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diff --git a/5746-h/5746-h.htm b/5746-h/5746-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0f347f --- /dev/null +++ b/5746-h/5746-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12781 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Ancient Allan</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Rider Haggard</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 22, 2002 [eBook #5746]<br /> +[Most recently updated: March 12, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Bickers, Dagny and David Widger</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>The Ancient Allan</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by H. Rider Haggard</h2> + +<h3>First Published 1920.</h3> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. AN OLD FRIEND</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. RAGNALL CASTLE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. THROUGH THE GATES </a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. THE WAGER</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. THE DOOM OF THE BOAT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. BES STEALS THE SIGNET</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. THE LADY AMADA</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. THE MESSENGERS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. THE HOLY TANOFIR</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. THE SLAYING OF IDERNES</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. THE SUMMONS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE—AND AFTER</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br />AN OLD FRIEND</h2> + +<p> +Now I, Allan Quatermain, come to the weirdest (with one or two exceptions +perhaps) of all the experiences which it has amused me to employ my idle hours +in recording here in a strange land, for after all England is strange to me. I +grow elderly. I have, as I suppose, passed the period of enterprise and +adventure and I should be well satisfied with the lot that Fate has given to my +unworthy self. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, I am still alive and in health when by all the rules I should +have been dead many times over. I suppose I ought to be thankful for that but, +before expressing an opinion on the point, I should have to be quite sure +whether it is better to be alive or dead. The religious plump for the latter, +though I have never observed that the religious are more eager to die than the +rest of us poor mortals. +</p> + +<p> +For instance, if they are told that their holy hearts are wrong, they spend +time and much money in rushing to a place called Nauheim in Germany, to put +them right by means of water-drinking, thereby shortening their hours of +heavenly bliss and depriving their heirs of a certain amount of cash. The same +thing applies to Buxton in my own neighbourhood and gout, especially when it +threatens the stomach or the throat. Even archbishops will do these things, to +say nothing of such small fry as deans, or stout and prominent lay figures of +the Church. +</p> + +<p> +From common sinners like myself such conduct might be expected, but in the case +of those who are obviously poised on the topmost rungs of the Jacobean—I +mean, the heavenly—ladder, it is legitimate to inquire why they show such +reluctance in jumping off. As a matter of fact the only persons that, +individually, I have seen quite willing to die, except now and again to save +somebody else whom they were so foolish as to care for more than they did for +themselves, have been not those “upon whom the light has shined” to +quote an earnest paper I chanced to read this morning, but, to quote again, +“the sinful heathen wandering in their native blackness,” by which +I understand the writer to refer to their moral state and not to their sable +skins wherein for the most part they are also condemned to wander, that is if +they happen to have been born south of a certain degree of latitude. +</p> + +<p> +To come to facts, the staff of Faith which each must shape for himself, is +often hewn from unsuitable kinds of wood, yes, even by the very best among us. +Willow, for instance, is pretty and easy to cut, but try to support yourself +with it on the edge of a precipice and see where you are. Then of a truth you +will long for ironbark, or even homely oak. I might carry my parable further, +some allusions to the proper material of which to fashion the helmet of +Salvation suggest themselves to me for example, but I won’t. +</p> + +<p> +The truth is that we fear to die because all the religions are full of +uncomfortable hints as to what may happen to us afterwards as a reward for our +deviations from their laws and we half believe in something, whereas often the +savage, not being troubled with religion, fears less, because he half believes +in nothing. For very few inhabitants of this earth can attain either to +complete belief or to its absolute opposite. They can seldom lay their hands +upon their hearts, and say they <i>know</i> that they will live for ever, or +sleep for ever; there remains in the case of most honest men an element of +doubt in either hypothesis. +</p> + +<p> +That is what makes this story of mine so interesting, at any rate to me, since +it does seem to suggest that whether or no I have a future, as personally I +hold to be the case and not altogether without evidence, certainly I have had a +past, though, so far as I know, in this world only; a fact, if it be a fact, +from which can be deduced all kinds of arguments according to the taste of the +reasoner. +</p> + +<p> +And now for my experience, which it is only fair to add, may after all have +been no more than a long and connected dream. Yet how was I to dream of lands, +events and people whereof I have only the vaguest knowledge, or none at all, +unless indeed, as some say, being a part of this world, we have hidden away +somewhere in ourselves an acquaintance with everything that has ever happened +in the world. However, it does not much matter and it is useless to discuss +that which we cannot prove. +</p> + +<p> +Here at any rate is the story. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +In a book or a record which I have written down and put away with others under +the title of “The Ivory Child,” I have told the tale of a certain +expedition I made in company with Lord Ragnall. Its object was to search for +his wife who was stolen away while travelling in Egypt in a state of mental +incapacity resulting from shock caused by the loss of her child under tragic +and terrible circumstances. The thieves were the priests of a certain bastard +Arab tribe who, on account of a birthmark shaped like the young moon which was +visible above her breast, believed her to be the priestess or oracle of their +worship. This worship evidently had its origin in Ancient Egypt since, although +they did not seem to know it, the priestess was nothing less than a +personification of the great goddess Isis, and the Ivory Child, their fetish, +was a statue of the infant Horus, the fabled son of Isis and Osiris whom the +Egyptians looked upon as the overcomer of Set or the Devil, the murderer of +Osiris before his resurrection and ascent to Heaven to be the god of the dead. +</p> + +<p> +I need not set down afresh all that happened to us on this remarkable +adventure. Suffice it to say that in the end we recovered the lady and that her +mind was restored to her. Before she left the Kendah country, however, the +priesthood presented her with two ancient rolls of papyrus, also with a +quantity of a certain herb, not unlike tobacco in appearance, which by the +Kendah was called <i>Taduki</i>. Once, before we took our great homeward +journey across the desert, Lady Ragnall and I had a curious conversation about +this herb whereof the property is to cause the person who inhales its fumes to +become clairvoyant, or to dream dreams, whichever the truth may be. It was used +for this purpose in the mystical ceremonies of the Kendah religion when under +its influence the priestess or oracle of the Ivory Child was wont to announce +divine revelations. During her tenure of this office Lady Ragnall was +frequently subjected to the spell of the <i>Taduki</i> vapour, and said strange +things, some of which I heard with my own ears. Also myself once I experienced +its effects and saw a curious vision, whereof many of the particulars were +afterwards translated into facts. +</p> + +<p> +Now the conversation which I have mentioned was shortly to the effect, that +she, Lady Ragnall, believed a time would come when she or I or both of us, were +destined to imbibe these <i>Taduki</i> fumes and see wonderful pictures of some +past or future existence in which we were both concerned. This knowledge, she +declared, had come to her while she was officiating in an apparently mindless +condition as the priestess of the Kendah god called the Ivory Child. +</p> + +<p> +At the time I did not think it wise to pursue so exciting a subject with a +woman whose mind had been recently unbalanced, and afterwards in the stress of +new experiences, I forgot all about the matter, or at any rate only thought of +it very rarely. +</p> + +<p> +Once, however, it did recur to me with some force. Shortly after I came to +England to spend my remaining days far from the temptations of adventure, I was +beguiled into becoming a steward of a Charity dinner and, what was worse, into +attending the said dinner. Although its objects were admirable, it proved one +of the most dreadful functions in which I was ever called upon to share. There +was a vast number of people, some of them highly distinguished, who had come to +support the Charity or to show off their Orders, I don’t know which, and +others like myself, not at all distinguished, just common subscribers, who had +no Orders and stood about the crowded room like waiters looking for a job. +</p> + +<p> +At the dinner, which was very bad, I sat at a table so remote that I could hear +but little of the interminable speeches, which was perhaps fortunate for me. In +these circumstances I drifted into conversation with my neighbour, a queer, +wizened, black-bearded man who somehow or other had found out that I was +acquainted with the wilder parts of Africa. He proved to be a wealthy scientist +whose passion it was to study the properties of herbs, especially of such as +grow in the interior of South America where he had been travelling for some +years. +</p> + +<p> +Presently he mentioned a root named Yagé, known to the Indians which, when +pounded up into a paste and taken in the form of pills, had the effect of +enabling the patient to see events that were passing at a distance. Indeed he +alleged that a vision thus produced had caused him to return home, since in it +he saw that some relative of his, I think a twin-sister, was dangerously ill. +In fact, however, he might as well have stayed away, as he only arrived in +London on the day after her funeral. +</p> + +<p> +As I saw that he was really interested in the subject and observed that he was +a very temperate man who did not seem to be romancing, I told him something of +my experiences with <i>Taduki</i>, to which he listened with a kind of rapt but +suppressed excitement. When I affected disbelief in the whole business, he +differed from me almost rudely, asking why I rejected phenomena simply because +I was too dense to understand them. I answered perhaps because such phenomena +were inconvenient and upset one’s ideas. To this he replied that all +progress involved the upsetting of existent ideas. Moreover he implored me, if +the chance should ever come my way, to pursue experiments with <i>Taduki</i> +fumes and let him know the results. +</p> + +<p> +Here our conversation came to an end for suddenly a band that was braying near +by, struck up “God save the Queen,” and we hastily exchanged cards +and parted. I only mention it because, had it not occurred, I think it probable +that I should never have been in a position to write this history. +</p> + +<p> +The remarks of my acquaintance remained in my mind and influenced it so much +that when the occasion came, I did as a kind of duty what, however much I was +pressed, I am almost sure I should never have done for any other reason, just +because I thought that I ought to take an opportunity of trying to discover +what was the truth of the matter. As it chanced it was quick in coming. +</p> + +<p> +Here I should explain that I attended the dinner of which I have spoken not +very long after a very lengthy absence from England, whither I had come to live +when King Solomon’s Mines had made me rich. Therefore it happened that +between the conclusion of my Kendah adventure some years before and this time I +saw nothing and heard little of Lord and Lady Ragnall. Once a rumour did reach +me, however, I think through Sir Henry Curtis or Captain Good, that the former +had died as a result of an accident. What the accident was my informant did not +know and as I was just starting on a far journey at the time, I had no +opportunity of making inquiries. My talk with the botanical scientist +determined me to do so; indeed a few days later I discovered from a book of +reference that Lord Ragnall was dead, leaving no heir; also that his wife +survived him. +</p> + +<p> +I was working myself up to write to her when one morning the postman brought me +here at the Grange a letter which had “Ragnall Castle” printed on +the flap of the envelope. I did not know the writing which was very clear and +firm, for as it chanced, to the best of my recollection, I had never seen that +of Lady Ragnall. Here is a copy of the letter it contained: +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +“M<small>Y DEAR</small> M<small>R</small>. +Q<small>UATERMAIN</small>,—Very strangely I have just seen at a meeting +of the Horticultural Society, a gentleman who declares that a few days ago he +sat next to you at some public dinner. Indeed I do not think there can be any +doubt for he showed me your card which he had in his purse with a Yorkshire +address upon it. +</p> + +<p> +“A dispute had arisen as to whether a certain variety of Crinum lily was +first found in Africa, or Southern America. This gentleman, an authority upon +South American flora, made a speech saying that he had never met with it there, +but that an acquaintance of his, Mr. Quatermain, to whom he had spoken on the +subject, said that he had seen something of the sort in the interior of +Africa.” (This was quite true for I remembered the incident.) “At +the tea which followed the meeting I spoke to this gentleman whose name I never +caught, and to my astonishment learnt that he must have been referring to you +whom I believed to be dead, for so we were told a long time ago. This seemed +certain, for in addition to the evidence of the name, he described your +personal appearance and told me that you had come to live in England. +</p> + +<p> +“My dear friend, I can assure you it is long since I heard anything which +rejoiced me so much. Oh! as I write all the past comes back, flowing in upon me +like a pent-up flood of water, but I trust that of this I shall soon have an +opportunity of talking to you. So let it be for a while. +</p> + +<p> +“Alas! my friend, since we parted on the shores of the Red Sea, tragedy +has pursued me. As you will know, for both my husband and I wrote to you, +although you did not answer the letters” (I never received them), +“we reached England safely and took up our old life again, though to tell +you the truth, after my African experiences things could never be quite the +same to me, or for the matter of that to George either. To a great extent he +changed his pursuits and certain political ambitions which he once cherished, +seemed no longer to appeal to him. He became a student of past history and +especially of Egyptology, which under all the circumstances you may think +strange, as I did. However it suited me well enough, since I also have tastes +that way. So we worked together and I can now read hieroglyphics as well as +most people. One year he said that he would like to go to Egypt again, if I +were not afraid. I answered that it had not been a very lucky place for us, but +that personally I was not in the least afraid and longed to return there. For +as you know, I have, or think I have, ties with Egypt and indeed with all +Africa. Well, we went and had a very happy time, although I was always +expecting to see old Harût come round the corner. +</p> + +<p> +“After this it became a custom with us who, since George practically gave +up shooting and attending the House of Lords, had nothing to keep us in +England, to winter in Egypt. We did this for five years in succession, living +in a bungalow which we built at a place in the desert, not far from the banks +of the Nile, about half way between Luxor which was the ancient Thebes, and +Assouan. George took a great fancy to this spot when first he saw it, and so in +truth did I, for, like Memphis, it attracted me so much that I used to laugh +and say I believed that once I had something to do with it. +</p> + +<p> +“Now near to our villa that we called ‘Ragnall’ after this +house, are the remains of a temple which were almost buried in the sand. This +temple George obtained permission to excavate. It proved to be a long and +costly business, but as he did not mind spending the money, that was no +obstacle. For four winters we worked at it, employing several hundred men. As +we went on we discovered that although not one of the largest, the temple, +owing to its having been buried by the sand during, or shortly after the Roman +epoch, remained much more perfect than we had expected, because the early +Christians had never got at it with their chisels and hammers. Before long I +hope to show you pictures and photographs of the various courts, etc., so I +will not attempt to describe them now. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a temple to Isis—built, or rather rebuilt over the remains +of an older temple on a site that seems to have been called Amada, at any rate +in the later days, and so named after a city in Nubia, apparently by one of the +Amen-hetep Pharaohs who had conquered it. Its style is beautiful, being of the +best period of the Egyptian Renaissance under the last native dynasties. +</p> + +<p> +“At the beginning of the fifth winter, at length we approached the +sanctuary, a difficult business because of the retaining walls that had to be +built to keep the sand from flowing down as fast as it was removed, and the +great quantities of stuff that must be carried off by the tramway. In so doing +we came upon a shallow grave which appeared to have been hastily filled in and +roughly covered over with paving stones like the rest of the court, as though +to conceal its existence. In this grave lay the skeleton of a large man, +together with the rusted blade of an iron sword and some fragments of armour. +Evidently he had never been mummified, for there were no wrappings, canopic +jars, <i>ushapti</i> figures or funeral offerings. The state of the bones +showed us why, for the right forearm was cut through and the skull smashed in; +also an iron arrow-head lay among the ribs. The man had been buried hurriedly +after a battle in which he had met his death. Searching in the dust beneath the +bones we found a gold ring still on one of the fingers. On its bezel was +engraved the cartouche of ‘Peroa, beloved of Ra.’ Now Peroa +probably means Pharaoh and perhaps he was Khabasha who revolted against the +Persians and ruled for a year or two, after which he is supposed to have been +defeated and killed, though of his end and place of burial there is no record. +Whether these were the remnants of Khabasha himself, or of one of his high +ministers or generals who wore the King’s cartouche upon his ring in +token of his office, of course I cannot say. +</p> + +<p> +“When George had read the cartouche he handed me the ring which I slipped +upon the first finger of my left hand, where I still wear it. Then leaving the +grave open for further examination, we went on with the work, for we were +greatly excited. At length, this was towards evening, we had cleared enough of +the sanctuary, which was small, to uncover the shrine that, if not a monolith, +was made of four pieces of granite so wonderfully put together that one could +not see the joints. On the curved architrave as I think it is called, was +carved the symbol of a winged disc, and beneath in hieroglyphics as fresh as +though they had only been cut yesterday, an inscription to the effect that +Peroa, Royal Son of the Sun, gave this shrine as an ‘excellent eternal +work,’ together with the statues of the Holy Mother and the Holy Child to +the ‘emanations of the great Goddess Isis and the god Horus,’ +Amada, Royal Lady, being votaress or high-priestess. +</p> + +<p> +“We only read the hieroglyphics very hurriedly, being anxious to see what +was within the shrine that, the cedar door having rotted away, was filled with +fine, drifted sand. Basketful by basketful we got it out and then, my friend, +there appeared the most beautiful life-sized statue of Isis carved in alabaster +that ever I have seen. She was seated on a throne-like chair and wore the +vulture cap on which traces of colour remained. Her arms were held forward as +though to support a child, which perhaps she was suckling as one of the breasts +was bare. But if so, the child had gone. The execution of the statue was +exquisite and its tender and mystic face extraordinarily beautiful, so +life-like also that I think it must have been copied from a living model. Oh! +my friend, when I looked upon it, which we did by the light of the candles, for +the sun was sinking and shadows gathered in that excavated hole, I +felt—never mind what I felt—perhaps <i>you</i> can guess who know +my history. +</p> + +<p> +“While we stared and stared, I longing to go upon my knees, I knew not +why, suddenly I felt a faint trembling of the ground. At the same moment, the +head overseer of the works, a man called Achmet, rushed up to us, shouting +out—‘Back! Back! The wall has burst. The sand runs!’ +</p> + +<p> +“He seized me by the arm and dragged me away beside of and behind the +grave, George turning to follow. Next instant I saw a kind of wave of sand, on +the crest of which appeared the stones of the wall, curl over and break. It +struck the shrine, overturned and shattered it, which makes me think it was +made of four pieces, and shattered also the alabaster statue within, for I saw +its head strike George upon the back and throw him forward. He reeled and fell +into the open grave which in another moment was filled and covered with the +débris that seemed to grip me to my middle in its flow. After this I remembered +nothing more until hours later I found myself lying in our house. +</p> + +<p> +“Achmet and his Egyptians had done nothing; indeed none of them could be +persuaded to approach the place till the sun rose because, as they said, the +old gods of the land whom they looked upon as devils, were angry at being +disturbed and would kill them as they had killed the Bey, meaning George. Then, +distracted as I was, I went myself for there was no other European there, to +find that the whole site of the sanctuary was buried beneath hundreds of tons +of sand, that, beginning at the gap in the broken wall, had flowed from every +side. Indeed it would have taken weeks to dig it out, since to sink a shaft was +impracticable and so dangerous that the local officials refused to allow it to +be attempted. The end of it was that an English bishop came up from Cairo and +consecrated the ground by special arrangement with the Government, which of +course makes it impossible that this part of the temple should be further +disturbed. After this he read the Burial Service over my dear husband. +</p> + +<p> +“So there is the end of a very terrible story which I have written down +because I do not wish to have to talk about it more than is necessary when we +meet. For, dear Mr. Quatermain, we shall meet, as I always knew that we +should—yes, even after I heard that you were dead. You will remember that +I told you so years ago in Kendah Land and that it would happen after a great +change in my life, though what that change might be I could not say....” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +This is the end of the letter except for certain suggested dates for the visit +which she took for granted I should make to Ragnall. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br />RAGNALL CASTLE</h2> + +<p> +When I had finished reading this amazing document I lit my pipe and set to work +to think it over. The hypothetical inquirer might ask why I thought it amazing. +There was nothing odd in a dilettante Englishman of highly cultivated mind +taking to Egyptology and, being, as it chanced, one of the richest men in the +kingdom, spending a fraction of his wealth in excavating temples. Nor was it +strange that he should have happened to die by accident when engaged in that +pursuit, which I can imagine to be very fascinating in the delightful winter +climate of Egypt. He was not the first person to be buried by a fall of sand. +Why, only a little while ago the same fate overtook a nursery-governess and the +child in her charge who were trying to dig out a martin’s nest in a pit +in this very parish. Their operations brought down a huge mass of the +overhanging bank beneath which the sand-vein had been hollowed by workmen who +deserted the pit when they saw that it had become unsafe. Next day I and my +gardeners helped to recover their bodies, for their whereabouts was not +discovered until the following morning, and a sad business it was. +</p> + +<p> +Yet, taken in conjunction with the history of this couple, the whole Ragnall +affair was very strange. When but a child Lady Ragnall, then the Hon. Miss +Holmes, had been identified by the priests of a remote African tribe as the +oracle of their peculiar faith, which we afterwards proved to be derived from +old Egypt, in short the worship of Isis and Horus. Subsequently they tried to +steal her away and through the accident of my intervention, failed. Later on, +after her marriage when shock had deprived her of her mind, these priests +renewed the attempt, this time in Egypt, and succeeded. In the end we rescued +her in Central Africa, where she was playing the part of the Mother-goddess +Isis and even wearing her ancient robes. Next she and her husband came home +with their minds turned towards a branch of study that took them back to Egypt. +Here they devote themselves to unearthing a temple and find out that among all +the gods of Egypt, who seem to have been extremely numerous, it was dedicated +to Isis and Horus, the very divinities with whom they recently they had been so +intimately concerned if in traditional and degenerate forms. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover that was not the finish of it. They come to the sanctuary. They +discover the statue of the goddess with the child gone, as their child was +gone. A disaster occurs and both destroys and buries Ragnall so effectually +that nothing of him is ever seen again: he just vanishes into another +man’s grave and remains there. +</p> + +<p> +A common sort of catastrophe enough, it is true, though people of superstitious +mind might have thought that it looked as though the goddess, or whatever force +was behind the goddess, was working vengeance on the man who desecrated her +ancient shrine. And, by the way, though I cannot remember whether or no I +mentioned it in “The Ivory Child,” I recall that the old priest of +the Kendah, Harût, once told me he was sure Ragnall would meet with a violent +death. This seemed likely enough in that country under our circumstances there, +still I asked him why. He answered, +</p> + +<p> +“Because he has laid hands on that which is holy and not meant for +man,” and he looked at Lady Ragnall. +</p> + +<p> +I remarked that all women were holy, whereon he replied that he did not think +so and changed the subject. +</p> + +<p> +Well, Ragnall, who had married the lady who once served as the last priestess +of Isis upon earth, was killed, whereas she, the priestess, was almost +miraculously preserved from harm. And—oh! the whole story was deuced odd +and that is all. Poor Ragnall! He was a great English gentleman and one whom +when first I knew him, I held to be the most fortunate person I ever met, +endowed as he was with every advantage of mind, body and estate. Yet in the end +this did not prove to be the case. Well, while he lived he was a good friend +and a good fellow and none can hope for a better epitaph in a world where all +things are soon forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +And now, what was I to do? To tell the truth I did not altogether desire to +reopen this chapter in past history, or to have to listen to painful +reminiscences from the lips of a bereaved woman. Moreover, beautiful as she had +been, for doubtless she was <i>passée</i> now, and charming as of course she +remained—I do not think I ever knew anyone who was quite so +charming—there was something about Lady Ragnall which alarmed me. She did +not resemble any other woman. Of course no woman is ever quite like another, +but in her case the separateness, if I may so call it, was very marked. It was +as though she had walked out of a different age, or even world, and been but +superficially clothed with the attributes of our own. I felt that from the +first moment I set eyes upon her and while reading her letter the sensation +returned with added force. +</p> + +<p> +Also for me she had a peculiar attraction and not one of the ordinary kind. It +is curious to find oneself strangely intimate with a person of whom after all +one does not know much, just as if one really knew a great deal that was shut +off by a thin but quite impassable door. If so, I did not want to open that +door for who could tell what might be on the other side of it? And intimate +conversations with a lady in whose company one has shared very strange +experiences, not infrequently lead to the opening of every kind of door. +</p> + +<p> +Further I had made up my mind some time ago to have no more friendships with +women who are so full of surprises, but to live out the rest of my life in a +kind of monastery of men who have few surprises, being creatures whose thoughts +are nearly always open and whose actions can always be foretold. +</p> + +<p> +Lastly there was that <i>Taduki</i> business. Well, there at any rate I was +clear and decided. No earthly power would induce me to have anything more to do +with <i>Taduki</i> smoke. Of course I remembered that Lady Ragnall once told me +kindly but firmly that I would if she wished. But that was just where she made +a mistake. For the rest it seemed unkind to refuse her invitation now when she +was in trouble, especially as I had once promised that if ever I could be of +help, she had only to command me. No, I must go. But if that +word—<i>Taduki</i>—were so much as mentioned I would leave again in +a hurry. Moreover it would not be, for doubtless she had forgotten all about +the stuff by now, even if it were not lost. +</p> + +<p> +The end of it was that as I did not wish to write a long letter entering into +all that Lady Ragnall had told me, I sent her a telegram, saying that if +convenient to her, I would arrive at the Castle on the following Saturday +evening and adding that I must be back here on the Tuesday afternoon, as I had +guests coming to stay with me on that day. This was perfectly true as the +season was mid-November and I was to begin shooting my coverts on the Wednesday +morning, a function that once fixed, cannot be postponed. +</p> + +<p> +In due course an answer arrived—“Delighted, but hoped that you +would have been able to stay longer.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Behold me then about six o’clock on the said Saturday evening being once +more whirled by a splendid pair of horses through the gateway arch of Ragnall +Castle. The carriage stopped beneath the portico, the great doors flew open +revealing the glow of the hall fire and lights within, the footman sprang down +from the box and two other footmen descended the steps to assist me and my +belongings out of the carriage. These, I remember, consisted of a handbag with +my dress clothes and a yellow-backed novel. +</p> + +<p> +So one of them took the handbag and the other had to content himself with the +novel, which made me wish I had brought a portmanteau as well, if only for the +look of the thing. The pair thus burdened, escorted me up the steps and +delivered me over to the butler who scanned me with a critical eye. I scanned +him also and perceived that he was a very fine specimen of his class. Indeed +his stately presence so overcame me that I remarked nervously, as he helped me +off with my coat, that when last I was here another had filled his office. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, Sir,” he said, “and what was his name, Sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Savage,” I replied. +</p> + +<p> +“And where might he be now, Sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Inside a snake!” I answered. “At least he was inside a snake +but now I hope he is waiting upon his master in Heaven.” +</p> + +<p> +The man recoiled a little, pulling off my coat with a jerk. Then he coughed, +rubbed his bald head, stared and recovering himself with an effort, said, +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, Sir! I only came to this place after the death of his late +lordship, when her ladyship changed all the household. Alfred, show this +gentleman up to her ladyship’s boudoir, and William, take +his—baggage—to the blue room. Her ladyship wishes to see you at +once, Sir, before the others come.” +</p> + +<p> +So I went up the big staircase to a part of the Castle that I did not remember, +wondering who “the others” might be. Almost could I have sworn that +the shade of Savage accompanied me up those stairs; I could feel him at my +side. +</p> + +<p> +Presently a door was thrown open and I was ushered into a room somewhat dimly +lit and full of the scent of flowers. By the fire near a tea-table, stood a +lady clad in some dark dress with the light glinting on her rich-hued hair. She +turned and I saw that she still wore the necklace of red stones, and beneath it +on her breast a single red flower. For this was Lady Ragnall; about that there +was no doubt at all, so little doubt indeed that I was amazed. I had expected +to see a stout, elderly woman whom I should only know by the colour of her eyes +and her voice, and perhaps certain tricks of manner. But, this was the mischief +of it, I could not perceive any change, at any rate in that light. She was just +the same! Perhaps a little fuller in figure, which was an advantage; perhaps a +little more considered in her movements, perhaps a little taller or at any rate +more stately, and that was all. +</p> + +<p> +These things I learned in a flash. Then with a murmured “Mr. Quatermain, +my Lady,” the footman closed the door and she saw me. +</p> + +<p> +Moving quickly towards me with both her hands outstretched, she exclaimed in +that honey-soft voice of hers, +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! my dear friend——” stopped and added, “Why, +you haven’t changed a bit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fossils wear well,” I replied, “but that is just what I was +thinking of you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it is very rude of you to call me a fossil when I am only +approaching that stage. Oh! I am glad to see you. I <i>am</i> glad!” and +she gave me both the outstretched hands. +</p> + +<p> +Upon my word I felt inclined to kiss her and have wondered ever since if she +would have been very angry. I am not certain that she did not divine the +inclination. At any rate after a little pause she dropped my hands and laughed. +Then she said, +</p> + +<p> +“I must tell you at once. A most terrible catastrophe has +happened——” +</p> + +<p> +Instantly it occurred to me that she had forgotten having informed me by letter +of all the details of her husband’s death. Such things chance to people +who have once lost their memory. So I tried to look as sympathetic as I felt, +sighed and waited. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s not so bad as all that,” she said with a little shake +of her head, reading my thought as she always had the power to do from the +first moment we met. “We can talk about <i>that</i> afterwards. +It’s only that I hoped we were going to have a quiet two days, and now +the Atterby-Smiths are coming, yes, in half an hour. Five of them!” +</p> + +<p> +“The Atterby-Smiths!” I exclaimed, for somehow I too felt +disappointed. “Who are the Atterby-Smiths?” +</p> + +<p> +“Cousins of George’s, his nearest relatives. They think he ought to +have left them everything. But he didn’t, because he could never bear the +sight of them. You see his property was unentailed and he left it all to me. +Now the entire family is advancing to suggest that I should leave it to them, +as perhaps I might have done if they had not chosen to come just now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why didn’t you put them off?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Because I couldn’t,” she answered with a little stamp of her +foot, “otherwise do you suppose they would have been here? They were far +too clever. They telegraphed after lunch giving the train by which they were to +arrive, but no address save Charing Cross. I thought of moving up to the +Berkeley Square house, but it was impossible in the time, also I didn’t +know how to catch you. Oh! it’s <i>most</i> vexatious.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps they are very nice,” I suggested feebly. +</p> + +<p> +“Nice! Wait till you have seen them. Besides if they had been angels I +did not want them just now. But how selfish I am! Come and have some tea. And +you can stop longer, that is if you live through the Atterby-Smiths who are +worse than both the Kendah tribes put together. Indeed I wish old Harût were +coming instead. I should like to see Harût again, wouldn’t you?” +and suddenly the mystical look I knew so well, gathered on her face. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, perhaps I should,” I replied doubtfully. “But I must +leave by the first train on Tuesday morning; it goes at eight o’clock. I +looked it up.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then the Atterby-Smiths leave on Monday if I have to turn them out of +the house. So we shall get one evening clear at any rate. Stop a minute,” +and she rang the bell. +</p> + +<p> +The footman appeared as suddenly as though he had been listening at the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Alfred,” she said, “tell Moxley” (he, I discovered, +was the butler) “that when Mr. and Mrs. Atterby-Smith, the two Misses +Atterby-Smith and the young Mr. Atterby-Smith arrive, they are to be shown to +their rooms. Tell the cook also to put off dinner till half-past eight, and if +Mr. and Mrs. Scroope arrive earlier, tell Moxley to tell them that I am sorry +to be a little late, but that I was delayed by some parish business. Now do you +understand?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, my Lady,” said Alfred and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +“He doesn’t understand in the least,” remarked Lady Ragnall, +“but so long as he doesn’t show the Atterby-Smiths up here, in +which case he can go away with them on Monday, I don’t care. It will all +work out somehow. Now sit down by the fire and let’s talk. We’ve +got nearly an hour and twenty minutes and you can smoke if you like. I learnt +to in Egypt,” and she took a cigarette from the mantelpiece and lit it. +</p> + +<p> +That hour and twenty minutes went like a flash, for we had so much to say to +each other that we never even got to the things we wanted to say. For instance, +I began to tell her about King Solomon’s Mines, which was a long story; +and she to tell me what happened after we parted on the shores of the Red Sea. +At least the first hour and a quarter went, when suddenly the door opened and +Alfred in a somewhat frightened voice announced—“Mr. and Mrs. +Atterby-Smith, the Misses Atterby-Smith and Mr. Atterby-Smith junior.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he caught sight of his mistress’s eye and fled. +</p> + +<p> +I looked and felt inclined to do likewise if only there had been another door. +But there wasn’t and that which existed was quite full. In the forefront +came A.-S. senior, like a bull leading the herd. Indeed his appearance was +bull-like as my eye, travelling from the expanse of white shirt-front (they +were all dressed for dinner) to his red and massive countenance surmounted by +two horn-like tufts of carroty hair, informed me at a glance. Followed Mrs. +A.-S., the British matron incarnate. Literally there seemed to be acres of her; +black silk below and white skin above on which set in filigree floated big +green stones, like islands in an ocean. Her countenance too, though stupid was +very stern and frightened me. Followed the progeny of this formidable pair. +They were tall and thin, also red haired. The girls, whose age I could not +guess in the least, were exactly like each other, which was not strange as +afterwards I discovered that they were twins. They had pale blue eyes and +somehow reminded me of fish. Both of them were dressed in green and wore topaz +necklaces. The young man who seemed to be about one or two and twenty, had also +pale blue eyes, in one of which he wore an eye-glass, but his hair was sandy as +though it had been bleached, parted in the middle and oiled down flat. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment there was a silence which I felt to be dreadful. Then in a big, +pompous voice A.-S. <i>père</i> said, +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do, my dear Luna? As I ascertained from the footman that you +had not yet gone to dress, I insisted upon his leading us here for a little +private conversation after we have been parted for so many years. We wished to +offer you our condolences in person on your and our still recent loss.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you,” said Lady Ragnall, “but I think we have +corresponded on the subject which is painful to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear that we are interrupting a smoking party, Thomas,” said +Mrs. A.-S. in a cold voice, sniffing at the air for all the world like a +suspicious animal, whereon the five of them stared at Lady Ragnall’s +cigarette which she held between her fingers. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said Lady Ragnall. “Won’t you have one? Mr. +Quatermain, hand Mrs. Smith the box, please.” +</p> + +<p> +I obeyed automatically, proffering it to the lady who nearly withered me with a +glance, and then to each to each in turn. To my relief the young man took one. +</p> + +<p> +“Archibald,” said his mother, “you are surely not going to +make your sisters’ dresses smell of tobacco just before dinner.” +</p> + +<p> +Archibald sniggered and replied, +</p> + +<p> +“A little more smoke will not make any difference in this room, +Ma.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is true, darling,” said Mrs. A.-S. and was straightway seized +with a fit of asthma. +</p> + +<p> +After this I am sure I don’t know what happened, for muttering something +about its being time to dress, I rushed from the room and wandered about until +I could find someone to conduct me to my own where I lingered until I heard the +dinner-bell ring. But even this retreat was not without disaster, for in my +hurry I trod upon one of the young lady’s dresses; I don’t know +whether it was Dolly’s or Polly’s (they were named Dolly and Polly) +and heard a dreadful crack about her middle as though she were breaking in two. +Thereon Archibald giggled again and Dolly and Polly remarked with one +voice—they always spoke together, +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! clumsy!” +</p> + +<p> +To complete my misfortunes I missed my way going downstairs and strayed to and +fro like a lost lamb until I found myself confronted by a green baize door +which reminded me of something. I stood staring at it till suddenly a vision +arose before me of myself following a bell wire through that very door in the +darkness of the night when in search for the late Mr. Savage upon a certain +urgent occasion. Yes, there could be no doubt about it, for look! there was the +wire, and strange it seemed to me that I should live to behold it again. +Curiosity led me to push the door open just to ascertain if my memory served me +aright about the exact locality of the room. Next moment I regretted it for I +fell straight into the arms of either Polly or Dolly. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” said she, “I’ve just been sewn up.” +</p> + +<p> +I reflected that this was my case also in another sense, but asked feebly if +she knew the way downstairs. +</p> + +<p> +She didn’t; neither of us did, till at length we met Mrs. Smith coming to +look for her. +</p> + +<p> +If I had been a burglar she could not have regarded me with graver suspicions. +But at any rate <i>she</i> knew the way downstairs. And there to my joy I found +my old friend Scroope and his wife, both of them grown stout and elderly, but +as jolly as ever, after which the Smith family ceased to trouble me. +</p> + +<p> +Also there was the rector of the parish, Dr. Jeffreys and an absurdly young +wife whom he had recently married, a fluffy-headed little thing with round eyes +and a cheerful, perky manner. The two of them together looked exactly like a +turkey-cock and a chicken. I remembered him well enough and to my astonishment +he remembered me, perhaps because Lady Ragnall, when she had hastily invited +him to meet the Smith family, mentioned that I was coming. Lastly there was the +curate, a dark, young man who seemed to be always brooding over the secrets of +time and eternity, though perhaps he was only thinking about his dinner or the +next day’s services. +</p> + +<p> +Well, there we stood in that well-remembered drawing-room in which first I had +made the acquaintance of Harût and Marût; also of the beautiful Miss Holmes as +Lady Ragnall was then called. The Scroopes, the Jeffreys and I gathered in one +group and the Atterby-Smiths in another like a force about to attack, while +between the two, brooding and indeterminate, stood the curate, a neutral +observer. +</p> + +<p> +Presently Lady Ragnall arrived, apologizing for being late. For some reason +best known to herself she had chosen to dress as though for a great party. I +believe it was out of mischief and in order to show Mrs. Atterby-Smith some of +the diamonds she was firmly determined that family should never inherit. At any +rate there she stood glittering and lovely, and smiled upon us. +</p> + +<p> +Then came dinner and once more I marched to the great hall in her company; Dr. +Jeffreys got Mrs. Smith; Papa Smith got Mrs. Jeffreys who looked like a Grecian +maiden walking into dinner with the Minotaur; Scroope got one of the Miss +Smiths, she who wore a pink bow, the gloomy curate got the other with a blue +bow, and Archibald got Mrs. Scroope who departed making faces at us over his +shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“You look very grand and nice,” I said to Lady Ragnall as we +followed the others at a discreet distance. +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad,” she answered, “as to the nice, I mean. As for +the grand, that dreadful woman is always writing to me about the Ragnall +diamonds, so I thought that she should see some of them for the first and last +time. Do you know I haven’t worn these things since George and I went to +Court together, and I daresay shall never wear them again, for there is only +one ornament I care for and I have got <i>that</i> on under my dress.” +</p> + +<p> +I stared and her and with a laugh said that she was very mischievous. +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose so,” she replied, “but I detest those people who +are pompous and rude and have spoiled my party. Do you know I had half a mind +to come down in the dress that I wore as Isis in Kendah Land. I have got it +upstairs and you shall see me in it before you go, for old time’s sake. +Only it occurred to me that they might think me mad, so I didn’t. Dr. +Jeffreys, will you say grace, please?” +</p> + +<p> +Well, it was a most agreeable dinner so far as I was concerned, for I sat +between my hostess and Mrs. Scroope and the rest were too far off for +conversation. Moreover as Archibald developed an unexpected quantity of small +talk, and Scroope on the other side amused himself by filling pink-bow Miss +Smith’s innocent mind with preposterous stories about Africa, as had +happened to me once before at this table, Lady Ragnall and I were practically +left undisturbed. +</p> + +<p> +“Isn’t it strange that we should find ourselves sitting here again +after all these years, except that you are in my poor mother’s place? Oh! +when that scientific gentleman convinced me the other day that you whom I had +heard were dead, were not only alive and well but actually in England, really I +could have embraced him.” +</p> + +<p> +I thought of an answer but did not make it, though as usual she read my mind +for I saw her smile. +</p> + +<p> +“The truth is,” she went on, “I am an only child and really +have no friends, though of course being—well, you know,” and she +glanced at the jewels on her breast, “I have plenty of +acquaintances.” +</p> + +<p> +“And suitors,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she replied blushing, “as many as Penelope, not one of +whom cares twopence about me any more than I care for them. The truth is, Mr. +Quatermain, that nobody and nothing interest me, except a spot in the +churchyard yonder and another amid ruins in Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have had sad bereavements,” I said looking the other way. +</p> + +<p> +“Very sad and they have left life empty. Still I should not complain for +I have had my share of good. Also it isn’t true to say that nothing +interests me. Egypt interests me, though after what has happened I do not feel +as though I could return there. All Africa interests me and,” she added +dropping her voice, “I can say it because I know you will not +misunderstand, you interest me, as you have always done since the first moment +I saw you.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>I!</i>” I exclaimed, staring at my own reflection in a silver +plate which made me look—well, more unattractive than usual. +“It’s very kind of you to say so, but I can’t understand why +I should. You have seen very little of me, Lady Ragnall, except in that long +journey across the desert when we did not talk much, since you were otherwise +engaged.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know. That’s the odd part of it, for I feel as though I had seen +you for years and years and knew everything about you that one human being can +know of another. Of course, too, I do know a good lot of your life through +George and Harût.” +</p> + +<p> +“Harût was a great liar,” I said uneasily. +</p> + +<p> +“Was he? I always thought him painfully truthful, though how he got at +the truth I do not know. Anyhow,” she added with meaning, +“don’t suppose I think the worse of you because others have thought +so well. Women who seem to be all different, generally, I notice, have this in +common. If one or two of them like a man, the rest like him also because +something in him appeals to the universal feminine instinct, and the same +applies to their dislike. Now men, I think, are different in that +respect.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps because they are more catholic and charitable,” I +suggested, “or perhaps because they like those who like them.” +</p> + +<p> +She laughed in her charming way, and said, +</p> + +<p> +“However these remarks do not apply to you and me, for as I think I told +you once before in that cedar wood in Kendah Land where you feared lest I +should catch a chill, or become—odd again, it is another you with whom +something in me seems to be so intimate.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s fortunate for your sake,” I muttered, still staring +at and pointing to the silver plate. +</p> + +<p> +Again she laughed. “Do you remember the <i>Taduki</i> herb?” she +asked. “I have plenty of it safe upstairs, and not long ago I took a +whiff of it, only a whiff because you know it had to be saved.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what did you see?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never mind. The question is what shall we <i>both</i> see?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing,” I said firmly. “No earthly power will make me +breathe that unholy drug again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Except me,” she murmured with sweet decision. “No, +don’t think about leaving the house. You can’t, there are no Sunday +trains. Besides you won’t if I ask you not.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird,’” +I replied, firm as a mountain. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it? Then why are so many caught?” +</p> + +<p> +At that moment the Bull of Bashan—I mean Smith, began to bellow something +at his hostess from the other end of the table and our conversation came to an +end. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, old chap,” whispered Scroope in my ear when we stood up to +see the ladies out. “I suppose you are thinking of marrying again. Well, +you might do worse,” and he glanced at the glittering form of Lady +Ragnall vanishing through the doorway behind her guests. +</p> + +<p> +“Shut up, you idiot!” I replied indignantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” he asked with innocence. “Marriage is an honourable +estate, especially when there is lots of the latter. I remember saying +something of the sort to you years ago and at this table, when as it happened +you also took in her ladyship. Only there was George in the wind then; now it +has carried him away.” +</p> + +<p> +Without deigning any reply I seized my glass and went to sit down between the +canon and the Bull of Bashan. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br />ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD</h2> + +<p> +Mr. Atterby-Smith proved on acquaintance to be even worse than unfond fancy +painted him. He was a gentleman in a way and of good family whereof the real +name was Atterby, the Smith having been added to secure a moderate fortune left +to him on that condition. His connection with Lord Ragnall was not close and +through the mother’s side. For the rest he lived in some south-coast +watering-place and fancied himself a sportsman because he had on various +occasions hired a Scottish moor or deer forest. Evidently he had never done +anything nor earned a shilling during all his life and was bringing his family +up to follow in his useless footsteps. The chief note of his character was that +intolerable vanity which so often marks men who have nothing whatsoever about +which to be vain. Also he had a great idea of his rights and what was due to +him, which he appeared to consider included, upon what ground I could not in +the least understand, the reversal of all the Ragnall properties and wealth. I +do not think I need say any more about him, except that he bored me to +extinction, especially after his fourth glass of port. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps, however, the son was worse, for he asked questions without number and +when at last I was reduced to silence, lectured me about shooting. Yes, this +callow youth who was at Sandhurst, instructed me, Allan Quatermain, how to kill +elephants, he who had never seen an elephant except when he fed it with buns at +the Zoo. At last Mr. Smith, who to Scroope’s great amusement had taken +the end of the table and assumed the position of host, gave the signal to move +and we adjourned to the drawing-room. +</p> + +<p> +I don’t know what had happened but there we found the atmosphere +distinctly stormy. The ample Mrs. Smith sat in a chair fanning herself, which +caused the barbaric ornaments she wore to clank upon her fat arm. Upon either +side of her, pale and indeterminate, stood Polly and Dolly each pretending to +read a book. Somehow the three of them reminded me of a coat-of-arms seen in a +nightmare, British Matron <i>sejant</i> with Modesty and Virtue as supporters. +Opposite, on the other side of the fire and evidently very angry, stood Lady +Ragnall, <i>regardant</i>. +</p> + +<p> +“Do I understand you to say, Luna,” I heard Mrs. A.-S. ask in +resonant tones as I entered the room, “that you actually played the part +of a heathen goddess among these savages, clad in a transparent +bed-robe?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Mrs. Atterby-Smith,” replied Lady Ragnall, “and a +nightcap of feathers. I will put it on for you if you won’t be shocked. +Or perhaps one of your daughters——” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” said both the young ladies together, “please be quiet. +Here come the gentlemen.” +</p> + +<p> +After this there was a heavy silence broken only by the stifled giggles in the +background of Mrs. Scroope and the canon’s fluffy-headed wife, who to do +her justice had some fun in her. Thank goodness the evening, or rather that +part of it did not last long, since presently Mrs. Atterby-Smith, after +studying me for a long while with a cold eye, rose majestically and swept off +to bed followed by her offspring. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwards I ascertained from Mrs. Scroope that Lady Ragnall had been amusing +herself by taking away my character in every possible manner for the benefit of +her connections, who were left with a general impression that I was the chief +of a native tribe somewhere in Central Africa where I dwelt in light attire +surrounded by the usual accessories. No wonder, therefore, that Mrs. A.-S. +thought it best to remove her “Twin Pets,” as she called them, out +of my ravening reach. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Scroopes went away, having arranged for me to lunch with them on the +morrow, an invitation that I hastily accepted, though I heard Lady Ragnall +mutter—“Mean!” beneath her breath. With them departed the +canon and his wife and the curate, being, as they said, “early birds with +duties to perform.” After this Lady Ragnall paid me out by going to bed, +having instructed Moxley to show us to the smoking room, “where,” +she whispered as she said good night, “I hope you will enjoy +yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +Over the rest of the night I draw a veil. For a solid hour and three-quarters +did I sit in that room between this dreadful pair, being alternately questioned +and lectured. At length I could stand it no longer and while pretending to help +myself to whiskey and soda, slipped through the door and fled upstairs. +</p> + +<p> +I arrived late to breakfast purposely and found that I was wise, for Lady +Ragnall was absent upstairs, recovering from “a headache.” Mr. +A.-Smith was also suffering from a headache downstairs, the result of +champagne, port and whisky mixed, and all his family seemed to have pains in +their tempers. Having ascertained that they were going to the church in the +park, I departed to one two miles away and thence walked straight on to the +Scroopes’ where I had a very pleasant time, remaining till five in the +afternoon. I returned to tea at the Castle where I found Lady Ragnall so cross +that I went to church again, to the six o’clock service this time, only +getting back in time to dress for dinner. Here I was paid out for I had to take +in Mrs. Atterby-Smith. Oh! what a meal was that. We sat for the most part in +solemn silence broken only by requests to pass the salt. I observed with +satisfaction, however, that things were growing lively at the other end of the +table where A.-Smith <i>père</i> was drinking a good deal too much wine. At +last I heard him say, +</p> + +<p> +“We had hoped to spend a few days with you, my dear Luna. But as you tell +us that your engagements make this impossible”—and he paused to +drink some port, whereon Lady Ragnall remarked inconsequently, +</p> + +<p> +“I assure you the ten o’clock train is far the best and I have +ordered the carriage at half-past nine, which is not very early.” +</p> + +<p> +“As your engagements make this impossible,” he repeated, “we +would ask for the opportunity of a little family conclave with you +to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +Here all of them turned and glowered at me. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly,” said Lady Ragnall, “‘the sooner ‘tis +over the sooner to sleep.’ Mr. Quatermain, I am sure, will excuse us, +will you not? I have had the museum lit up for you, Mr. Quatermain. You may +find some Egyptian things there that will interest you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, with pleasure!” I murmured, and fled away. +</p> + +<p> +I spent a very instructive two hours in the museum, studying various Egyptian +antiquities including a couple of mummies which rather terrified me. They +looked so very corpse-like standing there in their wrappings. One was that of a +lady who was a “Singer of Amen,” I remember. I wondered where she +was singing now and what song. Presently I came to a glass case which riveted +my attention, for above it was a label bearing the following words: “Two +Papyri given to Lady Ragnall by the priests of the Kendah Tribe in +Africa.” Within were the papyri unrolled and beneath each of the +documents, its translation, so far as they could be translated for they were +somewhat broken. No. 1, which was dated, “In the first year of +Peroa,” appeared to be the official appointment of the Royal Lady Amada, +to be the prophetess to the temple of Isis and Horus the Child, which was also +called Amada, and situated on the east bank of the Nile above Thebes. Evidently +this was the same temple of which Lady Ragnall had written to me in her letter, +where her husband had met his death by accident, a coincidence which made me +start when I remembered how and where the document had come into her hands and +what kind of office she filled at the time. +</p> + +<p> +The second papyrus, or rather its translation, contained a most comprehensive +curse upon any man who ventured to interfere with the personal sanctity of this +same Royal Lady of Amada, who, apparently in virtue of her office, was doomed +to perpetual celibacy like the vestal virgins. I do not remember all the terms +of the curse, but I know that it invoked the vengeance of Isis the Mother, Lady +of the Moon, and Horus the Child upon anyone who should dare such a +desecration, and in so many words doomed him to death by violence “far +from his own country where first he had looked on Ra,” (i.e. the sun) and +also to certain spiritual sufferings afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +The document gave me the idea that it was composed in troubled days to protect +that particularly sacred person, the Prophetess of Isis whose cult, as I have +since learned, was rising in Egypt at the time, from threatened danger, perhaps +at the hands of some foreign man. It occurred to me even that this Princess, +for evidently she was a descendant of kings, had been appointed to a most +sacred office for that very purpose. Men who shrink from little will often fear +to incur the direct curse of widely venerated gods in order to obtain their +desires, even if they be not their own gods. Such were my conclusions about +this curious and ancient writing which I regret I cannot give in full as I +neglected to copy it at the time. +</p> + +<p> +I may add that it seemed extremely strange to me that it and the other which +dealt with a particular temple in Egypt should have passed into Lady +Ragnall’s hands over two thousand years later in a distant part of +Africa, and that subsequently her husband should have been killed in her +presence whilst excavating the very temple to which they referred, whence too +in all probability they were taken. Moreover, oddly enough Lady Ragnall had +herself for a while filled the rôle of Isis in a shrine whereof these two +papyri had been part of the sacred appurtenances for unknown ages, and one of +her official titles there was Prophetess and Lady of the Moon, whose symbol she +wore upon her breast. +</p> + +<p> +Although I have always recognized that there are a great many more things in +the world than are dreamt of in our philosophy, I say with truth and confidence +that I am not a superstitious man. Yet I confess that these papers and the +circumstances connected with them, made me feel afraid. +</p> + +<p> +Also they made me wish that I had not come to Ragnall Castle. +</p> + +<p> +Well, the Atterby-Smiths had so far effectually put a stop to any talk of such +matters and even if Lady Ragnall should succeed in getting rid of them by that +morning train, as to which I was doubtful, there remained but a single day of +my visit during which it ought not to be hard to stave off the subject. Thus I +reflected, standing face to face with those mummies, till presently I observed +that the Singer of Amen who wore a staring, gold mask, seemed to be watching me +with her oblong painted eyes. To my fancy a sardonic smile gathered in them and +spread to the mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s what <i>you</i> think,” this smile seemed to say, +“as once before you thought that Fate could be escaped. Wait and see, my +friend. Wait and see!” +</p> + +<p> +“Not in this room any way,” I remarked aloud, and departed in a +hurry down the passage which led to the main staircase. +</p> + +<p> +Before I reached its end a remarkable sight caused me to halt in the shadow. +The Atterby-Smith family were going to bed <i>en bloc</i>. They marched in +single file up the great stair, each of them carrying a hand candle. Papa led +and young Hopeful brought up the rear. Their countenances were full of war, +even the twins looked like angry lambs, but something written on them informed +me that they had suffered defeat recent and grievous. So they vanished up the +stairway and out of my ken for ever. +</p> + +<p> +When they had gone I started again and ran straight into Lady Ragnall. If her +guests had been angry, it was clear that <i>she</i> was furious, almost weeping +with rage, indeed. Moreover, she turned and rent me. +</p> + +<p> +“You are a wretch,” she said, “to run away and leave me all +day long with those horrible people. Well, they will never come here again, for +I have told them that if they do the servants have orders to shut the door in +their faces.” +</p> + +<p> +Not knowing what to say I remarked that I had spent a most instructive evening +in the museum, which seemed to make her angrier than ever. At any rate she +whisked off without even saying “good night” and left me standing +there. Afterwards I learned that the A.-S.‘s had calmly informed Lady +Ragnall that she had stolen their property and demanded that “as an act +of justice” she should make a will leaving everything she possessed to +them, and meanwhile furnish them with an allowance of £4,000 a year. What I did +not learn were the exact terms of her answer. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning Alfred, when he called me, brought me a note from his mistress +which I fully expected would contain a request that I should depart by the same +train as her other guests. Its real contents, however, were very different. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +“M<small>Y DEAR</small> F<small>RIEND</small>,” it ran, “I am +so ashamed of myself and so sorry for my rudeness last night, for which I +deeply apologise. If you knew all that I had gone through at the hands of those +dreadful mendicants, you would forgive me.—L.R.” +</p> + +<p> +“P.S.—I have ordered breakfast at 10. Don’t go down much +before, for your own sake.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Somewhat relieved in my mind, for I thought she was really angry with me, not +altogether without cause, I rose, dressed and set to work to write some +letters. While I was doing so I heard the wheels of a carriage beneath and +opening my window, saw the Atterby-Smith family in the act of departing in the +Castle bus. Smith himself seemed to be still enraged, but the others looked +depressed. Indeed I heard the wife of his bosom say to him, +</p> + +<p> +“Calm yourself, my dear. Remember that Providence knows what is best for +us and that beggars on horseback are always unjust and ungrateful.” +</p> + +<p> +To which her spouse replied, +</p> + +<p> +“Hold your infernal tongue, will you,” and then began to rate the +servants about the luggage. +</p> + +<p> +Well, off they went. Glaring through the door of the bus, Mr. Smith caught +sight of me leaning out of the window, seeing which I waved my hand to him in +adieu. His only reply to this courtesy was to shake his fist, though whether at +me or at the Castle and its inhabitants in general, I neither know nor care. +</p> + +<p> +When I was quite sure that they had gone and were not coming back again to find +something they had forgotten, I went downstairs and surprised a conclave +between the butler, Moxley, and his satellites, reinforced by Lady +Ragnall’s maid and two other female servants. +</p> + +<p> +“Gratuities!” Moxley was exclaiming, which I thought a fine word +for tips, “not a smell of them! His gratuities were—‘Damn +your eyes, you fat bottle-washer,’ being his name for butler. <i>My</i> +eyes, mind you, Ann, not Alfred’s or William’s, and that because he +had tumbled over his own rugs. Gentleman! Why, I name him a hog with his +litter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hogs don’t have litters, Mr. Moxley,” observed Ann smartly. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, young woman, if there weren’t no hogs, there’d be no +litters, so there! However, he won’t root about in this castle no more, +for I happened to catch a word or two of what passed between him and her +Ladyship last night. He said straight out that she was making love to that +little Mr. Quatermain who wanted her money, and probably not for the first time +as they had forgathered in Africa. A gentleman, mind you, Ann, who although +peculiar, I like, and who, the keeper Charles tells me, is the best shot in the +whole world.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what did she say to that?” asked Ann. +</p> + +<p> +“What did she say? What didn’t she say, that’s the question. +It was just as though all the furniture in the room got up and went for them +Smiths. Well, having heard enough, and more than I wanted, I stepped off with +the tray and next minute out they all come and grab the bedroom candlesticks. +That’s all and there’s her Ladyship’s bell. Alfred, +don’t stand gaping there but go and light the hot-plates.” +</p> + +<p> +So they melted away and I descended from the landing, indignant but laughing. +No wonder that Lady Ragnall lost her temper! +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes later she arrived in the dining-room, waving a lighted ribbon that +disseminated perfume. +</p> + +<p> +“What on earth are you doing?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Fumigating the house,” she said. “It is unnecessary as I +don’t think they were infectious, but the ceremony has a moral +significance—like incense. Anyway it relieves my feelings.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she laughed and threw the remains of the ribbon into the fire, adding, +</p> + +<p> +“If you say a word about those people I’ll leave the room.” +</p> + +<p> +I think we had one of the jolliest breakfasts I ever remember. To begin with we +were both hungry since our miseries of the night before had prevented us from +eating any dinner. Indeed she swore that she had scarcely tasted food since +Saturday. Then we had such a lot to talk about. With short intervals we talked +all that day, either in the house or while walking through the gardens and +grounds. Passing through the latter I came to the spot on the back drive where +once I had saved her from being abducted by Harût and Marût, and as I +recognized it, uttered an exclamation. She asked me why and the end of it was +that I told her all that story which to this moment she had never heard, for +Ragnall had thought well to keep it from her. +</p> + +<p> +She listened intently, then said, +</p> + +<p> +“So I owe you more than I knew. Yet, I’m not sure, for you see I +was abducted after all. Also if I had been taken there, probably George would +never have married me or seen me again, and that might have been better for +him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” I asked. “You were all the world to him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is any woman ever all the world to a man, Mr. Quatermain?” +</p> + +<p> +I hesitated, expecting some attack. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t answer,” she went on, “it would be too long and +you wouldn’t convince me who have been in the East. However, he was all +the world to me. Therefore his welfare was what I wished and wish, and I think +he would have had more of it if he had never married me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” I asked again. +</p> + +<p> +“Because I brought him no good luck, did I? I needn’t go through +all the story as you know it. And in the end it was through me that he was +killed in Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“Or through the goddess Isis,” I broke in rather nervously. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, the goddess Isis, a part I have played in my time, or something +like it. And he was killed in the temple of the goddess Isis. And those papyri +of which you read the translations in the museum, which were given to me in +Kendah Land, seem to have come from that same temple. And—how about the +Ivory Child? Isis in the temple evidently held a child in her arms, but when we +found her it had gone. Supposing this child was the same as that of which I was +guardian! It might have been, since the papyri came from that temple. What do +you think?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think anything,” I answered, “except that it +is all very odd. I don’t even understand what Isis and the child Horus +represent. They were not mere images either in Egypt or Kendah Land. There must +be an idea behind them somewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! there was. Isis was the universal Mother, Nature herself with all +the powers, seen and unseen, that are hidden in Nature; Love personified also, +although not actually the queen of Love like Hathor, her sister goddess. The +Horus child, whom the old Egyptians called Heru-Hennu, signified eternal +regeneration, eternal youth, eternal strength and beauty. Also he was the +Avenger who overthrew Set, the Prince of Darkness, and thus in a way opened the +Door of Life to men.” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems to me that all religions have much in common,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, a great deal. It was easy for the old Egyptians to become +Christian, since for many of them it only meant worshipping Isis and Horus +under new and holier names. But come in, it grows cold.” +</p> + +<p> +We had tea in Lady Ragnall’s boudoir and after it had been taken away our +conversation died. She sat there on the other side of the fire with a cigarette +between her lips, looking at me through the perfumed smoke till I began to grow +uncomfortable and to feel that a crisis of some sort was at hand. This proved +perfectly correct, for it was. Presently she said, +</p> + +<p> +“We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Undoubtedly,” I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me +short with a wave of her hand, and went on, +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner +to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“What! Where! How!” I exclaimed much alarmed. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know where, but as for how—look in that box,” +and she pointed to a little carved Eastern chest made of rose or sandal wood, +that stood upon a table between us. +</p> + +<p> +With a groan I rose and opened it. Inside was another box made of silver. This +I opened also and perceived that within lay bundles of dried leaves that looked +like tobacco, from which floated an enervating and well-remembered scent that +clouded my brain for a moment. Then I shut down the lids and returned to my +seat. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Taduki</i>,” I murmured. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, <i>Taduki</i>, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue +intact.” +</p> + +<p> +“Virtue!” I exclaimed. “I don’t think there is any +virtue about that hateful and magical herb which I believe grew in the +devil’s garden. Moreover, Lady Ragnall, although there are few things in +the world that I would refuse you, I tell you at once that nothing will induce +me to have anything more to do with it.” +</p> + +<p> +She laughed softly and asked why not. +</p> + +<p> +“Because I find life so full of perplexities and memories that I have no +wish to make acquaintance with any more, such as I am sure lie hid by the +thousand in that box.” +</p> + +<p> +“If so, don’t you think that they might clear up some of those +which surround you to-day?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, for in such things there is no finality, since whatever one saw +would also require explanation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t let us argue,” she replied. “It is tiring and I +daresay we shall need all our strength to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked at her speechless. Why could she not take No for an answer? As usual +she read my thought and replied to it. +</p> + +<p> +“Why did not Adam refuse the apple that Eve offered him?” she +inquired musingly. “Or rather why did he eat it after many refusals and +learn the secret of good and evil, to the great gain of the world which +thenceforward became acquainted with the dignity of labour?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because the woman tempted him,” I snapped. +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so. It has always been her business in life and always will be. +Well, I am tempting you now, and not in vain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you remember who was tempting the woman?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly. Also that he was a good school-master since he caused the +thirst for knowledge to overcome fear and thus laid the foundation-stone of all +human progress. That allegory may be read two ways, as one of a rise from +ignorance instead of a fall from innocence.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are too clever for me with your perverted notions. Also, you said we +were not to argue. I have therefore only to repeat that I will not eat your +apple, or rather, breathe your <i>Taduki</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Adam over again,” she replied, shaking her head. “The same +old beginning and the same old end, because you see at last you will do exactly +what Adam did.” +</p> + +<p> +Here she rose and standing over me, looked me straight in the eyes with the +curious result that all my will power seemed to evaporate. Then she sat down +again, laughing softly, and remarked as though to herself, +</p> + +<p> +“Who would have thought that Allan Quatermain was a moral coward!” +</p> + +<p> +“Coward,” I repeated. “Coward!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, that’s the right word. At least you were a minute ago. Now +courage has come back to you. Why, it’s almost time to dress for dinner, +but before you go, listen. I have some power over you, my friend, as you have +some power over me, for I tell you frankly if you wished me very much to do +anything, I should have to do it; and the same applies conversely. Now, +to-night we are, as I believe, going to open a great gate and to see wonderful +things, glorious things that will thrill us for the rest of our lives, and +perhaps suggest to us what is coming after death. You will not fail me, will +you?” she continued in a pleading voice. “If you do I must try +alone since no one else will serve, and then I <i>know</i>—how I cannot +say—that I shall be exposed to great danger. Yes, I think that I shall +lose my mind once more and never find it again this side the grave. You would +not have that happen to me, would you, just because you shrink from digging up +old memories?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course not,” I stammered. “I should never forgive +myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, of course not. There was really no need for me to ask you. Then you +promise you will do all I wish?” and once more she looked at me, adding, +“Don’t be ashamed, for you remember that I have been in touch with +hidden things and am not quite as other women are. You will recollect I told +you that which I have never breathed to any other living soul, years ago on +that night when first we met.” +</p> + +<p> +“I promise,” I answered and was about to add something, I forget +what, when she cut me short, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“That’s enough, for I know your word is rather better than your +bond. Now dress as quickly as you can or the dinner will be spoiled.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br />THROUGH THE GATES</h2> + +<p> +Short as was the time at my disposal before the dinner-gong sounded, it proved +ample for reflection. With every article of attire that I discarded went some +of that boudoir glamour till its last traces vanished with my walking-boots. I +was fallen indeed. I who had come to this place so full of virtuous +resolutions, could now only reflect upon the true and universal meaning of our +daily prayer that we might be kept from temptation. And yet what had tempted +me? For my life’s sake I could not say. The desire to please a most +charming woman and to keep her from making solitary experiments of a dangerous +nature, I suppose, though whether they should be less dangerous carried out +jointly remained to be seen. Certainly it was not any wish to eat of her +proffered apple of Knowledge, for already I knew a great deal more than I cared +for about things in general. Oh! the truth was that woman is the mightiest +force in the world, at any rate where the majority of us poor men is concerned. +She commanded and I must obey. +</p> + +<p> +I grew desperate and wondered if I could escape. Perhaps I might slip out of +the back door and run for it, without my great coat or hat although the night +was so cold and I should probably be taken up as a lunatic. No, it was +impossible for I had forged a chain that might not be broken. I had passed my +word of honour. Well, I was in for it and after all what was there of which I +need be afraid that I should tremble and shrink back as though I were about to +run away with somebody’s wife, or rather to be run away with quite +contrary to my own inclination? Nothing at all. A mere nonsensical ordeal much +less serious than a visit to the dentist. +</p> + +<p> +Probably that stuff had lost its strength by now—that is, unless it had +grown more powerful by keeping, as is the case with certain sorts of +explosives. And if it had not, the worst to be expected was a silly dream, +followed perhaps by headache. That is, unless I did not chance to wake up again +at all in this world, which was a most unpleasant possibility. Another thing, +suppose I woke and she didn’t! What should I say then? Of a certainty I +should find myself in the dock. Yes, and there were further dreadful +eventualities, quite conceivable, every one of them, the very thought of which +plunged me into a cold perspiration and made me feel so weak that I was obliged +to sit down. +</p> + +<p> +Then I heard the gong; to me it sounded like the execution bell to a prisoner +under sentence of death. I crept downstairs feebly and found Lady Ragnall +waiting for me in the drawing-room, clothed with gaiety as with a garment. I +remember that it made me most indignant that she could be so happy in such +circumstances, but I said nothing. She looked me up and down and remarked, +</p> + +<p> +“Really from your appearance you might have seen the Ragnall ghost, or be +going to be married against your will, or—I don’t know what. Also +you have forgotten to fasten your tie.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked in the glass. It was true, for there hung the ends down my shirt +front. Then I struggled with the wretched thing until at last she had to help +me, which she did laughing softly. Somehow her touch gave me confidence again +and enabled me to say quite boldly that I only wanted my dinner. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she replied, “but you are not to eat much and you must +only drink water. The priestesses in Kendah Land told me that this was +necessary before taking <i>Taduki</i> in its strongest form, as we are going to +do to-night. You know the prophet Harût only gave us the merest whiff in this +room years ago.” +</p> + +<p> +I groaned and she laughed again. +</p> + +<p> +That dinner with nothing to drink, although to avoid suspicion I let Moxley +fill my glass once or twice, and little to eat for my appetite had vanished, +went by like a bad dream. I recall no more about it until I heard Lady Ragnall +tell Moxley to see that there was a good fire in the museum where we were going +to study that night and must not be disturbed. +</p> + +<p> +Another minute and I was automatically opening the door for her. As she passed +she paused to do something to her dress and whispered, +</p> + +<p> +“Come in a quarter of an hour. Mind—no port which clouds the +intellect.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have none left to cloud,” I remarked after her. +</p> + +<p> +Then I went back and sat by the fire feeling most miserable and staring at the +decanters, for never in my life do I remember wanting a bottle of wine more. +The big clock ticked and ticked and at last chimed the quarter, jarring on my +nerves in that great lonely banqueting hall. Then I rose and crept upstairs +like an evil-doer and it seemed to me that the servants in the hall looked on +me with suspicion, as well they might. +</p> + +<p> +I reached the museum and found it brilliantly lit, but empty except for the +cheerful company of the two mummies who also appeared to regard me with +gleaming but doubtful eyes. So I sat down there in front of the fire, not even +daring to smoke lest tobacco should complicate <i>Taduki</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Presently I heard a low sound of laughter, looked up and nearly fell backwards, +that is, metaphorically, for the chair prevented such a physical collapse. +</p> + +<p> +It was not wonderful since before me, like a bride of ancient days adorned for +her husband, stood the goddess Isis—white robes, feathered headdress, +ancient bracelets, gold-studded sandals on bare feet, scented hair, ruby +necklace and all the rest. I stared, then there burst from me words which were +the last I meant to say, +</p> + +<p> +“Great Heavens! how beautiful you are.” +</p> + +<p> +“Am I?” she asked. “I am glad,” and she glided across +the room and locked the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Now,” she said, returning, “we had better get to business, +that is unless you would like to worship the goddess Isis a little first, to +bring yourself into a proper frame of mind, you know.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I replied, my dignity returning to me. “I do not wish +to worship any goddess, especially when she isn’t a goddess. It was not a +part of the bargain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so,” she said, nodding, “but who knows what you will +be worshipping before an hour is over? Oh! forgive me for laughing at you, but +I can’t help it. You are so evidently frightened.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who wouldn’t be frightened?” I answered, looking with gloomy +apprehension at the sandal-wood box which had appeared upon a case full of +scarabs. “Look here, Lady Ragnall,” I added, “why can’t +you leave all this unholy business alone and let us spend a pleasant evening +talking, now that those Smith people have gone? I have lots of stories about my +African adventures which would interest you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Because I want to hear my own African adventures, and perhaps yours too, +which I am sure will interest me a great deal more,” she exclaimed +earnestly. “You think it is all foolishness, but it is not. Those Kendah +priestesses told me much when I seemed to be out of my mind. For a long time I +did not remember what they said, but of late years, especially since George and +I began to excavate that temple, plenty has come back to me bit by bit, +fragments, you know, that make me desire to learn the rest as I never desired +anything else on earth. And the worst of it has always been that from the +beginning I have known—and know—that this can only happen with you +and through you, why I cannot say, or have forgotten. That’s what sent me +nearly wild with joy when I heard that you were not only alive, but in this +country. You won’t disappoint me, will you? There is nothing I can offer +you which would have any value for you, so I can only beg you not to disappoint +me—well, because I am your friend.” +</p> + +<p> +I turned away my head, hesitating, and when I looked up again I saw that her +beautiful eyes were full of tears. Naturally that settled the matter, so I only +said, +</p> + +<p> +“Let us get on with the affair. What am I to do? Stop a bit. I may as +well provide against eventualities,” and going to a table I took a sheet +of notepaper and wrote: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Lady Ragnall and I, Allan Quatermain, are about to make an experiment +with an herb which we discovered some years ago in Africa. If by any chance +this should result in accident to either or both of us, the Coroner is +requested to understand that it is not a case of murder or of suicide, but +merely of unfortunate scientific research.” +</p> + +<p> +This I dated, adding the hour, 9.47 P.M., and signed, requesting her to do the +same. +</p> + +<p> +She obeyed with a smile, saying it was strange that one who had lived a life of +such constant danger as myself, should be so afraid to die. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, young lady,” I replied with irritation, +“doesn’t it occur to you that <i>I</i> may be afraid lest +<i>you</i> should die—and <i>I</i> be hanged for it,” I added by an +afterthought. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I see,” she answered, “that is really very nice of you. +But, of course, you would think like that; it is your nature.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I replied. “Nature, not merit.” +</p> + +<p> +She went to a cupboard which formed the bottom of one of the mahogany museum +cases, and extracted from it first of all a bowl of ancient appearance made of +some black stone with projecting knobs for handles that were carved with the +heads of women wearing ceremonial wigs; and next a low tripod of ebony or some +other black wood. I looked at these articles and recognized them. They had +stood in front of the sanctuary in the temple in Kendah Land, and over them I +had once seen this very woman dressed as she was to-night, bend her head in the +magic smoke before she had uttered the prophecy of the passing of the Kendah +god. +</p> + +<p> +“So you brought these away too,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she replied with solemnity, “that they might be ready +at the appointed hour when we needed them.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she spoke no more for a while, but busied herself with certain rather +eerie preparations. First she set the tripod and its bowl in an open space +which I was glad to note was at some distance from the fire, since if either of +us fell into that who would there be to take us off before cremation ensued? +Then she drew up a curved settee with a back and arms, a comfortable-looking +article having a seat that sloped backwards like those in clubs, and motioned +to me to sit down. This I did with much the same sensations that are evoked by +taking one’s place upon an operation-table. +</p> + +<p> +Next she brought that accursed <i>Taduki</i> box, I mean the inner silver one, +the contents of which I heartily wished I had thrown upon the fire, and set it +down, open, near the tripod. Lastly she lifted some glowing embers of wood from +the grate with tongs, and dropped them into the stone bowl. +</p> + +<p> +“I think that’s all. Now for the great adventure,” she said +in a voice that was at once rapt and dreamy. +</p> + +<p> +“What am I to do?” I asked feebly. +</p> + +<p> +“That is quite simple,” she replied, as she sat herself down beside +me well within reach of the <i>Taduki</i> box, the brazier being between us +with its tripod stand pressed against the edge of the couch, and in its curve, +so that we were really upon each side of it. “When the smoke begins to +rise thickly you have only to bend your head a little forward, with your +shoulders still resting against the settee, and inhale until you find your +senses leaving you, though I don’t know that this is necessary for the +stuff is subtle. Then throw your head back, go to sleep and dream.” +</p> + +<p> +“What am I to dream about?” I inquired in a vacuous way, for my +senses were leaving me already. +</p> + +<p> +“You will dream, I think, of past events in which both of us played a +part, at least I hope so. I dreamt of them before in Kendah Land, but then I +was not myself, and for the most part they are forgotten. Moreover, I learned +that we can only see them all when we are together. Now speak no more.” +</p> + +<p> +This command, by the way, at once produced in me an intense desire for +prolonged conversation. It was not to be gratified, however, for at that moment +she stood up again facing the tripod and me, and began to sing in a rich and +thrilling voice. What she sang I do not know for I could not understand the +language, but I presume it was some ancient chant that she learned in Kendah +Land. At any rate, there she stood, a lovely and inspired priestess clad in her +sacerdotal robes, and sang, waving her arms and fixing her eyes upon mine. +Presently she bent down, took a little of the <i>Taduki</i> weed and with words +of incantation, dropped it upon the embers in the bowl. Twice she did this, +then sat herself upon the couch and waited. +</p> + +<p> +A clear flame sprang up and burned for thirty seconds or so, I suppose while it +consumed the volatile oils in the weed. Then it died down and smoke began to +come, white, rich and billowy, with a very pleasant odour resembling that of +hot-house flowers. It spread out between us like a fan, and though its veil I +heard her say, +</p> + +<p> +“The gates are wide. Enter!” +</p> + +<p> +I knew what she meant well enough, and though for a moment I thought of +cheating, there is no other word for it, knew also that she had detected the +thought and was scorning me in her mind. At any rate I felt that I must obey +and thrust my head forward into the smoke, as a green ham is thrust into a +chimney. The warm vapour struck against my face like fog, or rather steam, but +without causing me to choke or my eyes to smart. I drew it down my throat with +a deep inhalation—once, twice, thrice, then as my brain began to swim, +threw myself back as I had been instructed to do. A deep and happy drowsiness +stole over me, and the last thing I remember was hearing the clock strike the +first two strokes of the hour of ten. The third stroke I heard also, but it +sounded like to that of the richest-throated bell that ever boomed in all the +world. I remember becoming aware that it was the signal for the rolling up of +some vast proscenium, revealing behind it a stage that was the +world—nothing less. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +What did I see? What did I see? Let me try to recall and record. +</p> + +<p> +First of all something chaotic. Great rushes of vapour driven by mighty winds; +great seas, for the most part calm. Then upheavals and volcanoes spouting fire. +Then tropic scenes of infinite luxuriance. Terrific reptiles feeding on the +brinks of marshes, and huge elephant-like animals moving between palms beyond. +Then, in a glade, rough huts and about them a jabbering crowd of creatures that +were only half human, for sometimes they stood upright and sometimes ran on +their hands and feet. Also they were almost covered with hair which was all +they had in the way of clothes, and at the moment that I met them, were +terribly frightened by the appearance of a huge mammoth, if that is the right +name for it, which walked into the glade and looked at us. At any rate it was a +beast of the elephant tribe which I judged to be nearly twenty feet high, with +enormous curving tusks. +</p> + +<p> +The point of the vision was that I recognized myself among those hairy +jabberers, not by anything outward and visible, but by something inward and +spiritual. Moreover, I was being urged by a female of the race, I can scarcely +call her a woman, to justify my existence by tackling the mammoth in her +particular interest, or to give her up to someone who would. In the end I +tackled it, rushing forward with a weapon, I think it was a sharp stone tied to +a stick, though how I could expect to hurt a beast twenty feet high with such a +thing is more than I can understand, unless perhaps the stone was poisoned. +</p> + +<p> +At any rate the end was sudden. I threw the stone, whereat a great trunk shot +out from between the tusks and caught me. Round and round I went in the air, +reflecting as I did so, for I suppose at the time my normal consciousness had +not quite left me, that this was my first encounter with the elephant Jana, +also that it was very foolish to try to oblige a female regardless of personal +risk.... +</p> + +<p> +All became dark, as no doubt it would have done, but presently, that is after a +lapse of a great many thousands of years, or so it appeared to me, light grew +again. This time I was a black man living in something not unlike a Kaffir +kraal on the top of a hill. +</p> + +<p> +There was shouting below and enemies attacked us; a woman rushed out of a hut +and gave me a spear and a shield, the latter made of wood with white spots on +it, and pointed to the path of duty which ran down the hill. I followed in +company with others, though without enthusiasm, and presently met a roaring +giant of a man at the bottom. I stuck my spear into him and he stuck his into +me, through the stomach, which hurt me most abominably. After this I retired up +the hill where the woman pulled the spear out and gave it to another man. I +remember no more. +</p> + +<p> +Then followed a whole maze of visions, but really I cannot disentangle them. +Nor is it worth while doing so since after all they were only of the nature of +an overture, jumbled incidents of former lives, real or imaginary, or so I +suppose, having to do, all of them, with elementary things, such as hunger and +wounds and women and death. +</p> + +<p> +At length these broken fragments of the past were swept away out of my +consciousness and I found myself face to face with something connected and +tangible, not too remote or unfamiliar for understanding. It was the beginning +of the real story. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +I, please remember always that I knew it was I, Allan, and no one else, that +is, the same personality or whatever it may be which makes each man different +from any other man, saw myself in a chariot drawn by two horses with arched +necks and driven by a charioteer who sat on a little seat in front. It was a +highly ornamented, springless vehicle of wood and gilded, something like a +packing-case with a pole, or as we should call it in South Africa, a +disselboom, to which the horses were harnessed. In this cart I stood arrayed in +flowing robes fastened round my middle by a studded belt, with strips of +coloured cloth wound round my legs and sandals on my feet. To my mind the +general effect of the attire was distinctly feminine and I did not like it at +all. +</p> + +<p> +I was glad to observe, however, that the I of those days was anything but +feminine. Indeed I could never have believed that once I was so good-looking, +even over two thousand years ago. I was not very tall but extremely stalwart, +burly almost, with an arm that as I could observe, since it projected from the +sleeve of my lady’s gown, would have done no discredit to a +prize-fighter, and a chest like a bull. +</p> + +<p> +The face also I admired very much. The brow was broad; the black eyes were full +and proud-looking, the features somewhat massive but well-cut and highly +intelligent; the mouth firm and shapely, with lips that were perhaps a trifle +too thick; the hair—well, there was rather a failure in the hair, at +least according to modern ideas, for it curled so beautifully as to suggest +that one of my ancestors might have fallen in love with a person of negroid +origin. However there was lots of it, hanging down almost to the shoulders and +bound about the brow by a very neat fillet of blue cloth with silver studs. The +colour of my skin, I was glad to note, was by no means black, only a light and +pleasing brown such as might have been produced by sunburn. My age, I might +add, was anywhere between five and twenty and five and thirty, perhaps nearer +the latter than the former, at any rate, the very prime of life. +</p> + +<p> +For the rest, I held in my left hand a very stout, long bow of black wood which +seemed to have seen much service, with a string of what looked like catgut, on +which was set a broad-feathered, barbed arrow. This I kept in place with the +fingers of my right hand, on one of which I observed a handsome gold ring with +strange characters carved upon the bezel. +</p> + +<p> +Now for the charioteer. +</p> + +<p> +He was black as night, black as a Sunday hat, with yellow rolling eyes set in a +countenance of extraordinary ugliness and I may add, extraordinary humour. His +big, wide mouth with thick lips ran up the left side of his face towards an ear +that was also big and projecting. His hair, that had a feather stuck in it, was +real nigger wool covering a skull like a cannon ball and I should imagine as +hard. This head, by the way, was set plumb upon the shoulders, as though it had +been driven down between them by a pile hammer. They were very broad shoulders +suggesting enormous strength, but the gaily-clad body beneath, which was +supported by two bowed legs and large, flat feet, was that of a dwarf who by +the proportions of his limbs Nature first intended for a giant; yes, an +Ethiopian dwarf. +</p> + +<p> +Looking through this remarkable exterior, as it were, I recognized that inside +of it was the soul, or animating principle, of—whom do you think? None +other than my beloved old servant and companion, the Hottentot Hans whose loss +I had mourned for years! Hans himself who died for me, slaying the great +elephant, Jana, in Kendah Land, the elephant I could not hit, and thereby +saving my life. Oh! although I had been obliged to go back to the days of I +knew not what ancient empire to do so in my trance, or whatever it was, I could +have wept with joy at finding him again, especially as I knew by instinct that +as he loved the Allan Quatermain of to-day, so he loved this Egyptian in a +wheeled packing-case, for I may as well say at once that such was my +nationality in the dream. +</p> + +<p> +Now I looked about me and perceived that my chariot was the second of a +cavalcade. Immediately in front of it was one infinitely more gorgeous in which +stood a person who even if I had not known it, I should have guessed to be a +king, and who, as a matter of fact, was none other than the King of kings, at +that time the absolute master of most of the known world, though what his name +may have been, I have no notion. He wore a long flowing robe of purple silk +embroidered with gold and bound in at the waist by a jewelled girdle from which +hung the private, sacred seal; the little “White Seal” that, as I +learned afterwards, was famous throughout the earth. +</p> + +<p> +On his head was a stiff cloth cap, also purple in colour, round which was +fastened a fillet of light blue stuff spotted with white. The best idea that I +can give of its general appearance is to liken it to a tall hat of fashionable +shape, without a brim, slightly squashed in so that it bulged at the top, and +surrounded by a rather sporting necktie. Really, however, it was the +<i>kitaris</i> or headdress of these monarchs worn by them alone. If anyone +else had put on that hat, even by mistake in the dark, well, his head would +have come off with it, that is all. +</p> + +<p> +This king held a bow in his hand with an arrow set upon its string, just as I +did, for we were out hunting, and as I shall have to narrate presently, lions +are no respecters of persons. By his side, leaning against the back of the +chariot, was a tall, sharp-pointed wand of cedar wood with a knob of some green +precious stone, probably an emerald, fashioned to the likeness of an apple. +This was the royal sceptre. Immediately behind the chariot walked several great +nobles. One of them carried a golden footstool, another a parasol, furled at +the moment; another a spare bow and a quiver of arrows, and another a jewelled +fly-whisk made of palm fibre. +</p> + +<p> +The king, I should add, was young, handsome with a curled beard and clear-cut, +high-bred looking features; his face, however, was bad, cruel and stamped with +an air of weariness, or rather, satiety, which was emphasized by the black +circles beneath his fine dark eyes. Moreover pride seemed to emanate from him +and yet there was something in his bearing and glances which suggested fear. He +was a god who knows that he is mortal and is therefore afraid lest at any +moment he may be called upon to lose his godship in his mortality. +</p> + +<p> +Not that he dreaded the perils of the chase; he was too much of a man for that. +But how could he tell lest among all that crowd of crawling nobles, there was +not one who had a dagger ready for his back, or a phial of poison to mix with +his wine or water? He with all the world in the hollow of his hand, was filled +with secret terrors which as I learned since first I seemed to see him thus, +fulfilled themselves at the appointed time. For this man of blood was destined +to die in blood, though not by murder. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The cavalcade halted. Presently a fat eunuch glittering in his gold-wrought +garments like some bronzed beetle in the sunlight, came waddling back towards +me. He was odious and I knew that we hated each other. +</p> + +<p> +“Greeting, Egyptian,” he said, mopping his brow with his sleeve for +the sun was hot. “An honour for you! A great honour! The King of kings +commands your presence. Yes, he would speak with you with his own lips, and +with that abortion of a servant of yours also. Come! Come swiftly!” +</p> + +<p> +“Swift as an arrow, Houman,” I answered laughing, “seeing +that for three moons I, like an arrow, have rested upon the string and flown no +nearer to his Majesty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Three moons!” screeched the eunuch. “Why, many wait three +years and many go to the grave still waiting; bigger men than you, Egyptian, +though I hear you do claim to be of royal blood yonder on the Nile. But talk +not of arrows flying towards the most High, for surely it is ill-omened and +might earn you another honour, that of the string,” and he made a motion +suggestive of a cord encircling his throat. “Man, leave your bow behind! +Would you appear before the King armed? Yes, and your dagger also.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perchance a lion might appear before the King and he does not leave his +claws and teeth behind,” I answered drily as I divested myself of my +weapons. +</p> + +<p> +Then we started, the three of us, leaving the chariot in charge of a soldier. +</p> + +<p> +“Draw your sleeves over your hands,” said the eunuch. “None +must appear before the King showing his hands, and, dwarf, since you have no +sleeves, thrust yours into your robe.” +</p> + +<p> +“What am I to do with my feet?” he answered in a thick, guttural +voice. “Will it offend the King of kings to see my feet, most noble +eunuch?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, certainly,” answered Houman, “since they are ugly +enough to offend even me. Hide them as much as possible. Now we are near, down +on your faces and crawl forward slowly on your knees and elbows, as I do. Down, +I say!” +</p> + +<p> +So down I went, though with anger in my heart, for be it remembered that I, the +modern Allan Quatermain, knew every thought and feeling that passed through the +mind of my prototype. +</p> + +<p> +It was as though I were a spectator at a play, with this difference. I could +read the motives and reflections of this former <i>ego</i> as well as observe +his actions. Also I could rejoice when he rejoiced, weep when he wept and +generally feel all that he felt, though at the same time I retained the power +of studying him from my own modern standpoint and with my own existing +intelligence. Being two we still were one, or being one we still were two, +whichever way you like to put it. Lastly I lacked these powers with reference +to the other actors in the piece. Of these I knew just as much, or as little as +my former self knew, that is if he ever really existed. There was nothing +unnatural in my faculties where they were concerned. I had no insight into +their souls any more than I have into those of the people about me to-day. Now +I hope that I have made clear my somewhat uncommon position with reference to +these pages from the Book of the Past. +</p> + +<p> +Well, preceded by the eunuch and followed by the dwarf, I crawled though the +sand in which grew some thorny plants that pricked my knees and fingers, +towards the person of the Monarch of the World. He had descended from his +chariot by help of a footstool, and was engaged in drinking from a golden cup, +while his attendants stood around in various attitudes of adoration, he who had +handed him the cup being upon his knees. Presently he looked up and saw us. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are these?” he asked in a high voice that yet was not +unmusical, “and why do you bring them into my presence?” +</p> + +<p> +“May it please the King,” answered our guide, knocking his head +upon the ground in a very agony of humiliation, “may it please the +King——” +</p> + +<p> +“It would please me better, dog, if you answered my question. Who are +they?” +</p> + +<p> +“May it please the King, this is the Egyptian hunter and noble, +Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hear,” said his Majesty with a gleam of interest in his tired +eyes, “and what does this Egyptian here?” +</p> + +<p> +“May it please the King, the King bade me bring him to the presence, but +now when the chariots halted.” +</p> + +<p> +“I forgot; you are forgiven. But who is that with him? Is it a man or an +ape?” +</p> + +<p> +Here I screwed my head round and saw that my slave in his efforts to obey the +eunuch’s instructions and hide his feet, had made himself into a kind of +ball, much as a hedgehog does, except that his big head appeared in front of +the ball. +</p> + +<p> +“O King, that I understand is the Egyptian’s servant and +charioteer.” +</p> + +<p> +Again he looked interested, and exclaimed, +</p> + +<p> +“Is it so? Then Egypt must be a stranger country than I thought if such +ape-men live there. Stand up, Egyptian, and bid your ape stand up also, for I +cannot hear men who speak with their mouths in the dust.” +</p> + +<p> +So I rose and saluted by lifting both my hands and bowing as I had observed +others do, trying, however, to keep them covered by my sleeves. The King looked +me up and down, then said briefly, +</p> + +<p> +“Set out your name and the business that brought you to my city.” +</p> + +<p> +“May the King live for ever,” I replied. “As this lord +said,” and I pointed to the eunuch—— +</p> + +<p> +“He is not a lord but a dog,” interrupted the Monarch, “who +wears the robe of women. But continue.” +</p> + +<p> +“As this dog who wears the robe of women said”—here the King +laughed, but the eunuch, Houman, turned green with rage and glowered at +me—“my name is Shabaka. I am a descendant of the Ethiopian king of +Egypt of that same name.” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems from all I hear that there are too many descendants of kings in +Egypt. When I visit that land which perhaps soon I must do with an army at my +back,” here he stared at me coldly, “it may be well to lessen their +number. There is a certain Peroa for instance.” +</p> + +<p> +He paused, but I made no answer, since Peroa was my father’s cousin and +of the fallen Royal House; also the protector of my youth. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Shabaka,” he went on, “in Persia royal blood is common +also, though some of us think it looks best when it is shed. What else are +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“A slayer of royal beasts, O King of kings, a hunter of lions and of +elephants,” (this statement interested me, Allan Quatermain, intensely, +showing me as it did that our tastes are very persistent); “also when I +am at home, a breeder of cattle and a grower of grain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Idernes the satrap of Egypt, servant of the King of kings, sought for +one who would travel to the East because the King of kings desired to hear of +the hunting of lions in the lands that lie to the south of Egypt towards the +beginnings of the great river. Then I, who desired to see new countries, said, +‘Here am I. Send me.’ So I came and for three moons have dwelt in +the royal city, but till this hour have scarcely so much as seen the face of +the great King, although by many messengers I have announced my presence, +showing them the letters of Idernes giving me safe-conduct. Therefore I propose +to-morrow or the next day to return to Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +The King said a word and a scribe appeared whom he commanded to take note of my +words and let the matter be inquired of, since some should suffer for this +neglect, a saying at which I saw Houman and certain of the nobles turn pale and +whisper to each other. +</p> + +<p> +“Now I remember,” he exclaimed, “that I did desire Idernes to +send me an Egyptian hunter. Well, you are here and we are about to hunt the +lion of which there are many in yonder reeds, hungry and fierce beasts, since +for three days they have been herded in so that they can kill no food. How many +lions have you slain, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“Fifty and three in all, O King, not counting the cubs.” +</p> + +<p> +He stared at me, answering with a sneer, +</p> + +<p> +“You Egyptians have large mouths. I have always heard it of you. Well, +to-day we will see whether you can kill a fifty-fourth. In an hour when the sun +begins to sink, the hounds will be loosed in yonder reeds and since the water +is behind them, the lions will come out, and then we shall see.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I saw that the King thought me to be a liar and the blood rose to my head. +</p> + +<p> +“Why wait till the sun begins to sink, O King of kings?” I said. +“Why not enter the reeds, as is our fashion in the Land of Kush, and +rouse the lions from sleep in their own lair?” +</p> + +<p> +Now the King laughed outright and called in a loud voice to his courtiers, +</p> + +<p> +“Do ye hear this boasting Egyptian, who talks of entering the reeds and +facing the lions in their lair, a thing that no man dare do where none can see +to shoot? What say ye now? Shall we ask him to prove his words?” +</p> + +<p> +Some great lord stepped forward, one who was a hunter though he looked little +like it, for the scent on his hair reached me from four paces away and there +was paint upon his face. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, O King,” he said in a mincing voice, “let him enter and +kill a lion. But if he fail, then let a lion kill him. There are some hungry in +the palace den and it is not fit that the King’s ears should be filled +with empty words by foreigners from Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“So be it,” said the King. “Egyptian, you have brought it on +your own head. Prove that you can do what you say and I will give you great +honour. Fail, and to the lions with him who lies of lions. Still,” he +added, “it is not right that you should go alone. Choose therefore one of +these lords to keep you company; he who would put you to the test, if you +will.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I looked at the scented noble who turned pale beneath his paint. Then I +looked at the fat eunuch, Houman, who opened his mouth and gasped like a fish, +and when I had looked, I shook my head and said as though to myself, +</p> + +<p> +“Not so, no woman and no eunuch shall be my companion on this +quest,” whereat the King and all the rest laughed out loud. “The +dwarf and I will go alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“The dwarf!” said the King. “Can he hunt lions also?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall I +find them in that thicket within an hour?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?” asked the +King. +</p> + +<p> +“Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?” inquired the +King. +</p> + +<p> +Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick and +guttural voice, +</p> + +<p> +“I am my master’s slave and dare I refuse to accompany him? If I +did he might kill me, as the King of kings kills his slaves. It is better to +die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath the whip of +a master. So at least we think in Ethiopia.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well spoken, dwarf Bes!” exclaimed the King. “So would I +have all men think throughout the East. Let the words of this Ethiop be written +down and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that they may +be read to the peoples of the earth. I the King have decreed it.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br />THE WAGER</h2> + +<p> +While the scribes were at their work I bowed before the King and prayed his +leave that I and the dwarf Bes might get to ours. +</p> + +<p> +“Go,” he said, “and return here within an hour. If you do not +return tidings of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt to be told to +your wives.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are ill +company for a hunter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Strange,” he said, “since many women would be glad to name +such a man their husband, at least here among us Easterns.” +</p> + +<p> +Walking backwards and bowing as we went, Bes and I returned to our chariot. +There we stripped off our outer garments till Bes was naked save for his +waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin. Then I took my bow, my arrows and +my knife, and Bes took two spears, one light for throwing and the other short, +broad and heavy for stabbing. Thus armed we passed back before the Easterns who +stared at us, and advanced to the edge of the thicket of tall reeds that was +full of lions. +</p> + +<p> +Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we might learn from which +quarter the light wind blew. +</p> + +<p> +“We will go against the breeze, Lord,” he said, “that I may +smell the lions before they smell us.” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded, and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“Hearken, Bes. Well may it be that we kill no lions in this place where +it is hard to shoot. Yet I would not return to be thrown to wild beasts by +yonder evil king. Therefore if we fail in this or in any other way, do you kill +me, if you still live.” +</p> + +<p> +He rolled his eyes and grinned. +</p> + +<p> +“Not so, Master. Then we will win through the reeds and lie hid in their +edge till darkness comes, for in them those half-men will never dare to seek +for us. Afterwards we will swim the water and disguise ourselves as jugglers +and try to reach the coast, and so back to Egypt, having learned much. Never +stretch out your hand to Death till he stretches out his to you, which he will +do soon enough, Master.” +</p> + +<p> +Again I nodded and said, +</p> + +<p> +“And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the matter to +the King.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, first I will drag him down to the greatest of all beasts, he who +waits to devour evil-doers in the Under-world, be they kings or slaves,” +and he stretched out his long arms and made a motion as of clutching a man by +the throat. “Oh! have no fear, Master, I can break him like a stick, and +afterwards we will talk the matter over among the dead, for I shall swallow my +tongue and die also. It is a good trick, Master, which I wish you would +learn.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he took my hand and kissed it and we entered the reeds, I, who was a +hunter, feeling more happy than I had done since we set foot in the East. +</p> + +<p> +Yet the quest was desperate for the reeds were tall and often I could not see +more than a bow’s length in front of me. Presently, however, we found a +path made perchance by game coming down to drink, or by crocodiles coming up to +sleep, and followed it, I with an arrow on my string and Bes with the throwing +spear in his right hand and the stabbing spear in his left, half a pace ahead +of me. On we crept, Bes drawing in the air through his great nostrils as a +hound might do, till suddenly he stopped and sniffed towards the north. +</p> + +<p> +“I smell lion near,” he whispered, searching among the reed stems +with his eyes. “I see lion,” he whispered again, and pointed, but I +could see nothing save the stems of the reeds. +</p> + +<p> +“Rouse him,” I whispered back, “and I will shoot as he +bounds.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw. There was a +roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank. I loosed the +arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there. +</p> + +<p> +“Forward!” whispered Bes, “for where woman is, there look for +man. The lion will be near.” +</p> + +<p> +We crept on, Bes stopping to cut the arrow from a reed and set it back in the +quiver, for it was a good arrow made by himself. But now he shifted the broad +spear to his right hand and in his left held his knife. We heard the wounded +lioness roar not far away. +</p> + +<p> +“She calls her man to help her,” whispered Bes, and as the words +left his lips the reeds down wind began to sway, for we were smelt. +</p> + +<p> +They swayed, they parted and, half seen, half hid between their stems, appeared +the head of a great, black-maned lion. I drew the string and shot, this time +not in vain, for I heard the arrow thud upon his hide. Then before I could set +another he was on us, reared upon his hind legs and roaring. As I drew my +dagger he struck at me, but I bent down and his paw went over my head. Then his +weight came against me and I fell beneath him, stabbing him in the belly as I +fell. I saw his mighty jaws open to crush my head. Then they shut again and +through them burst a whine like that of a hurt dog. +</p> + +<p> +Bes had driven his spear into the lion’s breast, so deep that the point +of it came out through the back. Still he was not dead, only now it was Bes he +sought. The dwarf ran at him as he reared up again, and casting his great arms +about the brute’s body, wrestled with him as man with man. +</p> + +<p> +Then it was, for the first time I think, that I learned all the +Ethiopian’s strength. For he, a dwarf, threw that lion on its back and +thrusting his big head beneath the jaws, struggled with it madly. I was up, the +knife still in my hand, and oh! I too was strong. Into the throat I drove it, +dragging it this way and that, and lo! the lion moaned and died and his blood +gushed out over both of us. Then Bes sat up and laughed, and I too laughed, +since neither of us had more than scratches and we had done what men could +scarcely do. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you remember, Master,” said Bes when he had finished laughing, +as he wiped his brow with some damp moss, “how, once far away up the Nile +you charged a mad elephant with a spear and saved me who had fallen, from being +trampled to death?” +</p> + +<p> +I, Shabaka, answered that I did. (And I, Allan Quatermain, observing all these +things in my psychic trance in the museum of Ragnall Castle, reflected that I +also remembered how a certain Hans had saved me from a certain mad elephant, to +wit, Jana, not so long before, which just shows how things come round.) +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” went on Bes, “you saved me from that elephant, though +it seemed death to you. And, Master, I will tell you something now. That very +morning I had tried to poison you, only you would not wait to eat because the +elephants were near.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you?” I asked idly. “Why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because two years before you captured me in battle with some of my +people, and as I was misshapen, or for pity’s sake, spared my life and +made me your slave. Well, I who had been a chief, a very great chief, Master, +did not wish to remain a slave and did wish to avenge my people’s blood. +Therefore I tried to poison you, and that very day you saved my life, offering +for it your own.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think it was because I wanted the tusks of the elephant, Bes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, Master, only you will remember that this elephant was a young +cow and had no tusks worth anything. Still had it carried tusks, it might have +been so, since one white tusk is worth many black dwarfs. Well, to-day I have +paid you back. I say it lest you should forget that had it not been for me, +that lion would have eaten you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Bes, you have paid me back and I thank you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Master, hitherto I always thought you one who worshipped Maat, goddess +of Truth. Now I see that you worship the god of Lies, whoever he may be, that +god who dwells in the breasts of women and most men, but has no name. For, +Master, it was <i>you</i> who saved <i>me</i> from the lion and not I you, +since you cut its throat at the last. So that debt of mine is still to pay and +by the great Grasshopper which we worship in my country, who is much better +than all the gods of the Egyptians put together, I swear that I will pay it +soon, or mayhap ten thousand years hence. At the last it shall be paid.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you worship a grasshopper and why is he better than the gods of +the Egyptians?” I asked carelessly, for I was tired and his talk amused +me while we rested. +</p> + +<p> +“We worship the Grasshopper, Master, because he jumps with men’s +spirits from one life to another, or from this world to the next, yes, right +through the blue sky. And he is better than your Egyptian gods because they +leave you to find your own way there, and then eat you alive, that is if you +have tried to poison people, as of course we have all done. But, Master, we are +fresh again now, so let us be going, for the hour will soon be finished. Also +when she has eaten the spear handle, that lioness may return.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said; “let us go and report to the King of kings +that we have killed a lion.” +</p> + +<p> +“Master, it is not enough. Even common kings believe little that they do +not see, wherefore it is certain that a King of kings will believe nothing and +still more certain that he will not come here to look. So as we cannot carry +the lion, we must take a bit of it,” and straightway he cut off the end +of the brute’s tail. +</p> + +<p> +Following the crocodile path, presently we reached the edge of the reeds +opposite to the camp where the King now sat in state beneath a purple pavilion +that had been reared, eating a meal, with his courtiers standing at a distance +and looking very hungry. +</p> + +<p> +Out of the reeds bounded Bes, naked and bloody, waving the lion’s tail +and singing some wild Ethiopian chant, while I, also bloody and half naked, for +the lion’s claws had torn my jerkin off me, followed with bow unstrung. +</p> + +<p> +The King looked up and saw us. +</p> + +<p> +“What! Do you live, Egyptian?” he asked. “Of a surety I +thought that by now you would be dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was the lion that died, O King,” I answered, pointing to Bes +who, having ceased from his song, was jumping about carrying the beast’s +tail in his mouth as a dog carries a bone. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems that this Egyptian has killed a lion,” said the King to +one of his lords, him of the painted face and scented hair. +</p> + +<p> +“May it please the King,” he answered, bowing, “a tail is not +the whole beast and may have been taken thither, or cut from a lion lying dead +already. The King knows that the Egyptians are great liars.” +</p> + +<p> +So he spoke because he was jealous of the deed. +</p> + +<p> +“These men look as though they had met a live one, not one that is +dead,” said the King, scanning our blood-stained shapes. “Still, as +you doubt it, you will wish to put the matter to the proof. Therefore, Cousin, +take six men with you, enter the reeds and search. In that soft ground it will +be easy to follow their footmarks.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is dangerous, O King,” began the prince, for such he was, no +less. +</p> + +<p> +“And therefore the task will be the more to your taste, Cousin. Go now, +and be swift.” +</p> + +<p> +So six hunters were called and the prince went, cursing me beneath his breath +as he passed us. For he was terribly afraid, and with reason. Suddenly Bes +ceased from his antics and prostrating himself, cried, +</p> + +<p> +“A boon, O King. This noble lord throws doubt upon my master’s +word. Suffer that I may lead him to where the lion lies dead, since otherwise +wandering in those reeds the great King’s cousin might come to harm and +the great King be grieved.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have many cousins,” said the King. “Still go if you wish, +Dwarf.” +</p> + +<p> +So Bes ran after the prince and catching him up, tapped him on the shoulder +with the lion’s tail to point out the way. Then they vanished into the +reeds and I went to the chariot to wash off the blood from my body and clothes. +As I fastened my robe I heard a sound of roaring, then one scream, after which +all grew still. Now I drew near to the reeds and stood between them and the +King’s camp. +</p> + +<p> +Presently on their edge appeared Bes dancing and singing as before, but this +time he held a lion’s tail in either hand. After him came the six hunters +dragging between them the body of the lion we had killed. They staggered with +it towards the King, and I followed. +</p> + +<p> +“I see the dwarf,” he said. “I see the dead lion and I see +the hunters. But where is my cousin? Make report, O Bes.” +</p> + +<p> +“O King of kings,” replied Bes, “the mighty prince your +cousin lies flat yonder beneath the body of that lion’s wife. She sprang +upon him and killed him, and I sprang upon her and killed her with my spear. +Here is her tail, O King of kings.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is this true?” he asked of the hunters. +</p> + +<p> +“It is true, O King,” answered their captain. “The lioness, +which was wounded, leapt upon the prince, choosing him although he was behind +us all. Then this dwarf leapt upon the lioness, being behind the prince and +nearest to him, and drove his spear through her shoulders to her heart. So we +brought the first lion as the King commanded us, since we could carry no +more.” +</p> + +<p> +The face of the King grew red with rage. +</p> + +<p> +“Seven of my people and one black dwarf!” he exclaimed. “Yet +the lioness kills my cousin and the dwarf kills the lioness. Such is the tale +that will go to Egypt concerning the hunters of the King of the world. Seize +those men, Guards, and let them be fed to the wild beasts in the palace +dens.” +</p> + +<p> +At once the unfortunates were seized and led away. Then the King called Bes to +him, and taking the gold chain he wore about his neck, threw it over his head, +thereby, though I knew nothing of it at the time, conferring upon him some +noble rank. Next he called to me and said, +</p> + +<p> +“It would seem that you are skilled in the use of the bow and in the +hunting of lions, Egyptian. Therefore I will honour you, for this afternoon +your chariot shall drive with my chariot, and we will hunt side by side. +Moreover, I will lay you a wager as to which of us will kill the most lions, +for know, Shabaka, that I also am skilled in the use of the bow, more skilled +than any among the millions of my subjects.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, O King, it is of little use for me to match myself against you, +seeing that I have met men who can shoot better than I do, or, since in the +East all must speak nothing but the truth, not being liars as the dead prince +said we Egyptians are, one man.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who was that man, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Prince Peroa, O King.” +</p> + +<p> +The King frowned as though the name displeased him, then answered, +</p> + +<p> +“Am I not greater than this Peroa and cannot I therefore shoot +better?” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless, O King of kings, and therefore how can I who shoot worse than +Peroa, match myself against you?” +</p> + +<p> +“For which reason I will give you odds, Shabaka. Behold this rope of +rose-hued pearls I wear. They are unequalled in the whole world, for twenty +years the merchants sought them in the days of my father; half of them would +buy a satrapy. I wager them”—here the listening nobles gasped and +the fat eunuch, Houman, held up his hands in horror. +</p> + +<p> +“Against what, O King?” +</p> + +<p> +“Your slave Bes, to whom I have taken a fancy.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I trembled and Bes rolled his yellow eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Your pardon, O King of kings,” I said, “but it is not +enough. I am a hunter and to such, priceless pearls are of little use. But to +me that dwarf is of much use in my hunting.” +</p> + +<p> +“So be it, Shabaka, then I will add to the wager. If you win, together +with the pearls I will give you the dwarf’s weight in solid gold.” +</p> + +<p> +“The King is bountiful,” I answered, “but it is not enough, +for even if I win against one who can shoot better than Peroa, which is +impossible, what should I do with so much gold? Surely for the sake of it I +should be murdered or ever I saw the coasts of Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“What shall I add then?” asked the King. “The most beauteous +maiden in the House of Women?” +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head. “Not so, O King, for then I must marry who would remain +single.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is no need, you might sell her to your friend, Peroa. A +satrapy?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so, O King, for then I must govern it, which would keep me from my +hunting, until it pleased the King to take my head.” +</p> + +<p> +“By the name of the holy ones I worship what then do you ask added to the +pearls and the pure gold?” +</p> + +<p> +Now I tried to bethink me of something that the King could not grant, since I +had no wish for this match which my heart warned me would end in trouble. As no +thought came to me I looked at Bes and saw that he was rolling his eyes towards +the six doomed hunters who were being led away, also in pretence of driving off +a fly, pointing to them with one of the lion tails. Then I remembered that a +decree once uttered by the King of the East could not be altered, and saw a +road of escape. +</p> + +<p> +“O King,” I said, “together with the pearls and the gold I +ask that the lives of those six hunters be added to the wager, to be spared if +by chance I should win.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” asked the King amazed. +</p> + +<p> +“Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of +such cracked by tame beasts in a cage.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is my judgment registered?” asked the King. +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet, O King,” answered the head scribe. +</p> + +<p> +“Then it has no weight and can be suspended without the breaking of the +law. Shabaka, thus stands our wager. If I kill more lions than you do this day, +or, should but two be slain, I kill the first, or should none be slain, I plant +more arrows in their bodies, I take your slave, Bes the dwarf, to be my slave. +But should you have the better of me in any of these ways, then I give to you +this girdle of rose pearls and the weight of the dwarf Bes in gold and the six +hunters free of harm, to do with what you will. Let it be recorded, and to the +hunt.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Soon Bes and I were in our chariot which by command took place in line with +that of the King, but at a distance of some thirty steps. Bending over the +dwarf who drove, I spoke with him, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may +well be parted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so, Master, our luck is good to-day seeing that before the end of it +you will be the richer by the finest pearls in the whole world, by my weight in +pure gold (and Master, I am twice as heavy as the king thought and will stuff +myself with twenty pounds of meat before the weighing, if I have the chance, or +at least with water, though in this hot place that will not last for long), and +by six picked huntsmen, brave men as you thought, who will serve to escort us +and our treasure to the coast.” +</p> + +<p> +“First I must win the match, Bes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which you could do with one eye blinded, Master, and a sore finger. +Kings think that they can shoot because all the worms that crawl about them and +are named men, dare not show themselves their betters. Oh! I have heard tales +in yonder city. There have been days when this Lord of the world has missed six +lions with as many arrows, and they seated smiling in his face, being but tamed +brutes brought from far in cages of wood, yes, smiling like cats in the sun. +Look you, Master, he drinks too much wine and sits up too late in his +Women’s house—there are three hundred of them there, +Master—to shoot as you and I can. If you doubt it, look at his eyes and +hands. Oh! the pearls and the gold and the men are yours, and that painted +prince who mocked us is where he ought to be—dead in the mud. +</p> + +<p> +“Did I tell you how I managed that, Master? As you know better than I do, +lions hate those that have on them the smell of their own blood. Therefore, +while I pointed out the way to him, I touched the painted prince with the +bleeding tail of that which we killed, pretending that it was by chance, for +which he cursed me, as well he might. So when we came to the dead lion and, as +I had expected, met there the lioness you had wounded, she charged through the +hunters at him who smelt of her husband, and bit his head off.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, Bes, you smelt of him also, and worse.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Master, but that painted cousin of the King came first. I kept well +behind him, pretending to be afraid,” and he chuckled quietly, adding, +“I expect that he is now telling an angry tale about me to Osiris, or to +the Grasshopper that takes him there, as it may happen.” +</p> + +<p> +“These Easterns worship neither Osiris, nor your Grasshopper, Bes, but a +flame of fire.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he is telling the tale to the fire, and I hope that it will get +tired and burn him.” +</p> + +<p> +So we talked merrily enough because we had done great deeds and thought that we +had outwitted the Easterns and the King, not knowing all their craft. For none +had told us that that man who hunted with the King and yet dared to draw arrow +upon the quarry before the King should be put to death as one who had done +insult to his Majesty. This that royal fox remembered and therefore was sure +that he would win the wager. +</p> + +<p> +Now the chariots turned and passing down a path came to an open space that was +cleared of reeds. Here they halted, that of the King and my own side by side +with ten paces between them, and those of the court behind. Meanwhile huntsmen +with dogs entered the great brake far away to the right and left of us, also in +front, so that the lions might be driven backwards and forwards across the open +space. +</p> + +<p> +Soon we heard the hounds baying on all sides. Then Bes made a sucking noise +with his great lips and pointed to the edge of the reeds in front of us some +sixty paces away. Looking, I saw a yellow shape creeping along between their +dark stems, and although the shot was far, forgetting all things save I was a +hunter and there was my game, I drew the arrow to my ear, aimed and loosed, +making allowance for its fall and for the wind. +</p> + +<p> +Oh! that shot was good. It struck the lion in the body and pierced him through. +Out he came, roaring, rolling, and tearing at the ground. But by now I had +another arrow on the string, and although the King lifted his bow, I loosed +first. Again it struck, this time in the throat, and that lion groaned and +died. +</p> + +<p> +The King looked at me angrily, and from the court behind rose a murmur of +wonder mingled with wrath, wonder at my marksmanship, and wrath because I had +dared to shoot before the King. +</p> + +<p> +“The wager looks well for us,” muttered Bes, but I bade him be +silent, for more lions were stirring. +</p> + +<p> +Now one leapt across the open space, passing in front of the King and within +thirty paces of us. He shot and missed it, sending his shaft two spans above +its back. Then I shot and drove the arrow through it just where the head joins +the neck, cutting the spine, so that it died at once. +</p> + +<p> +Again that murmur went up and the King struck the charioteer on the head with +his clenched fist, crying out that he had suffered the horses to move and +should be scourged for causing his hand to shake. +</p> + +<p> +This charioteer, although he was a lord—since in the East men of high +rank waited on the King like slaves and even clipped his nails and +beard—craved pardon humbly, admitting his fault. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a lie,” whispered Bes. “The horses never stirred. How +could they with those grooms holding their heads? Nevertheless, Master, the +pearls are as good as round your neck.” +</p> + +<p> +“Silence,” I answered. “As we have heard, in the East all men +speak the truth; it is only Egyptians who lie. Also in the East men’s +necks are encircled with bowstrings as well as pearls, and ears are +long.” +</p> + +<p> +The hounds continued to bay, drawing nearer to us. A lioness bounded out of the +reeds, ran towards the King’s chariot and as though amazed, sat down like +a dog, so near that a man might have hit it with a stone. The King shot short, +striking it in the fore-paw only, whereon it shook out the arrow and rushed +back into the reeds, while the court behind cried, +</p> + +<p> +“May the King live for ever! The beast is dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“We shall see if it is dead presently,” said Bes, and I nodded. +</p> + +<p> +Another lion appeared to the right of the King. Again he shot and missed it, +whereon he began to curse and to swear in his own royal oaths, and the +charioteer trembled. Then came the end. +</p> + +<p> +One of the hounds drew quite close and roused the lioness that had been pricked +in the foot. She turned and killed it with a blow of her paw, then, being mad, +charged straight at the King’s chariot. The horses reared, lifting the +grooms off their feet. The King shot wildly and fell backwards out of the +chariot, as even Kings of the world must do when they have nothing left to +stand on. The lioness saw that he was down and leapt at him, straight over the +chariot. As she leapt I shot at her in the air and pierced her through the +loins, paralysing her, so that although she fell down near the King, she could +not come at him to kill him. +</p> + +<p> +I sprang from my chariot, but before I could reach the lioness hunters had run +up with spears and stabbed her, which was easy as she could not move. +</p> + +<p> +The King rose from the ground, for he was unharmed, and said in a loud voice, +</p> + +<p> +“Had not that shaft of mine gone home, I think that the East would have +bowed to another lord to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, forgetting that I was speaking to the King of the earth, forgetting the +wager and all besides, I exclaimed, +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, your shaft missed; mine went home,” whereon one of the +courtiers cried, +</p> + +<p> +“This Egyptian is a liar, and calls the King one!” +</p> + +<p> +“A liar?” I said astonished. “Look at the arrow and see from +whose quiver it came,” and I drew one from my own of the Egyptian make +and marked with my mark. +</p> + +<p> +Then a tumult broke out, all the courtiers and eunuchs talking at once, yet all +bowing to the mud-stained person of the King, like ears of wheat to a tree in a +storm. Not wishing to urge my claims further, for my part I returned to the +chariot and the hunting being done, as I supposed, unstrung my bow which I +prized above all things, and set it in its case. +</p> + +<p> +While I was thus employed the eunuch Houman approached me with a sickly smile, +saying, +</p> + +<p> +“The King commands your presence, Egyptian, that you may receive your +reward.” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded, saying that I would come, and he returned. +</p> + +<p> +“Bes,” I said when he was out of hearing, “my heart sinks. I +do not trust that King who I think means mischief.” +</p> + +<p> +“So do I, Master. Oh! we have been great fools. When a god and a man +climb a tree together, the man should allow the god to come first to the top, +and thence tell the world that he is a god.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered, “but who ever sees Wisdom until she is +flying away? Now perhaps, the god being the stronger, will cast down the +man.” +</p> + +<p> +Then both together we advanced towards the King, leaving the chariot in charge +of soldiers. He was seated on a gilded chair which served him as a throne, and +behind him were his officers, eunuchs and attendants, though not all of them, +since at a little distance some of them were engaged in beating the lord who +had served as his charioteer upon the feet with rods. We prostrated ourselves +before him and waited till he spoke. At length he said, +</p> + +<p> +“Shabaka the Egyptian, we made a wager with you, of which you will +remember the terms. It seems that you have won the wager, since you slew two +lions, whereas we, the King, slew but one, that which leapt upon us in the +chariot.” +</p> + +<p> +Here Bes groaned at my side and I looked up. +</p> + +<p> +“Fear nothing,” he went on, “it shall be paid.” Here he +snatched off the girdle of priceless, rose-hued pearls and threw it in my face. +</p> + +<p> +“At the palace too,” he went on, “the dwarf shall be set in +the scales and his full weight in pure gold shall be given to you. Moreover, +the lives of the six hunters are yours, and with them the men +themselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“May the King live for ever!” I exclaimed, feeling that I must say +something. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope so,” he answered cruelly, “but, Egyptian, you shall +not, who have broken the laws of the land.” +</p> + +<p> +“In what way, O King?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“By shooting at the lions before the King had time to draw his bow, and +by telling the King that he lied to his face, for both of which things the +punishment is death.” +</p> + +<p> +Now my heart swelled till I thought it would burst with rage. Then of a sudden, +a certain spirit entered into me and I rose to my feet and said, +</p> + +<p> +“O King, you have declared that I must die and as this is so, I will +kneel to you no more who soon shall sup at the table of Osiris, and there be +far greater than any king, going before him with clean hands. Is it not your +law that he who is condemned to die has first the right to set out his case for +the honour of his name?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is,” said the King, I think because he was curious to hear what +I had to say. “Speak on.” +</p> + +<p> +“O King, although my blood is as high as your own, of that I say nothing, +for at the wish of your satrap I came to the East from Egypt as a hunter, to +show you how we of Egypt kill lions and other beasts. For three months I have +waited in the royal city seeking admission to the presence of the King, and in +vain. At length I was bidden to this hunt when I was about to depart to my own +land, and being taunted by your servants, entered the reeds with my slave, and +there slew a lion. Then it pleased you to thrust a wager upon me which I did +not wish to take, as to which of us would shoot the most lions; a wager as I +now understand you did not mean that I should win, whatever might be my skill, +since you thought I knew that I must shoot at nothing till you had first shot +and killed the beasts or scared them away. +</p> + +<p> +“So I matched myself against you, as hunter against hunter, for in the +field, as before the gods, all are equal, not as a slave against a king who is +determined to avenge defeat by death. We were posted and the lions came. I shot +at those which appeared opposite to me, or upon my side, leaving those that +appeared opposite to you, or on your side unshot at, as is the custom of +hunters. My skill, or my fortune, was better than yours and I killed, whereas +you missed or only wounded. In the end a lioness sprang at you and I shot it +lest it should kill you; as could easily be proved by the arrow in its body. +Now you say that I must die because I have broken some laws of yours which men +should be ashamed to make, and to save your honour, pay me what I have won, +knowing that pearls and gold and slaves are of no value to a dying man and can +be taken back again. That is all the story. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet I would add one word. You Easterns have two sayings which you teach +to your children; that they should learn to shoot with the bow, and to tell the +truth. O King, they are my last lessons to you. Learn to shoot with the +bow—which you cannot do, and to tell the truth which you have not done. +Now I have spoken and am ready to die and I thank you for the patience with +which you have heard my words, that, as the King does <i>not</i> live for ever, +I hope one day to repeat to you more fully beyond the grave.” +</p> + +<p> +Now at this bold speech of mine all those nobles and attendants gasped, for +never had they heard such words addressed to his Majesty. The King turned red +as though with shame, but made no answer, only he asked of those about him. +</p> + +<p> +“What fate for this man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Death, O King!” they cried with one voice. +</p> + +<p> +“What death?” he asked again. +</p> + +<p> +Then his Councillors consulted together and one of them answered, +</p> + +<p> +“The slowest known to our law, <i>death by the boat</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Hearing this and not knowing what was meant, it came into my mind that I was to +be turned adrift in a boat and there left to starve. +</p> + +<p> +“Behold the reward of good hunting!” I mocked in my rage. “O +King, because of this deed of shame I call upon you the curse of all the gods +of all the peoples. Henceforth may your sleep be ever haunted by evil dreams of +what shall follow the last sleep, and in the end may you also die in +blood.” +</p> + +<p> +The King opened his mouth as though to answer, but from it came nothing but a +low cry of fear. Then guards rushed up and seized me. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br />THE DOOM OF THE BOAT</h2> + +<p> +The guards led me to my chariot and thrust me into it, and with me Bes. I asked +them if they would murder him also, to which the eunuch, Houman, answered No, +since he had committed no crime, but that he must go with me to be weighed. +Then soldiers took the horses by the bridles and led them, while others, having +first snatched away my bow and all our other weapons, surrounded the chariot +lest we should escape. So Bes and I were able to talk together in a Libyan +tongue that none of them understood, even if they heard our words. +</p> + +<p> +“Your life is spared,” I said to him, “that the King may take +you as a slave.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he will take an ill slave, Master, since I swear by the Grasshopper +that within a moon I will find means to kill him, and afterwards come to join +you in a land where men hunt fair.” +</p> + +<p> +I smiled and Bes went on, +</p> + +<p> +“Now I wish I had time to teach you that trick of swallowing your own +tongue, since perhaps you will need it in this boat of which they talk.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you not say to me an hour or two ago, Bes, that we are fools to +stretch out our hands to Death until he stretches out his to us? I will not die +until I must—now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why ‘now,’ Master, seeing that only this afternoon you bade +me kill you rather than let you be thrown to the wild beasts?” he asked +peering at me curiously. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you remember the old hermit, the holy Tanofir, who dwells in a cell +over the sepulchre of the Apis bulls in the burial ground of the desert near to +Memphis, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“The magician and prophet who is the brother of your grandfather, Master, +and the son of a king; he who brought you up before he became a hermit? Yes, I +know him well, though I have seldom been very near to him because his eyes +frighten me, as they frightened Cambyses the Persian when Tanofir cursed him +and foretold his doom after he had stabbed the holy Apis, saying that by a +wound from that same sword in his own body he should die himself, which thing +came to pass. As they have frightened many another man also.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Bes, when yonder king told me that I must die, fear filled me who +did not wish to die thus, and after the fear came a blackness in my mind. Then +of a sudden in that blackness I saw a picture of Tanofir, my great uncle, +seated in a sepulchre looking towards the East. Moreover I heard him speak, and +to me, saying, ‘Shabaka, my foster-son, fear nothing. You are in great +danger but it will pass. Speak to the great King all that rises in your heart, +for the gods of Vengeance make use of your tongue and whatever you prophesy to +him shall be fulfilled.’ So I spoke the words you heard and I feared +nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is it so, Master? Then I think that the holy Tanofir must have entered +my heart also. Know that I was minded to leap upon that king and break his +neck, so that all three of us might end together. But of a sudden something +seemed to tell me to leave him alone and let things go as they are fated. But +how can the holy Tanofir who grows blind with age, see so far?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, Bes, save that he is not as are other men, for in him is +gathered all the ancient wisdom of Egypt. Moreover he lives with the gods while +still upon earth, and like the gods can send his <i>Ka</i>, as we Egyptians +call the spirit, or invisible self which companions all from the cradle to the +grave and afterwards, whither he will. So doubtless to-day he sent it hither to +me whom he loves more than anything on earth. Also I remember that before I +entered on this journey he told me that I should return safe and sound. +Therefore, Bes, I say I fear nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor do I, Master. Yet if you see me do strange things, or hear me speak +strange words, take no note of them, since I shall be but playing a part as I +think wisest.” +</p> + +<p> +After this we talked of that day’s adventure with the lions, and of +others that we had shared together, laughing merrily all the while, till the +soldiers stared at us as though we were mad. Also the fat eunuch, Houman, who +was mounted on an ass, rode up and said, +</p> + +<p> +“What, Egyptian who dared to twist the beard of the Great King, you +laugh, do you? Well, you will sing a different song in the boat to that which +you sing in the chariot. Think of my words on the eighth day from this.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will think of them, Eunuch,” I answered, looking at him fiercely +in the eyes, “but who knows what kind of a song you will be singing +before the eighth day from this?” +</p> + +<p> +“What I do is done under the authority of the ancient and holy Seal of +Seals,” he answered in a quavering voice, touching the little cylinder of +white shell which I had noted upon the person of the King, but that now hung +from a gold chain about the eunuch’s neck. +</p> + +<p> +Then he made the sign which Easterns use to avert evil and rode off again, +looking very frightened. +</p> + +<p> +So we came to the royal city and went up to a wonderful palace. Here we were +taken from the chariot and led into a room where food and drink in plenty were +given to me as though I were an honoured guest, which caused me to wonder. Bes +also, seated on the ground at a distance, ate and drank, for his own reasons +filling himself to the throat as though he were a wineskin, until the serving +slaves mocked at him for a glutton. +</p> + +<p> +When we had finished eating, slaves appeared bearing a wooden framework from +which hung a great pair of scales. Also there appeared officers of the +King’s Treasury, carrying leather bags which they opened, breaking the +seals to show that the contents were pure gold coin. They set a number of these +bags on one of the scales, and then ordered Bes to seat himself in the other. +So much heavier did he prove than they expected him to be, that they were +obliged to send back to the Treasury to fetch more bags of gold, for although +Bes was so short in height, his weight was that of a large man. One of the +treasurers grumbled, saying he should have been weighed before he had eaten and +drunk. But the officer to whom he spoke grinned and answered that it mattered +little, since the King was heir to criminals and that these bags would soon +return to the Treasury, only they would need washing first, a remark that made +me wonder. +</p> + +<p> +At length, when the scales were even, the six hunters whose lives I had won and +who had been given to me as slaves, were brought in and ordered to shoulder the +bags of gold. I too was seized and my hands were bound behind me. Then I was +led out in charge of the eunuch Houman, who informed me with a leer that it +would be his duty to attend to my comfort till the end. With him were four +black men all dressed in the same way. These, he said, were the executioners. +Lastly came Bes watched by three of the king’s guards armed with spears, +lest he should attempt to rescue me or to do anyone a mischief. +</p> + +<p> +Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to me. +</p> + +<p> +“This, O Egyptian slayer of lions. You will be laid upon a bed in a +little boat upon the river and another boat will be placed over you, for these +boats are called the Twins, Egyptian, in such a fashion that your head and your +hands will project at one end and your feet at the other. There you will be +left, comfortable as a baby in its cradle, and twice every day the best of food +and drink will be brought to you. Should your appetite fail, moreover, it will +be my duty to revive it by pricking your eyes with the point of a knife until +it returns. Also after each meal I shall wash your face, your hands and your +feet with milk and honey, lest the flies that buzz about them should suffer +hunger, and to preserve your skin from burning by the sun. Thus slowly you will +grow weaker and at length fall asleep. The last one who went into the +boat—he, unlucky man, had by accident wandered into the court of the +House of Women and seen some of the ladies there unveiled—only lived for +twelve days, but you, being so strong, may hope to last for eighteen. Is there +anything more that I can tell you? If so, ask it quickly for we draw near to +the river.” +</p> + +<p> +Now when I heard this and understood all the horror of my fate, I forgot the +vision of my great uncle, the holy Tanofir, and his comfortable prophecies, and +my heart failed me altogether, so that I stood stock still. +</p> + +<p> +“What, Lion-hunter and Bearder of kings, do you think it is too early to +go to bed?” mocked this devilish eunuch. “On with you!” and +he began to beat me about the face with the handle of his fly-whisk. +</p> + +<p> +Then my manhood came back to me. +</p> + +<p> +“When did the King tell you to touch me, you fatted swine?” I +roared, and turning, since I could not reach him with my bound hands, kicked +him in the body with all my strength, so that he fell down, writhing and +screaming with agony. Indeed, had not the executioners leapt upon me, I would +have trampled the life out of him where he lay. But they held me fast and +presently, after he had been sick, Houman recovered enough to come forward +leaning on the shoulders of two guards. Only now he mocked me no more. +</p> + +<p> +We reached a quay just as the sun was setting. There in charge of a one-eyed +black slave, a little square-ended boat floated at the river’s edge, +while on the quay itself lay a similar but somewhat shorter boat, bottom +uppermost. Now the hunters whom I had won in the wager, with many glances of +compassion, for they were brave men and knew that it was I who had saved their +lives, placed the bags of gold in the bottom of the floating boat, and on the +top of these a mattress stuffed with straw. Then the girdle of rose-hued pearls +was made fast about my middle, my hands were untied, I was seized by the +executioners and laid on my back on the mattress, and my wrists and ankles were +fixed by cords to iron rings that were screwed to the thwarts of the boat. +After this the other, shorter boat was laid over me in such a manner that it +did not touch me, leaving my head, my hands and my feet exposed as the eunuch +had said. +</p> + +<p> +While this wicked work was going forward Bes sat on the quay, watching, till +presently, after I had been made fast and covered up, he burst into shouts of +laughter, clapped his hands and began to dance about as though with joy, till +the eunuch, who had now recovered somewhat from my kick, grew curious and asked +him why he behaved thus. +</p> + +<p> +“O noble Eunuch,” he answered, “once I was free and that man +made me a slave, so that for many years I have been obliged to toil for him +whom I hate. Moreover, often he has beaten me and starved me, which was why you +saw me eat so much not long ago, and threatened to kill me, and now at last I +have my revenge upon him who is about to die miserably. That is why I laugh and +sing and dance and clap my hands, O most noble Eunuch, I who shall become the +follower and servant of the glorious King of all the earth, and perhaps your +friend, too, O Eunuch of eunuchs, whose sacred person my brutal master dared to +kick.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand,” said Houman smiling, though with a twisted face, +“and will make report of all you say to the King, and ask him to grant +that you shall sometimes prick this Egyptian in the eye. Now go spit in his +face and tell him what you think of him.” +</p> + +<p> +So Bes waded into the water which was quite shallow here, and spat into my +face, or pretended to, while amid a torrent of vile language, he interpolated +certain words in the Libyan tongue, which meant, +</p> + +<p> +“O my most beloved father, mother, and other relatives, have no fear. +Though things look very black, remember the vision of the holy Tanofir, who +doubtless allows these things to happen to you to try your faith by direct +order of the gods. Be sure that I will not leave you to perish, or if there +should be no escape, that I will find a way to put you out of your misery and +to avenge you. Yes, yes, I will yet see that accursed swine, Houman, take your +place in this boat. Now I go to the Court to which it seems that this gold +chain gives me a right of entry, or so the eunuch says, but soon I will be back +again.” +</p> + +<p> +Then followed another stream of most horrible abuse and more spitting, after +which he waded back to land and embraced Houman, calling him his best friend. +</p> + +<p> +They went, leaving me alone in the boat save for the guard upon the quay who, +now that darkness had come, soon grew silent. It was lonely, very lonely, lying +there staring at the empty sky with only the stinging gnats for company, and +soon my limbs began to ache. I thought of the poor wretches who had suffered in +this same boat and wondered if their lot would be my lot. +</p> + +<p> +Bes was faithful and clever, but what could a single dwarf do among all these +black-hearted fiends? And if he could do nothing, oh! if he could do nothing! +</p> + +<p> +The seconds seemed minutes, the minutes seemed hours, and the hours seemed +years. What then would the days be, passed in torture and agony while waiting +for a filthy death? Where now were the gods I had worshipped and—was +there any god? Or was man but a self-deceiver who created gods instead of the +gods creating him, because he did not love to think of an eternal blackness in +which he would soon be swallowed up and lost? Well, at least that would mean +sleep, and sleep is better than torment of mind or body. +</p> + +<p> +It came to me, I think, who was so weary. At any rate I opened my eyes to see +that the low moon had vanished and that some of the stars which I knew as a +hunter who had often steered his way by them, had moved a little. While I was +wondering idly why they moved, I heard the tramp of soldiers on the quay and +the voice of an officer giving a command. Then I felt the boat being drawn in +by the cord with which it was attached to the quay. Next the other boat that +lay over me was lifted off, the ropes that bound me were undone and I was set +upon my feet, for already I was so stiff that I could scarcely stand. A voice +which I recognised as that of the eunuch Houman, addressed me in respectful +tones, which made me think I must be dreaming. +</p> + +<p> +“Noble Shabaka,” said the voice, “the Great King commands +your presence at his feast.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is it so?” I answered in my dream. “Then my absence from +their feast will vex the gnats of the river,” a saying at which Houman +and others with him laughed obsequiously. +</p> + +<p> +Next I heard the bags of gold being removed from the boat, after which we +walked away, guards supporting me by either elbow until I found my strength +again, and Houman following just behind, perhaps because he feared my foot if +he went in front. +</p> + +<p> +“What has chanced, Eunuch,” I asked presently, “that I am +disturbed from the bed where I was sleeping so well?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, Lord,” he answered. “I only know that the +King of kings has suddenly commanded that you should be brought before him as a +guest clothed in a robe of honour, even if to do so, you must be awakened from +your rest, yes, to his own royal table, for he holds a feast this night. +Lord,” he went on in a whining voice, “if perchance fortune should +have changed her face to you, I pray you bear no malice to those who, when she +frowned, were forced, yes, under the private Seal of Seals, against their will +to carry out the commands of the King. Be just, O Lord Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +“Say no more. I will try to be just,” I answered. “But what +is justice in the East? I only know of it in Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +Now we reached one of the doors of the palace and I was taken to a chamber +where slaves who were waiting, washed and anointed me with scents, after which +they clad me in a beautiful robe of silk, setting the girdle of rose-hued +pearls about me. +</p> + +<p> +When they had finished, preceded by Houman I was led to a great pillared hall +closed in with silk hangings, where many feasted. Through them I went to a dais +at the head of the hall where between half-drawn curtains surrounded by +cup-bearers and other officers, the King sat in all his glory upon a cushioned +golden throne. He had a glittering wine-cup in his hand and at a glance I saw +that he was drunk, as it is the fashion for these Easterns to be at their great +feasts, for he looked happy and human which he did not do when he was sober. Or +perchance, as sometimes I thought afterwards, he only pretended to be drunk. +Also I saw something else, namely, Bes, wondrously attired with the gold chain +about his neck and wearing a red headdress. He was seated on the carpet before +the throne, and saying things that made the King laugh and even caused the +grave officers behind to smile. +</p> + +<p> +I came to the dais and at a little sign from Bes who yet did not seem to see +me, such a sign as he often made when he caught sight of game before I did, I +prostrated myself. The King looked at me, then asked, +</p> + +<p> +“Who is this?” adding, “Oh, I remember, the Egyptian whose +arrows do not miss, the wonderful hunter whom Idernes sent to me from Memphis, +which I hope to visit ere long. We quarrelled, did we not, Egyptian, something +about a lion?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so, King,” I answered. “The King was angry and with +justice, because I could not kill a lion before it frightened his +horses.” +</p> + +<p> +This I said because my hours in the boat had made me humble, also because the +words came to my lips. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, something like that, or at least you lie well. Whatever it may +have been, it is done with now, a mere hunters’ difference,” and +taking from his side his long sceptre that was headed with the great emerald, +he stretched it out for me to touch in token of pardon. +</p> + +<p> +Then I knew that I was safe for he to whom the King has extended his sceptre is +forgiven all crimes, yes, even if he had attempted the royal life. The Court +knew it also, for every man who saw bowed towards me, yes, even the officers +behind the King. One of the cup-bearers too brought me a goblet of the +King’s own wine, which I drank thankfully, calling down health on the +King. +</p> + +<p> +“That was a wonderful shot of yours, Egyptian,” he said, +“when you sent an arrow through the lioness that dared to attack my +Majesty. Yes, the King owes his life to you and he is grateful as you shall +learn. This slave of yours,” and he pointed to Bes in his gaudy attire, +“has brought the whole matter to my mind whence it had fallen, and, +Shabaka,” here he hiccupped, “you may have noted how differently +things look to the naked eye and when seen through a wine goblet. He has told +me a wonderful story—what was the story, Dwarf?” +</p> + +<p> +“May it please the great King,” answered Bes, rolling his big eyes, +“only a little tale of another king of my own country whom I used to +think great until I came to the East and learned what kings could be. That king +had a servant with whom he used to hunt, indeed he was my own father. One day +they were out together seeking a certain elephant whose tusks were bigger than +those of any other. Then the elephant charged the king and my father, at the +risk of his life, killed it and claimed the tusks, as is the custom among the +Ethiopians. But the king who greatly desired those tusks, caused my father to +be poisoned that he might take them as his heir. Only before he died, my +father, who could talk the elephant language, told all the other elephants of +this wickedness, at which they were very angry, because they knew well that +from the beginning of time their tusks have belonged to him who killed them, +and the elephants are a people who do not like ancient laws to be altered. So +the elephants made a league together and when the king next went out hunting, +taking heed of nothing else they rushed at the king and tore him into pieces no +bigger than a finger, and then killed the prince his son, who was behind him. +That is the tale of the elephants who love Law, O King.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” said his Majesty, waking up from a little doze, +“but what became of the great tusks? I should like to have them.” +</p> + +<p> +“I inherited them as my father’s son, O King, and gave them to my +master, who doubtless will send them to you when he gets back to Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“A strange tale,” said the King. “A very strange tale which +seems to remind me of something that happened not long ago. What was it? Well, +it does not matter. Egyptian, do you seek any reward for that shot of yours at +the lioness? If so, it shall be given to you. Have you a grudge against anyone, +for instance?” +</p> + +<p> +“O King,” I answered, “I do seek justice against a certain +man. This evening I was led to the bank of the river in charge of the eunuch +Houman, who desired to take me for a row in a boat. On the road, for no offence +he struck me on the head with the handle of his fly-whip. See, here are the +marks of it, O King. Unless the King commanded him to strike me which I do not +remember, I seek justice against this eunuch.” +</p> + +<p> +Now the King grew very angry and cried, +</p> + +<p> +“What! Did the dog dare to strike a freeborn noble Egyptian?” +</p> + +<p> +Here Houman threw himself upon his face in terror and began to babble out I +know not what about the punishment of the boat, which was unlucky for him, for +it put the matter into the King’s mind. +</p> + +<p> +“The boat!” he cried. “Ah! yes, the boat; being so fat you +will fit it well, Eunuch. To the boat with him, and before he enters it a +hundred blows upon the feet with the rods,” and he pointed at him with +his sceptre. +</p> + +<p> +Then guards sprang upon Houman and dragged him away. As he went he clutched at +Bes, but hissing something into his ear, the dwarf bit him through the hand +till he let go. So Houman departed and the King’s guests laughed at the +sight, for he had worked mischief to many. +</p> + +<p> +When he had gone the King stared at me and asked, +</p> + +<p> +“But why did I disturb you from your sleep, Egyptian? Oh! I remember. +This dwarf says that he has seen the fairest woman in the whole world, and the +most learned, some lady of Egypt, but that he does not know her name, that you +alone know her name. I disturbed you that you might tell it to me but if you +have forgotten it, you can go back to your bed and rest there till it returns +to you. There are plenty of boats in the river, Egyptian.” +</p> + +<p> +“The fairest and most learned woman in the world?” I said +astonished. “Who can that be, unless he means the lady Amada?” and +I paused, wishing I had bitten out my tongue before I spoke, for I smelt a +trap. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Master,” said Bes in a clear voice. “That was the name, +the lady Amada.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who is this lady Amada?” asked the King, seeming to grow suddenly +sober. “And what is she like?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can tell you that, O King,” said Bes. “She is like a +willow shaken in the wind for slenderness and grace. She has eyes like those of +a buck at gaze; she has lips like rosebuds; she has hair black as the night and +soft as silk, the odour of which floats round her like that of flowers. She has +a voice that whispers like the evening wind, and yet is rich as honey. Oh! she +is beautiful as a goddess and when men see her their hearts melt like wax in +the sun and for a long while they can look upon no other woman, not till the +next day indeed if they meet her in the evening,” and Bes smacked his +thick lips and gazed upwards. +</p> + +<p> +“By the holy Fire,” laughed the King, “I feel my heart +melting already. Say, Shabaka, what do you know of this Amada? Is she married +or a maiden?” +</p> + +<p> +Now I answered because I must, for after all that boat was not far away, nor +did I dare to lie. +</p> + +<p> +“She is married, O King of kings, to the goddess Isis whom she loves +alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“A woman married to a woman, or rather to the Queen of women,” he +answered laughing, “well, that matters little.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, O King, it matters much since she is under the protection of Isis +and inviolate.” +</p> + +<p> +“That remains to be seen, Shabaka. I think that I would dare the wrath of +every false goddess in heaven to win such a prize. Learned also, you say, +Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +“Aye, O King, full of learning to the finger tips, a prophetess also, one +in whom the divine fire burns like a lamp in a vase of alabaster, one to whom +visions come and who can read the future and the past.” +</p> + +<p> +“Still better,” said the King. “One, then, who would be a +fitting consort for the King of kings, who wearies of fat, round-eyed, +sweetmeat-sucking fools whereof there are hundreds yonder,” and he +pointed towards the House of Women. “Who is this maid’s +father?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is dead but she is the niece of the Prince Peroa, and by birth the +Royal Lady of Egypt, O King.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good, then she is well born also. Hearken, O Shabaka, to-morrow you +start back to Egypt, bearing letters from me to my vassal Peroa, and to my +Satrap Idernes, bidding Peroa to hand over this lady Amada to Idernes and +bidding Idernes to send her to the East with all honour and without delay, that +she may enter my household as one of my wives.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I was filled with rage and horror, and about to refuse this mission when +Bes broke in swiftly, +</p> + +<p> +“Will the King of kings be pleased to give command as to my +master’s safe and honourable escort to Egypt?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is commanded with all things necessary for Shabaka the Egyptian and +the dwarf his servant, with the gold and gems and slaves he won from me in a +wager, and everything else that is his. Let it be recorded.” +</p> + +<p> +Scribes sprang forward and wrote the King’s words down, while like one in +a dream I thought to myself that they could not now be altered. The King +watched them sleepily for a while, then seemed to wake up and grow clear-minded +again. At least he said to me, +</p> + +<p> +“Fortune has shown you smiles and frowns to-day, Egyptian, and the smiles +last. Yet remember that she has teeth behind her lips wherewith to tear out the +throat of the faithless. Man, if you play me false or fail in your mission, be +sure that you shall die and in such a fashion that will make you think of +yonder boat as a pleasant bed, and with you this woman Amada and her uncle +Peroa, and all your kin and hers; yes,” he added with a burst of +shrewdness, “and even that abortion of a dwarf to whom I have listened +because he amused me, but who perhaps is more cunning than he seems.” +</p> + +<p> +“O King of kings,” I said, “I will not be false.” But I +did not add to whom I would be true. +</p> + +<p> +“Good. Ere long I shall visit Egypt, as I have told you, and there I +shall pass judgment on you and others. Till then, farewell. Fear nothing, for +you have my safe-conduct. Begone, both of you, for you weary me. But first +drink and keep the cup, and in exchange, give me that bow of yours which shoots +so far and straight.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is the King’s,” I answered as I pledged him in the +golden, jewelled cup which a butler had handed to me. +</p> + +<p> +Then the curtain fell in front of the throne and chamberlains came forward to +lead me and Bes back to our lodging, one of whom took the cup and bore it in +front of us. Down the hall we went between the feasting nobles who all bowed to +one to whom the Great King had shown favour, and so out of the palace through +the quiet night back to the house where I had dwelt while waiting audience of +the King. Here the chamberlains bade me farewell, giving the cup to Bes to +carry, and saying that on the morrow early my gold should be brought to me +together with all that was needed for my journey, also one who would receive +the bow I had promised to the King, which had already been returned to my +lodgings with everything that was ours. Then they bowed and went. +</p> + +<p> +We entered the house, climbing a stair to an upper chamber. Here Bes barred the +door and the shutters, making sure that none could see or hear us. +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned, threw his arms about me, kissed my hand and burst into tears. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br />BES STEALS THE SIGNET</h2> + +<p> +“Oh! my Master,” gulped Bes, “I weep because I am tired, so +take no notice. The day was long and during it twice at least there has been +but the twinkling of an eyelid, but the thickness of a finger nail, but the +weight of a hair between you and death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said, “and you were the eyelid, the finger nail and +the hair.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Master, not I, but something beyond me. The tool carves the statue +and the hand holds the tool but the spirit guides the hand. Not once only since +the sun rose has my mind been empty as a drum. Then something struck on it, +perhaps the holy Tanofir, perhaps another, and it knew what note to sound. So +it was when I cursed you in the boat. So it was when I walked back with the +eunuch, meaning to kill him on the road, and then remembered that the death of +one vile eunuch would not help you at all, whereas alive he could bring me to +the presence of the King, if I paid him, as I did out of the gold in your purse +which I carried. Moreover he earned his hire, for when the King grew dull, wine +not yet having taken a hold on him, it was he who brought me to his mind as one +who might amuse him, being so ugly and different from others, if only for a few +minutes, after the women dancers had failed to do so.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what happened then, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I was fetched and did my juggling tricks with that snake I caught +and tamed, which is in my pouch now. You should not hate it any more, Master, +for it played your game well. After this the King began to talk to me and I saw +that his mind was ill at ease about you whom he knew that he had wronged. So I +told him that story of an elephant that my father killed to save a +king—it grew up in my mind like a toadstool in the night, Master, did +this story of an ungrateful king and what befell him. Then the King became +still more unquiet in his heart about you and asked the eunuch, Houman, where +you were, to which he answered that by his order you were sleeping in a boat +and might not be disturbed. So that arrow of mine missed its mark because the +King did not like to eat his own words and cause you to be brought from out the +boat, whither he had sent you. Now when everything seemed lost, some god, or +perhaps the holy Tanofir who is ever present with me to see that I have not +forgotten him, put it into the King’s mouth to begin to talk about women +and to ask me if I had ever seen any fairer than those dancers whom I met going +out as I came in. I answered that I had not noticed them much because they were +so ugly, as indeed all women had seemed to me since once upon the banks of Nile +I had looked upon one who was as Hathor herself for beauty. The King asked me +who this might be and I answered that I did not know since I had never dared to +ask the name of one whom even my master held to be as a goddess, although as +boy and girl they had been brought up together. +</p> + +<p> +“Then the King saw his opportunity to ease his conscience and inquired of +an old councillor if there were not a law which gave the king power to alter +his decree if thereby he could satisfy his soul and acquire knowledge. The +councillor answered that there was such a law and began to give examples of its +working, till the King cut him short and said that by virtue of it he commanded +that you should be brought out of your bed in the boat and led before him to +answer a question. +</p> + +<p> +“So you were sent for, Master, but I did not go with the messengers, +fearing lest if I did the King would forget all about the matter before you +came. Therefore I stayed and amused him with tales of hunting, till I could not +think of any more, for you were long in coming. Indeed I began to fear lest he +should declare the feast at an end. But at the last, just as he was yawning and +spoke to one of his councillors, bidding him send to the House of Women that +they might make ready to receive him there, you came, and the rest you +know.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I looked at Bes and said, +</p> + +<p> +“May the blessing of all the gods of all the lands be on your head, since +had it not been for you I should now lie in torment in that boat. Hearken, +friend: If ever we reach Egypt again, you will set foot on it, not as a slave +but as a free man. You will be rich also, Bes, that is, if we can take the gold +I won with us, since half of it is yours.” +</p> + +<p> +Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange smile on +his ugly face. +</p> + +<p> +“You have given me three things, Master,” he said. “Gold, +which I do not want at present; freedom, which I do not want at present and +mayhap, never shall while you live and love me; and the title of friend. This I +do want, though why I should care to hear it from your lips I am not sure, +seeing that for a long while I have known that it was spoken in your heart. +Since you have said it, however, I will tell you something which hitherto I +have hid even from you. I have a right to that name, for if your blood is high, +O Shabaka, so is mine. Know that this poor dwarf whom you took captive and +saved long years ago was more than the petty chief which he declared himself to +be. He was and is by right the King of the Ethiopians and that throne with all +its wealth and power he could claim to-morrow if he would.” +</p> + +<p> +“The King of the Ethiopians!” I said. “Oh! friend Bes, I pray +you to remember that we no longer stand in yonder court lying for our +lives.” +</p> + +<p> +“I speak no lie, O Shabaka, I before you am King of the Ethiopians. +Moreover, I laid that kingship down of my own will and should I so desire, can +take it up again when I will, since the Ethiopians are faithful to their +kings.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” I asked, astonished. +</p> + +<p> +“Master, for so I will still call you who am not yet upon the land of +Egypt where you have promised me freedom, do you remember anything strange +about the people of that tribe from among whom you and the Egyptian soldiers +captured me by surprise, because they wished to drive you and your following +from their country?” +</p> + +<p> +Now I thought and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, one thing. I saw no women in their camp, nor any sign of children. +This I know because I gave orders that such were to be spared and it was +reported to me that there were none, so I supposed that they had fled +away.” +</p> + +<p> +“There were none to fly, Master. That tribe was a brotherhood which had +abjured women. Look on me now. I am misshapen, hideous, am I not? Born thus, it +is said, because before my birth my mother was frightened by a dwarf. Yet the +law of the Ethiopians is that their kings must marry within a year of their +crowning. Therefore I chose a woman to be the queen whom I had long desired in +secret. She scorned me, vowing that not for all the thrones of all the world +would she be mated to a monster, and that if it were done by force she would +kill herself, a saying that went abroad throughout the land. I said that she +had spoken well and sent her in safety from the country, after which I too laid +down my crown and departed with some who loved me, to form a brotherhood of +women-haters further down the Nile, beyond the borders of Ethiopia. There the +Egyptian force of which you were in command, attacked us unprepared, and you +made me your slave. That is all.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why did you do this, Bes, seeing that maidens are many and all would +not have thought thus?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because I wished for that one only, Master; also I feared lest I should +become the father of a breed of twisted dwarfs. So I who was a king am now a +slave, and yet, who knows which way the Grasshopper will jump? One day from a +slave I may again grow into a king. And now let us seek that wherein kings are +as slaves and slaves as kings—sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +So we lay down and slept, I thanking the gods that my bed was not yonder in the +boat upon the great river. +</p> + +<p> +When I woke refreshed, though after all I had gone through on the yesterday my +brain still swam a little, the light was pouring through the carved work of the +shuttered windows. By it I saw Bes seated on the floor engaged in doing +something to his bow, which, as I have said, had been restored to us with our +other weapons, and asked him sleepily what it was. +</p> + +<p> +“Master,” he said, “yonder King demanded your bow and +therefore a bow must be sent to him. But there is no need for it to be that +with which you shot the lions, which, too, you value above anything you have, +seeing that it came down to you from your forefather who was a Pharaoh of +Egypt, and has been your companion from boyhood ever since you were strong +enough to draw it. As you may remember I copied that bow out of a somewhat +lighter wood, which I could bend with ease, and it is the copy that we will +give to the King. Only first I must set your string upon it, for that may have +been noted; also make one or two marks that are on your bow which I am +finishing now, having begun the task with the dawn.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are clever,” I said laughing, “and I am glad. The holy +Tanofir, looking on my bow, once had a vision. It was that an arrow loosed from +it would drink the blood of a great king and save Egypt. But what king and +when, he did not see.” +</p> + +<p> +The dwarf nodded and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“I have heard that tale and so have others. Therefore I play this trick +since it is better that yonder palace dweller should get the arrow than the +bow. There, it is finished to the last scratch, and none, save you and I, would +know them apart. Till we are clear of this cursed land your bow is mine, +Master, and you must find you another of the Eastern make.” +</p> + +<p> +“Master,” I repeated after him. “Say, Bes, did I dream or did +you in truth tell me last night that you are by birth and right the king of a +great country?” +</p> + +<p> +“I told you that, Master and it is true, no dream, since joy and +suffering mixed unseal the lips and from them comes that at times which the +heart would hide. Now I ask a favour of you, that you will speak no more of +this matter either to me or to any other, man or woman, unless I should speak +of it first. Let it be as though it were indeed a dream.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is granted,” I said as I rose and clothed myself, not in my own +garments which had been taken from me in the palace, but in the splendid silken +robes that had been set upon me after I was loosed from the boat. When this was +done and I had washed and combed my long, curling hair, we descended to a lower +chamber and called for the woman of the house to bring us food, of which I ate +heartily. As we finished our meal we heard shouts in the street outside of, +“Make way for the servants of the King!” and looking through the +window-place, saw a great cavalcade approaching, headed by two princes on +horseback. +</p> + +<p> +“Now I pray that yonder Tyrant has not changed his mind and that these do +not come to take me back to the boat,” I said in a low voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Have no fear, Master,” answered Bes, “seeing that you have +touched his sceptre and drunk from his cup which he gave to you. After these +things no harm can happen to you in any land he rules. Therefore be at ease and +deal with these fellows proudly.” +</p> + +<p> +A minute later two princes entered followed by slaves who bore many things, +among them those hide bags filled with gold that had been set beneath me in the +boat. The elder of them bowed, greeting me with the title of +“Lord,” and I bowed back to him. Then he handed me certain rolls +tied up with silk and sealed, which he said I was to deliver as the King had +commanded to the King’s Satrap in Egypt, and to the Prince Peroa. Also he +gave me other letters addressed to the King’s servants on the road and +written on tablets of clay in a writing I could not read, with all of which I +touched my forehead in the Eastern fashion. +</p> + +<p> +After this he told me that by noon all would be ready for my journey which I +should make with the rank of the King’s Envoy, duly provisioned and +escorted by his servants, with liberty to use the royal horses from post to +post. Then he ordered the slaves to bring in the gifts which the King sent to +me, and these were many, including even suits of flexible armour that would +turn any sword-thrust or arrow. +</p> + +<p> +I thanked him, saying that I would be ready to start by noon, and asked whether +the King wished to see me before I rode. He replied that he had so wished, but +that as he was suffering in his head from the effects of the sun, he could not. +He bade me, however, remember all that he had said to me and to be sure that +the beauteous lady Amada, of whom I had spoken, was sent to him without delay. +In that case my reward should be great; but if I failed to fulfil his commands, +then his wrath would be greater and I should perish miserably as he had +promised. +</p> + +<p> +I bowed and made no answer, after which he and his companions opened the bags +of gold to show me that it was there, offering to weigh it again against my +servant, the dwarf, so that I could see that nothing had been taken away. +</p> + +<p> +I replied that the King’s word was truer than any scale, whereon the bags +were tied up again and sealed. Then I produced the bow, or rather its +counterfeit, and having shown it to the princes, wrapped it and six of my own +arrows in a linen cloth, to be taken to the King, with a message that though +hard to draw it was the deadliest weapon in the world. The elder of them took +it, bowed and bade me farewell, saying that perhaps we should meet again ere +long in Egypt, if my gods gave me a safe journey. So we parted and I was glad +to see the last of them. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely had they gone when the six hunters whom I had won in the wager and +thereby saved from death, entered the chamber and fell upon their knees before +me, asking for orders as to making ready my gear for the journey. I inquired of +them if they were coming also, to which their spokesman replied that they were +my slaves to do what I commanded. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you desire to come?” I inquired. +</p> + +<p> +“O Lord Shabaka,” answered their spokesman, “we do, though +some of us must leave wives and children behind us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“For two reasons, Lord. Here we are men disgraced, though through no +fault of our own and if you were to leave us in this land, soon the anger of +the King would find us out and we should lose not only our wives and children, +but with them our lives. Whereas in another land we may get other wives and +more children, but never shall we get another life. Therefore we would leave +those dear ones to our friends, knowing that soon the women will forget and +find other husbands, and that the children will grow up to whatever fate is +appointed them, thinking of us, their fathers, as dead. Secondly we are hunters +by trade, and we have seen that you are a great hunter, one whom we shall +always be proud to serve in the chase or in war, one, too, who went out of his +path to save our lives, because he saw that we had been unjustly doomed to a +cruel death. Therefore we desire nothing better than to be your slaves, hoping +that perchance we may earn our liberty from you in days to come by our good +service.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that the wish of all of you?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +Speaking one by one, they said that it was, though tears rose in the eyes of +some of them who were married at the thought of parting from their women and +their little ones, who, it seemed might not be brought with them because they +were the people of the King and had not been named in the bet. Moreover, horses +could not be found for so many, nor could they travel fast. +</p> + +<p> +“Come then,” I said, “and know that while you are faithful to +me, I will be good to you, men of my own trade, and perhaps in the end set you +free in a land where brave fellows are not given to be torn to pieces by wild +beasts at the word of any king. But if you fail me or betray me, then either I +will kill you, or sell you to those who deal in slaves, to work at the oar, or +in the mines till you die.” +</p> + +<p> +“Henceforth we have no lord but you, O Shabaka,” they said, and one +after another took my hand and pressed it to their foreheads, vowing to be true +to me in all things while we lived. +</p> + +<p> +So I bade them begone to bid farewell to those they loved and return again +within half an hour of noon, never expecting, to tell the truth, that they +would come. Indeed I did this to give them the opportunity of escaping if they +saw fit, and hiding themselves where they would. But as I have often noted, the +trade of hunting breeds honesty in the blood and at the hour appointed all of +these men appeared, one of them with a woman who carried a child in her arms, +clinging to him and weeping bitterly. When her veil slipped aside I saw that +she was young and very fair to look on. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +So at noon we left the city of the Great King in the charge of two of his +officers who brought me his thanks for the bow I had sent him, which he said he +should treasure above everything he possessed, a saying at which Bes rolled his +yellow eyes and grinned. We were mounted on splendid stallions from the royal +stables and clad in the shirts of mail that had been presented to us, though +when we were clear of the city we took these off because of the heat, also +because that which Bes wore chafed him, being too long for his squat shape. Our +goods together with the bags of gold were laden on sumpter horses which were +led by my six hunter slaves. Four picked soldiers brought up the rear, mighty +men from the King’s own bodyguard, and two of the royal postmen who +served us as guides. Also there were cooks and grooms with spare horses. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we started in state and a great crowd watched us go. Our road ran by the +river which we must cross in barges lower down, so that in a few minutes we +came to that quay whither I had been led on the previous night to die. Yes, +there were the watching guards, and there floated the hateful double boat, at +the prow of which appeared the tortured face of the eunuch Houman, who rolled +his head from side to side to rid himself of the torment of the flies. He +caught sight of us and began to scream for pity and forgiveness, whereat Bes +smiled. The officers halted our cavalcade and one of them approaching me said, +</p> + +<p> +“It is the King’s command, O Lord Shabaka, that you should look +upon this villain who traduced you to the King and afterwards dared to strike +you. If you will, enter the water and blind him, that your face may be the last +thing he sees before he passes into darkness.” +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head, but Bes into whose mind some thought had come, whispered to +me, +</p> + +<p> +“I wish to speak with yonder eunuch, so give me leave and fear nothing. I +will do him no hurt, only good, if I find the chance.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I said to the officer, +</p> + +<p> +“It is not for great lords to avenge themselves upon the fallen. Yet my +slave here was also wronged and would say a word to yonder Houman.” +</p> + +<p> +“So be it,” said the officer, “only let him be careful not to +hurt him too sorely, lest he should die before the time and escape his +punishment.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Bes tucked up his robes and waded into the river, flourishing a great +knife, while seeing him come, Houman began to scream with fear. He reached the +boat and bent over the eunuch, talking to him in a low voice. What he did there +I could not see because his cloak was spread out on either side of the +man’s head. Presently, however, I caught sight of the flash of a knife +and heard yells of agony followed by groans, whereat I called to him to return +and let the fellow be. For when I remembered that his fate was near to being my +own, those sounds made me sick at heart and I grew angry with Bes, though the +cruel Easterns only laughed. +</p> + +<p> +At length he came back grinning and washing the blade of his knife in the +water. I spoke fiercely to him in my own language, and still he grinned on, +making no answer. When we were mounted again and riding away from that horrible +boat with its groaning prisoner, watching Bes whose behaviour and silence I +could not understand, I saw him sweep his hand across his great mouth and +thrust it swiftly into his bosom. After this he spoke readily enough, though in +a low voice lest someone who understood Egyptian should overhear him. +</p> + +<p> +“You are a fool, Master,” he said, “to think that I should +wish to waste time in torturing that fat knave.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then why did you torture him?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Because my god, the Grasshopper, when he fashioned me a dwarf, gave me a +big mouth and good teeth,” he answered, whereon I stared at him, thinking +that he had gone mad. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, Master. I did not hurt Houman. All I did was to cut his cords +nearly through from the under side, so that when night comes he can break them +and escape, if he has the wit. Now, Master, you may not have noticed, but I +did, that before the King doomed you to death by the boat yesterday, he took a +certain round, white seal, a cylinder with gods and signs cut on it, which hung +by a gold chain from his girdle, and gave it to Houman to be his warrant for +all he did. This seal Houman showed to the Treasurer whereon they produced the +gold that was weighed in the scales against me, and to others when he ordered +the boat to be prepared for you to lie in. Moreover he forgot to return it, for +when he himself was dragged off to the boat by direct command of the King, I +caught sight of the chain beneath his robe. Can you guess the rest?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not quite,” I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own +words. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Master, when I was walking with Houman after he had put you in the +boat, I asked him about this seal. He showed it to me and said that he who bore +it was for the time the king of all the Empire of the East. It seems that there +is but one such seal which has descended from ancient days from king to king, +and that of it every officer, great or small, has an impress in all lands. If +the seal is produced to him, he compares it with the impress and should the two +agree, he obeys the order that is brought as though the King had given it in +person. When we reached the Court doubtless Houman would have returned the +seal, but seeing that the King was, or feigned to be drunk, waited for fear +lest it should be lost, and with it his life. Then he was seized as you saw, +and in his terror forgot all about the seal, as did the King and his +officers.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, surely, Bes, those who took Houman to the boat would have removed +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Master, even the most clear-sighted do not see well at night. At any +rate my hope was that they had not done so, and that is why I waded out to +prick the eyes of Houman. Moreover, as I had hoped, so it was; there beneath +his robe I saw the chain. Then I spoke to him, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“‘I am come to put out your eyes, as you deserve, seeing how you +have treated my master. Still I will spare you at a price. Give me the +King’s ancient white seal that opens all doors, and I will only make a +pretence of blinding you. Moreover I will cut your cords nearly through, so +that when the night comes you can break them, roll into the river and +escape.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Take it if you can,’ he said, ‘and use it to injure +or destroy that accursed one.’” +</p> + +<p> +“So you took it, Bes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Master, but not easily. Remember, it was on a chain about the +man’s neck, and I could not draw it over his head, for, like his hands, +his throat was tied by a cord, as you remember yours was.” +</p> + +<p> +“I remember very well,” I said, “for my throat is still sore +from the rope that ran to the same staples to which my hands were +fastened.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Master, and therefore if I drew the chain off his neck, it would +still have been on the ropes. I thought of trying to cut it with the knife, but +this was not easy because it is thick, and if I had dragged it up on the blade +of the knife it would have been seen, for many eyes were watching me, Master. +Then I took another counsel. While I pretended to be putting out the eyes of +Houman, I bent down and getting the chain between my teeth I bit it through. +One tooth broke—see, but the next finished the business. I ate through +the soft gold, Master, and then sucked up the chain and the round white seal +into my mouth, and that is why I could not answer you just now, because my +cheeks were full of chain. So we have the King’s seal that all the +subject countries know and obey. It may be useful, yonder in Egypt, and at +least the gold is of value.” +</p> + +<p> +“Clever!” I exclaimed, “very clever. But you have forgotten +something, Bes. When that knave escapes, he will tell the whole story and the +King will send after us and kill us who have stolen his royal seal.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think so, Master. First, it is not likely that Houman will +escape. He is very fat and soft and already suffers much. After a day in the +sun also he will be weak. Moreover I do not think that he can swim, for eunuchs +hate the water. So if he gets out of the boat it is probable that he will drown +in the river, since he dare not wade to the quay where the guards will be +waiting. But if he does escape by swimming across the river, he will hide for +his life’s sake and never be seen again, and if by chance he is caught, +he will say that the seal fell into the water when he was taken to the boat, or +that one of the guards had stolen it. What he will not say is that he had +bargained it away with someone who in return, cut his cords, since for that +crime he must die by worse tortures than those of the boat. Lastly we shall +ride so fast that with six hours’ start none will catch us. Or if they do +I can throw away the chain and swallow the seal.” +</p> + +<p> +As Bes said, so it happened. The fate of Houman I never learned, and of the +theft of the seal I heard no more until a proclamation was issued to all the +kingdoms that a new one was in use. But this was not until long afterwards when +it had served my turn and that of Egypt. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br />THE LADY AMADA</h2> + +<p> +Now day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute every detail of that journey +appeared before me, but to set it all down is needless. As I, Allan Quatermain, +write the record of my vision, still I seem to hear the thunder of our +horses’ hoofs while we rushed forward at full gallop over the plains, +over the mountain passes and by the banks of rivers. The speed at which we +travelled was wonderful, for at intervals of about forty miles were post-houses +and at these, whatever might be the hour of day or night, we found fresh horses +from the King’s stud awaiting us. Moreover, the postmasters knew that we +were coming, which astonished me until we discovered that they had been warned +of our arrival by two King’s messengers who travelled ahead of us. +</p> + +<p> +These men, it would seem, although our officers and guides professed ignorance +of the matter, must have left the King’s palace at dawn on the day of our +departure, whereas we did not mount in the city till a little after noon. +Therefore they had six hours good start of us, and what is more, travelled +lighter than we did, having no sumpter beasts with them, and no cooks or +servants. Moreover, always they had the pick of the horses and chose the three +swiftest beasts, leading the third in case one of their own should founder or +meet with accident. Thus it came about that we never caught them up although we +covered quite a hundred miles a day. Only once did I see them, far off upon the +skyline of a mountain range which we had to climb, but by the time we had +reached its crest they were gone. +</p> + +<p> +At length we came to the desert without accident and crossed it, though more +slowly. But even here the King had his posts which were in charge of Arabs who +lived in tents by wells of water, or sometimes where there was none save what +was brought to them. So still we galloped on, parched by the burning sand +beneath and the burning sand above, and reached the borders of Egypt. +</p> + +<p> +Here, upon the very boundary line, the two officers halted the cavalcade saying +that their orders were to return thence and make report to the King. There then +we parted, Bes and I with the six hunters who still chose to cling to me, going +forward and the officers of the King with the guides and servants going back. +The good horses that we rode from the last post they gave to us by the +King’s command, together with the sumpter beasts, since horses broken to +the saddle were hard to come by in Egypt where they were trained to draw +chariots. These we took, sending back my thanks to the King, and started on +once more, Bes leading that beast which bore the gold and the hunters serving +as a guard. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed I was glad to see the last of those Easterns although they had brought +us safely and treated us well, for all the while I was never sure but that they +had some orders to lead us into a trap, or perhaps to make away with us in our +sleep and take back the gold and the priceless, rose-hued pearls, any two of +which were worth it all. But such was not their command nor did they dare to +steal them on their own account, since then, even if they escaped the vengeance +of the King, their wives and all their families would have paid the price. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Now we entered Egypt near the Salt Lakes that are not far from the head of the +Gulf, crossing the canal that the old Pharaohs had dug, which proved easy for +it was silted up. Before we reached it we found some peasant folk labouring in +their gardens and I heard one of them call to another, +</p> + +<p> +“Here come more of the Easterns. What is toward, think you, +neighbour?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know,” answered the other, “but when I passed down +the canal this morning, I saw a body of the Great King’s guards gathering +from the fort. Doubtless it is to meet these men of whose coming the other two +who went by fifty hours ago, have warned the officers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now what does that mean?” I asked of Bes. +</p> + +<p> +“Neither more nor less than we have heard, Master. The two King’s +messengers who have gone ahead of us all the way from the city, have told the +officer of the frontier fort that we are coming, so he has advanced to the ford +to meet us, for what purpose I do not know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor do I,” I said, “but I wish we could take another road, +if there were one.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is none, Master, for above and below the canal is full of water +and the banks are too steep for horses to climb. Also we must show no doubt or +fear.” +</p> + +<p> +He thought a while, then added, +</p> + +<p> +“Take the royal seal, Master. It may be useful.” +</p> + +<p> +He gave it to me, and I examined it more closely than I had done before. It was +a cylinder of plain white shell hung on a gold chain, that which Bes had bitten +through, but now mended again by taking out the broken link. On this cylinder +were cut figures; as I think of a priest presenting a noble to a god, over whom +was the crescent of the moon, while behind the god stood a man or demon with a +tall spear. Also between the figures were mystic signs, meaning I know not +what. The workmanship of the carving was grown shallow with time and use for +the cylinder seemed to be very ancient, a sacred thing that had descended from +generation to generation and was threaded through with a bar of silver on which +it turned. +</p> + +<p> +I put the seal which was like no other that I had seen, being the work of an +early and simpler age, round my neck beneath my mail and we went on. +</p> + +<p> +Descending the steep bank of the canal we came to the ford where the sand that +had silted in was covered by not more than a foot of water. As we entered it, +on the top of the further bank appeared a body of about thirty armed and +mounted men, one of whom carried the Great King’s banner, on which I +noted was blazoned the very figures that were cut upon the cylinder. Now it was +too late to retreat, so we rode through the water and met the soldiers. Their +officer advanced, crying, +</p> + +<p> +“In the name of the Great King, greeting, my lord Shabaka! +</p> + +<p> +“In the name of the Great King, greeting!” I answered. “What +would you with Shabaka, Officer of the King?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only to do him honour. The word of the King has reached us and we come +to escort you to the Court of Idernes, the Satrap of the King and Governor of +Egypt who sits at Sais.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is not my road, Officer. I travel to Memphis to deliver the +commands of the King to my cousin, Peroa, the ruler of Egypt under the King. +Afterwards, perchance, I shall visit the high Idernes.” +</p> + +<p> +“To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not +afterwards,” said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed +escort. +</p> + +<p> +“I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the +King.” +</p> + +<p> +“Seize Shabaka and his servants,” said the officer briefly, whereon +the soldiers rode forward to surround us. +</p> + +<p> +I waited till they were near at hand. Then suddenly I plunged my hand beneath +my robe and drew out the small, white seal which I held before the eyes of the +officer, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“Who is it that dares to lay a finger upon the holder of the King’s +White Seal? Surely that man is ready for death.” +</p> + +<p> +The officer stared at it, then leapt from his horse and flung himself face +downwards on the ground, crying, +</p> + +<p> +“It is the ancient signet of the Kings of the East, given to their first +forefather by Samas the Sungod, on which hangs the fortunes of the Great House! +Pardon, my lord Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is granted,” I answered, “because what you did you did in +ignorance. Now go to the Satrap Idernes and say to him that if he would have +speech with the bearer of the King’s seal which all must obey, he will +find him at Memphis. Farewell,” and with Bes and the six hunters I rode +through the guards, none striving to hinder me. +</p> + +<p> +“That was well done, Master,” said Bes. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said. “Those two messengers who went ahead of us +brought orders to the frontier guard of Idernes that I should be taken to him +as a prisoner. I do not know why, but I think because things are passing in +Egypt of which we know nothing and the King did not desire that I should see +the Prince Peroa and give him news that I might have gathered. Mayhap we have +been outwitted, Bes, and the business of the lady Amada is but a pretext to +pick a quarrel suddenly before Peroa can strike the first blow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, Master, for these Easterns are very crafty. But, Master, what +happens to those who make a false use of the King’s ancient, sacred +signet? I think they have cut the ropes which tie them to earth,” and he +looked upwards to the sky rolling his yellow eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“They must find new ropes, Bes, and quickly, before they are caught. +Hearken. You have sat upon a throne and I can speak out to you. Think you that +my cousin, the Prince Peroa, loves to be the servant of this distant, Eastern +king, he who by right is Pharaoh of Egypt? Peroa must strike or lose his niece +and perchance his life. Forward, that we may warn him.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if he will not strike, Master, knowing the King’s might and +being somewhat slow to move?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, Bes, I think that you and I had best go hunting far away in those +lands you know, where even the Great King cannot follow us.” +</p> + +<p> +“And where, if only I can find a woman who does not make me ill to look +on, and whom I do not make ill, I too can once more be a king, Master, and the +lord of many thousand brave armed men. I must speak of that matter to the holy +Tanofir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who doubtless will know what to advise you, Bes; or, if he does not, I +shall.” +</p> + +<p> +For a while we rode on in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. Then Bes +said, +</p> + +<p> +“Master, before so very long we shall reach the Nile, and having with us +gold in plenty can buy boats and hire crews. It comes into my mind that we +should do well for our own safety and comfort to start at once on a hunting +journey far from Egypt; in the land of the Ethiopians, Master. There perchance +I could gather together some of the wise men in whose hands I left the rule of +my kingdom, and submit to them this question of a woman to marry me. The +Ethiopians are a faithful people, Master, and will not reject me because I have +spent some years seeing the world afar, that I might learn how to rule them +better.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have remembered that it cannot be, Bes,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Why not, Master?” +</p> + +<p> +“For this reason. You left your country because of a woman? I cannot +leave mine again because of a woman.” +</p> + +<p> +Bes rolled his eyes around as though he thought to see that woman in the +desert. Not discovering her, he stared upwards and there found light. +</p> + +<p> +“Is she perchance named the lady Amada, Master?” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“So. The lady Amada who you told the Great King is the most beautiful one +in the whole world, causing the fire of Love to burn up in his royal heart, and +with it many other things of which we do not know at present.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>You</i> told him, Bes,” I said angrily. +</p> + +<p> +“I told him of a beautiful one; I did not tell him her name, Master, and +although I never thought of it at the time, perhaps she will be angry with him +who told her name.” +</p> + +<p> +Now fear took hold of me, and Bes saw it in my face. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not be afraid, Master. If there is trouble I will swear that I told +the Great King that lady’s name.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Bes, but how would that fit in with the story, seeing that I was +brought out of the boat for this very purpose?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite easily, Master, since I will say that you were led from the boat +to confirm my tale. Oh! she will be angry with me, no doubt, but in Egypt even +a dwarf cannot be killed because he has declared a certain lady to be the most +beautiful in the world. But, Master, tell me, when did you learn to love +her?” +</p> + +<p> +“When we were boy and girl, Bes. We used to play together, being cousins, +and I used to hold her hand. Then suddenly she refused to let me hold her hand +any more, and I being quite grown up then, though she was younger, understood +that I had better go away.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should have stopped where I was, Master.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Bes. She was studying to be a priestess and my great uncle, the holy +Tanofir, told me that I had better go away. So I went down south hunting and +fighting in command of the troops, and met you, Bes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which perhaps was better for you, Master, than to stop to watch the lady +Amada acquire learning. Still, I wonder whether the holy Tanofir is +<i>always</i> right. You see, Master, he thinks a great deal of priests and +priestesses, and is so very old that he has forgotten all about love and that +without it there never would have been a holy Tanofir.” +</p> + +<p> +“The holy Tanofir thinks of souls, not of bodies, Bes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Master. Still, oil is of no use without a lamp, or a soul without a +body, at least here underneath the sun, or so we were taught who worship the +Grasshopper. But, Master, when you came back from all your hunting, what +happened then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I found, Bes, that the lady Amada, having acquired all the learning +possible, had taken her first vows to Isis, which she said she would not break +for any man on earth although she might have done so without crime. Therefore, +although I was dear to her, as a brother would have been had she had one, and +she swore that she had never even thought of another man, she refused so much +as to think of marrying who dreamed only of the heavenly perfections of the +lady Isis.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ump!” said Bes. “We Ethiopians have Priestesses of the +Grasshopper, or the Grasshopper’s wife, but they do not think of her like +that. I hope that one day something stronger than herself will not cause the +lady Amada to break her vows to the heavenly Isis. Only then, perhaps, it may +be for the sake of another man who did not go off to the East on account of +such fool’s talk. But here is a village and the horses are spent. Let us +stop and eat, as I suppose even the lady Amada does sometimes.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +On the following afternoon we crossed the Nile, and towards sunset entered the +vast and ancient city of Memphis. On its white walls floated the banners of the +Great King which Bes pointed out to me, saying that wherever we went in the +whole world, it seemed that we could never be free from those accursed symbols. +</p> + +<p> +“May I live to spit upon them and cast them into the moat,” I +answered savagely, for as I drew near to Amada they grew ten times more hateful +to me than they had been before. +</p> + +<p> +In truth I was nearer to Amada than I thought, for after we had passed the +enclosure of the temple of Ptah, the most wonderful and the mightiest in the +whole world, we came to the temple of Isis. There near to the pylon gate we met +a procession of her priests and priestesses advancing to offer the evening +sacrifice of song and flowers, clad, all of them, in robes of purest white. It +was a day of festival, so singers went with them. After the singers came a band +of priestesses bearing flowers, in front of whom walked another priestess +shaking a <i>sistrum</i> that made a little tinkling music. +</p> + +<p> +Even at a distance there was something about the tall and slender shape of this +priestess that stirred me. When we came nearer I saw why, for it was Amada +herself. Through the thin veil she wore I could see her dark and tender eyes +set beneath the broad brow that was so full of thought, and the sweet, curved +mouth that was like no other woman’s. Moreover there could be no doubt +since the veil parting above her breast showed the birth-mark for which she was +famous, the mark of the young moon, the sign of Isis. +</p> + +<p> +I sprang from my horse and ran towards her. She looked up and saw me. At first +she frowned, then her face grew wondering, then tender, and I thought that her +red lips shaped my name. Moreover in her confusion she let the <i>sistrum</i> +fall. +</p> + +<p> +I muttered “Amada!” and stepped forward, but priests ran between us +and thrust me away. Next moment she had recovered the <i>sistrum</i> and passed +on with her head bowed. Nor did she lift her eyes to look back. +</p> + +<p> +“Begone, man!” cried a priest, “Begone, whoever you may be. +Because you wear Eastern armour do you think that you can dare the curse of +Isis?” +</p> + +<p> +Then I fell back, the holy image of the goddess passed and the procession +vanished through the pylon gate. I, Shabaka the Egyptian, stood by my horse and +watched it depart. I was happy because the lady Amada was alive, well, and more +beautiful than ever; also because she had shown signs of joy and confusion at +seeing me again. Yet I was unhappy because I met her still filling a holy +office which built a wall between us, also because it seemed to me an evil omen +that I should have been repelled from her by a priest of Isis who talked of the +curse of the goddess. Moreover the sacred statue, I suppose by accident, turned +towards me as it passed and perhaps by the chance of light, seemed to frown +upon me. +</p> + +<p> +Thus I thought as Shabaka hundreds of years before the Christian era, but as +Allan Quatermain the modern man, to whom it was given so marvellously to behold +all these things and who in beholding them, yet never quite lost the sense of +his own identity of to-day, I was amazed. For I knew that this lady Amada was +the same being though clad in different flesh, as that other lady with whom I +had breathed the magical <i>Taduki</i> fumes which had power to rend the +curtain of the past, or, perhaps, only to breed dreams of what it might have +been. +</p> + +<p> +To the outward eye, indeed she was different, as I was different, taller, more +slender, larger-eyed, with longer and slimmer hands than those of any Western +woman, and on the whole even more beautiful and alluring. Moreover that +mysterious look which from time to time I had seen on Lady Ragnall’s +face, was more constant on that of the lady Amada. It brooded in the deep eyes +and settled in a curious smile about the curves of the lips, a smile that was +not altogether human, such a smile as one might wear who had looked on hidden +things and heard voices that spoke beyond the limits of the world. +</p> + +<p> +Somehow neither then nor at any other time during all my dream, could I imagine +this Amada, this daughter of a hundred kings, whose blood might be traced back +through dynasty on dynasty, as nothing but a woman who nurses children upon her +breast. It was as though something of our common nature had been bred out of +her and something of another nature whereof we have no ken, had entered to fill +its place. And yet these two women were the same, that I <i>knew</i>, or at any +rate, much of them was the same, for who can say what part of us we leave +behind as we flit from life to life, to find it again elsewhere in the abysms +of Time and Change? One thing too was quite identical—the birthmark of +the new moon above the breast which the priests of the Kendah had declared was +always the seal that marked their prophetess, the guardian of the Holy Child. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +When the procession had quite departed and I could no longer hear the sound of +singing, I remounted and rode on to my house, or rather to that of my mother, +the great lady Tiu, which was situated beneath the wall of the old palace +facing towards the Nile. Indeed my heart was full of this mother of mine whom I +loved and who loved me, for I was her only child, and my father had been long +dead; so long that I could not remember him. Eight months had gone by since I +saw her face and in eight months who knew what might have happened? The thought +made me cold for she, who was aged and not too strong, perhaps had been +gathered to Osiris. Oh! if that were so! +</p> + +<p> +I shook my tired horse to a canter, Bes riding ahead of me to clear a road +through the crowded street in which, at this hour of sundown, all the idlers of +Memphis seemed to have gathered. They stared at me because it was not common to +see men riding in Memphis, and with little love, since from my dress and escort +they took me to be some envoy from their hated master, the Great King of the +East. Some even threatened to bar the way; but we thrust through and presently +turned into a thoroughfare of private houses standing in their own gardens. +Ours was the third of these. At its gate I leapt from my horse, pushed open the +closed door and hastened in to seek and learn. +</p> + +<p> +I had not far to go for, there in the courtyard, standing at the head of our +modest household and dressed in her festal robes, was my mother, the stately +and white-haired lady Tiu, as one stands who awaits the coming of an honoured +guest. I ran to her and kneeling, kissed her hand, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“My mother! My mother, I have come safe home and greet you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I greet you also, my son,” she answered, bending down and kissing +me on the brow, “who have been in far lands and passed so many dangers. I +greet you and thank the guardian gods who have brought you safe home again. +Rise, my son.” +</p> + +<p> +I rose and kissed her on the face, then looked at the servants who were bowing +their welcome to me, and said, +</p> + +<p> +“How comes it, Lady of the House, that all are gathered here? Did you +await some guest?” +</p> + +<p> +“We awaited you, my son. For an hour have we stood here listening for the +sound of your feet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Me!” I exclaimed. “That is strange, seeing that I have +ridden fast and hard from the East, tarrying only a few minutes, and those +since I entered Memphis, when I met——” and I stopped. +</p> + +<p> +“Met whom, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet the +lady Amada!” +</p> + +<p> +“But <i>why</i> did you wait, my mother? Who but a spirit or a bird of +the air could have told you that I was coming, seeing that I sent no messenger +before me?” +</p> + +<p> +“You must have done so, Shabaka, since yesterday one came from the holy +Tanofir, our relative who dwells in the desert in the burial-ground of Sekera. +He bore a message from Tanofir to me, telling me to make ready since before +sundown to-night you, my son, would be with me, having escaped great dangers, +accompanied by the dwarf Bes, your servant, and six strange Eastern men. So I +made ready and waited; also I prepared lodging for the six strange men in the +outbuildings behind the house and sent a thank offering to the temple. For +know, my son, I have suffered much fear for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“And not without cause, as you will say when I tell you all,” I +answered laughing. “But how Tanofir knew that I was coming is more than I +can guess. Come, my mother, greet Bes here, for had it not been for him, never +should I have lived to hold your hand again.” +</p> + +<p> +So she greeted him and thanked him, whereon Bes rolled his eyes and muttered +something about the holy Tanofir, after which we entered the house. Thence I +despatched a messenger to the Prince Peroa saying that if it were his pleasure +I would wait on him at once, seeing that I had much to tell him. This done I +bathed and caused my hair and beard to be trimmed and, discarding the Eastern +garments, clothed myself in those of Egypt, and so felt that I was my own man +again. Then I came out refreshed and drank a cup of Syrian wine and the night +having fallen, sat down by my mother in the chamber with a lamp between us, +and, holding her hand, told her something of my story, showing her the sacks of +gold that had come with me safely from the East, and the chain of priceless, +rose-hued pearls that I had won in a wager from the Great King. +</p> + +<p> +Now when she learned how Bes by his wit had saved me from a death of torment in +the boat, my mother clapped her hands to summon a servant and sent for Bes, and +said to him, +</p> + +<p> +“Bes, hitherto I have looked on you as a slave taken by my son, the noble +Shabaka, in one of his far journeys that it pleases him to make to fight and to +hunt. But henceforth I look upon you as a friend and give you a seat at my +table. Moreover it comes into my mind that although so strangely shaped by some +evil god, perhaps you are more than you seem to be.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Bes looked at me to see if I had told my mother anything, and when I shook +my head answered, +</p> + +<p> +“I thank you, O Lady of the House, who have but done my duty to my +master. Still it is true that as a goatskin often holds good wine, so a dwarf +should not always be judged by what can be seen of him.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he went away. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems that we are rich again, Son, who have been somewhat poor of +late years,” said my mother, looking at the bags of gold. “Also, +there are the pearls which doubtless are worth more than the gold. What are you +going to do with them, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought of offering them as a gift to the lady Amada,” I replied +hesitatingly, “that is unless you——” +</p> + +<p> +“I? No, I am too old for such gems. Yet, Son, it might be well to keep +them for a time, seeing that while they are your own they may give you more +weight in the eyes of the Prince Peroa and others. Whereas if you gave them to +the lady Amada and she took them, perchance it might only be to see them return +to the East, whither you tell me she is summoned by one whose orders may not be +disobeyed.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I turned white with rage and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the woman +of yonder King.” +</p> + +<p> +“While you live, Son. But those who cross the will of a great king, are +apt to die. Also this is a matter which her uncle, the Prince Peroa, must +decide as policy dictates. Now as ever the woman is but a pawn in the game. Oh! +my son,” she went on, “do not pin all your heart to the robe of +this Amada. She is very fair and very learned, but is she one who will love? +Moreover, if so she is a priestess and it would be difficult for her to wed who +is sworn to Isis. Lastly, remember this: If Egypt were free, she would be its +heiress, not her uncle, Peroa. For hers is the true blood, not his. Would he, +therefore, be willing to give her to any man who, according to the ancient +custom, through her would acquire the right to rule?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I +love.” +</p> + +<p> +“Amada whom you love and whose name you, or rather your servant Bes, +which is the same thing since it will be held that he did it by your order, +gave to the King of the East, or so I understand. Here is a pretty tangle, +Shabaka, and rather would I be without all that gold and those priceless pearls +than have the task of its unravelling.” +</p> + +<p> +Before I could answer and explain all the truth to her, the curtain was swung +aside and through it came a messenger from the Prince Peroa, who bade me come +to eat with him at once at the palace, since he must see me this night. +</p> + +<p> +So my mother having set the rope of rose-hued pearls in a double chain about my +neck, I kissed her and went, with Bes who was also bidden. Outside a chariot +was waiting into which we entered. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Master,” said Bes to me as we drove to the palace, “I +almost wish that we were back in another chariot hunting lions in the +East.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Because then, although we had much to fear, there was no woman in the +story. Now the woman has entered it and I think that our real troubles are +about to begin. Oh! to-morrow I go to seek counsel of the holy Tanofir.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I come with you,” I answered, “for I think it will be +needed.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br />THE MESSENGERS</h2> + +<p> +We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through empty halls +that were no longer used now when there was no king in Egypt, to the wing of +the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa. Here we were received by a +chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still kept some state although it was but +small, and had about him men who bore the old, high-sounding titles of the +“Officers of Pharaoh.” +</p> + +<p> +The chamberlain led me and Bes to an ante-chamber of the banqueting hall and +left us, saying that he would summon the Prince who wished to see me before he +ate. This, however, was not necessary since while he spoke Peroa, who as I +guessed had been waiting for me, entered by another door. He was a +majestic-looking man of middle age, for grey showed in his hair and beard, clad +in white garments with a purple hem and wearing on his brow a golden circlet, +from the front of which rose the <i>uræus</i> in the shape of a hooded snake +that might be worn by those of royal blood alone. His face was full of thought +and his black and piercing eyes looked heavy as though with sleeplessness. +Indeed I could see that he was troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features +changed to a pleasant smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,” he said. “I am glad that you have +returned safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they +may be good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“Greeting, Prince,” I answered, bowing my knee. “I and my +servant here are returned safe, but as for our tidings, well, judge of them for +yourself,” and drawing the letter of the Great King from my robe, I +touched my forehead with the roll and handed it to him. +</p> + +<p> +“I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka,” he +said as he took it. “But here in my own house which once was the palace +of our forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit them. Amen +be my witness,” he added bitterly, “I cannot bear to lay the letter +of a foreign king against my brow in token of my country’s +vassalage.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face grew +black with rage. +</p> + +<p> +“What!” he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it. +“What! Does this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth +the Royal Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First I +will choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you care to bring +me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life would pay the +price.” +</p> + +<p> +“As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince, I +brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I believe, to +Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the truth, Prince, and I think +that I may be of more service to you alive than dead. If you do not wish to +send the lady Amada to the King, marry her to someone else, after which he will +seek her no more.” +</p> + +<p> +He looked at me shrewdly and said, +</p> + +<p> +“To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already married. +Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have loved the lady Amada from a child, Prince,” I answered +boldly. “Also I have high blood in me and having brought much gold from +the East, am rich again and one accustomed to war.” +</p> + +<p> +“So you have brought gold from the East! How? Well, you can tell me +afterwards. But you fly high. You, a Count of Egypt, wish to marry the Royal +Lady of Egypt, for such she is by birth and rank, which, if ever Egypt were +free again, would give you a title to the throne.” +</p> + +<p> +“I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be content +to leave that to you and your heirs.” +</p> + +<p> +“So you say, no doubt honestly. But would the children of Amada say the +same? Would you even say it if you were her husband, and would she say it? +Moreover she is a priestess, sworn not to wed, though perhaps that trouble +might be overcome, if she wishes to wed, which I doubt. Mayhap you might +discover. Well, you are hungry and worn with long travelling. Come, let us eat, +and afterwards you can tell your story. Amada and the others will be glad to +hear it, as I shall. Follow me, Count Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +So we went to the lesser banqueting-hall, I filled with joy because I should +see Amada, and yet, much afraid because of that story which I must tell. +Gathered there, waiting for the Prince, we found the Princess his wife, a large +and kindly woman, also his two eldest daughters and his young son, a lad of +about sixteen. Moreover, there were certain officers, while at the tables of +the lower hall sat others of the household, men of smaller rank, and their +wives, since Peroa still maintained some kind of a shadow of the Court of old +Egypt. +</p> + +<p> +The Princess and the others greeted me, and Bes also who had always been a +favourite with them, before he went to take his seat at the lowest table, and I +greeted them, looking all the while for Amada whom I did not see. Presently, +however, as we took our places on the couches, she entered dressed, not as a +priestess, but in the beautiful robes of a great lady of Egypt and wearing on +her head the <i>uræus</i> circlet that signified her royal blood. As it chanced +the only seat left vacant was that next to myself, which she took before she +recognized me, for she was engaged in asking pardon for her lateness of the +Prince and Princess, saying that she had been detained by the ceremonies at the +temple. Seeing suddenly that I was her neighbour, she made as though she would +change her place, then altered her mind and stayed where she was. +</p> + +<p> +“Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,” she said, “though not for the +first time to-day. Oh! my heart was glad when looking up, outside the temple, I +caught sight of you clad in that strange Eastern armour, and knew that you had +returned safe from your long wanderings. Yet afterwards I must do penance for +it by saying two added prayers, since at such a time my thoughts should have +been with the goddess only.” +</p> + +<p> +“Greeting, Cousin Amada,” I answered, “but she must be a +jealous goddess who grudges a thought to a relative—and friend—at +such a time.” +</p> + +<p> +“She is jealous, Shabaka, as being the Queen of women she must be who +demands to reign alone in the hearts of her votaries. But tell me of your +travels in the East and how you came by that rope of wondrous pearls, if indeed +there can be pearls so large and beautiful.” +</p> + +<p> +This at the time I had little chance of doing, however, since the young +Princess on the other side of her began to talk to Amada about some forthcoming +festival, and the Prince’s son next to me who was fond of hunting, to +question me about sport in the East and when, unhappily, I said that I had shot +lions there, gave me no peace for the rest of that feast. Also the Princess +opposite was anxious to learn what food noble people ate in the East, and how +it was cooked and how they sat at table, and what was the furniture of their +rooms and did women attend feasts as in Egypt, and so forth. So it came about +that what between these things and eating and drinking, which, being well-nigh +starved, I was obliged to do, for, save a cup of wine, I had taken nothing in +my mother’s house, I found little chance of talking with the lovely +Amada, although I knew that all the while she was studying me out of the +corners of her large eyes. Or perhaps it was the rose-hued pearls she studied, +I was not sure. +</p> + +<p> +Only one thing did she say to me when there was a little pause while the cup +went round, and she pledged me according to custom and passed it on. It was, +</p> + +<p> +“You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you used, +I think.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps because I have seen things to sadden me, Amada. But you too look +well but somewhat lovelier than you used, I think, if that be possible.” +</p> + +<p> +She smiled and blushed as she replied, +</p> + +<p> +“The Eastern ladies have taught you how to say pretty things. But you +should not waste them upon me who have done with women’s vanities and +have given myself to learning and—religion.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?” I began, +when suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast. +</p> + +<p> +Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables at which +we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in our hands which a +butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine with water. This reminded me +of something, and having asked leave, I beckoned to Bes, who still lingered +near the door, and took from him that splendid, golden goblet which the Great +King had given me, that by my command he had brought wrapped up in linen and +hidden beneath his robe. Having undone the wrappings I bowed and offered it to +the Prince Peroa. +</p> + +<p> +“What is this wondrous thing?” asked the Prince, when all had +finished admiring its workmanship. “Is it a gift that you bring me from +the King of the East, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept +it,” I answered, adding, “Yet it is true that it comes from the +King of the East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in exchange +for a certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had pledged +me.” +</p> + +<p> +“You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka, +which is more than most of us Egyptians do,” he exclaimed, then went on +hastily, “Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however you came +by it, shall value it much.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story,” broke in Amada, +her eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, “and of how he came to +win all the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother’s +words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear off such +a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead, Bes seated on the +ground near to me by the Prince’s wish, that he might tell his. +</p> + +<p> +The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I saw myself +in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which I, the modern man +who set down all this vision, now learned for the first time. It told of the +details of my journey to the East, of my coming to the royal city and the rest, +all of which it is needless to repeat. Then I came to the lion hunt, to my +winning of the wager, and all that happened to me; of my being condemned to +death, of the weighing of Bes against the gold, and of how I was laid in the +boat of torment, a story at which I noticed Amada turn pale and tremble. +</p> + +<p> +Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better than I what had chanced at the Court +while I was pinned in the boat, whereon all present cried out to Bes to take up +the tale. This he did, and much better than I could have done, bringing out +many little things which made the scene appear before them, as Ethiopians have +the art of doing. At last he came to the place in his story where the king +asked him if he had ever seen a woman fairer than the dancers, and went on +thus: +</p> + +<p> +“O Prince, I told the Great King that I had; that there dwelt in Egypt a +lady of royal blood with eyes like stars, with hair like silk and long as an +unbridled horse’s tail, with a shape like to that of a goddess, with +breath like flowers, with skin like milk, with a voice like honey, with +learning like to that of the god Thoth, with wit like a razor’s edge, +with teeth like pearls, with majesty of bearing like to that of the king +himself, with fingers like rosebuds set in pink seashells, with motion like +that of an antelope, with grace like that of a swan floating upon water, +and—I don’t remember the rest, O Prince.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps it is as well,” exclaimed Peroa. “But what did the +King say then?” +</p> + +<p> +“He asked her name, O Prince.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what name did you give to this wondrous lady who surpasses all the +goddesses in loveliness and charm, O dwarf Bes?” inquired Amada much +amused. +</p> + +<p> +“What name, O High-born One? Is it needful to ask? Why, what name could I +give but your own, for is there any other in the world of whom a man whose +heart is filled with truth could speak such things?” +</p> + +<p> +Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up, crying, +</p> + +<p> +“Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be +scourged till your bones are bare.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why not, Lady? Would you have had me sit still and hear those fat +trollops of the East exalted above you? Would you have had me so disloyal to +your royal loveliness?” +</p> + +<p> +“You should be scourged,” repeated Amada stamping her foot. +“My Uncle, I pray you cause this knave to be scourged.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, nay,” said Peroa moodily. “Poor simple man, he knew no +better and thought only to sing your praises in a far land. Be not angry with +the dwarf, Niece. Had it been Shabaka who gave your name, the thing would be +different. What happened next, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only this, Prince,” said Bes, looking upwards and rolling his +eyes, as was his fashion when unloading some great lie from his heart. +“The King sent his servants to bring my master from the boat, that he +might inquire of him whether he had always found me truthful. For, Prince, +those Easterns set much store by truth which here in Egypt is worshipped as a +goddess. There they do not worship her because she lives in the heart of every +man, and some women.” +</p> + +<p> +Now all stared at Bes who continued to stare at the ceiling, and I rose to say +something, I know not what, when suddenly the doors opened and through them +appeared heralds, crying, +</p> + +<p> +“Hearken, Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the Great King. A message +from the Great King. Read and obey, O Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the +Great King!” +</p> + +<p> +As they cried thus from between them emerged a man whose long Eastern robes +were stained with the dust of travel. Advancing without salute he drew out a +roll, touched his forehead with it, bowing deeply, and handed it to the prince, +saying, +</p> + +<p> +“Kiss the Word. Read the Word. Obey the Word, O servant of our Master, +the King of kings, beneath whose feet we are all but dust.” +</p> + +<p> +Peroa took the roll, made a semblance of lifting it to his forehead, opened and +read it. As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck and his eyes flash, +but he only said, +</p> + +<p> +“O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to you +to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food and lodging. +You are dismissed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O +Peroa,” said the man with insolence. +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior, and walked +away, accompanied by the herald. +</p> + +<p> +When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a voice that +was thick with fury, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he read it. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one of his +servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,<br /> + “Deliver over to my servant Idernes without delay, the person of +Amada, a lady of the blood of the old Pharaohs of Egypt, who is your relative +and in your guardianship, that she may be numbered among the women of my +house.” +</p> + +<p> +Now all present looked at each other, while Amada stood as though she had been +frozen into stone. Before she could speak, Peroa went on, +</p> + +<p> +“See how the King seeks a quarrel against me that he may destroy me and +bray Egypt in his mortar, and tan it like a hide to wrap about his feet. Nay, +hold your peace, Amada. Have no fear. You shall not be sent to the East; first +will I kill you with my own hands. But what answer shall we give, for the +matter is urgent and on it hang all our lives? Bethink you, Idernes has a great +force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse outright, he will attack us, which indeed +is what the King means him to do before we can make preparation. Say then, +shall we fight, or shall we fly to Upper Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there +make our stand?” +</p> + +<p> +Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not know +what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear, +</p> + +<p> +“Remember, Master, that you hold the King’s seal. Let an answer be +sent to Idernes under the White Seal, bidding him wait on you.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I rose and spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“O Peroa,” I said, “as it chances I am the bearer of the +private signet of the Great King, which all men must obey in the north and in +the south, in the east and in the west, wherever the sun shines over the +dominions of the King. Look on it,” and taking the ancient White Seal +from about my neck, I handed it to him. +</p> + +<p> +He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one voice, +</p> + +<p> +“It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the +East,” and they bowed before the dreadful thing. +</p> + +<p> +“How you came by this we do not know, Shabaka,” said Peroa. +“That can be inquired of afterwards. Yet in truth it seems to be the old +Signet of signets, that which has come down from father to son for countless +generations, that which the King of kings carries on his person and affixes to +his private orders and to the greatest documents of State, which afterwards can +never be recalled, that of which a copy is emblazoned on his banner.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is,” I answered, “and from the King’s person it +came to me for a while. If any doubt, let the impress be brought, that is +furnished to all the officers throughout the Empire, and let the seal be set in +the impress.” +</p> + +<p> +Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was in his +keeping, but Peroa continued, +</p> + +<p> +“If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in +our present trouble?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thus, Prince,” I answered. “I would send a command under the +seal to Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will +suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army. Then he +will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an army.” +</p> + +<p> +“That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes all +in tribute.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the +service of Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thank you, Shabaka. Believe me, such generosity shall not go +unrewarded,” and he glanced at Amada who dropped her eyes. “But if +we can collect the army, what then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence. Then too when Idernes +comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command him under the +seal to retreat and disperse his army.” +</p> + +<p> +“But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh +orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Prince, <i>he</i> will not advance, or that army either. For when +they are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare you, O +Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do not +know.” +</p> + +<p> +When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered, +</p> + +<p> +“Well said!” and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian +fashion. +</p> + +<p> +“A bold counsel,” said Peroa, “and one on which I must have +the night to think. Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by +which time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will discuss this +matter. Ah! here is the impress. Now let the seal be tried.” +</p> + +<p> +A box was brought and opened. In it was a slab of wood on which was an impress +of the King’s seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals certifying +that it was genuine. Also there was a writing describing the appearance of the +seal. I handed the signet to Peroa who, having compared it with the description +in the writing, fitted it to the impress on the wax. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the same,” he said. “See, all of you.” +</p> + +<p> +They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I refused to +take it, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a +private man whence it might be stolen or lost.” +</p> + +<p> +“Or who might be murdered for its sake,” interrupted Peroa. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Prince. Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most secret +place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too priceless to be +flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless +indeed——” and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone. +</p> + +<p> +So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the impress +and borne away. Nor was I sorry to see the last of them, wisely as it happened. +Then I bade the Prince and his company good night, and presently was driving +homeward with Bes in the chariot. +</p> + +<p> +Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the Court of +Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins. Suddenly from out +of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as common robbers, whose faces +were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut in them. They seized the horses by the +bridles, and before we could do anything, leapt upon us and held us fast. Then +a tall man speaking with a foreign accent, said, +</p> + +<p> +“Search that officer and the dwarf. Take from them the seal upon a gold +chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen. But do them no +harm.” +</p> + +<p> +So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by others, holding +Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot also, by the light of the +moon, but found nothing. The tall man muttered that I must be the wrong +officer, and at a sign they left us and ran away. +</p> + +<p> +“That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave certain +ornaments in the palace,” I said. “As it is they have taken +nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Master,” he answered, “though I have taken something +from them,” a saying that I did not understand at the time. “Those +Easterns whom we met by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered +this to be done. That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night to +the palace.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then why did they not kill us, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly +business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in Memphis and +who troubles about them when they have failed? Oh! the Grasshopper, or Amen, or +both, have been with us to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off scatheless, +what did it matter? Well, this. It showed me that the signet of the Great King +was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even here in Egypt. If Idernes could get +it into his possession, what might he not do with it? Cause himself to be +proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and become the forefather of an independent dynasty. +Why not, when the Empire of the East was taxed with a great war elsewhere? And +if this was so why should not Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old +Egypt, maddened with its wrongs and foreign rule? +</p> + +<p> +That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the bags of +gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole matter before my +mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me out, answering little, then +said, +</p> + +<p> +“The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until I +have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir. Still, things +having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the best course, since +the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with, and whatever he may say, +cannot attack Egypt yet awhile. Therefore if Peroa is able to overcome Idernes +and his army he may cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free +if only for a time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Such is my mind, Mother.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not all your mind, Son, I think,” she answered smiling, “for +you think more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any rate +to-night. Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me somewhat of a +woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much about her soul. At least if +you marry her and Egypt should become free, as it was for thousands of years, +you will be the next heir to the throne as husband of the Great Royal +Lady.” +</p> + +<p> +“How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?” +</p> + +<p> +“A vain youth with no more in him than a child’s rattle. If once +Amada ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her throne, +especially if she has children. But all this is far away and for the present I +am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got those pearls, though perhaps +they might be safer here than where they are. And now, my son, go rest for you +need it, and dream of nothing, not even Amada, who for her part will dream of +Isis, if at all. I will wake you before the dawn.” +</p> + +<p> +So I went, being too tired to talk more, and slept like a crocodile in the sun, +till, as it seemed to me, but a few minutes later I saw my mother standing over +me with a lamp, saying that it was time to rise. I rose, unwillingly enough, +but refreshed, washed and dressed myself, by which time the sun had begun to +appear. Then I ate some food and, calling Bes, made ready to start for the +palace. +</p> + +<p> +“My son,” said my mother, the lady Tiu, before we parted, +“while you have been sleeping I have been thinking, as is the way of the +old. Peroa, your cousin, will be glad enough to make use of you, but he does +not love you over much because he is jealous of you and fears lest you should +become his rival in the future. Still he is an honest man and will keep a +bargain which he once has made. Now it seems that above everything on earth you +desire Amada on whom you have set your heart since boyhood, but who has always +played with you and spoken to you with her arm stretched out. Also life is +short and may come to an end any day, as you should know better than most men +who have lived among dangers, and therefore it is well that a man should take +what he desires, even if he finds afterwards that the rose he crushes to his +breast has thorns. For then at least he will have smelt the rose, not only have +looked on and longed to smell it. Therefore, before you hand over your gold, +and place your wit and strength at the service of Peroa, make your bargain with +him; namely, that if thereby you save Amada from the King’s House of +Women and help to set Peroa on the throne, he shall promise her to you free of +any priestly curse, you giving her as dowry the priceless rose-hued pearls that +are worth a kingdom. So you will get your rose till it withers, and if the +thorns prick, do not blame me, and one day you may become a king—or a +slave, Amen knows which.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I laughed and said that I would take her counsel who desired Amada and +nothing else. As for all her talk about thorns, I paid no heed to it, knowing +that she loved me very much and was jealous of Amada who she thought would take +her place with me. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br />SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH</h2> + +<p> +Bes and I went armed to the palace, walking in the middle of the road, but now +that the sun was up we met no more robbers. At the gate a messenger summoned me +alone to the presence of Peroa, who, he said, wished to talk with me before the +sitting of the Council. I went and found him by himself. +</p> + +<p> +“I hear that you were attacked last night,” he said after greeting +me. +</p> + +<p> +I answered that I was and told him the story, adding that it was fortunate I +had left the White Seal and the pearls in safe keeping, since without doubt the +would-be thieves were Easterns who desired to recover them. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! the pearls,” he said. “One of those who handled them, +who was once a dealer in gems, says that they are without price, unmatched in +the whole world, and that never in all his life has he seen any to equal the +smallest of them.” +</p> + +<p> +I replied that I believed this was so. Then he asked me of the value of the +gold of which I had spoken. I told him and it was a great sum, for gold was +scarce in Egypt. His eyes gleamed for he needed wealth to pay soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +“And all this you are ready to hand over to me, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +Now I bethought me of my mother’s words, and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Prince, at a price.” +</p> + +<p> +“What price, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“The price of the hand of the Royal Lady, Amada, freed from her vows. +Moreover, I will give her the pearls as a marriage dowry and place at your +service my sword and all the knowledge I have gained in the East, swearing to +stand or fall with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought it, Shabaka. Well, in this world nothing is given for nothing +and the offer is a fair one. You are well born, too, as well as myself, and a +brave and clever man. Further, Amada has not taken her final vows and therefore +the high priests can absolve her from her marriage to the goddess, or to her +son Horus, whichever it may be, for I do not understand these mysteries. But, +Shabaka, if Fortune should chance to go with us and I should became the first +Pharaoh of a new dynasty in Egypt, he who was married to the Royal Princess of +the true blood might become a danger to my throne and family.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall not be that man, Prince, who am content with my own station, and +to be your servant.” +</p> + +<p> +“And my son’s, Shabaka? You know that I have but one lawful +son.” +</p> + +<p> +“And your son’s, Prince.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are honest, Shabaka, and I believe you. But how about your sons, if +you have any, and how about Amada herself? Well, in great businesses something +must be risked, and I need the gold and the rest which I cannot take for +nothing, for you won them by your skill and courage and they are yours. But how +you won the seal you have not told us, nor is there time for you to do so +now.” +</p> + +<p> +He thought a little, walking up and down the chamber, then went on, +</p> + +<p> +“I accept your offer, Shabaka, so far as I can.” +</p> + +<p> +“So far as you can, Prince?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; I can give you Amada in marriage and make that marriage easy, but +only if Amada herself consents. The will of a Royal Princess of Egypt of full +age cannot be forced, save by her father if he reigns as Pharaoh, and I am not +her father, but only her guardian. Therefore it stands thus. Are you willing to +fulfil your part of the bargain, save only as regards the pearls, if she does +not marry you, and to take your chance of winning Amada as a man wins a woman, +I on my part promising to do all in my power to help your suit?” +</p> + +<p> +Now it was my turn to think for a moment. What did I risk? The gold and perhaps +the pearls, no more, for in any case I should fight for Peroa against the +Eastern king whom I hated, and through him for Egypt. Well, these came to me by +chance, and if they went by chance what of it? Also I was not one who desired +to wed a woman, however much I worshipped her, if she desired to turn her back +on me. If I could win her in fair love—well. If not, it was my +misfortune, and I wanted her in no other way. Lastly, I had reason to think +that she looked on me more favourably than she had ever done on any other man, +and that if it had not been for what my mother called her soul and its +longings, she would have given herself to me before I journeyed to the East. +Indeed, once she had said as much, and there was something in her eyes last +night which told me that in her heart she loved me, though with what passion at +the time I did not know. So very swiftly I made up my mind and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“I understand and I accept. The gold shall be delivered to you to-day, +Prince. The pearls are already in your keeping to await the end.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” he exclaimed. “Then let the matter be reduced to +writing and at once, that afterwards neither of us may have cause to complain +of the other.” +</p> + +<p> +So he sent for his secret scribe and dictated to him, briefly but clearly, the +substance of our bargain, nothing being added, and nothing taken away. This +roll written on papyrus was afterwards copied twice, Peroa taking one copy, I +another, and a third being deposited according to custom, in the library of the +temple of Ptah. +</p> + +<p> +When all was done and Peroa and I had touched each other’s breasts and +given our word in the name of Amen, we went to the hall in which we had dined, +where those whom the Prince had summoned were assembled. Altogether there were +about thirty of them, great citizens of Memphis, or landowners from without who +had been called together in the night. Some of these men were very old and +could remember when Egypt had a Pharaoh of its own before the East set its heel +upon her neck, of noble blood also. +</p> + +<p> +Others were merchants who dealt with all the cities of Egypt; others hereditary +generals, or captains of fleets of ships; others Grecians, officers of +mercenaries who were supposed to be in the pay of the King of kings, but hated +him, as did all the Greeks. Then there were the high priests of Ptah, of Amen, +of Osiris and others who were still the most powerful men in the land, since +there was no village between Thebes and the mouths of the Nile in which they +had not those who were sworn to the service of their gods. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the company representing all that remained or could be gathered there +of the greatness of Egypt the ancient and the fallen. +</p> + +<p> +To these when the doors had been closed and barred and trusty watchmen set to +guard them, Peroa expounded the case in a low and earnest voice. He showed them +that the King of the East sought a new quarrel against Egypt that he might +grind her to powder beneath his heel, and that he did this by demanding the +person of Amada, his own niece and the Royal Lady of Egypt, to be included in +his household like any common woman. If she were refused then he would send a +great army under pretext of taking her, and lay the land waste as far as +Thebes. And if she were granted some new quarrel would be picked and in the +person of the royal Amada all of them be for ever shamed. +</p> + +<p> +Next he showed the seal, telling them that I—who was known to many of +them, at least by repute—had brought it from the East, and repeating to +them the plan that I had proposed upon the previous night. After this he asked +their counsel, saying that before noon he must send an answer to Idernes, the +King’s Satrap at Sais. +</p> + +<p> +Then I was called upon to speak and, in answer to questions, answered frankly +that I had stolen the ancient White Seal from the King’s servant who +carried it as a warrant for the King’s private vengeance on one who had +bested him. How I did not mention. I told them also of the state of the Great +King’s empire and that I had heard that he was about to enter upon a war +with the Greeks which would need all its strength, and that therefore if they +wished to strike for liberty the time was at hand. +</p> + +<p> +Then the talk began and lasted for two hours, each man giving his judgment +according to precedence, some one way and some another. When all had done and +it became clear that there were differences of opinion, some being content to +live on in slavery with what remained to them and others desiring to strike for +freedom, among whom were the high priests who feared lest the Eastern heretics +should utterly destroy their worship, Peroa spoke once more. +</p> + +<p> +“Elders of Egypt,” he said briefly, “certain of you think one +way, and certain another, but of this be sure, such talk as we have held +together cannot be hid. It will come to the ears of spies and through them to +those of the Great King, and then all of us alike are doomed. If you refuse to +stir, this very day I with my family and household and the Royal Lady Amada, +and all who cling to me, fly to Upper Egypt and perhaps beyond it to Ethiopia, +leaving you to deal with the Great King, as you will, or to follow me into +exile. That he will attack us there is no doubt, either over the pretext of +Amada or some other, since Shabaka has heard as much from his own lips. Now +choose.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, after a little whispering together, every man of them voted for +rebellion, though some of them I could see with heavy hearts, and bound +themselves by a great oath to cling together to the last. +</p> + +<p> +The matter being thus settled such a letter was written to Idernes as I had +suggested on the night before, and sealed with the Signet of signets. Of the +yielding up of Amada it said nothing, but commanded Idernes, under the private +White Seal that none dared disobey, to wait upon the Prince Peroa at Memphis +forthwith, and there learn from him, the Holder of the Seal, what was the will +of the Great King. Then the Council was adjourned till one hour after noon, and +most of them departed to send messengers bearing secret word to the various +cities and nomes of Egypt. +</p> + +<p> +Before they went, however, I was directed to wait upon my relative, the holy +Tanofir, whom all acknowledged to be the greatest magician in Egypt, and to ask +of him to seek wisdom and an oracle from his Spirit as to the future and +whether in it we should fare well or ill. This I promised to do. +</p> + +<p> +When most of the Council were gone the messengers of Idernes were summoned, and +came proudly, and with them, or rather before them, Bes for whom I had sent as +he was not present at the Council. +</p> + +<p> +“Master,” he whispered to me, “the tallest of those +messengers is the man who captained the robbers last night. Wait and I will +prove it.” +</p> + +<p> +Peroa gave the roll to the head messenger, bidding him bear it to the Satrap in +answer to the letter which he had delivered to him. The man took it insolently +and thrust it into his robe, as he did so revealing a silver chain that had +been broken and knotted together, and asked whether there were words to bear +besides those written in the roll. Before Peroa could answer Bes sprang up +saying, +</p> + +<p> +“O Prince, a boon, the boon of justice on this man. Last night he and +others with him attacked my master and myself, seeking to rob us, but finding +nothing let us go.” +</p> + +<p> +“You lie, Abortion!” said the Eastern. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I lie, do I?” mocked Bes. “Well, let us see,” and +shooting out his long arm, he grasped the chain about the messenger’s +neck and broke it with a jerk. “Look, O Prince,” he said, +“you may have noted last night, when that man entered the hall, that +there hung about his neck this chain to which was tied a silver key.” +</p> + +<p> +“I noted it,” said Peroa. +</p> + +<p> +“Then ask him, O Prince, where is the key now.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is that to you, Dwarf?” broke in the man. “The key is +my mark of office as chief butler to the High Satrap. Must I always bear it for +your pleasure?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not when it has been taken from you, Butler,” answered Bes. +“See, here it is,” and from his sleeve he produced the key hanging +to a piece of the chain. “Listen, O Prince,” he said. “I +struggled with this man and the key was in my left hand though he did not know +it at the time, and with it some of the chain. Compare them and judge. Also his +mask slipped and I saw his face and knew him again.” +</p> + +<p> +Peroa laid the pieces of the chain together and observed the workmanship which +was Eastern and rare. Then he clapped his hands, at which sign armed men of his +household entered from behind him. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the same,” he said. “Butler of Idernes, you are a +common thief.” +</p> + +<p> +The man strove to answer, but could not for the deed was proved against him. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, O Prince,” asked Bes, “what is the punishment of those +thieves who attack passers-by with violence in the streets of Memphis, for such +I demand on him?” +</p> + +<p> +“The cutting off of the right hand and scourging,” answered Peroa, +at which words the butler turned to fly. But Bes leapt on him like an ape upon +a bird, and held him fast. +</p> + +<p> +“Seize that thief,” said Peroa to his servants, “and let him +receive fifty blows with the rods. His hand I spare because he must +travel.” +</p> + +<p> +They laid the man down and the rods having been fetched, gave him the blows +until at the thirtieth he howled for mercy, crying out that it was true and +that it was he who had captained the robbers, words which Peroa caused to be +written down. Then he asked him why he, a messenger from the Satrap, had robbed +in the streets of Memphis, and as he refused to answer, commanded the officer +of justice to lay on. After three more blows the man said, +</p> + +<p> +“O Prince, this was no common robbery for gain. I did what I was +commanded to do, because yonder noble had about him the ancient White Seal of +the Great King which he showed to certain of the Satrap’s servants by the +banks of the canal. That seal is a holy token, O Prince, which, it is said, has +descended for twice a thousand years in the family of the Great King, and as +the Satrap did not know how it had come into the hands of the noble Shabaka, he +ordered me to obtain it if I could.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the pearls too, Butler?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, O Prince, since those gems are a great possession with which any +Satrap could buy a larger satrapy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let him go,” said Peroa, and the man rose, rubbing himself and +weeping in his pain. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Butler,” he went on, “return to your master with a +grateful heart, since you have been spared much that you deserve. Say to him +that he cannot steal the Signet, but that if he is wise he will obey it, since +otherwise his fate may be worse than yours, and to all his servants say the +same. Foolish man, how can you, or your master, guess what is in the mind of +the Great King, or for what purpose the Signet of signets is here in Egypt? +Beware lest you fall into a pit, all of you together, and let Idernes beware +lest he find himself at the very bottom of that pit.” +</p> + +<p> +“O Prince, I will beware,” said the humbled butler, “and +whatever is written over the seal, that I will obey, like many others.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are wise,” answered Peroa; “I pray for his own sake that +the Satrap Idernes may be as wise. Now begone, thanking whatever god you +worship that your life is whole in you and that your right hand remains upon +your wrist.” +</p> + +<p> +So the butler and those with him prostrated themselves before Peroa and bowed +humbly to me and even to Bes because in their hearts now they believed that we +were clothed by the Great King with terrible powers that might destroy them +all, if so we chose. Then they went, the butler limping a little and with no +pride left in him. +</p> + +<p> +“That was good work,” said Peroa to me afterwards when we were +alone, “for now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his +master.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered, “you played that pipe well, Prince. Still, +there is no time to lose, since before another moon this will all be reported +in the East, whence a new light may arise and perchance a new signet.” +</p> + +<p> +“You say you stole the White Seal?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, Prince, the truth is that Bes bought it—in a certain +fashion—and I used it. Perhaps it is well that you should know no more at +present.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do. +</p> + +<p> +That afternoon the Council met again. At it I gave over the gold and by help of +it all was arranged. Within a week ten thousand armed men would be in Memphis +and a hundred ships with their crews upon the Nile; also a great army would be +gathering in Upper Egypt, officered for the most part by Greeks skilled in war. +The Greek cities too at the mouths of the Nile would be ready to revolt, or so +some of their citizens declared, for they hated the Great King bitterly and +longed to cast off his yoke. +</p> + +<p> +For my part, I received the command of the bodyguard of Peroa in which were +many Greeks, and a generalship in the army; while to Bes, at my prayer, was +given the freedom of the land which he accepted with a smile, he who was a king +in his own country. +</p> + +<p> +At length all was finished and I went out into the palace garden to rest myself +before I rode into the desert to see my great uncle, the holy Tanofir. I was +alone, for Bes had gone to bring our horses on which we were to ride, and sat +myself down beneath a palm-tree, thinking of the great adventure on which we +had entered with a merry heart, for I loved adventures. +</p> + +<p> +Next I thought of Amada and was less merry. Then I looked up and lo! she stood +before me, unaccompanied and wearing the dress, not of a priestess, but of an +Egyptian lady with the little circlet of her rank upon her hair. I rose and +bowed to her and we began to walk together beneath the palms, my heart beating +hard within me, for I knew that my hour had come to speak. +</p> + +<p> +Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing great +things for Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“For Egypt and for you who are Egypt,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my +blood and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of the +land.” +</p> + +<p> +“And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit +can win their way.” +</p> + +<p> +“How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my uncle +Peroa and his son?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise; but +the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let +these matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by treachery +to our oaths.” +</p> + +<p> +We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end—death, which +it seems we court.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin—love, which I +court from you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have known it long,” she said, considering me gravely, +“and been grateful to you who are more to me than any man has been or +ever will be. But, Shabaka, I am a priestess bound to set the holy One I serve +above a mortal.” +</p> + +<p> +“That holy One was wed and bore a child, Amada, who avenged his father, +as I trust that we shall avenge Egypt. Therefore she looks with a kind eye upon +wives and mothers. Also you have not taken your final vows and can be +absolved.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she said softly. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think so, Shabaka, though it has been in my mind for long, as you know +well, to give myself only to learning and the service of the heavenly Lady. My +heart calls me to you, it is true, day and night it calls, how loudly I will +not tell; yet I would not yield myself to that alone. But Egypt calls me also, +since I have been shown in a dream while I watched in the sanctuary, that you +are the only man who can free her, and I think that this dream came from on +high. Therefore I will give myself, but not yet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet,” I said dismayed. “When?” +</p> + +<p> +“When I have been absolved from my vows, which must be done on the night +of the next new moon, which is twenty-seven days from this. Then, if nothing +comes between us during those twenty-seven days, it shall be announced that the +Royal Lady of Egypt is to wed the noble Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +“Twenty-seven days! In such times much may happen in them, Amada. Still, +except death, what can come between us?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know of nothing, Shabaka, whose past is shadowless as the noon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Or I either,” I replied. +</p> + +<p> +Now we were standing in the clear sunlight, but as I said the words a wind +stirred the palm-trees and the shadow from one of them fell full upon me, and +she who was very quick, noted it. +</p> + +<p> +“Some might take that for an omen,” she said with a little laugh, +pointing to the line of the shadow. “Oh! Shabaka, if you have aught to +confess, say it now and I will forgive it. But do not leave me to discover it +afterwards when I may not forgive. Perchance during your journeyings in the +East——” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, nothing,” I exclaimed joyfully, who during all that time +had scarcely spoken to a youthful woman. +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad that nothing happened in the East that could separate us, +Shabaka, though in truth my thought was not your own, for there are more things +than women in the world. Only it seems strange to me that you should return to +Egypt laden with such priceless gifts from him who is Egypt’s greatest +enemy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have I not told you that I put my country before myself? Those gifts +were won fairly in a wager, Amada, whereof you heard the story but last night. +Moreover you know the purpose to which they are to be put,” I replied +indignantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I know and now I am sure. Be not angry, Shabaka, with her who loves +you truly and hopes ere long to call you husband. But till that day take it not +amiss if I keep somewhat aloof from you, who must break with the past and learn +to face a future of which I did not dream.” +</p> + +<p> +For the rest she stretched out her hand and I kissed it, for while she was +still a priestess her lips she would not suffer me to touch. Another moment and +smiling happily, she had glided away, leaving me alone in the garden. +</p> + +<p> +Then it was for the first time that I bethought me of the warnings of Bes and +remembered that it was I, not he, who had told the Great King the name of the +most beautiful woman in Egypt, although in all innocence. Yes, I remembered, +and felt as if all the shadows on the earth had wrapped me round. I thought of +finding her, but she had gone whither I knew not in that great palace. So I +determined that the next time we were alone I would tell her of the matter, +explaining all, and with this thought I comforted myself who did not know that +until many days were past we should be alone no more. +</p> + +<p> +After this I went home and told my mother all my joy, for in truth there was no +happier man in Egypt. She listened, then answered, smiling a little. +</p> + +<p> +“When your father wished to take me to wife, Shabaka, it was not my hand +that I gave him to kiss, and as you know, I too have the blood of kings in me. +But then I was not a priestess of Isis, so doubtless all is well. Only in +twenty-seven days much may happen, as you said to Amada. Now I wonder why did +she——? Well, no matter, since priestesses are not like other women +who only think of the man they have won and of naught before or after. The +blessing of the gods and mine be on you both, my son,” and she went away +to attend to her household matters. +</p> + +<p> +As we rode to Sekera to find the holy Tanofir I told Bes also, adding that I +had forgotten to reveal that it was I who had spoken Amada’s name to the +king, but that I intended to do so ere long. +</p> + +<p> +Bes rolled his eyes and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“If I were you, Master, as I had forgotten, I should continue to forget, +for what is welcome in one hour is not always welcome in another. Why speak of +the matter at all, which is one hard to explain to a woman, however wise and +royal? I have already said that <i>I</i> spoke the name to the King and that +you were brought from the boat to say whether I was noted for my truthfulness. +Is not that enough?” +</p> + +<p> +While I considered, Bes went on, +</p> + +<p> +“You may remember, Master, that when I told, well—the truth about +this story, the lady Amada asked earnestly that I should be scourged, even to +the bones. Now if you should tell another truth which will make mine dull as +tarnished silver, she will not leave me even my bones, for I shall be proved a +liar, and what will happen to you I am sure I do not know. And, Master, as I am +no longer a slave here in Egypt, to say nothing of what I may be elsewhere, I +have no fancy for scourgings, who may not kiss the hand that smites me as you +can.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, Bes,” I said, “what is, is and may always be learned in +this way or in that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Master, if what is were always learned, I think the world would fall to +pieces, or at least there would be no men left on it. Why should this matter be +learned? It is known to you and me alone, leaving out the Great King who +probably has forgotten as he was drunk at the time. Oh! Master, when you have +neither bow nor spear at hand, it is not wise to kick a sleeping lion in the +stomach, for then he will remember its emptiness and sup off you. Beside, when +first I told you that tale I made a mistake. I did tell the Great King, as I +now remember quite clearly, that the beautiful lady was named Amada, and he +only sent for you to ask if I spoke the truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bes,” I exclaimed, “you worshippers of the Grasshopper wear +virtue easily.” +</p> + +<p> +“Easily as an old sandal, Master, or rather not at all, since the +Grasshopper has need of none. For ages they have studied the ways of those who +worship the gods of Egypt, and from them have learned——” +</p> + +<p> +“What?” +</p> + +<p> +“Amongst other things, Master, that woman, being modest, is shocked at +the sight of the naked Truth.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br />THE HOLY TANOFIR</h2> + +<p> +We entered the City of Graves that is called Sekera. In the centre towered +pyramids that hid the bones of ancient and forgotten kings, and everywhere +around upon the desert sands was street upon street of monuments, but save for +a priest or two hurrying to patter his paid office in the funeral chapels of +the departed, never a living man. Bes looked about him and sniffed with his +wide nostrils. +</p> + +<p> +“Is there not death enough in the world, Master,” he asked, +“that the living should wish to proclaim it in this fashion, rolling it +on their tongues like a morsel they are loth to swallow, because it tastes so +good? Oh! what a waste is here. All these have had their day and yet they need +houses and pyramids and painted chambers in which to sleep, whereas if they +believed the faith they practised, they would have been content to give their +bones to feed the earth they fed on, and fill heaven with their souls.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do your people thus, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“For the most part, Master. Our dead kings and great ones we enclose in +pillars of crystal, but we do this that they may serve a double purpose. One is +that the pillars may support the roof of their successors, and the other, that +those who inherit their goods may please themselves by reflecting how much +handsomer they are than those who went before them. For no mummy looks really +nice, Master, at least with its wrappings off, and our kings are put naked into +the crystal.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what becomes of the rest, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Their bodies go to the earth or the water and the Grasshopper carries +off their souls to—where, Master?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, Bes.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Master, no one knows, except the lady Amada and perhaps the holy +Tanofir. Here I think is the entrance to his hole,” and he pulled up his +beast with a jerk at what looked like the doorway of a tomb. +</p> + +<p> +Apparently we were expected, for a tall and proud-looking girl clad in white +and with extraordinarily dark eyes, appeared in the doorway and asked in a soft +voice if we were the noble Shabaka and Bes, his slave. +</p> + +<p> +“I am Shabaka,” I answered, “and this is Bes, who is not my +slave but a free citizen of Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +The girl contemplated the dwarf with her big eyes, then said, +</p> + +<p> +“And other things, I think.” +</p> + +<p> +“What things?” inquired Bes with interest, as he stared at this +beautiful lady. +</p> + +<p> +“A very brave and clever man and one perhaps who is more than he seems to +be.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who has been telling you about me?” exclaimed Bes anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +“No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things +you know not how?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to the +holy Tanofir.” +</p> + +<p> +“If hermits drink from such a cup I shall turn hermit,” said Bes, +laughing. “But how can a woman be a man’s cup and what kind of a +wine does he drink from her?” +</p> + +<p> +“The wine of wisdom, O Bes,” she replied colouring a little, for +like many Arabs of high blood she was very fair in hue. +</p> + +<p> +“Wine of wisdom,” said Bes. “From such cups most drink the +wine of folly, or sometimes of madness.” +</p> + +<p> +“The holy Tanofir awaits you,” she interrupted, and turning, +entered the doorway. +</p> + +<p> +A little way down the passage was a niche in which stood three lamps ready +lighted. One of these she took and gave the others to us. Then we followed her +down a steep incline of many steps, till at length we found ourselves in a hot +and enormous hall hewn from the living rock and filled with blackness. +</p> + +<p> +“What is this place?” said Bes, who looked frightened, and although +he spoke in a low whisper, our guide overheard him and turning, answered, +</p> + +<p> +“This is the burial place of the Apis bulls. See, here lies the last, not +yet closed in,” and holding up her lamp she revealed a mighty sarcophagus +of black granite set in a niche of the mausoleum. +</p> + +<p> +“So they make mummies of bulls as well as of men,” groaned Bes. +“Oh! what a land. But when I have seen the holy Tanofir it was in a brick +cell beneath the sky.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless that was at night, O Bes,” answered Karema, “for +in such a house he sleeps, spending his days in the Apis tomb, because of all +the evil that is worked beneath the sun.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hump,” said Bes, “I should have thought that more was worked +beneath the moon, but doubtless the holy Tanofir knows better, or being asleep +does not mind.” +</p> + +<p> +Now in front of each of the walled-up niches was a little chapel, and at the +fourth of these whence a light came, the maiden stopped, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“Enter. Here dwells the holy Tanofir. He tended this god during its +life-days in his youth, and now that the god is dead he prays above its +bones.” +</p> + +<p> +“Prays to the bones of a dead bull in the dark! Well, give me a live +grasshopper in the light; he is more cheerful,” muttered Bes. +</p> + +<p> +“O Dwarf,” cried a deep and resounding voice from within the +chapel, “talk no more of things you do not understand. I do not pray to +the bones of a dead bull, as you in your ignorance suppose. I pray to the +spirit whereof this sacred beast was but one of the fleshly symbols, which in +this haunted place you will do well not to offend.” +</p> + +<p> +Then for once I saw Bes grow afraid, for his great jaw dropped and he trembled. +</p> + +<p> +“Master,” he said to me, “when next you visit tombs where +maidens look into your heart and hermits hear your very thoughts, I pray you +leave me behind. The holy Tanofir I love, if from afar, but I like not his +house, or his——” Here he looked at Karema who was regarding +him with a sweet smile over the lamp flame, and added, “There is +something the matter with me, Master; I cannot even lie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Cease from talking follies, O Shabaka and Bes, and enter,” said +the tremendous voice from within. +</p> + +<p> +So we entered and saw a strange sight. Against the back wall of the chapel +which was lit with lamps, stood a life-sized statue of Maat, goddess of Law and +Truth, fashioned of alabaster. On her head was a tall feather, her hair was +covered with a wig, on her neck lay a collar of blue stones; on her arms and +wrists were bracelets of gold. A tight robe draped her body. In her right hand +that hung down by her side, she held the looped Cross of Life, and in her left +which was advanced, a long, lotus-headed sceptre, while her painted eyes stared +fixedly at the darkness. Crouched upon the ground, at the feet of the statue, +scribe fashion, sat my great-uncle Tanofir, a very aged man with sightless eyes +and long hands, so thin that one might see through them against the lamp-flame. +His head was shaven, his beard was long and white; white too was his robe. In +front of him was a low altar, on which stood a shallow silver vessel filled +with pure water, and on either side of it a burning lamp. +</p> + +<p> +We knelt down before him, or rather I knelt, for Bes threw himself flat upon +his face. +</p> + +<p> +“Am I the King of kings whom you have so lately visited, that you should +prostrate yourselves before me?” said Tanofir in his great voice, which, +coming from so frail and aged a man seemed most unnatural. “Or is it to +the goddess of Truth beyond that you bow yourselves? If so, that is well, since +one, if not both of you, greatly needs her pardon and her help. Or is it to the +sleeping god beyond who holds the whole world on his horns? Or is it to the +darkness of this hallowed place which causes you to remember the nearness of +the awaiting tomb?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, my Uncle,” I said, “we would greet you, no more, who +are so worthy of our veneration, seeing we believe, both of us, that you saved +us yonder in the East, from that tomb of which you speak, or rather from the +jaws of lions or a cruel death by torments.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perchance I did, I or the gods of which I am the instrument. At least I +remember that I sent you certain messages in answer to a prayer for help that +reached me, here in my darkness. For know that since we parted I have gone +quite blind so that I must use this maiden’s eyes to read what is written +in yonder divining-cup. Well, it makes the darkness of this sepulchre easier to +bear and prepares me for my own. ‘Tis full a hundred and twenty years +since first I looked upon the light, and now the time of sleep draws near. Come +hither, my nephew, and kiss me on the brow, remembering in your strength that a +day will dawn when as I am, so shall you be, if the gods spare you so +long.” +</p> + +<p> +So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly. Then he sent +Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I did. Why he did +this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already and once or twice +corrected me in certain matters that I had forgotten, for instance as to the +exact words that I had used to the Great King in my rage and as to the fashion +in which I was tied in the boat. When I had done, he said, +</p> + +<p> +“So you gave the name of Amada to the Great King, did you? Well, you +could have done nothing else if you wished to go on living, and therefore +cannot be blamed. Yet before all is finished I think it will bring you into +trouble, Shabaka, since among many gifts, the gods did not give that of reason +to women. If so, bear it, since it is better to have trouble and be alive than +to have none and be dead, that is, for those whose work is still to do in the +world. And you, or rather Bes, stole the White Signet of signets of which, +although it is so simple and ancient, there is not the like for power in the +whole world. That was well done since it will be useful for a while. And now +Peroa has determined to rebel against the King, which also is well done. Oh! +trouble not to tell me of that business for I know all. But what would you +learn of me, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am instructed to learn from you the end of these great matters, my +Uncle.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you mad, Shabaka, that you should think me a god who can read the +future?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all, my Uncle, who know that you can if you will.” +</p> + +<p> +“Call the maiden,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +So Bes went out and brought her in. +</p> + +<p> +“Be seated, Karema, there in front of the altar, and look into my +eyes.” +</p> + +<p> +She obeyed and presently seemed to go to sleep for her head nodded. Then he +said, +</p> + +<p> +“Wake, woman, look into the water in the bowl upon the altar and tell me +what you see.” +</p> + +<p> +She appeared to wake, though I perceived that this was not really so, for she +seemed a different woman with a fixed face that frightened me, and wide and +frozen eyes. She stared into the silver bowl, then spoke in a new voice, as +though some spirit used her tongue. +</p> + +<p> +“I see myself crowned a queen in a land I hate,” she said coldly, a +saying at which I gasped. “I am seated on a throne beside yonder +dwarf,” a saying at which Bes gasped. “Although so hideous, this +dwarf is a great man with a good heart, a cunning mind and the courage of a +lion. Also his blood is royal.” +</p> + +<p> +Here Bes rolled his eyes and smiled, but Tanofir did not seem in the least +astonished, and said, +</p> + +<p> +“Much of this is known to me and the rest can be guessed. Pass on to what +will happen in Egypt, before the spirit leaves you.” +</p> + +<p> +“There will be war in Egypt,” she answered. “I see fightings; +Shabaka and others lead the Egyptians. The Easterns are driven away or slain. +Peroa rules as Pharaoh, I see him on his throne. Shabaka is driven away in his +turn, I see him travelling south with the dwarf and with myself, looking very +sad. Time passes. I see the moons float by; I see messengers reach Shabaka, +sent by Peroa and you O holy Tanofir; they tell of trouble in Egypt. I see +Shabaka and the dwarf coming north at the head of a great army of black men +armed with bows. With them I come rejoicing, for my heart seems to shine. He +reaches a temple on the Nile about which is camped another great army, a +countless army of Easterns under the command of the King of kings. Shabaka and +the dwarf give battle to that army and the fray is desperate. They destroy it, +they drive it into the Nile; the Nile runs red with blood. The Great King +falls, an arrow from the bow of Shabaka is in his heart. He enters the temple, +a conqueror, and there lies Peroa, dying or dead. A veiled priestess is there +before an image, I cannot see her face. Shabaka looks on her. She stretches out +her arms to him, her eyes burn with woman’s love, her breast heaves, and +above the image frowns and threatens. All is done, for Tanofir, Master of +spirits, you die, yonder in the temple on the Nile, and therefore I can see no +more. The power that comes through you, has left me.” +</p> + +<p> +Then once more she became as a woman asleep. +</p> + +<p> +“You have heard, Shabaka and Bes,” said Tanofir quietly and +stroking his long white beard, “and what that maiden seemed to read in +the water you may believe or disbelieve as you will.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“The only part of the story whereof I am sure,” he replied, evading +a direct answer, “is that which said that I shall die, and that when I am +dead I shall no longer be able to cause the maiden Karema to see visions. For +the rest I do not know. These things may happen or they may not. But,” he +added with a note of warning in his voice, “whether they happen or not, +my counsel to you both is that you say nothing of them beforehand.” +</p> + +<p> +“What then shall we report to those who bid me seek the oracle of your +wisdom, O Tanofir?” +</p> + +<p> +“You can tell them that my wisdom declared that the omens were mixed with +good and evil, but that time would show the truth. Hush now, the maiden is +about to awake and must not be frightened. Also it is time for me to be led +from this sepulchre to where I sleep, for I think that Ra has set and I am +weary. Oh! Shabaka, why do you seek to peer into the future, which from day to +day will unroll itself as does a scroll? Be content with the present, man, and +take what Fate gives you of good or ill, not seeking to learn what offerings he +hides beneath his robe in the days and the years and the centuries to +come.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet you have sought to learn those things, O Tanofir, and not in +vain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Aye and what have they made of me? A blind old hermit weighed down with +the weight of years and holding in my fingers but some few threads that with +pain and grief I have plucked from the fringe of Wisdom’s robe. Be warned +by me, Nephew. While you are a man, live the life of a man, and when you become +a spirit, live the life of a spirit. But do not seek to mix the two together +like oil and wine, and thus spoil both. I am glad to learn, O Bes, that you are +going to make a king’s, or a slave’s wife, whichever it may be, of +this maiden, seeing that I love her well and hold this trade unwholesome for +her. She will be better bearing babes than reading visions in a diviner’s +cup, and I will pray the gods that they may not be dwarfs as you are, but take +on the likeness of their mother, who tells me that she is fair. Hush! she +stirs. +</p> + +<p> +“Karema, are you awake? Good. Then lead me from the sepulchre, that I may +make my evening prayer beneath the stars. Go, Shabaka and Bes, you are brave +men, both of you, and I am glad to have the one for nephew and the other for +pupil. My greetings to your mother, Tiu. She is a good woman and a true, one to +whom you will do well to hearken. To the lady Amada also, and bid her study her +beauteous face in a mirror and not be holy overmuch, since too great holiness +often thwarts itself and ends in trouble for the unholy flesh. Still she loves +pearls like other women, does she not, and even the statue of Isis likes to be +adorned. As for you, Bes, though I think that is not your name, do not lie +except when you are obliged, for jugglers who play with too many knives are apt +to cut their fingers. Also give no more evil counsel to your Master on matters +that have to do with woman. Now farewell. Let me hear how fortune favours you +from time to time, Shabaka, for you take part in a great game, such as I loved +in my youth before I became a holy hermit. Oh! if they had listened to me, +things would have been different in Egypt to-day. But it was written otherwise, +and as ever, women were the scribes. Good night, good night, good night! I am +glad that my thought reached you yonder in the East, and taught you what to say +and do. It is well to be wise sometimes, for others’ sake, but not for +our own, oh! not for our own.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +“Master,” said Bes as we ambled homewards beneath the stars, +“the holy Tanofir is a man for thought to feed on, since having climbed +to the topmost peak of holiness, he does not seem to like its cold air and +warns off those who would follow in his footsteps.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he might have spared himself the pains in your case, Bes, or in my +own for that matter, since we shall never come so high.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Master, and I am glad to have his leave to stay lower down, since +that hot place of dead bulls is not one which I wish to inhabit in my age, +making use of a maiden to stare into a pot of water, and there read marvels, +which I could invent better for myself after a jug or two of wine. Oh! the holy +Tanofir is quite right. If these things are going to happen let them happen, +for we cannot change them by knowing of them beforehand. Who wishes to know, +Master, if his throat will be cut?” +</p> + +<p> +“Or that he will be married,” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“Just so, Master, seeing that such prophecies end in becoming truths +because we make them true, feeling that we must. Thus, now I must marry yonder +Karema if she will marry me for fear lest I should prove the holy Tanofir to be +what he called me—a liar.” +</p> + +<p> +I laughed and then asked Bes if he had taken note of what the seeress said of +our flight south and our return thence with a great army of black men armed +with bows. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Master,” he answered gravely, “and I think this army +can be none other than that of the Ethiopians of whom by right I am the King. +This very night I send messengers to tell those who rule in my place that I +still live and am changing my mind on the matter of marriage. Also that if I do +change it I may return to them, the wisest man who ever wore the crown of +Ethiopia, having journeyed all about the world and collected much +knowledge.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, Bes, those who rule in your place may not wish to give it up to +you. Perhaps they will kill you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have no fear, Master; as I have told you, the Ethiopians are a faithful +people. Moreover they know that such a deed would bring the curse of the +Grasshopper on them, since then the locusts would appear and eat up all their +land, and when they were starving their enemies would attack them. Lastly they +are a very tall folk and simple-minded and would not wish to miss the chance of +being ruled over by the wisest dwarf in all the world, if only because it would +be something new to them, Master.” +</p> + +<p> +Again I laughed thinking that Bes was jesting according to his fashion. But +when that night, chancing to go round the corner of the house, I came upon him +with a circlet of feathers round his head and his big bow in his hand, +addressing three great black men who knelt before him as though he were a god, +I changed my mind. As I withdrew he caught sight of me and said, +</p> + +<p> +“I pray you, my lord Shabaka, stay one moment.” Then he spoke to +the three men in his own language, translating sentence by sentence to me what +he said to them. Briefly it was this:— +</p> + +<p> +“Say to the Lords and Councillors of the Ancient Kingdom that I, the +Karoon” (for such it seemed was his title) “have a friend named the +lord Shabaka, he whom you see before you, who again and again has saved my +life, nursing me in his arms as a mother nurses her babe, and who is, after me, +the bravest and the wisest man in all the world. Say to them that if indeed I +double myself by marriage and return having fulfilled the law, I will beg this +mighty prince to accompany me, and that if he consents that will be the most +joyful day which the Ethiopians have seen for a thousand years, since he will +teach them wisdom and lead their armies in great and glorious battles. Let the +priests of the Grasshopper pray therefore that he may consent to do so. Now +salute the mighty lord Shabaka who can send one arrow through all three of you +and two more behind, and depart, tarrying not day or night till you reach the +land of Ethiopia. Then when you have delivered the message of Karoon to the +Captains and the Councillors, return, or let others return and seek me out +wherever I may be, bringing of the gold of Ethiopia and other gifts, together +with their answer, seeing that I and the lord Shabaka who have the world +beneath our feet, will not come to a land where we are not welcome.” +</p> + +<p> +So these great men saluted me as though I were the King of kings himself, after +which they rubbed their foreheads in the dust before Bes, said something which +I did not understand, leapt to their feet, crying “Karoon” and +sprang away into the night. +</p> + +<p> +“It is good to have been a slave, Master,” said Bes when they had +gone, “since it teaches one that it is even better to be a king, at least +sometimes.” +</p> + +<p> +Here I may add that during the days which followed Bes was often absent. When I +asked him where he had gone, he would answer, to drink in the wisdom of the +holy Tanofir by help of a certain silver vessel that the maiden Karema held to +his lips. From all of which I gathered that he was wooing the lady who had +called herself the Cup of Tanofir, and wondered how the business went, though +as he said no more I did not ask him. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed I had little time to talk with Bes about such light matters, since +things moved apace in Memphis. Within six days all the great lords left in +Upper Egypt were sworn to the revolt under the leadership of Peroa, and hour by +hour their vassals or hired mercenaries flowed into the city. These it was my +duty to weld into an army, and at this task I toiled without cease, separating +them into regiments and drilling them, also arranging for the arming and +victualling of the boats of war. Then news came that Idernes was advancing from +Sais with a great force of Easterns, all the garrison of Lower Egypt indeed, as +his messengers said, to answer the summons conveyed to him under the private +Seal of seals. +</p> + +<p> +Of Amada during this time I saw little, only meeting her now and again at the +table of Peroa, or elsewhere in public. For the rest it pleased her to keep +away from me. Once or twice I tried to find her alone, only to discover that +she was engaged in the service of the goddess. Once, too, as she left +Peroa’s table, I whispered into her ear that I wished to speak with her. +But she shook her head, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“After the new moon, Shabaka. Then you shall speak with me as much as you +wish.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus it came about that never could I find opportunity to tell her of that +matter of what had happened at the court of the Great King. Still every morning +she sent me some token, flowers or trifling gifts, and once a ring that must +have belonged to her forefathers, since on its bezel was engraved the royal +<i>uræus</i>, together with the signs of long life and health, which ring I +wore hung about my neck but not upon my finger, fearing lest that emblem of +royalty might offend Peroa or some of his House, if they chanced to see it. So +in answer I also sent her flowers and other gifts, and for the rest was content +to wait. +</p> + +<p> +All of which things my mother noted with a smile, saying that the lady Amada +showed a wonderful discretion, such as any man would value in a wife of so much +beauty, which also must be most pleasing to her mistress, the goddess Isis. To +this I answered that I valued it less as a lover than I might do as a husband. +My mother smiled again and spoke of something else. +</p> + +<p> +Thus things went on while the storm-clouds gathered over Egypt. +</p> + +<p> +One night I could not sleep. It was that of the new moon and I knew that during +those hours of darkness, before the solemn conclave of the high priests, with +pomp and ceremony in the sanctuary of the temple, Amada had undergone +absolution of her vows to Isis and been given liberty to wed as other women do. +Indeed my mother, in virtue of her rank as a Singer of Amen, had been present +at the rite, and returning, told me all that happened. +</p> + +<p> +She described how Amada had appeared, clad as a priestess, how she had put up +her prayer to the four high priests seated in state, demanding to be loosed +from her vow “for the sake of her heart and of Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +Then one of the high priests, he of Amen, I think, as the chief of them all, +had advanced to the statue of the goddess Isis and whispered the prayer to it, +whereon after a pause the goddess nodded thrice in the sight of all present, +thereby signifying her assent. This done the high priest returned and +proclaimed the absolution in the ancient words “for the sake of the +suppliant’s heart and of Egypt” and with it the blessing of the +goddess on her union, adding, however, the formula, “at thy prayer, +daughter and spouse, I, the goddess Isis, cut the rope that binds thee to me on +earth. Yet if thou should’st tie it again, know that it may never more be +severed, for if thou strivest so to do, it shall strangle thee in whatever +shape thou livest on the earth throughout the generations, and with thee the +man thou choosest and those who give thee to him. Thus saith Isis the Queen of +Heaven.” +</p> + +<p> +“What does that mean?” I asked my mother. +</p> + +<p> +“It means, my son, that if, having broken her vows to Isis, a woman +should repeat them and once more enter the service of the goddess, and then for +the second time seek to break them, she and the man for whom she did this thing +would be like flies in a spider’s web, and that not only in this life, +but in any other that may be given to them in the world.” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems that Isis has a long arm,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Without doubt a very long arm, my son, since Isis, by whatever name she +is called, is a power that does not die or forget.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Mother, in this case she can have no reason to remember, since +never again will Amada be her priestess.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not, Shabaka. Yet who can be sure of what a woman will or will +not do, now or hereafter? For my part I am glad that I have served Amen and not +Isis, and that after I was wed.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br />THE SLAYING OF IDERNES</h2> + +<p> +Whilst I was still talking to my mother I received an urgent summons to the +palace. I went and in a little ante-chamber met Amada alone, who, I could see, +was waiting there for me. She was arrayed in her secular dress and wore the +insignia of royalty, looking exceedingly beautiful. Moreover, her whole aspect +had changed, for now she was no longer a priestess sworn to mysteries, but just +a lovely and a loving woman. +</p> + +<p> +“It is done, Shabaka,” she whispered, “and thou art mine and +I am thine.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I opened my arms and she sank upon my breast and for the first time I +kissed her on the lips, kissed her many times and oh! my heart almost burst +with joy. But all too fleeting was that sweet moment of love’s first +fruits, whereon I had sown the seed so many years ago, for while we yet clung +together, whispering sweet things into each other’s ears, I heard a voice +calling me and was forced to go away before I had even time to ask when we +might be wed. +</p> + +<p> +Within the Council was gathered. The news before it was that the Satrap Idernes +lay camped upon the Nile with some ten thousand men, not far from the great +pyramids, that is, within striking distance of Memphis. Moreover his messengers +announced that he purposed to visit the Prince Peroa that day with a small +guard only, to inquire into this matter of the Signet, for which visit he +demanded a safe-conduct sworn in the name of the Great King and in those of the +gods of Egypt and the East. Failing this he would at once attack Memphis +notwithstanding any commands that might be given him under the Signet, which, +until he beheld it with his own eyes, he believed to be a forgery. +</p> + +<p> +The question was—what answer should be sent to him? The debate that +followed proved long and earnest. Some were in favour of attacking Idernes at +once although his camp was reported to be strongly entrenched and flanked on +one side by the Nile and on the other by the rising ground whereon stood the +great sphinx and the pyramids. Others, among whom I was numbered, thought +otherwise, for I hold that some evil god led me to give counsel that day which, +if it were good for Egypt was most ill for my own fortunes. Perchance this god +was Isis, angry at the loss of her votary. +</p> + +<p> +I pointed out that by receiving Idernes Peroa would gain time which would +enable a body of three thousand men, if not more, who were advancing down the +Nile, to join us before they were perhaps cut off from the city, and thus give +us a force as large as his, or larger. Also I showed that having summoned +Idernes under the Signet, we should put ourselves in the wrong if we refused to +receive him and instead attacked him at once. +</p> + +<p> +A third party was in favour of allowing him to enter Memphis with his guard and +then making him prisoner or killing him. As to this I pointed out again that +not only would it involve the breaking of a solemn oath, which might bring the +curse of the gods upon our cause and proclaim us traitors to the world, but it +would also be foolish since Idernes was not the only general of the Easterns +and if we cut off him and his escort, it would avail us little for then the +rest of the Easterns would fight in a just cause. +</p> + +<p> +So in the end it was agreed that the safe-conduct should be sent and that Peroa +should receive Idernes that very day at a great feast given in his honour. +Accordingly it was sent in the ancient form, the oaths being taken before the +messengers that neither he nor those with him who must not number more than +twenty men, would be harmed in Memphis and that he would be guarded on the road +back until he reached the outposts of his own camp. +</p> + +<p> +This done, I was despatched up the Nile bank in a chariot accompanied only by +Bes, to hurry on the march of those troops of which I have spoken, so that they +might reach Memphis by sundown. Before I went, however, I had some words alone +with Peroa. He told me that my immediate marriage with the lady Amada would be +announced at the feast that night. Thereon I prayed him to deliver to Amada the +rope of priceless rose-hued pearls which was in his keeping, as my betrothal +gift, with the prayer that she would wear them at the feast for my sake. There +was no time for more. +</p> + +<p> +The journey up Nile proved long for the road was bad being covered with drifted +sand in some places and deep in mud from the inundation waters in others. At +length I found the troops just starting forward after their rest, and rejoiced +to see that there were more of them than I had thought. I told the case to +their captains, who promised to make a forced march and to be in Memphis two +hours before midnight. +</p> + +<p> +As we drove back Bes said to me suddenly, +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know why you could not find me this morning?” +</p> + +<p> +I answered that I did not. +</p> + +<p> +“Because a good slave should always run a pace ahead of his master, to +clear the road and tell him of its pitfalls. I was being married. The Cup of +the holy Tanofir is now by law and right Queen of the Ethiopians. So when you +meet her again you must treat her with great respect, as I do already.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, Bes,” I said laughing, “and how did you manage that +business? You must have wooed her well during these days which have been so +full for both of us.” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not woo her over much, Master; indeed, the time was lacking. I +wooed the holy Tanofir, which was more important.” +</p> + +<p> +“The holy Tanofir, Bes?” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Master. You see this beautiful Cup of his is after all—his +beautiful Cup. Her mind is the shadow of his mind and from her he pours out his +wisdom. So I told him all the case. At first he was angry, for, notwithstanding +the words he spoke to you and me, when it came to a point the holy Tanofir, +being after all much like other men, did not wish to lose his Cup. Indeed had +he been a few score of years younger I am not sure but that he would have +forgotten some of his holiness because of her. Still he came to see matters in +the true light at last—for your sake, Master, not for mine, since his +wisdom told him it was needful that I should become King of the Ethiopians +again, to do which I must be married. At any rate he worked upon the mind of +that Cup of his—having first settled that she should procure a younger +sister of her own to fill her place—in such fashion that when at length I +spoke to her on the matter, she did not say no.” +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would +not marry even to please the holy Tanofir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! Master,” he replied in a new voice, a very sad voice, “I +would that I could think so. But look at me, a misshapen dwarf, accursed from +birth. Could a fair lady like this Karema wed such a one for his own +sake?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir,” +I said hurriedly. +</p> + +<p> +“Master, there were no other reasons, unless the Cup, when it is awake, +remembers what it has held in trance, which I do not believe. I wooed her as I +was, not telling her that I am also King of the Ethiopians, or any more than I +seem to be. Moreover the holy Tanofir told her nothing, for he swore as much to +me and he does not lie.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what did she say to you, Bes?” I asked, for I was curious. +</p> + +<p> +“She lied fast enough, Master. She said—well, what she said when +first we met her, that there was more in me than the eye saw and that she who +had lived so much with spirits looked to the spirit rather than to the flesh, +and that dwarf or no she loved me and desired nothing better than to marry me +and be my true and faithful wife and helpmeet. She lied so well that once or +twice almost I believed her. At any rate I took her at her word, not altogether +for myself, believe me, Master, but because without doubt what the holy Tanofir +has shown us will come to pass, and it is necessary to you that I should be +married.” +</p> + +<p> +“You married her to help me, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“That is so, Master—after all, but a little thing, seeing that she +is beautiful, well born and very pleasant, and I am fond of her. Also I do her +no wrong for she has bought more than she bargained for, and if she has any +that are not dwarfs, her children may be kings. I do not think,” he added +reflectively, “that even the faithful Ethiopians could accept a second +dwarf as their king. One is very well for a change, but not two or three. The +stomach of a tall people would turn against them.” +</p> + +<p> +I took Bes’s hand and pressed it, understanding the depth of his love and +sacrifice. Also some spirit—doubtless it came from the holy +Tanofir—moved me to say, +</p> + +<p> +“Be comforted, Bes, for I am sure of this. Your children will be strong +and straight and tall, more so than any of their forefathers that went before +them.” +</p> + +<p> +This indeed proved to be the case, for their father’s deformity was but +an accident, not born in his blood. +</p> + +<p> +“Those are good-omened words, Master, for which I thank you, though the +holy Tanofir said the like when he wed us with the sacred words this morning +and gave us his blessing, endowing my wife with certain gifts of secret wisdom +which he said would be of use to her and me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where is she now, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“With the holy Tanofir, Master, until I fetch her, training her younger +sister to be a diviner’s worthy Cup. Only perhaps I shall never send, +seeing that I think there will be fighting soon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to +others.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, Master. Battle is better than wives. Moreover, could you think +that I would leave you to stand alone in the fray? Why if I did and harm came +to you I should die of shame or hang myself and then Karema would never be a +queen. So both her trades would be gone, since after marriage she cannot be a +Cup, and her heart would break. But here are the gates of Memphis, so we will +forget love and think of war.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +An hour later I and my mother, the lady Tiu, stood in the banqueting hall of +the palace with many others, and learned that the Satrap Idernes and his escort +had reached Memphis and would be present at the feast. A while later trumpets +blew and a glittering procession entered the hall. At the head of it was Peroa +who led Idernes by the hand. This Eastern was a big, strong man with tired and +anxious eyes, such as I had noted were common among the servants of the Great +King who from day to day never knew whether they would fill a Satrapy or a +grave. He was clad in gorgeous silks and wore a cap upon his head in which +shone a jewel, but beneath his robes I caught the glint of mail. +</p> + +<p> +As he came into the hall and noted the number and quality of the guests and the +stir and the expectant look upon their faces, he started as though he were +afraid, but recovering himself, murmured some courteous words to his host and +advanced towards the seat of honour which was pointed out to him upon the +Prince’s right. After these two followed the wife of Peroa with her son +and daughters. Then, walking alone in token of her high rank, appeared Amada, +the Royal Lady of Egypt, wonderfully arrayed. Now, however, she wore no emblems +of royalty, either because it was not thought wise that these should be shown +in the presence of the Satrap, or because she was about to be given in marriage +to one who was not royal. Indeed, as I noted with joy, her only ornament was +the rope of rose-hued pearls which were arranged in a double row upon her +breast. +</p> + +<p> +She searched me out with her eyes, smiled, touching the pearls with her finger, +and passed on to her place next to the daughters of Peroa, at one end of the +head table which was shaped like a horse’s hoof. +</p> + +<p> +After her came the nobles who had accompanied Idernes, grave Eastern men. One +of these, a tall captain with eyes like a hawk, seemed familiar to me. Nor was +I mistaken, for Bes, who stood behind me and whose business it would be to wait +on me at the feast, whispered in my ear, +</p> + +<p> +“Note that man. He was present when you were brought before the Great +King from the boat and saw and heard all that passed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I wish he were absent now,” I whispered back, for at the +words a sudden fear shot through me, of what I could not say. +</p> + +<p> +By degrees all were seated in their appointed places. Mine was by that of my +mother at a long table that stood as it were across the ends of the high table +but at a little distance from them, so that I was almost opposite to Peroa and +Idernes and could see Amada, although she was too far away for me to be able to +speak to her. +</p> + +<p> +The feast began and at first was somewhat heavy and silent, since, save for the +talk of courtesy, none spoke much. At length wine, whereof I noted that Idernes +drank a good deal, as did his escort, but Peroa and the Egyptians little, +loosened men’s tongues and they grew merrier. For it was the custom of +the people of the Great King to discuss both private and public business when +full of strong drink, but of the Egyptians when they were quite sober. This was +well known to Peroa and many of us, especially to myself who had been among +them, which was one of the reasons why Idernes had been asked to meet us at a +feast, where we might have the advantage of him in debate. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the Satrap noted the splendid cup from which he drank and asked some +question concerning it of the hawk-eyed noble of whom I have spoken. When it +had been answered he said in a voice loud enough for me to overhear, +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King which +it so much resembles?” +</p> + +<p> +“So I understand, O Idernes,” answered Peroa. “That is, until +it became mine by gift from the lord Shabaka, who received it from the Great +King.” +</p> + +<p> +An expression of horror appeared upon the face of the Satrap and upon those of +his nobles. +</p> + +<p> +“Surely,” he answered, “this Shabaka must hold the +King’s favours lightly if he passes them on thus to the first-comer. At +the least, let not the vessel which has been hallowed by the lips of the King +of kings be dishonoured by the humblest of his servants. I pray you, O Prince, +that I may be given another cup.” +</p> + +<p> +So a new goblet was brought to him, Peroa trying to pass the matter off as a +jest by appealing to me to tell the story of the cup. Then I said while all +listened, +</p> + +<p> +“O Prince, the most high Satrap is mistaken. The King of kings did not +give me the cup, I bought it from him in exchange for a certain famous bow, and +therefore held it not wrong to pass it on to you, my lord.” +</p> + +<p> +Idernes made no answer and seemed to forget the matter. +</p> + +<p> +A while later, however, his eye fell upon Amada and the rose-hued pearls she +wore, and again he asked a question of the hawk-eyed captain, then said, +</p> + +<p> +“Think me not discourteous, O Prince, if I seem to look upon yonder +lovely lady which in our country, where women do not appear in public, we +should think it an insult to do. But on her fair breast I see certain pearls +like to some that are known throughout the world, which for many years have +been worn by those who sit upon the throne of the East. I would ask if they are +the same, or others?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, O Idernes,” answered Peroa; “I only know that +the lord Shabaka brought them from the East. Inquire of him, if it be your +pleasure.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shabaka again——” began Idernes, but I cut him short, +saying, +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, O Satrap, Shabaka again. I won those pearls in a bet from the Great +King, and with them a certain weight of gold. This I think you knew before, +since your messenger of a while ago was whipped for trying to steal them, which +under the rods he said he did by command, O Satrap.” +</p> + +<p> +To this bold speech Idernes made no answer. Only his captains frowned and many +of the Egyptians murmured approval. +</p> + +<p> +After this the feast went on without further incident for a while, the Easterns +always drinking more wine, till at length the tables were cleared and all of +the meaner sort departed from the hall, save the butlers and the personal +servants such as Bes, who stood behind the seats of their masters. There came a +silence such as precedes the bursting of a storm, and in the midst of it +Idernes spoke, somewhat thickly. +</p> + +<p> +“I did not come here, O Peroa,” he said, “from the seat of +government at Sais to eat your meats and drink your wine. I came to speak of +high matters with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is so, O Satrap,” answered Peroa. “And now what may be +your will? Would you retire to discuss them with me and my Councillors?” +</p> + +<p> +“Where is the need, O Peroa, seeing that I have naught to say which may +not be heard by all?” +</p> + +<p> +“As it pleases you. Speak on, O Satrap.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have been summoned here, Prince Peroa, by a writing under what seems +to be the Signet of signets—the ancient White Seal that for generations +unknown has been worn by the forefathers of the King of kings. Where is this +Signet?” +</p> + +<p> +“Here,” said the Prince, opening his robe. “Look on it, +Satrap, and let your lords look, but let none of you dare to touch it.” +</p> + +<p> +Idernes looked long and earnestly, and so did some of his people, especially +the lord with the hawk eyes. Then they stared at each other bewildered and +whispered together. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems to be the very Seal—the White Seal itself!” +exclaimed Idernes at length. “Tell me now, Peroa. How came this sacred +thing that dwells in the East hither into Egypt?” +</p> + +<p> +“The lord Shabaka brought it to me with certain letters from the Great +King, O Satrap.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shabaka for the third time, by the holy Fire!” cried Idernes. +“He brought the cup; he brought the famous pearls; he brought the gold, +and he brought the Signet of signets. What is there then that he did not bring? +Perchance he has the person of the King of kings himself in his keeping!” +</p> + +<p> +“Not that, O Satrap, only the commands of the King of kings which are +prepared ready to deliver to you under the White Seal that you +acknowledge.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what may they be, Egyptian?” +</p> + +<p> +“This, O Satrap: That you and all the army which you have brought with +you retire to Sais and thence out of Egypt as quickly as you may, or pay for +disobedience with your lives.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Idernes and his captains gasped. +</p> + +<p> +“Why this is rebellion!” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“No, O Satrap, only the command of the Great King given under the White +Seal,” and drawing a roll from his breast, Peroa laid it on his brow and +cast it down before Idernes, adding, +</p> + +<p> +“Obey the writing and the Signet, or by virtue of my commission, as soon +as you are returned to your army and your safe-conduct is expired, I fall upon +you and destroy you.” +</p> + +<p> +Idernes looked about him like a wolf in a trap, then asked, +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean to murder me here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so,” answered Peroa, “for you have our safe-conduct and +Egyptians are honourable men. But you are dismissed your office and ordered to +leave Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +Idernes thought a little while, then said, +</p> + +<p> +“If I leave Egypt, there is at least one whom I am commanded to take with +me under orders and writings that you will not dispute, a maiden named Amada +whom the Great King would number among his women. I am told it is she who sits +yonder—a jewel indeed, fair as the pearls upon her breast which thus will +return into the King’s keeping. Let her be handed over, for she rides +with me at once.” +</p> + +<p> +Now in the midst of an intense silence Peroa answered, +</p> + +<p> +“Amada, the Royal Lady of Egypt, cannot be sent to dwell in the House of +Women of the Great King without the consent of the lord Shabaka, whose she +is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shabaka for the fourth time!” said Idernes, glaring at me. +“Then let Shabaka come too. Or his head in a basket will suffice, since +that will save trouble afterwards, also some pain to Shabaka. Why, now I +remember. It was this very Shabaka whom the Great King condemned to death by +the boat for a crime against his Majesty, and who bought his life by promising +to deliver to him the fairest and most learned woman in the world—the +lady Amada of Egypt. And thus does the knave keep his oath!” +</p> + +<p> +Now I leapt to my feet, as did most of those present. Only Amada kept her seat +and looked at me. +</p> + +<p> +“You lie!” I cried, “and were it not for your safe-conduct I +would kill you for the lie.” +</p> + +<p> +“I lie, do I?” sneered Idernes. “Speak then, you who were +present, and tell this noble company whether I lie,” and he pointed to +the hawk-eyed lord. +</p> + +<p> +“He does not lie,” said the Captain. “I was in the Court of +the Great King and heard yonder Shabaka purchase pardon by promising to hand +over his cousin, the lady Amada, to the King. The pearls were entrusted to him +as a gift to her and I see she wears them. The gold also of which mention has +been made was to provide for her journey in state to the East, or so I heard. +The cup was his guerdon, also a sum for his own purse.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is false,” I shouted. “The name of Amada slipped my lips +by chance—no more.” +</p> + +<p> +“So it slipped your lips by chance, did it?” sneered Idernes. +“Now, if you are wise, you will suffer the lady Amada to slip your hand, +and not by chance. But let us have done with this cunning knave. Prince, will +you hand over yonder fair woman, or will you not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Satrap, I will not,” answered Peroa. “The demand is an +insult put forward to force us to rebellion, since there is no man in Egypt who +will not be ready to die in defence of the Royal Lady of Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +This statement was received with a shout of applause by every Egyptian in the +hall. Idernes waited until it had died away, then said, +</p> + +<p> +“Prince Peroa and Egyptians, you have conveyed to me certain commands +sealed with the Signet of signets, which I think was stolen by yonder Shabaka. +Now hearken; until this matter is made clear I will obey those commands thus +far. I will return with my army to Sais and there wait until I have received +the orders of the Great King, after report made to him. If so much as an arrow +is shot at us on our march, it will be open rebellion, as the price of which +Egypt shall be crushed as she was never crushed before, and every one of you +here present shall lose his head, save only the lady Amada who is the property +of the Great King. Now I thank you for your hospitality and demand that you +escort me and those with me back to my camp, since it seems that here we are in +the midst of enemies.” +</p> + +<p> +“Before you go, Idernes,” I shouted, “know that you and your +lying captain shall pay with your lives for your slander on me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Many will pay with their lives for this night’s work, O thief of +pearls and seals,” answered the Satrap, and turning, left the hall with +his company. +</p> + +<p> +Now I searched for Amada, but she also had gone with the ladies of +Peroa’s household who feared lest the feast should end in blows and +bloodshed, also lest she should be snatched away. Indeed of all the women in +the hall, only my mother remained. +</p> + +<p> +“Search out the lady Amada,” I said to her, “and tell her the +truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, my son,” she answered thoughtfully; “but what is the +truth? I understood it was Bes who first gave the name of the lady Amada to the +Great King. Now we learn from your own lips that it was you. Wise would you +have been, my son, if you had bitten out your tongue before you said it, since +this is a matter that any woman may well misunderstand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Her name was surprised out of me, Mother. It was Bes who spoke to the +King of the beauty of a certain lady of Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I think, my son, it was Bes who told Peroa and his guests that he +and not you had given the King her name, which you do not seem to have denied. +Well, doubtless both of you are to blame for foolishness, no more, since well I +know that you would have died ten times over rather than buy your life at the +price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt. This I will say to her as soon as I +may, praying that it may not be too late, and afterwards you shall tell me +everything, which you would have done well to do at first, if Bes, as I think, +had not been over cunning after the fashion of black people, and counselled you +otherwise. See, Peroa calls you and I must go, for there are greater matters +afoot than that of who let slip the name of the lady Amada to the King of +kings.” +</p> + +<p> +So she went and there followed a swift council of war, the question being +whether we were to strike at the Satrap’s army or to allow it to retreat +to Sais. In my turn I was asked for my judgment of the issue, and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“Strike and at once, since we cannot hope to storm Sais, which is far +away. Moreover such strength as we have is now gathered and if it is idle and +perhaps unpaid, will disperse again. But if we can destroy Idernes and his +army, it will be long before the King of kings, who is sending all his +multitudes against the Greeks, can gather another, and during this time Egypt +may again become a nation and able to protect herself under Peroa her own +Pharaoh.” +</p> + +<p> +In the end I, and those who thought like me, prevailed, so that before the dawn +I was sailing down the Nile with the fleet, having two thousand men under my +command. Also I took with me the six hunters whom I had won from the Great +King, since I knew them to be faithful, and thought that their knowledge of the +Easterns and their ways might be of service. Our orders were to hold a certain +neck of land between the river and the hills where the army of Idernes must +pass, until Peroa and all his strength could attack him from behind. +</p> + +<p> +Four hours later, the wind being very favourable to us, we reached that place +and there took up our station and having made all as ready as we could, rested. +</p> + +<p> +In the early afternoon Bes awakened me from the heavy sleep into which I had +fallen, and pointed to the south. I looked and through the desert haze saw the +chariots of Idernes advancing in ordered ranks, and after them the masses of +his footmen. +</p> + +<p> +Now we had no chariots, only archers, and two regiments armed with long spears +and swords. Also the sailors on the boats had their slings and throwing +javelins. Lastly the ground was in our favour since it sloped upwards and the +space between the river and the hills was narrow, somewhat boggy too after the +inundation of the Nile, which meant that the chariots must advance in a column +and could not gather sufficient speed to sweep over us. +</p> + +<p> +Idernes and his captains noted all this also, and halted. Then they sent a +herald forward to ask who we were and to command us in the name of the Great +King to make way for the army of the Great King. +</p> + +<p> +I answered that we were Egyptians, ordered by Peroa to hold the road against +the Satrap who had done affront to Egypt by demanding that its Royal Lady +should be given over to him to be sent to the East as a woman-slave, and that +if the Satrap wished to clear a road, he could come and do so. Or if it pleased +him he could go back towards Memphis, or stay where he was, since we did not +wish to strike the first blow. I added this, +</p> + +<p> +“I who speak on behalf of the Prince Peroa, am the lord Shabaka, that +same man whom but last night the Satrap and a certain captain of his named a +liar. Now the Easterns are brave men and we of Egypt have always heard that +among them none is braver than Idernes who gained his advancement through +courage and skill in war. Let him therefore come out together with the lord who +named me a liar, armed with swords only, and I, who being a liar must also be a +coward, together with my servant, a black dwarf, will meet them man to man in +the sight of both the armies, and fight them to the death. Or if it pleases +Idernes better, let him not come and I will seek him and kill him in the +battle, or by him be killed.” +</p> + +<p> +The herald, having taken stock of me and of Bes at whom he laughed, returned +with the message. +</p> + +<p> +“Will he come, think you, Master?” asked Bes. +</p> + +<p> +“Mayhap,” I answered, “since it is a shame for an Eastern to +refuse a challenge from any man whom he calls barbarian, and if he did so it +might cost him his life afterwards at the hands of the Great King. Also if he +should fall there are others to take his command, but none who can wipe away +the stain upon his honour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said Bes; “also they will think me a dwarf of no +account, which makes the task of killing you easy. Well, they shall see.” +</p> + +<p> +Now when I sent this challenge I had more in my mind than a desire to avenge +myself upon Idernes and his captain for the public shame they had put upon me. +I wished to delay the attack of their host upon our little band and give time +for the army of Peroa to come up behind. Moreover, if I fell it did not greatly +matter, except as an omen, seeing that I had good officers under me who knew +all my plans. +</p> + +<p> +We saw the herald reach the Satrap’s army and after a while return +towards us again, which made us think my challenge had been refused, especially +as with him was an officer who, I took it, was sent to spy out our strength. +But this was not so, for the man said, +</p> + +<p> +“The Satrap Idernes has sworn by the Great King to kill the thief of the +Signet and send his head to the Great King, and fears that if he waits to meet +him in battle, he may slip away. Therefore he is minded to accept your +challenge, O Shabaka, and put an end to you, and indeed under the laws of the +East he may not refuse. But a noble of the Great King may not fight against a +black slave save with a whip, so how can that noble accept the challenge of the +dwarf Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite well,” answered Bes, “seeing that I am no slave but a +free citizen of Egypt. Moreover, in my own country of Ethiopia I am of royal +blood. Lastly, tell the man this, that if he does not come and afterwards falls +into my hands or into those of the lord Shabaka, he who talks of whips shall be +scourged with them till his life creeps out from between his bare bones.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus spoke Bes, rolling his great eyes and looking so terrible that the herald +and the officer fell back a step or two. Then I told them that if my offer did +not please them, I myself would fight, first Idernes and then the noble. So +they returned. +</p> + +<p> +The end of it was that we saw Idernes and his captain advancing, followed by a +guard of ten men. Then after I had explained all things to my officers, I also +advanced with Bes, followed by a guard of ten picked men. We met between the +armies on a little sandy plain at the foot of the rise and there followed talk +between the captains of our guards as to arms and so forth, but we four said +nothing to each other, since the time for words was past. Only Bes and I sat +down upon the sand and spoke a little together of Amada and Karema and of how +they would receive the news of our victory or deaths. +</p> + +<p> +“It does not much matter, Master,” said Bes at last, “seeing +that if we die we shall never know, and if we live we shall learn for +ourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +At length all was arranged and we stood up to face each other, the four of us +being armed in the same way. For as did Idernes and the hawk-eyed lord, Bes and +I wore shirts of mail and helms, those that we had brought with us from the +East. For weapons we had short and heavy swords, small shields and knives at +our girdles. +</p> + +<p> +“Look your last upon the sun, Thieves,” mocked Idernes, “for +when you see it again, it shall be with blind eyes from the points of spears +fastened to the gateway pillars of the Great King’s palace.” +</p> + +<p> +“Liars you have lived and liars you shall die,” shouted Bes, but I +said nothing. +</p> + +<p> +Now the agreement was that when the word had been given Idernes and I, and the +noble and Bes, should fight together, but if they killed one of us, or we +killed one of them, the two who survived might fall together on the remaining +man. Remembering this, as he told me afterwards, at the signal Bes leapt +forward like a flash with working face and foam upon his lips, and before ever +I could come to Idernes, how I know not, had received the blow of the Eastern +lord upon his shield and without striking back, had gripped him in his long +arms and wrapped him round with his bowed legs. In an instant they were on the +ground, Bes uppermost, and I heard the sound of blow upon blow struck with +knife or sword, I knew not which, upon the Eastern’s mail, followed by a +shout of victory from the Egyptians which told me that Bes had slain him. +</p> + +<p> +Now Idernes and I were smiting at each other. He was a taller and a bigger man +than myself, but older and one who had lived too well. Therefore I thought it +wise to keep him at a distance and tire him, which I did by retreating and +catching his sword-cuts on my shield, only smiting back now and again. +</p> + +<p> +“He runs! He runs!” shouted the Easterns. “O Idernes, beware +the dwarf!” +</p> + +<p> +“Stand away, Bes,” I called; “this is my game,” and he +obeyed, as often he had done when we were hunting together. +</p> + +<p> +Now a shrewd blow from Idernes cut through my helm and staggered me, and +another before I could recover myself, shore the shield from my hand, whereat +the Easterns shouted more loudly than before. Then fear of defeat entered into +me and made me mad, for this Satrap was a great fighter. With a shout of +“Egypt!” I went at him like a wounded lion and soon it was his turn +to stagger back. But alas! I struck too hard, for my sword snapped upon his +mail. +</p> + +<p> +“The knife!” screamed Bes; “the knife!” +</p> + +<p> +I hurled the sword hilt in the Satrap’s face and drew the dagger from my +belt. Then I ran in beneath his guard and stabbed and stabbed and stabbed. He +gripped me and we went down side by side, rolling over each other. The gods +know how it ended, for things were growing dim to me when some thrust of mine +found a rent in his mail made when the sword broke and he became weak. His +spirit weakened also, for he gasped, +</p> + +<p> +“Spare my life, Egyptian, and my treasure is yours. I swear it by the +Fire.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not for all the treasure in the world, Slanderer,” I panted back +and drove the dagger home to the hilt thrice, until he died. Then I staggered +to my feet, and when the armies saw that it was I who rose while Idernes lay +still a roar of triumph went up from the Egyptians, answered by a roar of rage +from the Easterns. +</p> + +<p> +With a cry of “Well done, Master!” Bes leapt upon the dead man and +hewed his head from him, as already he had served the hawk-eyed noble. Then +gripping one head in each hand he held them up for the Easterns to see. +</p> + +<p> +“Men of the Great King,” I said, “bear us witness that we +have fought fairly, man to man, when we need not have done so.” +</p> + +<p> +The ten of the Satrap’s guard stood silent, but my own shouted, +</p> + +<p> +“Back, Shabaka! The Easterns charge!” +</p> + +<p> +I looked and saw them coming like waves of steel, then supported by my men and +preceded by Bes who danced in front shaking the severed heads, I ran back to my +own ranks where one gave me wine to drink and threw water over my hurts which +were but slight. Scarcely was it done when the battle closed in and soon in it +I forgot the deaths of Idernes and the Eastern liar. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br />AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS</h2> + +<p> +We fought a very terrible fight that evening there by the banks of Nile. Our +position was good, but we were outnumbered by four or five to one, and the +Easterns and their mercenaries were mad at the death of the Satrap by my hand. +Time upon time they came on furiously, charging up the slope like wild bulls. +For the most part we relied upon our archers to drive them back, since our +half-trained troops could scarcely hope to stand against the onset of veterans +disciplined in war. So taking cover behind the rocks we rained arrows on them, +shooting the horses in the chariots, and when these were down, pouring our +shafts upon the footmen behind. Myself I took my great black bow and drew it +thrice, and each time I saw a noble fall, for no mail could withstand the +arrows which it sent, and of that art I was a master. None in Egypt could shoot +so far or so straight as I did, save perhaps Peroa himself. I had no time to do +more since always I must be moving up and down the line encouraging my men. +</p> + +<p> +Three times we drove them back, after which they grew cunning. Ceasing from a +direct onslaught and keeping what remained of their chariots in reserve, they +sent one body of men to climb along the slope of the hill where the rocks gave +them cover from our arrows, and another to creep through the reeds and growing +crops upon the bank of the river where we could not see to shoot them well, +although the slingers in the ships did them some damage. +</p> + +<p> +Thus they attacked us on either flank, and while we were thus engaged their +centre made a charge. Then came the bitterest of the fighting for now the bows +were useless, and it was sword against sword and spear against spear. Once we +broke and I thought that they were through. But I led a charge against them and +drove them back a little way. Still the issue was doubtful till I saw Bes rush +past me grinning and leaping, and with him a small body of Greeks whom we held +in reserve, and I think that the sight of the terrible dwarf whom they thought +a devil, frightened the Easterns more than did the Greeks. +</p> + +<p> +At any rate, shouting out something about an evil spirit whom the Egyptians +worshipped, by which I suppose they meant that god after whom Bes was named, +they retreated, leaving many dead but taking their wounded with them, for they +were unbroken. +</p> + +<p> +At the foot of the slope they reformed and took counsel, then sat down out of +bowshot as though to rest. Now I guessed their plan. It was to wait till night +closed in, which would be soon for the sun was sinking, and then, when we could +not see to shoot, either rush through us by the weight of numbers, or march +back to where the cliffs were lower and climb them, thus passing us on the +higher open land. +</p> + +<p> +Now we also took counsel, though little came of it, since we did not know what +to do. We were too few to attack so great an army, nor if we climbed the cliffs +could we hope to withstand them in the desert sands, or to hold our own against +them if they charged in the dark. If this happened it seemed that all we could +do would be to fight as long as we could, after which the survivors of us must +take refuge on our boats. So it came to this, that we should lose the battle +and the greater part of the Easterns would win back to Sais, unless indeed the +main army under Peroa came to our aid. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst we talked I caused the wounded to be carried to the ships before it grew +too dark to move them. Bes went with them. Presently he returned, running +swiftly. +</p> + +<p> +“Master,” he said, “the evening wind is blowing strong and +stirs the sand, but from a mast-head through it I caught sight of Peroa’s +banners. The army comes round the bend of the river not four furlongs away. Now +charge and those Easterns will be caught between the hammer and the stone, for +while they are meeting us they will not look behind.” +</p> + +<p> +So I went down the lines of our little force telling them the good news and +showing them my plan. They listened and understood. We formed up, those who +were left of us, not more than a thousand men perhaps, and advanced. The +Easterns laughed when they saw us coming down the slope, for they thought that +we were mad and that they would kill us every one, believing as they did that +Peroa had no other army. When we were within bowshot we began to shoot, though +sparingly, for but few arrows were left. Galled by our archery they marshalled +their ranks to charge us again. With a shout we leapt forward to meet them, for +now from the higher ground I saw the chariots of Peroa rushing to our rescue. +</p> + +<p> +We met, we fought. Surely there had been no such fighting since the days of +Thotmes and Rameses the Great. Still they drove us back till unseen and +unsuspected the chariots and the footmen of Peroa broke on them from behind, +broke on them like a desert storm. They gave, they fled this way and that, some +to the banks of the Nile, some to the hills. By the light of the setting sun we +finished it and ere the darkness closed in the Great King’s army was +destroyed, save for the fugitives whom we hunted down next day. +</p> + +<p> +Yes, in that battle perished ten thousand of the Easterns and their +mercenaries, and upon its field at dawn we crowned Peroa Pharaoh of Egypt, and +he named me the chief general of his army. There, too, fell over a thousand of +my men and among them those six hunters whom I had won in the wager with the +Great King and brought with me from the East. Throughout the fray they served +me as a bodyguard, fighting furiously, who knew that they could hope for no +mercy from their own people. One by one they were slain, the last two of them +in the charge at sunset. Well, they were brave and faithful to me, so peace be +on their spirits. Better to die thus than in the den of lions. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +In triumph we returned to Memphis, I bringing in the rear-guard and the spoils. +Before Pharaoh and I parted a messenger brought me more good news. Sure tidings +had come that the King of kings had been driven by revolt in his dominions to +embark upon a mighty war with Syria, Greece and Cyprus and other half-conquered +countries, in which, doubtless by agreement, the fires of insurrection had +suddenly burned up. Also already Peroa’s messengers had departed to tell +them of what was passing on the Nile. +</p> + +<p> +“If this be true,” said Peroa when he had heard all, “the +Great King will have no new army to spare for Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is so, Pharaoh,” I answered. “Yet I think he will conquer +in this great war and that within two years you must be prepared to meet him +face to face.” +</p> + +<p> +“Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be +done.” +</p> + +<p> +But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this by the +work of Woman the destroyer. +</p> + +<p> +It happened thus. Amidst great rejoicings Pharaoh reached Memphis and in the +vast temple of Amen laid down our spoils in the presence of the god, thousands +of right hands hewn from the fallen, thousands of swords and other weapons and +tens of chariots, together with much treasure of which a portion was given to +the god. The high priests blessed us in the name of Amen and of the other gods; +the people blessed us and threw flowers in our path; all the land rejoiced +because once more it was free. +</p> + +<p> +There too that day in the temple with ancient form and ceremonial Peroa was +crowned Pharaoh of Egypt. Sceptres and jewels that had been hid for generations +were brought out by those who knew the secret of their hiding-places; the +crowns that had been worn by old Pharaohs, were set upon his head; yes, the +double crown of the Upper and the Lower Land. Thus in a Memphis mad with joy at +the casting off of the foreign yoke, he was anointed the first of a new +dynasty, and with him his queen. +</p> + +<p> +I too received honours, for the story of the slaying of Idernes at my hands and +of how I held the pass had gone abroad, so that next to Pharaoh, I was looked +upon as the greatest man in Egypt. Nor was Bes forgotten, since many of the +common people thought that he was a spirit in the form of a dwarf whom the gods +had sent to aid us with his strength and cunning. Indeed at the close of the +ceremony voices cried out in the multitude of watchers, demanding that I who +was to marry the Royal Lady of Egypt should be named next in succession to the +throne. +</p> + +<p> +The Pharaoh heard and glanced first at his son and then at me, doubtfully, +whereon, covered with confusion, I slipped away. +</p> + +<p> +The portico of the temple was deserted, since all, even the guards, had crowded +into the vast court to watch the coronation. Only in the shadow, seated against +the pedestal of one of the two colossal statues in front of the outer pylon +gate and looking very small beneath its greatness, was a man wrapped in a dark +cloak whom noting vaguely I took to be a beggar. As I passed him, he plucked at +my robe, and I stopped to search for something to give to him but could find +naught. +</p> + +<p> +“I have nothing, Father,” I said laughing, “except the gold +hilt of my sword.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do not part with that, Son,” answered a deep voice, “for I +think you will need it before all is over.” +</p> + +<p> +Then while I stared at him he threw back his hood and I saw that beneath was +the ancient withered face and the long white beard of my great-uncle, the holy +Tanofir, the hermit and magician. +</p> + +<p> +“Great things happen yonder, Shabaka. So great that I have come from my +sepulchre to see, or rather, being blind, to listen, who thrice in my life days +have known the like before,” and he pointed to the glittering throng in +the court within. “Yes,” he went on, “I have seen Pharaohs +crowned and Pharaohs die—one of them at the hand of a conqueror. What +will happen to this Pharaoh, think you, Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +“You should be better able to answer that question than I, who am no +prophet, my Uncle.” +</p> + +<p> +“How, my Nephew, seeing that your dwarf has borne away my magic Cup? I do +not grudge her to him for he is a brave dwarf and clever, who may yet prove a +good prop to you, as he has done before, and to Egypt also. But she has gone +and the new vessel is not yet shaped to my liking. So how can I answer?” +</p> + +<p> +“Out of the store of wisdom gathered in your breast.” +</p> + +<p> +“So! my Nephew. Well, my store of wisdom tells me that feasts are +sometimes followed by want and rejoicings by sorrow and victories by defeat, +and splendid sins by repentance and slow climbing back to good again. Also that +you will soon take a long journey. Where is the Royal Lady Amada? I did not +hear her step among those who passed in to the Crowning. But even my hearing +has grown somewhat weak of late, except in the silence of the night, +Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know, my Uncle, who have only been in Memphis one hour. But +what do you mean? Doubtless she prepares herself for the feast where I shall +meet her.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless. Tell me, what passes at the temple of Isis? As I crept past +the pylon feeling my way with my beggar’s staff, I thought—but how +can you know who have only been in Memphis an hour? Yet surely I heard voices +just now calling out that you, Shabaka, should be named as the next successor +to the throne of Egypt. Was it so?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, holy Tanofir. That is why I have left who was vexed and am sworn to +seek no such honour, which indeed I do not desire.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just so, Nephew. Yet gifts have a way of coming to those who do not +desire them and the last vision that I saw before my Cup left me, or rather +that she saw, was of you wearing the Double Crown. She said that you looked +very well in it, Shabaka. But now begone, for hark, here comes the procession +with the new-anointed Pharaoh whose royal robe you won for him yonder in the +pass, when you smote down Idernes and held his legions. Oh! it was well done +and my new Cup, though faulty, was good enough to show me all. I felt proud of +you, Shabaka, but begone, begone! ‘A gift for the poor old beggar! A +gift, my lords, for the poor blind beggar who has had none since the last +Pharaoh was crowned in Egypt and finds it hard to live on +memories!’” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +At our house I found my mother just returned from the Coronation, but Bes I did +not find and guessed that he had slipped away to meet his new-made wife, +Karema. My mother embraced me and blessed me, making much of me and my deeds in +the battle; also she doctored such small hurts as I had. I put the matter by as +shortly as I could and asked her if she had seen aught of Amada. She answered +that she had neither seen nor heard of her which I was sure she thought +strange, as she began to talk quickly of other things. I said to her what I had +said to the holy Tanofir, that doubtless she was making ready for the feast +since I could not find her at the Crowning. +</p> + +<p> +“Or saying good-bye to the goddess,” answered my mother nodding, +“since there are some who find it even harder to fall from heaven to +earth than to climb from earth to heaven, and after all you are but a man, my +son.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she slipped away to attire herself, leaving me wondering, because my +mother was shrewd and never spoke at random. +</p> + +<p> +There was the holy Tanofir, too, with his talk about the temple of Isis, and he +also did not speak at random. Oh! now I felt as I had done when the shadow of +the palm-tree fell on me yonder in the palace garden. +</p> + +<p> +The mood passed for my blood still tingled with the glory of that great fight, +and my heart shut its doors to sadness, knowing as I did, that I was the most +praised man in Memphis that day. Indeed had I not, I should have learned it +when with my mother I entered the great banqueting-hall of the palace somewhat +late, for she was long in making ready. +</p> + +<p> +The first thing I saw there was Bes gorgeously arrayed in Eastern silks that he +had plundered from the Satrap’s tent, standing on a table so that all +might see and hear him, and holding aloft in one hand the grisly head of +Idernes and in the other that of the hawk-eyed noble whom he had slain, while +in his thick, guttural voice he told the tale of that great fray. Catching +sight of me, he called aloud, +</p> + +<p> +“See! Here comes the man! Here comes the hero to whom Egypt owes its +liberty and Pharaoh his crown.” +</p> + +<p> +Thereon all the company and the soldiers and servants who were gathered about +the door began to shout and acclaim me, till I wished that I could vanish away +as the holy Tanofir was said to be able to do. Since this was impossible I +rushed at Bes who leapt from the table like a monkey and, still waving the +heads and talking, slipped from the hall, I know not how, followed by the loud +laughter of the guests. +</p> + +<p> +Then heralds announced the coming of Pharaoh and all grew silent. He and his +company entered with pomp and we, his subjects, prostrated ourselves in the +ancient fashion. +</p> + +<p> +“Rise, my guests,” he cried. “Rise, my people. Above all do +you rise, Shabaka, my beloved cousin, to whom Egypt and I owe so much.” +</p> + +<p> +So we rose and I took my seat in a place of honour having my mother at my side, +and looked about me for Amada, but in vain. There was the carven chair upon +which she should have been among those of the princesses, but it was empty. At +first I thought that she was late, but when time went by and she did not +appear, I asked if she were ill, a question that none seemed able to answer. +</p> + +<p> +The feast went on with all the ancient ceremonies that attended the crowning of +a Pharaoh of Egypt, since there were old men who remembered these, also the +scribes and priests had them written in their books. +</p> + +<p> +I took no heed of them and will not set them down. At length Pharaoh pledged +his subjects, and his subjects pledged Pharaoh. Then the doors were opened and +through them came a company of white-robed, shaven priests bearing on a bier +the body of a dead man wrapped in his mummy-cloths. At first some laughed for +this rite had not been performed in Egypt since she passed into the hands of +the Great Kings of the East and therefore was strange to them. Then they grew +silent since after all it was solemn to see those death-bearing priests +flitting in and out between the great columns, now seen and now lost in the +shadows, and to listen to their funeral chants. +</p> + +<p> +In the hush my mother whispered to me that this body was that of the last +Pharaoh of Egypt brought from his tomb, but whether this were so I cannot say +for certain. At length they brought the mummy which was crowned with a +snake-headed circlet of the royal <i>uræus</i> and still draped with withered +funeral wreaths, and stood it on its feet opposite to Peroa just behind and +between my mother and me in such a fashion that it cut off the light from us. +</p> + +<p> +The faint and heavy smell of the embalmer’s spices struck upon my +nostrils, a dead flower from the chaplets fell upon my head and, glancing over +my shoulder, I saw the painted or enamelled eyes in the gilded mask staring at +me. The thing filled me with fear, I knew not of what. Not of death, surely, +for that I had faced a score of times of late and thought nothing of it. Indeed +I am not sure that it was fear I felt, but rather a deep sense of the vanity of +all things. It seemed to come home to me—Shabaka or Allan Quatermain, for +in my dream the inspiration or whatever it might be, struck through the spirit +that animated both of us—as it had never done before, that everything is +<i>nothing</i>, that victory and love and even life itself have no meaning; +that naught really exists save the soul of man and God, of whom perchance that +soul is a part sent forth for a while to do His work through good and ill. The +thought lifted me up and yet crushed me, since for a moment all that makes a +man passed away, and I felt myself standing in utter loneliness, naked before +the glory of God, watched only by the flaming stars that light his throne. Yes, +and at that moment suddenly I learned that all the gods are but one God, having +many shapes and called by many names. +</p> + +<p> +Then I heard the priests saying, +</p> + +<p> +“Pharaoh the Osiris greets Pharaoh the living on the Earth and sends to +him this message—‘As I am, so shalt thou be, and where I am, there +thou shalt dwell through all the ages of Eternity.’” +</p> + +<p> +Then Pharaoh the living rose and bowed to Pharaoh the dead and Pharaoh the dead +was taken away back to his Eternal House and I wondered whether his <i>Ka</i> +or his spirit, or whatever is the part of him that lives on, were watching us +and remembering the feasts whereof he had partaken in his pomp in this pillared +hall, as his forefathers had done before him for hundreds or thousands of +years. +</p> + +<p> +Not until the mummy had gone and the last sound of the chanting of the priests +had died, did the hearts of the feasters grow light again. But soon they +forgot, as men alive always forget death and those whom Time has devoured, for +the wine was good and strong and the eyes of the women were bright and victory +had crowned our spears, and for a while Egypt was once more free. +</p> + +<p> +So it went on till Pharaoh rose and departed, the great gold earrings in his +ears jingling as he walked, and the trumpets sounding before and after him. I +too rose to go with my mother when a messenger came and bade me wait upon +Pharaoh, and with me the dwarf Bes. So we went, leaving an officer to conduct +my mother to our home. As I passed her she caught me by the sleeve and +whispered in my ear, +</p> + +<p> +“My son, whatever chances to you, be brave and remember that the world +holds more than women.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered, “it holds death and God, or they hold +it,” though what put the words into my mind I do not know, since I did +not understand and had no time to ask her meaning. +</p> + +<p> +The messenger led us to the door of Peroa’s private chamber, the same in +which I had seen him on my return from the East. Here he bade me enter, and Bes +to wait without. I went in and found two men and a woman in the chamber, all +standing very silent. The men were Pharaoh who still wore his glorious robe and +Double Crown, and the high priest of Isis clothed in white; the other was the +lady Amada also clothed in the snowy robes of Isis. +</p> + +<p> +At the sight of her thus arrayed my heart stopped and I stood silent because I +could not speak. She too stood silent and I saw that beneath her thin veil her +beautiful face was set and pale as that of an alabaster statue. Indeed she +might have been not a lovely living woman, but the goddess Isis herself whose +symbols she bore about her. +</p> + +<p> +“Shabaka,” said Pharaoh at length, “the Royal Lady of Egypt, +Amada, priestess of Isis, has somewhat to say to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let the Royal Lady of Egypt speak on to her servant and affianced +husband,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Count Shabaka, General of the armies,” she began in a cold clear +voice like to that of one who repeats a lesson, “learn that you are no +more my affianced husband and that I who am gathered again to Isis the divine, +am no more your affianced wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not understand. Will it please you to be more plain?” I said +faintly. +</p> + +<p> +“I will be more plain, Count Shabaka, more plain than you have been with +me. Since we speak together for the last time it is well that I should be +plain. Hear me. When first you returned from the East, in yonder hall you told +us of certain things that happened to you there. Then the dwarf your servant +took up the tale. He said that he gave my name to the Great King. I was wroth +as well I might be, but even when I prayed that he should be scourged, you did +not deny that it was he who gave my name to the King, although Pharaoh yonder +said that if you had spoken the name it would have been another matter.” +</p> + +<p> +“I had no time,” I answered, “for just then the messengers +came from Idernes and afterwards when I sought you you were gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Had you then no time,” she asked coldly, “beneath the palms +in the garden of the palace when we were affianced? Oh! there was time in +plenty but it did not please you to tell me that you had bought safety and +great gifts at the price of the honour of the Lady of Egypt whose love you +stole.” +</p> + +<p> +“You do not understand!” I exclaimed wildly. +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me, Shabaka, but I understand very well indeed, since from your +own words I learned at the feast given to Idernes that ‘the name of +Amada’ slipped your lips by chance and thus came to the ears of the Great +King.” +</p> + +<p> +“The tale that Idernes and his captain told was false, Lady, and for it +Bes and I took their lives with our own hands.” +</p> + +<p> +“It had perhaps been better, Shabaka, if you had kept them living that +they might confess that it was false. But doubtless you thought them safer +dead, since dead men cannot speak, and for this reason challenged them to +single combat.” +</p> + +<p> +I gasped and could not answer for my mind seemed to leave me, and she went on +in a gentler voice, +</p> + +<p> +“I do not wish to speak angrily to you, my cousin Shabaka, especially +when you have just wrought such great deeds for Egypt. Moreover by the law I +serve I may speak angrily to no man. Know then that on learning the truth, +since I could love none but you according to the flesh and therefore can never +give myself in marriage to another, I sought refuge in the arms of the goddess +whom for your sake I had deserted. She was pleased to receive me, forgetting my +treason. On this very day for the second time I took the oaths which may no +more be broken, and that I may dwell where I shall never see you more, Pharaoh +here has been pleased, at my request to name me high priestess and prophetess +of Isis and to appoint me as a dwelling-place her temple at Amada where I was +born far away in Upper Egypt. Now all is said and done, so farewell.” +</p> + +<p> +“All is not said and done,” I broke out in fury. “Pharaoh, I +ask your leave to tell the full story of this business of the naming of the +lady Amada to the King of kings, and that in the presence of the dwarf Bes. +Even a slave is allowed to set out his tale before judgment is passed upon +him.” +</p> + +<p> +Peroa glanced at Amada who made no sign, then said, +</p> + +<p> +“It is granted, General Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +So Bes was called into the chamber and having looked about him curiously, +seated himself upon the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“Bes,” I said, “you have heard nothing of what has +passed.” (Here I was mistaken, for as he told me afterwards he had heard +everything through the door which was not quite closed.) “It is needful, +Bes, that you should repeat truly all that happened at the court of the King of +kings before and after I was brought from the boat.” +</p> + +<p> +Bes obeyed, telling the tale very well, so well that all listened earnestly, +without error moreover. When he had finished I also told my story and how, +shaken by all I had gone through and already weak from the torment of the boat, +the name of Amada was surprised from me who never dreamed that the King would +at once make demand of her, and who would have perished a thousand times rather +than such a thing should happen. I added what I had learned afterwards from our +escort, that this name was already well known to the Great King who meant to +make use of it as a cause of quarrel with Egypt. Further, that he had let me +escape from a death by horrible torments because of some dream that he had +dreamed while he rested before the banquet, in which a god appeared and told +him that it was an evil thing to slay a man because that man had bested him at +a hunting match and one of which heaven would keep an account. Still because of +the law of his land he must find a public pretext for loosing one whom he had +once condemned, and therefore chose this matter of the lady Amada whom he +pretended to send me to bring to him. +</p> + +<p> +When I had finished, as Amada still remained silent, Pharaoh asked of Bes how +it came about that he told one story on the night of our return and another on +this night. +</p> + +<p> +“Because, O Pharaoh,” answered Bes rolling his eyes, “for the +first time in my life I have been just a little too clever and shot my arrow +just a little too far. Hearken, Pharaoh, and Royal Lady, and High Priest. I +knew that my master loves the lady Amada and knew also that she is quick of +tongue and temper, one who readily takes offence even if thereby she breaks her +own heart and so brings her life to ruin, and with it perchance her country. +Therefore, knowing women whom I have studied in my own land, I saw in this +matter just such a cause of offence as she would lay hold of, and counselled my +master to keep silent as to the story of the naming of her before the King. +Some evil spirit made him listen to this bad counsel, so far at least, that +when I lied as to what had chanced, for which lie the lady Amada prayed that I +might be scourged till my bones broke through the skin, he did not at once tell +all the truth. Nor did he do so afterwards because he feared that if he did I +should in fact be scourged, for my master and I love each other. Neither of us +wishes to see the other scourged, though such is my lot to-night,” and he +glanced at Amada. “I have said.” +</p> + +<p> +Then at last Amada spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Had I known all this story from the first, perhaps I should not have +done what I have done to-day and perhaps I should have forgiven and forgotten, +for in truth even if the dwarf still lies, I believe your word, O Shabaka, and +understand how all came about. But now it is too late to change. Say, O Priest +of the Mother, is it not too late?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is too late,” said the priest solemnly, “seeing that if +such vows as yours are broken for the second time, O Prophetess, the curse of +the goddess will pursue you and him for whom they were broken, yes, through +this life and all other lives that perchance may be given to you upon the earth +or elsewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pharaoh,” I cried in despair, “I made a bond with you. It is +recorded in writing and sealed. I have kept my part of the bond; my treasure +you have spent; your enemies I have slain; your army I have commanded not so +ill. Will you not keep yours and bid the priests release this lady from her vow +and give her to me to whom she was promised? Or must I believe that you refuse, +not because of goddesses and vows, but because yonder is the Royal Lady of +Egypt, the true heiress to the throne who might perchance bear children, which +as prophetess of Isis she can never do. Yes, because of this and because of +certain cries that came to your ears in the hour of your crowning before +Amen-ra and all the gods?” +</p> + +<p> +Peroa flushed as he heard me and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“You speak roughly, Cousin, and were you any other man I might be tempted +to answer roughly. But I know that you suffer and therefore I forgive. Nay, you +must believe no such things. Rather must you remember that in this bond of +which you speak, it was set down that I only promised you the lady Amada with +her own consent, and this she has withdrawn.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, Pharaoh, hearken! To-morrow I leave Egypt for another land, giving +you back your generalship and sheathing the sword that I had hoped to wield in +its defence and yours when the last great day of trial by battle comes, as come +it will. I tell you that I go to return no more, unless the lady Amada yonder +shall summon me back to fight for her and you, promising herself to me in +guerdon.” +</p> + +<p> +“That can never be,” said Amada. +</p> + +<p> +Then I became aware of another presence in the room, though how and when it +appeared I do not know, but I suppose that it had crept in while we were lost +in talk. At least between me and Pharaoh, crouched upon the ground, was the +figure of a man wrapped in a beggar’s cloak. It threw back the hood and +there appeared the ashen face and snowy beard of the holy Tanofir. +</p> + +<p> +“You know me, Pharaoh,” he said in his deep, solemn voice. “I +am Tanofir, the King’s son; Tanofir the hermit, Tanofir the seer. I have +heard all that passes, it matters not how and I come to you with a message, I +who read men’s hearts. Of vows and goddesses and women I say nothing. But +this I say to you, that if you break the spirit of your bond and suffer yonder +Shabaka to go hence with a bitter heart, trouble shall come on you. All the +Great King’s armies did not die yonder by the banks of Nile, and mayhap +one day he will journey to bury the bones of those who fell, and with them +<i>yours</i>, O Pharaoh. I do not think that you will listen to me to-night, +and I am sure that yonder lady, full of the new-fanned flame of the jealous +goddess, will not listen. Still let her take counsel and remember my words: In +the hour of desperate danger let her send to Shabaka and demand his help, +promising in return what he has asked and remembering that if Isis loves her, +that goddess was born upon the Nile and loves Egypt more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Too late, too late, <i>too late!</i>” wailed Amada. +</p> + +<p> +Then she burst into tears and turning fled away with the high priest. Pharaoh +went also leaving me and Bes alone. I looked for the holy Tanofir to speak with +him, but he too was gone. +</p> + +<p> +“It is time to sleep, Master,” said Bes, “for all this talk +is more wearisome than any battle. Why! what is this that has your name upon +it?” and he picked a silk-wrapped package from the floor and opened it. +</p> + +<p> +Within were the priceless rose-hued pearls! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br />SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE</h2> + +<p> +“Where to?” I said to Bes when we were outside the palace, for I +was so broken with grief that I scarcely knew what I did. +</p> + +<p> +“To the house of the lady Tiu, I think, Master, since there you must make +preparations for your start on the morrow, also bid her farewell. Oh!” he +went on in a kind of rapture which afterwards I knew was feigned though at the +time I did not think about it, “Oh! how happy should you be who now are +free from all this woman-coil, with life new and fresh before you. Reflect, +Master, on the hunting we will have yonder in Ethiopia. No more cares, no more +plannings for the welfare of Egypt, no more persuading of the doubtful to take +up arms, no more desperate battle-ventures with your country’s honour on +your sword-point. And if you must see women—well, there are plenty in +Ethiopia who come and go lightly as an evening breeze laden with the odour of +flowers, and never trouble in the morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“At any rate <i>you</i> are not free from such coils, Bes,” I said +and in the moonlight I saw his great face fall in. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Master, I am tying them about my throat. See, such is the way of the +world, or of the gods that rule the world, I know not which. For years I have +been happy and free, I have enjoyed adventures and visited strange countries +and have gathered learning, till I think I am the wisest man upon the Nile, at +the side of one whom I loved and holding nothing at risk, except my own life +which mattered no more than that of a gnat dancing in the sun. Now all is +changed. I have a wife whom I love also, more than I can tell you,” and +he sighed, “but who still must be looked after and obeyed—yes, +obeyed. Further, soon I shall have a people and a crown to wear, and +councillors and affairs of state, and an ancient religion to support and the +Grasshopper itself knows what besides. The burden has rolled from your back to +mine, Master, making my heart which was so light, heavy, and oh! I wish it had +stopped where it was.” +</p> + +<p> +Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy of Bes. +</p> + +<p> +“Master,” he went on in a changed voice, “I have been a fool +and my folly has worked you ill. Forgive me since I acted for the best, only +until the end no one ever knows what is the best. Now here is the house and I +go to meet my wife and to make certain arrangements. By dawn perhaps you will +be ready to start to Ethiopia.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, Master. That is unless you should desire that I accompany you +somewhere else instead, by sea southward for instance. If so, I do not know +that I would refuse, since Ethiopia will not run away and there is much of the +world that I should still like to visit. Only then there is Karema to be +thought about, who expects, or, when she learns all, soon will expect, to be a +queen,” he added doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Bes, I am too tired to make new plans, so let us go to Ethiopia and +not disappoint Karema, who after holding a cup so long naturally would like to +try a sceptre.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think that is wisest, Master; at any rate the holy Tanofir thinks it +wisest, and he is the voice of Fate. Oh! why do we trouble who after all, every +one of us, are nothing but pieces upon the board of Fate.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned and left me and I entered the house where I found my mother +sitting, still in her festal robes, like one who waits. She looked at my face, +then asked what troubled me. I sat down on a stool at her feet and told her +everything. +</p> + +<p> +“Much as I thought,” she said when I had finished. “These +over-learned women are strange fish to catch and hold, and too much soul is +like too much sail upon a boat when the desert wind begins to blow across the +Nile. Well, do not let us blame her or Bes, or Peroa who is already anxious for +his dynasty and would rather that Amada were a priestess than your wife, or +even the goddess Isis, who no doubt is anxious for her votaries. Let us rather +blame the Power that is behind the veil, or to it bow our heads, seeing that we +know nothing of the end for which it works. So Egypt shuts her doors on you, my +Son, and whither away? Not to the East again, I trust, for there you would soon +grow shorter by a head.” +</p> + +<p> +“I go to Ethiopia, my Mother, where it seems that Bes is a great man and +can shelter me.” +</p> + +<p> +“So we go to Ethiopia, do we? Well, it is a long journey for an old +woman, but I weary of Memphis where I have lived for so many years and +doubtless the sands of the south make good burial grounds.” +</p> + +<p> +“We!” I exclaimed. “<i>We?</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely, my Son, since in losing a wife you have again found a mother and +until I die we part no more.” +</p> + +<p> +When I heard this my eyes filled with tears. My conscience smote me also +because of late, and indeed for years past, I had thought so much of Amada and +so little of my mother. And now it was Amada who had cast me out, unjustly, +without waiting to learn the truth, because at the worst I, who worshipped her, +had saved myself from death in slow torment by speaking her name, while my +mother, forgetting all, took me to her bosom again as she had done when I was a +babe. I knew not what to say, but remembering the pearls, I drew them out and +placed them round my mother’s neck. +</p> + +<p> +She looked at the wonderful things and smiled, then said, +</p> + +<p> +“Such gems as these become white locks and withered breasts but ill. Yet, +my Son, I will keep them for you till you find a wife, if not Amada, then +another.” +</p> + +<p> +“If not Amada, I shall never find a wife,” I said bitterly, whereat +she smiled. +</p> + +<p> +Then she left me to make ready before she slept a while. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Work as we would noon had passed two hours, on the following day, before we +were prepared to start, for there was much to do. Thus the house must be placed +in charge of friends and the means of travel collected. Also a messenger came +from Pharaoh praying me for his and Egypt’s sake to think again before I +left them, and an answer sent that go I must, whither the holy Tanofir would +know if at any time Pharaoh desired to learn. In reply to this came another +messenger who brought me parting gifts from Pharaoh, a chain of honour, a title +of higher nobility, a commission as his envoy to whatever land I wandered, and +so forth, which I must acknowledge. Lastly as we were leaving the house to seek +the boat which Bes had made ready on the Nile, there came yet another messenger +at the sight of whom my heart leapt, for he was priest of Isis. +</p> + +<p> +He bowed and handed me a roll. I opened it with a trembling hand and read: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“From the Prophetess of Isis whose house is at Amada, aforetime Royal +Lady of Egypt, to the Count Shabaka,<br /> + +“I learn, O my Cousin, that you depart from Egypt and knowing the reason +my heart is sore. Believe me, my Cousin, I love you well, better than any who +lives upon the earth, nor will that love ever change, since the goddess who +holds my future in her hands, knows of what we are made and is not jealous of +the past. Therefore she will not be wroth at the earthly love of one who is +gathered to her heavenly arms. Her blessing and mine be on you and if we see +each other no more face to face in the world, may we meet again in the halls of +Osiris. Farewell, beloved Shabaka. Oh! why did you suffer that black master of +lies, the dwarf Bes, to persuade you to hide the truth from me?” +</p> + +<p> +So the writing ended and below it were two stains still wet, which I knew were +caused by tears. Moreover, wrapped in a piece of silk and fastened to the +scroll was a little gold ring graven with the royal <i>uræus</i> that Amada had +always worn from childhood. Only on the previous night I had noted it on the +first finger of her right hand. +</p> + +<p> +I took my stylus and my waxen tablets and wrote on one of them: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Had you been a man, Amada, and not a woman, I think you would have +judged me differently but, learned priestess and prophetess as you are, a woman +you remain. Perchance a time may come when once more you will turn to me in the +hour of your need; if so and I am living, I will come. Yea, if I am dead I +think that I still shall come, since nothing can really part us. Meanwhile by +day and by night I wear your ring and whenever I look on it I think of Amada +the woman whose lips have pressed my own, and forget Amada the priestess who +for her soul’s sake has been pleased to break the heart of the man who +loved her and whom she misjudged so sorely in her pride and anger.” +</p> + +<p> +This tablet I wrapped up and sealed, using clay and her own ring to make the +seal, and gave it for delivery to the priest. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +At length we drew near to the river and here, gathered on the open land, I +found the most of those who had fought with me in the battle against the +Easterns, and with them a great concourse of others from the city. These +collected round me, some of them wounded and hobbling upon crutches, praying me +not to go, as did the others who foresaw sorrow to Egypt from my loss. But I +broke away from them almost in tears and with my mother hid myself beneath the +canopy of the boat. Here Bes was waiting, also his beautiful wife who, although +she seemed sad at leaving Egypt, smiled a greeting to us while the steersmen +and rowers of the boat, tall Ethiopians every one of them, rose and gave me a +General’s salute. Then, as the wind served, we hoisted the sail and +glided away up Nile, till presently the temples and palm-groves of Memphis were +lost to sight. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +Of that long, long journey there is no need to tell. Up the Nile we travelled +slowly, dragging the boat past the cataracts till Egypt was far behind us. In +the end, many days after we had passed the mouth of another river that was blue +in colour which flowed from the northern mountain lands down into the Nile, we +came to a place where the rapids were so long and steep that we must leave the +boat and travel overland. Drawing near to it at sunset I saw a multitude of +people gathered on the sand and beyond them a camp in which were set many +beautiful pavilions that seemed to be broidered with silk and gold, as were the +banners that floated above them whereon appeared the effigy of a grasshopper, +also done in gold with silver legs. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems that my messengers travelled in safety,” said Bes to me, +“for know, that yonder are some of my subjects who have come here to meet +us. Now, Master, I must no longer call you master since I fear I am once more a +king. And you must no longer call me Bes, but Karoon. Moreover, forgive me, but +when you come into my presence you must bow, which I shall like less than you +do, but it is the custom of the Ethiopians. Oh! I would that you were the king +and that I were your friend, for henceforth good-bye to ease and +jollity.” +</p> + +<p> +I laughed, but Bes did not laugh at all, only turned to his wife who already +ruled him as though he were indeed a slave, and said, “Lady Karema, make +yourself as beautiful as you can and forget that you have ever been a Cup or +anything useful, since henceforth you must be a queen, that is if you please my +people.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what happens if I do not please them, Husband?” asked Karema +opening her fine eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not quite know, Wife. Perhaps they may refuse to accept me, at +which I shall not weep. Or perhaps they may refuse to accept you, at which of +course I should weep very much, for you see you are so very white and, +heretofore, all the queens of the Ethiopians have been black.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if they refuse to accept me because I am white, or rather brown, +instead of black like oiled marble, what then, O Husband?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then—oh! then I cannot say, O Wife. Perhaps they will send you +back to your own country. Or perhaps they will separate us and place you in a +temple where you will live alone in all honour. I remember that once they did +that to a white woman, making a goddess of her until she died of weariness. Or +perhaps—well, I do not know.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Karema grew angry. +</p> + +<p> +“Now I wish I had remained a Cup,” she said, “and the servant +of the holy Tanofir who at least taught me many secret things, instead of +coming to dwell among black barbarians in the company of a dwarf who, even if +he be a king, it seems has no power to protect the wife whom he has +chosen.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why will women always grow wroth before there is need?” asked Bes +humbly. “Surely it would be time to rate me when any of these things had +happened.” +</p> + +<p> +“If any of them do happen, Husband, I shall say much worse things than +that,” she replied, but the talk went no further, for at this moment our +boat grounded and singing a wild song, many of those who waited rushed into the +water to drag it to the bank. +</p> + +<p> +Then Bes stood up on the prow, waving his bow and there arose a mighty shout +of, “<i>Karoon! Karoon!</i> It is he, it is he returned after many +years!” +</p> + +<p> +Twice they shouted thus and then, every one of them, threw themselves face +downwards in the sand. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, my people,” cried Bes, “it is I, Karoon, who having +been miraculously preserved from many dangers in far lands by the help of the +Grasshopper in heaven, and, as my messengers will have told you, of my beloved +friend, lord Shabaka the Egyptian, who has deigned to come to dwell with us for +a while, have at length returned to Ethiopia that I may shed my wisdom on you +like the sun and pour it on your heads like melted honey. Moreover, mindful of +our laws which aforetime I defied and therefore left you, I have searched the +whole world through till I found the most beautiful woman that it contained, +and made her my wife. She too has deigned to come to this far country to be +your queen. Advance, fair Karema, and show yourself to these my +Ethiopians.” +</p> + +<p> +So Karema stepped forward and stood on the prow of the boat by the side of Bes, +and a strange couple they looked. The Ethiopians who had risen, considered her +gravely, then one of them said, +</p> + +<p> +“Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and very +ugly.” +</p> + +<p> +“At least she is a woman,” said another, “for her shape is +female.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and he has married her,” remarked a third, “and even a +king may choose his own wife sometimes. For in such matters who can judge +another’s taste?” +</p> + +<p> +“Cease,” said Bes in a lordly way. “If you do not think her +beautiful to-night, you will to-morrow. And now let us land and rest.” +</p> + +<p> +So we landed and while I did so I took note of these Ethiopians. They were +great men, black as charcoal with thick lips, white teeth and flat noses. Their +eyes were large and the whites of them somewhat yellow, their hair curled like +wool, their beards were short and on their faces they wore a continual smile. +Of dress most of them had little, but their elders or leaders wore lion and +leopard skins and some were clad in a kind of silken tunic belted about the +middle. All were armed for war with long bows, short swords and small shields +round in shape and made from the hide of the hippopotamus or of the unicorn. +Gold was plentiful amongst them since even the humblest wore bracelets of that +metal, while about the necks of the chieftains it was wound in great torques, +also sometimes on their ankles. They wore sandals on their feet and some of +them had ostrich feathers stuck in their hair, a few also had grasshoppers +fashioned of gold bound on the top of their heads, and these I took to be the +priests. There were no women in their number. +</p> + +<p> +As the sun was sinking we were led at once to a very beautiful tent made of +woven flax and ornamented as I have described, where we found food made ready +for us in plenty, milk in bowls and the flesh of sheep and oxen boiled and +roasted. Bes, however, was taken to a place apart, which made Karema even more +angry than she was before. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely had we finished eating when a herald rushed into the tent crying, +“Prostrate yourselves! Yea, be prostrated, the Grasshopper comes! Karoon +comes.” +</p> + +<p> +Here I must say that I found that the title of Karoon meant “Great +Grasshopper,” but Karema who did not know this, asked indignantly why she +should prostrate herself to a grasshopper. Indeed she refused to do so even +when Bes entered the pavilion wonderfully attired in a gorgeous-coloured robe +of which the train was held by two huge men. So absurd did he look that my +mother and I must bow very deeply to hide our laughter while Karema said, +</p> + +<p> +“It would be better, Husband, if you found children to carry your robe +instead of two giants. Moreover, if it is meant to copy the colours of a +grasshopper, ‘tis badly done, since grasshoppers are green and you are +gold and scarlet. Also they do not wear feathers set awry upon their +heads.” +</p> + +<p> +Bes rolled his eyes as though in agony, then turning, bade his attendants be +gone. They obeyed, though doubtfully as though they did not like to leave him +alone with us, whereon he let down the flap of the pavilion, threw off his +gorgeous coverings and said, +</p> + +<p> +“You must learn to understand, Wife, that our customs are different from +those of Egypt. There I was happy as a slave and you were held to be beautiful +as the Cup of the holy Tanofir, also learned. Here I am wretched as a king and +you are held to be ugly, also ignorant as a stranger. Oh! do not answer, I pray +you, but learn that all goes well. For the time you are accepted as my wife, +subject to the decision of a council of matrons, aged relatives of my family, +who will decide when we reach the City of the Grasshopper whether or not you +shall be acknowledged as the Queen of the Ethiopians. No, no, I pray you say +nothing since I must go away at once, as according to the law of the Ethiopians +the time has come for the Grasshopper to sleep, alone, Karema, as you are not +yet acknowledged as my wife. You also can sleep with the lady Tiu and for +Shabaka a tent is provided. Rest sweetly, Wife. Hark! They fetch me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, if I had my way,” said Karema, “I would rest in that +boat going back to Egypt. What say you, lord Shabaka?” +</p> + +<p> +But I made no answer who followed Bes out of the tent, leaving her to talk the +matter over with my mother. Here I found a crowd of his people waiting to +convey him to sleep and watching, saw them place him in another tent round +which they ranged themselves, playing upon musical instruments. After this +someone came and led me to my own place where was a good bed in which I lay +down to sleep. This however I could not do for a long while because of my own +laughter and the noise of the drums and horns that were soothing Bes to his +rest. For now I understood why he had preferred to be a slave in Egypt rather +than a king in Ethiopia. +</p> + +<p> +In the morning I rose before the dawn and went out to the river-bank to bathe. +While I was making ready to wash myself, who should appear but Bes, followed, +but at a distance, by a number of his people. +</p> + +<p> +“Never have I spent such a night, Master,” he said, “at least +not since you took me prisoner years ago, since by law I may not stop those +horns and musical instruments. Now, however, also according to the law of the +Ethiopians, I am my own lord until the sun rises. So I have come here to gather +some of those blue lilies which she loves as a present for Karema, because I +fear that she is angry and must be appeased.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly she is very angry,” I said, “or at least was so +when I left her last night. Oh! Bes, why did you let your people tell her that +she was ugly?” +</p> + +<p> +“How can I help it, Master? Have you not always heard that the Ethiopians +are chiefly famous for one thing, namely that they speak nothing but the truth. +To them she, being different, seems to be ugly. Therefore when they say that +she is ugly, they speak the truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“If so, it is a truth that she does not like, Bes, as I have no doubt she +will tell you by and by. Do they think me ugly also?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, they do, Master; but they think also that you look like a man who +can draw a bow and use a sword, and that goes far with the Ethiopians. Of your +mother they say nothing because she is old and they venerate the aged whom the +Grasshopper is waiting to carry away.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I began to laugh again and went with Bes to gather the lilies. These grew +at the end of a mass of reeds woven together by the pressure of the current and +floating on the water. Bes lay down upon his stomach while his people watched +from a distance on the bank amazed into silence, and stretched out his long +arms to reach the blue lotus flowers. Suddenly the reeds gave way beneath him +just as he had grasped two of the flowers and was dragging at them, so that he +fell into the river. +</p> + +<p> +Next instant I saw a swirl in the brown water and perceived a huge crocodile. +It rushed at Bes open-mouthed. Being a good swimmer he twisted his body in +order to avoid it, but I heard the great teeth close with a snap on the short +leathern garment which he wore about his middle. +</p> + +<p> +“The devil has me! Farewell!” he cried and vanished beneath the +water. +</p> + +<p> +Now, as I have said, I was almost stripped for bathing, but had not yet taken +off my short sword which was girded round me by a belt. In an instant I drew it +and amidst the yells of horror of the Ethiopians who had seen all from the +bank, I plunged into the river. There are few able to swim as I could and I had +the art of diving with my eyes open and remaining long beneath the surface +without drawing breath, for this I had practised from a child. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately I saw the great reptile sinking to the mud and dragging Bes with +him to drown him there. But here the river was very deep and with a few swift +strokes I was able to get under the crocodile. Then with all my strength I +stabbed upwards, driving the sword far into the soft part of the throat. +Feeling the pain of the sharp iron the beast let go of Bes and turned on me. +How it happened I do not know but presently I found myself upon its back and +was striking at its eyes. One thrust at least went home, for the blinded brute +rose to the surface, bearing me with him, and oh! the sweetness of the air as I +breathed again. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we appeared, I riding the crocodile like a horse and stabbing furiously, +while close by was Bes rolling his yellow eyes but helpless, for he had no +weapon. Still the devil was not dead although blood streamed from him, only mad +with pain and rage. Nor could the shouting Ethiopians help me since they had +only bows and dared not shoot lest their shafts should pierce me. The crocodile +began to sink again, snapping furiously at my legs. Then I bethought me of a +trick I had seen practised by natives on the Nile. +</p> + +<p> +Waiting till its huge jaws were open I thrust my arm between them, grasping the +short sword in such fashion that the hilt rested on its tongue and the point +against the roof of its mouth. It tried to close its jaws and lo! the good iron +was fixed between them, holding them wide open. Then I withdrew my hand and +floated upwards with nothing worse than a cut upon the wrist from one of its +sharp fangs. I appeared upon the surface and after me the crocodile spouting +blood and wallowing in its death agonies. I remembered no more till I found +myself lying on the bank surrounded by a multitude with Bes standing over me. +Also in the shallow water was the crocodile dead, my sword still fixed between +its jaws. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you harmed, Master” cried Bes in a voice of agony. +</p> + +<p> +“Very little I think,” I answered, sitting up with the blood +pouring from my arm. +</p> + +<p> +Bes thrust aside Karema who had come lightly clothed from her tent, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“All is well, Wife. I will bring you the lilies presently.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he flung his arms about me, kissed my hands and my brow and turning to the +crowd, shouted, +</p> + +<p> +“Last night you were disputing as to whether this Egyptian lord should be +allowed to dwell with me in the land of Ethiopia. Which of you disputes it +now?” +</p> + +<p> +“No one!” they answered with a roar. “He is not a man but a +god. No man could have done such a deed.” +</p> + +<p> +“So it seems,” answered Bes quietly. “At least none of you +even tried to do it. Yet he is not a god but only that kind of man who is +called a hero. Also he is my brother, and while I reign in Ethiopia either he +shall reign at my side, or I go away with him.” +</p> + +<p> +“It shall be so, Karoon!” they shouted with one voice. And after +this I was carried back to the tent. +</p> + +<p> +In front of it my mother waited and kissed me proudly before them all, whereat +they shouted again. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +So ended this adventure of the crocodile, except that presently Bes went back +and recovered the two lilies for Karema, this time from a boat, which caused +the Ethiopians to call out that he must love her very much, though not as much +as he did me. +</p> + +<p> +That afternoon, borne in litters, we set out for the City of the Grasshopper, +which we reached on the fourth day. As we drew near the place regiments of men +to the number of twelve thousand or more, came out to meet us, so that at last +we arrived escorted by an army who sang their songs of triumph and played upon +their musical instruments until my head ached with the noise. +</p> + +<p> +This city was a great place whereof the houses were built of mud and thatched +with reeds. It stood upon a wide plain and in its centre rose a natural, rocky +hill upon the crest of which, fashioned of blocks of gleaming marble and roofed +with a metal that shone as gold, was the temple of the Grasshopper, a columned +building very like to those of Egypt. Round it also were other public +buildings, among them the palace of the Karoon, the whole being surrounded by +triple marble walls as a protection from attack by foes. Never had I seen +anything so beautiful as that hill with its edifices of shining white roofed +with gold or copper and gleaming in the sun. +</p> + +<p> +Descending from my litter I walked to those of my mother and Karema, for Bes in +his majesty might not be approached, and said as much to them. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Son,” answered my mother, “it is worth while to have +travelled so far to see such a sight. I shall have a fine sepulchre, +Son.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen it all before,” broke in Karema. +</p> + +<p> +“When?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know. I suppose it must have been when I was the Cup of the +holy Tanofir. At least it is familiar to me. Already I weary of it, for who can +care for a land or a city where they think white people hideous and scarcely +allow a wife to go near her husband, save between midnight and dawn when they +cease from their horrible music?” +</p> + +<p> +“It will be your part to change these customs, Karema.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she exclaimed, “certainly that will be my part,” +after which I went back to my litter. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br />THE SUMMONS</h2> + +<p> +Now at the gates of the City of the Grasshopper we were royally received. The +priests came out to meet us, pushing a colossal image of their god before them +on a kind of flat chariot, and I remember wondering what would be the value of +that huge golden locust, if it were melted down. Also the Council came, very +ancient men all of them, since the Ethiopians for the most part lived more than +a hundred years. Perhaps that is why they were so glad to welcome Bes since +they were too old to care about retaining power in their own hands as they had +done during his long absence. For save Bes there was no other man living of the +true royal blood who could take the throne. +</p> + +<p> +Then there were thousands of women, broad-faced and smiling whose black skins +shone with scented oils, for they wore little except a girdle about their +waists and many ornaments of gold. Thus their earrings were sometimes a palm in +breadth and many of them had great gold rings through their noses, such as in +Egypt are put in those of bulls. My mother laughed at them, but Karema said +that she thought them hideous and hateful. +</p> + +<p> +They were a strange people, these Ethiopians, like children, most of them, +being merry and kind and never thinking of one thing for more than a minute. +Thus one would see them weep and laugh almost in the same breath. But among +them was an upper class who had great learning and much ancient knowledge. +These men made their laws wherein there was always sense under what seemed to +be folly, designed the temples, managed the mines of gold and other metals and +followed the arts. They were the real masters of the land, the rest were but +slaves content to live in plenty, for in that fertile soil want never came near +them, and to do as they were bid. +</p> + +<p> +Thus they passed from the cradle to the grave amidst song and flowers, carrying +out their light, allotted tasks, and for the rest, living as they would and +loving those they would, especially their children, of whom they had many. By +nature and tradition the men were warriors and hunters, being skilled in the +use of the bow and always at war when they could find anyone to fight. Indeed +when we came among them their trouble was that they had no enemies left, and at +once they implored Bes to lead them out to battle since they were weary of +herding kine and tilling fields. +</p> + +<p> +All of these things I found out by degrees, also that they were a great people +who could send out an army of seventy thousand men and yet leave enough behind +them to defend their land. Of the world beyond their borders the most of them +knew little, but the learned men of whom I have spoken, a great deal, since +they travelled to Egypt and elsewhere to study the customs of other countries. +For the rest their only god was the Grasshopper and like that insect they +skipped and chirruped through life and when the winter of death came sprang +away to another of which they knew nothing, leaving their young behind them to +bask in the sun of unborn summers. Such were the Ethiopians. +</p> + +<p> +Now of all the ceremonies of the reception of Bes and his re-crowning as +Karoon, I knew little, for the reason that the tooth of the crocodile poisoned +my blood and made me very ill, so that I remained for a moon or more lying in a +fine room in the palace where gold seemed to be as plentiful as earthen pots +are in Egypt, and all the vessels were of crystal. Had it not been for the +skill of the Ethiopian leeches and above all for the nursing of my mother, I +think that I must have died. She it was who withstood them when they wished to +cut off my arm, and wisely, for it recovered and was as strong as it had ever +been. In the end I grew well again and from the platform in front of the temple +was presented to the people by Bes as his saviour and the next greatest to him +in the kingdom, nor shall I ever forget the shoutings with which I was +received. +</p> + +<p> +Karema also was presented as his wife, having passed the Ordeal of the Matrons, +but only, I think, because it was found that she was in the way to give an heir +to the throne. For to them her beauty was ugliness, nor could they understand +how it came about that their king, who contrary to the general customs of the +land, was only allowed one wife lest the children should quarrel, could have +chosen a lady who was not black. So they received her in silence with many +whisperings which made Karema very angry. +</p> + +<p> +When in due course, however, the child came and proved to be a son black as the +best of them and of perfect shape, they relented towards her and after the +birth of a second, grew to love her. But she never forgave and loved them not +at all. Nor was she over-fond of these children of hers because they were so +black which, she said, showed how poisonous was the blood of the Ethiopians. +And indeed this is so, for often I have noticed that if an Ethiopian weds with +one of another colour, their offspring is black down to the third or fourth +generation. Therefore Karema longed for Egypt notwithstanding the splendour in +which she dwelt. +</p> + +<p> +So greatly did she long that she had recourse to the magic lore which she had +learned from the holy Tanofir, and would sit for hours gazing into water in a +crystal bowl, or sometimes into a ball of crystal without the water, trying to +see visions therein that had to do with what passed in Egypt. Moreover in time +much of her gift returned to her and she did see many things which she repeated +to me, for she would tell no one else of them, not even her husband. +</p> + +<p> +Thus she saw Amada kneeling in a shrine before the statue of Isis and weeping: +a picture that made me sad. Also she saw the holy Tanofir brooding in the +darkness of the Cave of the Bulls, and read in his mind that he was thinking of +us, though what he thought she could not read. Again she saw Eastern messengers +delivering letters to Pharaoh and knew from his face that he was disturbed and +that Egypt was threatened with calamities. And so forth. +</p> + +<p> +Soon the news of her powers of divination spread abroad, so that all the +Ethiopians grew to fear her as a seeress and thenceforth, whatever they may +have thought, none of them dared to say that she was ugly. Further, her gift +was real, since if she told me of a certain thing such as that messengers were +approaching, in due course they would arrive and make clear much that she had +not been able to understand in her visions. +</p> + +<p> +Now from the time that I grew strong again and as soon as Bes was firmly seated +on his throne, he and I set to work to train and drill the army of the +Ethiopians, which hitherto had been little more than a mob of men carrying bows +and swords. We divided it into phalanxes after the Greek fashion, and armed +these bodies with long lances, swords, and large shields in the place of the +small ones they had carried before. Also we trained the archers, teaching them +to advance in open order and shoot from cover, and lastly chose the best +soldiers to be captains and generals. So it came about that at the end of the +two years that I spent in Ethiopia there was a force of sixty thousand men or +more whom I should not have been afraid to match against any troops in the +world, since they were of great strength and courage, and, as I have said, by +nature lovers of war. Also their bows being longer and more powerful, they +could shoot arrows farther than the Easterns or the Egyptians. +</p> + +<p> +The Ethiopian lords wondered why their King and I did these things, since they +saw no enemy against which so great an army could be led to battle. On that +matter Bes and I kept our own counsel, telling them only that it was good for +the men to be trained to war, since, hearing of their wealth, one day the King +of kings might attempt to invade their country. So month by month I laboured at +this task, leading armies into distant regions to accustom them to travelling +far afield, carrying with them what was necessary for their sustenance. +</p> + +<p> +So it went on until a sad thing happened, since on returning from one of these +forays in which I had punished a tribe that had murdered some Ethiopian hunters +and we had taken many thousands of their cattle, I found my mother dying. She +had been smitten by a fever which was common at that season of the year, and +being old and weak had no strength to throw it off. +</p> + +<p> +As medicine did not help her, the priests of the Grasshopper prayed day and +night in their temple for her recovery. Yes, there they prayed to a golden +locust standing on an altar in a sanctuary that was surrounded by crystal +coffins wherein rested the flesh of former kings of the land. To me the sight +was pitiful, but Bes asked me what was the difference between praying to a +locust and praying to images with the heads of beasts, or to a dwarf shaped as +he was like we did in Egypt, and I could not answer him. +</p> + +<p> +“The truth is, Brother,” he said, for so he called me now, +“that all peoples in the world do not offer petitions to what they see +and have been taught to revere, but to something beyond of which to them it is +a sign. But why the Ethiopians should have chosen a grasshopper as a symbol of +God who is everywhere, is more than I can tell. Still they have done so for +thousands of years.” +</p> + +<p> +When I came to my mother’s bedside she was wandering and I saw that she +could not live long. In a little while, however, her mind cleared so that she +knew me and tears of joy ran down her pale cheeks because I had returned before +she died. She reminded me that she had always said that she would find a grave +in Ethiopia, and asked to be buried and not kept above ground in crystal, as +was the custom there. Then she said that she had been dreaming of my father and +of me; also that she did not think that I need fret myself overmuch about +Amada, since she was sure that before long I should kiss her on the lips. +</p> + +<p> +I asked if she meant that I should marry her and that we should be happy and +fortunate. She replied that she supposed that I should marry her, but of the +rest would say nothing. Indeed her face grew troubled, as though some thought +hurt her, and leaving the matter of Amada she bade Karema bring me the +rose-hued pearls, blessed me, prayed for our reunion in the halls of Osiris, +and straightway died. +</p> + +<p> +So I caused her to be embalmed after the Egyptian fashion and enclosed in a +coffin of crystal with a scarab on her heart that Karema had discovered +somewhere in the city, for always she was searching for things that reminded +her of Egypt, whereof many were to be found brought from time to time by +travellers or strangers. Then with such ceremony as we could without the +services of the priests of Osiris, Karema and I buried her in a tomb that Bes +had caused to be made near to the steps of the temple of the Grasshopper, while +Bes and his nobles watched from a distance. +</p> + +<p> +And so farewell to my beloved mother, the lady Tiu. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +After she was gone I grew very sad and lonely. While she lived I had a home, +but now I was an exile, a stranger in a strange land with no one of my own +people to talk to except Karema, with whom, as there were gossips even in +Ethiopia, I thought it well not to talk too much. There was Bes it was true, +but now he was a great king and the time of kings is not their own. Moreover +Bes was Bes and an Ethiopian and I was I and an Egyptian, and therefore +notwithstanding our love and brotherhood, we could never be like men of the +same blood and country. +</p> + +<p> +I grew weary of Ethiopia with its useless gold and damp eternal green and heat, +and longed for the sand and the keen desert air. Bes noted it and offered me +wives, but I shrank from these black women however buxom and kindly, and wished +for no offspring of their race whom afterwards I could never leave. To Egypt I +had sworn not to return unless one voice called me and it remained silent. What +then was I to do, being no longer content to discipline and command an army +that I might not lead into battle? +</p> + +<p> +At length I made up my mind. By nature I was a hunter as much as a soldier; I +would beg from Bes a band of brave men whom I knew, lovers of adventure who +sought new things, and with them strike down south, following the path of the +elephants to wherever the gods might lead us. Doubtless in the end it would be +to death, but what matter when there is nothing for which one cares to live? +</p> + +<p> +While I was brooding over these plans Karema read my mind, perhaps because it +was her own, perhaps by help of her strange arts, which I do not know. At least +one day when I was sitting alone looking at the city beneath from one of the +palace window-places, she came to me looking very beautiful and very mystic in +the white robes she always loved to wear, and said, +</p> + +<p> +“My lord Shabaka, you tire of this land of honey and sweetness and soft +airs and flowers and gold and crystal and black people who grin and chatter and +are not pleasant to be near, is it not so?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Queen,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not call me queen, my lord Shabaka, for I weary of that name, as we +both do of the rest. Call me Karema the Arab, or Karema the Cup, which you +will, but by the name of Thoth, god of learning, do <i>not</i> call me +queen.” +</p> + +<p> +“Karema then,” I said. “Well, how do you know that I tire of +all this, Karema?” +</p> + +<p> +“How could you do otherwise who are not a barbarian and who have Egypt in +your heart, and Egypt’s fate and——” here she looked me +straight in the eyes, “Egypt’s Lady. Besides, I measure you by +myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“You at least should be happy, Karema, who are great and rich and +beloved, and the wife of a King who is one of the best of men, and the mother +of children.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Shabaka, I should be but I am not, for who can live on sweetmeats +only, especially when they like what is sour? See now how strangely we are +made. When I was a girl, the daughter of an Arab chief, well bred and well +taught as it chanced, I tired of the hard life of the desert and the narrow +minds about me, I who longed for wisdom and to know great men. Then I became +the Cup of the holy Tanofir and wisdom was all about me, strange wisdom from +another world, rough, sharp wisdom from Tanofir, and the quiet wisdom of the +dead among whom I dwelt. I wearied of that also, Shabaka. I was beautiful and +knew it and I longed to shine in a Court, to be admired among men, to be envied +of women, to rule. My husband came my way. He was clever with a great heart. He +was your friend and therefore I was sure that he must be loyal and true. He +was, or might be, a king, as I knew, though he thought that I did not. I +married him and the holy Tanofir laughed but he did not say me nay, and I +became a queen. And now I wish sometimes that I were dead, or back holding the +cup of the holy Tanofir with the wisdom of the heavens flowing round me and the +soft darkness of the tombs about me. It seems that in this world we never can +be content, Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise +than they are. But how can I help you, Karema?” +</p> + +<p> +“Least of all by going away and leaving me alone,” she answered +with the tears starting to her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +Looking at her, I began to think that the best thing I could do would be to go +away and at once, but as ever she read my thought, shook her head and laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, I have put on my yoke and will carry it to the end. Have I not +two black children and a husband who is a hero, a wit and a mountebank in one, +and a throne and more gold and crystal than I ever wish to see again even in a +dream, and shall I not cling to these good things? If you went I should only be +a little more unhappy than before, that is all. Not for my sake do I ask you to +stay, but for your own.” +</p> + +<p> +“How for my own, Karema? I have done all that I can do here. I have built +the army afresh from cook-boys to generals. Bes needs me no longer who has you, +his children and his country, and I die of weariness.” +</p> + +<p> +“You can stop to make use of that army you have built afresh, +Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +“Against whom? There are none to fight.” +</p> + +<p> +“Against the Great King of the East. Listen. My gift of vision has grown +strong and clear of late. Only to-day I have seen a meeting between Pharaoh, +the holy Tanofir and the lady Amada. They were all disturbed, I know not at +what, and the end of it was that Amada wrote in a roll and gave the writing to +messengers, who I think even now are speeding southward—to you, Shabaka. +Nay, do not look doubtfully on me, it is true.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you did well to tell me, Karema, for within a moon of this day I +should have been where perhaps no messengers would have found me. Now I will +wait and let it be your part to prepare the mind of Bes. Do you think that he +would give me an army to lead to Egypt, if there were need?” +</p> + +<p> +She nodded and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“He would do so for three reasons. The first is because he loves you, the +second because he too wearies of Ethiopia and this rich, fat life of peace, and +the third, because I shall tell him that he must.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then why trouble to speak of the other two?” I said laughing. +</p> + +<p> +So I stayed on in the City of the Grasshopper, and busied myself with the +questions of how to transport and feed a great army that must hold the field +for six months or a year; also with the setting of hundreds of skilled men to +the making of bows, arrows, swords and shields. Nor did Bes say me no in these +matters. Indeed he helped them forward by issuing the orders as his own, +wherein I saw the hand of Karema. +</p> + +<p> +Three months went by and I began to think that Karema’s power had been at +fault, or that her vision was one that came from her lips and not from her +heart, to keep me in Ethiopia. But again she read my mind and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +“Not so, Shabaka,” she said. “Those messengers have come to +trouble and are detained by a petty tribe beyond our borders over some matter +of a woman. Ten days ago the frontier guards marched to set them free.” +</p> + +<p> +So again I waited and at length the messengers came, three of them Egyptians +and three men of Ethiopia who dwelt in Egypt to learn its wisdom, reporting +that as Karema had said, through the foolishness of a servant they had been +held prisoner by an Arab chief and thus delayed. Then they delivered the +writings which they had kept safe. One was from Pharaoh to the Karoon of +Ethiopia; one from the holy Tanofir to Karema; and one from the lady Amada to +myself. +</p> + +<p> +With a trembling hand I broke the silk and seals and read. It ran thus: +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +“Shabaka, my Cousin, +</p> + +<p> +“You departed from Egypt saying that never would you return unless I, +Amada the priestess, called you, and I told you that I should never call. You +said, moreover, that if you came at my call you would demand me in guerdon, and +I told you that never would I give myself to you who was doubly sworn to Isis. +Yet now I call and now I say that if you come and conquer and I yet live, then, +if you still will it, I am yours. Thus stands the case: The Great King advances +upon Egypt with an army countless as the sands, nor can Egypt hope to battle +against him unaided and alone. He comes to make of her a slave, to kill her +children, to burn her temples, to sack her cities and to defile her gods with +blasphemies. Moreover he comes to seize me and to drag me away to shame in his +House of Women. +</p> + +<p> +“Therefore for the sake of the gods, for Egypt’s sake and for my +own, I pray you come and save us. Moreover I still love you, Shabaka, yes, more +a thousand times, than ever I did, though whether you still love me I know not. +For that love’s sake, therefore, I am ready to break my vows to Isis and +to dare her vengeance, if she should desire to be avenged upon me who would +save her and her worship, praying that it may fall on my head and not on yours. +This will I do by the counsel of the holy Tanofir, by command of Pharaoh, and +with the consent of the high priests of Egypt. +</p> + +<p> +“Now I, Amada, have written. Choose, Shabaka, beloved of my heart.” +</p> + +<p> +Such was the letter that caused my head to swim and set my soul on fire. Still +I said nothing, but thrust it into my robe and waited. Presently Bes, who had +been reading in his roll, looked up and spoke, saying, +</p> + +<p> +“Are you minded to see arrows fly and swords shine in war, Brother? If +so, here is opportunity. Pharaoh writes to me above his own seal, seeking an +alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia. He says that the King of kings invades him +and that if he conquers Egypt he has sworn to travel on and conquer Ethiopia +also, since he learns that it is now ruled by a certain dwarf who once stole +his White Signet, and by a certain Egyptian who once killed his Satrap, +Idernes.” +</p> + +<p> +“What says the Karoon?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +Bes rolled his eyes and turning to Karema, asked, +</p> + +<p> +“What says the Karoon’s wife?” +</p> + +<p> +Karema laid down the roll she had been studying and answered, +</p> + +<p> +“She says that she has received a command from her master the holy +Tanofir to wait upon him forthwith, for reasons that he will explain when she +arrives, or to brave his curse upon her, her children, her country and her +husband, and not only his but that of the spirits who serve him.” +</p> + +<p> +“The curse of the holy Tanofir is not a thing to mock at,” said +Bes, “as I who revere him, know as well as any man.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Husband, and therefore I leave for Egypt as soon as may be. It seems +that my sister is dead, this year past, and the holy Tanofir has no one to hold +his cup.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what shall I do?” asked Bes. +</p> + +<p> +“That is for you to say, Husband. But if you will, you can stay here and +guard our children, giving the command of your army to the lord Shabaka.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, for we were alone, Bes twisted himself about, rolling his eyes and +laughing as he used to do before he became Karoon of Ethiopia. +</p> + +<p> +“O-ho-ho! Wife,” he said, “so you are to go to Egypt, leaving +me to play the nurse to babes, and my brother here is to command my armies, +leaving me to look after the old men and the women. Nay, I think otherwise. I +think that I shall come also, that is if my brother wishes it. Did he not save +my life and is it not his and with it all I have? Oh! have done. Once more we +will stand side by side in the battle, Brother, and afterwards let Fate do as +it will with us. Tell me now, what is the tale of archers and of swordsmen with +which we can march against the Great King with whom, like you, I have a score +to settle?” +</p> + +<p> +“Seventy and five thousand,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Good! On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br />TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP</h2> + +<p> +March we did, but on the fifteenth day, not the fifth, since there was much to +make ready. First the Council of the Ethiopians must be consulted and through +them the people. In the beginning there was trouble over the matter, since many +were against a distant war, and this even after Bes had urged that it was +better to attack than wait to be attacked. For they answered, and justly, that +here in Ethiopia distance and the desert were their shields, since the King of +kings, however great his strength, would be weary and famished before he set +foot within their borders. +</p> + +<p> +In the end the knot was cut with a sword, for when the army came to learn of +the dispute, from the generals down to the common soldiers, every man clamoured +to be led to war, since, as I have said, these Ethiopians were fighters all of +them, and near at hand there were none left with whom they could fight. So when +the Council came to see that they must choose between war abroad and revolt at +home, they gave way, bargaining only that the children of the Karoon should not +leave the land so that if aught befell him, there would be some of the true +blood left to succeed. +</p> + +<p> +Also the Grasshopper was consulted by the priests who found the omens +favourable. Indeed I was told that this great golden locust sat up upon its +hind legs upon the altar and waved its feelers in the air, which only happened +when wonderful fortune was about to bless the land. The tale reminded me of the +nodding of the statues of our own gods in Egypt when a new Pharaoh was +presented to them, and of that of Isis when Amada put up her prayer to the +divine Mother. To tell the truth, I suspected Karema of having some hand in the +business. However, so it happened. +</p> + +<p> +At length we set forth, a mighty host, Bes commanding the swordsmen and I, +under him, the archers, of whom there were more than thirty thousand men, and +glad was I when all the farewells were said and we were free of the weeping +crowds of women. At first Bes and Karema were somewhat sad at parting from +their children, but in a little while they grew gay again since the one longed +for battle and the other for the sands of Egypt. +</p> + +<p> +Now of our advance I need say little, except that it was slow, though none +dared to bar the road of so mighty an array. Since we must go on foot, we were +not able to cover more than five leagues a day, for even after we reached the +river boats could not be found for so many, though Karema travelled in one with +her ladies. Also cattle and corn must always be sent forward for food. Still we +crept on to Egypt without sickness, accident, or revolt. +</p> + +<p> +When we drew near to its frontiers messengers met us from Pharaoh bearing +letters in answer to those which we had sent with the tidings of our coming. +These contained little but ill news. It seemed that the Great King with a +countless host had taken all the cities of the Delta and, after a long siege, +had captured Memphis and put it to the sack, and that the army of Egypt, +fighting desperately by land and upon the Nile was being driven southwards +towards Thebes. Pharaoh added that he proposed to make his last stand at the +strong city of Amada, since he doubted whether the troops from Lower Egypt +would not rather surrender to the Easterns than retreat further up the Nile. He +thanked and blessed us for our promised aid and prayed that it might come in +time to save Egypt from slavery and himself from death. +</p> + +<p> +Also there was a letter for me from Amada in which she said, +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Oh! come quickly. Come quickly, beloved Shabaka, lest of me you should +find but bones for never will I fall living into the hands of the Great King. +We are sore pressed and although Amada has been made very strong, it can stand +but a little while against such a countless multitude armed with all the +engines of war.” +</p> + +<p> +For Karema, too, there were messages from the holy Tanofir of the same meaning, +saying that unless we appeared within a moon of their receipt, all was lost. +</p> + +<p> +We read and took counsel. Then we pressed forward by double marches, sending +swift runners forward to bid Pharaoh and his army hold on to the last spear and +arrow. +</p> + +<p> +On the twenty-fifth day from the receipt of this news we came to the great +frontier city which we found in tumult for its citizens were mad with fear. +Here we rested one night and ate of the food that was gathered there in plenty. +Then leaving a small rear-guard of five thousand men who were tired out, to +hold the place, we pressed onwards, for Amada was still four days’ march +away. On the morning of the fourth day we were told that it was falling, or had +fallen, and when at length we came in sight of the place we saw that it was +beleaguered by an innumerable host of Easterns, while on the Nile was a great +fleet of Grecian and Cyprian mercenaries. Moreover, heralds from the King of +kings reached us, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Surrender, Barbarians, or before the second day dawns you shall sleep +sound, every one of you.” +</p> + +<p> +To these we answered that we would take counsel on the matter and that perhaps +on the morrow we would surrender, since when we had marched from Ethiopia, we +did not know how great was the King’s strength, having been deceived as +to it by the letters of the Pharaoh. Meanwhile that the King of kings would do +well to let us alone, since we were brave men and meant to die hard, and it +would be better for him to leave us to march back to Ethiopia, rather than lose +an army in trying to kill us. +</p> + +<p> +With these words which were spoken by Bes himself, the messengers departed. One +of them however, who seemed to be a great lord, called in a loud voice to his +companions, saying it was hard that nobles should have to do the errands, not +of a man but of an ape who would look better hanging to a pole. Bes made no +answer, only rolled his yellow eyes and said when the lord was out of hearing, +</p> + +<p> +“Now by the Grasshopper and all the gods of Egypt I swear that in payment +for this insult I will choke the Nile with the army of the Great King, and hang +that knave to a pole from the prow of the royal ship.” Which last thing I +hope he did. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +When the embassy had gone Bes gave orders that the whole army should eat and +lie down to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +“I am sure,” said he, “that the Great King will not attack us +at once, since he will hope that we shall flee away during the night, having +seen his strength.” +</p> + +<p> +So the Ethiopians filled themselves and then lay down to sleep, which these +people can do at any time, even if not tired as they were. But while they +rested Bes and I and Karema, with some of the generals consulted together long +and earnestly. For in truth we knew not what to do. But a league away lay the +town of Amada beset by hundreds of thousands of the Easterns so that none could +come in or out, and within its walls were the remains of Pharaoh’s army, +not more than twenty thousand men, all told, if what we heard were true. On the +Nile also was the great Grecian and Cyprian fleet, two hundred vessels and +more, though as we could see by the light of the setting sun the most of these +were made fast to the western bank where the Egyptians could not come at them. +</p> + +<p> +For the rest our position was good, being on high desert beyond the cultivated +land which bordered the eastern bank. But in front of us, separating us from +the southern army of the King, stretched a swamp hard to cross, so that we +could not hope to make an attack by night as there was no moon. Lastly, the +main Eastern strength, to the number of two hundred thousand or more, lay to +the north beyond Amada. +</p> + +<p> +All these things we considered, talking low and earnestly there in the tent, +till it grew so dark that we could not see each other’s faces while +behind us slumbered our army that now numbered some seventy thousand men. +</p> + +<p> +“We are in a trap,” said Bes at length. “If we await attack +they will weigh us down with numbers. If we flee they have camels and horses +and will overtake us; also ships of which we have none. If we attack it must be +without cover through swamp where we shall be bogged. +</p> + +<p> +“Meanwhile Pharaoh is perishing within yonder walls of Amada which the +engines batter down. By the Grasshopper! I know not what to do. It seems that +our journey is vain and that few of us will see Ethiopia more; also that Egypt +is sped.” +</p> + +<p> +I made no answer, for here my generalship failed me and I had nothing to say. +The captains, too, were silent, only woman-like, Karema wept a little, and I +too went near to weeping who thought of Amada penned in yonder temple like a +lamb that awaits the butcher’s knife. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, coming from the door of the tent which I thought was closed, I heard +a deep voice say, +</p> + +<p> +“I have ever noted that those of Ethiopian blood are melancholy after +sundown, though of Egyptians I had thought better things.” +</p> + +<p> +Now about this voice there was something familiar to me, still I said nothing, +nor did the others, for to speak the truth, all of us were frightened and +thought that we must dream. For how could any thing that breathed approach this +tent through a triple line of sentries? So we sat still, staring at the +darkness, till presently in that darkness appeared a glow of light, such as +comes from the fire-flies of Ethiopia. It grew and grew while we gasped with +fear, till presently it took shape, and the shape it took was that of the +ancient withered face, the sightless eyes, and the white beard of the holy +Tanofir. Yes, there not two feet from the ground seemed to float the head of +the holy Tanofir, limned in faint flame, which I suppose must have been +reflected on to it from the light of some camp-fire without. +</p> + +<p> +“O my beloved master!” cried Karema, and threw herself towards him. +</p> + +<p> +“O my beloved Cup!” answered Tanofir. “Glad am I to know you +well and unshattered.” +</p> + +<p> +Then a torch was lit and lo! there before us, wrapped in his dark cloak sat the +holy Tanofir. +</p> + +<p> +“Whence come you, my Great-uncle?” I asked amazed. +</p> + +<p> +“From less far than you do, Nephew,” he answered. “Namely out +of Amada yonder. Oh! ask me not how. It is easy if you are a blind old beggar +who knows the path. And by the way, if you have aught to eat I should be glad +of a bite and a sup, since in Amada food has been scarce for this last month, +and to-night there is little left.” +</p> + +<p> +Karema sped from the tent and presently returned with bread and wine of which +Tanofir partook almost greedily. +</p> + +<p> +“This is the first strong drink that I have tasted for many a +year,” he said as he drained the goblet; “but better a broken vow +than broken wits when one has much to plan and do. At least I hope the gods +will think so when I meet them presently. There—I am strong again. Now, +say, what is your force?” +</p> + +<p> +We told him. +</p> + +<p> +“Good. And what is your plan?” +</p> + +<p> +We shook our heads, having none. +</p> + +<p> +“Bes,” he said sternly, “I think you grow dull since you +became a king—or perhaps it is marriage that makes you so. Why, in bygone +years schemes would have come so fast that they would have choked each other +between those thick lips of yours. And Shabaka, tell me, have you lost all your +generalship whereof once you had plenty, in the soft air of Ethiopia? Or is it +that even the shadow of marriage makes <i>you</i> dull? Well, I must turn to +the woman, for that is always the lot of man. Your plan, Karema, and quickly +for there is no time to lose.” +</p> + +<p> +Now the face of Karema grew fixed and her eyes dreamy as she spoke in a slow, +measured voice like one who knows not what she says. +</p> + +<p> +“My plan is to destroy the armies of the Great King and to relieve the +city of Amada.” +</p> + +<p> +“A very good plan,” said holy Tanofir, “but the question is, +how?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think,” went on Karema, “that about a league above this +place there is a spot where at this season the Nile can be forded by tall men +without the wetting of their shoulders. First then, I would send five thousand +swordsmen across that ford and let them creep down on the navy of the Great +King where the sailors revel in safety, or sleep sound, and fire the ships. The +wind blows strongly from the south and the flames will leap fast from one of +them to the other. Most of their crews will be burned and the rest can be slain +by our five thousand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good, very good,” said the holy Tanofir, “but not enough, +seeing that on the eastern bank is gathered the host of over two hundred +thousand men. Now how will you deal with <i>them</i>, Karema?” +</p> + +<p> +“I seem to see a road yonder beyond the swamp. It runs on the edge of the +desert but behind the sand-hills. I would send the archers of whom there are +more than thirty thousand, under the command of Shabaka along that road which +leads them past Amada. On its farther side are low hills strewn with rocks. +Here I would let the archers take cover and wait for the breaking of the dawn. +Then beneath them they will see the most of the Eastern host and with such bows +as ours they can sweep the plain from the hills almost to the Nile, and having +a hundred arrows to a man, should slaughter the Easterns by the ten thousand, +for when these turn to charge a shaft should pierce through two +together.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good again,” said Tanofir. “But what of the army of the +Great King which lies upon this side of Amada?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think that before the dawn, believing us so few, it will advance and +with the first light begin to thread the swamp, and therefore we must keep five +thousand archers to gall it as it comes. Still it will win through, though with +loss, and find us waiting for it here shoulder to shoulder, rank upon rank with +locked shields, against which horse and foot shall break in vain, for who shall +drive a wedge through the Ethiopian squares that Shabaka has trained and that +Bes, the Karoon, commands? I say that they shall roll back like waves from a +cliff; yes, again and again, growing ever fewer till the clamour of battle and +the shouts of fear and agony reach their ears from beyond Amada where Shabaka +and the archers do their work and the sight of the burning ships strikes terror +in them and they fly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good again,” said the holy Tanofir. “But still many on both +fronts will be left, for this army of Easterns is very vast. And how will you +deal with these, O Karema?” +</p> + +<p> +“On these I would have Pharaoh with all his remaining strength pour from +the northern and the southern gates of Amada, for so shall they be caught like +wounded lions between two wild bulls and torn and trampled and utterly +destroyed. Only I know not how to tell Pharaoh what he must do, and +when.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good again,” said the holy Tanofir, “very good. And as for +the telling of Pharaoh, well, I shall see him presently. It is strange, my +chipped Cup which I had almost thrown away as useless, that although broken, +you still hold so much wisdom. For know, wonderful though it may seem, that +just such plans as you have spoken have grown up in my own mind, only I wished +to learn if you thought them wise.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he laughed a little and Karema stretched her arms as one does who awakes +from sleep, rubbed her eyes and asked if he would not eat more food. +</p> + +<p> +In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Bes, or King,” he said, “doubtless you will do your +wife’s will. Therefore let the host be aroused and stand to its arms. As +it chances I have four men without who can be trusted. Two of these will guide +the five thousand to the ford and across it; also down upon the ships. The +other two will guide Shabaka and the archers along the road which Karema +remembers so well; perhaps she trod it as a child. For my part I return to +Amada to make sure that Pharaoh does his share and at the right time. For mark, +unless all this is carried through to-night Amada will fall to-morrow, a +certain priestess will die, and you, Bes, and your soldiers will never look on +Ethiopia again. Is it agreed?” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his eyes and +answered, +</p> + +<p> +“When one can think of nothing, it is best to follow the counsel of those +who can think of something; also to hunt rather than to be hunted. Especially +is this so if that something comes from the holy Tanofir or his broken Cup. +Generals, you have heard. Rouse the host and bid them stand to their arms +company by company!” +</p> + +<p> +The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and presently +we heard the noise of gathering men. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?” asked Bes. +</p> + +<p> +Tanofir beckoned over his shoulder, and out of the gloom, one by one, four men +stole into the tent. They were strange, quiet men, but I can say no more of +them since their faces were veiled, nor as it chances, did I ever see any of +them after the battle, in which I suppose that they were killed. Or perhaps +they appeared after—well, never mind! +</p> + +<p> +“You have heard,” said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed +their mysterious veiled heads. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, my Brother,” whispered Bes into my ear, “tell me, I +pray you, how did four men who were not in the tent, hear what was said in this +tent, and how did they come through the guards who have orders to kill anyone +who does not know the countersign, especially men whose faces are wrapped in +napkins?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know,” I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema +smiled a little as though to herself. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, having heard, obey,” said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four +veiled ones bowed again. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?” inquired +Bes doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“I think it is needless,” said Tanofir in a dry voice. “Why +try to teach those who know?” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be +hungry?” I asked of Karema. +</p> + +<p> +“Fool, be silent,” she replied, looking on me with contempt. +“Do the—friends—of Tanofir need to eat?” +</p> + +<p> +“I should have thought so after being beleaguered for a month in a +starving town. If the master wants to eat, why should not his men?” I +murmured. +</p> + +<p> +Then a thought struck me and I was silent. +</p> + +<p> +A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and that all +the army was afoot. +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” said Bes. “Then start forthwith with five thousand +men, and burn those ships, according to the plan laid down by the Queen Karema, +which you heard her speak but now,” and he named certain regiments that +he should take with him, those of the general’s own command, adding: +“Save some of the ships if you can, and afterwards cross the Nile in them +with your men, and join yourself either to my force or to that of the lord +Shabaka, according to what you see. May the Grasshopper give you victory and +wisdom.” +</p> + +<p> +The general saluted and asked, +</p> + +<p> +“Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?” +</p> + +<p> +Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered into my ear, +</p> + +<p> +“I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide us +across the River of Death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have no fear, General,” said the holy Tanofir from the other end +of the tent. “If you and your men play their parts as well as the guides +will play theirs, the ships are already burned together with their companies. +Only take fire with you.” +</p> + +<p> +So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat frightened, and +soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand swordsmen. +</p> + +<p> +Now Bes looked at me and said, +</p> + +<p> +“It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the archers. +Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” answered Tanofir, “my guides will show him. Look +not so doubtful, Shabaka. Did I fail you when you were in the grip of the King +of kings in the East, and only your own life and that of Bes were at +stake?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“You do not know, but I know, as I think do Bes and Karema, since the one +received the messages which the other sent. Well, if I did not fail you then, +shall I fail you now when Egypt is at stake? Follow these guides I give you, +and——” here he took hold of the quiver of arrows that lay +beside me on the ground, and as certainly as though he could see it with his +blind eyes, touched one of them, on the shaft of which were two black and a +white feather, “remember my words after you have loosed this arrow from +your great black bow and noted where it strikes.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I turned to Bes and asked, +</p> + +<p> +“Where do we meet again?” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot say, Brother,” he answered. “In Amada if that may +be. If not, at the Table of Osiris, or in the fields of the Grasshopper, or in +the blackness which swallows all, gods and men together.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does Karema come with me or bide with you?” I asked again. +</p> + +<p> +“She does neither,” interrupted Tanofir, “she accompanies me +to Amada, where I have need of her and she will be more safe. Oh! fear nothing, +for every hermit however poor, still carries his staff and his cup, even if it +be cracked.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I shook Bes by the hand and went my way, wondering if I were awake or +dreaming, and the last thing I saw in that tent was the beautiful face of +Karema smiling at me. This I took to be a good omen, since I knew that it was +the heart of the holy Tanofir which smiled, and that her eyes were but its +mirror. +</p> + +<p> +Already my thirty thousand archers were marshalling, and having made sure that +there was ample store of arrows and that all their gourds were filled with +water, I set myself at their head while in front of me walked the two veiled +guides. I looked upon them doubtfully, since it seemed dangerous to trust an +army to unknown men who for aught I knew, might lead us into the midst of our +foes. Then I remembered that they were vouched for by the holy Tanofir, my own +great-uncle whom I trusted above any man on earth, and took heart again. +</p> + +<p> +How had he come into our tent, I wondered, and how, blind as he was, would he +get back into Amada with Karema, if he took her? Well, who could account for +the goings or the comings of the holy Tanofir, who was more of a spirit than a +man? Perhaps it was not really he whom we had seen, but what we Egyptians +called his <i>Ka</i> or Double which can pass to and fro at will. Only do +<i>Kas</i> eat? Of this matter I knew only that offerings of food and drink are +made to them in tombs. So leaving the holy Tanofir to guard himself, I turned +my mind to our own business, which was to surprise the army of the Great King. +</p> + +<p> +Skirting the swamp we came to rough and higher ground and though I could see +little in that darkness, I knew that we were walking up a hill. Presently we +crossed its crest and descending for three bowshots or so, I felt that my feet +were on a road. Now the guides turned to the left and after them in a long line +came my army of thirty thousand archers. In utter silence we went since we had +no beasts with us and our sandalled feet made little noise; moreover orders had +been passed down the line that the man who made a sound should die. +</p> + +<p> +For two hours or more we marched thus, then bore to the left again and climbed +a slope, by which time I judged we must be well past the town of Amada. Here +suddenly the guides halted and we after them at whispered words of command. One +of them took me by the cloak, led me forward a little way to the crest of the +ridge, and pointed with his white-sleeved arm. I looked and there beneath me, +well within bowshot, were thousands of the watchfires of the King’s army, +flaring, some of them, in the strong wind. For a full league those fires burned +and we were opposite to the midmost of them. +</p> + +<p> +“See now, General Shabaka,” said the guide, speaking for the first +time in a curious hissing whisper such as might come from a man who had no +lips, “beneath you sleeps the Eastern host, which being so great, has not +thought it needful to guard this ridge. Now marshal your archers in a fourfold +line in such fashion that at the first break of dawn they can take cover behind +the rocks and shoot, every man of them without piercing his fellow. Do you bide +here with the centre where your standard can be seen by all to north and south. +I and my companion will lead your vanguard farther on to where the ridge draws +nearer to the Nile, so that with their arrows they can hold back and slay any +who strive to escape down stream. The rest is in your hands, for we are guides, +not generals. Summon your captains and issue your commands.” +</p> + +<p> +So we went back again and I called the officers together and told them what +they were to do, then despatched them to their regiments. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the vanguard of ten thousand men drew away and vanished, and with +them the white-robed guides on whom I never looked again. Then I marshalled my +centre as well as I could in the gloom, and bade them lie down to rest and +sleep if they were able; also, within thirty minutes of the sunrise, to eat and +drink a little of the food they carried, to see that every bow was ready and +that the arrows were loosened in every quiver. This done, with a few whom I +trusted to serve me as messengers and guard, I crept up to the brow of the hill +or slope, and there we laid us down and watched. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br />THE BATTLE—AND AFTER</h2> + +<p> +Two hours went by and I knew by the stars that the dawn could not be far away. +My eyes were fixed upon the Nile and on the lights that hung to the prows of +the Great King’s ships. Where were those who had been sent to fire them, +I wondered, for of them I saw nothing. Well, their journey would be long as +they must wade the river. Perhaps they had not yet arrived, or perhaps they had +miscarried. At least the fleet seemed very quiet. None were alarmed there and +no sentry challenged. +</p> + +<p> +At length it grew near to dawn and behind me I heard the gentle stir of the +Ethiopians arising and eating as they had been bidden, whereon I too ate and +drank a little, though never had I less wished for food. The East brightened +and far up the Nile of a sudden there appeared what at first I took to be a +meteor or a lantern waving in the wind that now was blowing its strongest, as +it does at this season of the year just at the time of dawn. Yet that lantern +seemed to travel fast and lo! now I saw that it was fire running up the rigging +of a ship. +</p> + +<p> +It leapt from rope to rope and from sail to sail till they blazed fiercely, and +in other ships also nearer to us, flame appeared that grew to a great red +sheet. Our men had not failed; the navy of the King of kings was burning! Oh! +how it burned fanned by the breath of that strong wind. From vessel to vessel +leapt the fire like a thing alive, for all of them were drawn up on the bank +with prows fastened in such fashion that they could not readily be made loose. +Some broke away indeed, but they were aflame and only served to spread the fire +more quickly. Before the rim of the sun appeared for a league or more there was +nothing but blazing ships from which rose a hideous crying, and still more and +more took fire lower down the line. +</p> + +<p> +I had no time to watch for now I must be up and doing. The sky grew grey, there +was light enough to see though faintly. I cast my eyes about me and perceived +that no place in the world could have been better for archery. In front the +hill was steep for a hundred paces or more and scattered over with thousands of +large stones behind which bowmen might take shelter. Then came a gentle slope +of loose sand up which attackers would find it hard to climb. Then the long +flat plain whereon the Easterns were camped, and beyond it, scarce two furlongs +away, the banks of Nile. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed the place was ill-chosen for so great an army, nor could it have held +them all, had not the camping ground been a full league in length, and even so +they were crowded. Out of the mist their tents appeared, thousands of them, +farther than my eye could reach, and almost opposite to me, near to the banks +of the river, was a great pavilion of silk and gold that I guessed must shelter +the majesty of the King of kings. Indeed this was certain since now I saw that +over it floated his royal banner which I knew so well, I who had stolen the +little White Signet of signets from which it was taken. Truly the holy Tanofir, +or his Cup, Karema, or his messengers, or the spirits with whom he dwelt, I +know not which, had a general’s eye and knew how to plan an ambuscade. +</p> + +<p> +So thought I to myself as I ran back to my army to meet the gathered captains +and set all things in order. It was soon done for they were ready, as were the +fierce Ethiopians fresh from their rest and food, and stringing their bows, +every one of them, or loosening the arrows in their quivers. As I came they +lifted their hands in salute, for speak they dared not and I sent a whisper +down their ranks, that this day they must fight and conquer, or fall for the +glory of Ethiopia and their king. Then I gave my orders and before the sun rose +and revealed them they crept forward in a fourfold line and took shelter behind +the stones, lying there invisible on their bellies until the moment came. +</p> + +<p> +The red rim of Ra appeared glorious in the East, and I, from behind the rocks +that I had chosen, sat down and watched. Oh! truly Tanofir or the gods of Egypt +were ordering things aright for us. The huge camp was awake now and aware of +what was happening on the Nile. They could not see well because of the tall +reeds upon the river’s rim and therefore, without order or discipline, by +the thousand and the ten thousand, for their numbers were countless, some with +arms and some without, they ran to the slope of sand beneath our station and +began to climb it to have a better view of the burning ships. +</p> + +<p> +The sun leapt up swiftly as it does in Egypt. His glowing edge appeared over +the crest of the hill though the hollows beneath were still filled with shadow. +The moment was at hand. I waited till I had counted ten, glancing to the right +and left of me to see that all were ready and to suffer the crowd to thicken on +the slope, but not to reach the lowest rocks, whither they were climbing. Then +I gave the double signal that had been agreed. +</p> + +<p> +Behind me the banner of the golden Grasshopper was raised upon a tall pole and +broke upon the breeze. That was the first signal whereat every man rose to his +knees and set shaft on string. Next I lifted my bow, the black bow, the ancient +bow that few save I could bend, and drew it to my ear. +</p> + +<p> +Far away, out of arrow-reach as most would have said, floated the Great +King’s standard over his pavilion. At this I aimed, making allowance for +the wind, and shot. The shaft leapt forward, seen in the sunlight, lost in the +shadow, seen in the sunlight again and lastly seen once more, pinning that +golden standard against its pole! +</p> + +<p> +At the sight of the omen a roar went up that rolled to right and left of us, a +roar from thirty thousand throats. Now it was lost in a sound like to the +hissing of thunder rain in Ethiopia, the sound of thirty thousand arrows +rushing through the wind. Oh! they were well aimed, those arrows for I had not +taught the Ethiopians archery in vain. +</p> + +<p> +How many went down before them? The gods of Egypt know alone. I do not. All I +know is that the long slope of sand which had been crowded with standing men, +was now thick with fallen men, many of whom lay as though they were asleep. For +what mail could resist the iron-pointed shafts driven by the strong bows of the +Ethiopians? +</p> + +<p> +And this was but a beginning, for, flight after flight, those arrows sped till +the air grew dark with them. Soon there were no more to shoot at on the slope, +for these were down, and the order went to lift the bows and draw upon the +camp, and especially upon the parks of baggage beasts. Presently these were +down also, or rushing maddened to and fro. +</p> + +<p> +At last the Eastern generals saw and understood. Orders were shouted and in a +mad confusion the scores of thousands who were unharmed, rushed back towards +the banks of Nile where our shafts could not reach them. Here they formed up in +their companies and took counsel. It was soon ended, for all the vast mass of +them, preceded by a cloud of archers, began to advance upon the hill. +</p> + +<p> +Now I passed a command to the Ethiopians, of whom so far not one had fallen, to +lie low and wait. On came the glittering multitude of Easterns, gay with purple +and gold, their mail and swords shining in the risen sun. On they came by +squadron and by company, more than the eye could number. They reached the sand +slope thick with their own dead and wounded and paused a little because they +could see no man, since the black bodies of the Ethiopians were hid behind the +black stones and the black bows did not catch the light. +</p> + +<p> +Then from a gorgeous group that I guessed hid the person of the Great King +surrounded by his regiment of guards, ten thousand of them who were called +Immortals, messengers sprang forth screaming the order to charge. The host +began to climb the slippery sand slope but still I held my hand till their +endless lines were within fifty paces of us and their arrows rattled harmlessly +against our stones. Then I caused the banner of the Grasshopper that had been +lowered, to be lifted thrice, and at the third lifting once more thirty +thousand arrows rushed forth to kill. +</p> + +<p> +They went down, they went down in lines and heaps, riddled through and through. +But still others came on for they fought under the eye of the Great King, and +to fly meant death with shame and torture. We could not kill them all, they +were too many. We could not kill the half of them. Now their foremost were +within ten paces of us and since we must stand up to shoot, our men began to +fall, also pierced with arrows. I caused the blast of retreat to be sounded on +the ivory horn and step by step we drew back to the crest of the ridge, +shooting as we went. On the crest we re-formed rapidly in a double line +standing as close as we could together and my example was followed all down the +ranks to right and left. Then I bethought me of a plan that I had taught these +archers again and again in Ethiopia. +</p> + +<p> +With the flag I signalled a command to stop shooting and also passed the word +down the line, so that presently no more arrows flew. The Easterns hesitated, +wondering whether this were a trap, or if we lacked shafts, and meanwhile I +sent messengers with certain orders to the vanguard, who sped away at speed +behind the hill, running as they never ran before. Presently I heard a voice +below cry out, +</p> + +<p> +“The Great King commands that the barbarians be destroyed. Let the +barbarians be destroyed!” +</p> + +<p> +Now with a roar they came on like a flood. I waited till they were within +twenty paces of us, and shouted, “Shoot and fall!” +</p> + +<p> +The first line shot and oh! fearful was its work, for not a shaft missed those +crowded hosts and many pinned two together. My archers shot and fell down, +setting new arrows to the string as they fell, whereon the second line also +shot over them. Then up we sprang and loosed again, and again fell down, +whereon the second line once more poured in its deadly hail. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Easterns stayed their advance, for their front ranks lay prone, and +those behind must climb over them if they could. Yes, standing there in +glittering groups they rocked and hesitated although their officers struck them +with swords and lances to drive them forward. Once more our front rank rose and +loosed, and once more we dropped and let the shafts of the second speed over +us. It was too much, flesh and blood could not bear more of those arrows. +Thousands upon thousands were down and the rest began to flee in confusion. +</p> + +<p> +Then at my command the ivory horns sounded the charge. Every man slung his bow +upon his back and drew his short sword. +</p> + +<p> +“On to them!” I cried and leapt forward. +</p> + +<p> +Like a black torrent we rushed down the hill, leaping over the dead and +wounded. The retreat became a rout since before these ebon, great-eyed warriors +the soft Easterns did not care to stand. They fled screaming, +</p> + +<p> +“These are devils! These are devils!” +</p> + +<p> +We were among them now, hacking and stabbing with the short swords upon their +heads and backs. There was no need to aim the blow, they were so many. Like a +huddled mob of cattle they turned and fled down Nile. But my orders had reached +the vanguard and these, hidden in the growing crops on the narrow neck of +swampy land between the hills and the Nile, met them with arrows as they came, +also raked them from the steep cliff side. Their chariot wheels sank into the +mud till the horses were slain; their footmen were piled in heaps about them, +till soon there was a mighty wall of dead and dying. And our centre and +rearguard came up behind. Oh! we slew and slew, till before the sun was an hour +high over half the army of the Great King was no more. Then we re-formed, +having suffered but little loss, and drank of the water of the Nile. +</p> + +<p> +“All is not done,” I cried. +</p> + +<p> +For the Immortals still remained behind us, gathered in massed ranks about +their king. Also there were many thousands of others between these and the +walls of Amada, and to the south of the city yet a second army, that with which +Bes had been left to deal, with what success I knew not. +</p> + +<p> +“Ethiopians,” I shouted, “cease crying Victory, since the +battle is about to begin. Strike, and at once before the Easterns find their +heart again.” +</p> + +<p> +So we advanced upon the Immortals, all of us, for now the vanguard had joined +our strength. +</p> + +<p> +In long lines we advanced over that blood-soaked plain, and as we came the +Great King loosed his remaining chariots against us. It availed him nothing, +since the horses could not face our arrows whereof, thanks be to the gods! I +had prepared so ample a store, carried in bundles by lads. Scarce a chariot +reached our lines, and those that did were destroyed, leaving us unbroken. +</p> + +<p> +The chariots were done with and their drivers dead, but there still frowned the +squares of the Immortals. We shot at them till nearly all our shafts were +spent, and, galled to madness, they charged. We did not wait for the points of +those long spears, but ran in beneath them striking with our short swords, and +oh! grim and desperate was that battle, since the Easterns were clad in mail +and the Ethiopians had but short jerkins of bull’s hide. +</p> + +<p> +Fight as we would we were driven back. The fray turned against us and we fell +by hundreds. I bethought me of flight to the hills, since now we were +outnumbered and very weary. But behold! when all seemed lost a great shouting +rose from Amada and through her opened gates poured forth all that remained of +the army of Pharaoh, perhaps eighteen or twenty thousand men. I saw, and my +heart rose again. +</p> + +<p> +“Stand firm!” I cried. “Stand firm!” and lo! we stood. +</p> + +<p> +The Egyptians were on them now and in their midst I saw Pharaoh’s banner. +By degrees the battle swayed towards the banks of Nile, we to the north, the +Egyptians to the south and the Easterns between us. They were trying to turn +our flank; yes, and would have done it, had there not suddenly appeared upon +the Nile a fleet of ships. At first I thought that we were lost, for these +ships were from Greece and Cyprus, till I saw the banner of the Grasshopper +wave from a prow, and knew that they were manned by our five thousand who had +gone out to burn the fleet, and had saved these vessels. They beached and from +their crowded holds poured the five thousand, or those that were left of them, +and ranging themselves upon the bank, raised their war-shout and attacked the +ends of the Easterns’ lines. +</p> + +<p> +Now we charged for the last time and the Egyptians charged from the south. +Ha-ha! the ranks of the Immortals were broken at length. We were among them. I +saw Pharaoh, his <i>uræus</i> circlet on his helm. He was wounded and sore +beset. A tall Immortal rushed at him with a spear and drove it home. +</p> + +<p> +Pharaoh fell. +</p> + +<p> +I leapt over him and killed that Eastern with a blow upon the neck, but my +sword shattered on his armour. The tide of battle rolled up and swept us apart +and I saw Pharaoh being carried away. Look! yonder was the Great King himself +standing in a golden chariot, the Great King in all his glory whom last I had +seen far away in the East. He knew me and shot at me with a bow, the bow he +thought my own, shouting, “Die, dog of an Egyptian!” +</p> + +<p> +His arrow pierced my helm but missed my head. I strove to come at him but could +not. +</p> + +<p> +The real rout began. The Immortals were broken like an earthen jar. They +retreated in groups fighting desperately and of these the thickest was around +the Great King. He whom I hated was about to escape me. He still had horses; he +would fly down Nile, gain his reserves and so away back to the East, where he +would gather new and yet larger armies, since men in millions were at his +command. Then he would return and destroy Egypt when perchance there were no +Ethiopians to help her, and perhaps after all drag Amada to his House of Women. +See, they were breaking through and already I was far away with a wound in my +breast, a hurt leg and a shattered sword. +</p> + +<p> +What could I do? My arrows were spent and the bearers had none left to give me. +No, there was one still in the quiver. I drew it out. On its shaft were two +black feathers and one white. Who had spoken of that arrow? I remembered, +Tanofir. I was to think of certain things that he had said when I noted what it +pierced. I unslung my bow, strung it and set that arrow on the string. +</p> + +<p> +By now the Great King was far away, out of reach for most archers. His chariot +forging ahead amidst the remnant of his guards and the nobles who attended on +his sacred person, travelled over a little rise where doubtless once there had +been a village, long since rotted down to its parent clay. The sunlight glinted +on his shining armour and silken robe, whereof the back was toward me. +</p> + +<p> +I aimed, I drew, I loosed! Swift and far the shaft sped forward. By Osiris! it +struck him full between the shoulders, and lo! the King of kings, the Monarch +of the World, lurched forward, fell on to the rail of his chariot, and rolled +to the ground. Next instant there arose a roar of, “The King is dead! The +Great King is dead! <i>Fly, fly, fly!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +So they fled and after them thundered the pursuers slaying and slaying till +they could lift their arms no more. Oh! yes, some escaped though the men of +Thebes and country folk murdered many of them and but a few ever won back to +the East to tell the tale of the blotting out of the mighty army of the King of +kings and of the doom dealt to him by the great black bow of Shabaka the +Egyptian. +</p> + +<p> +I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It said, +</p> + +<p> +“You seem to have done very well, Brother, even better than we did yonder +on the other side of the town, though some might think that fray a thing +whereof to make a song. Also that last shot of yours was worthy of a good +archer, for I marked it, I marked it. A great lord was laid low thereby. Let us +go and see who it was.” +</p> + +<p> +I threw my arm round the bull neck of Bes and leaning on him, advanced to where +the King lay alone save for the fallen about him. +</p> + +<p> +“This man is not yet sped,” said Bes. “Let us look upon his +face,” and he turned him over, and stretched him there upon the sand with +the arrow standing two spans beyond his corselet. +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” said Bes, “this is a certain High one with whom we had +dealings in the East!” and he laughed thickly. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Great King opened his eyes and knew us and on his dying features came +a look of hate. +</p> + +<p> +“So you have conquered, Egyptian,” he said. “Oh! if only I +had you again in the East, whence in my folly I let you go——” +</p> + +<p> +“You would set me in your boat, would you not, whence by the wisdom of +Bes I escaped.” +</p> + +<p> +“More than that,” he gasped. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall not serve you so,” I went on. “I shall leave you to +die as a warrior should upon a fair fought field. But learn, tyrant and +murderer, that the shaft which overthrew you came from the black bow you +coveted and thought you had received, and that this hand loosed it—not at +hazard.” +</p> + +<p> +“I guessed it,” he whispered. +</p> + +<p> +“Know, too, King, that the lady Amada whom you also coveted, waits to be +my wife; that your mighty army is destroyed, and that Egypt is free by the +hands of Shabaka the Egyptian and Bes the dwarf.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shabaka the Egyptian,” he muttered, “whom I held and let go +because of a dream and for policy. So, Shabaka, you will wed Amada whom I +desired because I could not take her, and doubtless you will rule in Egypt, for +Pharaoh, I think, is as I am to-day. O Shabaka, you are strong and a great +warrior, but there is something stronger than you in the world—that which +men call Fate. Such success as yours offends the gods. Look on me, Shabaka, +look on the King of kings, the Ruler of the earth, lying shamed in the dust +before you, and, accursed Shabaka! do not call yourself happy until you see +death as near as I do now.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he threw his arms wide and died. +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +We called to soldiers to bear his body and having set the pursuit, with that +royal clay entered into Amada in triumph. It was not a very great town and the +temple was its finest building and thither we wended. In the outer court we +found Pharaoh lying at the point of death, for from many wounds his life +drained out with his flowing blood, nor could the leeches help him. +</p> + +<p> +“Greeting, Shabaka,” he said, “you and the Ethiopians have +saved Egypt. My son is slain in the battle and I too am slain, and who remains +to rule her save you, you and Amada? Would that you had married her at once, +and never left my side. But she was foolish and headstrong and I—was +jealous of you, Shabaka. Forgive me, and farewell.” +</p> + +<p> +He spoke no more although he lived a little while. +</p> + +<p> +Karema came from the inner court. She greeted her husband, then turned and +said, +</p> + +<p> +“Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you.” +</p> + +<p> +I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone. +</p> + +<p> +“What happened to the army of the Karoon?” I asked as we went +slowly. +</p> + +<p> +“That happened, Lord, which the holy Tanofir foretold. The Easterns +attacked across the swamp, thinking to bear us down by numbers. But the paths +were too narrow and their columns were bogged in the mud. Still they struggled +on against the arrows to its edge and there the Ethiopians fell on them and +being lighter-footed and without armour, had the mastery of them, who were +encumbered by their very multitude. Oh! I saw it all from the temple top. Bes +did well and I am proud of him, as I am proud of you.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is of the Ethiopians that you should be proud, Karema, since with one +to five they have won a great battle.” +</p> + +<p> +We came to the end of the second court where was a sanctuary. +</p> + +<p> +“Enter,” said Karema and fell back. +</p> + +<p> +I did so and though the cedar door was left a little ajar, at first could see +nothing because of the gloom of the place. By degrees my eyes grew accustomed +to the darkness and I perceived an alabaster statue of the goddess Isis of the +size of life, who held in her arms an ivory child, also lifesize. Then I heard +a sigh and, looking down, saw a woman clad in white kneeling at the feet of the +statue, lost in prayer. Suddenly she rose and turned and the ray of light from +the door ajar fell upon her. It was Amada draped only in the transparent robe +of a priestess, and oh! she was beautiful beyond imagining, so beautiful that +my heart stood still. +</p> + +<p> +She saw me in my battered mail and the blood flowed up to her breast and brow +and in her eyes there came a light such as I had never known in them before, +the light that is lit only by the torch of woman’s love. Yes, no longer +were hers the eyes of a priestess; they were the eyes of a woman who burns with +mortal passion. +</p> + +<p> +“Amada,” I whispered, “Amada found at last.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shabaka,” she whispered back, “returned at last, to me, your +home,” and she stretched out her arms toward me. +</p> + +<p> +But before I could take her into mine, she uttered a little cry and shrank +away. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! not here,” she said, “not here in the presence of this +Holy One who watches all that passes in heaven and earth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then perchance, Amada, she has watched the freeing of Egypt on yonder +field to-day, and knows for whose sake it was done.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hearken, Shabaka. I am your guerdon. Moreover as a woman I am yours. +There is naught I desire so much as to feel your kiss upon me. For it and it +alone I am ready to risk my spirit’s death and torment. But for you I +fear. Twice have I sworn myself to this goddess and she is very jealous of +those who rob her of her votaries. I fear that her curse will fall not only on +me, but on you also, and not only for this life but for all lives that may be +given to us. For your own sake, I pray you leave me. I hear that Pharaoh my +uncle is dead or dying, and doubtless they will offer you the throne. Take it, +Shabaka, for in it I ask no share. Take it and leave me to serve the goddess +till my death.” +</p> + +<p> +“I too serve a goddess,” I answered hoarsely, “and she is +named Love, and you are her priestess. Little I care for Isis who serve the +goddess Love. Come, kiss me here and now, ere perchance I die. Kiss me who have +waited long enough, and so let us be wed.” +</p> + +<p> +One moment she paused, swaying in the wind of passion, like a tall reed on the +banks of Nile, and then, ah! then she sank upon my breast and pressed her lips +against my own. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +AND AFTER +</p> + +<p> +For a few moments I, Shabaka, seemed to be lost in a kind of delirium and +surrounded by a rose-hued mist. Then I, Allan Quatermain, heard a sharp quick +sound as of a clock striking, and looked up. It was a clock, a beautiful old +clock on a mantelpiece opposite to me and the hands showed that it had just +struck the hour of ten. +</p> + +<p> +Now I remembered that centuries ago, as I was dropping asleep, I did not know +why, I had seen that clock and those hands in the same position and known that +it was striking the second stroke of ten. Oh! what did it all mean? Had +thousands of years gone by or—only eight seconds? +</p> + +<p> +There was a weight upon my shoulder. I glanced round to see what it was and +discovered the beautiful head of Lady Ragnall who was sweetly sleeping there. +Lady Ragnall! and in that very strange dream which I had dreamed she was the +priestess called Amada. Look, there was the mark of the new moon above her +breast. And not a second ago I had been in a shrine with Amada dressed as Lady +Ragnall was to-night, in circumstances so intimate that it made me blush to +think of them. Lady Ragnall! Amada!—Amada! Lady Ragnall! A shrine! A +boudoir! Oh! I must be going mad! +</p> + +<p> +I could not disturb her, it would have been—well, unseemly. So I, +Shabaka, or Allan Quatermain, just sat still feeling curiously comfortable, and +tried to piece things together, when suddenly Amada—I mean Lady Ragnall +woke. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder,” she said without lifting her head from my shoulder, +“what happened to the holy Tanofir. I think that I heard him outside the +shine giving directions for the digging of Pharaoh’s grave at that spot, +and saying that he must do so at once as his time was very short. Yes, and I +wished that he would go away. Oh! my goodness!” she exclaimed, and +suddenly sprang up. +</p> + +<p> +I too rose and we stood facing each other. +</p> + +<p> +Between us, in front of the fire stood the tripod and the bowl of black stone +at the bottom of which lay a pinch of white ashes, the remains of the +<i>Taduki</i>. We stared at it and at each other. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! where have we been, Shaba—I mean, Mr. Quatermain?” she +gasped, looking at me round-eyed. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” I answered confusedly. “To the East I +suppose. That is—it was all a dream.” +</p> + +<p> +“A dream!” she said. “What nonsense! Tell me, were you or +were you not in a sanctuary just now with me before the statue of Isis, the +same that fell on George two years ago and killed him, and did you or did you +not give me a necklace of wonderful rosy pearls which we put upon the neck of +the statue as a peace-offering because I had broken my vows to the +goddess—those that you won from the Great King?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I answered triumphantly, “I did nothing of the sort. Is +it likely that I should have taken those priceless pearls into battle? I gave +them to Karema to keep after my mother returned them to me on her death-bed; I +remember it distinctly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and Karema handed them to me again as your love-token when she +appeared in the city with the holy Tanofir, and what was more welcome at the +moment—something to eat. For we were near starving, you know. Well, I +threw them over your neck and my own in the shrine to be the symbol of our +eternal union. But afterwards we thought that it might be wise to offer them to +the goddess—to appease her, you know. Oh! how dared we plight our mortal +troth there in her very shrine and presence, and I her twice-sworn servant? It +was insult heaped on sacrilege.” +</p> + +<p> +“At a guess, because love is stronger than fear,” I replied. +“But it seems that you dreamed a little longer than I did. So perhaps you +can tell me what happened afterwards. I only got as far as—well, I forget +how far I got,” I added, for at that moment full memory returned and I +could not go on. +</p> + +<p> +She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed. +</p> + +<p> +“It is all mixed up in my mind too,” she exclaimed. “I can +only remember something rather absurd—and affectionate. You know what +strange things dreams are.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought you said it wasn’t a dream.” +</p> + +<p> +“Really I don’t know what it was. But—your wound +doesn’t hurt you, does it? You were bleeding a good deal. It stained me +here,” and she touched her breast and looked down wonderingly at her +sacred, ancient robe as though she expected to see that it was red. +</p> + +<p> +“As there is no stain now it <i>must</i> have been a dream. But my word! +that was a battle,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I watched it from the pylon top, and oh! it was glorious. Do you +remember the charge of the Ethiopians against the Immortals? Why of course you +must as you led it. And then the fall of Pharaoh Peroa—he was George, you +know. And the death of the Great King, killed by your black bow; you were a +wonderful shot even then, you see. And the burning of the ships, how they +blazed! And—a hundred other things.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I said, “it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good +strategist—or his Cup was, I don’t know which.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you were a good general, and so for the matter of that was Bes. Oh! +what agonies I went through while the fight hung doubtful. My heart was on +fire, yes, I seemed to burn for——” and she stopped. +</p> + +<p> +“For whom?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“For Egypt of course, and when, reflected in the alabaster, I saw you +enter that shrine, where you remember I was praying for your success—and +safety, I nearly died of joy. For you know I had been, well, attached to +you—to Shabaka, I mean—all the time—that’s my part of +the story which I daresay you did not see. Although I seemed so cold and +wayward I could love, yes, in that life I knew how to love. And Shabaka looked, +oh! a hero with his rent mail and the glory of triumph in his eyes. He was very +handsome, too, in his way. But what nonsense I am talking.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, great nonsense. Still, I wish we were sure how it ended. It is a +pity that you forget, for I am crazed with curiosity. I suppose there is no +more <i>Taduki</i>, is there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not a scrap,” she answered firmly, “and if there were it +would be fatal to take it twice on the same day. We have learned all there is +to learn. Perhaps it is as well, though I should like to know what happened +after our—our marriage.” +</p> + +<p> +“So we <i>were</i> married, were we?” +</p> + +<p> +“I mean,” she went on ignoring my remark, “whether you ruled +long in Egypt. For you, or rather Shabaka, did rule. Also whether the Easterns +returned and drove us out, or what. You see the Ivory Child went away somehow, +for we found it again in Kendah Land only a few years ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps we retired to Ethiopia,” I suggested, “and the +worship of the Child continued in some part of that country after the Ethiopian +kingdom passed away.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, only I don’t think Karema would ever have gone back to +Ethiopia unless she was obliged. You remember how she hated the place. No, not +even to see those black children of hers. Well, as we can never tell, it is no +use speculating.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought there <i>was</i> more <i>Taduki</i>,” I remarked sadly. +“I am sure I saw some in the coffer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not one bit,” she answered still more firmly than before, and, +stretching out her hand, she shut down the lid of the coffer before I could +look into it. “It may be best so, for as it stands the story had a happy +ending and I don’t want to learn, oh! I don’t want to learn how the +curse of Isis fell on you and me.” +</p> + +<p> +“So you believe in that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I do,” she answered with passion, “and what is more, I +believe it is working still, which perhaps is why we have all come down in the +world, you and I and George and Hans, yes, and even old Harût whom we knew in +Kendah Land, who, I think, was the holy Tanofir. For as surely as I live I +<i>know</i> beyond possibility of doubt that whatever we may be called to-day, +you were the General Shabaka and I was the priestess Amada, Royal Lady of +Egypt, and between us and about us the curse of Isis wavers like a sword. That +is why George was killed and that is why—but I feel very tired, I think I +had better go to bed.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +As I recall that I have explained, I was obliged to leave Ragnall Castle early +the next morning to keep a shooting engagement. O heavens! to keep a shooting +engagement! +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +But whatever Amada, I mean Lady Ragnall, said, there <i>was</i> plenty more +<i>Taduki</i>, as I have good reason to know. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +A<small>LLAN</small> Q<small>UATERMAIN</small>. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 5746-h.htm or 5746-h.zip</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/5/7/4/5746/</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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