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The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Ancient Allan, by H. Rider Haggard

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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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