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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+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
+www.gutenberg.org. 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.
+
+Title: The Ancient Allan
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: August 22, 2002 [eBook #5746]
+[Most recently updated: March 12, 2021]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: John Bickers, Dagny and David Widger
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ANCIENT ALLAN ***
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Ancient Allan
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+First Published 1920.
+
+
+Contents
+
+ CHAPTER I. AN OLD FRIEND
+ CHAPTER II. RAGNALL CASTLE
+ CHAPTER III. ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD
+ CHAPTER IV. THROUGH THE GATES 
+ CHAPTER V. THE WAGER
+ CHAPTER VI. THE DOOM OF THE BOAT
+ CHAPTER VII. BES STEALS THE SIGNET
+ CHAPTER VIII. THE LADY AMADA
+ CHAPTER IX. THE MESSENGERS
+ CHAPTER X. SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
+ CHAPTER XI.  THE HOLY TANOFIR
+ CHAPTER XII. THE SLAYING OF IDERNES
+ CHAPTER XIII. AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS
+ CHAPTER XIV. SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE
+ CHAPTER XV. THE SUMMONS
+ CHAPTER XVI. TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP
+ CHAPTER XVII. THE BATTLE—AND AFTER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+AN OLD FRIEND
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _know_
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Here at any rate is the story.
+
+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.
+
+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 _Taduki_. 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 _Taduki_ 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.
+
+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 _Taduki_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _Taduki_, 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
+_Taduki_ fumes and let him know the results.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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:
+
+“MY DEAR MR. QUATERMAIN,—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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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, _ushapti_
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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 _you_ can guess
+who know my history.
+
+“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!’
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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....”
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+RAGNALL CASTLE
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“Because he has laid hands on that which is holy and not meant for
+man,” and he looked at Lady Ragnall.
+
+I remarked that all women were holy, whereon he replied that he did not
+think so and changed the subject.
+
+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.
+
+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 _passée_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Lastly there was that _Taduki_ business. Well, there at any rate I was
+clear and decided. No earthly power would induce me to have anything
+more to do with _Taduki_ 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—_Taduki_—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.
+
+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.
+
+In due course an answer arrived—“Delighted, but hoped that you would
+have been able to stay longer.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“Indeed, Sir,” he said, “and what was his name, Sir?”
+
+“Savage,” I replied.
+
+“And where might he be now, Sir?”
+
+“Inside a snake!” I answered. “At least he was inside a snake but now I
+hope he is waiting upon his master in Heaven.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+These things I learned in a flash. Then with a murmured “Mr.
+Quatermain, my Lady,” the footman closed the door and she saw me.
+
+Moving quickly towards me with both her hands outstretched, she
+exclaimed in that honey-soft voice of hers,
+
+“Oh! my dear friend——” stopped and added, “Why, you haven’t changed a
+bit.”
+
+“Fossils wear well,” I replied, “but that is just what I was thinking
+of you.”
+
+“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 _am_ glad!” and she
+gave me both the outstretched hands.
+
+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,
+
+“I must tell you at once. A most terrible catastrophe has happened——”
+
+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.
+
+“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 _that_ 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!”
+
+“The Atterby-Smiths!” I exclaimed, for somehow I too felt disappointed.
+“Who are the Atterby-Smiths?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Why didn’t you put them off?” I asked.
+
+“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 _most_ vexatious.”
+
+“Perhaps they are very nice,” I suggested feebly.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+The footman appeared as suddenly as though he had been listening at the
+door.
+
+“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?”
+
+“Yes, my Lady,” said Alfred and vanished.
+
+“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.
+
+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.”
+
+Then he caught sight of his mistress’s eye and fled.
+
+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.
+
+For a moment there was a silence which I felt to be dreadful. Then in a
+big, pompous voice A.-S. _père_ said,
+
+“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.”
+
+“Thank you,” said Lady Ragnall, “but I think we have corresponded on
+the subject which is painful to me.”
+
+“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.
+
+“Yes,” said Lady Ragnall. “Won’t you have one? Mr. Quatermain, hand
+Mrs. Smith the box, please.”
+
+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.
+
+“Archibald,” said his mother, “you are surely not going to make your
+sisters’ dresses smell of tobacco just before dinner.”
+
+Archibald sniggered and replied,
+
+“A little more smoke will not make any difference in this room, Ma.”
+
+“That is true, darling,” said Mrs. A.-S. and was straightway seized
+with a fit of asthma.
+
+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,
+
+“Oh! clumsy!”
+
+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.
+
+“Oh!” said she, “I’ve just been sewn up.”
+
+I reflected that this was my case also in another sense, but asked
+feebly if she knew the way downstairs.
+
+She didn’t; neither of us did, till at length we met Mrs. Smith coming
+to look for her.
+
+If I had been a burglar she could not have regarded me with graver
+suspicions. But at any rate _she_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“You look very grand and nice,” I said to Lady Ragnall as we followed
+the others at a discreet distance.
+
+“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 _that_ on under my
+dress.”
+
+I stared and her and with a laugh said that she was very mischievous.
+
+“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?”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+I thought of an answer but did not make it, though as usual she read my
+mind for I saw her smile.
+
+“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.”
+
+“And suitors,” I suggested.
+
+“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.”
+
+“You have had sad bereavements,” I said looking the other way.
+
+“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.”
+
+“_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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Harût was a great liar,” I said uneasily.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Perhaps because they are more catholic and charitable,” I suggested,
+“or perhaps because they like those who like them.”
+
+She laughed in her charming way, and said,
+
+“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.”
+
+“That’s fortunate for your sake,” I muttered, still staring at and
+pointing to the silver plate.
+
+Again she laughed. “Do you remember the _Taduki_ 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.”
+
+“And what did you see?”
+
+“Never mind. The question is what shall we _both_ see?”
+
+“Nothing,” I said firmly. “No earthly power will make me breathe that
+unholy drug again.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“‘In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird,’” I replied, firm
+as a mountain.
+
+“Is it? Then why are so many caught?”
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+“Shut up, you idiot!” I replied indignantly.
+
+“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.”
+
+Without deigning any reply I seized my glass and went to sit down
+between the canon and the Bull of Bashan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+ALLAN GIVES HIS WORD
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _sejant_ with
+Modesty and Virtue as supporters. Opposite, on the other side of the
+fire and evidently very angry, stood Lady Ragnall, _regardant_.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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——”
+
+“Oh!” said both the young ladies together, “please be quiet. Here come
+the gentlemen.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.”
+
+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.
+
+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 _père_ was drinking a good deal too much wine. At last I
+heard him say,
+
+“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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“As your engagements make this impossible,” he repeated, “we would ask
+for the opportunity of a little family conclave with you to-night.”
+
+Here all of them turned and glowered at me.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Oh, with pleasure!” I murmured, and fled away.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Also they made me wish that I had not come to Ragnall Castle.
+
+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.
+
+“That’s what _you_ think,” this smile seemed to say, “as once before
+you thought that Fate could be escaped. Wait and see, my friend. Wait
+and see!”
+
+“Not in this room any way,” I remarked aloud, and departed in a hurry
+down the passage which led to the main staircase.
+
+Before I reached its end a remarkable sight caused me to halt in the
+shadow. The Atterby-Smith family were going to bed _en bloc_. 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.
+
+When they had gone I started again and ran straight into Lady Ragnall.
+If her guests had been angry, it was clear that _she_ was furious,
+almost weeping with rage, indeed. Moreover, she turned and rent me.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“MY DEAR FRIEND,” 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.S.—I have ordered breakfast at 10. Don’t go down much before, for
+your own sake.”
+
+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,
+
+“Calm yourself, my dear. Remember that Providence knows what is best
+for us and that beggars on horseback are always unjust and ungrateful.”
+
+To which her spouse replied,
+
+“Hold your infernal tongue, will you,” and then began to rate the
+servants about the luggage.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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. _My_ 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.”
+
+“Hogs don’t have litters, Mr. Moxley,” observed Ann smartly.
+
+“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.”
+
+“And what did she say to that?” asked Ann.
+
+“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.”
+
+So they melted away and I descended from the landing, indignant but
+laughing. No wonder that Lady Ragnall lost her temper!
+
+Ten minutes later she arrived in the dining-room, waving a lighted
+ribbon that disseminated perfume.
+
+“What on earth are you doing?” I asked.
+
+“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.”
+
+Then she laughed and threw the remains of the ribbon into the fire,
+adding,
+
+“If you say a word about those people I’ll leave the room.”
+
+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.
+
+She listened intently, then said,
+
+“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.”
+
+“Why?” I asked. “You were all the world to him.”
+
+“Is any woman ever all the world to a man, Mr. Quatermain?”
+
+I hesitated, expecting some attack.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Why?” I asked again.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Or through the goddess Isis,” I broke in rather nervously.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“It seems to me that all religions have much in common,” I said.
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“We took a long journey once together, Mr. Quatermain, did we not?”
+
+“Undoubtedly,” I answered, and began to talk of it until she cut me
+short with a wave of her hand, and went on,
+
+“Well, we are going to take a longer one together after dinner
+to-night.”
+
+“What! Where! How!” I exclaimed much alarmed.
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+“_Taduki_,” I murmured.
+
+“Yes, _Taduki_, and I believe in perfect order with all its virtue
+intact.”
+
+“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.”
+
+She laughed softly and asked why not.
+
+“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.”
+
+“If so, don’t you think that they might clear up some of those which
+surround you to-day?”
+
+“No, for in such things there is no finality, since whatever one saw
+would also require explanation.”
+
+“Don’t let us argue,” she replied. “It is tiring and I daresay we shall
+need all our strength to-night.”
+
+I looked at her speechless. Why could she not take No for an answer? As
+usual she read my thought and replied to it.
+
+“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?”
+
+“Because the woman tempted him,” I snapped.
+
+“Quite so. It has always been her business in life and always will be.
+Well, I am tempting you now, and not in vain.”
+
+“Do you remember who was tempting the woman?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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 _Taduki_.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“Who would have thought that Allan Quatermain was a moral coward!”
+
+“Coward,” I repeated. “Coward!”
+
+“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 _know_—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?”
+
+“Of course not,” I stammered. “I should never forgive myself.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“I promise,” I answered and was about to add something, I forget what,
+when she cut me short, saying,
+
+“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.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+THROUGH THE GATES
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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 _Taduki_ 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.”
+
+I groaned and she laughed again.
+
+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.
+
+Another minute and I was automatically opening the door for her. As she
+passed she paused to do something to her dress and whispered,
+
+“Come in a quarter of an hour. Mind—no port which clouds the
+intellect.”
+
+“I have none left to cloud,” I remarked after her.
+
+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.
+
+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 _Taduki_.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“Great Heavens! how beautiful you are.”
+
+“Am I?” she asked. “I am glad,” and she glided across the room and
+locked the door.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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:
+
+“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.”
+
+
+This I dated, adding the hour, 9.47 P.M., and signed, requesting her to
+do the same.
+
+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.
+
+“Look here, young lady,” I replied with irritation, “doesn’t it occur
+to you that _I_ may be afraid lest _you_ should die—and _I_ be hanged
+for it,” I added by an afterthought.
+
+“Oh! I see,” she answered, “that is really very nice of you. But, of
+course, you would think like that; it is your nature.”
+
+“Yes,” I replied. “Nature, not merit.”
+
+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.
+
+“So you brought these away too,” I said.
+
+“Yes,” she replied with solemnity, “that they might be ready at the
+appointed hour when we needed them.”
+
+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.
+
+Next she brought that accursed _Taduki_ 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.
+
+“I think that’s all. Now for the great adventure,” she said in a voice
+that was at once rapt and dreamy.
+
+“What am I to do?” I asked feebly.
+
+“That is quite simple,” she replied, as she sat herself down beside me
+well within reach of the _Taduki_ 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.”
+
+“What am I to dream about?” I inquired in a vacuous way, for my senses
+were leaving me already.
+
+“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.”
+
+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 _Taduki_ 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.
+
+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,
+
+“The gates are wide. Enter!”
+
+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.
+
+What did I see? What did I see? Let me try to recall and record.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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....
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Now for the charioteer.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _kitaris_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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!”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+Then we started, the three of us, leaving the chariot in charge of a
+soldier.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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!”
+
+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.
+
+It was as though I were a spectator at a play, with this difference. I
+could read the motives and reflections of this former _ego_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+“Who are these?” he asked in a high voice that yet was not unmusical,
+“and why do you bring them into my presence?”
+
+“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——”
+
+“It would please me better, dog, if you answered my question. Who are
+they?”
+
+“May it please the King, this is the Egyptian hunter and noble,
+Shabaka.”
+
+“I hear,” said his Majesty with a gleam of interest in his tired eyes,
+“and what does this Egyptian here?”
+
+“May it please the King, the King bade me bring him to the presence,
+but now when the chariots halted.”
+
+“I forgot; you are forgiven. But who is that with him? Is it a man or
+an ape?”
+
+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.
+
+“O King, that I understand is the Egyptian’s servant and charioteer.”
+
+Again he looked interested, and exclaimed,
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“Set out your name and the business that brought you to my city.”
+
+“May the King live for ever,” I replied. “As this lord said,” and I
+pointed to the eunuch——
+
+“He is not a lord but a dog,” interrupted the Monarch, “who wears the
+robe of women. But continue.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Good trades, all of them, Shabaka. But why came you here?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“Fifty and three in all, O King, not counting the cubs.”
+
+He stared at me, answering with a sneer,
+
+“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.”
+
+Now I saw that the King thought me to be a liar and the blood rose to
+my head.
+
+“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?”
+
+Now the King laughed outright and called in a loud voice to his
+courtiers,
+
+“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?”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“The dwarf!” said the King. “Can he hunt lions also?”
+
+“No, O King, but perchance he can smell them, for otherwise how shall I
+find them in that thicket within an hour?”
+
+“Perchance they can smell him. How is the ape-man named?” asked the
+King.
+
+“Bes, O King, after the god of the Egyptians whom he resembles.”
+
+“Dare you accompany your master on this hunt, O Bes?” inquired the
+King.
+
+Then Bes looked up, rolling his yellow eyes, and answered in his thick
+and guttural voice,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+THE WAGER
+
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are
+ill company for a hunter.”
+
+“Strange,” he said, “since many women would be glad to name such a man
+their husband, at least here among us Easterns.”
+
+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.
+
+Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we might learn from
+which quarter the light wind blew.
+
+“We will go against the breeze, Lord,” he said, “that I may smell the
+lions before they smell us.”
+
+I nodded, and answered,
+
+“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.”
+
+He rolled his eyes and grinned.
+
+“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.”
+
+Again I nodded and said,
+
+“And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?”
+
+“Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the matter
+to the King.”
+
+“And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+“Rouse him,” I whispered back, “and I will shoot as he bounds.”
+
+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.
+
+“Forward!” whispered Bes, “for where woman is, there look for man. The
+lion will be near.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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?”
+
+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.)
+
+“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.”
+
+“Did you?” I asked idly. “Why?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“I think it was because I wanted the tusks of the elephant, Bes.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Yes, Bes, you have paid me back and I thank you.”
+
+“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 _you_ who saved _me_ 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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Yes,” I said; “let us go and report to the King of kings that we have
+killed a lion.”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The King looked up and saw us.
+
+“What! Do you live, Egyptian?” he asked. “Of a surety I thought that by
+now you would be dead.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+So he spoke because he was jealous of the deed.
+
+“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.”
+
+“It is dangerous, O King,” began the prince, for such he was, no less.
+
+“And therefore the task will be the more to your taste, Cousin. Go now,
+and be swift.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“I have many cousins,” said the King. “Still go if you wish, Dwarf.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Is this true?” he asked of the hunters.
+
+“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.”
+
+The face of the King grew red with rage.
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Who was that man, Shabaka?”
+
+“The Prince Peroa, O King.”
+
+The King frowned as though the name displeased him, then answered,
+
+“Am I not greater than this Peroa and cannot I therefore shoot better?”
+
+“Doubtless, O King of kings, and therefore how can I who shoot worse
+than Peroa, match myself against you?”
+
+“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.
+
+“Against what, O King?”
+
+“Your slave Bes, to whom I have taken a fancy.”
+
+Now I trembled and Bes rolled his yellow eyes.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“What shall I add then?” asked the King. “The most beauteous maiden in
+the House of Women?”
+
+I shook my head. “Not so, O King, for then I must marry who would
+remain single.”
+
+“There is no need, you might sell her to your friend, Peroa. A
+satrapy?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“By the name of the holy ones I worship what then do you ask added to
+the pearls and the pure gold?”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Why?” asked the King amazed.
+
+“Because they are brave men, O King, and I would not see the bones of
+such cracked by tame beasts in a cage.”
+
+“Is my judgment registered?” asked the King.
+
+“Not yet, O King,” answered the head scribe.
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“Our luck is ill to-day, Bes, seeing that before the end of it we may
+well be parted.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“First I must win the match, Bes.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“But, Bes, you smelt of him also, and worse.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“These Easterns worship neither Osiris, nor your Grasshopper, Bes, but
+a flame of fire.”
+
+“Then he is telling the tale to the fire, and I hope that it will get
+tired and burn him.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“The wager looks well for us,” muttered Bes, but I bade him be silent,
+for more lions were stirring.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“May the King live for ever! The beast is dead.”
+
+“We shall see if it is dead presently,” said Bes, and I nodded.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The King rose from the ground, for he was unharmed, and said in a loud
+voice,
+
+“Had not that shaft of mine gone home, I think that the East would have
+bowed to another lord to-night.”
+
+Now, forgetting that I was speaking to the King of the earth,
+forgetting the wager and all besides, I exclaimed,
+
+“Nay, your shaft missed; mine went home,” whereon one of the courtiers
+cried,
+
+“This Egyptian is a liar, and calls the King one!”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+While I was thus employed the eunuch Houman approached me with a sickly
+smile, saying,
+
+“The King commands your presence, Egyptian, that you may receive your
+reward.”
+
+I nodded, saying that I would come, and he returned.
+
+“Bes,” I said when he was out of hearing, “my heart sinks. I do not
+trust that King who I think means mischief.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+Here Bes groaned at my side and I looked up.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“May the King live for ever!” I exclaimed, feeling that I must say
+something.
+
+“I hope so,” he answered cruelly, “but, Egyptian, you shall not, who
+have broken the laws of the land.”
+
+“In what way, O King?” I asked.
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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?”
+
+“It is,” said the King, I think because he was curious to hear what I
+had to say. “Speak on.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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 _not_ live for ever, I hope one day to repeat to you more
+fully beyond the grave.”
+
+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.
+
+“What fate for this man?”
+
+“Death, O King!” they cried with one voice.
+
+“What death?” he asked again.
+
+Then his Councillors consulted together and one of them answered,
+
+“The slowest known to our law, _death by the boat_.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+THE DOOM OF THE BOAT
+
+
+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.
+
+“Your life is spared,” I said to him, “that the King may take you as a
+slave.”
+
+“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.”
+
+I smiled and Bes went on,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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 _Ka_, 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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.
+
+Then he made the sign which Easterns use to avert evil and rode off
+again, looking very frightened.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Now my heart began to sink and I asked Houman what was to happen to me.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+Then my manhood came back to me.
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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!
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“Noble Shabaka,” said the voice, “the Great King commands your presence
+at his feast.”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+“What has chanced, Eunuch,” I asked presently, “that I am disturbed
+from the bed where I was sleeping so well?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“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?”
+
+“Not so, King,” I answered. “The King was angry and with justice,
+because I could not kill a lion before it frightened his horses.”
+
+This I said because my hours in the boat had made me humble, also
+because the words came to my lips.
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Yes, yes,” said his Majesty, waking up from a little doze, “but what
+became of the great tusks? I should like to have them.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+Now the King grew very angry and cried,
+
+“What! Did the dog dare to strike a freeborn noble Egyptian?”
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+When he had gone the King stared at me and asked,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“Yes, Master,” said Bes in a clear voice. “That was the name, the lady
+Amada.”
+
+“Who is this lady Amada?” asked the King, seeming to grow suddenly
+sober. “And what is she like?”
+
+“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.
+
+“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?”
+
+Now I answered because I must, for after all that boat was not far
+away, nor did I dare to lie.
+
+“She is married, O King of kings, to the goddess Isis whom she loves
+alone.”
+
+“A woman married to a woman, or rather to the Queen of women,” he
+answered laughing, “well, that matters little.”
+
+“Nay, O King, it matters much since she is under the protection of Isis
+and inviolate.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“He is dead but she is the niece of the Prince Peroa, and by birth the
+Royal Lady of Egypt, O King.”
+
+“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.”
+
+Now I was filled with rage and horror, and about to refuse this mission
+when Bes broke in swiftly,
+
+“Will the King of kings be pleased to give command as to my master’s
+safe and honourable escort to Egypt?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“O King of kings,” I said, “I will not be false.” But I did not add to
+whom I would be true.
+
+“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.”
+
+“It is the King’s,” I answered as I pledged him in the golden, jewelled
+cup which a butler had handed to me.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Then he turned, threw his arms about me, kissed my hand and burst into
+tears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+BES STEALS THE SIGNET
+
+
+“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.”
+
+“Yes,” I said, “and you were the eyelid, the finger nail and the hair.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“And what happened then, Bes?”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+Now I looked at Bes and said,
+
+“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.”
+
+Bes squatted down upon the floor and looked up at me with a strange
+smile on his ugly face.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Why?” I asked, astonished.
+
+“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?”
+
+Now I thought and answered,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“But why did you do this, Bes, seeing that maidens are many and all
+would not have thought thus?”
+
+“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.”
+
+So we lay down and slept, I thanking the gods that my bed was not
+yonder in the boat upon the great river.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+The dwarf nodded and answered,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“Do you desire to come?” I inquired.
+
+“O Lord Shabaka,” answered their spokesman, “we do, though some of us
+must leave wives and children behind us.”
+
+“Why?” I asked.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Is that the wish of all of you?” I asked.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+I shook my head, but Bes into whose mind some thought had come,
+whispered to me,
+
+“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.”
+
+Then I said to the officer,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“You are a fool, Master,” he said, “to think that I should wish to
+waste time in torturing that fat knave.”
+
+“Then why did you torture him?” I asked.
+
+“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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“Not quite,” I answered, for I wished to hear the tale in his own
+words.
+
+“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.”
+
+“But, surely, Bes, those who took Houman to the boat would have removed
+it.”
+
+“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,
+
+“‘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.’
+
+“‘Take it if you can,’ he said, ‘and use it to injure or destroy that
+accursed one.’”
+
+“So you took it, Bes.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+THE LADY AMADA
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“Here come more of the Easterns. What is toward, think you, neighbour?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Now what does that mean?” I asked of Bes.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Nor do I,” I said, “but I wish we could take another road, if there
+were one.”
+
+“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.”
+
+He thought a while, then added,
+
+“Take the royal seal, Master. It may be useful.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“In the name of the Great King, greeting, my lord Shabaka!
+
+“In the name of the Great King, greeting!” I answered. “What would you
+with Shabaka, Officer of the King?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“To whom our commands are to take you now, my lord Shabaka, not
+afterwards,” said the officer sternly, glancing round at his armed
+escort.
+
+“I come to give commands, not to receive them, Captain of the King.”
+
+“Seize Shabaka and his servants,” said the officer briefly, whereon the
+soldiers rode forward to surround us.
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+The officer stared at it, then leapt from his horse and flung himself
+face downwards on the ground, crying,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“That was well done, Master,” said Bes.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“And if he will not strike, Master, knowing the King’s might and being
+somewhat slow to move?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Who doubtless will know what to advise you, Bes; or, if he does not, I
+shall.”
+
+For a while we rode on in silence, each thinking his own thoughts. Then
+Bes said,
+
+“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.”
+
+“I have remembered that it cannot be, Bes,” I said.
+
+“Why not, Master?”
+
+“For this reason. You left your country because of a woman? I cannot
+leave mine again because of a woman.”
+
+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.
+
+“Is she perchance named the lady Amada, Master?”
+
+I nodded.
+
+“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.”
+
+“_You_ told him, Bes,” I said angrily.
+
+“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.”
+
+Now fear took hold of me, and Bes saw it in my face.
+
+“Do not be afraid, Master. If there is trouble I will swear that I told
+the Great King that lady’s name.”
+
+“Yes, Bes, but how would that fit in with the story, seeing that I was
+brought out of the boat for this very purpose?”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“I should have stopped where I was, Master.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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 _always_ 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.”
+
+“The holy Tanofir thinks of souls, not of bodies, Bes.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+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 _sistrum_
+that made a little tinkling music.
+
+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.
+
+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 _sistrum_ fall.
+
+I muttered “Amada!” and stepped forward, but priests ran between us and
+thrust me away. Next moment she had recovered the _sistrum_ and passed
+on with her head bowed. Nor did she lift her eyes to look back.
+
+“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?”
+
+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.
+
+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 _Taduki_ fumes which had power to rend the curtain of the past,
+or, perhaps, only to breed dreams of what it might have been.
+
+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.
+
+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 _knew_, 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.
+
+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!
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“My mother! My mother, I have come safe home and greet you.”
+
+“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.”
+
+I rose and kissed her on the face, then looked at the servants who were
+bowing their welcome to me, and said,
+
+“How comes it, Lady of the House, that all are gathered here? Did you
+await some guest?”
+
+“We awaited you, my son. For an hour have we stood here listening for
+the sound of your feet.”
+
+“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.
+
+“Met whom, Shabaka?”
+
+“The lady Amada walking in the procession of Isis.”
+
+“Ah! the lady Amada. The mother waits that the son may stop to greet
+the lady Amada!”
+
+“But _why_ 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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+Now Bes looked at me to see if I had told my mother anything, and when
+I shook my head answered,
+
+“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.”
+
+Then he went away.
+
+“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?”
+
+“I thought of offering them as a gift to the lady Amada,” I replied
+hesitatingly, “that is unless you——”
+
+“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.”
+
+Now I turned white with rage and answered,
+
+“While I live, Mother, Amada shall never go to the East to be the woman
+of yonder King.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“I do not seek to rule, Mother; I only seek to wed Amada whom I love.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Why?” I asked.
+
+“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.”
+
+“And I come with you,” I answered, “for I think it will be needed.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+THE MESSENGERS
+
+
+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.”
+
+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 _uræus_ 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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face
+grew black with rage.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+He looked at me shrewdly and said,
+
+“To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already married.
+Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be content
+to leave that to you and your heirs.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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 _uræus_
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you
+used, I think.”
+
+“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.”
+
+She smiled and blushed as she replied,
+
+“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.”
+
+“Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?” I began, when
+suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast.
+
+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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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:
+
+“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.”
+
+“Perhaps it is as well,” exclaimed Peroa. “But what did the King say
+then?”
+
+“He asked her name, O Prince.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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?”
+
+Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up,
+crying,
+
+“Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be
+scourged till your bones are bare.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“You should be scourged,” repeated Amada stamping her foot. “My Uncle,
+I pray you cause this knave to be scourged.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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!”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O
+Peroa,” said the man with insolence.
+
+Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior,
+and walked away, accompanied by the herald.
+
+When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a voice
+that was thick with fury, saying,
+
+“Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing.”
+
+Then he read it.
+
+“From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one of
+his servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,
+    “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.”
+
+
+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,
+
+“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?”
+
+Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not
+know what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,
+
+“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.”
+
+Then I rose and spoke.
+
+“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.
+
+He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one
+voice,
+
+“It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the East,”
+and they bowed before the dreadful thing.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was in
+his keeping, but Peroa continued,
+
+“If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in
+our present trouble?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes
+all in tribute.”
+
+“I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the
+service of Egypt.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh
+orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again.”
+
+“No, Prince, _he_ 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.”
+
+When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered,
+
+“Well said!” and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian
+fashion.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“It is the same,” he said. “See, all of you.”
+
+They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I
+refused to take it, saying,
+
+“It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a
+private man whence it might be stolen or lost.”
+
+“Or who might be murdered for its sake,” interrupted Peroa.
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Then why did they not kill us, Bes?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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?
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“Such is my mind, Mother.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+SHABAKA PLIGHTS HIS TROTH
+
+
+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.
+
+“I hear that you were attacked last night,” he said after greeting me.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“And all this you are ready to hand over to me, Shabaka?”
+
+Now I bethought me of my mother’s words, and answered,
+
+“Yes, Prince, at a price.”
+
+“What price, Shabaka?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“I shall not be that man, Prince, who am content with my own station,
+and to be your servant.”
+
+“And my son’s, Shabaka? You know that I have but one lawful son.”
+
+“And your son’s, Prince.”
+
+“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.”
+
+He thought a little, walking up and down the chamber, then went on,
+
+“I accept your offer, Shabaka, so far as I can.”
+
+“So far as you can, Prince?”
+
+“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?”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Such was the company representing all that remained or could be
+gathered there of the greatness of Egypt the ancient and the fallen.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“You lie, Abortion!” said the Eastern.
+
+“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.”
+
+“I noted it,” said Peroa.
+
+“Then ask him, O Prince, where is the key now.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“It is the same,” he said. “Butler of Idernes, you are a common thief.”
+
+The man strove to answer, but could not for the deed was proved against
+him.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“And the pearls too, Butler?”
+
+“Yes, O Prince, since those gems are a great possession with which any
+Satrap could buy a larger satrapy.”
+
+“Let him go,” said Peroa, and the man rose, rubbing himself and weeping
+in his pain.
+
+“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.”
+
+“O Prince, I will beware,” said the humbled butler, “and whatever is
+written over the seal, that I will obey, like many others.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“That was good work,” said Peroa to me afterwards when we were alone,
+“for now yonder knave is frightened and will frighten his master.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“You say you stole the White Seal?” he asked.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Perhaps,” he answered, and we parted, for he had much to do.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Yet it was she who spoke the first, saying,
+
+“I hear that you have been playing a high part, Shabaka, and doing
+great things for Egypt.”
+
+“For Egypt and for you who are Egypt,” I answered.
+
+“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.”
+
+“And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit
+can win their way.”
+
+“How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my
+uncle Peroa and his son?”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke.
+
+“Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world.”
+
+“Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end—death, which it
+seems we court.”
+
+“And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin—love, which I
+court from you.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Yes,” she said softly.
+
+“Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Not yet,” I said dismayed. “When?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Twenty-seven days! In such times much may happen in them, Amada.
+Still, except death, what can come between us?”
+
+“I know of nothing, Shabaka, whose past is shadowless as the noon.”
+
+“Or I either,” I replied.
+
+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.
+
+“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——”
+
+“Nothing, nothing,” I exclaimed joyfully, who during all that time had
+scarcely spoken to a youthful woman.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and answered,
+
+“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_ 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?”
+
+While I considered, Bes went on,
+
+“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.”
+
+“But, Bes,” I said, “what is, is and may always be learned in this way
+or in that.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Bes,” I exclaimed, “you worshippers of the Grasshopper wear virtue
+easily.”
+
+“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——”
+
+“What?”
+
+“Amongst other things, Master, that woman, being modest, is shocked at
+the sight of the naked Truth.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+THE HOLY TANOFIR
+
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Do your people thus, Bes?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“And what becomes of the rest, Bes?”
+
+“Their bodies go to the earth or the water and the Grasshopper carries
+off their souls to—where, Master?”
+
+“I do not know, Bes.”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+“I am Shabaka,” I answered, “and this is Bes, who is not my slave but a
+free citizen of Egypt.”
+
+The girl contemplated the dwarf with her big eyes, then said,
+
+“And other things, I think.”
+
+“What things?” inquired Bes with interest, as he stared at this
+beautiful lady.
+
+“A very brave and clever man and one perhaps who is more than he seems
+to be.”
+
+“Who has been telling you about me?” exclaimed Bes anxiously.
+
+“No one, O Bes, at least not that I can remember.”
+
+“Not that you can remember! Then who and what are you who learn things
+you know not how?”
+
+“I am named Karema and desert-bred, and my office is that of Cup to the
+holy Tanofir.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“The wine of wisdom, O Bes,” she replied colouring a little, for like
+many Arabs of high blood she was very fair in hue.
+
+“Wine of wisdom,” said Bes. “From such cups most drink the wine of
+folly, or sometimes of madness.”
+
+“The holy Tanofir awaits you,” she interrupted, and turning, entered
+the doorway.
+
+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.
+
+“What is this place?” said Bes, who looked frightened, and although he
+spoke in a low whisper, our guide overheard him and turning, answered,
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+Then for once I saw Bes grow afraid, for his great jaw dropped and he
+trembled.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Cease from talking follies, O Shabaka and Bes, and enter,” said the
+tremendous voice from within.
+
+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.
+
+We knelt down before him, or rather I knelt, for Bes threw himself flat
+upon his face.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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?”
+
+“I am instructed to learn from you the end of these great matters, my
+Uncle.”
+
+“Are you mad, Shabaka, that you should think me a god who can read the
+future?”
+
+“Not at all, my Uncle, who know that you can if you will.”
+
+“Call the maiden,” he said.
+
+So Bes went out and brought her in.
+
+“Be seated, Karema, there in front of the altar, and look into my
+eyes.”
+
+She obeyed and presently seemed to go to sleep for her head nodded.
+Then he said,
+
+“Wake, woman, look into the water in the bowl upon the altar and tell
+me what you see.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+Here Bes rolled his eyes and smiled, but Tanofir did not seem in the
+least astonished, and said,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+Then once more she became as a woman asleep.
+
+“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.”
+
+“What do you believe, O holy Tanofir?” I asked.
+
+“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.”
+
+“What then shall we report to those who bid me seek the oracle of your
+wisdom, O Tanofir?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Yet you have sought to learn those things, O Tanofir, and not in
+vain.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“Or that he will be married,” I suggested.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Perhaps, Bes, those who rule in your place may not wish to give it up
+to you. Perhaps they will kill you.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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:—
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“After the new moon, Shabaka. Then you shall speak with me as much as
+you wish.”
+
+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 _uræus_, 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.
+
+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.
+
+Thus things went on while the storm-clouds gathered over Egypt.
+
+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.
+
+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.”
+
+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.”
+
+“What does that mean?” I asked my mother.
+
+“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.”
+
+“It seems that Isis has a long arm,” I said.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Well, Mother, in this case she can have no reason to remember, since
+never again will Amada be her priestess.”
+
+“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.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+THE SLAYING OF IDERNES
+
+
+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.
+
+“It is done, Shabaka,” she whispered, “and thou art mine and I am
+thine.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+As we drove back Bes said to me suddenly,
+
+“Do you know why you could not find me this morning?”
+
+I answered that I did not.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“I did not woo her over much, Master; indeed, the time was lacking. I
+wooed the holy Tanofir, which was more important.”
+
+“The holy Tanofir, Bes?” I exclaimed.
+
+“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.”
+
+“No doubt because she was fond of you for yourself, Bes. A woman would
+not marry even to please the holy Tanofir.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“Well, Bes, there might be other reasons besides the holy Tanofir,” I
+said hurriedly.
+
+“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.”
+
+“And what did she say to you, Bes?” I asked, for I was curious.
+
+“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.”
+
+“You married her to help me, Bes?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+This indeed proved to be the case, for their father’s deformity was but
+an accident, not born in his blood.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Where is she now, Bes?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Yes, Bes, but being newly married you will do well to leave it to
+others.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“Note that man. He was present when you were brought before the Great
+King from the boat and saw and heard all that passed.”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“Tell me, O Prince Peroa, was this cup ever that of the Great King
+which it so much resembles?”
+
+“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.”
+
+An expression of horror appeared upon the face of the Satrap and upon
+those of his nobles.
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+Idernes made no answer and seemed to forget the matter.
+
+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,
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Shabaka again——” began Idernes, but I cut him short, saying,
+
+“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.”
+
+To this bold speech Idernes made no answer. Only his captains frowned
+and many of the Egyptians murmured approval.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“Where is the need, O Peroa, seeing that I have naught to say which may
+not be heard by all?”
+
+“As it pleases you. Speak on, O Satrap.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“The lord Shabaka brought it to me with certain letters from the Great
+King, O Satrap.”
+
+“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!”
+
+“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.”
+
+“And what may they be, Egyptian?”
+
+“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.”
+
+Now Idernes and his captains gasped.
+
+“Why this is rebellion!” he said.
+
+“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,
+
+“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.”
+
+Idernes looked about him like a wolf in a trap, then asked,
+
+“Do you mean to murder me here?”
+
+“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.”
+
+Idernes thought a little while, then said,
+
+“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.”
+
+Now in the midst of an intense silence Peroa answered,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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!”
+
+Now I leapt to my feet, as did most of those present. Only Amada kept
+her seat and looked at me.
+
+“You lie!” I cried, “and were it not for your safe-conduct I would kill
+you for the lie.”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“It is false,” I shouted. “The name of Amada slipped my lips by
+chance—no more.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+This statement was received with a shout of applause by every Egyptian
+in the hall. Idernes waited until it had died away, then said,
+
+“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.”
+
+“Before you go, Idernes,” I shouted, “know that you and your lying
+captain shall pay with your lives for your slander on me.”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+“Search out the lady Amada,” I said to her, “and tell her the truth.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+The herald, having taken stock of me and of Bes at whom he laughed,
+returned with the message.
+
+“Will he come, think you, Master?” asked Bes.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Liars you have lived and liars you shall die,” shouted Bes, but I said
+nothing.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“He runs! He runs!” shouted the Easterns. “O Idernes, beware the
+dwarf!”
+
+“Stand away, Bes,” I called; “this is my game,” and he obeyed, as often
+he had done when we were hunting together.
+
+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.
+
+“The knife!” screamed Bes; “the knife!”
+
+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,
+
+“Spare my life, Egyptian, and my treasure is yours. I swear it by the
+Fire.”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+The ten of the Satrap’s guard stood silent, but my own shouted,
+
+“Back, Shabaka! The Easterns charge!”
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+AMADA RETURNS TO ISIS
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“If this be true,” said Peroa when he had heard all, “the Great King
+will have no new army to spare for Egypt.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Two years are long, Shabaka, and in them, by your help, much may be
+done.”
+
+But as it chanced he was destined to be robbed of that help, and this
+by the work of Woman the destroyer.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The Pharaoh heard and glanced first at his son and then at me,
+doubtfully, whereon, covered with confusion, I slipped away.
+
+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.
+
+“I have nothing, Father,” I said laughing, “except the gold hilt of my
+sword.”
+
+“Do not part with that, Son,” answered a deep voice, “for I think you
+will need it before all is over.”
+
+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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“You should be better able to answer that question than I, who am no
+prophet, my Uncle.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“Out of the store of wisdom gathered in your breast.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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!’”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+Then she slipped away to attire herself, leaving me wondering, because
+my mother was shrewd and never spoke at random.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“See! Here comes the man! Here comes the hero to whom Egypt owes its
+liberty and Pharaoh his crown.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _uræus_ 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.
+
+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
+_nothing_, 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.
+
+Then I heard the priests saying,
+
+“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.’”
+
+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 _Ka_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“My son, whatever chances to you, be brave and remember that the world
+holds more than women.”
+
+“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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“Shabaka,” said Pharaoh at length, “the Royal Lady of Egypt, Amada,
+priestess of Isis, has somewhat to say to you.”
+
+“Let the Royal Lady of Egypt speak on to her servant and affianced
+husband,” I answered.
+
+“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.”
+
+“I do not understand. Will it please you to be more plain?” I said
+faintly.
+
+“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.”
+
+“I had no time,” I answered, “for just then the messengers came from
+Idernes and afterwards when I sought you you were gone.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“You do not understand!” I exclaimed wildly.
+
+“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.”
+
+“The tale that Idernes and his captain told was false, Lady, and for it
+Bes and I took their lives with our own hands.”
+
+“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.”
+
+I gasped and could not answer for my mind seemed to leave me, and she
+went on in a gentler voice,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+Peroa glanced at Amada who made no sign, then said,
+
+“It is granted, General Shabaka.”
+
+So Bes was called into the chamber and having looked about him
+curiously, seated himself upon the ground.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+Then at last Amada spoke.
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+Peroa flushed as he heard me and answered,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“That can never be,” said Amada.
+
+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.
+
+“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 _yours_, 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.”
+
+“Too late, too late, _too late!_” wailed Amada.
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+Within were the priceless rose-hued pearls!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+SHABAKA FIGHTS THE CROCODILE
+
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“At any rate _you_ are not free from such coils, Bes,” I said and in
+the moonlight I saw his great face fall in.
+
+“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.”
+
+Even then I laughed, sad as I was, for truth lived in the philosophy of
+Bes.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Do you really desire that I should accompany you there, Bes?”
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“I go to Ethiopia, my Mother, where it seems that Bes is a great man
+and can shelter me.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“We!” I exclaimed. “_We?_”
+
+“Surely, my Son, since in losing a wife you have again found a mother
+and until I die we part no more.”
+
+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.
+
+She looked at the wonderful things and smiled, then said,
+
+“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.”
+
+“If not Amada, I shall never find a wife,” I said bitterly, whereat she
+smiled.
+
+Then she left me to make ready before she slept a while.
+
+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.
+
+He bowed and handed me a roll. I opened it with a trembling hand and
+read:
+
+“From the Prophetess of Isis whose house is at Amada, aforetime Royal
+Lady of Egypt, to the Count Shabaka,
+
+“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?”
+
+
+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
+_uræus_ that Amada had always worn from childhood. Only on the previous
+night I had noted it on the first finger of her right hand.
+
+I took my stylus and my waxen tablets and wrote on one of them:
+
+“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.”
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.”
+
+“And what happens if I do not please them, Husband?” asked Karema
+opening her fine eyes.
+
+“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.”
+
+“And if they refuse to accept me because I am white, or rather brown,
+instead of black like oiled marble, what then, O Husband?”
+
+“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.”
+
+Then Karema grew angry.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+Then Bes stood up on the prow, waving his bow and there arose a mighty
+shout of, “_Karoon! Karoon!_ It is he, it is he returned after many
+years!”
+
+Twice they shouted thus and then, every one of them, threw themselves
+face downwards in the sand.
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“Karoon called her beautiful, but in truth she is almost white and very
+ugly.”
+
+“At least she is a woman,” said another, “for her shape is female.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating when a herald rushed into the tent
+crying, “Prostrate yourselves! Yea, be prostrated, the Grasshopper
+comes! Karoon comes.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“Now, if I had my way,” said Karema, “I would rest in that boat going
+back to Egypt. What say you, lord Shabaka?”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“The devil has me! Farewell!” he cried and vanished beneath the water.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“Are you harmed, Master” cried Bes in a voice of agony.
+
+“Very little I think,” I answered, sitting up with the blood pouring
+from my arm.
+
+Bes thrust aside Karema who had come lightly clothed from her tent,
+saying,
+
+“All is well, Wife. I will bring you the lilies presently.”
+
+Then he flung his arms about me, kissed my hands and my brow and
+turning to the crowd, shouted,
+
+“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?”
+
+“No one!” they answered with a roar. “He is not a man but a god. No man
+could have done such a deed.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“It shall be so, Karoon!” they shouted with one voice. And after this I
+was carried back to the tent.
+
+In front of it my mother waited and kissed me proudly before them all,
+whereat they shouted again.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“I have seen it all before,” broke in Karema.
+
+“When?” I asked.
+
+“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?”
+
+“It will be your part to change these customs, Karema.”
+
+“Yes,” she exclaimed, “certainly that will be my part,” after which I
+went back to my litter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+THE SUMMONS
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+And so farewell to my beloved mother, the lady Tiu.
+
+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.
+
+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?
+
+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?
+
+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,
+
+“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?”
+
+“Yes, Queen,” I answered.
+
+“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 _not_ call me
+queen.”
+
+“Karema then,” I said. “Well, how do you know that I tire of all this,
+Karema?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“No, Karema, we only think that we should be if things were otherwise
+than they are. But how can I help you, Karema?”
+
+“Least of all by going away and leaving me alone,” she answered with
+the tears starting to her eyes.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“You can stop to make use of that army you have built afresh, Shabaka.”
+
+“Against whom? There are none to fight.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+She nodded and answered,
+
+“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.”
+
+“Then why trouble to speak of the other two?” I said laughing.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+With a trembling hand I broke the silk and seals and read. It ran thus:
+
+“Shabaka, my Cousin,
+
+“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.
+
+“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.
+
+“Now I, Amada, have written. Choose, Shabaka, beloved of my heart.”
+
+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,
+
+“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.”
+
+“What says the Karoon?” I asked.
+
+Bes rolled his eyes and turning to Karema, asked,
+
+“What says the Karoon’s wife?”
+
+Karema laid down the roll she had been studying and answered,
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“And what shall I do?” asked Bes.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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?”
+
+“Seventy and five thousand,” I answered.
+
+“Good! On the fifth day from now the army marches for Egypt.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+TANOFIR FINDS HIS BROKEN CUP
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Also there was a letter for me from Amada in which she said,
+
+“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.”
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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:
+
+“Surrender, Barbarians, or before the second day dawns you shall sleep
+sound, every one of you.”
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“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.
+
+When the embassy had gone Bes gave orders that the whole army should
+eat and lie down to sleep.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+Suddenly, coming from the door of the tent which I thought was closed,
+I heard a deep voice say,
+
+“I have ever noted that those of Ethiopian blood are melancholy after
+sundown, though of Egyptians I had thought better things.”
+
+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.
+
+“O my beloved master!” cried Karema, and threw herself towards him.
+
+“O my beloved Cup!” answered Tanofir. “Glad am I to know you well and
+unshattered.”
+
+Then a torch was lit and lo! there before us, wrapped in his dark cloak
+sat the holy Tanofir.
+
+“Whence come you, my Great-uncle?” I asked amazed.
+
+“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.”
+
+Karema sped from the tent and presently returned with bread and wine of
+which Tanofir partook almost greedily.
+
+“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?”
+
+We told him.
+
+“Good. And what is your plan?”
+
+We shook our heads, having none.
+
+“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 _you_ 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.”
+
+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.
+
+“My plan is to destroy the armies of the Great King and to relieve the
+city of Amada.”
+
+“A very good plan,” said holy Tanofir, “but the question is, how?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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 _them_, Karema?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Good again,” said Tanofir. “But what of the army of the Great King
+which lies upon this side of Amada?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+In an instant Tanofir was speaking again in a quick, clear voice.
+
+“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?”
+
+I nodded who did not wish to waste time in words, and Bes rolled his
+eyes and answered,
+
+“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!”
+
+The generals leapt away into the darkness like arrows from a bow, and
+presently we heard the noise of gathering men.
+
+“Where are these guides of yours, holy Tanofir?” asked Bes.
+
+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!
+
+“You have heard,” said Tanofir, whereupon all four of them bowed their
+mysterious veiled heads.
+
+“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?”
+
+“I do not know,” I answered, whereon Bes groaned, only Karema smiled a
+little as though to herself.
+
+“Then, having heard, obey,” said the holy Tanofir, whereon the four
+veiled ones bowed again.
+
+“Will you not give them their orders, O most Venerable?” inquired Bes
+doubtfully.
+
+“I think it is needless,” said Tanofir in a dry voice. “Why try to
+teach those who know?”
+
+“Will you not offer them something to eat, since they also must be
+hungry?” I asked of Karema.
+
+“Fool, be silent,” she replied, looking on me with contempt. “Do
+the—friends—of Tanofir need to eat?”
+
+“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.
+
+Then a thought struck me and I was silent.
+
+A general returned and reported that the orders had been executed and
+that all the army was afoot.
+
+“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.”
+
+The general saluted and asked,
+
+“Who guides us to and across the ford of the great river?”
+
+Two of the veiled men stepped forward whereon the general muttered into
+my ear,
+
+“I like not the look of them. I pray the Grasshopper they do not guide
+us across the River of Death.”
+
+“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.”
+
+So that general departed with the two guides, looking somewhat
+frightened, and soon was marching up Nile at the head of five thousand
+swordsmen.
+
+Now Bes looked at me and said,
+
+“It seems that you had better be gone also, my Brother, with the
+archers. Perchance the holy Tanofir will show you whither.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“I do not know,” I answered.
+
+“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.”
+
+Then I turned to Bes and asked,
+
+“Where do we meet again?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“Does Karema come with me or bide with you?” I asked again.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _Ka_ or Double which can
+pass to and fro at will. Only do _Kas_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+THE BATTLE—AND AFTER
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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!
+
+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.
+
+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?
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,
+
+“The Great King commands that the barbarians be destroyed. Let the
+barbarians be destroyed!”
+
+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!”
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Then at my command the ivory horns sounded the charge. Every man slung
+his bow upon his back and drew his short sword.
+
+“On to them!” I cried and leapt forward.
+
+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,
+
+“These are devils! These are devils!”
+
+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.
+
+“All is not done,” I cried.
+
+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.
+
+“Ethiopians,” I shouted, “cease crying Victory, since the battle is
+about to begin. Strike, and at once before the Easterns find their
+heart again.”
+
+So we advanced upon the Immortals, all of us, for now the vanguard had
+joined our strength.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“Stand firm!” I cried. “Stand firm!” and lo! we stood.
+
+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.
+
+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 _uræus_ circlet on his helm. He was
+wounded and sore beset. A tall Immortal rushed at him with a spear and
+drove it home.
+
+Pharaoh fell.
+
+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!”
+
+His arrow pierced my helm but missed my head. I strove to come at him
+but could not.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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! _Fly, fly, fly!_”
+
+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.
+
+I stood there gasping, when suddenly I heard a voice at my side. It
+said,
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+“Why,” said Bes, “this is a certain High one with whom we had dealings
+in the East!” and he laughed thickly.
+
+Then the Great King opened his eyes and knew us and on his dying
+features came a look of hate.
+
+“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——”
+
+“You would set me in your boat, would you not, whence by the wisdom of
+Bes I escaped.”
+
+“More than that,” he gasped.
+
+“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.”
+
+“I guessed it,” he whispered.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+Then he threw his arms wide and died.
+
+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.
+
+“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.”
+
+He spoke no more although he lived a little while.
+
+Karema came from the inner court. She greeted her husband, then turned
+and said,
+
+“Lord Shabaka, one waits to welcome you.”
+
+I rested myself upon her shoulder, for I could not walk alone.
+
+“What happened to the army of the Karoon?” I asked as we went slowly.
+
+“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.”
+
+“It is of the Ethiopians that you should be proud, Karema, since with
+one to five they have won a great battle.”
+
+We came to the end of the second court where was a sanctuary.
+
+“Enter,” said Karema and fell back.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+“Amada,” I whispered, “Amada found at last.”
+
+“Shabaka,” she whispered back, “returned at last, to me, your home,”
+and she stretched out her arms toward me.
+
+But before I could take her into mine, she uttered a little cry and
+shrank away.
+
+“Oh! not here,” she said, “not here in the presence of this Holy One
+who watches all that passes in heaven and earth.”
+
+“Then perchance, Amada, she has watched the freeing of Egypt on yonder
+field to-day, and knows for whose sake it was done.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+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.
+
+AND AFTER
+
+
+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.
+
+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?
+
+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!
+
+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.
+
+“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.
+
+I too rose and we stood facing each other.
+
+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 _Taduki_. We stared at it and at each other.
+
+“Oh! where have we been, Shaba—I mean, Mr. Quatermain?” she gasped,
+looking at me round-eyed.
+
+“I don’t know,” I answered confusedly. “To the East I suppose. That
+is—it was all a dream.”
+
+“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?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.
+
+She blushed to her eyes and grew disturbed.
+
+“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.”
+
+“I thought you said it wasn’t a dream.”
+
+“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.
+
+“As there is no stain now it _must_ have been a dream. But my word!
+that was a battle,” I answered.
+
+“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.”
+
+“Yes,” I said, “it came off. The holy Tanofir was a good strategist—or
+his Cup was, I don’t know which.”
+
+“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.
+
+“For whom?” I asked.
+
+“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.”
+
+“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 _Taduki_, is there?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“So we _were_ married, were we?”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“I thought there _was_ more _Taduki_,” I remarked sadly. “I am sure I
+saw some in the coffer.”
+
+“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.”
+
+“So you believe in that?”
+
+“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 _know_ 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.”
+
+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!
+
+But whatever Amada, I mean Lady Ragnall, said, there _was_ plenty more
+_Taduki_, as I have good reason to know.
+
+ALLAN QUATERMAIN.
+
+
+
+
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