up in a stone cell without a breath of air or a +gleam of light! By the beard of Ashur, I shall never recover it. O +Sethos, Sethos! had I known this morning it was you, I could not have +sat my horse for laughing all day. And think what a spoil we should have +lost! Five antelopes, man; an ostrich as tall as my spear; scores of all +the birds of heaven; and a lion, though we brought him not in, so tawny +that he seemed almost black, old, and fierce, like Nimrod himself, big +as a wild bull, and with fangs more than a span long. By the quiver of +Merodach, I have not taken such a prey since we hunted that pleasant +time in the northern mountains, before the Egyptian campaign!" + +Ninyas seemed in high good-humour. Sethos, raising his eyes to look in +the prince's joyous face, knew that the bitterness of death was past. + +"His servant has received many good gifts from my lord," was the +conventional reply. "Shall he not accept evil without complaint? There +can be no injustice between a master and his slave." + +"But how come you here?" asked Ninyas, ignoring, from force of habit, +the accustomed formalities of the other. "They tell me you rode in with +half-a-score of bowmen, pursued by the hosts of Egypt--chariots and +horsemen, banner, bow, and spear. I would have loosed a shaft or two +amongst them nevertheless, had they been a hundred to one." + +"My lord speaks well," answered Sethos proudly. "His servant slew their +leader with his own hand ere he turned rein, and fled to seek shelter +with my lord!" + +"I would I had been at your back!" exclaimed the prince, kindling. "I +grew weary unto death of their country, I own, when we rode there under +the banner of Ashur, and I never wished to set eyes on one of their +tawny faces or their supple backs again. But to have them brought here +at bowshot distance, without any trouble, like a troop of wild asses or +a herd of deer! Ah, Sethos, you were always a favourite of the +gods--Baal, Nisroch, Merodach, and above all, Ashtaroth, Queen of +Light!" + +"My lord gives praise to his servant out of his own bounty," answered +the other. "Hath Ninyas ever yet been known to come down from saddle +or war-chariot without taking the first spoil? And as for +Ashtaroth--surely, fairer game than feeds in field or forest falls to +him, even before he lifts his bow." + +The prince loved flattery dearly, though he had wit to despise the +flatterer. He smiled well pleased. + +"I cannot blame the gods," said he; "they have served me better than +ever I served _them_. Do you remember the old lion we slew in the +mountains ten days' march from Nineveh, when you drove my chariot up to +the axles through the marsh? That was a prey worth the taking of a king. +How he grinned and roared, and fought, with my javelin through his +shoulder, and my arrow in his neck! Had he not torn at the chariot-wheel +with claws and fangs, in blind senseless rage, we had hardly brought his +dark skin home to make a foot-cloth for the Great Queen. Believe me, +man, the beast I slew to-day might have been whelped in the same +litter--as old, as savage, flecked in the jaws with grey, leaner +perhaps, and a thought longer--say a span--from muzzle to tail. I am no +boaster, Sethos; but surely old Nimrod himself can scarce have won +nobler triumphs over the fiercest beasts of chase than mine!" + +"My lord hath spoken," answered Sethos. "Is he not unrivalled in war, in +the chase, in love?" + +The last word seemed to touch some painful chord, rouse some bitter +memory in his listener. The prince's handsome face reddened, and then +turned pale. When he spoke again, it was the cup-bearer's turn to feel +discomposed; for the voice of Ninyas sounded cold and hard, his manner +had become stern and almost severe. + +The lion's cub so far resembled his fierce old father, that his mood +would change on occasion at a moment's notice from joyous good-humour +and hilarity to a paroxysm of wrath, all the more dangerous that it was +so sudden and unexpected. + +With Ninus, however, such an access of passion betrayed itself in +uncontrolled violence of language and gesture; while his son, on the +contrary, concealed his feelings under a smooth brow and calm demeanour, +far more implacable than the savage outbreak of his sire. The one would +order an offender to be taken out and strangled on the spot, but forgive +him perhaps before the fatal covering had been drawn round his head. The +other spoke softly, nodded courteously, passed sentence of death in a +whisper, and remitted it for no consideration of justice or mercy +whatsoever. + +But the prince loved pleasure even more than cruelty, and was therefore +popular enough with the multitude, who were willing to give his +beautiful face and graceful form credit for every royal virtue; +believing no evil of one who rode abroad so gallantly in such shining +raiment, sat so long at the feast among brave men and beautiful women, +drank so deep, laughed so loud, and looked so fair, garland on head and +wine-cup in hand. + +"You have not yet accounted for your presence in Ascalon," said he +coldly. + +And Sethos, knowing well that he must trim his sails according as the +wind blew, answered with the gravity of some high official making a +report: + +"In order to fulfil the mission of my lord, I was compelled to journey +swiftly, tarrying nowhere by the way. Therefore were our horses +somewhat faint and wearied, or we had laughed to scorn the speed of the +Egyptian, flinging sand like the wild ass in their faces who pursue." + +"You should have halted and fought it out," observed Ninyas. + +"The embassy of my lord spoke indeed of defiance," replied Sethos; "but +his servant was accompanied by scarce a score of horsemen. The hosts of +Egypt swarmed like locusts in a south wind. Had the city of refuge stood +but one furlong farther off, our bones had lain bleaching in the desert, +or we had been again brought into the terrible presence of Pharaoh ere +now." + +"Then you have seen Pharaoh?" interrupted Ninyas. "What is he like?" + +The cup-bearer looked surprised. + +"I have indeed stood before him," he answered, "and spoken with Pharaoh +face to face. His throne is of beaten gold, studded with jewels; his +garments shine and glisten so that he seems clad in light; but the man +himself is of low stature and puny frame, lean, sallow, undignified. It +is only the line of Ashur who are princes in bearing as in blood." + +"The princes of Ashur go out to war with their hosts," responded Ninyas, +accepting the compliment greedily enough. "Pharaoh lay soft in his +palace beyond the river many a night while I was watching with bow and +spear." + +"Pharaoh lives for ever," said the other. "So proclaim his captains and +officials from rise to set of sun. Perhaps it is that he cares not to +front death in battle or the chase. Nevertheless, he entertained me with +all the honour due to him who carried the message of my lord the king." + +"And what message had my lord the king for one with whom he might have +made his own terms at his very gate?" asked the prince. + +Once more the puzzled look crossed his face, while Sethos pondered ere +he replied. The path he trod seemed very dangerous; he must look well to +his balance at every step. Taking courage, he answered frankly, yet with +a certain caution, + +"What am I, that I should stand in the light of the king's countenance? +The reed withers in the furnace and is consumed, the bar of iron doth +but bend and obey. On such a matter it was not fitting that the lowest +of his servants should speak with the king face to face. I received my +instructions from him who stood on the king's right hand. Shall I repeat +them to my lord?" + +Ninyas watched him keenly. + +"Why not?" he asked. + +"I was commanded to make all speed through the desert, until I came into +the presence of Pharaoh himself," said the cup-bearer; "to speak out +boldly, as befitted him who represented the glory of Nimrod; to demand +the body of a son of Ashur, lying captive in the land of Egypt; and if +aught but good had befallen him, to warn Pharaoh that Assyria would come +down with her chariots and horsemen to take a life for every hair of +Sarchedon's head." + +The prince started as if he was stung. + +"Sarchedon!" he exclaimed. "Was it even so? And you brought him back +with you to Ascalon?" + +"It seemed but my duty," answered Sethos, "to shelter in a city of +refuge one on whose head the king set so high a price, rather than +suffer him to fall a second time into the hand of the false Egyptian." + +Ninyas seemed much disturbed, betraying his vexation, as the other could +not but perceive, in the unnatural composure of his demeanour. + +"And these instructions?" said he, after a pause. "They must have been +given by one in authority, standing at the right hand of my lord the +king." + +"They were given by Assarac, high-priest of Baal," answered the +cup-bearer. "Surely my lord is but proving his servant with empty words. +What am I, that I should seek to show aught but the truth in the sight +of my lord." + +"Assarac, high-priest of Baal!" repeated Ninyas. "And at the right hand +of the Great King! Beware, my friend; beware! There is yet a morsel of +bread and a cruse of water in that dungeon where you passed the day. +When a son of Ashur speaks to his lord with a lie in his mouth, surely +his face is already covered, and his blood lies on his own head." + +Hurt, alarmed, and in the utmost perplexity, the tears rising to his +eyes, Sethos could but answer in a broken voice: "The Great King is +gone to the gods! If my lord should slay his servant, he can only speak +of that which he hath seen and knows." + +In spite of all his self-control, Ninyas turned deadly pale, rocking and +tottering where he stood, like a man stricken sore in fight. Then he +called for another cup of wine, and turning to Sethos, with a smile said +only: + +"Leave me now; I am wearied, and the sun smote fierce to-day on the +desert sand. See that they water not my horse till he is cool; and, +Sethos, let not man nor woman come near me till I clap my hands." + +With these words Ninyas retired to his chamber, and was seen no more, +leaving the cup-bearer at his wits' end with astonishment, a state which +was shared more or less by all the household; for was not the banquet +spread, the hall lighted, the wine poured out, yet the prince absent? +Such an event had never yet come to pass in the memory of his servants; +and Rekamat, who hoped to-night she would regain some of the footing she +had lost in his favour, was loud in protestations of astonishment and +vexation. + +She was yet more dismayed, however, on the morrow to learn that a troop +of horsemen had passed out of the gate at sunrise, and disappeared in +the desert towards the north; the watchman farther reporting, that in +their centre, on the prince's favourite steed, rode a woman closely +veiled. Rekamat bit her lip in sore vexation, to keep back the tears of +spite and shame that rose brimming to her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE POWER OF THE DOG + + +Towards sunset, Ishtar wandered into Babylon anxious, forlorn, and +desolate, yet carefully nursing in her breast that spark of true courage +she inherited from a line of warriors. In plain attire, travel-worn and +dejected, she passed on among a crowd of wayfarers heeded by none. +Desirous of escaping observation, she yet could not help reflecting +bitterly how everything about her was changed, herself perhaps most of +all. + +It seemed but yesterday that the daughter of Arbaces moved abroad +attended by a retinue of servants, escorted by a troop of horsemen. Even +when most she affected privacy, she could not stir without women, +camels, foot-cloths, fan-bearers, all the encumbrances of rank. Eager +eyes were fain to pierce her veil, that they might gaze on her beauty; +kind voices wafted after her their welcome or good wishes, because of +her own graces and her father's fame. She was flattered, admired--above +all, loved. And now she must shrink beneath the wall, to avoid the rude +camel-driver and his ungainly charge. The water-carrier, tottering under +his jars, gruffly bade her stand aside to let him pass; and the only +courtesy she experienced amongst that hurrying, shifting throng was from +a curled and bearded bowman, who would fain have lifted her veil as the +price of his protection, and whose good offices she repulsed with a +scornful energy that put him to flight in considerable dismay. + +She wept a little after this effort, and hurried on faster to the +shelter of what had once been her home. + +In the days of mourning that succeeded his death, or, as his subjects +were taught to believe, the enthronement amongst the stars of the Great +King, a strange repressive power had made itself felt amongst all +classes in the city of Babylon. An unseen hand, cold, weighty, and +irresistible, seemed laid upon the whole people, forbidding any +demonstration of sympathy and indeed all expression of feeling whatever, +public or private. The king's host, as it was still termed, had been +recalled within the walls, and amalgamated cordially enough with their +comrades of that army which was avowedly in the interests of the queen; +but the citizens gained little from such an alliance, save more mouths +to feed, more prejudices to consult, and it might almost be said more +masters to serve. The priests of Baal too, with whom, in the reign of +Ninus, his men of war had been covertly at variance, seemed now on terms +of the closest brotherhood with all who handled bow and spear. Such a +fusion of two non-productive classes boded little good to those whose +industry supported both; and the thoughtless Babylonian, usually so +light-hearted, found himself saddened and depressed when he had fondly +expected to eat, drink, and be merry, under the easy rule of a lord who +preferred feast to fray, bubble of wine-cup to clash of sword and spear. +From a change of rulers Babylon had expected a change of those +principles which constitute government itself. Ninus, though firm and +impartial, was severe, and reined her with a strong hand; she had +therefore always looked forward to the day when his son should sway the +sceptre, as a time of ease and luxury, with license for every man to +think and speak and act as seemed good in his own eyes. But Ninus went +to the stars, Ninyas reigned in his stead; and the citizens wondered, +with blank faces, why bread was dear and water scarce, the priest +covetous, the warrior oppressive, and the royal yoke harder than ever to +be borne. + +Under such circumstances none thought it worth while to bestir himself +for the bettering of his own position, or the assistance of his +neighbour. If a well was choked, he cared not to clear it: if a wall +fell down, he let it lie. There was a shadow over the city, and its +inhabitants already regretted the wise foresight and judicious +government of the Great Queen. + +Ishtar felt very weary before she reached the portals of her father's +house, very sad and friendless when she crossed its threshold and looked +round on the precincts of her home. The sun was down, but a clear cold +moon poured its beams over the scene of desolation and decay. It was +obvious that the palace must have been abandoned on the night of its +attack, and that no friend or servant of Arbaces had revisited it since. +The assailants, having another object than plunder, carried away from +his dwelling only that one of his possessions the chief captain most +dearly valued, which they took with them to Ascalon. But an unguarded +house could scarce remain unspoiled for a single night in such a city as +Babylon. And Ishtar found her father's dwelling rifled and sacked from +roof-tree to door-stone completely, as though an enemy had taken it by +storm. In the court-yard remnants of shawls, silks, precious arms, +costly flagons, strewed the inlaid pavement, dinted and defaced by marks +of struggling feet; but the shreds were frayed and torn, stained with +wine or stiff with blood, the weapons bent or broken; the flagons lay +crushed and battered where they had been emptied and dashed down. +Pushing aside some rent hangings at the entrance of the court, +night-hawks shrieked and night-owls hooted, while a bat, flying out, +struck cold and clammy against Ishtar's cheek. Her flesh crept with +horror; but that sorrow mastered fear, she must have cried aloud for +help. + +The moon shone brighter as it mounted in the sky. Patches of dried blood +stained courts and passages, a splintered javelin and a naked sword, lay +at her feet--fragments of alabaster and gilding broken from the +sculptures on the walls strewed the floor; but whatever loss the +assailants might have sustained, it seemed that they had borne away +their wounded and their dead. As yet she was spared the ghastly presence +of a corpse. + +Cold and faint, she leaned against the wall to take breath. It had come +to this. Amongst all that shattered splendour in those very halls where +her father feasted scores of warriors, every one a captain of ten +thousand, there was now neither bread to eat nor wine to drink--no, nor +the means of purchasing so much as a draught of fair water; though so +short a while ago the palace of Arbaces had been stored with royal gifts +and costly merchandise, meat and drink, gold, precious stones, and spoil +of war. + +If she could but find even an embroidered baldrick, a jewelled dagger, +whole and uninjured, something she might carry into the market, and sell +for as many skekels of silver as would put food in her mouth, and enable +her to continue those efforts for the delivery of Sarchedon, which +should never cease but with her life! + +Resolving to search the palace through, she pushed on, traversing the +court she had lately entered, and so reached the well-known stairs +leading to the women's apartment, that heretofore she had so often +climbed dreamily thinking of her lover, or run down blithely with a +smiling welcome for her sire. Here were indeed traces of deadly strife. +Embroidered curtains, torn and disordered, dangled from the wall; +defaced sculptures and shattered slabs encumbered the pavement; a +slender column of bronze, supporting a brazier, was bent and twisted to +its pedestal; a broken bow lay across a torch long since extinguished +on the floor. The lower part of the hall was black in shadow, while a +flood of moonlight bathed roof and rafters, painted wood-work, gilded +pinnacle, all that elaborate ornament and finish which had been above +the level of the conflict. + +As her foot touched the first step, two lurid eyes glared on her through +the darkness, and a long lean object glided swiftly by, brushing her +garments as it passed. + +It was the wild-dog disturbed from his loathsome meal. + +She had no fear now; only a thrill of intense suffering, with a fierce +hideous desire for revenge. Wreathing her white arms above her head, she +flung herself down by something, that an instinct of love, stronger than +the very horror of the situation, told her must be the remains of her +father. + +A cloven headpiece had rolled from the smooth and grinning skull. His +fleshless fingers still closed round the handle of a sword. He lay where +he fell, his face to heaven, grim, unyielding, defiant even in death; +but the wild-dogs had stripped him to the bone, and it was a bare +bleached skeleton against which Ishtar laid her pale and shuddering +cheek. + +There rose through roof and rafters, curdling her very blood, a shrill +and piercing shriek. She never knew it was the wail of agony wrung from +her by her own despair. + +Alas for the brave spirit passed away, the loyal heart, cold and still, +kind and true! He had been struck down in _her_ defence; had been +willing, eager, to purchase with drops of life-blood the brief moments +that might have aided _her_ to escape; his last blow struck on _her_ +behalf, his last breath drawn for the child who had sat on his knees and +lain in his bosom. The noblest warrior that ever drew bow in the service +of Ninus, fit leader of the brave who were arrayed under the banner of +Ashur at his behest. She was proud of him even then. + +As the moonbeams crept across the pavement where it lay, they were so +far merciful, that they revealed to her the ghastly sight by +imperceptible degrees. She seemed to gather strength from him whose +blood ran in her veins, stretched out in that white distorted heap, +scarce retaining a semblance of human form. She thought of him in the +majesty of his strength, the pride and beauty of his manhood, recalling +the broad hand that used to rest so lovingly on her head, the noble brow +that never wore a frown for _her_; and the weight seemed lifted from her +brain, the iron probe taken out of her heart, while sobs convulsed her +bosom, and scalding tears rushed to her eyes. + +She became human again. She was a woman now, and she wept. + +It was a weary watch. The long night through she never left his +skeleton, never changed her position, nor ceased her silent mourning, +nor moved a limb, but to drive away the wild-dogs that glided in and out +the entrance of the court, drawing near with eager whine and wistful +eyes while she was still, scouring off in vexed dismay when she stirred, +to return again, and yet again, till dawn. + +Though grief like hers may for a time dominate the requirements of the +body, these assert themselves at last. With the return of day Ishtar +felt conscious of hunger and weakness, the one threatening to overpower +her if the cravings of the other were not speedily satisfied. She knew +she must exert herself at once, lest she too should sink down, and die +by him whose bones lay bleaching beside her there. + +Would it not be better so? What had she to do with life now? There was +but one consideration to rouse her from the apathy of despair. The last +obsequies must be paid to the remains of her father; and who would +insure for him that final mark of respect if she was gone? She would +live at least till this was accomplished; and therefore must she go out +into the city, and stand unveiled in square and street till she could +find a friend. Surely amongst all those men of war who went forth to +battle at his word might pass one who would recognise his daughter, and +afford the only tribute of respect left to the memory of Arbaces! + +From the resolution to make her effort grew strength to attempt it. With +exertion came renewed vitality, and with vitality a spark of hope. Yes, +even through those depths of gloom and misery glimmered faint reflective +rays of that which was not quite impossible; as the light of heaven, +though blurred and dim, reaches one who is sinking in the green +bewildering sea. + +Then she rose up, tore a strip of curtain from the portal, and lifting +the skeleton with tender reverent care, disposed it in a seemly attitude +under that scanty covering, so as to baffle wild-dog and vulture till +her return. + +In raising her father's remains she found under them a baldrick in which +his sword had hung, embroidered by her own hands. Even this had been +gnawed and partly eaten away; but it was fastened with a jewelled clasp, +pressed down beneath the broad shoulder-blade of the dead warrior, and +had escaped alike the eyes of cupidity and the fangs of hunger. It was a +treasure to her now. Drawing it hastily out, she concealed it in her +bosom, kissing the precious relic once with eager, passionate lips, +because she must part from it so soon. + +Then she disposed his strange shroud about the remains of Arbaces, +looked high and low, to earth and heaven, with wild imploring eyes, +seeking aid, but finding none, and so walked out alone into the world +from her home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE WINGS OF A DOVE + + +An hour after sunrise, Babylon the Great was up and dressed like any +other restless lady, wakeful and astir, warm with life and beauty, rich +in gaudy colours, bright with gold and gems. + +Trumpets that mustered warriors by thousands were pealing from her +walls. Priests of Baal and prophets of the grove were chanting their +idolatrous hymns, to ring of harp or sound of timbrel, through a score +of stately temples, a hundred squares, terraces, and open places in the +city. Oxen were lowing, sheep bleating, as they stood in droves herded +together for sacrifice. Peasants from without were toiling under their +market-produce; merchants of Tyre and of the South were guiding their +camels, laden with bales of costly goods for the mart of nations; a +hundred streams of labour, luxury, and traffic converged to this common +centre; and through all her gates the wealth of a hundred countries was +flowing in to enrich the mistress of the world. + +She accepted their tribute like a queen lavish of smiles and honours, +repaying real substantial benefits with bright glitter of ornament, with +show of tinsel and gilding, with a false welcome and a cold farewell. +Her visitors took their leave, the better for her notice, by an acquired +taste for deteriorating luxuries, an increased discontent with the manly +simplicity of their homes. They thronged in and out nevertheless, +crowding especially to one quarter of the city, on the banks of the +broad river, at an equal distance from the two royal palaces, where it +was customary to hold a market for all kind of wares and provisions, +where a man might purchase, according to his needs, a barley loaf or a +dress of honour, a rope of onions or a string of pearls. + +Here prevailed that stir, turmoil, and confusion of tongues which must +necessarily accompany such gatherings of different tribes and +professions, especially under a southern sky. The plain-spoken +countryman discoursed volubly on the luxuriant growth of garden-stuff +that overflowed his baskets; the keener-witted citizen cheapened and +chaffered, sparing neither laughter nor sarcasm, nor shrill and +deafening abuse; dark-skinned Ethiopians grinned, nodded, clapped their +hands, and rubbed their woolly heads in mingled amazement and delight; +haughty warriors stalked in and out the stalls of the various traders +with martial strides and offensive demeanour, taking at their own price +such things as they required, or, on occasion, omitting the ceremony of +payment altogether; troops of women, chiefly from the lowest class, +added their eager voices to the general clamour, hanging their swaddled +infants at their backs, hoisting them on their shoulders, or extricating +with loud outcries and hearty cuffs the stronger urchins, who +persistently sought every opportunity of being trampled under foot by +the crowd; while over all, at no distant intervals, towered the pliant +necks and patient heads of meek-eyed camels, looking sleepily down on +the confusion, in calm tolerant contempt, like that of their swarthy +riders, for those who dwelt in cities, earning bread by the bustle and +competition of sedentary occupation rather than by long adventurous +journeys or the vicissitudes of robbery and war. + +These were invariably objects of undisguised interest to the bystanders; +for about man and beast hung a smack of the boundless desert, the wild +free air, the untrodden measureless waste, as from the dress and bearing +of the mariner seems to exhale a flavour of his adopted element, a +breath from the salt breezes of the sea. + +They were mostly sun-burned and travel-worn, bearing traces of fatigue, +hardship, and long exposure by night and day. + +To a group of these, standing somewhat apart, surrounding one of their +camels, which had lain calmly down, load and all, Ishtar thought well to +address herself. They were apparently traders of a superior class, while +something in their dress and furniture, denoting that their home was in +the north, led her to believe they would offer a more liberal price for +jewels than those southern merchants, who might probably have brought +with them many such valuables for sale. The men, like their camels, +seemed very weary; nevertheless they entered on the business of a +bargain without delay. + +"The damsel needs but look round," said one, "to see that her servants +have no need of such things. We are overcome with long travel, sore +hungered and athirst. What have we to do with clasp and jewel? Your +servants are faint for lack of bread. Can they comfort their hearts with +gems and gold?" + +"Behold the sandals dropping from our feet," pursued another, "the +halters of our camels worn to the last fibre! Bring us goats'-hair +ropes, woollen raiment, or even garments of fine linen; we will buy them +of you, and welcome--at a price." + +Sorely discouraged, Ishtar would have protested; but the words died on +her lips, and she turned meekly away. Perhaps no amount of eloquence +could have served her so well as this apparent indifference. The +principal trader leaped down from his camel, and accosted her with some +eagerness. + +"Be not hasty, my daughter," said he. "The foolish guest turns from a +smoking platter, the wise waits till it is cool. Those who desire not +to buy may be willing to sell. Will you look on the wares we have +brought out of the south?--over the long trackless desert, and through +the nations whose hand is ever stretched out to spoil and slay--the +Amalekites, the Hivites, and the Anakim." + +Ishtar started. The mention of the last-named tribe brought the blood to +her brow. She turned back, and replied, + +"Show me your wares, if you will, but I too am faint for lack of bread. +If I am compelled to take this jewel out of the market unsold, I must +creep hence to the city wall, turn my face to its shelter, and so lie +down to die." + +There was something in her tone that vouched for her truth. He was a +merciful man, though he had traded and travelled through the eastern +world. Had she bargained with him, he could have found it in his heart +to cozen her out of every article she possessed, and had been proud of +his own acuteness the while. But this was a different question. It was +like fighting an unarmed adversary, taking a prey that made no effort to +resist or flee. His heart melted within him for sheer pity and +good-will. Caution, however, whispered that such appeals might form the +new mode of trading lately adopted in Babylon; and while he took the +jewel from her hand, he only said, + +"We have enough and to spare of such ornaments. Nevertheless, let us +look, and judge for ourselves." + +His comrades, of whom there were but two, joined in the examination. +From their immovable features she could not guess their opinion; but +Ishtar gathered that they meant to trade from the quiet air of +depreciation assumed incontinently by each. + +After scrutinising the jewel at every possible angle, so as to subject +each particle of each stone to the searching test of sunlight, the last +speaker, who seemed the principal personage, weighed it carefully in a +pair of scales hanging at his belt, and observed, + +"One hundred shekels of silver would surely be a fair price, oh! my +daughter? But we too have merchandise to sell. Will you not take fifty +shekels and your choice of a breadth of silk, a piece of goodly +needlework, or a wrought ornament in bronze and ivory from Tyre?" + +The clasp was worth three hundred at the lowest, and he felt full of +pity and loving-kindness towards the damsel, but a profession is second +nature. He was a trader, and must live. + +"Your servant is in the hand of my lord," answered Ishtar humbly. "Take +the jewel, I pray. Give me the fifty shekels, so that I may buy a morsel +of bread, and eat before I die!" + +He counted them out, well pleased. It was not often, even in careless +pleasure-seeking Babylon, that he could trade to such advantage. But the +bargain now stood on a different footing. Ishtar's prompt compliance +with his terms caused him to feel bound in honour to give her free +choice of the various articles he had named, trusting only that she +might not select the rarest and most expensive. Neither he nor his +comrades would have refused her for their lives. Their probity, though +loose in the extreme, was not elastic, and no temptation could have +seduced them into any act they considered a breach of faith. Causing, +therefore, another camel to kneel down, they proceeded to unpack its +load, turning over for inspection shawls, silks, embroidery, and +trinkets, more or less costly, from the workshops of Tyre, Ascalon, or +other cities on the seacoast. + +Faint with watching and exhaustion, goods, camel, traders, and +bystanders swam before Ishtar's eyes; for amongst a handful of +glittering ornaments she distinguished the amulet that the Great Queen +had bestowed on Sarchedon, that she had last seen about her lover's +neck. + +With an effort of which few women would have been capable, she recalled +her fleeting senses in subservience to her will, and asked calmly to +examine the trinket. It was valuable, no doubt, yet more from its +exquisite finish than intrinsic worth, and she had presence of mind to +appear only desirous of possessing it as a gaudy trifle with which they +could have little disinclination to part. + +"I will ask my lord," said she, "to bestow on me no more than this +ornament I hold in my hand. Also, if a drop be left in the water-skin, +that I may wet my burning lips, for indeed I am faint and sore athirst!" + +"It is my daughter's," answered the trader. "My camels, my goods, all I +possess, are hers! The water-skin is indeed dried and shrivelled like +an ungathered grape, but here is a gourd not yet emptied, a barley-loaf +still unbroken. I pray you, eat and drink, my daughter; comfort your +heart, and go in peace." + +Complying eagerly with the invitation, Ishtar felt her very life +returning with each mouthful she swallowed. Had it not been so, she +never could have found strength for the task she had set herself to +perform. Looking on that amulet, with its bird of peace following the +weapon of war through the air, her whole being, her very soul, seemed to +go out towards the lover from whom she had been parted with so little +likelihood that they might ever meet again. + +"O, that I had the wings of a dove!" thought Ishtar, in the loving +impotence of her desire, wishing, with other tortured spirits of every +age and clime, but to burst through the invisible, impalpable wires of +her cage to seek the rest that none can find--broken in heart and hopes, +weary and wounded, yearning only to fly home. + +And it may be that those who have followed in the slimy path of the +serpent shall one day find their bitterest punishment in aimless, +endless longing for the wings of the dove. + +But could she have flown with all the speed of all the birds of air, it +was yet indispensable to follow out the clue she had already obtained in +the possession of the trinket that so lately belonged to Sarchedon. +Strengthened by food, her womanly wit regained its keenness, while +womanly shame bade her disclose but half the truth. It would be wise, +she thought, to trust this friendly merchant; yet she dared not confide +in him wholly, nor lay open to a stranger all the weakness of her heart. + +"My lord has shown favour to his servant," said she. "I desired of him a +gift, and, lo, it lieth here in my hand! I was hungered and athirst; he +gave me to eat and to drink! Am I not in some sort the guest of my lord? +I would fain ask him one question. All my happiness hangs on his lips. +As his soul liveth, I implore my lord to tell me the truth." + +"Speak on, my daughter," was the reply. "There is no space for falsehood +within the curtains of a tent, and he who dwells in the desert knows not +how to lie." + +"This trinket," she continued eagerly, "you took it from its owner. It +hung round his neck. He was a son of Ashur, tall and comely as a cedar +of the mountain, brave as the lion, ruddy as sunset, bright as morning, +and beautiful as day!" + +The astute trader smiled. + +"You know him," said he, "and you love him! It is as my daughter hath +said." + +"He is my brother," she answered, blushing crimson while she adjusted +her veil. "If aught but good hath befallen him, it were better for me +that I had never been born!" + +"Such a one as you have described," answered the other, "did indeed come +into our possession by lawful barter amongst the tents of the Anakim. A +slave can have no goods to call his own, and when we discovered beneath +his garment this jewel that had escaped the eyes of his spoilers, we +might have taken it righteously by force. Nevertheless, the man was +strong and warlike. Even in bonds, it may be that he would have done +_himself_ some injury, and so lessened his price. It was well that he +suffered me to strip it from his neck unnoticed while he looked back +upon the camp, as if he had left his very heart with the tribe." + +A thrill that, in spite of all, amounted to real happiness shot through +her trembling frame. + +"Can he not be redeemed?" she exclaimed, clasping her hands eagerly. +"Where is he now?" + +The trader pondered. + +"I too have a brother," said he, "and we parted at a day's march from +the tents of the Anakim, as we have parted many a time, trusting to meet +yet once again before we die. My course lay hither to the great city; +for are not my camels laden with silks and spices and costly jewels, +such as rich Babylon must have at all hazards and at any cost? I pray +you, damsel, remember I am a fair trader; I ask for no greater profit +than enables me to get bread for myself and forage for my beasts. Some +there be who scruple not to rob with the scales, as the Amalekite robs +with the spear; but such prosper not in life, and long before their +beards turn gray, their flesh is eaten by vultures and their bones +whiten the plain. + +"My lord spoke of the Assyrian," interrupted Ishtar. "Is he safe? Is he +alive?" + +"That he is alive, my daughter," replied the merchant, "if care and good +usage can keep the life in a valuable captive, I will answer with my +head. We bought him at a remunerative price, and my brother is even less +likely than myself to let one suffer damage whose welfare is of such +marketable value. That he is safe with the other goods I have sufficient +reason to hope. Surely they joined a caravan guarded by more than five +hundred horsemen of the desert. Ere now they must have reached the +pleasant confines of my home--the broad-leaved oaks, the cool green +valleys, and the breezy mountains of the north." + +"The north!" repeated Ishtar, aghast and discomfited. "What! beyond +Nineveh?" + +"Far beyond Nineveh," said the other, "far beyond the boundaries of the +land of Shinar, where the banner of Ashur hath never been lifted, the +spear of the Assyrian never dulled its point in blood--in the land of +corn and wine, pasture and fruit tree, flocks and herds, peace and +plenty, the happy hill country of Armenia!" + +"Sold to the Armenian for a slave!" was her answer. "O, my lord, shall I +never see him again?" + +He pitied her from his heart. + +"Much may be done," said he, "with these three weapons, sword, bow, and +spear; more yet with these, time, wisdom, patience. Add but a little +gold, and who shall say that aught is impossible? My brother is one of +those who, setting before them an object in the plain, turn neither to +right nor left till they have reached it. The Assyrian is of fine frame +and goodly stature, fit to stand on the steps of a throne. My brother +hath determined he will sell him to no meaner purchaser than a king. Not +all the wealth of Armenia will tempt him from his purpose, and to the +king he will be sold. I have spoken." + +Then he turned away to prosecute his business with those who were +waiting around for examination of his merchandise, and Ishtar found +herself alone and friendless in the crowded market--alone, with a wild +foolish hope in her heart, and Sarchedon's amulet in her hand. + +From the time she lost sight of him, she had never faltered one single +moment in her resolution; arduous, impossible as seemed her task, she +would not relinquish it even now. + +Had she needed any farther stimulant to exertion she would have found it +in the reflection that he, the distinguished warrior, the ornament of a +court, the flower of a host, the treasure of her own heart, was a slave! + +At least she knew where he had gone; at least there was one spot of +earth on which her loving thoughts could light, like weary birds, and +take their rest. But how to reach him? how to span the cruel distance +that lay between? Gazing wistfully on the amulet in her hand, she would +have bartered all her hopes here and hereafter, peace and safety, life +and beauty, innocence itself, in exchange for the wings of a dove. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +BOND AND FREE + + +"A horned owl in the twilight; a horned owl in the dark! How many horns +does my owl hold up!" A merry laugh was ringing in her ear, a soft hand +was laid over her eyes, while the white fingers of its fellow twinkled +before her face, and Ishtar recognised the voice of Kalmim, challenging +her to one of those foolish games of guessing so popular from the +earliest ages with the thoughtless children of the south. + +It was something to meet a friend, and of her own sex, even though that +friend was one with whom her deeper, purer nature had but little in +common. Strung to their highest pitch, her feelings now gave way; and +leaning on Kalmim's shoulder, Ishtar burst into a passion of weeping +that perhaps did more to calm and restore her than all the feminine +consolations and condolences lavished by the other, whose compassion, +lying near the surface, seemed easily aroused and quickly exhausted. + +A weeping girl was no unusual sight in the public places of great +Babylon. Exciting neither pity nor comment, Ishtar and Kalmim withdrew +unnoticed from the crowd, to stand apart in the shelter of a gigantic +fountain, erected for the refreshment of her people by the Great Queen, +where the younger woman soon recovered composure to answer the voluble +questions of the elder. + +"Where have you been hiding, and what have you been doing, and why have +we never seen you at the well, in the temple, at market, sacrifice, or +on the city wall?" said Kalmim, flirting the water about while she +dipped her white hand in its marble basin. "Surely the days of mourning +are past, and those of feasting should have begun. Why, then, in the +name of Ashtaroth, do I find the fairest damsel in Babylon with her eyes +unpainted, her head untied, and, my dear, a dress that looks as if it +had been trodden in the dust by every beast in the market? How did you +ever get it so rumpled and soiled?" + +Ignoring this important consideration, Ishtar took the other by the +hand, and gazing in her face with large serious eyes, replied, + +"Kalmim, I believe you would serve me, if you could. I believe you are +my friend." + +"As far as one woman can be a friend to another," laughed Kalmim. "And +that is about as far as I could fathom the great river with my bodkin. +Trust me, dear, you are too comely to possess friends, either men or +women. Nevertheless, you sat on my knees when you were a curly-headed +child, and I--well, when I was better and happier than I am now. I would +serve you if I could. By the light of Shamash, I would, though I might +hate myself and you the next minute! Take me, therefore, while the good +mood is on. What can I do to please my white-faced Ishtar?" + +"You have influence and power," was the reply. "He--my father used--I +have heard it said that you are deep in her counsels, and high in favour +with the Great Queen." + +An angry flush rose to Kalmim's brow, and her laugh was not pleasant to +hear, while she answered, + +"The Great Queen is a woman like the rest of us. I wish I had never seen +her haughty face. For days together it was Kalmim here, Kalmim there; +who so quick-witted as Kalmim? whom could she trust like Kalmim? Kalmim +was never to be out of her sight. I must have had a score of hands, and +as many wings as Nisroch, to do half her bidding. Then, in the +twinkling of an eye, lo, in the threading of a needle, all is changed, +and because the Great King went to the stars or wherever he _did_ go, I +am to be cast aside like a frayed robe or a soiled napkin, and must see +her face no more. She might have been a little fonder of him while he +_was_ here, I think, instead of making all this mourning now he's gone. +You would suppose that in the whole land of Shinar no wife was ever left +a widow before. Queen though she be, she must take her chance with the +others, I trow." + +"And are you no longer in the royal service?" asked Ishtar, sadly +disappointed. + +"In the royal service I must ever be," answered Kalmim, "since I was +born a bondwoman in old Nineveh, whence come the fairest of us, after +all, say what they will of this great wicked town! I can no more help my +bonds than my beauty, and I do not know, my pretty Ishtar, that I am +more anxious to get rid of the one than the other. But it vexes me sore, +and angers me too, when I think that the queen, because she sits in +sackcloth and scatters ashes on her head, should refuse to admit her +faithful slave and servant, who never failed her yet, even to the outer +court of the palace. If I were free, like you, my dear, I swear by Baal +I would take my leave of great Babylon for good and all!" + +"Free!" repeated the girl bitterly, reflecting how little availed her +freedom, her birth, even her beauty to attain the one object of her +life, in the pursuit of which she was fain to implore the assistance of +this bondwoman. "If I were _free_, as you say, I would leap on yonder +camel, with a lump of dates and a barley-cake in my hand, turn his head +for the northern mountains, and never wish to see the city walls again." + +"I guessed it!" exclaimed Kalmim, clapping her hands. "The daughter of +the stars has gone the way of us poor children of earth, as if she too +were made of common clay. He has taken your heart with him, whoever he +is. I see it all, and follow him you must, at any labour and at any +cost. I can feel for you, dear: I know what it is. Now, there was +Sethos, the Great King's cup-bearer, as goodly a youth as ever longed +for a beard. And, lo, he vanishes one summer's morning with a score of +horsemen, rides away into the desert, and I shall never see him more." + +"Take comfort," rejoined Ishtar, glad to do a kindness even for this +flighty dame. "I left him safe and well at Ascalon, and beheld him with +my own eyes drinking wine of Eschol the night before I fled." + +"At Ascalon!" exclaimed Kalmim. "Where Rekamat was--I heard them say so! +The treacherous tiger-cat! The false villain! See what it is to let a +man find out you have thought twice about him. He cares no more for you +than we do for a garment worn a score of times, or a husband we have +known a score of years. And yet he swore and protested. Well, I was born +under Ashtaroth, and I have been a fool like many another. Nevertheless, +the broken jar will mend no doubt, and the empty gourd can be filled +again at the stream." + +"I think he came not into Ascalon of his own free will," answered +Ishtar. "He galloped through the gate like one who rides for life, with +a cloud of Egyptian horsemen at his heels." + +"I wish with all my heart they had caught and flayed him alive!" laughed +the other. "But I might have known him better than to think he would +look at that cream-faced Rekamat, for all her delicate gait and her +tawny hair. So he escaped with the skin of his teeth, say you, and was +last seen safe in Ascalon. I pray you, is he there now?" + +"I know not," answered Ishtar. "O Kalmim, I will trust you. I am so +miserable. He entered the city with--with Sarchedon. And the walls were +guarded, the watch set, because of the false Egyptian, so that a mouse +could scarce creep out unnoticed. Nevertheless, we glided through the +gate at sunrise, he and I, and--and, right or wrong, we fled into the +wilderness." + +"Like a pair of pelicans!" exclaimed the other in high glee. "And so, +being in the wilderness, you made yourselves a nest no doubt, and folded +your wings in peace, as it had been behind the city wall!" + +"The children of Anak surprised us sleeping," sobbed Ishtar, whose tears +were beginning to flow afresh. "They killed our dromedary, poor beast, +and spoiled our goods--all that we had--a lump of bread and a handful of +dates. They spared our lives in pity, but they set me down beside the +Well of Palms, and they sold him into captivity. O Kalmim, comfort me, +for indeed I fear I shall never see him more!" + +Light-hearted and impressionable, the other was ready enough with +sympathy, advice, and perhaps assistance, up to the point at which it +could inconvenience herself. + +"Take heart," said she; "the world is wide, but woman has her wits, as +the bird of the air has its wings. Can you not discover where he is +gone? Knowing this, surely the bow is bent, and the arrow fitted to the +string. You need but let it fly." + +"I was guided by Nisroch," was the tearful answer; "for I came hither +into the market from the halls of my ruined home and the bones of my +dead father. O Kalmim, I watched by them all last night, to drive the +wild-dogs away." + +Again she laid her face on the other's shoulder, and wept. + +Kalmim was greatly moved. + +"I will help you," she protested. "Indeed, I will. I have friends; I +have lovers--scores of them, girl; and in high places too. I will seam +my face with scars, tear out my hair by handfuls, but they shall listen +to my prayer. What! is my cheek sun-burned? are mine eyes grown dim? I +will force my way to the queen! I will humble myself before the prince!" + +"The prince!" interrupted Ishtar. "He is in Ascalon." + +"Foolish girl!" replied the other. "He is even now coming out from the +queen's palace to do justice amongst the people. Every second morning he +rides forth on a white horse, with Assarac at his right hand. Grave has +he grown, and severe, putting aside the wine-cup, speaking but a word at +a time, and scarce suffering the people to look on his face. Ashtaroth, +what a face it is! Surely he is more beautiful than dawn." + +Ishtar shuddered. To her, for all his comeliness, he was loathsome as a +leper, terrible as a beast of prey. + +"It is but justice I require," said she, wringing her hands. "Bare +justice for an Assyrian-born carried into captivity." + +"He shall be brought back by the sons of Ashur with the strong hand," +replied Kalmim stoutly. "Who can stand against Assyria in her might? But +I know not yet whither they have taken him, nor how you have discovered +the prison-house where he is lodged." + +"I came into the market at sunrise," answered Ishtar, "to sell the clasp +of my father's girdle, that I might eat a morsel of bread. Ashtaroth +must have had pity on me; for she directed my steps to those very +traders who bought Sarchedon from the sons of Anak. One, who seemed +chief among them, spoke me fair, and treated me well. Perhaps he has a +daughter of his own. From him I learned, that when they divided the +spoil, his brother had taken the Assyrian warrior for his share, and was +journeying with him to Armenia, where he would sell him for a goodly +slave to stand before the king. I pray you, Kalmim, is it very far to +Armenia?" + +"It is many days' journey," replied Kalmim hopefully. "But those who +have horses and camels need not the wings of a bird. I have heard it +said of the Great King, that his sceptre stretched over the whole land +of Shinar, his spear to the uttermost ends of the earth, and his arrows +reached the heavens. I know not; but I think the sons of Ashur can +obtain what they want, even from beyond the mountains of Armenia, if +they go to ask for it with bow and spear. These traders, though, are +soft and smooth-spoken, false as prosperous lovers, every man of them! +How know you their tale is true?" + +"By this token," answered Ishtar, showing Sarchedon's amulet in her +hand. + +Kalmim recognised it at once. Many a time since she missed it from the +Great Queen's neck had she speculated on its absence, and wondered what +fresh combinations of intrigue and duplicity were denoted by this +imprudent generosity of her mistress. Though Semiramis, she knew, +entertained a peculiar reverence for the trinket, as possessing some +supernatural charm, yet when she bade her tirewoman go back to search +for it in the temple of Baal, there was a restless anxiety in her +demeanour not to be explained by mere concern for a lost jewel. And now +her eyes were opened. She marvelled how she could have been so dull and +blind. She resolved to hold the clue tight, and never let it go till she +had turned its possession to her own advantage. Though she tried to look +innocent and unconscious, it was impossible to keep down the sparkle in +her eye, the crimson on her cheek, while she asked as carelessly as she +could, + +"Is it a sign between you, and did he send it to vouch for the truth of +the messenger?" + +"Not so," answered Ishtar. "They took it from his neck by stealth, and +the good trader gave it into my hand, because I desired it from him as a +gift. When I look on it, I seem to see the noble face of my beloved. O +Kalmim, we must deliver him, and bring him back." + +"We must deliver him, and bring him back," repeated Kalmim, pondering +deeply. In a few seconds she ran through the main points and bearings of +the case. + +So long as Sarchedon remained a captive in Armenia, it was obvious that +he could be of little service to her designs, but if she could by any +means recall him to Babylon, a path seemed open that should lead to her +own aggrandisement and paramount influence in the palace. She was +sufficiently persuaded that the seclusion of Semiramis would last but +for a short time; that her masculine intellect would soon weary of +inactivity; and that her energies would again rule the nation through +the son, as heretofore through the sire. She was shrewd enough to have +observed that Ninyas did nothing without the counsel of Assarac; and she +had not forgotten Assarac's implicit and slavish devotion to the queen. +She was also satisfied that her royal lady had contracted one of those +infatuated passions for Sarchedon to which she was occasionally subject, +and which her tire-woman's experience reminded her would be gratified at +any cost of danger or shame. If, then, she could go to the queen when +the days of mourning had expired, and say to her, "I have got your +treasure safe in Babylon, under lock and key; I brought him back from +Armenia by my own exertions, and you need but lift up your finger to +behold him here at your feet," would she not become one of the greatest +personages in Assyria, herself the fount of honour, wealth, influence, +and promotion? Sethos, she decided, should obtain the leadership of the +royal guard, and her other lovers be rewarded, more or less, in +proportion to their attractions. Meantime Sarchedon must be brought +back. + +"You love him dearly then," said she, "and would shrink from no +sacrifice to insure his safety?" + +There was more than devotion in Ishtar's simple answer, + +"I would give my life for the life of him." + +"There is but one power under that of Ashtaroth to help you at your +need," pursued Kalmim. "If the king will send an embassy to Armenia, as +to Egypt, for the recovery of Sarchedon, the youth may yet return, fast +as camels can travel. But you must make your petition at once, and in +person. You are young and comely, though a little too pale. Such faces +as yours seldom plead with Ninyas in vain." + +Ishtar clasped her hands and trembled. + +"Is there no other way?" said she. "There is none in all the land of +Shinar before whom I would not rather bow down my face than the prince." + +"The prince, girl! what mean you?" exclaimed the other. "Are you mad? +There is none can help you in such a matter but the king." + +"Only--only," stammered Ishtar, "I fled on purpose to avoid him." + +"Fled!" repeated Kalmim scornfully; "whence and why? There is no time to +lose. Tell me in a word: has Ninyas, too, taken a fancy to that white +face of yours?" + +That white face turned crimson, while about brow and lip gathered such +haughty defiance, that for a moment the girl looked like her father when +he set the battle in array. + +"He would have forced me to love him," said she; "but I had rather be +lying dead without the city wall!" + +"Is it so indeed?" exclaimed Kalmim, a little vexed, it may be, to hear +of another woman's conquest, yet highly pleased with the promise of +success it seemed to offer. "Then Ashtaroth doth indeed favour us, and +the prey is taken ere we spread the net. If he wooed you unsuccessfully, +believe me, he is not out of your power yet. You need but ask your +price, and he will pay it. That price must be the recovery of +Sarchedon." + +Love and hatred were tearing at the poor girl's heart--love gained the +mastery. + +"What would you have me do?" she asked; but her voice was so changed, +the other looked anxiously in her face. + +"Now you are reasonable," said Kalmim, after a pause, "and will take a +friend's advice. So shall all turn to our advantage at last. This must +you do: rend that garment of yours thus, not down to the hem, but so +that it falls gracefully away in two pieces, uncovering neck and +shoulder. Scatter a little dust on your head--a very little--not enough +to dim the lustre on your hair. Then sit you down in the gate yonder; I +will show you the place. Wait till Ninyas rides by, coming from the +judgment seat. He must be leaving it ere now. When you hear the tramp of +the white horse, turn not your face to right or left; but as he draws +near, start up in front of him, throw back your veil, wreathe your arms +about his knee, pour forth your prayer, and implore your lord to do with +you what he will." + +"Be it so," answered Ishtar, calm and pale, like one in the grasp of +death. "Thus shall I save you, Sarchedon my beloved! But never, never +will I look in your dear face again." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +IN THE GATE + + +Bowed to the dust, with rent garments, drooping head, and aching heart, +from which the very life seemed pressed out, Ishtar sat herself down in +the gate to watch for the passing by of the king, as he rode from the +place where he had been administering justice to his people since +sunrise. She had not long to wait; the trampling of hoofs soon warned +her that the royal troop was approaching, and flinging back her veil, +she had scarcely time to rise erect before the well-known white horse +was upon her, guided by the hand that most she feared and hated in the +world. + +Its rider, buried in thought, proceeded at a walk, accompanied only by +Assarac, the few mounted spearmen in attendance remaining several paces +behind. Ninyas appeared unusually grave and preoccupied. His face was +somewhat hidden by the fall of a linen tiara and the profusion of his +dark silken hair, but in his rounded symmetry of limb, his graceful +gestures, and royal dignity of bearing were conspicuous those personal +advantages which formed perhaps the only merit of their new ruler in the +eyes of the common crowd. + +Faint and forced were the cheers that greeted his approach, dark and +discontented the glances that followed him as he passed on. He from whom +so much was expected had turned out a failure and a disappointment. To +cruelty and injustice the people of Babylon would have submitted without +a murmur, but for incapacity they had little forbearance; for one who +wasted neither blood nor treasure, they entertained a fierce and +dangerous contempt. + +Already loud regrets had been heard among the populace for the iron rule +of Ninus and the warlike glories of the Great King. Already whispers, +fierce and earnest in their suppression, asked when her days of mourning +would be ended; and suggested that the queen should again take part in +affairs of empire--should govern Babylon, her own especial city, in +person. Even before the seat of judgment, murmurs to this effect were +distinctly audible, and a cry of "Semiramis! Semiramis!" had been caught +up and reëchoed in the outskirts of the crowd. On such occasions, the +calm face of Assarac was observed to denote secret triumph and +gratification, yet clouded with something of anxiety and deep earnest +thought. Riding on the king's right hand, he seemed even now so +engrossed in meditation, that he was the more disturbed of the two when +a figure, rising, as it were, out of the earth, wound its arms round the +royal knee, at the imminent risk of being trampled to death, and laid +its forehead to the white horse's shoulder in an attitude of +heart-broken entreaty and abasement. Merodach must have recognised her. +Ishtar knew that the animal avoided touching her with its hoofs, while, +in spite of skilled hand and severe bridle, it pressed its muzzle +against her fair shoulder with a mute loving caress. + +"How now!" exclaimed the rider haughtily.--"What foolish damsel is this +who encumbers the royal path, seeing that the sun is already high? Know +you not how the people cry without ceasing for justice during the space +of two hours after dawn? Stand aside, girl, lest that tender body of +yours be trampled like a lily in the dust!" + +Ishtar raised her tear-stained face, pale as the flower to which she had +been compared, and sobbed out wildly, + +"As thy soul liveth, hear me! Only hear me, ere thou ride on in thy +might, and crush me to death beneath thy feet! What am I that I should +stand in the path of my lord the king?" + +Surely he remembered her voice. He seemed strangely disturbed, and the +hand that reined Merodach shook till the bridle rang again. Turning to +Assarac, he murmured in a stifled voice, + +"Bid them keep the people back, I pray you; with point of spear if need +be. I will hear what the damsel has to say." + +Then Ishtar poured forth her whole heart with an eloquence that could +only have been wrung from her by his danger whom she loved better than +her very life. She reminded Ninyas of his professed attachment to +herself, of their flight through the desert to the south, of her +unwilling thraldom, and constant resistance at Ascalon, notwithstanding +his rank, his beauty, his exceeding attractions, avoiding, with womanly +tact, every allusion that could hurt his self-love, and lavishing, with +womanly recklessness, every expression of flattery that could impress on +him the immeasurable distance between his handmaid and her lord. Then +she bade him judge of her feelings by his own. What had she to live for +but the man she loved? The youth was to _her_ as water in the desert, as +a breath of air to one bricked up in a dungeon. She was sick for his +comely face. She made her prayer to the king, because she had been +taught from childhood he was the representative of Baal in the land of +Shinar, the embodiment of truth, justice, and mercy amongst his people. +She knelt to him as to Nisroch with the eagle-head. She presumed not to +stand before his face without a gift. Let her find favour in his sight. +It was the only jewel she had left. Let him take it. Let him but grant +her petition, rescue this goodly youth from captivity, and take +herself--her life--all she had to give! + +In accordance with ancient custom forbidding the suppliant to enter the +presence of a superior without an offering, she thrust into the king's +hand that amulet of emerald which had already changed owners so many +times. Even at her extremity of need she could not help remarking how +white and delicate were those royal fingers that trembled round the +jewel, how fair and shapely was the arm that shook with some inward +conflict of passions, terrible in their struggle against the strength +that kept them down. It was marvellous to her that jealousy should have +such power over the male nature, and if Ninyas cared so very dearly for +her, surely she ought to pity him, she thought, even though she could +not love! All this under-current of feeling and reflection passed +through her mind while she watched every turn and gesture of her lord +with the eager eyes of one who balances between life and death. + +The royal face was hidden by its tiara; the royal voice came low and +husky with its haughty question, + +"Is it a lover, girl, for whom you make this bold petition? Did he buy +you with a trinket and cast you aside in the desert, and will nothing +force him back to your arms save a decree of the king? Go to! You seem +over-shameless for a maiden,--over-tender for a wife. I have spoken." + +She was on her knees again, pressing the rider's garment to her +forehead. + +"By the glory of Shamash!" she exclaimed--"by the might of Ashur!--by +the blood of Nisroch! I am a true woman. May my lips wither, may my +tongue drop out, may my heart be consumed to ashes, if I conceive a +falsehood in the face of my lord the king! His servant loves the +youth--loves him so dearly, that for his sake she would accept death +with joy, life-long bondage with gratitude--that to insure his safety +she would give her hopes, her heart, her all, and consent never, never +to see him again!" + +The king was certainly changed. Looking wildly up in that comely face, +it was colder, paler than before, and the lips turned very white while +they asked in a low stern voice, + +"How came you by this amulet? Speak the truth, girl, lest even now your +eyes be covered and your body flung from the wall. Was it given you +by--by this faithless lover of yours?" + +"Not so, my lord," answered Ishtar eagerly. "As your servant liveth, it +was round his neck when they bore him into captivity, and but that I had +come to the market at sunrise to eat bread, I should never have known +where they had taken him. I saw the jewel in the wares of an honest +merchant, and I learned from him all that my heart desired to know." + +Ninyas smiled as if well pleased, and spoke in a softer voice. + +"Let him be brought to the palace at once," said the king, turning to +Assarac. "An honest merchant ought to be easily distinguished in the +market-place of Babylon. I should like to see him, girl, and I should +like also to learn whither they have dared to carry this Assyrian-born. +How called you him? Sarchedon, was it not?" + +"Surely my lord is wiser than Nebo," answered the girl, "to know good +from evil. It is even as he hath said. Behold, the king discovered it +before my tongue could form the name that was in my heart." + +The rider's hand gave such an involuntary wrench to the bridle, as +caused Merodach to rear straight-on-end in resentment and surprise. +Caressing the horse, and laughing lightly the while, Ninyas continued to +question his suppliant: + +"They have carried this free-born son of Ashur into captivity. It seems +they have more courage than wisdom. And whither have they taken him?" + +"Far beyond the northern mountains," answered Ishtar, "into the land of +Armenia; and for that he is so comely of face and noble of stature, they +will be loth to yield him back, for he is to stand in goodly raiment at +the right hand of the king." + +"Hear her, Assarac!" exclaimed Ninyas, turning to the eunuch, with +flushed brow and sparkling eyes. "This comes of unstrung bows and +peaceful counsels, the way of the serpent on the rock rather than of +the lion by the water-spring, or the eagle in the sky. Go to! Are the +spears of Ashur bulrushes by the river-side? Are his horses ham-strung? +Hath the arm of his might dwindled to the lily hand of a maiden? I tell +you, that for every furlong they have taken their captive beyond the +bounds of Shinar, I will send chariots of iron and mailed horsemen a +league into the land of Armenia to burn, ravage and destroy, to bring +away their gods and lead their men and maidens into captivity! Nay, if +so much as a hair of Sarchedon's head shall have fallen, I will sow +their country with salt, and blot out its very name from among nations! +Damsel, depart in peace; your petition is granted. I have spoken." + +Exulting in her success, yet even more bewildered than rejoiced by the +good fortune that had gained her object without sacrifice of personal +freedom, Ishtar lost no time in obeying the royal injunction. Shrouding +her fair face in its veil, she wrapped her rent garments modestly about +her, and glided into the thickest of the crowd. Her escape was for a +moment unnoticed, while the king gazed thoughtfully on the amulet she +had left for a gift; but looking quickly up, as if about to give some +directions to Assarac, the attention of each was arrested by tumultuous +shouting at the adjoining gate, repeated in a thousand echoes of a +thousand voices along the city wall. + +It seemed that both were prepared for disaffection and disturbance among +the populace. They exchanged meaning looks, and Assarac whispered in the +royal ear, + +"There are twenty bands of spearmen massed behind the rampart; priests +and prophets are scattered in the market-places and squares of the city; +chariots of iron are harnessed in scores, and horsemen by thousands wait +but the holding up of my hand to mount. I pray you give the word, and +ere the sun goes down, Baal shall exterminate, root and branch, all who +question the authority of--of my lord the king." + +Looking on the royal personage he addressed, the eunuch's eyes blazed +with an admiration that seemed almost too warm for reverence, too +passionate for loyalty. At the sound of tumult, the signal-note of +conflict, Ninyas started into life with as much fire and energy as +Merodach himself. The folds of the tiara fell back, disclosing those +matchless features, that radiant face, glowing with just such +pleasurable excitement as brightens the aspect of an ardent hunter when +he sights the deer. That supple stately form, springing into graceful +energy of attitude and gesture, seemed an embodiment of beauty in +warlike harness. How could such softness and delicacy be endowed with +such resistless might? Surely horse and rider, thought Assarac, formed a +pair unequalled the wide world through. + +"Keep the men of war back!" exclaimed Ninyas gleefully. "Never take your +eye off my right hand. When I raise it thus, let the spears open out by +wings, unmask the archers, and bid them bend their bows." + +"You will return to the palace!" exclaimed Assarac. "You will not risk +that precious life in a city tumult! By the light of Ashtaroth, by the +blood of Nisroch, by the safety of the empire, by all you hold most +sacred, I entreat you to keep out of danger!" + +His voice was broken with real emotion, his features worked +convulsively, as if he pleaded for something dearer than life, but a +ringing laugh was the only answer to his appeal, and the anxious eunuch +could but press on at a gallop to keep near the white horse and its +rider, as they made for the great gate of Babylon that looked towards +the south. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +UNVEILED + + +Like a swan cleaving the waters, Merodach forced his way through the ebb +and flow of an eager crowd, even dangerous in the impatience with which +it surged to one common centre, where two figures, dusty and +travel-worn, as though arriving from a journey, sat patiently on their +drooping horses to receive with exceeding calmness the cheers and +congratulations lavished by the populace. One of these was in female +attire, and enough of the veil and mantle were thrown aside to disclose +a beautiful face, recognised with wild enthusiasm by the people of +Babylon for that of the Great Queen. Shouts of welcome, acclamations +denoting a transport of loyalty and affection, rose on all sides. +"Semiramis! Semiramis!" was the ceaseless burden of many thousand +voices; while the lowest and dirtiest of the excited multitude demanded +angrily the repeal of that law which forbade a woman to reign over the +sons of Ashur, insisting that their queen should be invested with +supreme authority in this her especial city, the work of her hands, +proposing that she should ride at once to the palace, on a pavement +composed of their own necks and shoulders, many of them proceeding to +fling themselves on their faces with that object forthwith. + +So flattering a reception seemed, however, to raise no corresponding +gratitude in the person to whom it was offered. The beautiful face wore +only an expression of malicious amusement mingled with somewhat scornful +surprise; while the other horseman, riding in close attendance, looked +strangely troubled, whispering doubt and apprehension in the ear of his +more composed, if more contemptuous, companion. + +Sethos--for it was no other than the Great King's cup-bearer who thus +found himself in a situation of extreme perplexity--on his arrival in +Babylon felt indeed at his wits' end. When he obeyed the summons of his +young lord, to ride with him through the desert, day and night, till +they reached the great city, which Ninyas, for reasons of his own, +proposed to enter in female disguise, he bade farewell to the grim +towers of Ascalon with a light heart, looking on the expedition, though +it necessitated more bodily exertion than he loved, as one of intrigue, +mirth, and amusement, especially at the end. The little he could gather +from Ninyas during their journey failed to prepare him for such a +reception as awaited them; and indeed the young king toyed, trifled, and +galloped through all these leagues of burning sand as if life had +nothing more serious to offer than the jest of leaving his tired +attendants, one by one, in the wilderness, and riding his own good horse +mercilessly to the point of death. + +It had ever been the nature of Ninyas to appear lightest of heart when +most he saw cause for vexation or anxiety; nor, indeed, was it without +good reason that he quitted his retirement to look after his +inheritance in person, and made an effort to retain the sceptre, which +he first learned was his own at the moment it seemed so mysteriously to +be slipping from his grasp. + +His conversation with Sethos had been the earliest communication he +received of his father's departure to the stars; it filled him with +wonder and alarm. Subsequent explanations and comments of the cup-bearer +served only to increase his bewilderment. But for the audacity of such a +proceeding, he would have felt satisfied that another had personated him +in order to rob him of his crown. + +It perplexed him, too, that he should have received no tidings from the +mother to whom he was accustomed to fly in all his difficulties, +feeling, perhaps, no little concern for her safety as well as for his +own succession. + +The escape of Ishtar also angered him to the core, while of Rekamat he +was wearied, even to disgust. He resolved, therefore, on returning +without delay to Babylon, there to examine for himself the opposition +with which he had to contend, adopting the attire of a woman, as most +likely thus to avoid recognition, while he prosecuted his inquiries and +ascertained the nature of a conspiracy that must have been organised for +his destruction. + +It seemed, therefore, inconvenient and untoward in the last degree to +find himself the object of such an ovation as now greeted him, denoting +enthusiastic attachment, not for himself, but for the mother to whom he +bore so close a resemblance. He felt his position more embarrassing than +ever, when it dawned on him that in his own capital his own people +mistook him for the queen. A score of times he strove to address them, +and a score of times his voice was drowned in the deafening acclamations +that arose the moment he opened his lips. + +His patience was failing fast, and an angry light already glittered in +his eyes, when the whole expression of his face changed to one of +extreme consternation and dismay. Dashing up at a gallop, and halting +within two strides, sat a figure on a white horse, so like himself in +his ordinary royal attire, that for a space in which a man might have +counted a hundred, his senses deserted him, and, speechless from +sheer amazement, he could but gaze with dilated eyes, like one +horror-stricken at some vision from another world. The face, the form, +the scarlet robe, the princely tiara, the golden collar, the jewelled +sword, the very trappings of the horse, were all his own; and in the +gesture with which that figure suddenly drew rein to station itself +motionless over against him, he seemed to see _himself_ not in the +foolish disguise he had lately assumed, but as it had been his custom to +ride through the streets of Babylon, the darling of the Assyrian people, +the flower of young heroes, the fairest of young princes, in the eastern +world. + +Brief as was the interval during which his presence of mind forsook him, +it was long enough to permit one of those rapid strokes by which, in +love, war, and policy, bold spirits gain the mastery; the other Ninyas +had also paused for a moment, as if confused and uncertain how to act, +but Assarac, pressing to the white horse's side, whispered a few earnest +words in its rider's ear--words that brought a flash of energy and +intelligence into the beautiful face of his listener, ere the eunuch +turned in the saddle to impress some hasty directions on a captain of +ten thousand, who was in attendance at his back. + +Meantime the multitude shouted louder than ever, crowding, as they +believed, in eager homage about their queen, unconscious of the pressure +caused by a ring of spearmen circling gradually round Sethos and the +veiled figure at his side. + +Mingled, however, with the protestations of loyalty and affection +lavished on Semiramis, rose many a seditious outcry, many an angry burst +of impatience and contempt against the name of Ninyas. As the spearmen +encompassed the newcomers, there was much increase of ill-humour amongst +the multitude, thus wedged together by a band of iron that compressed +them from without--women shrieked and fainted--children were trampled +under foot--strong men, reeling and swaying to and fro, cursed audibly, +directing savage scowls and fierce abuse at the rider of the white +horse, as though their ruler were answerable even for the excesses of a +disorderly crowd. The storm increased, the human waves surged, swelled, +and roared, everything indicated a tumult, and still the serried ranks +of spearmen narrowed their circle, drawing closer and closer round the +little knot of figures on which all eyes were fixed. + +"Never had man or woman such a chance!" whispered Assarac. "By the body +of Ashur, his sceptre has come down from the stars into your very hand. +It is but to close your fingers, and you grasp it once for all!" + +The rider of the white horse replied by a look of intelligence in the +eunuch's face, and a gesture of supreme contempt for the noisy +multitude. + +Assarac's eyes answered with a gaze of devoted and passionate adoration. + +"Opportunity," he murmured, "is the harvest of the gods!" But the +sentiment seemed lost on the ear to which it was addressed; for the +fiery white horse, obeying hand and heel, began to plunge with such +formidable energy as soon cleared a breathing-space, so to speak, in the +receding crowd. + +And now the roll of chariots was heard without the gate, while a score +of trumpets answered each other in swelling notes of war from all +quarters of the city. Men knew that for every trumpet rode a thousand of +Assyria's terrible horsemen, armed with bow and spear. + +It was well, thought Sethos, for his lord and himself, that they were so +safely guarded. Stalwart warriors, massed ten deep, kept the people off +on every side; but with thunder of wheels and bray of clarions, a +certain panic took possession of the crowd, and it closed in so heavily +on the plunging Merodach that, active as was the animal, it seemed in +danger of being swept off its feet. Had they once gone down, neither +horse nor rider would ever have risen again. + +Assarac exerted all his strength and all his courage to keep in close +attendance. On his face was graven the set expression of one who elects +rather to die than fail in his desire; and under that storm of howls, +and threats, and bitter execrations, the eunuch bore himself like a man. + +An ever-increasing pressure in the crowd had now forced the white horse +against the surface of the city wall, which sloped upwards from within +at such an angle as permitted a nimble bowman to surmount the incline, +and reach a narrow platform, whence under cover of the rampart he could +discharge his missiles in safety against an enemy. It was very steep, +and afforded a foothold slippery and insecure to the last degree. + +Measuring it in one rapid glance, his rider's hand and heel roused +Merodach's courage to the utmost for his effort. With a bound like a +wild-deer, a shower of sun-baked clay, a hideous moment of poise, +struggle, and recovery, the white horse bore his rider to this point of +vantage and security, standing there motionless, save for a quick +vibration of his ears, a prolonged snort, expressing triumph, defiance, +and a sense of danger past. + +Throned in their recess, the pair seemed rather to have come down from +the gods than gone up from amongst men. + +Such a feat, with such a people, could not but produce an irresistible +effect. Voices raised a little earlier in scorn and hatred now shouted +enthusiastic admiration and approval. One such display of skill in +horsemanship seemed enough to regain for their reckless ruler all the +popularity that had been withdrawn. + +Every eye was now riveted on the white horse and its rider. At a signal +that the latter desired to speak, unbroken silence fell on those +assembled thousands, and not an accent was lost of that sweet measured +voice, clear, full, and musical in the cadence of its every tone. + +"Sons of Ashur," it said, "men of Babylon, conquerors of the world, ye +love the line of Nimrod dearly, but ye love not _me_! Tell me not ye +have changed in one brief moment, because of a bold leap and a willing +steed. I am unworthy to reign over you. I have been weighed, and found +wanting. I have tried, and failed. Baal in his temple has warned me to +abandon the reins I possess neither power nor wit to guide. I have seen +your reception of Semiramis. I know--none better--the worth and wisdom +of the Great Queen. Sons of Ashur, in her favour I abdicate; to her hand +I resign my sceptre, at her feet I lay my crown. May the queen live for +ever! I have spoken. And now stand aside, sons of Ashur, while I come +down, lest I hurt a hair of the head of one of her especial people, whom +she will rule with a mother's love, whom she will lead to triumphs +beside which the glory of Ninus himself shall pale and fade away!" + +With these words, Merodach was urged to the downward leap. A column of +spearmen cleared a passage through the crowd, and the brave white horse, +followed by the eyes of all Babylon, galloped off at speed towards the +palace of the Great Queen. + +When men turned to look for her, marvelling at her strange appearance +among them weary and travel-worn out of the desert, lo, she too had +vanished with her attendant, guarded, it was said, by hosts of archers, +clouds of horsemen who thronged about her so thick and close, that none +might lock on the royal person, nor come within hearing of the royal +voice. + +Nevertheless, each went to his home with a pleasing prospect of coming +rejoicings, of war and triumph, feast and revel, harp, timbrel, and beat +of dancing feet, splendour in the palace, plenty in the suburb, jovial +days and merry nights throughout great Babylon once more. + + + + +Hisroch the Abenger + + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +A SERPENT ON A ROCK + + +A southern sun beat fierce and pitiless on the terrace of the queen's +palace at Babylon. Hewn out of the solid rock, a smooth and glistening +pavement refracted those noon-day beams like burnished metal. Not a +breath of wind arose to cool the heated air; not a bird dared spread its +wing against the burning sky; yet Assarac stood motionless and +thoughtful in the open unshaded space, heedless alike of throbbing +brain, blistered skin, and sandals scorching under his very feet. + +Suddenly he started and stepped quickly forward, like one about to +trample something beneath his heel. Checking himself in the act, he +paused to mark a serpent gliding along the unfriendly pavement, as if +seeking for a hole or crevice wherein to shelter its shining skin and +smooth, flat, cunning head. + +He had thought to slay it; but no, it was not in him to do the creature +harm, as he stood watching it with wistful eyes, and bitter thoughts, +and a strange sad feeling of compassion at his heart. + +Uncoiling many a sleek and glistening fold, it worked its way slowly, +painfully, traversing in all its length and breadth the surface of that +pitiless pavement, so different from the dank morass and tangled brake +for which its nature yearned. The wise reptile, type of caution, +intellect, sagacity, measured its cunning in vain against the beautiful +impenetrable slab, could find no solace in the hard unyielding stone. + +"Is it better, after all," thought Assarac, "to wind, like this wily +creature, along the devious paths of policy, or to take the straight and +open road, leading to danger indeed, but to danger that may be foreseen, +assailed and vanquished with the strong hand? Would I be the tiger, +blind with desire of blood leaping at the wild-deer's throat, to slake a +cruel thirst? or the serpent, crafty, patient, persevering, exhausting +all its ingenuity, all its devices, against an obstacle smooth and +impenetrable as this adamantine pavement, heated by the sun's rays, not +to warm and cherish, but to scorch, wither, and consume?" + +Thus meditating, with an unusual cloud of despondency on his brow, +Assarac turned away, and traversing the large cool hall of the queen's +palace, walked thoughtfully through leafy wilderness and shaded +pleasure-ground to the silver temple of the Fish-God, where he had been +summoned by Semiramis, that he might assist with his counsels the great +design on which her heart was bent. + +Kalmim, who had again resumed attendance in the household of her royal +mistress, rejoicing that the days of mourning were at last expired, +waited as usual in the porch. + +With winning smiles and sparkling eyes--since Kalmim's bow was always +bent for practice as for slaughter--she drew those silken hangings that +screened the presence of Semiramis, and admitted him to the court of +ivory and silver, as she had admitted Sarchedon once before, when that +comely warrior arrived from the camp, bearing the signet of the Great +King. + +The queen had not forgotten. Something in the gesture of her tirewoman, +something in the murmur of doves, the babble of waters, the scene, the +place, the listless noon-day heat, recalled that other interview but too +forcibly now, and she received Assarac with a languid loving smile. + +The eunuch's whole nature glowed beneath her glance, while prostrating +himself at her feet, he pressed the hem of her garment to his lips, with +such rapture and devotion as he had never felt for Baal, Nisroch, +Ashtaroth, nor all the host of heaven. + +Her favourable looks emboldened him to speak; and after the formal +salutation, "Great Queen, live for ever!" he offered his advice unasked, +in a burst of impassioned eloquence, very different from his usual +composed immovable demeanour. + +"It is a war," said he, "of which the new-born babe in the land of +Shinar may never live to see the end, unless indeed it should terminate +in an advance on Babylon by innumerable hosts, under the leadership of +Aryas the Beautiful, and the sacking of our city by those swarms of +fierce savages who congregate in the wind-swept deserts of the north. +The Great Queen's arm reaches far, her hand is strong and skilful; but, +trust me, she is about to plunge it in a very hornets' nest!" + +"And crush them like locusts in my grasp!" exclaimed Semiramis, all her +beauty kindling into flame, while she threw up her graceful head in +feminine defiance. "I make no war with drones, sparing their lives and +taking away their gods, yet exacting small tribute of cattle or slaves: +but when the insects carry stings, it is worth while to conquer and +destroy. They breed _men_, I hear, beyond the Zagros range--men stronger +and fiercer, like their own storms, the farther you march towards the +north. I will carry back ten thousand of their champions, chained in +pairs, to make sport for my fickle people here in Babylon. The blind +fools! they are as proud of their queen's might as if it were their own. +'Twas a good stroke of yours, Assarac, that enabled me to resume my +woman's garment at will. You welded the iron like a cunning smith while +it glowed and sparkled on the forge. I could not patiently endure the +constant restraint; I never should have guessed how irksome it is to be +a man." + +"Irksome, indeed," said the eunuch, "so long as women have softer +skins, stronger wills, and harder hearts. But the prince himself made +the very opportunity that foiled him. I did but whisper in the Great +Queen's ear to seize it. And though she drew her bow almost at a +venture, the arrow flew deftly home, according to her wont." + +"Nevertheless," answered Semiramis generously, "it was _your_ eye that +aimed the shaft, though my finger pulled the string. I have always +esteemed the head that counsels far above the arm that strikes. By the +beak of Nisroch! I believe that I have not in the land of Shinar so wise +and true a servant as this high-priest of Baal!" + +For answer, he was fain to kiss the hem of her robe once more. When he +tried to speak, the words seemed stifled in his throat. With one of her +rapid glances, she even detected something like a tear glisten in his +eye. + +"It is far better and easier," she continued, "to reign for myself, and +meet my people frankly without disguise. While I personated my son, I +felt in every word, every gesture, the likelihood of detection; and they +were beginning to hate me as a king. I saw it every hour. To hate +without fearing--a fatal sentiment in such subjects as mine, whom I can +govern easily as I can rein Merodach, but by far different means. The +ruler of Babylon must have a frank brow, a close mouth, a sharp sword, a +long arm, and an immovable heart. When I reigned here in the absence of +the Great King, ere he--ere he--went before us to the stars--who can +reproach me that I ever turned one step aside, for any consideration of +pity or compunction? And yet, did you not hear, my friend, how they +yelled and shouted, leaping for joy to think they had got their queen +back again? Ah, they have not come to the end of it yet! And now counsel +me, Assarac. What is to be done about the prince?" + +"He is safely disposed," answered the eunuch, keeping his eyes +steadfastly off her face. "Nevertheless there is no gate so close but it +may be opened by treachery, no wall so high it cannot be surmounted with +a ladder of gold. The captains of ten thousand are loyal and trusty +warriors, yet who among them could resist a tempter offering the +leadership of the host? I would bestow my lord Prince Ninyas in a prison +from which no captive escapes, a fortress friend and foe are alike +powerless to break through. There is yet a golden throne vacant in the +sky, and he might take his place in it without delay, by the side of the +Great King." + +It was a ghastly proposal; yet Semiramis seemed to listen without +astonishment, and rather in sorrow than in any outburst of anger or +dismay. She answered in a sad, thoughtful and dejected tone: + +"Such a measure would be wise, I grant, and would set the question at +rest for ever. But I must not--I will not--consent! I cannot but think +the doves that fed me in my infancy have imparted something of their +nature to mine. I loved the boy dearly all his childhood through; none +the less, perhaps, that in form and features he seemed so entirely mine +own. I was a good mother to him, as any sun-burned peasant who brings +her babe into the vineyard on her back; and, will you believe me, +Assarac? he cared more for a rough word or a rude jest from the Great +King than for my fondest caress, my smiles, my very tears. When I have +pleaded with him, even to his own advantage, he has turned his back on +me, and laughed outright." + +How strange it seemed that any man on earth could see that matchless +face unmoved, hear that sweet voice unwon! But Assarac dared not speak, +lest all his self-control should fail, and Semiramis proceeded with her +complaint: + +"He loved the meanest dancing-girl out of the market better than the +mother to whom he owed his life, his beauty, his favour with the Great +King. He would leave me for horse, and hawk, and hound, without a +word--the ring of a timbrel, the flash of a torch, the clink of a +wine-cup, would have taken him from beside my dying bed; and yet I cared +for the lad through it all, sheltered him many a time from his father's +anger, and screened his weakness, his incapacity, his vices, from the +people over whom he thought some day to reign. I have done too much for +Ninyas, and I have had no return. When I sent him to Ascalon with that +white-faced girl, I thought we were rid of his follies for a space, to +the profit of every one concerned. I never dreamed she would leave him, +nor that the child loved its toy so well as to follow even to the gate +of Babylon. That he should ride through in woman's attire must have been +arranged expressly by the gods. Had he come in his own person, I had +been compelled to act with less mercy. I thank you again, Assarac, that +you saw the opportunity at a glance. One so sage in counsel, so quick in +action, cannot but be skilful in war. Ere this year's dates have turned +to russet, you and I will flaunt the banner of Ashur in the very face of +the Beautiful King before his gate at distant Ardesh, and water our +horses, whether he will or no, in the swift Araxes. War is the sport of +kings, and am not I more king than queen when I mount my chariot in +harness and headpiece, armed with bow and spear?" + +"And does love count for nothing in the project?" asked the eunuch, with +so much of reverence as masked, but did not quite conceal, a bitter +sneer. + +Semiramis turned from him in obvious displeasure: under the delicate ear +he marked her very neck grow crimson with a blush. He bore pain well, +this priest of a false god, and proceeded to urge his objections in the +calm tone befitting one who offers counsel to a superior. + +"Has the Great Queen counted well the cost?" said he. "Has she +considered how many bones of men and horses must whiten the line of +march to rearward of her armies, ere they pass the Zagros range? Can her +chariots of iron penetrate its wooded defiles? How shall her camels +climb its steep and slippery rocks? Say she advances to the fertile +country beyond the hills: she must either encounter those terrible +savages, who worship a naked sword as the sons of Ashur worship Nisroch +and Baal--gigantic warriors, clad in skins, but armed with bow and spear +eating human flesh and drinking horses' blood--or she will behold a +barren plain before her, its peasants fled, its wells choked up, its +harvest wasted by fire, affording neither food nor water to man or +beast. When she has surmounted these obstacles, with the loss of half +her strength, she will find herself face to face with a countless host +of horsemen from the northern desert, under the leadership of Aryas the +Beautiful himself." + +In many respects, she was a woman to the core. + +"I have heard he _is_ beautiful," she answered with a light laugh. + +His reply was grave and sad: + +"Could not he have met Semiramis, at the frontiers of her empire, in +all honour and splendour, without encounter of armies and shedding of +blood? Must he, too, rue the youthful manhood and comely face that bring +him a captive to the Great Queen's chariot-wheels, because of her +ungovernable desire--" + +"How, slave!" she burst out fiercely. + +"For glory and warlike renown," continued the eunuch; adding, humbly +enough, "My life is in her hand. Let the queen take it, here at the +shrine of Dagon, rather than do aught which shall prejudice her honour +and her name." + +She looked appeased. + +"It is mine honour," said she, "that this matter immediately concerns. I +send an embassy, demanding a certain captive at the hand of Aryas; and +what is his reply? Neither gifts nor tribute, nor words of homage and +respect, but two winged arrows bound together by a link of gold. It +needs not the dark wisdom of the Egyptian to interpret such a sign. He +means that this is no question of barter or ransom, but one to be +decided between us by bow and spear. It is the issue I most desired in +my heart." + +"He means that the Comely King and the Comely Queen should join their +hosts, and bind themselves together in a link that can never be +dissolved," murmured the eunuch, almost with a groan. + +She smiled in beautiful scorn. + +"I have the arrows in my quiver," said she; "the first shall be shot +into his camp, the day I meet him face to face, with its feathers dipped +in blood. It may warn him, perhaps, that I have sworn to drive the +second with mine own hand through his heart. There are goodly men in the +world, I trow, besides Aryas, and one ten thousand times as fair is +wasting in captivity even now. Prate not to me, Assarac! I tell you, +that if I wrap the world in flames, I will have Sarchedon back, here in +Babylon, before this year's dates have fallen from the palm! I am sick +till I see his noble face again. It is enough: I have spoken." + +Then the eunuch knew he was dismissed, and passed out of the temple +sadly, thoughtfully with drooping head, folded hands, and slow dejected +step. + +Crossing the terrace once more, he looked about for the serpent; but it +was gone. + +Calling to mind its struggles and windings, he wondered where and how it +could have found rest, foiled at every turn by the glowing surface of +that smooth unimpressionable stone. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +BEFORE THE ALTAR + + +But for priest, as for warrior, there is no respite from daily duty, to +be discharged with scrupulous care and unfailing zeal, however sore may +be the heart within, aching under linen garment or proven harness of +steel. Assarac must needs officiate at the altar of his god an hour +before the sun went down, even had a victorious enemy been wasting the +city with fire and sword, or had his own life been about to terminate +with the first shadows of night. + +How he loathed the mummery, that yet made him all he was; the machinery +of which he knew so well each cog-wheel, catch, and lever; the false +glare and sparkle that seemed so poor a substitute for the steady rays +of truth! And yet he dared not whisper, even to his own heart, how mean +and paltry was all this artifice by which he climbed to power. + +He had a new religion now--that religion of the heart which sweeps wiser +creeds away in a flood of blind unreasoning devotion; which degenerates, +without a misgiving, into the wildest fanaticism, and can number its +martyrs, as compared with those sacrificed to any other superstition, at +the rate of a hundred to one. + +He did not conceal from himself that he loved the queen--he, for whom +the love of woman must ever be as the blind man's desire for light, +fiercer, perhaps, and more ungovernable, because of the very +impossibility that it should be realised. Cruel are the pangs of a +hunger which is not even fed by hope. Intolerable is a thirst to which +the very offer of water seems but mockery and aggravation. Nevertheless, +he did not care to strive against his folly now. For a time, he had +believed himself invulnerable--thought his very nature kept him +safe--and that, for him at least, there must ever be an insuperable bar +between admiration, regard, sympathy, and the slavish devotion which +others call love. After admiration had become indiscriminating, regard +unreasoning, and sympathy painful, he shut his eyes to the truth for +about a day; but when he opened them, yielded without effort, plunging +wildly into the abyss, owning a certain morbid pride, in the +consciousness of his self-immolation, the while. + +And now heart, brain, and faculties were all saturated with the poison. +His strong will yielded gladly to the spell; his keen intellect was +content to follow where it ought to lead; and had the queen bid him help +her, as she said, to wrap the world in flames, his own hands would have +brought the fire, though it scorched him to the bone. + +To say that he loved is to say that he was jealous; but the torture he +suffered was to that of other men as a cancer feeding on the vitals to a +flesh-wound lacerating the skin. _They_ might fret and struggle, +gnashing their teeth, raving vengeance, threatening reprisals, +alternately worsting the rival and reproaching the idol; but _he_ must +suffer in silence, smiling however sad, erect however crushed and +humbled, outwardly serene though troubled to very madness within. + +And all unvisited by a ray of light, a glimpse of hope, even by the +dream of what _might_ be, which has gilded so many a weary night-watch +with fleeting visions of the dawn. Surely, through its very degradation, +there was something sublime in such utter self-abasement, such complete +self-sacrifice of love! + +And yet his port was never more assured, his step firmer, his aspect +more dignified, than when, after this interview with Semiramis, that had +stung him to the core, he took his place at the altar to offer the usual +evening sacrifice to his god. + +The sun was sinking, and its level beams shed a crimson flush on the +white garments of a band of priests, as on the spotless alabaster +columns that crowned the lower story of the temple, supporting those +upper chambers, of which the mysteries were veiled to eyes profane. A +hundred steps, broken by five stately terraces, led down to an open +space, in which thousands were crowded to witness the ceremony with +upturned faces, that glowed no less vividly than did altar, shrine, and +priests in the warm red lustre of a setting sun. + +As in the morning to the east, so in the evening sacrifice the people +turned themselves to the west. + +A score of oxen stood lowing behind the altar. It seemed the poor beasts +felt some forebodings of the fate that awaited them; though not till +incense had been burned and drink-offerings poured out were their +throats to be cut, at a given signal, and their flesh roasted for the +consumption of that lavish god, whose daily service thus required the +presence of a thousand satellites. These stood, marshalled like +warriors, in rear of Assarac and Beladon, who assisted him in his +functions. Swinging their censers, they continued chanting, or rather +muttering, in a low voice and a minor key, certain formal repetitions, +detailing the names and quality of their deity. + +After a short delay, during which Assarac kept his eyes steadily fixed +on the setting sun, he advanced before the altar, followed by Beladon, +who waved above his superior's head the mystic ring, which, enclosing a +representation of wings, formed the emblem of that incomprehensible +power whose attributes were ubiquity and eternity. The eunuch's gait and +gestures were solemn and imposing in the extreme; his ornaments of +massive gold, his spotless robes, deeply embroidered, falling in heavy +folds about his person, his fine stature and noble bearing--all were +calculated to enhance his own dignity and that of the sacred office he +fulfilled. Turning slowly to Beladon, he received at the hands of that +assistant a golden cup filled with wine to the brim, and poured from it +gravely a libation to the four quarters of heaven, finishing with the +west. A hundred priests then advanced, chanting their hymns in time to a +measured march, a hundred timbrels rang in sounding strains to the +praise of Baal; and while fires were kindled, while smoke went up, and +music swelled, the blood of twenty oxen flowed round the altar, filling +the channels cut to receive it with a bubbling crimson stream. + +Assarac and Beladon stood on each side, facing the people, wrapt, as it +were, in a holy trance. Men looked on them in awe-struck wonder as +votaries under the immediate influence of the god, whom Ashur himself, +coming down from his throne, might address face to face, who were +communing even now in spirit with the souls of departed heroes, with all +the powers of all the host of heaven. + +Little did they think how the eunuch's whole being was possessed at that +very moment by a human vision of the brightest eye that ever shone in +promise, the sweetest lips that ever kissed or smiled; while his +attendant, yielding to desires yet more of earth, earthly, pierced the +crowd with a gaze that, for all its semblance of holy preoccupation, did +but seek a well-known female figure, alluring of form, lavishly attired, +and not too closely veiled. + +No sooner had the sun gone down, the stars come out, than Beladon, whose +time was now his own, sought one of those courts which formed a +communication between the temple of Baal and the king's palace, supposed +by the people of Babylon to be occupied by Ninyas in a retirement from +which their present temper would have rendered it extremely dangerous +for him to emerge. Semiramis had returned to live in her own royal +dwelling, where she held such state as caused all former magnificence to +pale. The king's house, therefore, as it was called, became +comparatively deserted; and with the exception of its wooded parks or +paradises, fenced off for game, no spot in the whole city could have +been so secluded as that in which Beladon lingered, pacing to and fro, +stopping, muttering, glancing about him in fretful perturbation of +spirit, peculiar to one waiting for a woman on whom he cannot quite +depend. "At last!" he exclaimed, catching sight of a veiled figure +gliding amongst the arches that skirted the court, like a ghost in the +dubious starlight. "At last! And I saw you in the midst of the multitude +before the sun went down, looking on at the sacrifices. Where have you +lingered, woman, and what have you been doing since?" + +Kalmim, for it was none other, raised her veil and laughed in his face. + +"Who hunts learns cunning," said she. "Who toils learns skill. Who waits +learns patience. With cunning, skill, and patience, even a priest may +come at what he desires." + +"Kalmim," he exclaimed earnestly, "do you believe there is nothing I +would shrink from that you bade me undertake? Are you assured that I am +constant and true as your own shadow on the wall? Do you trust me as I +trust _you_?" + +She had an object; and laid her hand on his arm with a pressure that +implied a world of confidence, while she answered, + +"Stanch as string to bow, hound to slot, a woman to her mirror, and a +man to his desire. We have never been less than friends, Beladon, why +should we? Perhaps, at last, we may be something more." + +He had an object too; therefore, resisting the impulse that prompted him +to pass his arm round her waist without farther ceremony, he assumed an +air of respectful devotion and observed, + +"I have no secrets from Kalmim; I trust her without reserve. There is +not a question she could ask me I would hesitate to answer from my +heart. Will she do as much for me in return?" + +"Of course!" she burst out frankly, while her bold black eyes looked him +through and through. "What do you desire to know?" + +"Arbaces was my friend," he replied abruptly. "The Great King's chief +captain fell shamefully murdered in his own dwelling. His daughter was +carried off by force into the desert. What has become of her now?" + +"You love her!" she exclaimed, turning her head away in feigned +vexation. "You love Ishtar, the cunning white-faced wanton! I ought to +have known it; I _did_ know it all along! And yet _you_, Beladon--I +thought you so different from the others. O, it is hard to bear! How +could I have been so weak? How can I be so foolish now?" + +She had put him thoroughly in the wrong. Surprised, alarmed, perplexed, +perhaps not a little softened and flattered, he hastened to excuse +himself with more ardour than discretion. + +"It is for Assarac," he stammered, "not for me. The chief priest saw her +awhile ago in the market, and she has escaped him--_him_ who can track a +bird in the air surely as a camel on the sand! He bade me trace her. +That is why I came to _you_." + +It passed through Kalmim's mind, that if Assarac set such store by the +discovery of Ishtar's refuge, the information she had power to give +would only be of value so long as it was withheld. If she would get her +price, she must beware of submitting her merchandise to the light of +day. The good-will of her customer too must obviously be secured in the +first instance. + +"And you do not love her yourself, Beladon?" she sobbed. "You are sure of +it--you will swear it--on--on--the altar of your god!" + +The storm had lulled--yet not too suddenly. The heaving bosom, +half-unveiled, though somewhat deep in colour, was not without its +charms. + +"By every altar of every god that reigns," answered the deluded priest. +"By Ashtaroth, queen of love and light; by Baal, in whose very presence +even now I stood; and by your own sweet self, whom I worship perhaps +more fervently than all the host of heaven put together!" + +"I cannot but believe you," she answered, smiling sweetly, while she +abandoned her hand to his caresses. "Nay, it would make me very sad +_not_ to believe you, Beladon. Will you always be true to me?" + +"Always!" he exclaimed, with an appearance of sincerity that might +perhaps be attributed to his habit of making the same profession to +every woman who was kind and fair. + +She, too, was not without practice, and accepted the assurance calmly +enough. + +"You _do_ love me," she whispered, "and, indeed, if ever I could bring +myself to think of a priest, it should be one like--well, like Beladon, +perhaps, though I sought in every temple through the land of Shinar till +I found him. And now, if I tell you all I know, frankly and freely, will +you promise me what I ask in return?" + +"I promise," said he, pressing her hand to his lips. + +"Will you swear?" she asked. + +"Can you not trust me without an oath?" he pleaded. + +"Freely," was her answer. "But you must swear it nevertheless, to please +_me_." + +"I _do_ swear!" he exclaimed. "By the Seven Stars--the Consulting +Judges--the might of Baal--the blood of Nisroch himself!" + +"And by the three wings in the circle," she added impressively. + +He hesitated; but the dark eyes, softer and sadder than their wont, were +looking straight into his own, the balmy breath was on his cheek. Kalmim +had never before seemed so kind, so womanly, so lovable, and he +committed himself to his promise by swearing that solemn oath which, +neither in letter nor in spirit, did a son of Ashur ever dare to break. + +She looked more than satisfied. "I can tell you all about Ishtar," said +she, "so long as she remained within the city walls, because I, who +speak with you now, accompanied the girl, for old friendship's sake, +beyond the southern gate, even to the Well of Palms, when she departed. +She rode an old and sorry camel, bearing but a skin of water and a lump +of dates. She was veiled and clothed for a long journey. I had nursed +her on my knees when I was scarcely more than a babe myself; and I +helped her, I own (for she is poor and lonely now), to beast, clothes, +and provisions--though I begged hard of her to remain, little believing +her earnest assurance, that if she could but find them, she had powerful +friends in the wilderness. Nevertheless, even at the Well of Palms a +tall rider had stopped to water his horse, and she did but speak a word +in his ear, when he dropped on the sand to do obeisance at her feet. I +was frightened, and fled to hide myself in the vineyards; but when I +raised my head, they were riding away together into the desert with +their faces towards the east. My own opinion is, that she has vanished +from the earth like her mysterious mother, and gone back to the stars +from which she traces her descent. And now, Beladon, that I have told +you all I know, I claim from you the fulfilment of your promise and your +oath." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE SNARE OF THE FOWLER + + +He had sworn by the eternal wings, and there was no escape. The wisest +men in their dealings with women have pledged themselves, ere now, to +give precious metal in exchange for dross, and Beladon made no better +bargain when he matched his wits against the keener intellect and finer +perceptions of the queen's tirewoman. + +With grave aspect, and much decreased ardour, he answered somewhat +ruefully: + +"I will do your bidding--not only for mine oath's sake, but because of +the love I bear you. Speak, then--your servant is waiting your +commands." + +"It is not much I desire," said she carelessly, though had there been +more light he might have seen the blush rising to her brow. "We women +have strange fancies, you know; I would fain revisit my old haunts, and +walk once more by night through the palace of the Great King!" + +"Impossible!" he exclaimed, turning pale. "You know not what you +ask----" + +"Impossible!" she repeated, mocking him. "There is no such word +acknowledged by the servants of Semiramis or Baal. Nothing is +impossible, nor impenetrable, nor improper in the city of the Great +Queen!" + +"But my life would hang on your discretion," urged Beladon, much +disturbed--"on the silence of a woman, whose very office it is to repeat +everything she hears, whether false or true!" + +"And where could it hang more safely?" she retorted. "Nay, Beladon, your +welfare and mine are blended together like the bronze and gold of that +buckle on your belt. The interest of one is the interest of both. +Besides, think of your oath! Lead on." + +There seemed no help for it. Taking her by the hand, he guided her +softly through those darkened courts and passages; urging, in impressive +whispers, the necessity of secrecy, laying no light stress on the peril +he was himself encountering for her sake. Thus gliding like shadows, +they passed stealthily through the great hall of the king's palace, +immediately beneath that _talar_, or upper chamber, into which Ninus had +ascended when he poured his last drink-offering to the host of heaven, +and was seen by his people here on earth no more. + +She could not help shuddering while she recalled that awful night, when +a great horror seemed to brood over the city, and men looked blankly in +each others' faces, wondering what should befall them next. + +Catching sight of the famous carbuncle over the gate, glowing, even in +utter darkness, like a living coal, her fortitude gave way, and she +screamed aloud. + +However obtained, Beladon's experience seemed to have taught him that +vigorous measures were judicious in cases of feminine alarm. Seizing her +arm so impressively that she well-nigh screamed again for bodily pain, +he whispered in her ear: + +"It is death for both of us if we are discovered by the priests of Baal, +who now guard the palace. I know my brethren, Kalmim, and I _love_ you. +Listen! I wear a knife at my girdle, and you shall die first!" + +Thoroughly frightened, she hung her head, and held her breath. Could +this be the free-spoken light-hearted Beladon, whom she had hitherto +esteemed a mere frivolous idler, fit only to fill a place in the showy +pageants of his god? He was rising rapidly in her good opinion, while in +her characteristic love of excitement a certain thrill of pleasure +sweetened the terror that admonished her how many risks she ran at every +step. + +Traversing the great hall, they emerged on a terrace commanding one of +those pleasure-grounds for which Babylon was then no less famous than in +after years for the celebrated hanging-gardens that adorned the age of +her decay. It was a wilderness of shrubs and flowers, of grove and rock +and stream--fit haunt for the game with which it had been plentifully +stocked--fit retreat for luxurious royalty during the heat of an +Assyrian day--fit hiding-place to secrete the fair favourite of a +jealous lord--fit stronghold to immure the person of an imprisoned king. + +Its recesses were distinctly visible from the terrace twenty feet above, +on which Kalmim stood. At that elevation she looked over its entire +length and breadth, while a bright moon, high in the heavens, flooded +every nook and corner of this paradise with a light like day. + +It was now dead of night, the wild bird had gone to roost, the wild deer +was couched in its lair, yet a dark object moved across the lawn, on +which Kalmim's eyes were fixed, slowly, stealthily, with long-continued +pauses, like some feline creature prowling for its prey. + +"Come away," whispered Beladon in her ear. "You have traversed the +palace; you have seen the king's garden. It is time to depart." + +She made no answer. Her eyes were fixed and shining; her face set like +that of a sleep-walker, or of one horror-stricken in a dream. + +The figure turned slowly round. Its garments fell disordered and awry, +its hair was dishevelled, its mien wild and scared, but none could +mistake the beauty of that pale startled face; and in the miserable +object thus stealing, shivering through the moonlight, Kalmim did not +fail to recognise the person of Ninyas the king. + +Surrounded by a dense column of spearmen, on whom threats, +protestations, and remonstrances were alike wasted, the hapless son of +Ninus and Semiramis had no sooner entered the city of his inheritance, +in ill-advised disguise, than he found himself a helpless prisoner under +the very eyes of his assembled people, shouting enthusiastic welcome of +his return. So wisely had Assarac's measure been taken, so skilfully had +he disposed the large force at his command, that Ninyas and his +attendant, spite of their struggles, found themselves engulfed, as it +were, and swept away in a resistless rush of spears. Their horses' +bridles were seized, the animals themselves urged to a gallop, the +guards who hemmed them in drowned with noisy cheers even the +acclamations of an excited populace; and so the whirlwind swept on +unchecked towards the king's palace, where all Babylon was persuaded its +beloved queen had betaken herself, there to assume the royal diadem and +sceptre, ere she sought her own dwelling on the other side of the river. + +But Ninyas shuddered while they hurried him under the outspread wings of +those colossal bulls; for something told him they guarded a prison-gate, +obdurate and impenetrable as the very granite from which their huge +proportions were hewn. + +"It is all over," he whispered to Sethos. "The bow is broke and there +are no more arrows in the quiver. This is one of the Great Queen's +master-strokes. I ought not to have trusted her, and yet I thought my +mother loved me too well to have worsted me like this!" Whereto his +follower, from whose smooth and easy nature fortune, good or bad, glided +without making much impression, only answered, "A silken cushion is a +softer couch than the desert sand; a palace in Babylon is a nobler +lodging than the fortress of Ascalon. Baal himself knows not what the +coming hour may bring, but the three wings never cease to turn their +everlasting wheel, and the spoke that is lowest one moment comes +uppermost the next!" + +The cup-bearer's philosophy was so far borne out, that the royal +prisoner found no reason to complain of his personal treatment. His +banquets were sumptuous, his pleasures magnificent, his retinue +submissive, as if he were in truth a king; but, turn which way he would, +he encountered the smooth faces and downcast looks of the priests of +Baal, who answered his questions with irritating professions of +ignorance, and waited on him with a subservience maddening in its +vigilant humility. To those whose very existence depended on the favour +of Assarac had been confided the care of this important captive, and +scrupulously they fulfilled their trust. Though he wandered at will from +court to court and hall to hall of the roomy palace--though he might +take the air, when it pleased him, in its gardens, or follow the chase +in its wilderness--he knew that never for a moment was he +unwatched--felt that words, looks, gestures, all were noted and +reported, that his very thoughts were known; for while many of his +wishes seemed anticipated, his attempts at escape were foiled almost +before contrived. + +This constant supervision could not but tell on such a nature as that of +Ninyas, could not but injure a constitution already sapped by luxury and +indulgence. His health gave way; his mind became affected. He drank wine +indeed, freely, but neither ate nor slept, wandering listlessly to and +fro, chiefly in the open air, regardless of times and season--during the +hours of darkness, as under the glare of noon. Had it not been for +Sethos, who attended him with touching fidelity, his intellects must +have wholly succumbed, and perhaps the purpose of his incarceration +would have been accomplished. But the cup-bearer exhausted all his +ingenuity to rouse and keep alive the faculties of his lord, desponding, +nevertheless, more than was natural to his cheerful spirit and tendency +in all things to hope the best. + +Kalmim, watching the king with sudden frightened gaze, marked how pale +he had grown and wan, how shrunken seemed his stature, how loose the +costly garments hung on his limbs. + +Could he see her? She knew not. He started indeed, and stood at gaze +like a frightened deer, then muttered and ran on, looking up at the +moon, pausing after a few steps, with drooping head and downcast eyes, +to stare on the ground beneath his feet. + +She was a hard, bold, pleasure-loving woman, yet her heart melted within +her, and she wept. + +"Are you satisfied?" whispered Beladon, in accents of considerable +alarm. "I tell you, it is death to know our secrets, death to look on +the sight you now see. Will you not depart ere it be too late?" + +But Kalmim, it is scarce necessary to observe, had another object +besides that of an idle visit to the king's palace, in thus cajoling her +admirer and risking discovery by the dissolute priests of Baal. She had +reason to believe that Sethos shared the captivity of his lord, and with +Sethos she resolved to speak, if such an interview could be brought +about by woman's wit, woman's duplicity, or woman's charms. Laying her +hand caressingly on his arm, she shot one of her sweetest glances in +Beladon's face, and whispered, + +"Be patient with me, if you love me. I do but ask that you will take me +hence to the cedar gallery. I know my way then to the outer court, and +so can depart in peace." + +Her quick wits reflected, that as a communication existed between the +lawn and the cedar gallery, Sethos would be there in attendance on his +lord. + +The young priest pondered in some perplexity. It was his turn to watch +all night over the seclusion of this important prisoner, and he had +counted on the society of Kalmim to beguile the tedious hours till +daybreak; but the risk of discovery by his comrades was too great, the +penalty they would surely exact too hideous, and, for her sake, he +thought better of his enterprise, even at the last. + +"You do with me what you will," he said, after a pause, in which she +almost believed she could hear her heart beat. "If I let you go free +now, you will promise to steal softly out, silent as the dead. +Whatsoever you see you will forget; whomsoever you meet you will pass +unnoticed. All that takes place here must be as a vision of the night, +to vanish with dawn of day. Swear it, by the Serpent of Ashtaroth!" + +"By the Serpent of Ashtaroth!" she repeated, glad to escape on such good +terms; and, true to her easy careless nature, added in a whisper that +sent Beladon well-pleased to his watch, "I am not ungrateful, as you +know; when shall I see you again?--to-morrow, by the temple of Dagon, at +noon?" + +Nevertheless, her cheek paled and her breath came quick while she stole +through the cedar gallery, because, light and fickle as she was, she +_did_ entertain for the cup-bearer something of that mysterious +preference which makes a woman instinctively conscious of _his_ presence +whom she thus distinguishes from the rest of mankind; and, though she +could not see five paces before her, she felt that Sethos was there, and +would accost her as she passed. + +He could be vigilant enough for the safety of his lord, and, if he was +indeed slumbering, her light step brought him to his feet at a bound. +The next moment she was in his arms, with her head on his shoulder. + +"I have risked everything to see you!" she sobbed wildly; "life, and +more than life. O, Sethos, you are a prisoner to those who know not +mercy, suffering none to escape. Do they use you well?" + +His composure was sadly disturbed. It was startling enough to be +accosted in the dead of night by this beautiful vision, glowing and +panting in his embrace; but yet more surprising, surely, to find himself +an object of such interest to the queen's tirewoman. + +It is but justice to say that his first thought was for the safety of +his unexpected visitor. + +"How came you here, Kalmim?" he exclaimed, "and how are you to get away +again? Know you not that we are closely guarded by the priests of Baal? +If they found you in their precincts, all the wings of Nisroch would +scarcely save you from their wrath." + +"I am not so bad a captain," said she, hanging fondly to his arm, "but +that I have secured my retreat. I made Beladon guide me to this spot. I +know the secret passage hence to the outer court. It is guarded by a +hundred of the neophytes, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the +temple. They would as soon dare question Semiramis herself as the +favourite tirewoman of the Great Queen. It is of _you_ I am thinking, +Sethos. It was to find _you_ I came here at the dead of night--to see +_you_, to comfort _you_, and to consult upon some plan for _your_ +escape." + +The moon shone faintly into the gallery. By its light she could observe +how sad was his brow while he answered, pointing to the terrace: + +"Kings on their thrones have armies at command, and hosts are left them +after hosts have melted away. But this king in a prison hath but one +subject to do his bidding. Shall not that servant stick closer than a +brother, cherishing for his master a love surpassing the love of women?" + +"It is impossible to save you both," said she despondingly. + +"Then save the king," he answered simply and with a cheerful smile. + +"Nay, Sethos," said she; "I would peril much for your sake, +because--because--you never asked of me anything for yourself, and what +you bestow on man or woman is given freely and without an afterthought. +But Ninyas is one, and you are another. If I am to risk life and limb, +it must be for the cup-bearer, not for the king. I am not like an armour +of defence, to be put on or laid aside at will. Steel headpiece and +linked habergeon ward off death from this man as from that; but, trust +me, there is some difference between a harness of proof and a woman's +heart." + +He looked kindly in her face, and a thought seemed to strike him. + +"Even here, in our imprisonment," said he, "there sometimes reaches us +an echo, faint and feeble, of rumours that stir the outer world. Is it +true the Great Queen has summoned an innumerable host to march +forthwith on this expedition to the North?" + +"It _is_ true," said Kalmim; "and she leaves me here at home--_me_, +without whom awhile ago she could not lay a plait nor plant a bodkin. +But that you are here in captivity, Sethos, and I shall be near you, it +would have angered me bitterly, and I had reproached her roundly to her +face. But let her beware! A smouldering flame is not a fire +extinguished; and none was ever yet the better for offending Kalmim, +with or without a cause." + +"In the queen's absence, there must be a governor of the city," he +whispered. "Will the obedience of the people be given to such a one when +their ruler is many a day's march away? O Kalmim, if Ninyas be ever +righted, ever sit on the throne of Ashur in the palace of his fathers, +I, even I, shall stand in a dress of honour at his right hand; and who +but Kalmim will then really sway the sceptre, far and wide, over the +whole land of Shinar?" + +Her eyes flashed, her cheek glowed. No woman is so empty, so frivolous, +but that she willingly entertains a project of ambition; and the last +watch of night had passed away, dawn was already glimmering on the +horizon of the desert, while Sethos and his visitor were yet taking +earnest counsel together how they might restore the dynasty to its +rightful heir, and sap, till it crumbled into ruins, the glory and power +of her who was now supreme mistress of the eastern world. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE VEILED QUEEN + + +In all her reflected splendour as the wife of the great conqueror--in +her richest lustre of youthful beauty--in her noblest state of royal +magnificence while she administered for an absent husband the affairs of +his boundless empire--never did Semiramis appear so glorious, so +beautiful, or so queenly, as when she passed in review, on the frontiers +of the land of Shinar, the innumerable forces she had collected, less, +indeed, to gratify the cravings of ambition than of a softer yet more +engrossing sentiment, which in her woman's heart predominated over +desire of conquest and love of war. + +Even with her untold resources, unscrupulous strength of will, and +unquestioned power, it was no light task for the Great Queen to muster +such a host as might invade the strange and distant regions for which it +was destined, if not with certainty of victory, at least, without +prospect of defeat. To the haughty Assyrian, polished and luxurious, +though fierce and warlike, that rude inhospitable country, from which he +was fenced by his northern mountains, seemed awful as the land beyond +the grave. For him, the word "Armenia" meant a place of horror, mystery, +and romance. With Egypt he was familiar as with the sandy desert that +parted him from his ancient enemy. Of Ethiopia, notwithstanding its +scorching suns and endless wastes, he had formed his own ideas, +sufficiently extravagant, attributing to its burning clime many demons, +monsters, and other prodigies, yet wholly satisfied that all the powers +of the south, in or out of nature, were as nothing before the face of +Baal and the might of Ashur. The warlike Philistine tribes, even the +redoubtable children of Anak, he had fought against, with varying +success, gradually absorbing them in his own dominion or pushing them +farther into the wilderness. It was his custom to conquer wherever he +found room to drive his chariots and wheel his horsemen; but he had +never yet penetrated beyond the Zagros range to the snowy peaks, the +shaggy woods, the dreary wilds of the North. That he should meet with +peril and adventure such as the veterans of Ninus had not even dreamed, +he was fully persuaded; that he should overcome all obstacles, he had +been no son of Ashur had he not implicitly believed; but that he was +engaged in a formidable undertaking, and would encounter a powerful foe, +seemed obvious from the enormous levies collected, and the gigantic +preparations made to carry out the war. + +The whole expedition was commanded to assemble within a few days' march +of the frontier, there to receive final orders, and pass in review under +the eyes of the Great Queen. + +Wearing a dazzling harness of steel inlaid with gold, and a burnished +helmet, on which blazed a ruby of such size and splendour that its rays +seemed to play round her head like a plume of fire, Semiramis, standing +in a war-chariot, revealed to her assembled host a beauty brighter than +the metal, richer and more lustrous than the gem. Close by her wheel, so +that she could mount him at a moment's notice, was led Merodach, +caparisoned with crimson and gold. Not a warrior in the host who looked +on him but swore that white horse with his eyes of fire was well worthy +to carry so precious a burden. She seemed to prize him dearly, laying +her hand on his smooth and swelling neck in frequent caresses, which the +horse acknowledged with arching crest, brightened eye, and quivering +ear, looking about him, nevertheless, as if not wholly satisfied, and +neighing loudly on occasion when a burst of martial music, or the tramp +of an armed column, seemed to wake in him certain memories of the heart, +so faithful and so touching in that creation man is pleased to call the +brute. Though Semiramis had broke him to her hand, and tamed him to her +will, she could not teach the horse to forget his rider. Perhaps she +loved him none the less that ear and eye seemed always on the watch for +his absent lord. + +Hanging diagonally against the panel of her chariot, within ready reach +of her royal hand, swung a quiver of sandal-wood, containing but the two +arrows which the Comely King had sent in answer to her haughty demand. +She had sworn by Ashtaroth never to draw bow till she came face to face +with Aryas, and then to return him his own warlike tokens in deadly +quittance, accompanied each with five hundred thousand men. + +Flashing back the light from its polished surface like a mirror of +steel, the queen's shield, all chased and embossed with gold, was +suspended at the back of her chariot. As the coveted office remained +unfilled, every mighty man of war in the host had in turn believed he +would be selected to bear it before her in battle; but Semiramis, having +long since made her choice, kept her own counsel, determining to face +the weapons of her enemies unfenced until she had set _him_ free to +protect her person, who was never out of her thoughts; who had obtained, +perhaps from his very indifference, so strange an ascendency over her +wild and wilful heart. + +Assarac, the eunuch, well pleased to accompany the expedition, coveted +more than others this honourable post. When captain after captain had +been passed over, a sweet intoxicating hope bade the priest's brain +swim, and so changed his character that in a transport of enthusiasm he +could forget alike the exigencies of policy and the dictates of common +sense. + +Descending from his chariot, he approached the position Semiramis had +taken up, while the flower of her armies passed by in countless +thousands, and, making his obeisance, proffered a request that he might +be permitted to guard her safely with his life, in terms of the humblest +devotion ever offered by a subject to a queen. + +She laughed in his face--a kind frank hearty laugh, that stung him to +the quick. + +"What are you thinking of," said she, "my trusty sage and counsellor? +Surely that weight of steel on your brow has disordered the workings of +your keen and subtle brain. Know you not, that when Semiramis mounts her +war-chariot, she drives in the fore-front of the battle? I tell you, +man, I have had shafts and javelins flying round me as thick as locusts +on a field of barley in the blade! I have seen the stoutest captains of +Ashur cower beneath that deadly hail! What would a priest of Baal do in +such a storm?" + +He was deeply hurt, and showed it. Had not he, the priest, the eunuch, +confronted dangers in her interests at home to which the reddest +battlefield that ever ran with blood was but a game of play? He felt +within him a spirit of fierce and reckless daring far above the animal +courage of the spearman, but he only answered sadly, + +"I could at least die at the feet of my queen, making of my body a +pedestal for her to crush and trample, if it raised her but an inch!" + +With a cruelty, the more pitiless that it seemed so utterly unconscious, +she turned on him her soft alluring glance, her sweet bewildering smile. +Perhaps, because of his very nature, she was more lavish of such +endearments to _him_ than to others; perhaps, in sheer wantonness of +beauty, she cared not what they were, nor how many, whom she scorched +to death with the fire she thus flung carelessly about; but the avowed +regard, the frank kindness with which she treated her devoted servant, +were at once the provocatives and the punishment of his presumption. + +Meanwhile he, the counsellor, the reader of the stars, the man of +statecraft, of wisdom, the priest, the eunuch, was blindly, madly, in +love with his queen! + +"Could I spare you?" said she earnestly, even tenderly. "Where should +stand the pedestal from which Semiramis may look over a conquered world, +but on the far-sighted wisdom, the unshaken fidelity of her best and +truest servant? I tell you, Assarac, that you and I, beardless though we +be, have more skill of war than all the captains of all this marching +host, that rather than lose your counsel, I would send the half of mine +armies, bows, spears, and auxiliaries, back to the homes they quitted at +my command. And yet look on them, priest. By the beauty of Ashtaroth, +these are not men to be despised!" + +While she spoke, the chariots of Assyria were filing past her, two by +two. Each, drawn by its three horses, contained its complement of +warriors--its heavily armed bowman, his charioteer, and shield-bearer, +all of whom were on occasion formidable foot-soldiers, strong, fierce, +and skilled in the use of deadly weapons. In their midst waved the +scarlet-and-gold banner of Ashur, representing Merodach, god of war, +standing on a bull, with a drawn bow in his hand. Their appointments, +their discipline, their very looks seemed to ensure victory. The queen's +eye sparkled, and the colour rose in her delicate cheek. + +"'Tis a gallant show!" she murmured; "each comelier than his comrade, +and every captain of ten thousand fit to mate a queen. Is it worth while +to hazard all for one so little different from the rest? Yes; I hold +that man was made for woman's pleasure, to destroy him how and when she +will!" + +The eunuch, hearing her last sentence, smiled sadly. "So be it!" he +answered. "The altar must have its victim and the flame its fuel, but +the votary is none the less destroyed that he is consumed in sacred +fire." + +She heeded him not. The war-chariots had passed on, and all her +faculties were concentrated on a troop of mounted auxiliaries, small +indeed in number, but of gigantic stature, riding on horses strong, +swift, and terrible as the desert wind with which they were accustomed +to compete. "What have we here?" exclaimed Semiramis, holding her bow +above her head, and thus bringing the whole array to a halt. "Have the +winged bulls of Ashur come down from their pedestals to march into +Armenia? Are these riders men or giants? Were their horses bred on +earthly plains or are they born from the fire and the simoon? Behold! +Surely they are led by a woman! As I live by bread, another +warrior-queen! but veiled and shrouded like a housewife in Babylon, +stealing out at night to the feast of Dagon. Halt them, I say! And, +Assarac, command her hither to my chariot-wheels forthwith!" + +The eunuch made haste to obey, and the small column formed line at once, +facing Semiramis, man and beast quivering with repressed strength and +spirit, held in subjection by the habit of warlike discipline. Their +veiled leader took her place in the centre, sitting her horse tranquil +and immovable as a statue. + +A tall well-armed warrior rode out, however, from her ranks, and +dismounting, prostrated himself before the queen, while his horse, +waiting for him, watched his motions like a dog. Rising erect, it did +not escape the notice of Semiramis, that his lofty head was on a level +with her shoulder, as she stood above him in the war-chariot. + +"Whence come ye?" asked the queen, "and wherefore are ye ranged under +the banner of Ashur, commanded by a woman like myself?" + +"Thy servants are children of Anak," answered the leader. "They are free +as the wild ass of the desert, paying tribute and owing subjection to +none. They came out of the wilderness at the summons of the Great Queen, +neither for gold nor spoil, but by _her_ bidding whom their prophets +foretold, a daughter of the stars, who has come down to lead her chosen +tribe into the North." + +"Doubtless, from her seat on high she could see far and wide," replied +Semiramis with grave irony; "and she has made no idle choice. By the +beard of Nimrod, I have never set eyes on such men! And she, that veiled +woman on the black horse, is your captain, then? How are ye assured she +is indeed a daughter of the stars?" + +"By the light in her eyes," said he simply. "Once before she appeared +among us, and we knew her not, but suffered her to depart in peace, +according to the prophecy--nevertheless, when she came a second time, +the fire-god cleared our sight, and we beheld in her face the glory of +those whom earthly mothers bore on the mountains to the sons of heaven. +Our fathers looked for her in vain; but she has descended for us, their +sons; therefore at her behest have we gathered under the banner of +Ashur, in the service of the Great Queen." + +"Trust me, you shall not be idle!" exclaimed Semiramis: adding, with +some curiosity, "And this queen of yours? Is she then always thus +shrouded and invisible?" + +"It is death to look on her face," answered the son of Anak. "When she +unveils before the enemy, behold, he will be consumed and waste away +like water spilt on the sand. May the queen live for ever!" + +Semiramis scarce concealed a smile. + +"It is well," said she graciously, making him a sign to retire. "When +the time comes, I doubt not you will quit you like men! Like men!" she +repeated, turning to the eunuch; "rather like the giants of our fathers' +time, whom ye equal in size and strength. Surely, Assarac, we may take +the Comely King by the beard with warriors like these--tall as camels, +strong as wild bulls, fierce as lions, foolish as the ostrich, true +slaves of Ashtaroth, veiled or unveiled, eager to ride to death at the +wave of a woman's hand!" + +He looked wistfully after the stalwart forms, sitting their horses so +proudly, as they trampled on in a cloud of dust; and his heart swelled +with bitter sadness while he asked himself, which of these lusty +champions would pour out his life for her so freely, so gladly as he, +the eunuch, the priest. Must he always be tongue-tied? Would he never +have courage to tell her? Could she not guess it, see it, feel it? O, if +she knew! If she only knew! + + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +ARYAS THE BEAUTIFUL + + +Those personal advantages of strength and beauty which caused the +captivity of Sarchedon in a distant land served also to obtain for him +royal notice and approval when he arrived at the place of his +destination. The merchant who had purchased him from the Anakim knew +well the price commanded by such specimens of manhood in an open market; +but he was also aware of the fictitious value the king of Armenia +attached to men of goodly stature and comely looks, who were skilled in +exercises of war. This wily trader laughed in his beard while he +reflected on the excellent bargain he had made with these simple +children of the desert, from whose tents he led away his Assyrian +purchase towards the mountains of the north. + +Sarchedon, notwithstanding anxiety for the fate of Ishtar, and sad +forebodings of an endless banishment from his own country, had become so +habituated to reverses that they affected his appearance and bearing but +little; while, in spite of mental uneasiness, health and strength could +not but increase under the care of the kindly merchant and his +companions, journeying easily on, with frequent halts, breathing night +and day the free open air, keener and purer as they neared those wooded +mountains that formed a natural defence for the frontier of the Armenian +king. + +The trader, whose avocations led him to visit different countries +bordering on the land of Shinar, spoke fluently the dialects of all. +Springing from a common root, the language differed so little from his +own, that Sarchedon mastered without difficulty such idioms and address +as became an Armenian slave in presence of his lord. When, therefore, he +reached at length the rushing waters of swift Araxis, and beheld the +towers of Ardesh against the clear pure northern sky, he was fit, +thought the trader, in every quality of mind and body to stand in a +dress of honour before Aryas the Beautiful himself. + +Ushered into the presence of the Armenian monarch, Sarchedon, lifting +his eyes to take note of his future master, actually started to behold a +form and figure that seemed, as it were, the reflection of his own in +some magic mirror, glorifying and enhancing every quality for which he +was himself most conspicuous. He beheld a man of similar stature, frame, +and countenance; but the stature was a trifle loftier, the frame even +more shapely, more graceful; while over the comely face, with all its +kingly dignity, played a light smile, so feminine in its softness that +it might well have irradiated the beauty of a twin-sister of Sarchedon. + +To outward splendour of jewels and apparel the king owed nothing. His +garments were of the coarsest texture and the simplest shape, such as +became a hunter of the mountains who would have every limb free and +unfettered for the chase. The bow in his hand, though tough, +well-seasoned, and of formidable length, was rudely tipped with +elk-horn, the sharp straight sword on his thigh hung in a frayed +leathern scabbard, the sandals on his feet were of untanned hide, and +one of them was stained with blood. + +Yet Sarchedon gazed on him with an admiration he was unable to control. +He had seen Ninus in pride and pomp of warlike power, Pharaoh dazzling +in the blaze of his golden throne. The one, without his chariots and +banners, might have been a mere war-worn spearman, the other, denuded of +priceless gems and shining raiment, a peasant or a slave; but this man, +standing unadorned, save by his comely face and noble bearing, looked +every inch a king. + +Twice he prostrated himself in unconscious and involuntary homage, and +twice Aryas the Beautiful smiled on him well pleased; for he too could +not but acknowledge the noble bearing and fair exterior of this stately +captive, vowing in his own mind, that if the courage and intelligence of +the Assyrian were in any proportion to his good looks, he would promote +him without delay to the most honourable post in his court, that of +bowbearer to the king on all dangerous expeditions, whether in warfare +or the chase. + +As time rolled on, there sprung up a strange feeling of regard and +attachment between these two men, so alike in person, so different in +all besides. Such a feeling as is indeed rarely reciprocal when race, +religion, and station are wholly at variance, when one is a monarch, +the other a captive, one master, the other slave. Nevertheless, Aryas +took no small pleasure in the society of Sarchedon, and the Assyrian +entertained in return for this foreign prince a sentiment of loyal +fidelity that bade him ignore hardship or danger, and count life as a +thing of little cost in the service of his lord. + +These feelings, the result of gratitude for kindly courtesy and gentle +usage, grew to utter and entire devotion, from an event that took place +soon after Sarchedon had been appointed bowbearer to the Armenian king. + +With all its feminine beauty of expression, the face of Aryas was that +of a brave resolute man, well suited to such an athletic and graceful +frame, as enabled the Comely Monarch to excel in bodily exercises +demanding strength, agility, or endurance. He was passionately fond of +the chase, and followed out his favourite pastime with a persistency and +reckless daring that rendered it more laborious, and even more +dangerous, than actual war. The Armenian lion, bred among the glens and +fastnesses of those colder regions, was doubtless inferior in size and +ferocity to his African brother, or even to that which Ninus loved to +hunt on the sunny plains of the country between the rivers; yet was he a +formidable antagonist to one who went out to meet him on equal terms, +discarding the advantage of horse or chariot, but advancing on foot to +take his enemy by the beard, opposing teeth and talons only with sword +and shield. Such was the practice of Aryas the Beautiful, and Sarchedon +could not control a transport of generous admiration when he witnessed +the confident courage with which this royal Armenian slew the lord of +the forest in single combat, rousing him to spring rampant against the +buckler, and stabbing the mighty beast from beneath that defence, with +well-directed thrusts of a broad two-edged sword in its tawny sinewy +chest. + +They were together in a deep ravine of that chain of mountains where +tradition declared the first ship to have rested with its various cargo +and its God-fearing crew, when the raven flitted round it to and fro, +when the white bird of peace came back with an olive-branch in her +mouth, ere she left it for evermore. Crowned by the dark and silent +forest, the gray rock rose precipitous on either side. The king's +retinue remained with their horses at a distance, and Aryas followed his +prey into the defile, attended only by Sarchedon in his capacity as +bowbearer. It did not increase the Assyrian's confidence to know that +his quiver was empty and his bow strained. Had Aryas been overpowered, +he could have rendered him no assistance; and the horsemen must have +gone round many furlongs ere they could have ridden down the +mountain-side into this deep and dangerous gorge. Nevertheless, Aryas +the Beautiful, with the bright smile and jaunty step of a peasant-girl +going to market, tracked the lion's footprints one by one till he came +up with him; and when the formidable game turned at bay, observed calmly +to his follower: + +"You are strong, Sarchedon, and I will help you; but 'tis a weighty +carcass for you and me to carry up that steep when we have slain him. +Nevertheless, I must have his skin at any cost. I want it for a +foot-cloth in my war-chariot." + +Ere he spoke again, the lion was quivering in its death-pangs at their +feet, and the king had drunk his fill from a clear cold mountain-spring, +sparkling like a diamond on a cushion in its mossy velvet nest. With no +little labour they carried the dead monster to their companions; and +then for the first time it occurred to Aryas that the life of his +attendant would have been somewhat wantonly risked if he had lost his +own. + +"Up in these mountains," he said kindly, "we are no longer lord and +servant, but true comrades and brother hunters of the wood. That is why +I love to come here. But we all take our share of sport and danger +alike. Wherefore did you not tell me you were unarmed? Had my foot +slipped on that strip of turf, you would have found yourself in no +maiden's embrace, my friend; and stout as you are, yonder, I think, lies +a better wrestler than you." + +"It was for his servant to follow where my lord led," answered Sarchedon +modestly; adding, with the inborn pride of his nation, "The sons of +Ashur are little given to fear; but if a man lacked courage, he might +borrow all he needed from such an example as is afforded by my lord the +king." + +"Nay, my friend," replied Aryas, laughing, "I have no such superfluity +to lavish, for I see my danger clearly when I confront it. Nevertheless, +where there is no fear there is no courage, as there can be no fortitude +where there is no pain. But I will not suffer my followers to risk life +for my amusement; and when we reach the dark forest you see yonder +across the valley, to drive the mountain-bull from his covert and chase +him over the plain, you shall be as well armed and mounted as myself." + +By such frank dealings with his inferiors, such kindly consideration for +others, the Comely King had so attached his attendants to his person, +that it was generally believed amongst his subjects he possessed some +magic amulet compelling all that came about his person to love him and +do his bidding. Perhaps they were not far wrong, and the charm he used +had in it much of strange and subtle power; for men cannot resist a fair +face, a frank manner, above all, the kindly sympathy of a brave and +generous heart. + +Leaping on his horse, the king bade Sarchedon change his bow, replenish +his quiver, and follow him across the defile. As he plunged down the +steep after his leader, over slabs of rock affording but slippery +foothold, and through broken ground clothed with tangled brushwood, +Sarchedon found himself wishing more than once for the sagacious +instinct and obedient paces of his own Merodach. The animal he rode was +strong, active, and full of mettle. For all common purposes he could not +have desired a better; but when a man is galloping at speed over +unforeseen obstacles, where a false step is a certain downfall, he +learns to appreciate that electric sympathy, the result of constant +companionship, which constitutes so subtle and mysterious a link between +the horse and its rider. Merodach would obey an inflection of the body +readily as a turn of the rein, would spring to the gentlest pressure as +to the lustiest shout; but Merodach stood picketed far off under a +southern sky, and Sarchedon's horse was on his head twice ere he rose +the opposite hill to come up with his leader, who had halted for a few +moments that he might look about him and observe his ground. + +"We have the wind of them," said Aryas, pointing to a few indistinct +dun-coloured objects glancing like shadows in and out amongst the +trees. "But they are disturbed, and have left off feeding. When their +heads are up like that, they mean moving, and pretty quickly too. Dost +see that broad-leafed oak standing by itself there over the waterfall? +Gallop round it, man, without drawing rein, and you will be in the thick +of them. They will not expect danger from that quarter, and even if they +do make a rush for it, you will turn the old bulls to me." + +While Sarchedon obeyed, the Armenian king unwound the scanty fold of +linen that formed his head-dress, and permitted it to float at length on +the breeze, thus distracting the attention of the wild cattle, now +thoroughly on the alert, from their enemy. + +Sarchedon galloped on unnoticed so long as his horse's footfall was lost +in the roar of the torrent. When within a bowshot, however, the herd +became aware of his approach, and forming line almost like the horsemen +of Assyria, paused for a space while they roused themselves to fury, +throwing the earth about them with horn and hoof. + +For once the king's wood-craft was at fault. Preferring, as it seemed, a +known to an unknown danger, they elected to bear down on the advancing +horseman rather than make farther acquaintance with that long mysterious +strip of white which had hitherto engrossed their attention. + +Sarchedon now found himself called on to sustain the charge of the whole +infuriated mass. While he fitted an arrow to his bowstring, his horse +snorted and trembled, its eye turning blue with terror. He could but +hope to discharge one shaft at the foremost and then take his chance +with the spear. + +"The fool!" muttered Aryas, sitting like a statue, though eagerly on the +watch, "not to keep on their flanks. It was my fault," he added; "I +should have warned him." + +Then he shook his horse's bridle and charged down at speed amongst the +herd. + +In the meantime the entire mass, headed by the oldest and heaviest +bulls, came thundering on against Sarchedon. Their leader he transfixed, +indeed, with an arrow through its mighty neck; but the animal, with a +roar of rage and pain, only lowered its head and made at him with the +more fury. Had he been on Merodach, he might have escaped; for watching +its attack with wary eye, he would have evaded the collision, and +stabbed it as it passed by; but the horse beneath him had now become +unmanageable from fright, would answer neither heel nor bridle, and +turning its flank towards the enemy, was rolled up by the wild bull in a +confused mass, with its prostrate helpless rider. + +Looking wildly out from under his horse, Sarchedon saw the conqueror's +eye glow like a living coal, felt its warm slaver streak his own +defenceless face, and knew that ringed, curved, massive horn, brandished +aloft with sidelong menace, would only descend to be buried in his +entrails. Already the bitterness of death seemed past, when a horse's +head showed over the wild bull's massive shoulder, an arm was raised to +strike, and the ponderous brute went down almost across Sarchedon's +feet, with spine and marrow deftly cloven by one lightning stroke from +the sharp hunting blade of the Comely King. + +Extricating himself from his fallen horse, the Assyrian bowed his +forehead to the ground, and kissed his preserver's feet. + +"My life is as a prey," said he, "delivered into the hand of my lord the +king, who has saved it at the peril of his own. Therefore, in storm and +sunshine, peace and war, good and evil, I am his slave for evermore." + +Aryas was measuring the dead bull's horn with his bowstring. + +"I can get slaves enough for gold," he answered carelessly. "When I +venture life, it is to buy a _friend_." + +Sarchedon's voice came very low and hoarse, and in his eyes shone the +unaccustomed glitter of tears, while he replied, + +"When I fail my lord, may my steed fall, may my bowstring rot, may my +javelin splinter, and may the woman I love betray me to another for a +measure of barley or a paltry handful of gold!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +A WIND FROM THE SOUTH + + +Day after day the friendship of these congenial spirits grew closer and +more familiar. The Assyrian had related his own eventful history to his +new lord, and Aryas seemed never weary of listening to the tale. Bold, +enterprising, and imaginative, he loved to hear of the conquest of +Ninus, the prowess of the sons of Ashur, the splendour of Babylon, the +wealth of Egypt, and the many adventures through which Sarchedon had +passed in his long journey from the tents of the Anakim to the mountain +fastnesses of his own northern kingdom. He would inquire minutely +concerning the evolutions and tactics of the Assyrian armies, the number +of their chariots, the strength of their cavalry, the weapons of their +men of war, and the proportion in which they made use of sling, bow, and +spear; but he could not be brought to take any interest, apart from her +warlike skill, in the character of Semiramis, paying little attention to +the other's glowing description of her lavish state and luxurious +magnificence, least of all caring to hear of her beauty, her +attractions, the glory of her apparel, the lustre of her personal +charms. + +Even when Sarchedon poured his heart out freely on the subject of his +beloved Ishtar, the Comely King listened, indeed, with a certain show of +kindly interest, as due to the emotion of his friend, but obviously +failed to appreciate the importance of the subject, or to comprehend the +enthusiasm which could thus set up a pair of soft eyes and a fair face +for the aim of a man's whole energies, the reward of his perils and +toils. He did not understand how a woman's smile could possess such +attraction as the bray of a clarion, the flaunt of a banner, or the +managed leap of a horse. + +Beautiful exceedingly, formed to be the delight of the other, as he was +the admired of his own, sex, love to the Comely King seemed but a +foolish riddle, not worth the trouble of solving, an irksome study +interfering with the pleasures of the chase, unmanly, untoward, but, +above all, tedious and out of place when other affairs were on hand. + +"Show me a woman," said he, smiling at his bowbearer's rhapsodies, "with +an eye like my falcon and a heart like my dog; so will I too drink +myself drunk with this folly as with wine, to get sober again as surely, +if not so soon. Till then, give me horse and hound, bow and spear. I +tell you, Sarchedon, the whitest arm that was ever thrown round a man's +neck could not yield me such a thrill of triumph and rapture as the +lion's claw that tore me from loin to shoulder over my buckler while I +stabbed him to the heart with my short sword, ere we carried him, you +and I, up the mountain-side, and skinned his tawny carcass under the old +oak-tree!" + +Sarchedon sighed. + +"I love the chase well," said he, "and warfare better, and Ishtar best +of all." + +"Warfare!" repeated Aryas, catching and kindling at the word like a +war-horse at ring of steel; "talk to me of that till sundown, if you +will! Ah, war is something to live for, something to die for, something +on which to wage sceptre and kingdom and all, if only the foe be worthy +of the venture. Could I but see the sons of Ashur drawn out fairly +before me in battle array, I would fall willingly in their midst, and +hold my fame was crowned since I had lived to measure swords with the +conquerors of the South. But what do I say? These are dreams and unreal +visions. Too many ranges of impassable mountains, too many leagues of +scorching desert, lie between the gaudy pinnacles of Babylon and my rude +towers here in Ardesh. I have not power to go to _him_; and I think, +with all his courage, all his lust of conquest, the fierce Assyrian dare +not come to _me_!" + +They had spent the morning since sunrise in the chase, and had been so +successful as to regain the palace in Ardesh by noon. After a rough but +plentiful repast, the king and his bowbearer were sitting over the +embers of a brazier, each with an untasted cup of wine beside him, +conversing as above. Scores of warriors and retainers, shaggy, tall, +athletic, clothed in furs and skins, crowded round a huge wood fire in +the outer court under the open sky; for although the sun was fierce and +powerful, a storm of sleet had lately swept across the heavens, and +these hardy champions laughed while they wrung their beards to dash the +frozen drops away. There was a shade of despondency on the young king's +brow, and he shook his comely head, while he reflected on the remote +position of his kingdom, and suggested the impossibility of an Assyrian +invasion. + +Sarchedon started to his feet and listened. + +"It is the tramp of a horse at speed," said he. "For good or for evil, +there comes a messenger bringing tidings in hot haste to my lord the +king." + +Even while he spoke, a stir in the outer court denoted some unusual +excitement, while the fire was deserted for the gate, where a crowd had +already gathered round a travel-worn horseman, dismounting from his +reeking beast, panting and jaded with fatigue. + +Sarchedon's face fell, and there was at least as much of self-reproach +as of gratitude in his tone while he exclaimed: + +"Cursed be my day, and oh! that I had never been born! Something tells +me I have brought evil to the hand that fed and the roof that sheltered +me. I know too surely that the enemy is at the gate, that the sons of +Ashur are bending their bows against the safety of my lord the king." + +Aryas smiled, and his eyes glittered like a hawk's. + +"Bring in the messenger," said he in calm sonorous accents; adding in a +lower tone to his bowbearer, "When, in return for fair words, costly +gifts, and a dishonourable demand, I sent two arrows to the land of +Shinar, the one a headless shaft, the other barbed and pointed, it was a +token that Armenia, though desirous of peace, would never shrink from +war. Had a dog sought my protection, he should have been safe behind a +nation of horsemen. Shall I deliver up my _friend_ at the whim of a +proud lascivious woman, though she be twenty times a queen?" + +"Alas," replied the other, "my lord knows not the might of Semiramis. +She is immovable by pity, she is insensible to fear. All the hosts of +heaven could not turn her purpose, nor thwart her desire. I will be the +bearer of an embassy speaking words of peace from my lord the king. I +will go back to put my neck under her foot, and abide my doom." + +"Let her come and take you!" was the gallant answer. "By the sword we +worship, she shall find the task a hard one!--ay, if for every bodkin +she looses from her head-gear she can set in array a hundred thousand +men!" + +The messenger, a rude and hardy horseman of the north, had now arrived +in the king's presence. Prostrating himself but once, and with scanty +ceremony, he stood erect to deliver his tidings in frank bluff tones. + +"I have ridden night and day from the southern frontier," said he. +"Thiras the governor sends greeting to the king. He bids me tell him the +south wind has brought up a flight of locusts, that darken heaven and +cover earth with their swarms. Shall I speak yet farther in the ears of +the people who throng the gate?" + +Aryas shot one glance of intelligence at Sarchedon. + +"Say on," he exclaimed; "I have no secrets from those who sit at meat +with me in the city, and stand beside me in the field." + +Thus adjured, the messenger proceeded: + +"The sons of Ashur have come up in their might from the land between the +rivers. Their war-chariots shake the mountain as they pass, their horses +drink the streams dry where they ride through. Thiras cannot count their +numbers, and what could he do but offer earth and water for tribute, +seeing that they muster under the banner of the Great Queen?" + +Aryas started as if he were stung. The comely face flushed dark red, and +rarely as he lost his self-command, some outburst of anger would surely +have followed, but that another messenger arrived on the heels of his +predecessor, if possible more hurried, more jaded, more travel-worn than +the first. + +He, too, scarcely prostrated himself in the royal presence, and through +the shaggy locks which fell across his brow his eyes shone with the +terror of some wild forest creature hunted by the wolves. + +"From Sambates, governor of Beznun," he stammered, "to the king +greeting. They have cast a bank against Betlis, they have surrounded the +great lake, and called it by the name of their queen. They have overrun +the province, taking fenced cities, burning villages, laying waste +cornland and vineyard, slaying men, and carrying into captivity women +and children. They are swifter than the south wind that brings them, +fiercer than leopards, more terrible than the lightning, and numberless +as the stars of heaven. What could Sambates do but offer earth and water +for tribute, seeing that they muster under the banner of the Great +Queen?" + +Once again Aryas winced and coloured, but controlled himself the more +effectually for the emergency of the situation. In the same instant he +realised his peril, resolved to meet it, and calculated his powers of +resistance. His first aim was to inspire his followers with confidence. +Filling his scarcely-tasted goblet to the brim, he advanced to the outer +court, and standing in their midst, bade them follow his example, while +he drank the national pledge--"To the Men of the Mountain and the Sons +of the Naked Sword!" Then, taking his bow from Sarchedon, he broke it +across, and cast the fragments at his feet in token that war was +declared, while he thus addressed them: + +"The wolves of the wood came up against the mountain-bull, and thought +to slay him, saying, We are fierce and daring, my brothers, because we +live on blood; and this creature cannot resist us, for his food cometh +up under the dews of heaven, and he slakes his thirst in the murmuring +stream of the hills. Also, we outnumber him a hundred to one. Therefore +will we encircle him, and leap on him, and pull him down; so shall we +fatten on his carcass, and drain the warm life-blood from his throat. +Let us go up against him without fear, in an open space, rejoicing that +he has been delivered unto us for a prey. + +"But a herd of wild deer were feeding in the plain, and when the wolves +approached they took to flight; so the mountain-bull, grazing far above +them, raised his head, and was aware of his enemy crowding and circling +towards him, like the waves of the Northern Sea. Then he withdrew into a +thicket, where he set his back against the solid rock; and when the +wolves made at him, fiercely, but one by one, they dashed themselves to +pieces in vain against his shaggy front, writhing under his feet, +falling pierced and mangled by his mighty horns. + +"Men of the Mountain and Sons of the Naked Sword, is not Armenia strong +and tameless as the wild bull of her hills? Are not the sons of Ashur +innumerable and pitiless as the wolves that scour the forest, leaving +only bones white and bare where they have passed? Ye have learned by +these messengers that our country has been entered and our honour +assailed. The banner of Assyria is flaunting in Armenian breezes, the +sons of the Mighty Hunter are trooping in by thousands from the south, +to slay and ravage and destroy. Therefore I call on you at my need, +therefore I bid you to council; not to deliberate on a question of peace +or war, for the bow is already broken and the sword unsheathed, but to +advise with your king and leader how best we shall rid us of our enemy, +and drive the wolf back, cowed, mangled, halting, and howling, to his +den!" + +Wilder, fiercer, louder with every peal, rose the shouts that greeted +the Comely King's harangue, while he paused and looked about him, +stately and graceful, like a master-stag at bay. Brawny arms were +tossed, and naked swords brandished aloft in very ecstasy of warlike +defiance, nor, of all those manly russet-bearded faces, was there one +that failed to express intense hatred of the stranger, implicit trust +and confidence in the might of Armenia, with a fixed resolve to die, if +need be, at worst, fighting hard to the very end. + +When the council which Aryas had summoned took their places for +deliberation, there seemed but one opinion--that, gathering all their +forces without delay, they should pour down into the plain, like their +own rivers in flood, and, overwhelming the foe in their onslaught, sweep +him back to the place from whence he came. Who could stand before the +hosts of the North? Were they not Men of the Mountain and Sons of the +Naked Sword? + +It was the king's bowbearer whose skill and experience tempered this +bold resolve with a degree of caution, resulting from his own knowledge +of the Assyrians' warlike resources. When it came to his turn to speak, +though somewhat mistrusting his advice as an alien, none could gainsay +the soundness of his argument, agreeing as it did with the +half-expressed opinion of the Comely King. + +Insisting strenuously on the countless numbers of the enemy, and their +over-powering strength in chariots and horsemen, he urged that it would +be the height of imprudence to meet them in the open plain, where they +would too surely be encircled and crushed by their enemy in a +resistless girdle of steel. + +"The wild bull," said he, "in the words of my lord the king, hath his +rock, and the Men of the Mountain have their fastnesses. The wolves of +the wood may dash themselves to pieces against the one, and the sons of +Ashur spend their might in vain against the other. Let them advance here +to meet us in the heart of Armenia, and so, falling on them weary, +impoverished, and exhausted, let us fight a decisive battle under the +very walls of Ardesh, and so destroy them, once for all, never to bend a +bow nor lift a spear again." + +After much discussion, the stranger's advice was allowed to be sound and +good. It was resolved, therefore, that the Armenian forces should be +concentrated in the very centre of the kingdom, there to await the +attack of Semiramis with her innumerable hosts; and the same decision +seeming also good when discussed, according to Armenian custom, over the +wine-cup, every man went home to sharpen his sword and fit his bowstring +for the coming fray. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +THE FENCED CITY + + +"The storm has broke at last," said Aryas, stooping to lift a headless +arrow that had fallen at his feet. "If it hail no deadlier missiles than +this, there will be little glory in sheltering under buckler and +headpiece, behind stone buttress and unbroken wall." + +Sarchedon took the arrow from the king's hand. + +"Behold," said he, "the feathers are dipped in blood. Such a token is +the deadliest of all defiance from my countrymen. My lord the king hath +ever measured glory by danger. Trust me, he will have enough of both who +holds a fenced city against which the armies of Assyria come up to cast +a bank." + +"So be it," was the dauntless answer. "The god of our nation hath never +failed us yet, and those can scarce refuse to accept the award of battle +who worship no other power but that of the naked sword!" + +They were standing on the wall of Ardesh, scanning anxiously the lines +of the Assyrian camp, which now encircled them. The Comely King had here +concentrated all his forces, and the hosts of Semiramis, disappointed, +it may be, that they met so little resistance on their march, completely +invested the capital of Armenia, where the men of the north had taken +their stand, determined to put forth all their strength in a single +blow, and finish the struggle once for all. + +The Assyrians had surrounded the city by night. At dawn their trumpets +sounded about it on all sides, and ere noon the siege had so far +commenced, that the headless arrow, formerly dispatched to the Great +Queen as a token from Aryas, was shot into his stronghold, to alight at +his very feet, wet and stained with blood. + +"She is here in person," observed Sarchedon in a low grave voice, while +he turned the arrow round and round in his hand. "None of her servants +would have dared to send such a messenger as this. It means war to the +death, no ransom for the captive, no mercy for the wounded, no burial +for the slain." + +"Is she, then, so pitiless a conqueror?" asked the Comely King, +repressing certain hideous misgivings, that he had undertaken a task +beyond his strength, and that not only his own life, which he was always +willing enough to wage freely, but the safety of his people and the very +existence of his kingdom were in the utmost peril. + +"Merciless!" repeated Sarchedon. "An eagle has mercy when she turns from +the dead carrion, a lion has mercy when he is gorged; but how shall men +look for mercy from the solid impenetrable rock? That woman has, indeed, +the lion's courage and the eagle's ken; but her heart is stone. And yet +she is so beautiful,--so beautiful," he added, while a tide of wild and +thrilling memories imparted a mournful tone to his revilings; "I have +seen a poor wretch she has condemned turn on her his last look, full of +love and worship, ere they covered his face and led him forth to die. Is +she not more than woman? Is she not Ashtaroth, Queen of Light, come +down to lead the sons of Ashur to their doom?" + +The king was straining his eyes towards the camp of the enemy. He cared +as little for the beauty of Ashtaroth as of Semiramis. + +"If she is with her armies in person," said he, "and leads the attack, I +will slay her with mine own hand. Behold, when I have cut the string, +her captains and men of war shall bend the bow in vain. Look out yonder, +Sarchedon, over the eastern slope. You know the array of your countrymen +in camp or line of battle. Surely where the chariots of iron are massed, +down yonder by the waterside, between the lines of horses, should be the +abiding place of the Great Queen." + +From the rampart whereon they stood, a bluff face of rock descended +precipitously towards the camp of the Assyrians. Such, indeed, was the +defence of Ardesh on every side; the natural difficulties of the +stronghold being enhanced by a solid wall of masonry, against which, +even after a bank had been raised by the besiegers to the necessary +height, their battering-rams might be plied for a considerable period +without effect. Save on the eastern quarter, the fall was nearly +perpendicular, affording no encouraging prospect to an attacking force; +but here the cliff sloped off in an incline, up and down which a goat +might travel freely, or an active man unencumbered with armour might +pass to and fro. If Ardesh were to be carried by assault, this was its +only practicable point, although the inequalities of the surface were so +trifling, and the angle so imperceptible, that the ascent looked +perfectly smooth and upright from below. + +Leaning over, with his attention riveted on the camp of the enemy, the +king let his helmet fall from his head at this very spot. It rolled +several cubits down the incline, till caught by a projecting corner of +rock, where it hung bright and glittering, like a morning dew-drop on a +dead autumn leaf. Aryas looked after it and laughed. + +"Token for token," said he. "A headless helmet in answer to a headless +shaft. If it ever gets down to their camp, they may summon their wise +men to read the riddle in vain." + +"It must not remain _there_!" answered Sarchedon. "The flash of steel +will draw every eye in the host to the only joint in our harness; and I +know their cunning of warfare well. Let my lord the king shelter for a +space beneath the wall, lest I draw on him a storm from yonder dark +cloud of archers in the vineyard when I show myself. We shall have no +more headless arrows shot into Ardesh to-day." + +"I would I had known in time!" muttered Aryas. "Not a leaf had been left +on the vines to screen a marksman, not a hand's breadth of green but had +been scathed and shrivelled by fire within a bowshot of the walls. Well +climbed, Sarchedon! By the sword of my father, the Assyrian hath a leap +and a footfall like a goat!" + +While he spoke, the royal bowbearer crept cautiously down the precipice, +taking advantage of every inequality that afforded foothold, of every +tuft and fibre of vegetation that he could grasp. Slinging the recovered +helmet round his neck with a bowstring, and thus leaving both hands at +liberty for his ascent, he returned even less laboriously than he +departed; and surmounting the wall, stood by the king's side, panting, +breathless, but exulting with boyish glee in the achievement of his +exploit. + +"And they marked me not from below!" said he triumphantly; "though I +dared not often trust myself to look down, I could have seen if bow had +been bent or arrow pointed from the camp. Surely the Assyrian sleeps on +his post; surely they have lost their discipline since I carried a spear +in the guards of the Great King!" + +"We will give them a lesson in warfare ere long," answered Aryas, but +though his tone was bold enough, his eye wandered uneasily over the +mighty array of tents and banners that covered the plain below. "We can +hold them at our pleasure till the snow winds come to help us from the +north, unless they give the assault at this very spot beneath our feet, +and here, too, we are guarded by the river, shallow though it be, for if +to-day it steals smoothly and gladly through the water-flowers, like a +youth wooing a maiden to the dance, to-morrow it comes roaring down in a +seething flood, unbridled and irresistible as a host of northern +horsemen with a broken enemy in their front." + +But the king's prevision and the keen eyes of his bowbearer were alike +at fault. Thus it fell out that the only assailable point in the +defences of Ardesh was laid open to an enemy who never failed to strike +home without delay at the weakest place. + + * * * * * + +It had been the custom of the Great Queen, during their long and +toilsome progress from the country between the rivers to the mountain +regions of Armenia, to inspect with her own eyes the camp-life of her +armies, and to satisfy herself of their nourishment, their comfort, +their general efficiency, above all, their loyalty to her person and +fidelity to the standard under which they marched. + +For this purpose she would assume the disguise of a simple archer, +hiding her face, as if to screen it from the sun, with the folds of a +linen head-dress, such as has always been affected by inhabitants of hot +climates, and so, often without a single attendant, would stroll +unrecognised through the camp, listening to the rude talk of the +spearmen, and noting for future reproof any instances of negligence, +tyranny, or misconduct that took place within her observation. Men +wondered how an ill-yoked chariot, a trodden and turbid watering-place, +an over-loaded camel, all came under notice of the Great Queen; so that +the prevalent belief in her godlike birth and more than human attributes +gained ground day by day from these examples of a knowledge that seemed +at once ubiquitous and infallible. + +No sooner had she disposed her forces, with all the skill her experience +suggested, round the stronghold of her enemy than she determined to +examine for herself the actual state of the wall which fortified it, +even if she had to venture within bowshot of the defenders. For this +purpose she stole from her own magnificent pavilion in the attire of an +Assyrian archer, and covering her face as usual, passed slowly through +the lines where the flower of an army lay encamped, which, though sadly +weakened by the toil and hardships of its protracted march, seemed yet +formidable antagonists to any power on earth. + +The men were scattered about in groups, already making preparations, +though noon was not long past, for their principal meal at sundown. Here +a brawny warrior, with arms bare to the shoulder and legs to the thigh, +was shredding herbs in his headpiece, the homeliness of his occupation +contrasting ludicrously with the warlike nature of his cooking vessel, +as did the nudity of his extremities with the proven harness that kept +his mighty chest. A comrade, lying on his back with arms folded over his +face, kicked his legs in the air, while he watched the proceedings with +a listlessness that denoted he was for evening duty, and would have no +share in the result. A score of others, ungirt, unsandalled, half-armed, +half-dressed, were gathered round a dying camel, vociferating many +opposing remedies for the poor beast's treatment, while the roar of an +irritated stallion, the peal of a trumpet, the stamp and snort of a row +of feeding horses, mingled with the hum of voices rising from a circle +of stalwart warriors sitting, though the sun beat fiercely down, round +the embers of their camp-fire. + +It was not in the nature of Semiramis to pass these magnificent +specimens of manhood without notice. Half unconsciously she lingered in +their vicinity, marking their ample beards, fine stature, and robust +proportions, agreeing well with their deep full tones, while they +discussed freely enough the chances of the expedition and the stirring +events of their daily life, sparing not the captains of ten thousand, +nor forbearing to criticise the great leader herself, who stood by and +overheard. + +"'Tis a strained bow they bid us bend, my brothers," observed a scarred, +war-worn veteran, whose mien and bearing displayed all the fierce pride, +the overweening self-confidence assumed by those who had served under +the Great King; "a strained bow and a frayed cord--peradventure, a +headless shaft to point, as well; but that makes little odds against +solid masonry and bare rock. I doubt, if we are to get at the kernel of +this date here over against us, we must crack the shell with our teeth." + +"I can tell thee that mine are blunt for want of use," retorted a +comrade, hammering busily at a broken link in his habergeon. "How are +men to be fed on the march through a country that grows nothing but oaks +and brushwood? There is grass, indeed, between the hills, and game for +those who can hunt it in the woods, but of corn and cattle the valleys +are bare as the palm of my hand." + +"And empty as his belly," laughed a third. "He liketh well to have store +of good things in both." + +"But Semiramis forbade pillage," interposed his neighbour, grinning. +"They took an auxiliary with a shield full of barley that he snatched +from an old man's threshing-floor, and she impaled him on the spot." + +"Fool! that was in our own land of Shinar, before we crossed the +frontier," said the first speaker. "The Great Queen never forbade +pillage in an enemy's country till we marched into this wilderness, +where there is nothing to take. Besides, the rogue slew the old man in +his own vineyard, and he was only an auxiliary after all." + +"And an ungainly wretch to boot, I will wager my share of supper +presently out of that scanty pot," added a handsome young spearman, +arranging his curly beard in the breastplate he had polished up to the +brightness of a mirror for that purpose. "A comely youth of proper +stature, be he captain or camel-driver, need never fear but he will find +favour in the sight of the Great Queen." + +His fellows laughed loud and long. + +"Hear him!" shouted one, clapping the speaker on the back, "the +favourite of Ashtaroth!" + +"The dainty lotus-flower of the host!" exclaimed another; while a third, +turning on him with mock gravity, bade him, + +"Go to for a fool, who must be answered according to his folly." + +"Dost thou verily believe," said he, "that because of thy bull's head +and shoulders, thy foolish leer like a sheep in a sacrifice, and the +perpetual grin of a southern ape eating a sour pomegranate, thou wilt +get preferment at her hands, who knows a man when she sees one, and +treats him like the arrows in her quiver? Lo! the bow is bent, the mark +is struck or missed, another is fitted to the string; but the same shaft +never comes into her royal service again. Though thy turn of duty takes +thee daily to the great pavilion, I doubt if the queen hath ever seen +thee yet." + +"She shall hear of me, nevertheless," said the other, with a glance at +the beleaguered town. + +"Knocking that empty head of thine against the wall!" returned the +veteran. "I tell ye, my brothers, that of all the wars yet undertaken +by the sons of Ashur, this is the most untoward and ill-advised. What +said the Great King when he turned back from the Zagros range, taking +earth and water of the Men of the Mountain, but refraining to occupy +their country? 'I would be lord of all below,' said he, pointing to +those snow-whitened hills that mingle with the clouds, 'while I leave to +my fathers the dominion of the sky!' He has gone to join them at last; +but could he come back to us this night, I tell ye by to-morrow's sunset +we should be a day's march on our journey towards home!" + +"Then why are we here now?" was asked by two or three voices at once. + +The answer came in a grave important tone: + +"Because of a treasure within those walls that Semiramis would wage life +and empire, and you and me, and the whole might of Ashur to attain. What +it is, I know not; if I knew, peradventure I dared not tell. But this I +will uphold of the Great Queen, that her lightest wish is to the fixed +resolve of another, as a man walking in armour to a maiden washing her +feet in a stream." + +His listeners nodded approval, and scanning the lofty towers above them, +began hazarding many conjectures as to the nature of that possession so +coveted by their queen. A strong opinion seemed to prevail that Ardesh +contained some illimitable store of spoils hoarded by Armenian kings for +ages; and this impression served partly to counteract their general +feeling of despondency and disheartening belief in the impregnable +strength of the place. The youngest of these men of war spoke the most +hopefully. + +"I will never admit," said he, "that the might of man can shut out the +sons of Ashur under the banner of our Great Queen. A rock is steep. Go +to! shall we not cast a bank against it? A wall is thick; shall we not +undermine it from beneath? Give me a high curved shield to keep my head, +a steel pick, and an iron crowbar; behold, I will sit like a partridge +in the barley, and burrow like a coney amongst the rocks." + +"So be it," answered the veteran moodily. "The sooner our trumpets sound +to the assault the better. I tell thee, man, though the guards still +show a goodly front, the hosts of Assyria are wasting and waning day by +day, like that river in Egypt I passed over dry shod, like a flagon of +Damascus wine, my brother, standing betwixt thee and me." + +The archer turned thoughtfully away, walking through the lines with +folded hands and head bent down in earnest consideration. + +There was food for reflection, even for anxiety and alarm, in the light +talk of these careless spearmen. When they touched on her personal +weaknesses, her predilection for stalwart warriors, and especially her +indomitable strength of will, the queen could not forbear a smile; but +it faded into an expression of deeper gravity than was often worn by +that bright face, while she pondered on the cost and peril of this +adventurous expedition, so wild in its object, so disastrous in its +results, confessing to her own heart that its impolicy was as obvious to +her meanest followers as to their leader. Had not Assarac himself +expressed the same opinion, almost in the same words?--Assarac, to whom +she had never given a problem so hard but that he could solve it, a task +so difficult, but that, for her sake, it was fulfilled. + +Her armies melting away daily, her men of war dispirited and +ill-supplied, a strongly-fortified city in front, a barren desert in +rear! Not a captain of her host but would have quailed at the prospect, +and had he been chief in command, would have commenced a fatal and +disorderly retreat. + +The character of Semiramis, however, was one on which danger and +difficulty produced the effect of a hammer on glowing steel, welding and +forging it, indeed, to the ends in view, but tempering it to an +exceeding hardness and consistency the while. The desire of the present +too, whatever it might be, became her master-passion for the time, and +while sanguine and impetuous like a very woman, she possessed the +courage, foresight, and obstinate perseverance of a man; also she +enjoyed unlimited and irresponsible power as a queen; therefore it never +entered her mind to abandon her task, or forego her intention of taking +Sarchedon out of Ardesh by the strong hand, and marching the Comely King +back to Babylon, a fettered captive at her chariot wheels. + +"But to lie here inactive, waiting till he surrenders," thought the +queen, "is like staring at ripe fruit in an orchard, till it drop down +into the mouth. If a man hunger, let him climb the bough; I am but a +woman, yet I think I can at least shake the tree." + +So she resolved that, at all hazards and all loss, the place must be +carried by assault without delay. Thus musing, she passed through the +vineyard occupied by her own archers to within an arrow's flight of the +beleaguered fortress, unnoticed by those who believed her to be a simple +bowman like themselves, and so proceeded to scan the wall, with an eye +trained to detect the slightest point of advantage at a glance. + +It was strong, very strong. Here, perhaps, a bank might be cast against +it to some purpose; but the besiegers would suffer fearful slaughter in +the work. There, covered by their large wicker shields, and plying their +mining-tools, her heavy-armed spearmen might sap the foundations of the +wall; but could they climb, and fight, and work, all at once, where +there was scarce foothold for a goat? It must be done, nevertheless; but +how to do it? She taxed her memory and her invention in vain. + +Accident, however, came to her aid, when all her warlike skill was +insufficient. Gazing steadfastly on the place, she marked the king's +helmet drop from the wall, and her heart leaped with triumph when she +beheld his bowbearer, who recovered it, reascending with little +difficulty to return it to his lord--with triumph, and with a sharper, +keener, sweeter sensation still; for in that bowbearer she recognised +him for whom she was thus willing to risk life and empire; while the +same glance revealed to her at once the desire of her eyes, and the path +by which it was to be attained. She felt her cheek burn and her pulses +throb; but even in that glowing moment, the instincts of the commander +dominated those of the woman, and her brain was never clearer, nor her +eye more accurate, than while she measured the height of the steep, and +noted every fall of ground, every inequality of surface, that could be +turned to account in moving the strength of her army at this point to +the attack. + +Ashtaroth, she knew, would always be ready to do her bidding, but it +needed prudence, self-restraint, and a steadfast heart to force Merodach +to her will. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +SONS OF THE SWORD + + +On the brow of the Comely King lowered a cloud of anxiety and concern. +He sat in the great stone hall of his rude palace, surrounded by chiefs +and followers, to take counsel with them for the turning of this +overwhelming tide, and foiling of the enemy at his gate. + +Though, contrary to the custom of his nation, he rarely tasted wine +himself, mighty flagons and capacious drinking-cups stood within each +man's reach, so that while they pondered and stroked their beards, and +shook their shaggy heads with ominous wisdom, many a deep draught was +quaffed by these rugged heroes in silent pledge to the weapon they +professed to worship, and of which they boasted themselves the +offspring. In the middle of the hall, on a massive stone altar, +springing as it were from a groundwork of ferns and mosses, stood a +naked broadsword, pointing to the roof; and not Baal himself, thought +Sarchedon, in his stately temple of Babylon, with countless victims, +streams of blood, libations of wine, and all the pomp of his white-robed +priests, could have boasted a more sincere devotion than was offered by +these rugged champions to the warlike symbol of their faith. + +His bowbearer stood on the king's right hand. It did not escape him +that, although treated by Aryas with marked confidence and +consideration, angry brows were bent and suspicious glances levelled at +him from many in the assembly, who seemed to take exception at this +promotion of an alien to such a post, more especially at a time when the +stranger's own countrymen were pressing them so hard. + +The haughty Assyrian winced and chafed under these symptoms of ill-will +like a gallant steed, whose rider dare not trust his mettle, resolving +that, ere long, some daring act of valour in the field should reinstate +him in the good opinion of warriors, to whom success was a convincing +proof of merit, and desperate courage the only test of worth. + +To rush fiercely against the ranks of his own nation, hewing, sword in +hand, at the very men with whom he had heretofore broken bread in the +city and marched to conquest in the field, went indeed sorely against +the grain; but Sarchedon reflected that, besides the ties of gratitude +which bound him to Aryas the Beautiful, there were many reasons, hardly +less weighty, for his desertion from the banner of Ashur, and +abandonment of his service under the Great Queen. To become once more a +mere toy and plaything at the caprice of Semiramis was a thought too +humiliating to be endured, even could he escape the usual doom of those +on whom she cast a favouring eye, while it was probable that she would +at once take cruel vengeance for the vexation and disappointment of +which he had been unwittingly the cause. So long as she remained +mistress of the world, it was hopeless for him to think of honour and +safety, above all, of Ishtar, liberty, and love. But if the Assyrian +host could be defeated under the walls of Ardesh--if, baffled, +scattered, and disorganised, they could be driven back on the rugged +defiles and barren deserts that lay between them and their home--what +was there to prevent an Armenian army from marching to the gates of +Babylon? and how could Ishtar escape his search, who, at the conqueror's +right hand, would scour the land of Shinar through its length and +breadth, till he found the woman whom he had never ceased to love? + +While such thoughts were teeming in his brain, he was not likely to +endure with patience doubts of his fidelity to the cause he had +espoused. + +Many and opposite were the opinions of the warlike council. Saræus, a +wealthy chieftain, arrayed with something more of luxury than his +fellows, and lord of many a fertile valley beyond Mount Aragaz, as yet +unoccupied and unheard of by the Assyrian, urged strenuously the +prudence of standing a siege. + +"We have fuel," said he, "we have shelter; casks of wine to broach, +herds of beasts to slay. Let us eat, drink, and be merry, while the +enemy perishes with hunger at our gates. The river runs between us, our +walls are strong, our rocks are steep. Like the eagle on her eyrie, I +would sit with folded wings and scream my defiance to the leopard +prowling below." + +"Scream till thou art hoarse!" exclaimed Thorgon, a giant from the +northern desert, armed in chain harness and clad in undressed skins, +"but remember, 'He who hath the gullet of Saræus, should have his larder +to keep it full.'" + +There was a general laugh at this application of a well-known proverb, +founded on the wealth and fertility of the last speaker's dominions, and +the luxurious habits of their owner. Thorgon proceeded, much pleased +with the effect of his unaccustomed eloquence: + +"When thy father summoned me to council, O king, he never paused to take +my vote on a question of peace or war. Aramus knew and trusted his old +comrade well. 'Thorgon' said he, 'is a steed always saddled, a bow +always bent.' I am ready, as I have ever been, to lead my long-swords +into the fore-front of battle. But let not the king deceive himself: we +have an enemy down yonder in the plain accustomed to conquer, inured to +danger, skilled in all the arts and artifices of war. This is no +broad-leafed oak into which we must drive the old Armenian wedge, but a +front of solid earth-fast rock!" + +Men looked in each other's faces, discouraged and alarmed. It was +something new to hear this fiery patriarch express doubts of victory. A +hint of caution from Thorgon was tantamount to forebodings of defeat +from milder spirits; and a short but ominous silence fell on the +assembled council, while each realised the danger he had hitherto shrunk +from acknowledging even to himself. + +It was broken by the king. + +"There is a courage to endure," said he, "as there is a courage to +assail. When the snow-winds come, they will rid us of our enemy, without +bending of bow or shaking of spear. But our grapes are yet green in the +vineyards, our barley scarce whitening on the plain. How many days, +think you, my brothers, will meat and drink be forthcoming if we elect +to remain up here, cooped within the walls of Ardesh like a swarm of +bees in a hive?" + +Again opinions varied; some thought they might hold out a hundred, some +barely a score. Thorgon offered to break through the lines of the enemy, +and bring in sheep and horses from the wind-swept plains of his home. + +"When we have eaten the last down to their hoofs," growled the fierce +warrior, "we can always run out, sword in hand, and take what we want +from the tether ropes of this scolding housewife whom they call the +Great Queen!" + +"Sarchedon," said Aryas, turning to his bowbearer, "you have held your +peace too long. Give us your counsel, man; for you best know the +strength and the designs of our enemy." + +There was a stir in the hall at this appeal to the stranger, and more +than one sword leaped a hand's-breadth from its scabbard. Murmurs of +"Traitor, traitor!" rose by degrees to louder outcries. "Out with him!" +"Down with him!" "Slay him and cast him over the wall to his own people, +who have come hither at his desire!" were the mildest of these +revilings, while a scuffling of feet and crowding of shoulders about his +place at the king's right hand denoted no good-will to the Assyrian, +small chance of mercy or even justice if national prejudice and panic +should get the upper hand. Aryas flushed dark red with anger; but +Thorgon interposed his massive person between the bowbearer and those +who threatened him, while his deep hoarse voice cried "Shame!" in +accents that might have been heard by the besiegers outside. + +"A stranger, and treated thus in the king's council-chamber!" he +shouted. "By the sword that begot our nation, I will stamp the life out +of the first man who steps across the hall! What! the Assyrian came to +our gates a captive and a suppliant, and shall we deliver him up, were +he ten times a traitor, at the bidding of the loudest-tongued shrew that +ever wore a smock? Nay, my brothers, stand back, I say; give every man a +fair hearing, and room to swing a sword!" + +Thus adjured, the assembly subsided into their places, and Sarchedon +took advantage of restored order to protest earnestly against the +suspicions of those with whom he had come to dwell. + +"I am an Assyrian," said he, facing boldly round on such as had been +most vehement in their outcries "and I am proud of my birth as of my +nation. But I was also a soldier of the Great King, who could never be +urged to war within the confines of Armenia, and I owe no allegiance to +her who has taken unlawful possession of his throne, who would +establish herself thereon with tyranny and injustice. I came here a +weary footsore slave; I was fed, comforted, and raised to honour by my +lord the king. Every drop of my blood shall be poured out to do him +service. Bethink ye too, Men of the Mountain, if the Assyrian takes me +fighting in your ranks he will strip the skin from my body to make +sandals for his feet. Those strike fierce and hard who have no retreat; +and if honour, good faith, gratitude, count for nothing, at least you +may trust him for whom defeat is a cruel and shameful death. My lord the +king hath demanded my counsel. To so noble an assembly it is not for me +to offer advice, but I am enabled to give information. I have returned +but a short space from the outer wall. Since daybreak the enemy hath +been busied in turning the course of the river, that he may advance to +the assault dry shod. You yourselves best know to what purpose you can +defend the city from an attack on its weaker side; but my lord the king +hath demanded counsel of his servant, and it is not for me to shrink +from speaking because of angry threats and scowling brows. Were I King +Aryas of Armenia, as I am his faithful bowbearer, I would go down to +battle with the Assyrian, and strive with him, man to man, outside the +city-walls!" + +Loud shouts of applause greeted this daring speech, and Thorgon, +striding across the hall, laid his broad hand on the Assyrian's +shoulder, with a gesture of unqualified approval and respect. The +enthusiasm became general, so that even Saræus, shouted and gesticulated +with the rest; but Aryas, stepping proudly into the midst, drew his +sword from its sheath, and kissing its handle, raised its point towards +the roof. Each man present followed his example, and thus, with naked +weapons gleaming in their hands, they listened in silence to the words +of the Comely King. + +"It is well spoken!" said he. "Surely the bowbearer hath shot his arrow +home to the mark. If indeed the river be turned, steep rock and solid +wall will avail us little against the huge engines and innumerable +archers of the Assyrian. It is wise to attack when it seems hopeless to +defend; and who shall stand against Armenia coming down in her might, +like one of her own torrents from the snow-topped hills? I am a free +king, ruling over a free people, yet can I count on you, my friends and +followers, as on the steel in my own right hand. Let us set the battle +in array, and fight the quarrel to the death. The stranger never turned +from our father's gate in peace, nor entered it in war. Shall we forget +whose sons we are to-day, because of a fierce people, riding on horses, +worshipping strange gods, and mustering countless as the snowflakes in a +storm? I call on you, as Aramus would have called on your fathers, to +rally round his son; and I pledge you in that sacred cup to which, since +Armenia became a nation, traitor or coward hath never dared to lay his +lips!" + +With these words, the king filled a mighty bowl with wine, and bringing +the edge of his sword so briskly across his naked fore-arm that the +blood spouted from the gash, suffered a few drops to drain into the +liquid; then, raising the vessel to his lips, drank heartily ere he +passed the bowl to Thorgon, who, following his example, sent it round +amongst the rest, each man quaffing his share with the zeal and gravity +of one who partakes in a religious rite. When at last the bowl reached +Sarchedon, there was scarce a mouthful left; but the Assyrian, catching +the spirit of this strange ceremony, pierced his own arm without +hesitation, and thus pledged his new comrades in a draught of blood. + +Any lingering suspicions they might have entertained were completely +dissipated by so ready a compliance with their ancient custom, and not +one but went out from the presence of his lord to prepare for battle +with a confidence as implicit in the fidelity of the stranger as in his +own. + +With measured steps, lowered weapons, and a grave aspect, as having +before them a task it would tax all their strength to accomplish, these +Men of the Mountain departed one by one, each, as he left the hall, +turning with grim salute to do obeisance to the Naked Sword. When the +last had vanished, Sarchedon, looking into the face of his lord, felt +his heart sink and his blood run cold; for on the brow of the Comely +King, though courageous and serene as ever, there was imprinted the seal +of the destroyer--there seemed to sit that cloud, so awful and so +mysterious, which is the shadow of coming death. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH + + +"It is our only course against such a foe," said Aryas, after a gloomy +silence, during which lord and servant seemed to have been following out +no cheering train of thought. "For any nation on earth to oppose thy +countrymen in warfare is to wield a shepherd's staff against a blade of +tempered steel. But one heavy blow from the club, well-aimed and +unexpected, may sometimes shiver the deadlier weapon to its hilt. Our +long swords of the mountain bite sharp and true. The wedge of Armenia +can pierce a column, however dense, and the gap widens as we fight on. +Surely it will cleave the might of Assyria, as a woodman's axe cleaves +the sturdy oak of the hills." + +"But the oak is rooted to its place," objected Sarchedon, "while the +Assyrian can wheel and stoop and strike like a falcon in the air. His +horsemen will open out, and bend their bows till they have wrapped the +advancing wedge in a storm of deadly hail--till its men fall thick, and +its might is loosened from the rear. Then will Semiramis order up her +war-chariots on either flank; and, once broken, as well he knows, there +is no rallying for the long swords of my lord the king." + +"They shall _not_ be broken," exclaimed Aryas. "With Thorgon to lead +them on foot, with their king to direct the battle in his chariot, with +thy skill of warfare, Sarchedon, and our own good cause, I commit the +result to that power which hath ever befriended Armenia, in attack and +in defence--the might of the Naked Sword. Yet I would we could fight +them at a vantage, nevertheless," he added, his enthusiasm changing to +deep anxiety and concern. "Their armour, their weapons, their horses, +are better than ours, and they outnumber us ten to one." + +"True, O king!" replied Sarchedon; "therefore must we fall upon them +unawares. Behold! In their ranks every spearman hath been taught to +handle spade, every slinger uses the pick deftly as he whirls the thong, +each third man carries a mattock or a shovel; and the Great Queen +values their labour no dearer than their lives. This night one half her +host will be employed to turn the course of the river that keeps your +city on its eastern side. Let my lord the king summon his men of war in +the hours of darkness, and at daybreak go down to battle. If he conquer, +it will be with the first onslaught. If he fail, then may Sarchedon, his +friend and servant, pay back the life he owes, and die at his lord's +feet." + +Again that ominous shadow passed over the king's face: he laid his hand +kindly on the other's shoulder, and spoke in a low sad voice. + +"Sarchedon," said he, "when I shielded thee from the demand of an +Assyrian embassy, it was for jealousy of my father's honour--for the +cause of the stranger and the oppressed. When I took thee out from under +thy horse--ay, from off the very horns of the wild bull--it was for care +of a faithful servant risking life at the pleasure of his lord. Now we +are master and slave, crowned king and belted bowbearer no more, but +friends in esteem and affection, brothers in confidence and love. I tell +thee that the days of Aryas, the son of Aramus, are numbered, and the +Mountain Men must choose them another king to guide their counsels and +lead their long swords into battle. Last night I dreamed a dream; and it +needs no wise man, no cunning soothsayer, to read the interpretation +thereof. Behold, I was hunting in the mountain, riding to and fro with +bow in hand and hound in leash, seeking to take a prey. In vain I +traversed hill and valley, rock and river, stately forest and scattered +copse--leaf, grass, and flower were alike scathed and blighted. It +seemed that a flight of locusts had passed over all. Then I cursed the +nakedness of the land in my wrath; and while thrice I shouted 'Barren, +barren, barren!' mine own voice sounded hideous in mine ears. So I rode +slowly on, and beneath my horse's feet I beheld three things that caused +my blood to curdle and the hair of my flesh to stand on end. + +"The first was a slain eagle pierced by a headless shaft; the second was +a wild bull noosed in a woman's girdle; the third was a dead man lying +on his face with the king's sandals on his feet, the king's baldrick on +his shoulders, and the king's quiver at his back. I tell thee, +Sarchedon, the warning lies betwixt thee and me. Let us drink a cup of +wine in fellowship to-night; for if we go down to battle with +to-morrow's dawn, one of us shall have quenched his thirst for ever by +noon of day." + +"On my head may it fall!" exclaimed Sarchedon. "Let the slave perish, +and let his lord, who raised him from the dust, ride forth to victory!" + +"Nay, hear me," replied the king; "for I have already told thee lord and +slave are no words between Aryas and Sarchedon. If I accept the vision +for myself, I am willing to face its interpretation freely as I would +face the horsemen of Assyria and the chariots of the Great Queen. I +might die many a baser death than to fall in battle with Thorgon and his +long swords at my back. But if it is for thee that the dream has been +sent, I tell thee, my faithful friend and comrade, I cannot bear to +think that thy share in our joint venture should be all loss and no +gain. When I took thee into my palace, rude and homely though it seem, I +swore its halls should be a harness of proof and a tower of defence for +the stranger who sought its shelter. When I gave thee a place in my +heart, I resolved I would bring thee to promotion and honour--not to +danger, defeat, and death. Go out from among us, Sarchedon, ere it be +too late. Return, as of thine own free will, to the Assyrian, with fair +words and costly gifts. Buy their favour and the safety of thy body with +that fair province of the south that lies by the Glassy Lake. Behold, it +is a gift from me to thee. Tell them that the open hand of Aryas is +heavy as his clenched fist. Bid the Great Queen depart in peace; but if +she must needs come to buffets, there is space enough to fight a kingly +battle beneath the walls of Ardesh. If she desires to seize my father's +crown, she must take it off my brows by force where I stand, in my +war-chariot armed with bow and spear." + +For all answer, Sarchedon stripped the quiver from his shoulders, took +the sword from his thigh, and laid the weapons at his lord's feet. + +"It is enough," said he. "If the king can believe his servant capable of +thus ransoming one poor life at the cost of honour, I have served him +already too long. There are many brave men among his subjects better +fitted than Sarchedon for the highest post Armenia has to offer. Poor +and naked as he came, let the Assyrian return to the station from which +he was raised by the favour of my lord the king. Yet, if true service +and a grateful heart may plead for him, even now he will but ask to take +his place to-morrow in the fore-front of battle, and, habited like a +simple soldier of Aryas, march with the Men of the Mountain to his +death." + +The king's features worked with emotion. "Not so," he exclaimed in +hoarse and broken accents. "True and faithful servants I can number by +scores, but such a heart as this cleaveth to a man, be he king or +herdsman, once in a lifetime. Surely it sticketh faster than a brother. +I have proved thee, Sarchedon, as one proves the harness that is to keep +his life. I tell thee, we will go down to battle side by side; together +we will bend the bow and point the javelin. Honour, danger, and triumph +we will share alike; and when the end comes, as something warns me come +it will, peradventure in death we shall not be divided." + +Then he lifted belt and baldrick from the stones, and with his own hand +fastened the quiver at Sarchedon's back, girt the sword on his thigh, +thus reinstating the bowbearer in all the honours he had voluntarily +resigned. + +Standing side by side in this reversal of their relative positions, it +chanced that the servant caught sight of his own figure and his master's +reflected in the burnished surface of an empty wine-flagon over against +him. Remarking, not for the first time, their extraordinary similarity +of form and features, Sarchedon now ventured on a request that only the +high favour in which he stood, and the humility of his tone while +proffering it, could have rendered palatable to his listener. + +"Let not the king be wroth with his servant," said he, hesitating, like +one who tries a plank with his foot ere he commits it to the whole of +his weight, "if we ask yet another proof, in addition to all the honours +heaped on him, of the trust in which he is held by his lord. Behold, +like the sand that sucks the desert spring, he thirsteth yet for more! +Let the king grant him the desire of his heart, and live for ever!" + +"Say on, man!" replied Aryas, somewhat impatiently; "surely there needs +not all this ceremony between thee and me. By to-morrow's sunset," he +added, in a lower, sadder tone, "the same wild dog may be scaring the +vultures from us both." + +"Then, if we are to meet our death together," replied Sarchedon, "let it +be in the same habit and the same armour. This is the boon I earnestly +beg of my lord to grant. Men have said, ere now, that armed and in the +field there is some such resemblance between Sarchedon and him who is +called Aryas and Beautiful, as between the illusive verdure of the +desert and those groves and waters that it represents. Let me take upon +me then to array myself in such attire and harness as are worn by my +lord the king; so, in the press of battle, the advantage of his presence +and conduct shall be double, while the risk from his enemies--for my +people strike ever at the head--will be but half." + +Aryas pondered. + +"And if I fall," said he, "wilt thou bring on the Men of the Mountain +like a free Armenian king, leading the long swords to the charge again +and again, even unto death?" + +"I will do my best," replied the other; "for, indeed, whither am I to +retreat? and what will be my fate if I am made a captive? Surely I have +nothing to fear but defeat. If the long swords will follow, I ask no +better than to lead them through the ranks of Assyria--to the very +chariot of the Great Queen!" + +The king's eyes blazed with unwonted fire. + +"Swear it!" he exclaimed vehemently. + +"I swear it by the everlasting wings!" answered Sarchedon; and so they +made their compact with death. + + + + +CHAPTER L + +A FOOL IN HIS FOLLY + + +It is not to be supposed that the warlike skill which assisted Ninus to +form his plans, and the courage which rivalled his own in carrying them +out, would fail Semiramis now that she was unfettered by the counsels +and commands of her lord. The sons of Ashur had never yet been led so +judiciously, organised so carefully, as in this daring expedition to the +north, under conduct of the Great Queen. + +Aryas little knew with whom he had to deal, when he spoke of surprising +her by sudden onslaught, or hoped to rout her in the fury of his attack. +Her watchmen were posted, her defences prepared, her dispositions made +to meet his wiliest stratagems; and all the time, while every +working-party was covered by a guard of twice its number, the labour +progressed steadily, and the river, on which the besieged chiefly +depended for security, waned cubit by cubit and hour by hour. + +None knew better than this woman-warrior how the presence of a commander +infuses spirit into the operations of an army, how the ubiquity of a +leader promotes that attention to details which alone insures success: +there was no period of the day or night but the queen's white horse +might be seen flitting through the lines of her innumerable host, while +the lovely face smiled its calm approval, or expressed displeasure, no +less fatal because so grave and quiet; always pale, immovable, and +serene, under gleam of moonlight, flash of torches, or glare of day. + +Men wondered when she ate and slept, inclining to believe that this +supernatural beauty must be above such human wants, tended and nourished +by the stars from whence it came. + +Only Assarac perhaps, in all that host, knew too well that the Great +Queen's passions and affections were of earth, earthly; that the flame +which scorched her heart and blazed in her eyes was no enlightening +radiance, but a devouring fire to wither and consume--knew too well, yet +loved her all the more; for the eunuch's whole being was now saturated +with a sentiment noble in its origin, disastrous in its results, that +yet springs from the fairest and sweetest instincts of man's nature, as +poison may be distilled from flowers. + +It caused him to labour and watch, to endure hunger, thirst, heat and +fatigue. It bade him forget pride, ambition, self-respect. It made him a +warrior, a hero, and a slave. It rendered him brave, pitiful, generous, +and unhappy. + +Twice since sundown had the queen ridden out through the camp with +Assarac at her rein. Once more she was astir an hour before daybreak, +yet, as she mounted at the entrance of her pavilion, the eunuch stood +there in waiting to help her to the saddle, and attend her in her ride. +Without a word she galloped through the lines, at such speed as the +dubious light permitted amongst the numerous obstacles of a camp, nor +drew bridle till she reached a spot by the river, where certain masses +of shadows looming against the sky denoted that the walls of Ardesh +would be visible with dawn of day. Here she halted and broke silence. + +"A city of defence," said she with a gentle laugh, "like a blade, or a +pitcher, or a woman, or anything else you please, is no stronger than +its weakest place. On this side alone is Ardesh not impregnable. I have +made thee a warrior, Assarac, as a girl spins her hank out of a tangle +of flax, with the patient heart and the gentle hand. Show me thou hast +profited by my lessons, and tell me why I brought thee here at a gallop +before dawn?" + +Brightening as he always did with the sound of her voice, Assarac +answered, reasonably enough, "To scan the place warily as soon as it is +light: to learn every bush and stone, count every blade of grass on the +ground where we mean to give the assault." + +"Not so," she answered, in the same light tone. "All that was done in +this poor head of mine when first I marked the spot. No; the +warrior-eunuch has yet much to learn from the warrior-queen. It is not +enough to set your own host in array, and mark your own plan of battle; +you must also fight for your enemy, put yourself in his place, and so, +anticipating him in every plan he can devise, force him at last to +accept the contest when and where you choose to offer it. The reason +women always foil men is, that they _cannot_ put themselves in our +places, nor foresee what we may or may not do in the plainest situation. +But this concerns neither thee nor me. I think I have even less of the +woman than thou, Assarac, of the man." + +He answered not a word, moving uneasily in his saddle, as if from a +sudden hurt. + +"Nay," she added, guessing his discomposure from his silence; "I meant +we are both above the weaknesses of our fellows--kindred spirits +treading down all obstacles in our path, knowing no law but our own will +and our own desires. Listen, then, thou priest of Baal in harness of +proof--listen, and learn while I teach thee that which shall be of more +service to-day than all the lore aching neck and dazzled eyes ever yet +gathered from the stars. Is not this the weak side of the fortress, and +therefore the better for our assault?" + +"Aryas must know it also," replied the eunuch, "and will have mustered +here his chief power of defence. Peradventure we might surprise him, +with less loss, on a stronger quarter." + +"An apt scholar," replied the queen, "and worthy to be a captain of ten +thousand; nevertheless, in so far at fault that he sees not with the +eyes of his enemy. Behold! The Armenian, hopeless of defending his city +from such a host as mine in the process of a regular siege; and seeing +the river in which he trusted turning to dry ground beneath his eyes, +will determine to hazard a battle here on this narrow strip where he can +fight at a vantage, while half the attacking army is engaged with +pickaxe and spade. Listen, priest. I hear the tinkle of their tools even +now, borne on the light breeze that steals in advance of day. He little +guesses the work was all completed by the middle watch of night; that +every company is bending, armed, over a feigned task in order of battle; +that, at the first note of a trumpet from the queen's pavilion, be it +dark or daylight or gray uncertain dawn, the hosts of Assyria will set +themselves in array without hesitation or confusion, every bow bent, +every horse mounted, every man in his place. + +"Since my tent was pitched yonder by the stream, I have not found a +moment till now to breathe the cool night air and loose the buckle of my +belt. Is it not grand and joyous, this pause before the storm? At such a +moment I feel how noble it is to lead the sons of Ashur to battle. +To-night, Assarac, I _know_ that I am the Great Queen!" + +She seldom thus divulged her own thoughts, her own sentiments. The tones +of that voice, always so bewitching, thrilled to his heart's core; and +with irrepressible admiration he burst out, "Queen of the sons of +Ashur! Queen of the whole earth! Were there indeed crowns of fire above, +queen of the host of heaven! What have I to offer in earnest of such +devotion as never worshipper yielded to his god? It is little enough to +give this poor brain in council, this poor body in battle; but O that I +could take the heart out of my breast now, this moment, and lay it down +before thee there, to trample beneath thy feet!" + +"It is too much," she answered, almost in a whisper. "I may tread +warriors in the dust, but I make no footstool of a servant's heart, be +he man of war, eunuch, or priest of Baal. Keep it in thy harness, good +friend, and see that to-day it turn not to water in the face of the +Comely King." + +Dawn was still below the mountain, and he could not read her +countenance; but on his ear, sharpened by intense emotion, there jarred +a something in her voice that broke its full melodious ring. Was it +kindness? Was it pity? Maddening thought! was it the insult of covert +mirth? + +"I am not like others," said he. "I know it too well; and yet my +adoration of my queen is less the blind man's yearning for the day he +hath never seen than that desire of the spirit for some star it must not +hope to attain, which yet raises it, by the very agony of its despair, +towards the light for which it longs." + +She had a brief space of leisure before the joyous revelry of battle +would commence. There was no better pastime, she thought, at hand. Why +not examine into so strange a phase of human suffering, and learn how +much the heart, even of such a man as this, could be made to bear, +before it maddened him past all endurance? Surely such studies, so +curious in themselves, enhanced the flavour of that pursuit she +dignified with the name of love; a pursuit far inferior, no doubt, to +war, equal though, and perhaps in very hot weather preferable, to the +chase. Here a memory of Sarchedon came to disturb her equanimity; but so +much of bitterness and vexation mingled with the thought, that her heart +grew all the harder for its indulgence. What had she to do with pity, +she who had slain beasts by scores and men by hundreds to pass an idle +day? Had she ever wished her shaft recalled when it pierced the lion +through from shoulder to shoulder; and were these human creatures half +so brave, so noble as the brutes? Was she not the Great Queen, +answerable to none on earth, and fearless of the very stars in heaven? +Besides, it amused--more, it interested--her. So she, the conqueror of +the world, thought no shame to trifle with him as a village maid trifles +with her peasant lover, as a cat trifles with its paltry little prey. + +"There is a light," she said, reverting gently to his wild confession of +idolatry, "that blinds a man's eyes, besides burning his fingers. It is +not that by which he sees his way clearly to safety or success." + +"And of what avail are safety and success to _me_?" demanded Assarac, +striving in the early twilight to read his doom on that remorseless +face. "Success, the prize of him who hopes; safety, the desire of him +who fears. If I am below hope, surely I am also above fear. My queen, +look on that shadowy mass of wall and tower, darkening every moment +against the coming light of dawn. How many bold warriors, think you, are +within that city who to-day will draw the sword and throw away the +scabbard once for all? I too have drawn the sword and rushed upon my +fate. Like one who leaps into air from the tower of Belus, I cannot +recall my plunge. Great Queen, I have dared to love the very dust +beneath your feet. Here, in the day of battle, I dare to tell you so. +Ere set of sun, Semiramis shall be ruler over all the world, from the +warm river of Egypt to the bleak snow-deserts of the north; or Assarac +shall be down in the strife of horsemen, trodden out of all likeness to +humanity. Enough! I can but serve her at the end as I have served her +from the beginning; and for wages I do but ask, great glorious queen, +look kindly on me ere I die!" + +His voice came hoarse and broken, his smooth face worked convulsively +from chin to eyebrows. Surely any other woman must have been moved--at +least to compassion; but Semiramis, pulling her horse's head up from the +wet morning herbage he was cropping with avidity, gazed intently on the +walls of Ardesh, now visible in the light of dawn. + +Was not the great stake for which she played enclosed within those +towers, the desire of her eyes, the treasure of her wilful heart? She +could understand, she thought, those longings on which the eunuch laid +such stress, but of pity, save for her own sufferings, she had none to +spare. + +"Listen!" exclaimed the queen, turning round on her companion with one +hand held in air, as though she had not heard a syllable of his appeal, +"they are mustering even now within the place. Stand still, Merodach! +Good horse, the ring of steel stirs thee like thy mistress! What say +you, Assarac--can we creep on a bowshot nearer to make sure? The light +is behind them, and we may defy their archers for a few moments yet." + +Thus speaking, she moved her horse forward a score of paces, followed by +the priest, vexed, smarting, dizzy with anger and shame. + +But his tortures were not over, his punishment not yet complete. Sitting +calmly on her horse, though day was breaking fast, and every instant +brought nearer the certainty of a storm of arrows from the wall, +Semiramis looked round with a careless smile, like some light-minded +dame chattering with her tirewoman. + +"What think you, Assarac?" she whispered. "Is he waking yet, this Comely +King?--of whose beauty they make such a prate you would suppose he was +Shamash, god of day. I would fain see him rise from his couch; for I +like well to look on beauty, both of man and beast." + +Then she patted Merodach on his swelling neck, sighing and smiling too +while she caressed her favourite: the sigh was for memory, the smile for +triumph and for hope. + +"We shall rouse him to some purpose," answered the eunuch, mastering his +emotion bravely. "And the Great Queen shall judge of his beauty for +herself, naked and a prisoner, bound at her chariot-wheels." + +He spoke firmly, even gaily, as behoved one who had made up his mind for +the worst. That day, he resolved, should see the end of all this doubt, +and longing, and misery. In the front of battle he would perform such +deeds of valour as should force the queen's regard for _him_, the +eunuch, who could thus put to shame her stoutest men of war, or in the +ranks of the long swords he would find out the great secret, and start +for yonder place, wherever it might be, that Ninus and Sargon, and so +many others, had reached long ago. + +Semiramis caught up her rein with an exclamation of delight. + +"I was sure of it!" she said; "I knew it from the first! They will fight +in the plain--they are moving the host down even now. Behold, I can see +their archers on the wall! It is time for you and me, Assarac, to prove +the mettle of our horses and the surety of their archers' aim." + +As she spoke, she urged Merodach to a gallop, while an arrow whistling +by her cheek quivered in the ground a spear's length farther on. The +good horse only sped the faster, and ere morning had brightened the +mountain's crest, Semiramis reached her pavilion, and her trumpets rang +gaily out, to set the sons of Ashur in array. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +BOW AND SPEAR + + +It was a goodly sight, could the queen have waited to behold it, that +downward march of the Armenian host to meet their enemy in the plain. +The flower and pride of all the north, formidable in size, number, and +length of weapons, they deployed, squadron by squadron, and company by +company, under cover of their archers on the wall, till they found space +near the river's empty bed to form that wedge, or solid triangle in +which it was their custom to offer battle. This mass consisted of +spearmen, who with levelled points and raised bucklers seemed to present +but an impervious hedge of steel to the efforts of an adversary. It was +designed to penetrate and cleave asunder by sheer weight and pressure +the opposing force, while Thorgon and his long swords, mounted on their +swift hardy horses, held themselves in readiness to cut up and destroy +in detail the fragments of an enemy thus riven the wider the more it +gave ground to its assailants. + +Such a method of fighting was considered by the mountain men to insure +victory; and the queen's eye sparkled, her cheek glowed, when she beheld +the hosts of Aryas the Beautiful thus eager to engage her own on a +system of which she had mastered all the details, prepared to worst it +at every point. + +"The lion is astir," she said, "and walking deliberately into the toils +without an effort at escape. By the light of Ashtaroth, I will have his +claws pared, his fangs drawn, and the beast as tame as a kitten, before +close of day!" + +Splendidly armed, ablaze with gold and jewels that flashed in the +morning sun, she stood in her chariot, looking like the goddess by whom +she swore, her beautiful face radiant with pleasure, her heart beating +high with courage, triumph, and the wild tumult of unbridled love. + +Her shield-bearer's place still remained vacant, and save a youth to +drive her horses, she was alone in the chariot; for Assarac, who +remained as usual in attendance, occupied another at her side. + +The eunuch's face was very grave and sad; its fleshy outlines had +fallen, the eyes were sunk and haggard, while about the lips care and +sorrow had carved those anxious lines that age itself fails to imprint +when the heart remains at ease. + +He looked little like a priest of Baal, less like a warrior of Ashur: +but never prophet burned with fiercer fire, never were nerves of +champion strung to more desperate courage, than glowed in the vexed +heart and wounded spirit of Assarac the eunuch, thus waiting on +Semiramis the queen. + +He had galloped back with her to the camp before sunrise, and at the +first trumpet call ascended into his chariot, that he might aid her with +his counsel, perhaps shield her with his body in the press of battle. + +In the disposal of her power she had shown her accustomed skill. Dark +masses of horsemen gathered like clouds on either flank. Her spearmen, +in a solid column, occupied the centre, protecting a bristling array of +war-chariots, ready to be launched against the enemy so soon as he +advanced into the plain; while forming her own guard and a reserve to be +hurled, as it were, at the critical moment on any point she should +select, rode a picked body of warriors clothed in blue, shining with +gilded armour, and chosen from the flower of her men of war by the +queen herself. + +Aryas the Beautiful, surveying from his chariot the line of battle thus +opposed to him, felt, while his courage rose with its very hopelessness, +a sad conviction of the impossibility of his task. He whispered as much +to Sarchedon, who accompanied him. + +"Behold," said he, "how the wolves are gathering to hem in the mountain +bull on every side. I knew not they were so many, nor so fierce. Surely +he is a daring leader who joins battle with the sons of Ashur." + +The other, while acknowledging so obvious a truth, could not repress a +thrill of exultation in the fair and formidable array of warriors with +whom he had heretofore gone out to victory. + +At the same moment Semiramis turned to Assarac, whose chariot now stood +by her own, and pointed with a radiant smile to those long lines of +steel glittering in the morning sun. + +"The blade is out," said she, "and balances so well in my hand, I can +smite when and where I will. Who would care to be a queen, but that the +arm which sways a sceptre has such strength to draw a sword? Behold, the +very auxiliaries stand fast, as if they too felt they carried on their +spears the honour of Assyria!" + +"Trust not their patience too far," urged the eunuch. "Great Queen, they +are clamouring to engage even now!" + +"Fools," she returned gaily, "I mean to sacrifice them soon enough. But +I can scarce trust them in the first shock of the assault, or I would +leave our own people to come in and reap the victory." + +"Let not the Great Queen scorn the words of her servant," replied +Assarac, "humble man of peace though he be. The children of Anak, led by +their woman-captain, claim the advance as their right. Behold, they are +fierce champions, tall as palms, greedy as beasts of prey, acknowledging +no law save the customs of their tribe. How shall these be satisfied +when the fight is over, the victory gained, and the spoil divided? Grant +them their wish: let them hurl themselves against the enemy. If they +loosen his formation, it is well; if they turn back in confusion while +he smites them hip and thigh, it is better. Assyria can do without them +in the day of triumph as in the day of battle." + +The queen scanned him from head to foot. + +"Do you think I cannot rein a steed," she asked, with a scornful laugh, +"because it is strong and wilful, or rule a handful of horsemen because +they stand a span higher than their fellows? Go to, Assarac; I thought +you knew me better. I have a task in store for these same Anakim, and I +purpose leading them myself. They shall help me to take this Comely King +captive from the very midst of his host. I tell you I mean to look at +his beautiful face before sunset, as close as I am to you!" + +"May the queen live for ever!" was his reply, for Assarac's whole +attention seemed now engrossed by the strength of Armenia advancing to +the attack. + +The wedge came on, solid and impenetrable as if it were indeed a living +mass of metal. Thus it crossed the level ground by the river's bed, +directing its point steadily for the centre of the Assyrian line; and so +long as it moved upon an even surface, nothing could be more warlike +than the mechanical regularity of its advance--nothing, perhaps, save +the discipline of the Assyrian archers, whom the queen kept so perfectly +in hand, that in spite of a tempting proximity to the Armenians not a +man moved in his saddle, turned his rein or bent his bow. But when the +huge triangular phalanx reached the channel, now dried up indeed, yet +rough with broken banks, sandy ledges, shingle, and boulders of rock, a +shiver seemed to pass over it like that which ripples the hide of some +huge monster in its death-pang, and Aryas drove furiously down in his +chariot to rectify the disorder ere it was too late. + +In compliance with his bowbearer's entreaties, the attire and harness of +the Comely King, though less simple than usual, were such as might be +worn by any captain or leader of his host. There was nothing about him +to identify his royalty but the handsome form and face. Sarchedon also +was armed and dressed in a precisely similar manner, so that at the +interval of a spear-length it was impossible to distinguish one from the +other. The bowbearer too had divested himself of the quiver that +denoted his office, and while he stood upright and brandished a spear in +the war-chariot, Aryas covered him with a shield. Even old Thorgon, +riding up to his lord for final orders, rubbed his eyes and pulled his +shaggy beard in angry confusion at its success, while he admitted the +wisdom of this stratagem. + +With voice and gesture, Aryas and Sarchedon strove in concert to restore +that dense consistency to the mass which constituted its strength and +safety; but eyes as quick, and skill more practised, were watching their +opportunity, so that as the leading Armenian spearman made his first +false step, the arm of Semiramis went up, a trumpet sounded, and the +horsemen of Assyria set themselves in motion by thousands, with bows +bent and arrows drawn to the head. + +There is a moment, and none knew it better than the Great Queen, on +which the tide of battle turns. + +"In the toils _now_!" she murmured viciously, "and that fair head of +yours will be at my mercy to-night, as sure as I hold this bow in my +hand. Assarac," she continued, in the calm ringing accents with which it +was her wont to issue her commands in battle, "let them feed that force +of archers thousands by thousands, as they want them, from the columns +on their flanks. When the Armenian host arrives at yonder white stone, +bring up the reserve of spearmen, and I will attack with the whole +line." + +Ere this landmark could be reached, she was well aware that the +advancing phalanx, stumbling at every step, galled on all sides by +mounted bowmen, who, circling swiftly round, wrapped it in a deadly +storm of arrows, must become so loosened and disorganised as with one +well-supported charge to be broken up and cut to pieces in detail. + +Already darting an upward glance at the towers of Ardesh, she was +doubting whether to occupy it with a strong Assyrian garrison or to burn +its palace, and level its defences to the ground. For a space all went +as she desired. Wheeling in clouds, succeeded and relieved by squadron +after squadron, each fresher, fiercer, more daring than the last, it +seemed to Aryas that the horsemen of Assyria were inexhaustible and +intangible as the locusts of their own fertile land. With each discharge +of arrows, his phalanx hesitated, tottered, and opened out. It was no +longer a solid wedge, but an irregular mass, melting and crumbling like +a snow-wreath in the southern breeze. There was not a moment to lose, +and the Comely King, whose habits of wood-craft had at least gifted him +with that promptitude of decision which is so necessary in war, saw the +crisis and prepared to meet it. + +"Sarchedon," he exclaimed, "leap on my horse, the bay standing there +behind the chariot! Ride down to Thorgon like the wind. Bid him bring up +his long swords steadily, but without delay. At the first step taken by +the enemy's spearmen, he must charge and drive them back amongst their +chariots. It is the last chance left. Away! Two Armenian kings are +fighting side by side this morning; Sarchedon, if at set of sun there is +but one left, my faithful friend and servant, fare thee well!" + +Touching his lord's hand reverently with his lips, the bowbearer flung +himself into the saddle, and galloped off at speed; while Aryas, +snatching reins and whip from his charioteer, shaking the former and +plying the latter to some purpose, flew towards that white stone which +the keen eye of Semiramis had already marked as the turning-point of +conflict. + +When they parted, scarce a bowshot intervened between the king's chariot +and the handful of Anakim who were drawn up in the position they had +clamoured to occupy, waiting with fiery impatience an order to begin. + +Their queen sat motionless at their head, her face concealed as usual, +her eyes intently scanning those hostile ranks in search of the man she +loved. + +Suddenly she dropped the rein and clasped her hands upon her heart. +Surely that was his figure yonder, riding, as he alone could ride, along +the river bank! A dead archer lay in his path, and the bay horse, +swerving wildly aside, brought his rider round with a swing that showed +his front to the enemy. + +"Sarchedon, Sarchedon!" she cried, in a stifled voice, then stretched +her arms out piteously, and, gasping for breath, flung the veil back +from her face. + +It was the signal they had expected since daybreak, the gesture by which +they were taught to believe their enemies would be consumed like thorns +crackling in a fire. The wild blood of the desert would take no denial +now; and with a shout that rang round the towers of Ardesh, reins were +loosed, spears lowered, while, sweeping their bewildered leader onward +in their centre, the children of Anak carried all before them in a +desperate and irresistible charge. + +The brow of Semiramis turned black for very anger, while the beautiful +features were distorted with a spasm of rage and scorn. + +"The fools!" she hissed between her teeth. "If but one comes out of the +press alive, I will impale him in the centre of the camp! And for their +leader--if she be wise, she will die on those Armenian spears, rather +than answer this mad frolic in the face of the Great Queen!" + +The next moment, with smooth calm smile and royal dignity, she beckoned +Assarac to her chariot, and gave her directions in that calm assured +tone which with Semiramis denoted a crisis of extreme peril, and perfect +confidence in her own powers to meet it. + +What she anticipated did indeed come to pass. The common saying, "Who +shall stand before the children of Anak?" had doubtless grown into a +proverb because of its undisputed truth. Individually, the champions of +Armenia went down before these stalwart horsemen like corn under the +sickle. Iron buckler made no better stand than wicker shield against +their mad thrusts and crashing strokes, linked harness proved no +stronger fence than linen gown, and bearded men of war seemed as but +puny infants contending with this gigantic foe. Charging against the +head of the Armenian phalanx, they drove its leaders back upon their +fellows; and while they hewed and shouted and smote without remorse, the +little band reared about them a barrier of ghastly mutilated corpses, +rising to their very girths. + +But while thus pressing sore against the front of their enemy, they +condensed him into his original formation; and the Great Queen, always +intolerant of shortcomings in discipline, had the mortification to +witness her well-digested plan destroyed, her whole order of battle put +to confusion, by this untoward advance of a force she intended +reserving to the last moment for a purpose of her own. + +"And ten more spear-lengths would have sufficed," said she, veiling her +vexation as best she might. "Behold, Assarac! In war, as in peace, it is +better to trust a haltered ass than an unbridled steed!" + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +LOST AND WON + + +Sarchedon, galloping furiously on his mission, yet cast more than one +glance over his shoulder at the battle raging behind him. He too marked +the overwhelming charge of the Anakim, and its effect on that solid mass +against which its might was hurled. Trained in the subtlest school of +war, by the great captain of the age, he perceived at once that if ever +they were to be routed, now was the critical moment at which the +discomfiture of his countrymen must be achieved. The bay horse reeked +with foam and reeled from want of breath when it reached Thorgon's side; +and Sarchedon, deeming not an instant should be lost, ventured so far to +extend the command he had received as to urge on that old warrior the +necessity of putting his men in motion at a gallop. Thorgon frowned and +bit his lip. "Go to!" said he. "I am not to be taught by an Assyrian +youth how to set the battle in array. Nevertheless, if thou wilt share +in a death-ride to-day with the children of the north, pull that knife +of thine out of thy girdle and come with me." + +Thus speaking, he drew his own long heavy sword, and waving it round his +head, placed himself in front of his horsemen, and led them against the +enemy at a rapid pace, which, when within a bowshot distance, he +increased to their utmost speed. + +The Anakim had now penetrated so far into the ranks of the Armenians as +to be nearly surrounded, while victorious, by the very foe they were +engaged in defeating. It needed but this charge of Thorgon and his grim +long swords in their rear to complete the circle that hemmed them in. + +Semiramis, from her chariot, marked the crisis and the manner in which +it must be met. "Assarac," said she, in her calm modulated voice, "I +cannot trust the children of the desert. They would not retire if I bade +them, and so weaken the wedge by drawing it after them in pursuit. We +must check these wild cattle of the mountain, nevertheless. Bring up my +spears in solid column of a thousand men in front, masking the chariots. +When I raise my bow, let them open out and every driver urge his horses +to a gallop. I will not give the signal till I see my opportunity, so +watch me like a falcon over a fawn. Send for my horsemen clothed in +blue. Ten squadrons may serve to bring the Anakim out of peril, and with +the rest I will myself make a dash for the person of this Beautiful +King." + +Her commands were implicitly obeyed. With a shout that denoted their +courage and unshaken confidence, the chief strength of the Assyrian army +advanced steadily to the attack. + +Meantime the Anakim were fighting at considerable disadvantage. Hemmed +in by falling foes, encumbered by dead of their own slaying, they had no +space to turn their horses, scarce elbow-room to swing their swords. +Twice had Ishtar's rein been seized by a dismounted enemy, and her horse +dragged down to its knees; twice had his veiled queen been rescued by +some tall champion, who pierced her assailant to the heart, or clove him +to the chin. But, nevertheless, the farther these desperate giants +fought their way towards the centre of the Armenians, the more difficult +became the task of extrication, the more hopeless their chances of +retreat. It seemed that all was indeed lost when Thorgon and his long +swords came pouring down upon their rear. + +To Ishtar the events passing before her eyes were but as the horrors of +some ghastly dream. Faint, gasping, terrified, stunned with the din, +choked in the dust, blinded by the flash of weapons, sickening at the +smell of blood, she was only sensible she had seen Sarchedon, as in a +vision, and had cried to him for assistance in vain. + +Helpless and bewildered, she must have been slain a score of times but +for the chief of the Anakim, whose weapon kept her assailants at bay, +while his hand guided her horse through the press of battle; but even +this protection failed her when that formidable champion found himself +engaged with Thorgon hand to hand. + +Wary and experienced, hardened and toughened by continual toil in +warfare and the chase, the old Armenian knew every wile of the +swordsman, every turn of the horseman, familiarly as he knew the spring +of a panther or the rush of a mountain bull. But he was no match for the +larger frame and lengthier limbs of an opponent who was a younger, +stronger, and quicker man, riding a better horse. While he waved his +long sword round his head to cleave his adversary to the girdle, the +other smote him sharp and true below the fifth rib, and, with a loud +curse on the only god he acknowledged--the weapon that had failed +him--Thorgon fell headlong from his saddle, dead before he reached the +ground. + +Men, horses, flashing weapons, reeling banners--all swam before Ishtar's +eyes; and, swaying blindly forward, she was scarcely conscious that a +protecting arm supported her, a careful hand guided her bridle, towards +the outskirts of the fight. + +The fall of their leader seemed in no way to discourage the mountain +men; rather they fought with greater fierceness and obstinacy than +before. The children of Anak too, considerably out-numbered, and +disheartened by the helplessness of their Veiled Queen, began to give +way, striking furiously about them indeed, without a thought of flight, +yet obviously bent on effecting a retreat, if possible in good order, +but at any sacrifice a retreat. + +In this imminent crisis of battle, the Comely King and the Great Queen +were moved simultaneously with a conviction that now was the moment at +which to throw all the weight attainable into the scale. If either side +could be driven back but a score of spear-lengths, it might be made to +give ground imperceptibly, till wavering grew to flight, and flight +culminated in defeat. For Armenia, it seemed the only hope to push +forward the wedge till it penetrated and divided the queen's solid +columns of spearmen; for the sons of Ashur the sure path to victory lay +in a breaking up of that dense obstinate mass, already weakened and +mutilated, while its nucleus should be annihilated by their chariots, +and its component parts cut to pieces by their horsemen hovering on its +flanks. + +Therefore Aryas, standing erect in his chariot, encouraged his men of +war, with voice and gesture, in the very fore-front of battle. Therefore +Semiramis, scanning with undisguised approval the ranks of her +body-guard clothed in blue, placed herself joyfully at their head. The +Armenian monarch had resolved to save crown, kingdom, and friend, or +die, like a true mountain man, in his war-harness; while the Great +Queen, thirsting for victory as the drunkard thirsts for wine, was urged +by her longing after Sarchedon and the spur of a feminine desire to +behold Aryas the Beautiful face to face. + +They were now scarce ten spear-lengths apart, on the dried-up river's +brink. + +The ground was rough and broken, the wheels of her chariot drove +heavily, and Semiramis found herself more than once in danger of being +thrown from her elevated position between the horses that plunged and +laboured over slippery rock or yielding sand. + +Against the carved and inlaid panel beside her hung a quiver with its +single arrow--one of those sent to Babylon in return for her embassy, +and which she had sworn by Nisroch to plant in the breast of Aryas the +Beautiful with her own hand. She snatched it from its case, made a sign +to the attendant who led him, leaped on Merodach, and, looking proudly +round, raised her bow aloft to brandish it over her head. + +Then, while spears went down and bridles shook, a shout rose from the +warriors in blue raiment that was caught up by the whole Assyrian army, +and every man called lustily on Baal, swearing a mighty oath that he +would fight to the death for the Great Queen. + +Aiming, as was her custom, at the heart of the enemy, Semiramis broke +furiously through the opposing long swords, now deprived of their +leader, with the view of first extricating the Anakim from their +perilous position, and afterwards directing all her force against the +Armenian king in person. + +Assarac too had done his part like a practised warrior. The deep array +of spears, a solid column many furlongs in length, strong in its front +of a thousand marching men, was nearing the conflict every moment, with +that smooth and even step, that mechanical regularity of approach, which +seems the very impersonation of discipline and power. Concealed behind +its masses, betrayed only by an unceasing jar of iron and roll of +wheels, came on those formidable war-chariots, so irresistible by an +enemy who had sustained a check that caused the slightest confusion in +its ranks; and wielding the whole array, governing at once each element +of the storm, drove Assarac the eunuch--he of the cool brain, the +steadfast courage, the pitiless heart, who could be moved but by one +sentiment on earth--his mad infatuation for the queen. + +Aryas marked it all, and knew that now the end was very near. Glancing +towards Sarchedon, he beheld his bowbearer, scarce ten spear-lengths +off, in the hottest of the struggle, defending, as it seemed, from +stroke and thrust some object at his side. The Anakim gathered about +him; while the long swords, shouting "Aryas! Aryas!" were making +desperate efforts to approach, believing, no doubt, they were rallying +round their king. + +Semiramis neared her object with every stride. Aryas had stooped to take +another arrow from his quiver, and, as he raised his head again to +confront his enemy, looking boldly over his shield, behold! for the +first time, he stood face to face with the Great Queen. + +Deceived by the likeness, duped by her own wild heart and reckless +longing, she called on him she loved by the name she had learned to +whisper in her dreams; but the hoarse shriek that cried "Sarchedon, +Sarchedon!" was so different from the full soft tones in which she was +used to doom a culprit or direct a battle, that her guards pressed +fiercely in, thinking their leader must have been stricken with a +death-hurt. + +Casting down horse and rider in the fury of her career, she urged +Merodach towards the chariot, every consideration of war and policy, all +care for herself, her army, her people, lost in a fierce thrill of +triumph that the desire of her eyes had not escaped her, and she had +found him even at the last. + +Surrounded by the chosen horsemen of Assyria, over-matched, +out-numbered, and now at his sorest need, Aryas shouted to his bowbearer +for help; and Sarchedon, still struggling in the strife as a swimmer +fights and reels amongst the breakers, answered lustily to the call. + +The Great Queen, making, as she believed, for another, was now within +ten paces of Aryas the Beautiful himself. + +In that hideous din of battle she neither heard his cry nor the voice +that replied to it; but the white horse with the eyes of fire had a +truer memory and a sharper ear. Recognising his master's accents, he +swerved aside to reach him, but meeting the wrench of the queen's +practised hand on his bridle, reared high with tossing head, and plunged +blindly forward against the king's chariot, struck himself and his rider +heavily to the ground. + +As the good horse rolled over a maimed Armenian, the dying mountain man +shortened the sword he grasped fiercely even then, and buried it in the +animal's bowels. + +Agile as a panther, Semiramis extricated herself, and was up like +lightning; but when she saw the beast she prized so dearly dead at her +very feet, her heart burned, and her eyes blazed with a fury wilder, +fiercer, madder, than the rage of any beast of prey. + +Baffled, stunned, bewildered, she only knew that Merodach lay slain +beneath her; that an armed enemy stood above with shielded face and +javelin raised to strike; that here across the body of her horse was the +turning-point of battle, and that she held a bow and arrow in her hand. +Unconsciously, she fitted the one to the string, and drew the other at a +venture, as it were, in self-defence. + +It was the Armenian arrow, cut in Armenian forests, tipped with Armenian +steel. It had travelled to Babylon and back as a symbol of dignified +remonstrance and royal self-respect; now the white cruel arm impelled it +straight and true, to find its home in the heart of an Armenian king. + +Stricken below the buckler, he felt his life-blood oozing down to wet +its feathers, drop by drop. + +"Turn thy hand out of the battle," murmured Aryas to his charioteer, +"since I am hurt even unto death!" + +But he never spoke again; for the Great Queen's men of war, making in to +aid their leader, hurled him from his chariot, gashing with pitiless +sword-strokes the comely face so fair even in death, crushing under +trampling hoofs the stately form that, maimed, bruised, and mangled, was +grand and kingly still. + +So the horsemen of Assyria triumphed; her spears made victory secure, +her chariots rolled over the slain. The blue mantles smote and spared +not; the Anakim extricating themselves, not without considerable loss, +departed in good order; and the pursuit rolled on till the sons of Ashur +sacked the town of Ardesh--to burn, pillage, and destroy, even unto the +going down of the day. + +But men looked in vain for her who had led the attack and achieved the +victory, asking each other with eager looks and anxious faces, + +"What tidings of the Great Queen?" + +[Illustration: "SHE KNELT BESIDE THE BODY OF A DEAD HORSE."] + +Her armour lay, piece by piece, beside her; there was dust on her +lustrous hair, the pride of her royal garment was rent from hem to hem, +while bowed down in anguish, with fixed eyes, white face, and rigid +lips, she knelt beside a dead horse, over the body of a dead king. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +SHARING THE SPOIL + + +In the palace of Ardesh, where the naked sword stood for men to worship, +they set up a golden image of Baal; where a free monarch sat amongst his +free warriors, the servant of a despotic mistress now lorded it over a +conquered race. Between rise and set of sun a king had perished, an army +had been cut to pieces, and a warlike people ceased to hold its place +among nations. + +In the court of that royal dwelling, under the soft evening sky, Assarac +stood in state to receive the captains of the host, take note of their +prisoners, and count the spoil. He had borne him all day like a warrior +of might--cool as the wariest of leaders, bold as the fiercest of +spearmen. None the less was his practised eye scanning the material +results of triumph, his active brain plotting to consolidate the fruits +of victory. + +Though himself unwounded, the eunuch's harness was riven and dented, the +linen garment, which, in right of his priestly office, he affected even +in battle, was streaked and spotted with blood. Fed by the fire within, +his look was keen and piercing; there seemed little more trace of +fatigue on his care-worn face than it had worn day and night since the +host marched out from the northern gate of Babylon; and, conscious he +had borne him like a true son of Ashur, under the eyes of the Great +Queen, his aspect, lately so dejected and morose, was brightened by a +passing gleam, as from the light of hope. + +It looked a ghastly task on which his mind was bent. Files of Assyrian +spearmen, passing proudly before him, laid down the heads of enemies +slain in arms or taken prisoners after the combat; so lavishly and with +such precision, that a pile of these hideous trophies had already risen +to the height of a man's girdle. Two scribes, tablet in hand, took note +of their exact number; while Assarac, as the queen's chief counsellor, +recorded the names of the successful warriors, and apportioned the share +to which each would be entitled in dividing the spoil. + +Not a murmur rose against his award; for it was still fresh in men's +minds how at the turning-point of battle, when victory hung doubtful in +the balance, all that fierce energy and daring which had rendered Ninus +such a successful leader seemed to have descended on the priest of Baal +whom the old king so mistrusted and reviled. + +Man by man the champions of the Assyrian host passed by. One laden with +the spoil he had already gathered, rude in workmanship, yet precious in +its barbaric splendour and intrinsic worth. Another, dragging some +hapless foeman, whom he had bound securely with his girdle, and whose +fate hung on the eunuch's nod; for the conqueror, with bared arm and +naked steel, held himself ready to pierce, flay, or decapitate at the +lightest sign. A third, leading a comely mountain maid, white and ruddy, +with shy blue eyes and tangled locks of gold, scared, trembling, +weeping, yet sometimes blushing, not without conscious triumph, that +she had herself taken captive the strong fighter in whose power she +seemed to be. + +For the vanquished, Assarac now showed a clemency unusual in the +traditions of his people, not entirely in accordance with his own +nature, as it had hitherto appeared, hard, practical, uninfluenced by +feeling, and looking only to results. It was observed that he spared all +captives save only such warriors as had been taken fighting against the +bodyguards of the Great Queen; while for the Armenian women, in this +their hour of sorrow, he manifested a pity and consideration that +elicited certain ribald comments from his countrymen, and no small +surprise from the prisoners themselves. But censure, praise, and +ridicule were alike unable to affect him to-day. With that power of +concentration which constitutes the principal element of success in war, +government, or indeed any business of life, his energies were engrossed +in the important task of so disposing that great Assyrian army, as to +provide for security and good order in the captured town. + +Leader after leader therefore he summoned and dismissed, receiving their +tale of spoil and captives, giving directions for the distribution of +their men. "Where has he learned his skill of warfare," said the old +captains to each other, "this high-priest of our Assyrian god? Surely +Baal comes down to him by night and speaks with him face to face." + +So strongly was national pride and self-confidence imbued with a +religious belief in their gods, that this opinion seemed to the sons of +Ashur extremely probable and well-conceived. It reflected honour on +themselves, their worship, and their triumph; above all, it invested +Assarac with an influence and authority most essential in the absence of +the Great Queen. Not a line of the eunuch's face, not a turn of his +body, was permitted to weaken this impression of superhuman strength and +sagacity, of holiness fresh from the fount of fire itself. Calm, +dignified, imperious, moved by no casualty, equal to all occasions, he +issued his commands with a foresight and wisdom that elicited order from +the very excesses of a victorious army in a city taken by assault; and +yet at Assarac's heart, though stifled and suppressed by the strong will +within, raged a tumult far more difficult to deal with in its unbridled +folly than the wildest license of warriors drunk with wine and blood. + +Where was the queen? Again and again had that question presented itself +in the hour of victory, and now, though the stars were out, he could not +answer it yet. + +While driving the Armenians back upon the town of Ardesh, and entering +their capital with a routed enemy, he never doubted but that Semiramis +was performing her part of the battle, and that they would meet at +sunset in the Comely King's palace, where he would receive from her some +acknowledgment of the valour he had shown, some word of thanks for the +service he had done. For a time the exigencies of such a success left +him not a moment to make inquiries concerning the mistress of nations, +even had it been prudent to do so. It was necessary to assume supreme +authority, and wield it without scruple; but when a clear head, an +undisputed will, and an unequalled organisation had disposed of their +immediate necessities, and the Assyrian host with its captives was +securely established for the night, Assarac's anxiety became maddening +as hour by hour passed on, but brought no tidings of the Great Queen. + +It never entered his head that she could be slain. To him, Ashtaroth was +no more an impersonation of light, beauty, and unearthly power than +Semiramis. That she might have been taken up at the moment of victory, +to join the stars of heaven in a chariot of fire, he was perhaps the +only man of all the host who did _not_ believe; but none the less was it +impossible for him to realise that imperial glory as shadowed by defeat, +that matchless face as pale and fixed in death. + +Thus was he spared more than one hideous pang; yet perhaps it is a +question whether the suspense that racked him now, with all its +maddening possibilities, was not fiercer torture than would have been +the certainty that she was gone from him for ever, and he must grovel +before his idol no more. + +While the stars shone coldly down on the scene of conflict, while a new +moon shed her gentle light on fire-scathed tower and blackened wall +above--on writhing sufferer and stiffened corpse below--on riven +harness, prostrate horses, chariots broken where they fell--on the +tents of the conquerors, the lines of the vanquished, the wounded, the +sleeping, the dying, and the great banner of Ashur drooping sullenly +over all,--Assarac wrapped himself in a dark-coloured mantle, and +leaving the royal palace of Ardesh, stole down to the plain below, +hoping that on the field of battle, where he had last seen her, he might +recover some traces of the queen. + +Already, ere he proceeded half a bowshot, he had disturbed a jackal at +its loathsome feast. The eunuch shuddered and hurried on. Was this, +then, the end and climax of all the pomp of war, the glory of the host, +the thunder of chariots, the shouting of captains, the sword, the +shield, and the battle? + +A nation rising in its might at sunrise, going forth to conquer, and at +nightfall--lo, a wild dog mumbling a bone! + +His pursuits, his profession, the juggleries that deceived the people, +the pseudo-science that professed to read the stars, had taught him, +perhaps, to ponder and reflect, where others of his nation were content +to act and to enjoy. Looking from the scene of carnage at his feet to +that summer's night so fair and pure above, the great question thrust +itself upon his mind, which his experience, his reason, all the +traditions of Ashur, all the mystic lore of Baal, seemed unable to +answer. + +What was this confusion on earth, this order and regularity in heaven, +and why were these things so? Did Nisroch take thought for that Armenian +woman, wailing in the darkness over the body of her dead lord, or Baal +pity the maimed swordsman yonder, trailing his length like a crushed +reptile towards the stream that, in his agony of thirst, he forgot had +been drained and turned aside? Was there indeed a motive power to govern +in heaven? And if so, did it leave the evils of earth to right +themselves as best they might, by force, fraud, and subtlety, the strong +arm and the cunning brain? A thrill of triumph passed through him, while +he murmured, + +"It must be so! Let him lord it up yonder who will, man is the god +below; and he who never flinches from his purpose shall not fail in his +desire. Such a one stands here to-night in these my garments. Conqueror +of the north, Assarac the eunuch has to-day taken his place among the +mighty ones of earth, and who shall say him nay? Hath he not led the +hosts of Assyria to victory? Hath he not adjudged to each triumphant man +of war the meed of his deserts; and shall not he also take his share of +the spoil? Costly jewels, treasures of gold, herds of camels, horses, +armour, and cunning needlework--the common needs of common men--he +careth for none of these; and yet to-night, surely to-night, shall he +garner the harvest that has been sown in fire, and reaped in blood. +Ashtaroth, Ashtaroth, queen of love and light, hast thou ever known a +worshipper who flung before thee all he had to give, taking his heart +out, to lay it at thy feet, and asked only in return for one approving +glance, one soft and kindly smile? Surely she to whom I pray cannot +withhold these from me in such a time as this! Surely there is a goodly +meed in store for him who has to-day placed her crowning victory on the +brows of the Great Queen!" + +He had nearly reached the river's bed, where the battle had been +hottest, where the carnage lay thick and reeking in broad swathes of +slaughter; a few more steps brought him to where Merodach lay stiff and +cold, with a vulture feasting on his eyes, and a wild dog tearing at his +flank. The bright stars and the young moon afforded light enough to +distinguish the dead white horse with its ghastly attendants. Assarac's +brain reeled, his blood ran cold, while he remembered that he had last +seen its rider charging furiously through the battle, on the back of her +favourite. + +The vulture croaked and flapped its wings, the wild dog growled, glared, +and slunk away. Like a man chained in a nightmare, half conscious that +he is dreaming, yet wholly unable to resist the petrifying spell, +Assarac felt as if some unseen power compelled him to remain and +confront the nameless horror that he so dreaded, yet was so resolved to +disbelieve. He tried to shout, but his tongue clave to the roof of his +mouth; to draw his sword, but his hand hung powerless, and his flesh +crept, so that the very hair rose in the nape of his neck; for gliding +through the gloom, scarce half a bowshot off, there passed him a +ghostly procession, such as the spirits of the dead might form, in their +land of shadows beyond the grave. + +Four tall dark figures, moving with solemn gait, bore aloft, on one of +the long wicker shields used by assailants of a fenced city, such a +shrouded burden as denoted the presence of death under the cloak that +veiled its ghastly truth. + +Behind them, with drooping head, clasped hands, and a bearing that +betrayed the utmost abandonment of woe, walked a female mourner, +majestic even in the hour of sorrow that bowed her to the earth. Assarac +started into life now, if indeed that could be called life which was but +restoration to consciousness under the smart of a deadly stab; for in +the folds hanging about the corpse he recognised a royal mantle--in the +drooping and dejected mourner, beheld the person of the Great Queen. + +With fixed and rigid face, with hands clasped tight, with steps that +seemed borne up and guided by some extraneous power, independent of and +even dominating his own will, the eunuch followed through the darkness, +as a sleep-walker follows the immaterial object of his dreams, never +decreasing the space that intervened, never turning aside from the +footprints of those who led, passing without heed over mailed corpse and +broken chariot, through sand and shingle and shallow pools of blood. + +So the procession laboured gravely on, away from the battlefield, across +the vineyards, up the rocky path that led to those mountain forests in +which the dead king of Armenia might have found safety from his foes. + +The bearers neither increased their speed nor halted, nor stinted for +lack of breath, but moved calmly forward with even measured pace, symbol +of a haughty reverence and respect, rather than of pity or distress; for +he whom they bore feet foremost had been a warrior like themselves, and +lay warlike in his riven harness, with a broken bow in his hand. He had +fallen, as was meet for a stout champion, in the fore-front of battle, +and though the horsemen of Assyria slashed it cruelly with their swords, +his comely face had never turned one hair's-breadth from the foe. + +Therefore the sons of Ashur thought no shame to carry him sternly and +proudly to his rest, at the command of their mistress; therefore in +their hearts they told themselves, how at Nisroch's appointed time, it +would be well for them too that they should die in their armour, and +that their last end should be like his. + +The frogs clamoured in the marsh, the night wind moaned in the pines, +filmy clouds swept over the crescent moon, and the corpse went ever +upward into the mountain, while the queen followed after it, weeping, +mute, unconscious, and Assarac, giddy and bewildered, followed blindly +after the queen. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +COUNTING THE COST + + +Ever as their path grew steeper, and they penetrated farther into its +recesses, the forest became more gloomy, while its trees assumed more +hideous and fantastic shapes. The sky was dark and wild, the air loaded +with those murmurs of the night that are to sounds of waking life as +passing shadows to real objects of flesh and blood; gigantic faces, +grim, gray, and indistinct, blinked and peered from naked crag or +gnarled and wrinkled trunk; while here, there, everywhere around, +brooded a presence, no less awful because so vague and impalpable, that +would have curdled and chilled the boldest human heart. It seemed to +Assarac, he was treading the border-land between here and hereafter; +that at every step he might come face to face with some departed spirit, +for which the universal experience was no longer a problem to be solved, +which could tell him the secret all his life had been but an effort to +inquire. + +A white owl flitted noiselessly through the darkness, and the eunuch's +heart stood still with something less debasing, yet far more horrible +than fear. Nevertheless, as the shadowy train moved before him, +mechanically he followed on. + +In a gorge of the mountain, where night was blackest, a red light glowed +suddenly across the sky. Wheeling round the stem of a rugged oak, the +bearers halted with their burden, in an open space where four glades +met, converging on an indistinct mass, that seemed, in the fitful +glare, some rough rude altar reared of unhewn stones. + +Reverently they laid the dead hero down. Rising erect, when he touched +the earth, Assarac recognised in their lofty frames and costly armour +four spearmen from the body-guard of the Great Queen. + +Semiramis stood apart, peering eagerly into the gloom, only the outline +of a white face visible in the deep folds of a mantle, that shrouded her +head and figure. + +Wild yells and piercing shrieks rose from the forest, while the flash of +many torches danced fitfully among the trees. A score of hideous figures +now came leaping into the open space, and formed themselves in a circle +round the queen, the spearmen and the dead warrior laid upon his shield. + +Interest and curiosity had somewhat mastered the eunuch's over-powering +sense of horror, so that, waking, as it were, from the oppression of a +trance, he seemed to resume his faculties of body and mind. + +He knew the shapes at last, recognising them for those frantic votaries +who, electing to worship Abitur of the Mountains, disowned all human +ties and interests, abjured all other creeds and professions, that they +might serve the great principle of evil in the wilderness. + +These men were naked to the waist, their hair and beards were matted and +tangled in foul disorder, they tossed their lean arms aloft with frantic +vehemence, and their eyes glared in the torchlight with the fierce +cunning of insanity. + +They might have been themselves the demons they adored, so strange and +unearthly was their appearance, while dancing, gibbering, howling, they +came and went, now opening out, now closing in, their circle, now +retiring among the trees, now advancing towards the altar, but still, +like vultures about a carrion, converging gradually round the corpse. + +The queen held up her hand; immediately the torches gave a steadier +light, the wavering shapes were still, and prostrated themselves before +her with mute signs of submission, reverence, even abject fear. + +She had protected the sect, respected their tenets, even joined in +their worship, from motives of policy long ago. + +Now, in her great need, she clung to this desperate resource, and had +come to wring from Abitur of the Mountains that which the host of heaven +seemed unable to bestow. + +With the increased light afforded by a score of torches, no longer +whirled and brandished in the air, Assarac observed that, in the rock +over against him, was hewn an entrance to some vast cavernous temple, +ornamented with rough symbols and grotesque representations of the demon +worshipped within. This cavity seemed partly natural, partly hollowed +out from the bowels of the earth, by the same rude labour that had +erected the altar in its front. + +Four of the wild men raised the burden recently laid down by the +Assyrian warriors, and, preceded by two of their companions with +torches, disappeared in the entrance of the temple or mouth of the +cavern. While they lifted the corpse, Semiramis passed her hand, with a +gesture of exceeding tenderness, over the dead face, and followed close +behind, succeeded by the rest of the torch-bearing troop, leaving the +spearmen without, as if to guard the threshold. + +An irresistible impulse drove the eunuch onward in his strange +adventure, yet it seemed that he could not have uttered a word to save +his life. With every faculty strained, every sense painfully sharpened, +speech was alone denied him. + +The sons of Ashur crossed their spears to bar his entrance; but throwing +the cloak back from his face, though still without a word, he caused +them to recognise him that stood at the right hand of the Great Queen, +and thus passed unimpeded into the temple of the fiend. + +In a vaulted cavern, so lofty that the glare of twenty torches scarce +illumined the shadowy masses of its roof, stood four unhewn blocks of +granite, supporting, at the height of a man's knee a rough slab of the +same, on a flooring of rock, over which nature had spread a deep +covering of sand. There was here no appearance of shrine or altar, none +of those attempts at ornament, by which even the rudest of worshippers +do honour to their deity with hand and brain. The walls of this natural +temple were of bare bulging stone, its roof was reared far into the +bowels of the mountain; it had but one aperture, through which a dim +thread of light might be seen at noon-day, and where, if he ever did +visit them, the worshippers of Abitur were taught to expect the +appearance of their master. + +Buried in the depths of the forest, beneath those wild shaggy hills, +this dwelling of the evil principle was as dark and shadowy compared +with the temple of Baal, as that shrine of the Assyrian god, glowing in +vermilion and gold, seemed poor and paltry to the starry dome above, of +which it professed to be the type. + +From behind a jutting boulder of rock, forming, as it were, a natural +buttress of the cavern, Assarac watched in horror. The dew stood on his +brow, damp and chill as the slime on the surface against which he +leaned. + +Semiramis snatched a torch from one of the wild figures at her side, and +with its unlighted end described a triangular figure, while keeping +herself carefully within that mystic border, around the broad flat stone +on which the dead man lay. + +A wild unreasoning terror then seemed to take possession of the +worshippers, they trembled from head to foot, and cowered back as far as +the limits of the cavern would allow. In the silence that succeeded this +movement, even Assarac expected some tangible horror to appear. + +The Great Queen planted her torch firmly in the sand at the corpse's +head, stripping off at the same time its enshrouding mantle, while her +own cloak fell from her shoulder in the act, revealing at one stroke her +matchless beauty and the glittering splendour of her attire. + +It was a ghastly contrast--the same wavering light that played on the +queen's jewels imparted a flicker of life and motion to the dead man's +face, gashed and seamed with the sword, drawn and distorted with spasms +of mortal pain. He seemed to gasp, to gibber, to be about to speak, as +if the longing eyes that looked down on him were indeed able to draw his +very soul back from those unknown regions to which it had taken flight, +as if the force of a woman's will, the desire of a woman's love, must +needs have power to bridge the gulf that parts the living and the dead. + +Was it indeed Sarchedon who laid there disfigured into so maimed and +unsightly an object? And did she love him so dearly, that now to-night, +in the very hour of her triumph, she could forego her royal pomp and +glory, could stoop her neck and bend her pride for such a thing as this? + +Then Assarac felt at his heart that keen and searching stab to which +every other pain is but as a dull outward bruise to a serpent's venomed +sting. + +With dropped jaw, fixed eyes, and rigid limbs, he watched like a man +turned to stone. + +She plucked an amulet from her neck, gazing on it for an instant ere she +laid it softly, tenderly, in the dead man's breast. Then she looked +upward, moving lips and hands, like one who pleads hard for life, though +not a sound came forth. This was the second time she had bartered away +her mystic charm. Surely all her resources of peace and war must stand +her in some stead! Surely the dove and the arrow would not fail her now! + +When she turned her eyes again to the body, they gleamed with the light +of hope. On her face was the smile that welcomes some dear one's +home-coming, and she stretched her arms, as if to invite the wanderer +back to her loving heart. + +But while still he moved not, lying there stark and rigid, without word +or sign, it seemed strange to Assarac, that the Great Queen, whose +nature was so imperious, manifested neither anger nor impatience at this +protracted opposition to her will. Sorrow indeed came down over the +beautiful face like a veil; but through it there shone the exceeding +tenderness of a love that owns no limit of time or place, that +acknowledges no barrier, even in the chasm of an open grave. + +Once more her lips and eyes moved wildly, once more she looked around, +as if to plead for that fiendish help she had come here to implore; then +while her bosom heaved, and her throat swelled high, she burst into a +strain of melody that rang through the remotest corners of the cavern, +causing the wild men's senses to thrill with a strange intoxicating +delight, and the eunuch's heart to quiver with a fierce intolerable +pain. + +It was the incantation by which, in sight of all the gods of her people, +she protested against her loss, calling on the parted spirit to return +from its place beyond the grave. + +Laying her right hand on the dead man's forehead, her left upon his +heart, she raised her head and sang: + + "By the power of the Seven + Great tokens of light; + By the Judges of Heaven, + The watchers of night; + By the might of those forces + That govern on high, + The Stars in their courses, + The hosts of the sky; + By Ashur, grim pagan, + Our father in mail; + By Nebo and Dagon, + By Nisroch and Baal; + By pale Ishtar contrasting + With Red Merodach, + By the wings everlasting, + I summon thee back! + + From the ranks of a legion + That files through the gloom + Of a shadowy region + Disclosed by the tomb; + From the gulf of black sorrow + Of silence and sleep, + Where a night with no morrow + Broods over the deep; + By desire unavailing, + And pleasure that's fled; + By the living bewailing + Her love for the dead; + By the wish that endears thee, + The kisses that burn, + And the passion that sears thee, + I bid thee return! + + Thou art cold, and thy face is + So waxen at rest, + In my fiery embraces + Seek warmth on my breast. + Through the lips that caress thee + Draw balm in my breath, + And the arms that compress thee + Shall wrench thee from Death. + Though he boasteth to spare not + For ransom or fee, + Yet he shall not, he dare not, + Take tribute of me. + Then if love can restore thee, + Though bound on the track, + From the journey before thee, + Beloved, come back!" + +While the last syllables died on her lips in long pathetic tones, she +sank across the dead body, brow to brow, breast to breast, and mouth to +mouth. Surely, if but one spark of life had been left, that wild embrace +must have drawn and kindled it into flame. + +But Assarac's brain reeled, and the cavern swam before his eyes. +Staggering, suffocated, he hastened from the place, passing the men of +war at the entrance as he rushed blindly out into the darkness. Said one +spearman to his comrade, "Surely it is a spirit. Behold how it vanisheth +in the night!" To which the other, leaning thoughtfully on his shield, +replied, + +"It is the demon who hath entered, and taken possession of the man, and +driven him forth, and fled with him into the wilderness." + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +THE VOICE OF THE CHARMER + + +It was not the custom of an Assyrian army to leave its work half done. +The day after the great battle of Ardesh, the Armenians were scattered +to the four winds of heaven. Thorgon and his long swords indeed lay on +the field in regular lines of rank and file, as they had fallen; but, +though resisting bravely while his crest could be seen above the tumult, +when their king went down, the remnant of the mountain men broke up and +fled in confusion to their homes. The very stratagem that had, as it +were, doubled his presence for their encouragement, served perhaps but +to dishearten them the more, when they no longer beheld the royal form +which had hitherto seemed ubiquitous in the fight. Every portion of his +host was satisfied it had taken its orders directly from the monarch; +and when at last those two mailed figures, each of which was believed to +be Aryas himself, came together in the hottest of the conflict, men lay +so thick about the spot, that few indeed were left to observe the fall +of one and disappearance of the other warrior, either of whom might have +been their king. + +Through many a league of mountain pass and tangled brake, fording the +torrent or scouring the wind-swept plain, fled broken bands of +fugitives, panting, scared, disarmed, looking wildly over their shoulder +for the fierce and terrible foe, who spared not where he conquered, and +when he lifted sword or javelin, never failed to drive it home. + +But there was one troop of horsemen, scanty in number, yet formidable in +appearance, that although fighting on the side of victory had suffered +considerable loss. Returning towards the south in fair and orderly +retreat, it yet bore no symptoms of discomfiture or flight. The children +of Anak presented rather the appearance of assailants proceeding on some +promising expedition than of a solitary force wilfully deserting the +cause it had espoused. They restrained their invincible little horses to +a steady regulated pace, halting at frequent intervals to show a bold +front in case of pursuit from friend or foe. Their arms were bright, and +held in readiness; their bearing was haughty and full of confidence; +even the wounded sat firm and upright in their saddles, and at any +moment all seemed prepared to resume the fray. + +In the centre rode their Veiled Queen, accompanied by one in Armenian +armour, who seemed less a prisoner than a guest. + +While the battle raged at its fiercest round the white stone which +Semiramis had marked at its turning-point, Ishtar found herself carried +on its tide against the very person of him whom she had come to seek. It +needed but a wave of her arm to rally round her those champions who +believed so simply in her supernatural attributes, with whom no horsemen +in the world could counter stroke for stroke. Pressing in on their +leader, they soon encircled Ishtar and Sarchedon, soon cut their way to +the outskirts of the battle, and merging alike their compact with +Semiramis and their own love of fighting in blind obedience to their +queen, drew off in perfectly good order, to commence a steady retreat +for their southern home. + +The Assyrian had seen Aryas fall in fight, had noted the destruction of +the long swords, the total rout of those hardy warriors who hoped in +vain to make head against his countrymen. What was left him now, but to +drift with the stream of fate in the arms of the woman he loved? + +The Anakim soon recognised him as the companion of their leader, when +first she appeared among their tents and they knew her not. This was +enough to insure their protection and regard. At the first halt, there +was even a question of receiving him as an adopted brother in the tribe; +but he wanted more than a span of the necessary stature, and that +project was unwillingly abandoned. Nevertheless, every man felt pledged +to do him homage and defend his person to the death. + +It seemed to Sarchedon that he was riding through some unreal paradise +in a dream. He told Ishtar as much, while she related her trials, her +sorrows, and her undeviating constancy since they parted in the desert +after their flight from Ascalon. He feared to wake, he said, and find +himself again in that Egyptian dungeon, from which escape seemed +hopeless as from the tomb. + +"Beloved," she answered, "the queen of heaven will not permit us to be +tried yet farther. Behold! twice has she brought you deliverance through +me her servant in your hour of greatest need. It is enough. We shall be +parted no more. We will cast in our lot with these children of the +wilderness: they are brave, generous, faithful; they will fence us from +our enemies with a hedge of steel." + +"Be it so," he answered, looking fondly in the dear face that was +unveiled only to _him_. "Better a goats' hair tent with Ishtar in the +desert than a painted chamber and an empty heart in the palace of a +king. And yet," he added somewhat wistfully, "I would fain see the +inside of great Babylon again before I die." + +They were crossing a fair and level plain, the mountains above Ardesh +were already sinking on the horizon, and the children of the desert +welcomed that smooth unvaried surface, as reminding them of the +boundless tract they called their home. + +Presently the chief, riding warily in their rear, shouted to halt. +Forming towards the point of danger, they observed a column of dust +rising in the distance, as of an armed party proceeding rapidly on their +track. + +To those observant eyes, prompt and reliable information was afforded by +the lightest tokens of earth or sky. While Sarchedon could detect but a +rolling yellow cloud, the sons of Anak told each other of ten score +horsemen and a war-chariot travelling at speed. + +They bore down, therefore, in the direction of the approaching party, +forming carefully round Ishtar and her companion in case of conflict. + +When within a furlong of each other, both troops somewhat slackened +pace, and a chariot, driven furiously towards the Anakim, was stopped at +a spear-length from their chief. + +Standing in it, erect and fearless before drawn bows and levelled +spears, with head bared, shield lowered in token of amity, Assarac +raised his unarmed hands, and cried in a loud voice, "Is it peace, O my +brother?" + +"Let there be peace, my brother, between thee and me," answered the +chief of the Anakim; and the eunuch, getting down out of his chariot, +proceeded to explain the reason of his coming and his absence in the +hour of victory from the army of the Great Queen. + +"Semiramis," he said, "had been grievously wounded at the very moment of +triumph. If not hurt to the death, she was at least unable to retain +command of the host, or even to provide for the government of her empire +at home. Therefore must he hasten back to Babylon, that he might rule +wisely and in accordance with the laws of Shinar, while the queen's +authority was thus for a space in abeyance. New times were coming--a new +policy, perhaps a new dominion. Those who were so skilful to rein a +steed and wield a sword must ever be welcome to a warlike government, +such as could alone control the sons of Ashur. He had it in his power to +offer the Anakim a tract of fertile country, a land of corn and wine and +oil, in which to dwell at ease, ruled by their hereditary chief and +subject to their fathers' laws. Would they not hold it of the Great +Queen by service of bow and spear, each man sitting under his own vine +and his own fig-tree, doing that which seemed good in his own eyes?" + +The Anakim glanced doubtfully at each other; their chief pointed to the +mare from which he had dismounted, and shook his head. + +"I could not breathe Lotus-flower," said he, "in the confines of such a +tract. Like the wild ass, whose speed she laughs to scorn, her limbs +would stiffen if she might not stretch them on a plain boundless as the +sky that meets it on every side." + +"There is rich spoil to share," urged the eunuch. "Herds of sheep, oxen, +and camels, droves of captives--men, women, and children--wine, jewels, +goodly raiment, and gold to be had for the asking." + +The other stooped his tall person to bend his bow against the hollow of +his foot and ease its string. + +"All these," he answered, "I can have by the tightening of this weapon +in my hand. What need I more than the inheritance of my fathers--the +desert sun, the trackless sand, and the goods of every man whose spear +is a span shorter than mine own? Go to, thou lordly son of Ashur! my +portion is better than thine. I have spoken. Take a gift from thy +servant, and depart in peace." + +Assarac would never have been in his present position had he admitted +the impossibility of an enterprise because of its first failure. + +"I will accept the gift of my brother," said he, receiving with +exceeding courtesy a loaf of barley-bread and a handful of dried dates, +offered by one of the Anakim at a signal from his chief. "May it be +returned to him a hundredfold when he encamps without the gate of +Babylon, and I, even I, Assarac, governor of the city, bow my head at +the door of his tent to do him honour! If we may not draw bow again side +by side in battle, at least let there be peace between thy people and my +people, so that a son of Ashur, meeting a child of Anak in the +wilderness, shall cast his spear down before him and say, Is it well +with thee, O my brother?" + +Pausing to mark the effect of these friendly sentiments, and observing +that they were well received by his listeners, the eunuch turned to +Sarchedon, and continued in a lighter tone: + +"There is indeed a new dominion in Babylon when those laws of the land +of Shinar have been set aside which sentence to death that Assyrian-born +who shall be found arrayed in war-harness against the banner of Ashur. +And therefore, Sarchedon, if thou art a prisoner among these my +brethren, I will ransom thee at a royal price. If a friend, I will bid +thee leave them for a space, to their profit and thine own. If a captain +and leader, I will promote thee to yet higher honour in the great army +that has never known defeat." + +Sarchedon, glancing doubtfully at Ishtar, noted the colour fade from her +cheek ere she drew the veil over her face. Nevertheless, the tempter was +skilled in his art; and the prospect of once more bearing arms with his +countrymen was too welcome to be dismissed. + +"I would fain return to the land of my fathers," said he, "and ride to +battle with my brethren in burnished armour and costly raiment once +more. But yet it is better to dwell in the desert with a whole skin than +to writhe on a stake in the sun, even though it be over against the +palace of a king. If I came in the light of the Great Queen's +countenance, behold, she would consume me in her wrath. If Ninyas +reigned in her stead, my death might peradventure be more merciful, but +more speedy also, and no less sure." + +Assarac had a purpose to serve, and the lie glided smooth and facile +from his lips. + +"Semiramis," he answered--and even now, in this his hour of fierce +revenge and mad disloyalty, he could not speak that name without a +quiver of the lip, a tremble of the voice--"Semiramis sickens in her +tent with a death-hurt. Ninyas her son, sunk in sloth and pleasure, +lover of the garland, the wine-cup, and the couch, would soon weary of +the sceptre as he wearied of the sword. The Assyrian ruler needs a wise +brain and a long arm. The Assyrian people look for qualities in their +kings that are the attributes of their gods. Ninus will never return to +us from the stars; but Ninus was less powerful than Nimrod, even as +Nimrod himself was weaker than Ashur, from whose loins he sprang. Why +should we, his descendants, owe allegiance to any earthly power? Why +should kings, queens, and princes come between Baal and the people of +his choice?" + +The audacious project of wresting from the line of Nimrod that dynasty +it had held with so strong a hand, and substituting a hierarchy of +which he should himself be the head, had long appeared to Assarac a +feasible project enough--one worthy of his own tameless energy and +insatiable ambition, although the temptation had been stifled hitherto +by his loyalty, his devotion to the queen. Now, in the torture of a +vexed heart and wounded spirit, he swore to cast aside every sentiment +but revenge, at least till Semiramis was at the mercy of him whose +fidelity she had used, and scorned, and outraged without remorse. +Therefore, it would be well, he thought, to strengthen his hands with +all the weapons he could seize, to make such friends for himself on +every side as should become willing tools, to ply at need, and cast away +at will. When he met them by chance in the plain, it struck him that the +Anakim would be no contemptible auxiliaries; when he found Ishtar and +Sarchedon in their midst, he reflected that the former might still be +made a bait, if necessary, for the allurement of Ninyas; the latter, +according as events fell out, might form a snare, a bribe, or a +punishment for the Great Queen. That she believed him to have been +killed, and in her agony of sorrow thought to raise him from the dead, +he knew by the evidence of his own senses, and although the Armenian +habit, in which he now recognised Sarchedon, convinced him of her error, +the bitterness of his anguish seemed rather enhanced than modified by +this discovery that the object of her desire was not yet wholly out of +reach. + +It was scarcely jealousy he experienced, for jealousy implies +possession, past, present, or prospective; it was rather that morbid +recklessness of despair, which pulls down the whole edifice on its own +head, if only the idol may be crushed and buried in the ruins of its +shrine. + +Could he have hated her as sincerely as he wished, he would, perhaps, +have triumphed, and, favoured by circumstances, might have held the +proud Semiramis in his power, if only for a day; but when did man ever +succeed in any perilous enterprise who suffered his heart to paralyse +his arm, the outcry of his affections to drown the promptings of his +brain? + +Nevertheless, it was his present object to gain over Sarchedon, and +after a pause, as of deep consideration, he spoke out with a semblance +of the utmost frankness: + +"Hearken, my son. Let nothing be kept back between thee and me. Baal, +though he lead a host in heaven, needs also an army here on earth. That +army must have a captain. He who has set the battle in array for friend +and foe, at home, in Egypt, here among the mountains of the north, is +surely well fitted to command the warriors of the Assyrian god. When +Assarac declares his will from the altar before his temple at home, +Sarchedon shall stand forth in shining raiment, chief and Tartan of the +great Assyrian host. Said I well, my son? and wilt thou not follow me in +all haste to Babylon?" + +He had bought him, he thought, for a price, and, through him, that +foolish girl, together with this formidable tribe of stalwart +simple-minded warriors. + +Again Sarchedon glanced at Ishtar; but her veil was down, and she made +no sign. + +"To lead the host!" he muttered thoughtfully. "To have the power of +Ninus, and wield it wisely, as did Arbaces!" + +"Ponder it well, my son," said the eunuch solemnly, "while I speed on to +prepare the way. What art thou here?" he added, lowering his voice. "A +hostage in a foeman's camp, at a woman's will. Behold, I can make thee +the noblest leader on earth, and she, this veiled queen of a handful of +horsemen, shall sit on the throne of a province larger than the great +northern land we went out to conquer. What Baal offers, do not thou +despise. Go to! Stretch forth thy hand, and take it whilst thou canst. +To-morrow it may be too late. I have spoken." + +Then, with a courteous farewell to the Anakim, he mounted into his +chariot, and was gone, speeding, like some pestilent wind, towards the +south on his mission of treachery, rebellion, and revenge. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +REQUITED + + +"I have cast stones in the air to fall on mine own head! I have knelt at +the stream, and, lo, the waters were bitter and defiled! O Kalmim, +there is neither faith, nor honour, nor gratitude in Ninyas, the son of +Ninus. May the king live for ever!" + +She laughed outright. It was a rare jest to behold Sethos in a vein of +serious reflection; above all, to hear him revile the prince to whom, +through good and evil, he had been a devoted servant, notwithstanding +the vices, caprices, and heartless ingratitude of his lord. + +"You are but a child," she answered lightly, "and for all your downy lip +and shapely limbs, not yet fit to run alone. Trust a strained bow, a +frayed string, a blown horse, or a baffled woman--all these will quit +them better in the hour of need than a king on the throne, whom you have +served when he was a captive in the dungeon." + +They were standing together on a terrace of the royal palace in Babylon, +looking over many a league of gardens, vineyards, lofty palms, thin +silvery streams--vast tracts of desert sand beyond--all shining and +glowing in the bright morning sun, while their own comely faces and +splendid attire were rich and deep in colour as the surrounding hues of +earth and sky. + +A great change had indeed taken place at home, since the queen's +expedition to Armenia left the city without a ruler, while its lawful +prince languished a weary prisoner, losing health, energy, and all the +dignity of manhood, under supervision of the priests of Baal. The return +of Assarac, bearing, as he affirmed, full powers and authority on the +part of Semiramis, sickening even to death in the far north, had +extricated Ninyas from captivity, and placed him on the throne to which +he was entitled by the laws of Shinar, the eunuch, in a secret +interview, extorting a solemn oath of vengeance on the mother who had +deprived him of his liberty and his empire. Broken in health and courage +by close imprisonment, acting on a frame already yielding to the effects +of unbridled indulgence, the young king was but a tool in the hands of +Assarac, who soon conceived the idea of making him also a mere +stepping-stone to the attainment of supreme power at which he aimed. + +Though scrupulous in practising the usual forms and observances towards +his lord, the eunuch scarcely affected to ignore his own real +superiority, affirming only that his words and deeds were prompted by +the immediate inspiration of his god. + +"And Baal bids him store up goodly treasures for himself, you may be +sure," observed Kalmim, discussing with her old admirer the character of +their new and arbitrary ruler; "so that at any time he may win over the +spearmen with spoil, as he secured the priests by promises, and the +prophets of the grove by threats. Gold and steel, Sethos--these are the +only real forces on earth, and I sometimes think there is no power that +can dominate them in heaven." + +"Good faith," answered Sethos, "is precious as the one and true as the +other. I have never wavered, Kalmim, in my loyalty to Ninyas, nor my +love for _you_." + +"And what have they profited you?" she retorted lightly. "You stood by +the prince in good and evil, eating with him the bitter morsel and +sharing the cup of affliction. One fine morning, Baal forsooth sends a +fat man in white to pull the king of nations out of a prison-house and +put him in a palace with a royal mantle on his shoulders, and a golden +sceptre in his hand. Then comes the cup-bearer, who has proved his +readiness to go to the gates of death with his lord, and asks to be made +leader of the host and to stand on the king's right hand, in the day of +his glory as in the night of his bondage. What said Ninyas to the poor +youth, in answer to so modest a request?" + +"He laughed in my face," replied the other, with considerable +irritation. "And if there is justice in heaven it will be repaid him +fourfold. May the king live for ever!" + +"So much for loyalty to a prince," she continued. "Now for truth to a +woman. Have you _really_ kept faith with me, Sethos, all this time? It +is many a long day since you and I first met by a strange chance in the +queen's paradise, and you told me--I forget what you told me, but it was +something very foolish, no doubt." + +"You know I have," said Sethos bitterly, almost fiercely, turning his +head away while he spoke. + +It was a short answer, but to a woman's ear worth a whole series of +protestations. In perception of such matters, Kalmim was no whit behind +her sex. + +If he had but looked at her, he would have seen her blush, and surely in +no encounter whatsoever should a man take his eye off his enemy. +Sethos, alas, was completely at the adversary's mercy, and she trampled +him accordingly. + +"Well, and what has this service, also, profited you for your pains?" +she asked in taunting accents, wholly unable to forbear the pleasure of +tormenting him. "You have stood by _me_ at my need faithfully, nobly, +grudging nothing, keeping nothing back. When the time comes, you will +ask _me_ too to make you my captain and leader, to seat you on my right +hand till I die, and, Sethos, I too--I shall laugh in your face!" + +"Be it so," he answered in a grave quiet voice, so unlike his usual +tones that she glanced anxiously towards him. He seemed sad and +troubled, yet looked like a man whose loyalty was still unshaken and +unimpeachable. + +"And you are tired of it at last?" she asked, in the same mocking +accents. + +"It is too late to change now," was his answer, with a wan and weary +smile. + +"Ninyas refused you?" she continued, looking straight into his eyes. + +He bowed his head in silence. + +"But _I_ have only laughed at you," she murmured, drawing her veil +hastily over her face. "And, Sethos, have you passed your life in +Babylon and not found out that liking grows with laughter as blossoms +come with rain? _I_ am not a king, I am only a woman; and I cannot deny +a faithful servant who asks the reward he has toiled through storm and +sunshine to attain." + +He would have passed his arm round her waist, but with a dexterous +twirl, the result, perhaps, of considerable practice, she placed herself +out of reach. + +"No," she said with imposing force and gesture, "my friend, and more +than friend, this is not a time for follies such as these. Some day, +when the heavy hand of Baal has been taken off this unhappy city, when +men's flocks and herds and wives and children have ceased to be at the +command of those who are but hewers of wood and drawers of water in the +temple, I may peradventure suffer you to--to--well, to touch the tip of +my finger with your lips. But now, the first duty of every son of Ashur +is to cast off this hateful yoke that bows his nation to the dust. O +that the old lion had but lived to see the white robes lording it in +his well-beloved city! He would have cleared them out with fire and +sword, ay, though all the host of heaven had come down from the stars to +take their part. + +"Look at _me_! O, I know well you never take your eyes off me if you can +help it; but I am serious now. Look at _me_, I say--a woman who in her +life before never knew a thought nor care weightier than the smoothing +of a plait, the planting of a bodkin: I tell you I would take up spear +and shield to-morrow, if I might help to lay Assarac and his priests in +their blood at the altar before which they serve. What have they done +for us? What has Baal himself done for us since he has governed from the +throne of Nimrod? Corn is dear, water scarce, the people starve, and the +priests wax fatter, prouder, fiercer, day by day. Even Beladon, who used +to be meek and gentle as a weaned child, and was indeed a personable +youth, and one of my truest friends--even Beladon, I say, holds that we +are to be at his beck and call without question or murmur, you and I, +and every one within the hundred gates of the city wall." + +"May Nisroch tear him limb from limb!" exclaimed Sethos, in high wrath; +for he had long been jealous of the comely young priest's intimacy with +Kalmim, and it was in no ignorance of his feelings that the latter now +worked upon her listener with the hated name. + +"Yes, Beladon," she continued, "though he be not so bad as some of the +rest. But how long are we to bear this? How long are we to be trodden on +and kept down, not by a conqueror of worlds like old Ninus, wielding bow +and spear as I would handle a needle, but by a slothful priest, a eunuch +forsooth, in flowing robes and linen tiara, who never lifted weapon +deadlier than gilded fir-cone or fresh-gathered lotus, never bore +heavier burden than jewelled casket, nor faced a fiercer enemy than the +poor sheep he slays to please his god!" + +"Nay, there you wrong him," argued honest Sethos. "If all that comes out +of Armenia be true, never bolder champion mounted war-chariot than +Assarac, the priest of Baal." + +"Armenia!" retorted Kalmim, with infinite contempt--"a desert peopled by +a few half-starved wretches, doubtless naked and without arms. Besides, +was he not warring in the mountains under the banner of the Great Queen? +I pray you, when did Semiramis ever fail to conquer where she set the +battle in array? And now, by his own confession, she languishes with a +death-wound, and he is not ashamed to be standing here within the brazen +gates in a whole skin! O, it passes all patience! But I know my mistress +well. Surely never yet was that shaft feathered which could drink her +life-blood. Once I loved her dearly, and she repaid my faithful service +with the gratitude of--of a Great Queen, I suppose! But for all that is +past and gone, I will never believe, wounded or unwounded, she could +abandon the sceptre of Nimrod, or license Baal himself to usurp her +authority in the land of Shinar and the city she loves to call her own." + +"But Ninyas sits in the royal palace," observed Sethos, "under the +mystic circle and the wings of gold. It is before Ninyas that the +spearmen defile at noon, and to Ninyas that the people cry for justice +in the gate at sunrise, when he is sober enough to hear." + +"And how often is that?" exclaimed Kalmim. "Not once in twenty days. But +are you too blind to perceive, O simple youth, that while Ninyas wears +the tiara, Assarac holds the sceptre; while Ninyas fits the arrow, +Assarac draws the bow? It is time Babylon were rid of both. The fire +that crowns that sacred tower burns doubtless night and day; but what is +that to me if it be so high up I cannot thread my needle in its light? +When Baal means to rule over us in person, let him come down and show +himself. I am tired of a god who never answers, call on him loudly as +you will." + +Such liberal sentiments would have astonished her companion more, but +that Sethos, during his lord's captivity, had dwelt long enough within +its sacred precincts to have lost much of his former reverence for the +mysteries of the temple, of his early confidence in the unseen power of +its god. He felt somewhat bewildered, nevertheless, and astray in this +uprooting of a faith that seemed like a birth-right to every son of +Ashur, and asked helplessly, + +"If Baal cannot, and Ninyas must not, and Assarac will not, succour us, +to whom then are we to look?" + +"To the Great Queen," answered Kalmim proudly: "never believe but she +will come again in her majesty, beautiful as morning, fierce and +terrible as the storm that rises with midday. I have seen her angered +once, only once in all my life. I tell you, Sethos, I would rather stand +in the presence of Nisroch to be consumed than face the blaze of those +eyes again. She spoke not, scarcely moved a limb; but I felt as the lamb +must feel when the leopard has made her spring, and there is no escape. +In her love, her hatred, and her desire, she knows no bounds and +acknowledges no check, yet never sunlight was welcomed by captive in a +dungeon as would be that beautiful face to-day in Babylon by the people +of the Great Queen." + +While she spoke, she looked wistfully out over the desert towards the +north; Sethos, watching her eager face, saw it brighten with a sudden +gleam of triumph and hope. Following the direction of her eyes, he +observed the flash of spears through a dense cloud low on the horizon, +that denoted a body of horsemen on the march. + +Pointing towards it, Kalmim burst into tears. + +"It is the Great Queen!" she sobbed. "For my sake, Sethos--for my sake, +will you not be on our side?" + + + + +CHAPTER LVII + +BETRAYED + + +Pacing to and fro in the familiar cedar gallery, vexed, troubled, and +impatient, Assarac shot glances of anger and defiance at the four-winged +image of Nisroch, as though reproaching the god in whom he did _not_ +believe for withholding aid he would have considered it childish folly +to implore. Though he had dispatched a messenger in eager haste to seek +out the tents of the Anakim, and renew the offer of promotion he made to +Sarchedon, so preoccupied was he, that Beladon had already prostrated +himself more than once, ere his superior seemed conscious of his +presence. The younger priest wondered to see the resolute and subtle +eunuch so changed, so worn, so saddened. He marked the restless step, +the sullen gesture, the moody unquiet eye, remembering, not without +pity, a caged wild beast that had been trapped and brought into Babylon, +long ago by certain hunters of the mountain, as a gift to the Great +Queen. + +Though a faithful servant enough, while a keener intellect and firmer +spirit held him in subjection, he bethought him somewhat remorsefully it +was time to leave his master now. + +Assarac's eyes wandered over the other's figure with the unconscious +stare of a sleep-walker ere they lighted into recognition, then he +started and exclaimed, "How now, Beladon? Returned so soon? What tidings +of Semiramis--I mean of Sarchedon, and the children of Anak with whom he +dwells?" + +"Let not my lord be wroth," was the answer. "Though his servant fled +through the waste like an ostrich, yet was he wiser than that foolish +bird, which plies her long legs and helpless wings to meet the storm of +thunder and lightning she dreads. I have heard the thunder of the +queen's chariots; I have seen the lightning of her spears. Instead of +scouring the desert to seek the Anakim, lo, I turned bridle, and +hastened back that I might warn my lord of her approach." + +Though something seemed to tell him the information was tantamount to a +death-warrant, his heart leaped up with a wild unreasoning joy. + +"The queen!" he exclaimed, while the blood flew to his wan heavy cheek. +"Is she then so near?" + +"She will encamp to-night beneath the city walls," answered Beladon +imperturbably. "She marches with the vanguard of her army; but the +conquerors of Armenia cannot be many furlongs in her rear; and when the +sun goes down to-morrow, the hosts of Ninyas will be increased fourfold, +while the Great Queen lays her trophies and her sceptre at the feet of +her son. May the king live for ever!" + +Something in the cold sneering tones seemed to recall the eunuch's +energies and wake him, as it were, from a dream. + +"Never!" he muttered between his teeth; and seizing the other's arm in a +gripe that caused him to wince with pain, he hurried out of the +corridor, past the golden image of Baal, across the court of the +temple, and so, through leafy thicket and level lawn, threaded its cool +green paradise to the palace of the Great King. + +Here Beladon, notwithstanding a sufficiently good opinion of his own +merits, would have excused himself from entering; but Assarac's grasp +was never relaxed, and ere the younger priest could realise the +imprudence of such an intrusion, he found himself in the presence of one +for whom he had been alternately spy and gaoler, yet who held over him +irresponsible power of life and death. + +Ninyas was seated in the shade on a chair of state, ornamented and +embossed with the symbols of Assyrian sovereignty, under a trellis-work +whereon had been trained the luxuriant tendrils of a vine, already +bending and blushing in clusters of ripening grapes. A fountain +scattered its silver spray in the sunshine, while female forms, with +jetty locks, transparent veils, and glancing eyes, flitted through the +shade. Soft airs murmured among the flowers, birds carolled from the +thicket, and the king held a half-emptied goblet in his hand. With a +hasty inclination of head and body, far short of the usual ceremony +observed on entering the royal presence, Assarac placed himself in front +of his lord, and looking him full in the face, arrested the cup that +Ninyas was raising to his lips. + +"Is this a time," said he, in grave sonorous accents, "for bubble of +wine and sound of timbrel--for dance and song and careless revel--the +mirth that goes before destruction--the folly that is a sure fore-runner +of death? Rouse you, my lord, rouse you! Take bow in hand, gird you +sword upon your thigh; for the watchman cries out on the wall, and even +now your enemy is at the gate!" + +The king's eyes, once so bright, looked dim and dull, the handsome +features were flushed and sodden with excess; but he set his goblet down +untasted, while there seemed something of interest, even apprehension, +in the tone with which he asked, "What enemy, and whence? I have but one +in all the kingdoms of the earth, and she is sick unto death beyond the +mountains of the north." + +Again, while he smiled in scorn, came a glow of triumph on the eunuch's +weary face. "Semiramis," he answered, "is encamped within bowshot of the +wall--Semiramis, the mother of my lord the king--Semiramis, who never +cast a bank against a city but she razed it to the ground--who never +drew bow but she shot her arrow home--who never took account of an +injury but she requited it with death! O my queen, my queen!" he added +in a broken murmur, "even now the lord of earth trembles and cowers at +the very whisper of your name!" + +Ninyas turned pale. "Counsel me, Assarac!" he exclaimed, while his eye +roved helplessly over all the splendour and luxury that surrounded him. +"If my mother enters the city, I am undone." + +"Not so," answered the eunuch. "Let my lord the king go out to meet her +as a son should welcome the mother of his affections bringing home the +wife of his desire. Let the gates be thrown open, and the people give +her greeting as she passes by. The hosts of the Great Queen are yet many +a league off in the desert. Her vanguard, few in number, must be wearied +sore with travel. When she enters her own city, who so fitting to +provide for her safety as the son of her vows? Let him guard her like +the apple of his eye, and relieve her of all care in the government of +the people whom he rules." + +"You know her not!" exclaimed Ninyas, much disturbed. "Where is the +prison-house in Babylon that could hold her for a single day? Where is +the son of Ashur who would not leap to the saddle with bow and spear at +the first wave of the Great Queen's hand?" + +The eunuch's answer came in firm and measured accents, though his face +was distorted as with a hidden agony of pain. + +"There is a prison-house from which not Ashtaroth herself could break +out--from which old Nimrod might not be delivered by all the horsemen of +Assyria. When my lord's servants shall surround and hew her in pieces, +then may every son of Ashur bind on his headpiece a shred of the Great +Queen's garments, whom he loved so well." + +Ninyas laughed aloud, and, seizing his discarded goblet, drained it to +the dregs. + +"Enough!" he exclaimed. "She sinned against Nisroch and Baal, when she +took the sceptre of Nimrod from the hand of his descendant. What am I, +that I should interfere to avert her doom? And yet, I would it might be +done without shedding of blood. Can we not lead her forth from the city +into some desert place, and so dispose of her in safety, where she shall +disturb the king no more?" + +"Will my lord trust his servant?" asked the eunuch. + +"I will remain here at the banquet in my palace until it is over," +answered Ninyas brutally. "Let Baal be his own avenger, and let Assarac +see to vindicating the honour of his god. I have spoken." Then, clapping +his hands, Ninyas summoned back the women who usually surrounded him at +his revels, to dismiss the whole matter from his mind in a deep and +stupefying carouse. + +Leaving the royal presence, Beladon felt his arm seized once more in the +eunuch's painful gripe, while Assarac muttered, half-unconsciously, such +broken sentences as served to disclose the plot he had constructed, and +the means by which it was to be carried out. Presently, in a few simple +directions, he imparted to his subordinate the outline of his purpose, +commanding him to muster all the priests and prophets in the city at the +great northern gate by which the queen should enter, with knife and +lotus-flower in hand; to surround these with so strong a force of +spearmen as it would be impossible for the populace to break through; +and then, at a given signal, to fall on Semiramis with his followers, +bind her in fetters of iron, and so bring her a helpless captive into +the temple of Baal. It would be a fine revenge, thought Assarac, to keep +her there till the arrival of Sarchedon from the desert, and then to +slay them, in each other's sight, before the altar of his god. Better +still, perhaps, and worthier of his fierce mad love, to strike his own +knife into her heart at the first halt of her chariot within the gate. + +"I can trust you," said he, when they parted, and Beladon proposed to +attest his fidelity in a great oath by the everlasting wings, "because +the queen's first act, when she reënters the city, will be to take +vengeance on him who kept the door of her son's prison-house, and +suffered the captive to escape." + +But the wariest of mankind may leave one weak point undefended--the +keenest judges of human nature will omit from their calculation some +vice, prejudice, or folly, such as dominates the very self-interest of +their tools. That Beladon should have disclosed a plot, on the success +of which his own personal safety, his very life depended, would have +been unaccountable, but for the joyous, pleasure-loving disposition +which, priest of Baal though he was, could not keep his secret from a +woman. + +Kalmim had beguiled him out of every particular before sundown, +affecting, the better to deceive him, an irreconcilable enmity to the +Great Queen, and entire devotion in the service of her son. + +If a woman makes up her mind to duplicity, a little more or a little +less counts as nothing to her conscience. She finds it as easy to +profess an affection she does not feel, and a candour of which she is +incapable, as to push another bodkin into her hair, lay another coat of +red or white on the cheek she is not ashamed to paint. When Kalmim had +resolved she would take him into captivity, it was no more possible for +Beladon to resist than for the bird to escape out of the snare of the +fowler. And, although the latter was exceedingly lavish of smiles and +liberal of promises, the prey found itself captured, plumed, and +despoiled, with no material equivalent for utter discomfiture and +disgrace. + +More than a match for a score of priests, she could indeed have +outwitted the whole male population of Babylon, but that she too had +found her master, and was but a weak foolish woman in presence of the +man she loved. + +To him she betook herself in her distress, imploring him to interfere at +such a juncture, and prevent a crime which, with all his loyalty to his +prince, seemed to Sethos too foul and unnatural to contemplate. + +"There is danger also for _you_," she exclaimed, wringing her hands and +sobbing in real perplexity. "No son of Ashur must leave the city +to-night on pain of death; and yet, if the queen be not forewarned, +nothing can save her from the vengeance of these blood-thirsty priests. +O Sethos, Sethos, did I not love you dearly, I had never trusted you +with such a mission; yet how can I bear to send you out into the very +jaws of death?" + +But the cup-bearer's equanimity was proof even against so formidable a +consideration. Accepting her confession of attachment with a +good-humoured carelessness that at any other time would have cut her to +the quick, he professed his readiness to incur any amount of peril so +that he might preserve Semiramis from the threatened assault, and her +son from the commission of so hideous an outrage. It was agreed, +therefore, that he should escape from the city at all hazards, and make +his way to the tent of the Great Queen, under cover of night. To leave +Babylon through any one of her gates was impracticable, so closely were +they guarded by the spearmen of Ninyas under Assarac's orders; and it +was only by watching a favourable opportunity during the darkest hours +before the moon had risen, that Kalmim succeeded in letting her lover +down from the wall by a rope, to dispatch him on his errand of life and +death. + +With characteristic coolness the cup-bearer received his instructions +and embarked on his perilous enterprise; but Kalmim, though not a nerve +failed her while, swinging in mid-air, his life depended on her +steadiness of hand, had over-taxed her strength; for no sooner was the +tension of the rope relaxed, and the form of Sethos lost in darkness as +he sped from beneath the wall, than brain and sense gave way, leaving +her pale, prostrate, and helpless on the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII + +WHO IS ON MY SIDE? + + +Reconciled to their change of rulers under the crafty administration of +Assarac, careless who swayed the sceptre of Nimrod so long as wine was +cheap and corn plentiful, the people of Babylon troubled themselves but +little that the Armenian expedition seemed so tardy in returning; that +Semiramis lay sick and dying, as they were told, among those northern +mountains; or that Ninyas, whom they had been taught to believe a +dutiful son abdicating in his mother's favour, reigned once more in her +stead. Nevertheless, even among that fierce and fickle populace remained +a leaven of the adoration she alone was able to inspire, and every child +of Ashur at home or a-field felt his dignity, his self-love, and his +nationality identified with the glory of the Great Queen. + +They were stirred more than the eunuch expected by the news of her +return; so that when it became known she was within bowshot of the wall, +and about to reënter her own especial city, Assarac's watchful eye +discerned among the multitude those signs of discontent and restlessness +which precede a tumult, as lowering clouds and whitened waves indicate +the coming of a storm. + +Groups were forming and dispersing in the street, women and children +remained on the roofs and terraces of their houses, men looked expectant +in each other's faces; while captains and warriors thronged the +ramparts, as though an enemy were already at the gate. + +Presently there came a hush and calm over all that vast assemblage, +succeeded by a shiver that stirred the rippling mass from edge to edge, +when the tramp of horses, the roll of a chariot, broke on the still warm +air; then, wild and fierce as a defiance, though loud, jubilant, and +overwhelming, rose a mighty shout from Great Babylon to welcome back her +queen. + +Assarac, eager and preoccupied, watching these signs of earth with more +anxiety than he had ever read the stars, felt a momentary thrill of +triumph in that very enthusiasm which, uncontrolled by his own skill, +must herald his doom. For a moment, in the agony of conflicting +feelings, he thought it would be well could he abandon every scheme of +glory and greatness, forego pride, ambition, revenge, to die at the +queen's feet, and be at rest. Gazing on her as she drew near in the +chariot, this temporary weakness passed away, leaving all that was evil +in his nature to resume the ascendency once more. Could this be the +proud Semiramis, the bright, the matchless, the beautiful? this sad and +stately woman, pale with the long fatigue of woe, yet wearing in her +desolation the same unrivalled beauty that had enhanced the glory of her +pride? It seemed the ghost of her former self, thus bending its haughty +head in acknowledgment of a nation's greeting, as she passed within the +gate--a spirit too sad to be of good, too fair to be of evil, sublimed +and elevated by the prescience of its doom, catching and reflecting the +spectral rays of a cold clear light that dawns beyond the grave. + +Had she glowed, as was her wont, in all the flush and sparkle of her +imperial charms, he could have found it in his heart to have spared her +even then; for her dear sake, could have betrayed his followers, broken +faith with his king, and forsworn himself before his god. But marking +the sorrow she did not care to hide, and remembering its cause, his +blood turned to gall, and he vowed with bitter oaths she should never +light down from that chariot a living woman--no, not if he must hew her +in pieces with his own hand. + +But for the Great Queen to be forewarned was to be forearmed. In no +extremity of sorrow nor of danger was it possible for her to lose that +unconscious presence of mind, that instinctive power of combination, +which had made her the conqueror of the world. Informed by Sethos of the +conspiracy against her life, she had taken measures to defeat it wisely, +calmly, promptly, yet deliberately, just as she would have sat down to +besiege a fenced city, or gone out to meet an enemy in the open field. +While the eunuch waited to hem her in with his priests and spearmen, +Semiramis, watching her opportunity, foiled him by the suddenness of her +attack. + +Halting her chariot in the open space immediately within the gate, and +taking advantage of the astonished silence which succeeded this +unexpected stoppage, the Great Queen stood erect, flung her arms above +her head, and cried with a loud voice, "Who is on my side?" Then Assarac +knew that by so much time as it took to speak those words, he was too +late; and immediately before his eyes there passed a darkness, that was +as the shadow of death. + +From her people, who loved the very ground she trod on, rose an outcry +to which their previous shouts had been but a maiden's whisper compared +to the roar of a beast of prey. Swords leaped from the scabbard, strong +arms beat the air, dark eyes gleamed, and dark-curled beards bristled +with fierce enthusiasm, eager hate, or wild desire for blood--archers +and spearmen descended like a torrent from the wall, stout champions of +a hundred battles came rushing and crowding through the streets. They +gathered in swarms about their queen; they hemmed her in with a circle +of steel; they swore, they wept, they gnashed their teeth, they +implored, they adjured her only to point out an enemy, and they would +tear him limb from limb. + +Never before, through all the years she reigned in Babylon, had her +power seemed so absolute, her dominion so secure; yet she knew, none +better, that had her outcry been deferred by one short minute, had she +halted her chariot but fifty paces farther on within the city, a score +of blades would have carved away life and sorrow together from her +aching heart, her cheek, now so cold and pale in its bereavement, would +have been for ever cold and pale in death. + +But not a shade of colour deepened that lovely cheek; no glitter of +wrath, nor anxiety, nor even excitement of mortal strife, disturbed the +scorn of those calm proud eyes, while she pointed to the eunuch, +standing erect in his chariot over against her, and spoke in the clear +full tones that had so often turned the tide of battle, like the +trumpets of a succouring host. + +"I have need of that man!" said she, stretching out her round white arm. +"Sons of Ashur, I bid you fall on Assarac, priest of Baal. Slay him not, +but bind him and bring him to me!" + +He was no coward, yet he trembled in every joint. Perhaps the sound of +her voice moved him no less than the yells of rage, the scowls of +hatred, the flashes of steel that met him on every side, than the mighty +rush that made at him, wave on wave, as the wolves of the forest pour on +some wounded mountain bull to get him down. + +He bore himself bravely, notwithstanding, calling priests and spearmen +to his rescue, fitting an arrow to the bow he was never to draw again. +For a moment his white-clad form towered above the press and tumult, +like a sail in a troubled sea, that disappears among the breakers ere a +man has summoned courage for a second look. The priests of Baal could +not resist the shock. In spite of numbers and discipline, the hired +spearmen gave way. There was a rush, a recoil, an angry roar, a scuffle +of feet, the crash of a broken chariot, the scream of a woman from the +housetops, a horse reared high above their heads, the surging crowd +divided, and on the open space emerged some half a score Assyrian +warriors, dragging in their midst Assarac, priest of Baal, to the feet +of the Great Queen. + +Even now in this extremity of danger and disgrace, bruised, panting, +dishevelled, doomed to certain death, he sought in the queen's eyes for +something of sympathy, of recognition, of acknowledgment, that they had +once looked kindly in his own. Of all he suffered, this was perhaps the +keenest pang--that on the fair face he had loved, and hated, and +worshipped so madly, there showed no more of anger than of pity. +Immovable, impenetrable, but for her beauty she might have been an image +of Nisroch the avenger, god of retribution and of fate. + +Then he laughed out loud, a strange harsh laugh that scared the guards +who held him, while he thought that here in his mortal anguish, +throbbing under the knife or writhing on the stake, he had power to +wring and torture that proud heart still. + +Before deigning to notice him, she thanked her people for their loyalty +with a sad and weary smile. + +"Sons of Ashur," said she, "let none persuade you I have ever believed +you could fail your queen. She has but trusted you once more to-day, and +nobly have you once more answered her appeal. I have spoiled for you +another city; I have conquered for you another kingdom; I have journeyed +far and fast to return to you. My bow is unstrung, my sword is sheathed, +and I would fain rest from my labours. But Ashtaroth sleeps not in +heaven, nor Semiramis on earth; and be the queen's eyes never so heavy, +justice must be done by the greatest, as by the least, through the +length and breadth of the land of Shinar. There is one here who has +imagined evil in his heart against his ruler. Assarac, priest of Baal, +what have you to say why you should not forthwith be put to death?" + +With these last syllables she turned full upon him her deep inscrutable +eyes, and if he had any hope of it before, he neither desired nor +expected pardon now. The pitiless gaze chilled him to the marrow, while +he felt, that were their positions reversed, he too could be as cold and +calm and cruel as his judge. + +One glance of sympathy in the crowd would have unmanned him; but he +looked for it in vain. On earth he saw a dreary wavering mass of sullen +faces, and in heaven a wide-winged vulture, wheeling, hovering, poising +itself in the blue eternal sky. + +It was not his god that sustained him now, nor his sacred character, nor +his priestly lore; not even the stubborn pride engrained in the nature +of such spirits, destined to affect the fate of dynasties and trouble +the security of an empire. No; he took refuge in the bitterness of that +despair which has found and proved the worst--when love turns to hate, +and faith to scorn--when the sweet springs of hope are poisoned at their +source, and the vision of an angel in a halo of light changes to a +mocking fiend, or a bare gaunt skeleton crowned with a grinning skull. + +He returned a stare of defiance, calm and contemptuous as her own. + +"It is for the Great Queen to reward her servants according to their +deserts," said he. "Let her ask herself if I have merited death at her +hands." + +"It is not Semiramis who accuses you," she retorted coldly. "By the laws +of Shinar you are judged, and by them you are condemned. I have spoken." + +There was no hope; none. Yet would she but look kindly on him, he could +bear it bravely, he thought, and die in his utter weariness, as a man +lies down to sleep. He made one last effort. + +"Have I not served her," he asked, "through good and evil, in no hope of +payment or reward, but for the love and loyalty I bore to the Great +Queen? I have lived too long when the face of Semiramis is turned from +me in anger. I ask for no pardon, no reprieve. Let her but say that she +forgives me before I die!" + +"I have nothing to forgive," she replied, with pitiless unconcern. "The +servant has raised his hand against his ruler; the subject has conspired +against his queen. Whose are these white-robed bands cowering and +trembling before me, though each man carries a naked knife in his +girdle, and another in his hand? Who drew up that sullen and dejected +line of warriors, instructing them to bend their bows and point their +spears against the leader they have followed to victory? It is not for +Semiramis to ask the question, but Assyria. It is not for Semiramis to +answer it, but Baal, and he cries with a loud voice, 'Assarac the +priest!'" + +"Who turned on her at the last!" he shouted, in a paroxysm of fury and +despair. "Who bears here in his bosom the secret she would give all her +empire to obtain; but who defies and reviles the Great Queen to her +face, even in the jaws of death!" + +She started, and for a moment seemed uncertain how to act; but +recovering herself, pronounced firmly the fatal words, "Cover his face, +and lead him forth. I have spoken." + +It was a sentence that could never be annulled. The eunuch felt he was +doomed, and glanced instinctively upward, where the vulture passed +between him and the sun. + +So they brought the hideous stake, and impaled him in sight of all men, +that the people of Babylon might pass by to rebuke him with scoffs and +curses, for a traitor who had lifted his hand against the Great Queen. + +Two days, two nights, he writhed and languished in his agony. On the +third morning men had become wearied of him, and he was left alone, save +that the vulture floating overhead kept watch on untiring wing, and +waited for him still. + +At sunrise there came a veiled woman, with a jar of water in her hand. +His dim eye lightened, and the spasm, that should have been a smile, +crossed his face, for he recognised in her gait and bearing the presence +of his queen. + +She raised her veil to look fixedly on those dying features, so changed, +so distorted--to mark the quiver of those dry cracked lips, the flutter +of life that played over the blackened, withered frame. + +"Speak," said she, in a low hoarse whisper, while the water rippled +pleasantly in its jar. "Speak, and I will have mercy; for you shall +drink and die." + +He nodded assent, eyeing with piteous eagerness the deadly draught for +which he longed. + +"Doth he live?" she asked, and laid the jar almost against his lips. + +Another nod, a convulsive choking gasp, and a roll of the half closed +eyes. + +"And where?" she continued, in fierce impatience, pitiless of his +sufferings, careless of all but the secret she was fain to extort, even +from the dead. + +It was obvious that till his lips were moistened he could not answer, if +he would. She held the jar to his mouth, and he took such a long and +greedy draught as dulled his mortal agony with a sense of relief from +suffering that was almost joy. + +Again she watched those baked black lips with jealous eyes. They strove +to form a word that yet died on them ere it could be uttered. Was it in +mockery they trembled with certain faint syllables, that to her sense of +sight, rather than hearing, seemed to indicate the desert? Was it in +mockery they smiled and writhed and gibbered ere they set themselves, +fixed and rigid for evermore? + +Semiramis turned thoughtfully away, and the vulture came swooping down; +for he, too, had waited long and patiently to take his share of one who +had been a reader of the stars, a governor of the empire, the Great +Queen's favourite servant, Assarac, high priest of Baal. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX + +FORGIVEN + + +For two days, woe, perplexity, and dire confusion reigned in the temple +of the great Assyrian god. Baal might be an hungered, but they slew for +him no droves of sheep and oxen; athirst, but they poured him out no +drink-offerings; displeased, but they sought not favour and forgiveness +with praise and prayer, because his servants looked in vain for a +high-priest to interpret the commands of their deity, and the great +golden image, towering sullen, and unmoved, afforded neither word nor +sign. The denizens of the temple stared blankly in each other's faces, +for men doubted sore in this crisis of the Assyrian hierarchy whose turn +it might next be to die. + +But on the third day, court and temple were once more redolent of +incense and bright with flowers; altars blazed, victims fell, ditches +ran crimson with blood. A hundred priests leaped, howled, and cut +themselves with knives, a thousand voices raised their hymn of triumph, +and Beladon, chosen by direct interposition of his god, under the +authority of Ninyas his king, was proclaimed high-priest of Baal, in +place of the dead man, crouched yonder on his stake in an open space +near the northern gate, already torn and mangled out of human likeness +by the birds of prey. + +Careless of a fallen master, the new high-priest had turned gladly from +Assarac to obtain favour in the sight of Ninyas; and that prince was +content to give him honour and promotion in the mean time, waiting his +own leisure to destroy him without pity or remorse. + +For on this third day, the son of Ninus again sat in the gate to +administer justice, again shook off the fetters of sloth, and the +drowsiness of wine-cups, to wear the royal tiara of his fathers, and +carry the sceptre of Nimrod in his hand. + +The people of Babylon indeed clamoured loudly for their queen, crowding +the streets and terraces about her palace, rending the air with their +cries, vowing vengeance on priest and prophet, if she forbore to show +herself, and even threatening the sacred person of her son. + +It needed all the influence of a priesthood bribed by gifts and +promises, all the intimidation of an army corrupted by gold and spoil, +to persuade them that she had left her faithful subjects for the realm +of those divinities to whom she was akin, and that the white doves they +had seen since sunrise, flitting on restless pinions through her +favourite city, were but so many messengers from the spirit-world, +bidding a nation of mourners take comfort for the departure of the Great +Queen. + +It was to Beladon that Ninyas intrusted the promulgation of this strange +belief, resolving that so soon as the tumult had subsided, so soon as he +was himself firmly established on the throne, it would be wise to +destroy the only power that rivalled his own in the land of Shinar, by +the slaughter of their new high-priest, and general destruction of the +worship of Baal, in favour of Nebo, Nisroch, or some other deity, over +whose servants he would take care to retain undisputed influence and +control. + +For in the golden morning, lying tossing and troubled on his couch, a +deep sleep had fallen on Ninyas, even with the rising of the sun, and he +had dreamed a dream, or seen a vision, such as moved even that heart of +his, so hardened by years of vice and self-indulgence, brought the +unaccustomed tears to those eyes blinded by folly, sensuality, and sin. + +He dreamed that he was a child once more--a tender happy child, +triumphant in a new toy, or a treasure of fruit and flowers, loving, +hopeful, and believing in his mother, the queen, as he believed in the +light of day. He thought she came to his bedside carrying a fair and +bending lotus in her hand; that she withheld from him the flower, +resisting alike his prayers, his caresses, and his tears; that in his +impatience and childish wrath, he seized the white caressing hand and +bit it till the blood came, striking and buffeting the while so fiercely +that his efforts seemed to wake him, and yet he could not rise, though +he knew that he lay there a grown man, stretched on his own royal couch, +struggling with the influence of a dream. + +He must be helpless, he felt, and passive--chilled, shivering, +speechless--so long as those reproachful eyes held him in their gaze, so +long as that stately figure bent over him so tenderly, that pale sad +face confronted his own in the shadow of an unearthly beauty, that awed +him with the majesty of death. + +His tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, yet it seemed loosened, and +his senses were freed from their heaviest restraint, when the vision +addressed him; for was it not his mother's voice? And in spite of the +injuries she had inflicted, in spite of injustice, treachery, all that +had come and gone, those tones were liquid with a music that could still +dominate his spirit, still soften and subdue his heart. "Ninyas," she +said, "beloved, has it come to this, that my son could thirst for his +mother's blood?" He almost believed while she spoke there were red drops +on the white hand that had tended and fondled him from a child. Twice he +raised his eyes to hers, and cast them down in very shame; twice he +essayed an answer, and his lips refused to form the words; but the third +time he took courage, and, with a great effort, exclaimed, "Forgive me, +mother; for I have sinned! I am unworthy to reign in Shinar; I am +unworthy even to draw bow among the sons of Ashur! Yet forgive me, +mother; for am I not your son?" + +A smile, unspeakably sad and tender, came over the pale fair face. "I +have forgiven," said she, "although the arrow from my son's quiver bit +into my very heart. Listen, Ninyas: it was foretold long ago, by one who +read the stars, and who knows doubtless, ere now, whether he read them +right--it was foretold, I say, by this wise man, that when the spear on +which she leaned at her utmost need should break and wound her hand, +then must the doves that nourished her childhood come back to lead +Semiramis away, and the sons of Ashur must wander to and fro through old +Nineveh and mighty Babylon, and all the wide bounds of the land of +Shinar, asking each other in vain for tidings of the Great Queen. I +mourned in sorrow and sadness, but my son was yet left to me, and I +leaned on him as his father was wont to lean after battle on his spear. +My spear is broken, my son has failed me; he would reign unvexed, +unwearied by the counsels of his mother. Go to! He will never look on +that mother's face again." + +He fell into a great sweat and trembling; with a desperate effort, he +leaped like a young lion from his couch, to fall at her feet and clasp +her knees, and detain her even by force, that he might make amends. +Alas, he grasped the empty air! He searched in vain with eager gaze +throughout the chamber, and looked only on coloured carvings and +vermilion roof, on alabaster columns, scarlet hangings, winged monsters +tipped with gold, all the pomp and symbols of imperial sovereignty, his +own without question now, because she was gone for evermore. Then he +burst into a passion of tears, and so, draining the flagon of Damascus +wine that stood by his couch, felt comforted, and went out among his +people with diadem and sceptre, feeling in his heart, that at last he +was really an Assyrian king. + +As the day waned, and the populace, who had been feasted at the royal +expense, found themselves refreshed with food and gladdened by wine, +discontent gave way to hilarity, and anxiety for the fate of their queen +lapsed into easy indifference, or a stupid satisfaction in those +supernatural attributes, by which they were taught to account for her +disappearance. + +It was credited of all men that she had been claimed by the unearthly +order of beings to which she belonged; that she had only been intrusted +for a time to the Assyrians, for the completion of their national glory; +and that now, having fulfilled her mission, she was summoned back by +kindred spirits, who, in the form of doves, birds she always prized and +cherished, were to-day flitting in unusual numbers about the city of her +choice. + +Kalmim, whose eyes were red with weeping, stoutly supported the general +belief, finding in it, no doubt, a salve for certain qualms of +conscience she could not but entertain, regarding her own varying +loyalty towards the mistress she served. This nimble-tongued tirewoman +found herself regretting many a hint she had thrown out, many a petty +scandal she had promulgated in derision of the Great Queen to have seen +her back in the royal palace, to have smoothed her robes, tired her +head, and done her bidding once more, Kalmim would willingly have given +all she prized in the world, except perhaps the affection of Sethos, +whom she now claimed as her own possession, by every rite of love and +law known in the land of Shinar. + +Standing with him on a house-top over against the temple of Baal, and +marking with fond eyes how his bright young face glowed in the parting +rays of a sun already touching the horizon of the desert, she could not +forbear a sigh of pity for one whose lot, in spite of beauty, glory, and +power, seemed so dark and sad, compared to her own. + +"She had everything Baal and Ashtaroth could bestow," observed Kalmim, +looking lovingly in her companion's face. "And see what has been the +end. To hover, like an evil spirit, saddened and restless, about the +place that is still bright with her glory, and then to vanish, none can +tell where, like a cloud that comes up from the desert with promise of +rain, and while man and beast are yet athirst to welcome it, lo, it has +passed over, and is gone." + +"We shall see her no more," answered Sethos. "Nor shall we see one like +unto her again. Since Ashur came down from the stars to lead them, his +children have known but one great Queen. Of a surety, it is enough! +Another Ashtaroth would set the heavens in a blaze; another Semiramis +would be too much for the vexed earth to sustain." + +She glanced at him sharply, but his features wore their usual expression +of placid and somewhat languid content. + +"She was not happy," said Kalmim, as if puzzled to account for the +anomaly. "And yet she had wisdom, fame, courage, riches, unlimited +empire, and, O Sethos, beauty surpassing even the daughters of the +stars!" + +"The last is the gift you grudge her most," observed the cup-bearer, +with a quiet smile, as of one who directs his shaft, though without +malice, straight towards its mark. + +But instead of flushed denial or indignant retort, he was surprised to +note on Kalmim's face an expression of real apprehension. She turned +quite pale, while she replied, + +"It is a fatal possession for the owner, when spoilers can be found who +scruple not to share in it by the strong hand. O Sethos," she added, +with a shudder, pointing to the temple of Baal, "there is but one man I +fear in the whole of Babylon, and he stands, night and morning, before +the altar of his god, the second in power through all the land of +Shinar, after my lord the king." + +Sethos laughed outright, whereat, in Kalmim's eyes, displeasure took the +place of fear. + +"Listen," said he, "and remember that I am not given to vain words, but +that I speak only so much as I surely know. Do you dread the handful of +bleached bones, the few dangling strips of blackened flesh, that were +once that famous eunuch who made himself chief counsellor of princes, +mightiest leader of armies in all Assyria, and great interpreter of the +god he worshipped, to rule, as it seemed, rather than to obey? I tell +you, Kalmim, that Assarac, withering yonder on his stake, is as much to +be feared as comely Beladon, now high-priest of Baal. I tell you that I +had rather change places with the one who has known and proved the worst +than with the other, who has yet to learn the mercies of Ninyas for such +as thwart his projects or stand in the way of his convenience." + +"What mean you?" she asked. "Are you in the secrets of my lord the +king?" + +"He has shown favour to his servant," answered the other, with mock +gravity, "since the days of his youth, when I filled his cup to the brim +at the bidding of Ninus, now driving a golden chariot amongst the stars. +He has not forgotten that I waited dutifully at his footstool, while he +wore sackcloth in his prison-house, as he had been clad in purple on a +throne. Above all, he remembers that, but for me, he would have sinned a +hideous sin against the Great Queen; therefore is my place at his right +hand in his secret chamber; therefore can I tell you, Kalmim, that +Beladon and his priests are doomed, and that the jackals you hear now +howling beneath the wall shall scarcely wait another moon ere they tear +them limb from limb. Beladon is thine enemy and mine. What am I that I +should set myself against the counsels of my lord the king?" + +She drew a deep sigh of relief. The tirewoman was happy now, and had +reached the haven of her rest; yet, even in her fulness of content, +there crept a dreary sadness about her heart, while she thought on the +vanished glories of the mistress she had served and loved, marvelling, +even while she mourned, at the strange departure and sad mysterious fate +of the Great Queen. + + + + +CHAPTER LX + +LOST IN THE DARK + + +As in the heart of man, seared, desolate, and lonely though it be, there +remains a tender spot, bearing remembrance of the tears that freshened +it long ago; so in the wildest tract of desert is hidden some green and +pleasant place where, even should the leaf be faded or the well-spring +dry, lingers a certain sense of peace, freshness, and repose, a faint +but precious echo from the drip and murmur of the drowsy waters, and the +breeze whispering through the palms. + +In such a refuge, many a league from the stir and turmoil of crowded +Babylon, had Sarchedon unstrung his bow, and laid his spear aside. + +Notwithstanding the promises of Assarac, and the promptings of a martial +spirit, he had yielded to the persuasions of her he loved, satisfied, +after all his perils and adventures, to have gained the one treasure he +coveted, and to keep it in his own possession for evermore. + +Under the protection of his adopted brethren--for the Anakim, +overlooking comparative deficiency of stature in consideration of +courage and prowess, had received him into their tribe--and secured on +all sides by the unbroken expanse of desert that surrounded him, he felt +he had nothing to dread from the vengeance of Ninyas, nor even from +pursuit by the Great Queen. These might rule unquestioned over many a +fair and fertile province of their mighty empire, bearing absolute sway +wherever forest waved or river flowed, wherever brick was laid on brick +for human habitation, or smiling surface, tilled by human hands, grew +fat with corn, and wine, and oil; but was not their boundless waste the +heritage of the sons of Anak? and scouring it at all seasons, as in all +directions, how were they to be eluded by assailants who would penetrate +into their dominion? what tactics or what stratagems could foil those +watchful eyes, keen as the vulture's poised in their burning sky, those +matchless horses, swift and untiring as the wind that swept their desert +sands? + +"We are indeed safe, my beloved," said Sarchedon, after recapitulating +the many difficulties with which an enemy who sought them would have to +contend. "Safer here than we should be in the fortress of Ascalon, +guarded by wall and rampart, bristling with bow and spear; for while the +chariots of our foes were labouring far beyond the horizon, one of our +long limbed brethren would come galloping lightly in to give us warning, +and even if they ever reached our nest, it would be cold many hours +before they found it. I should be loth to leave it too," he added, +surveying with extreme content the pleasant refuge in which they had +taken up their rest; "for in all the paradises of Babylon was never so +green and lovely a spot as this!" + +Contrasted with the arid waste that stretched around them to the sky, it +seemed, indeed, a fair and peaceful retreat. Like the mirage of the +desert, it was adorned by a knot of waving palms, a glittering lake, a +breadth of verdant pasture, a thicket of tufted grass, bending reeds, +and aromatic shrubs. Like the mirage too, it was difficult to find, but +unlike the mirage, it was dotted with a goats' hair tent, at the door of +which, smiling and unveiled, she sat for whose sake Sarchedon had +abandoned friends, fame, ambition, country: his treasure, his pearl of +price, the fairest woman in all the earth--but one. + +"I dread only Ninyas," said Ishtar. "For I know the young king's wilful +spirit, and the proud heart that cannot endure to be crossed or thwarted +in its desire. Only Ninyas for myself," she added, with a wistful smile, +"and--and the Great Queen for you." + +"The Great Queen!" he repeated, laughing lightly. "Ere now I must surely +have had more than one successor, and doubtless I am forgotten, as +though I had never been; indeed I hope--I hope it may be so." + +While he reiterated his wish, she looked sharply and inquiringly in his +face, withdrawing her eyes, however, in some confusion, when his glance +met her own. He perceived it not, and Ishtar scarce knew whether she was +vexed or gratified to mark how the jealous anxieties of love had thus +been quenched in the frank confidence of possession, but on reflection +set his blindness down to the engrossing nature of his occupation, for +he was busy shaping one of those short thick clubs used by desert +horsemen in chase of the ostrich, to be hurled at the bird's long legs, +while they rode her down. + +"I shall be back at sunset," said he, putting the finishing touch to his +wooden weapon, and loosing the tether of his horse ere he sprang to the +saddle, "then shall Ishtar have at her tent-door such a tuft of plumes +as were never seen even before the pavilion of the Great King." + +She was scanning the far horizon with anxious eyes. "I pray you go not +forth, beloved," she murmured. "There is a dull blurred line yonder, +where sand and sky meet. Already the whirlwind is stirring in his sleep. +Surely, he will wake up in his fury before night." + +Her lord laughed and shook his bridle, waving a light farewell as he +rode away; while Ishtar turned wistfully into the tent and wondered if +he never regretted enterprise, fame, ambition, all he had foregone for +her sake; if he never let his thoughts wander back to the matchless +beauty and fatal smile of the Great Queen. + +So the woman pondered, half in sadness, asking untoward questions of her +own anxious heart, and the man sped merrily over the plain, rejoicing in +the freedom of the saddle, leaving care to plod hopelessly in his +tracks, as he galloped on. + +But though her eye brightened and his soul rejoiced, because of the +boundless waste and the free desert air, there was death in his right +hand. The poor ungainly ostrich lay bleeding at his feet, her legs +broken by his skill, her wings despoiled of their precious tufts, to +make a gift for the woman he loved. + +The sun was yet high when he turned bridle towards his home, and peering +about him in search of those scarce perceptible inequalities on its +surface, which form the landmarks of the wilderness, he found cause to +remember Ishtar's warning, while for a moment his heart stood still, +with a sense of coming danger, such as braces the brave man for mortal +conflict, and bids the coward tremble with mortal fear. + +Where the palms that nodded above his tent should have broke the level +sky-line, there was no horizon now. Only shifting misty shadows, dull, +dim, and tawny, a fusion of earth and heaven. He could bear to look on +the sun too, glowing yonder like a ball of burnished copper, and he knew +what that rim of violet foretold--a cruel portent--beautiful +exceedingly. + +There was a falling glitter in the air, as if it were raining gold, and +his horse snorted violently, betraying symptoms of restlessness and +alarm. O for Merodach now! Merodach, whose bones were bleaching far +away, where the dead lay in heaps under the wall of Ardesh. + +He pressed into a gallop, nevertheless; for a dun cloud-like column, +growing in height and volume as it approached, was moving steadily +towards him, in many whirls and gyrations, yet, fast as he rode, gaining +on him with every stride. The sky had darkened, and the fine particles +of sand with which the air was filled blistered his skin, choking his +nostrils and penetrating into his very lungs. + +Then the mighty rush of the whirlwind roared in his ears, turning his +linen head-dress over his face, driving man and horse before it in an +opaque, impenetrable cloud of sand. + +He had once dreamed of such a death. Could this be his fate, and had it +indeed overtaken him at last? + +He thought of Ishtar at the tent-door, looking for one who never came; +he thought of the other woman who had loved him--his temptation, his +evil spirit, his enemy, beautiful and wicked, Semiramis the Great Queen. + +Driving on, as a ship at sea drives before the tempest, he was aware of +certain phantom shapes, some few spear-lengths off, that loomed gigantic +in the fatal cloud. Were they real or but creatures of his brain, +already maddened by a sense of suffocation? Perhaps demons of the +simoon, triumphant, derisive, rejoicing in his destruction. No; they +were surely earthly forms--two or three horsemen plunging up to their +girths, and a dromedary in the midst. Were they waving to him for help, +or only struggling and gesticulating in blind perplexity, in the agony +of a fierce despair? The whirlwind drove him nearer, nearer yet. He +could distinguish the reddened eye of the dromedary, and its distended +nostril craving for a breath of air, while choked with sand. + +There came another mighty rush and roar to stun him as with a blow. Half +conscious, he was aware of a face that moved before him through the +gloom like a vision of the night--a dreamy face, calm, fearless, +beautiful, smiling its sad farewell. Even at such extremity his heart +leaped up with keen guilty throbs, for in that passing vision it +recognised the face of the Great Queen. + +Deeper and thicker grew the darkness; louder and fiercer roared the +storm. A gleam of white seemed to flit before his eyes ere they were +blinded by the driving sand. His horse struggled, fell, and rose again, +trembling with exhaustion and fear; but the air had cleared now, and he +could see, half a bowshot before him, a fair dove winging her flight +calmly on towards the light of day. Looking back to where his peril had +been shared by those shadowy wayfarers, he only noticed a few slight +undulations on the surface of the desert--a rolling wave or two of sand +to mark the terrible track of the simoon, and hide his buried secrets, +whatever they might be. + +Following the dove, as it flitted before him, Sarchedon rode slowly on, +pondering many things in his heart, but never taking his eyes off the +bird that was guiding him home. At sunset, lighting down beneath the +palms he loved, it circled twice round his head, and disappeared within +the darkness of his tent. + +Entering in, he was encircled by the arms of Ishtar, who laid her cheek +against his breast, and wept for very joy because of his safe return. + +"Where is the dove," he asked, "that flew before me through the +tent-door even now?" + +"There is no dove here but me," said Ishtar tenderly. "O, Sarchedon, for +you I would ever be the Bird of Love!" + +He looked fondly down in those trustful pleading eyes. "The Bird of +Love," he answered, "and better, dearer still--the Bird of Peace!" + + + +The Gresham Press, +UNWIN BROTHERS, +WOKING AND LONDON. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42393 *** |