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diff --git a/old/66321-h/66321-h.htm b/old/66321-h/66321-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index a2740e3..0000000 --- a/old/66321-h/66321-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7355 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rachel and the Seven Wonders , by Netta Syrett—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -h1 {page-break-before: always;} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; 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font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rachel and the Seven Wonders, by Netta Syrett</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Rachel and the Seven Wonders</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Netta Syrett</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Joyce Mercer</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 17, 2021 [eBook #66321]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: MWS, Shaun Mudd and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RACHEL AND THE SEVEN WONDERS ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowe45_3125" id="cover"> - <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp54" id="i_frontis" style="max-width: 138.25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_frontis.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>THE STATUE IN THE HARBOUR</p></div> -</div> - -<h1>RACHEL <span class="allsmcap">AND THE</span> <br /> -SEVEN WONDERS</h1> - -<p class="center"><big><span class="allsmcap">BY</span> NETTA SYRETT</big><br /> -ILLUSTRATED BY JOYCE MERCER</p> - -<p class="center"><big>FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY <br /> -PUBLISHERS NEW YORK</big></p> - -<p class="center">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> - -<p class="center">TO ROBIN</p> - -<h2 class="center">CONTENTS</h2> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p> - -<table class="autotable" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><i>Page</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#FIRST_WONDER">FIRST WONDER</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_013">THE GREAT PYRAMID</a></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#SECOND_WONDER">SECOND WONDER</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_033">THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON</a></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#THIRD_WONDER">THIRD WONDER</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_055">THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES</a></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#FOURTH_WONDER">FOURTH WONDER</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_079">THE TEMPLE OF DIANA</a></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#FIFTH_WONDER">FIFTH WONDER</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_109">THE MAUSOLEUM OF ARTEMISIA</a></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#SIXTH_WONDER">SIXTH WONDER</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_129">THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA</a></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#SEVENTH_WONDER">SEVENTH WONDER</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_146">THE STATUE OF JUPITER OLYMPIUS</a></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> - -<h2 class="center">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - -<table class="autotable" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_frontis">The Statue in the Harbour</a> (<i>Colour</i>)</td> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"><i>Frontispiece</i>.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_016fp">The Rosetta Stone</a> (<i>Colour</i>)</td> -<td class="tdc"><i>To face page</i></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_023">Pharaoh in his Chariot</a></td> -<td class="tdc">" "</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_075">‘It will last for ever’</a></td> -<td class="tdc">" "</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_088fp">A little boy walked in front of the procession</a> (<i>Colour</i>)</td> -<td class="tdc">" "</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_101">‘This is Diana of the Ephesians’</a></td> -<td class="tdc">" "</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_115">They had a glimpse of the City</a></td> -<td class="tdc">" "</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_136fp">The Pharos Lighthouse</a> (<i>Colour</i>)</td> -<td class="tdc">" "</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><a href="#i_160fp">The Olympic Games</a> (<i>Colour</i>)</td> -<td class="tdc">" "</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FIRST_WONDER">FIRST WONDER<br /> -THE GREAT PYRAMID</h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_013" style="max-width: 82.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_013.png" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<p>Rachel was a very unhappy little girl as she sat in an omnibus -with Miss Moore, on her way to the British Museum. She didn’t -want to go to the British Museum. She didn’t want to be in -London at all. She longed desperately to be back in her country -home with her father and mother—now, alas! far away in -Egypt.</p> - -<p>Everything as Rachel said had happened so suddenly. -Certainly her mother had been ill some time, but it was all -at once decided that the only possible place to send her little -daughter in a hurry, was to Aunt Hester, in London.</p> - -<p>Aunt Hester, who was her father’s eldest sister, and in the -eyes of Rachel, at least, awfully old, was quite kind, but also, -as she admitted, quite unused to children. The first thing she -did therefore, was to engage a governess to look after her niece -for the seven weeks she would have to remain with her.</p> - -<p>Miss Moore, a rather uninteresting, middle-aged lady, had -duly arrived the previous evening, and at breakfast time Aunt -Hester had suggested the British Museum as a suitable place to -which Rachel might be conducted.</p> - -<p>“She’s never been to London before, and, though I don’t want -her to sit too long over lessons, I think she should improve her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> -mind while she is here. The British Museum is an education in -itself,” declared Aunt Hester, and Miss Moore had primly agreed.</p> - -<p>So it happened that at eleven o’clock on a bright spring morning, -a secretly unwilling little girl climbed the steps leading to the -great entrance of the great museum. The pigeons on the -steps reminded her of the dovecote at home, and the tears came -suddenly to her eyes, as almost without thinking she counted -the number of birds on the top step.</p> - -<p>“Seven,” she murmured half aloud.</p> - -<p>“Seven what?” asked Miss Moore.</p> - -<p>“Seven pigeons on this step. Aren’t they pretty?” Rachel -lingered to look at the burnished shining necks. She would much -rather have stayed outside with the pigeons, but Miss Moore -hurried on to the swing doors, and Rachel was obliged to follow -her into the huge building.</p> - -<p>“What do they keep here?” she asked listlessly, when Miss -Moore had given up her umbrella to a man behind a counter, just -inside.</p> - -<p>“All sorts of things,” returned her governess vaguely. “It’s -a <i>museum</i>, you know.”</p> - -<p>Rachel was not very much the wiser but, as she walked with -Miss Moore from one great hall to another, she was confused and -wearied by the number of things of which she had glimpses. -There were rows of statues, cases full of strange objects, monuments -in stone all covered with carvings; curious pictures on the -walls. Indeed, there <i>were</i> “all sorts of things” in the British -Museum! But, as she knew nothing about any of them, and Miss -Moore volunteered very little information, she was yawning with -boredom by the time her governess remarked:</p> - -<p>“Now, <i>these</i> things come from Egypt.”</p> - -<p>For the first time Rachel pricked up her ears. Mother and -Dad were now in Egypt, and as she glanced at the long stone -things like tombs, at drawings and models and a thousand other -incomprehensible objects all round her, she wished she knew -something about them. Instead of saying so, however, and -almost without thinking, she murmured, “This is the seventh<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> -room we’ve come to. I’ve counted them.”</p> - -<p>“This is the famous <i>Rosetta</i> Stone,” observed Miss Moore, -reading an inscription at the foot of a dull-looking broken block -of marble in front of them.</p> - -<p>Rachel yawned for the seventh time with such vigour that her -eyes closed, and when she opened them a queer-looking little old -man was bending over the big block.</p> - -<p>“What is the date of the month?” he asked so suddenly -that she started violently.</p> - -<p>“Let me see. The seventh, I think. Yes—the seventh,” -she stammered, raising her eyes to his face.</p> - -<p>He was so muffled up, that nearly all Rachel could see of him -was a pair of very large dark eyes, under a curious-looking hat. -He wore a long cloak reaching to his heels, and one end of the -cloak was flung over his left shoulder almost concealing his face.</p> - -<p>Rachel scarcely knew why she thought him so old, except -perhaps, that his figure seemed to be much bent.</p> - -<p>“Quite right. It’s the seventh,” he returned. “And what’s -the name of your house?”</p> - -<p>Rachel looked round for Miss Moore, who strangely enough -was still reading the inscription on the stone, and seemed to be -paying no attention to the old man’s questions.</p> - -<p>“It’s called ‘The Seven Gables,’” she answered.</p> - -<p>“And where are you living now?”</p> - -<p>“At number seven Cranborough Terrace.”</p> - -<p>“And your name is <i>Rachel</i>. Do you read your Bible? How -many years did Jacob work for his wife?”</p> - -<p>“He waited for her seven years. And her name was Rachel,” -she exclaimed, forgetting to wonder why Miss Moore didn’t -interfere, or join in a conversation which was becoming so -interesting.</p> - -<p>“The <i>seventh</i> of the month, and the Seven Gables, and <i>seven</i> -years for Rachel—and, why, there were <i>seven</i> pigeons just outside -as I came in, and this is the seventh room we’ve come to. Because -I counted them. I don’t know why—but I did. What a -lot of sevens.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span></p> - -<p>“Can you think of any other sevens in your life?” asked the -little old man, quietly.</p> - -<p>“Why, yes!” she answered, excitedly. “There are seven -of us. All grown up except me. And I’m the seventh child, -and the youngest!”</p> - -<p>“Seven is a magic number, you know,” said her companion, -gravely.</p> - -<p>“Is it? Really and truly?” asked Rachel. “Oh, I do love -hearing about magic things! But I thought there weren’t any -now?”</p> - -<p>“On the contrary, the world is full of them. Take this, for -instance.” He pointed to the broken marble block. “That’s -a magic stone.”</p> - -<p>Rachel gazed at it reverently. “What does it do?” she -asked almost in a whisper.</p> - -<p>“It’s a gate into the Past,” returned the old man in a dreamy -voice. “But come now,” he went on more briskly, “can we -remember any more sevens? You begin.”</p> - -<p>“There are seven days in the week,” said Rachel, trying to -think, though she was longing to ask more about the magic stone.</p> - -<p>“There’s the seven-branched candlestick in the Bible,” the -old man went on, promptly.</p> - -<p>“And the seven ears of corn and the seven thin cows that -Pharaoh dreamt about,” returned Rachel, entering into the spirit -of the game.</p> - -<p>“The story of the Seven Sleepers.”</p> - -<p>“The Seven Champions of Christendom,” added Rachel, who had -just read the book. “Oh, there are thousands of sevens. I can -think of lots more in a minute.”</p> - -<p>“It’s my turn now,” was the old man’s answer. “The Seven -Wonders of the World.”</p> - -<p>“I never heard of them. What are they?” Rachel demanded.</p> - -<p>Again the old man pointed to the stone. “That gateway -would lead you to one of them,” he said, quietly, “if, as I’m beginning -to think, you’re one of the lucky children.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp54" id="i_016fp" style="max-width: 104.125em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_016fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>THE ROSETTA STONE</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span></p> - -<p>“Do lucky children have a lot to do with <i>seven</i>? Because -if so, I ought to be one, oughtn’t I? It’s funny I never thought -about it before, but there’s a seven in everything that has to do -with me! And—”</p> - -<p>“We’ll try,” interrupted the little old man. “Shut your -eyes and bow seven times in the direction of this stone. Never -mind this lady”—for Rachel had quite suddenly remembered -the curious silence of her governess. “She won’t miss you. You -may do as I tell you without fear.”</p> - -<p>Casting one hasty glance at Miss Moore, who had moved to a -little distance and was just consulting her watch, Rachel, full of -excited wonder, obeyed. Seven times she bent her head with -fast-closed eyes, and opened them only when her companion called -softly “<i>Now.</i>”</p> - -<p>Even before she opened them, Rachel was conscious of a -delicious warmth like that of a hot midsummer day. A moment -ago she had felt very chilly standing before the marble block Miss -Moore called the <i>Rosetta</i> Stone, in a big, gloomy hall of the British -Museum. How could it so suddenly have become warm?</p> - -<p>In a second the question was answered, for she stood under -a sky blue as the deepest blue flower, and the glorious sun lighted -a scene so wonderful that Rachel gave a scream of astonishment.</p> - -<p>“Where are we?” she gasped.</p> - -<p>“In the mighty and mysterious land of Egypt,” answered -her companion, “as it appeared thousands of years before the -birth of Christ.”</p> - -<p>His tone was so solemn that Rachel turned quickly to look -at him, and, wonder of wonders, no old man was by her side! -A dark-skinned youth stood there, dressed in a curious but beautiful -robe with strange designs embroidered on its hem, and a no less -strange head-dress, from which gold coins fell in a fringe upon -his forehead.</p> - -<p>“Oh!” cried Rachel, when she could speak for amazement. -“You were old just now. I don’t understand. Who are you?” -she added, in confusion.</p> - -<p>The young man smiled, showing a row of beautiful white teeth. -“My name is Sheshà. I <i>am</i> old,” he said. “Very, very old.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> -He pointed to a great object at which, so far, in her astonishment, -Rachel had scarcely had time to glance. “I was born before -<i>that</i> was quite finished—six thousand years ago.”</p> - -<p>Rachel gasped again.</p> - -<p>“But you look younger than my brother, and <i>he’s</i> only twenty,” -she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“In returning to the land of my birth I return also to the age -I was when I lived in it.... But now, little maid of To-day, -look around you, for there stands, as it stood six thousand years -ago, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.”</p> - -<p>Rachel obeyed and gazed upon a huge building with a broad -base, tapering almost to a point, whose walls were of smooth -polished stones of enormous size. Only a moment previously she -had glanced carelessly at pictures of buildings like this one, but -now, as she saw it rising before her in all its grandeur out of the -yellow sand, and under a canopy of blue sky, she almost held her -breath.</p> - -<p>“It is a pyramid, isn’t it?” she whispered. “I’ve seen pictures -of pyramids, but I don’t know anything about them.”</p> - -<p>“It is the first great pyramid of Egypt,” answered the young -man. “And, little maid, you are highly favoured, for you see -it as it looked nearly six thousand years ago. It was already old -when Joseph was in Egypt, and Moses saw it when he lived in the -palace of Pharaoh’s daughter.”</p> - -<p>Rachel gasped. “But what is it? What is it built for?” -she asked.</p> - -<p>“For the tomb of a king. That pyramid—” he pointed towards -it—“was built by the great King Cheops, and because you -are one of the fortunate children of the magic number seven, you -see one of the Seven Wonders of the World as it stood fresh from -the workers’ hands.”</p> - -<p>“Dad is in Egypt now. <i>He</i> doesn’t see it like this then?”</p> - -<p>Sheshà smiled. “Nay. He has already approached the -Wonder in an electric car—like all the other travellers of to-day, -and instead of these walls of granite which you behold, graven -over with letters and strange figures, he has seen great rough steps.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> - -<p>“Steps?” echoed Rachel. “Why are there <i>steps</i> up the -side now?”</p> - -<p>“Because beneath these smooth walls the pyramid is built -of gigantic blocks of stone, and now that their covering has been -removed, the blocks look like steps which can be, and <i>are</i> climbed -by people who live in the world to-day.”</p> - -<p>“But why was its beautiful shining case taken off?” Rachel -asked, looking with curiosity at the carving upon it.</p> - -<p>“Because in the course of long years the people of other nations -who conquered Egypt and had no respect for my wondrous land, -broke up the ‘beautiful shining case,’ to quote your own words, -little maid, and used it for building temples in which they worshipped -gods strange and new.”</p> - -<p>Rachel glanced again at her companion. She was still so bewildered -that she scarcely knew which she should ask first of the -hundred questions crowding to her mind. And then everything -around her was so strange and beautiful! The yellow sand -of the desert, the blue sky, the burning sun, the long strip of fertile -land bordering a great river.</p> - -<p>“That must be the Nile,” she thought, remembering her geography. -“The Nile is in Egypt.”</p> - -<p>Just as though he read her thoughts, Sheshà again broke silence.</p> - -<p>“Do you wonder that we worshipped the river in those far-off -days?” he asked, dreamily.</p> - -<p>“Did you? Why?” Rachel gazed at him curiously.</p> - -<p>“It was, and is, the life-giver,” returned Sheshà. “But for -that river, there would never have been any food in this land. And -therefore no cities, no temples, no pyramids, no great schools of -learning as there were here in ancient days when Moses was ‘learnèd -in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.’”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but how could the river make the corn grow, and give -you food?” asked Rachel. “I thought it was the <i>rain</i> that -made things grow.”</p> - -<p>“In Egypt rain does not fall. But the river, this wondrous -river of ours, does the work of rain. Once every year it overflows -its banks, and the thirsty land is watered, and what would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> -otherwise be all desert, like the yellow sand you see that is not -reached by the flood, becomes green with waving corn, and shady -palm trees, and beautiful with fruit and flowers. Yes, no wonder -we worshipped our river.”</p> - -<p>Rachel would like to have asked him how the river was worshipped, -but Sheshà seemed rather to be talking to himself than -to her, and there was such a curious far-away look on his face -that she felt shy of questioning him. He stood gazing at the -Pyramid as though he saw things even more amazing than its -mighty form.</p> - -<p>“It must have taken a long time to build,” she ventured at -last, rather timidly.</p> - -<p>Sheshà started.</p> - -<p>“I was dreaming,” he said. “A long time to build? Verily. -Would you care to see by whom, and at what cost it was raised? -I can show you. We have but to travel a little further back into the -Past for that. Shut fast your eyes and bow seven times as before.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp77" id="i_020" style="max-width: 45.3125em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_020.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Rachel needed no second bidding, and in a few seconds, having -obeyed the instructions of her companion, she looked again -upon a scene strange and marvellous. The great Pyramid -was there as before, but as yet not quite finished. -Its mighty walls were built, -and were being covered by the -smooth case of granite, and -round the great pile, like ants -swarming over an ant hill, were -the builders—thousands upon -thousands of dark-skinned, -almost naked, men, toiling like -the slaves they were. Here -great blocks of marble and -granite were being dragged from -barges on the river. There, hundreds -of slaves were hoisting the huge -slabs into place on the as yet, unfinished -walls, while multitudes of others swarmed over and round the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> -monument, cutting, hammering, polishing, chiselling. A hum as of -innumerable bees filled the air, and indeed, Rachel was reminded -of a hive, the inside of which her father had once shown her, all -quivering with the movement of the worker bees as they toiled -to make their cells.</p> - -<p>She gave a little scream of astonishment at the sight of the -thronging multitudes, and presently heard the grave voice of -Sheshà speaking.</p> - -<p>“Behold, little maiden, in what manner this Wonder of the -World was fashioned. Out of the toil and labour of flesh and -blood, in the days when the Pharaohs ruled in this land, and cared -naught for the lives of their humbler subjects. Of these, as you -see, they made slaves who did the work that in the world of to-day -is performed by machines, by steam power, by electricity, by all -the new inventions of modern times.”</p> - -<p>“Do the people who come to Egypt now know all this? I -mean people who don’t come in a <i>magic</i> way like me. Are there -history books all about Egypt as it was long ago?”</p> - -<p>Sheshà pointed to the Pyramids. “That and many other -monuments are the history books—the great tombs, and all the -palaces and temples and columns still standing after thousands -of years. On them are written the story of the land. Behold, -it is being written before your eyes, since by what you call <i>magic</i> -you are watching the work of men who laboured four thousand -years before Christ.”</p> - -<p>“But how can those funny pictures and signs they are cutting -be <i>writing</i>?” asked Rachel, watching a man who was graving -strange marks on the granite blocks.</p> - -<p>“Such was the writing of the ancient Egyptians,” replied -Sheshà, “called in later days <i>hieroglyphics, or secret</i> writing, because, -as ages passed, the meaning of the writing was forgotten, and men -gazed at these strange signs and wondered what they meant, and -what secrets were hidden from them by a language which no one -could read.”</p> - -<p>“And did they <i>ever</i> find out the secret?” asked Rachel, eagerly. -“Can anyone nowadays read what is written on stones like these?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span></p> - -<p>“Yes. The secret has at last been discovered. For thousands -of years it was hidden, but at last, in modern days, almost within -the life-time of some old men and women still on this earth, the -mystery was revealed by means of a magic stone.”</p> - -<p>“I know!” cried Rachel excitedly. “That was the piece of -marble I was looking at when I met you in the British Museum—was -it a minute ago, or ages?” she went on, looking puzzled. -“It all seems like a dream, somehow. But I remember Miss -Moore, saying ‘This is the Rosetta Stone’—and I didn’t know -what she meant. And then <i>you</i> said, ‘<i>That stone is a gate into the -Past</i>,’ and I didn’t know what you meant, either!”</p> - -<p>Again Sheshà smiled gravely as he looked down at her.</p> - -<p>“I will tell you. Ninety years ago, a Frenchman was living -in this mysterious land of Egypt; knowing no more of the secret -writing on palaces and tombs and temples than do you, little -maiden. But while he was at <i>Rosetta</i>, which is a town on the sea -coast not far from where we stand, he found a broken block of -marble—a fragment from what was once, perhaps, a mighty -temple. Upon it he saw the secret marks he could not understand, -but <i>beneath</i> it were some lines in Greek, which he and other -people <i>could</i> read. Now, thought the Frenchman, ‘What if these -Greek words should be the translation of those hieroglyphics -above, which no one for thousands of years has been able to decipher?’ -So he brought the broken stone away with him. And -the scholars examined it, and at last, after patient study, comparing -the Greek words, which they <i>could</i> understand, with the mysterious -signs and pictures above, they learnt to read <i>them</i> also. And so, -from that piece of black marble which now rests in the great -museum of your great city of London, learned men have made -Egypt give up one of its many secrets. All that is written on -columns, walls and tombs, can now be read by the scholars who -have studied the hieroglyphic writing of this ancient land, and -translated it into English and French, and all the languages of -men who live to-day. Was I not right to call ‘the <i>Rosetta</i> Stone’ -a stone of magic, a gateway into the Past?”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp55" id="i_023" style="max-width: 46.875em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_023.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>PHARAOH IN HIS CHARIOT</p></div> -</div> - -<p>“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Rachel, drawing a long breath. “If<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> -that Rosetta Stone had never been found, people would still be -looking at the—what did you call the writing? Oh yes, the -<i>hieroglyphics</i>, and wondering what they mean, wouldn’t they? -But you know, of course? You have always known.”</p> - -<p>“I wrote signs and figures like these, six thousand years ago,” -replied Sheshà, gazing upon the mighty unfinished Pyramid upon -which, like clustering bees, the brown-skinned, half-naked men -were slaving.</p> - -<p>“Will you read me something that’s written there? Please -read what that man has just finished carving,” begged Rachel, -pointing to a youth who was working at the base of the Pyramid. -“What do those signs mean?”</p> - -<p>“They record,” said Sheshà, glancing at them, “that a hundred -thousand men were always kept working upon this tomb. -These slaves that you behold are the last hundred thousand, for -as you see the Pyramid is nearly built. But for twenty years -previous to this moment of Past time, every day, a hundred thousand -men have been working in the same way as these poor slaves -before your eyes.”</p> - -<p>Rachel was just trying to put into words something of all the -wonder and bewilderment she felt, when a strain of music that -sounded rather faint and far away made her turn quickly. The sight -she saw was so wonderful that I scarcely know how to describe it.</p> - -<p>“Who is this?” she whispered. “Why are the people bowing -down before him?”</p> - -<p>“It is Pharaoh the king, come to look at his Pyramid—the -tomb for himself which is rising under the hands of his slaves. -Well may you gaze in wonder, O child, for never before this, has a -little English maid been given sight of the far, far Past. You -behold Pharaoh in all his pomp and glory as he lived six thousand -years ago.”</p> - -<p>And indeed Rachel gazed in wonder.</p> - -<p>Looking down from the raised platform of soil on which stood -the nearly finished Pyramid, she saw a broad road, thronged with -a glittering company. In their midst, standing upright in a chariot -painted with brilliant colours and enriched with gold, was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> -imposing figure of a man with an olive-tinted skin, dressed in a -white robe, bordered with gold. A head-dress strangely shaped -almost shrouded his face, and on his bare brown arms were -bracelets, and hanging from his neck long chains of metal work.</p> - -<p>Running beside and behind the chariot, were slaves -carrying great fans, made, some of palm leaves, -some of feathers. They were followed by a -crowd of girls in gauzy robes, whose -black hair fell in tight ringlets on -their bare shoulders, holding in their -hands musical instruments of curious -form. Behind them followed other chariots filled with men clad in -the same sort of dress as that worn by Sheshà.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp84" id="i_026" style="max-width: 55.375em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_026.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Rachel saw the wonderful procession clearly enough, yet it -seemed as though she was looking at it through a slight mist which -quivered like hot air, and made the figures behind it a little unreal, -as if something in a dream. This gauze-like mist she had -noticed before, in gazing at the workers on the Pyramid. It<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> -stretched between her and the slaves like a barrier behind which, -though she could watch them, they toiled out of touch, and -somehow a long way from her.</p> - -<p>“You are beholding scenes that took place thousands of years -ago, remember,” said the voice of Sheshà, and though Rachel -had not spoken, she knew he read her thoughts, and was -explaining. “Ages ago all these people were turned to dust. -They have arisen before your eyes—but only like painted figures -real though they seem. If you tried to touch them your hand -would but meet the air.”</p> - -<p>“What is he going to do? Where is he going?” whispered -Rachel, who was feeling awe-struck, and perhaps a little frightened.</p> - -<p>“Pharaoh is going to look at the tomb which has been prepared -for him,” said Sheshà, gravely. “In a moment we will follow him -into the heart of the Pyramid.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Pharaoh</i> comes into the Bible,” began Rachel, looking puzzled. -“But I thought you said it was another man, King Cheops, -who had this Pyramid built.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Pharaoh</i> was the name given to <i>all</i> the kings of Egypt, but -this is not the Pharaoh who dreamt of the fat and lean kine, nor -the Pharaoh Moses knew, who was stricken with plagues. <i>This</i> -Pharaoh, whose other name was King <i>Cheops</i>, lived long before -the days of Joseph and Moses.”</p> - -<p>Rachel gave a funny little murmur of excitement.</p> - -<p>“We <i>have</i> gone back far into the Past, haven’t we? It’s—it’s -rather frightening. I feel as though I should never get home -again!” She looked really anxious, and Sheshà laid his brown -hand gently upon her head.</p> - -<p>“Have no fear. In less time than I take to say it, you will -be seated in an omnibus, travelling back to your aunt’s home,” -he declared with a curious smile.</p> - -<p>“Oh, but I don’t want to go yet!” Rachel hastily assured -him. “I want to see everything. It’s so <i>frightfully</i> interesting,” -she went on, incoherently.</p> - -<p>“Again have no fear. You shall see and hear, for Time itself -is a ‘magic’ thing, little maiden, and wonders can be worked<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> -during the opening and shutting of the eyes. Let us now follow -that procession to the royal tomb.”</p> - -<p>The painted chariot drawn by white horses with marvellous -trappings, had now been reined up before the entrance to a passage -on one side of the Pyramid. On either hand the workmen and the -other people who had been passing to and fro now lay prostrate in -the dust, while the great king was led from the chariot by the men -Rachel had already seen dressed in robes like that worn by Sheshà.</p> - -<p>“Those are the priests of -the order to which I belong,” -he said. “They are the people -nearest to Pharaoh, the -learned men whom he -honours—poets, historians, -physicians, as well as priests. -With them he talks and takes -counsel. These others,” he -pointed to the poor men on -the ground, “are his slaves -who bow down before him, -and are used as beasts of -burden.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp62" id="i_028" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_028.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Rachel looked at them -pityingly as with Sheshà she -followed the wise men and -the reigning Pharaoh, King -Cheops, into the passage -hewn within the Pyramid. No one noticed her presence, and -somehow, though she was almost close enough to touch the -robes in front of her, Rachel was not surprised. Plainly, as -through the quivering haze surrounding them she could see the -wonderful group of people, she knew they were not exactly <i>real</i>. -She could not have touched them. She saw their lips move, but -she heard no sound.</p> - -<p>In a few minutes the passage, which sloped upwards, broadened -out into a little hall lined with polished granite. Here the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> -priests who were following the mighty Pharaoh, very slowly and -solemnly ranged themselves against the walls, leaving the middle -of the floor clear. Rachel then saw the king standing alone, and -looking down upon something that looked like a coffin made of -red granite placed in the centre of the hall. The priests bowed -their heads, and she saw their lips moving, while the king stood -motionless as a statue, his white robes and his strange head-dress -appearing as though they were carved upon a painted figure.</p> - -<p>For a second Rachel saw this, and then almost before she -could breathe, she was standing under the blue sky, looking at -the scarcely finished outside of the Pyramid, from which all the -builders had disappeared, as had also the crowds upon the road -bordering the river Nile.</p> - -<p>She rubbed her eyes. “It’s so strange,” she began, dreamily. -“Was all that great Pyramid built only to hold a little grave? -Because I suppose that was what the stone thing that the king -looked down on, really was?”</p> - -<p>“It was the outside <i>case</i> of a coffin—yes,” said Sheshà. “Such -a case is called a <i>sarcophagus</i>. The real coffin was made of wood, -placed within the sarcophagus, upon which a granite lid was fixed -and sealed down when a man was dead.”</p> - -<p>“Why did this Pharaoh want such a great place only for a -tomb?” asked Rachel, still puzzled. “Fancy making thousands -and thousands of people work, just to build a great heap over a -grave! Why did he do it?”</p> - -<p>“Partly because he wanted to be remembered for ever (and -though he was forgotten for ages, we are now talking about him -after six thousand years!) But also because of what was taught -by the ancient religion of the Egyptians.”</p> - -<p>“What was that?” asked Rachel.</p> - -<p>Sheshà smiled, his grave, strange smile. “It taught many -things difficult to explain to a little maid of to-day. But one -thing was this. When a man died, his soul left his body, and -wandered about, entering into other bodies—possibly for hundreds -of years. But it might happen that, after many ages, the soul -should want to return to its old home—its old body. Therefore,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> -that body was carefully preserved, in case the soul should wish -to re-enter it.”</p> - -<p>“But if it was very long before it wanted to come back -it would find its home turned to dust, wouldn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“For that we provided,” answered Sheshà, “by -preserving the poor body in a way that is called -<i>embalming</i>. We filled it with sweet spices, and -wrapped it closely in linen bandages, and——”</p> - -<p>“I know! The dead people like that are called -<i>mummies</i>, aren’t they? I was just going to ask -Miss Moore to take me to see them when I met -you!” Rachel interrupted.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp57" id="i_030" style="max-width: 50.375em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_030.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“There are many such -embalmed bodies in your -great museum. When you see -them, little maid, remember -that you are looking upon -the very features of men and -women who lived under this -blue sky, and enjoyed this -sunshine, thousands of years -before their bodies were -taken to your grey city beside -the Thames. They were -people who worshipped indeed, but gods very different from the -God worshipped in your churches and cathedrals of to-day.”</p> - -<p>“You worshipped the river, didn’t you?” asked Rachel, -presently, as Sheshà was silent.</p> - -<p>“Osiris, God of the River and the Sun,” murmured Sheshà, -as though to himself. “Him we worshipped, and Isis, the fruitful -Earth, and—” He paused suddenly, and looked down at Rachel. -“Our worship is difficult for you to understand. Would it please -you instead, to behold this place as it looks <i>now</i>—to the travellers -of To-day. As your father, for instance, beheld it only this -morning?”</p> - -<p>“Oh <i>yes</i>,” cried Rachel eagerly. “That’s just what I <i>should</i> like.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> - -<p>“Prepare then to see <i>nine</i>, instead of one of these mighty -works—eight of them built after this first Pyramid of King Cheops, -but, even so, thousands of years old, and battered not so much by -the hand of Time as by the hands of destructive men. Turn -towards the river, child of To-day, and, with closed eyes, bow -seven times.”</p> - -<p>Rachel again obeyed, and, when she turned and looked, instead -of one, a group of Pyramids stood up grandly against such a -sunset sky as she had never before imagined. The sand of the -desert, the flowing river, the worn sides of the huge buildings, -were washed by a rosy glow. And battered and worn, as they -now looked, they were still the Pyramids as they had stood for -thousands and thousands of years before she was born.</p> - -<p>Changed though it was, Rachel recognised at once the -great tomb of King Cheops, and as she looked she listened -to Sheshà speaking, though somehow the voice sounded faint and -far away.</p> - -<p>“<i>All things dread Time, but Time itself dreads the Pyramids</i>,” -she heard him say. And then, after a moment, “Gaze well, O -child, upon one of the Seven Wonders of the World.”</p> - -<p>The last words came so faintly that Rachel turned to look at -her friend—and instead found Miss Moore at her elbow.</p> - -<p>She was still consulting her watch, and Rachel was still standing -in front of the black Rosetta Stone.</p> - -<p>“I think we ought to go,” said Miss Moore. “It will take us -some time to get back, and we mustn’t be late for lunch.”</p> - -<p>Rachel drew a long breath, and followed her governess in silence.</p> - -<p>When you have just stepped out of Egypt into the British -Museum, you feel you don’t want to talk—and Rachel scarcely -spoke all the way home.</p> - -<p>On the hall table, waiting for her, lay a letter from her father, -and his little daughter eagerly pounced upon it, and ran with it -to her bedroom. Mother was much better already, the letter -said, and, after a great deal of other news, Rachel came upon a -sentence which interested her more than her father could have -imagined, when he wrote it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p> - -<p>“I have just seen the Pyramids! One of these days you -and I will go to Egypt and look at them again together. But -you must learn something about them first, or you won’t be half -so excited about them as I am.”</p> - -<p>Rachel laughed gleefully. “Dad hasn’t seen King Cheops, -anyhow,” she thought. “And he’d be certain to think I dreamt -it if I told him all about Sheshà and the slaves. No one would -believe me—so I shan’t say anything about this lovely adventure.”</p> - -<p>She ran down to lunch, happy and excited by her secret.</p> - -<p>“Well, how did you enjoy the British Museum?” enquired -Aunt Hester, when she had heard all the news contained in the -letter from Egypt.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I <i>loved</i> it!” exclaimed Rachel, and two little dimples -appeared at the corners of her mouth as she tried to repress a -smile. “When can I go again?”</p> - -<p>Miss Moore looked a little surprised, for she remembered no -particular enthusiasm on Rachel’s part during the morning.</p> - -<p>“A most instructive place,” she observed, turning to Aunt -Hester. “I’m sure Rachel will learn a great deal there.”</p> - -<p>And again Rachel tried to keep back a smile.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_032" style="max-width: 77.625em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_032.png" alt="" /> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="SECOND_WONDER">SECOND WONDER <br /> -THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON</h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_033" style="max-width: 62.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_033.png" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<p>All the rest of that day Rachel went about feeling excited and -happy. It was not till next morning when she woke that doubt -crept into her mind. Could she <i>really</i> have been to Egypt and -seen the great Pyramid of Cheops before it was quite finished? -Surely, she couldn’t <i>really</i> have talked to Sheshà, the priest of that -ancient king! It must, of course, have been a dream. Yet how -had she managed to go to sleep in the British Museum? And -how was it, if she had dreamt the whole adventure, that she remembered -everything distinctly, and not in the confused fashion -of an ordinary dream? Rachel was puzzled, but she was obliged -to come to the sad conclusion that somehow or other the glowing -pictures in her mind, of slaves, of Pharaoh in his chariot, of the -room within the Pyramid holding the sarcophagus, were, as her -old nurse used to say, “all imagination.”</p> - -<p>It was a terribly disappointing thought, and for the whole of -the following day she felt quite dull and miserable, especially as -Aunt Hester wouldn’t hear of another immediate visit to the -British Museum.</p> - -<p>“It’s too far,” she declared. “You may go next week. But -I can’t think why you’re so anxious about it. Miss Moore says -you didn’t seem particularly interested while you were there.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> - -<p>Rachel couldn’t of course tell Aunt Hester that in her longing -for the British Museum, there was a faint hope that if by any -chance the adventure had been “real”—there, if anywhere, “something -might happen.”</p> - -<p>A few mornings afterwards, however, something <i>did</i> happen. -At breakfast time Aunt Hester put down a letter she had been -reading, and looked across at her niece.</p> - -<p>“Old Mr. Sheston is coming to lunch,” she remarked. “He -says he thinks he must have seen you the other day. He knew -you from your likeness to your father.”</p> - -<p>“Who is old Mr. Sheston?” asked Rachel, looking up from -putting more sugar on her porridge.</p> - -<p>Aunt Hester smiled. “He’s a funny old man who has been -a friend of our family for years, and knew your father as a boy. -He is doing some important work at the British Museum, so you’ll -be able to talk to him about it.”</p> - -<p>Rachel pricked up her ears.</p> - -<p>“Why is he funny?” she enquired.</p> - -<p>Again Aunt Hester smiled. “He dresses in a strange way -for one thing, and he has all sorts of curious ideas that you wouldn’t -understand. He’s a dear old man—but eccentric. Certainly -eccentric,” she added as though to herself.</p> - -<p>“<i>Eccentric</i> means not like other people, doesn’t it?” murmured -Rachel. “I’ve never heard Dad talk about him.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think he’s seen him since he was a boy.... Certainly -you <i>are</i> very like your father as he was at your age, child! I’m -not surprised that the old man recognized you.”</p> - -<p>Rachel was running across the hall just before lunch, when -in answer to a knock at the front door, the parlourmaid admitted -a strange figure, wrapped in a long cloak, one end of which was -thrown over the left shoulder. A battered hat almost hid the -face of the little old gentleman who entered—but in a flash Rachel -remembered him. He was looking at the Rosetta Stone the day -she and Miss Moore went to the British Museum! And he had -spoken to her—or had she dreamt this? It was curious, but -she really couldn’t remember. All she knew at the moment was,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> -that he and the Rosetta Stone were, as she put it, “mixed up -together in her mind.”</p> - -<p>By this time the visitor had taken off his hat, and Rachel, so -puzzled and curious that she had stopped short in the middle of -the hall, saw a pair of dark eyes in a crinkled, wrinkled face under -a fringe of white hair.</p> - -<p>The old man smiled and held out both hands.</p> - -<p>“You are Rachel,” he said. “I knew when I saw you last -week in the Egyptian gallery, that you must be your father’s -daughter.”</p> - -<p>Rachel felt suddenly shy, and was glad when Aunt Hester -came down the stairs and, after a word or two of greeting, led the -way straight into the dining-room.</p> - -<p>At table, during the meal, Rachel sat opposite to the guest, -who now and then looked across at her, and every time she met -his dark eyes she was puzzled afresh.</p> - -<p>“You’ll be glad to hear that Rachel is <i>most</i> interested in the -British Museum,” said Aunt Hester, presently.</p> - -<p>“I <i>am</i> glad to hear it,” was all the old man said, but he smiled -in such a way as to make Rachel more excited and puzzled than ever.</p> - -<p>She listened eagerly to what he was saying to Aunt Hester. -He was talking about what he called the “explorations” in Egypt, -and she gathered from his conversation that men were often sent -out by the people who took charge of the British Museum, to dig -and explore among the ruins in Egypt and other ancient countries, -and to bring back some of the things they found to London.</p> - -<p>He made the story of these explorers and what they discovered, -so exciting, that Aunt Hester, who did not at first seem very -curious, began to ask questions. Rachel wanted to ask a great -many more, for her head was still full of her strange dream—as she -now called it—about Egypt, and it was interesting to know how -all the tombs and monuments and statues she had seen last week -had found their way to England.</p> - -<p>“You can run away now, Rachel,” said Aunt Hester, when -lunch was over, and Grayson was bringing in coffee.</p> - -<p>“Don’t let her run very far,” observed Mr. Sheston. “Because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> -I’m going to take her back with me to the Museum in ten minutes.”</p> - -<p>He said this without looking at her, and Rachel gasped for -joy, and glanced imploringly at Aunt Hester, who laughed.</p> - -<p>“You always <i>announce</i> what you are going to do, I remember,” -she declared, speaking to her guest. “You never <i>ask</i>.”</p> - -<p>“A habit of mine,” returned the old gentleman quietly. -“Acquired long ago.”</p> - -<p>“Go and get ready,” said Aunt Hester, with a nod to her -niece, and Rachel flew like the wind.</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later she was seated in a taxi-cab with Mr. -Sheston, who talked about her father, about her country home, -her brothers and sisters, and everything in the world except just -the things Rachel wanted him to talk about—Egypt and the -Pyramids.</p> - -<p>At last, however, he said quite suddenly, just as they were -going up the steps of the Museum, “How long is it since you were -here?”</p> - -<p>“Five or six days, I think, or perhaps—”</p> - -<p>“<i>Seven</i> days,” corrected the old gentleman, quietly, and all -at once Rachel began to get excited.</p> - -<p>They entered the building, and she noticed that all the officials -in uniform touched their hats to the little old man who was -evidently very well known there. He turned at once to the -Egyptian Gallery, and as they passed the Rosetta Stone, Rachel -looked back.</p> - -<p>“I know all about <i>that</i>,” she said, glancing up at Mr. Sheston, -who only smiled.</p> - -<p>“We will go to the Babylonian Room in a minute,” he said. -“Do you know where to find Babylonia on the map?”</p> - -<p>Only that morning, in looking as she always did now, for -Egypt, Rachel had seen it marked in her atlas.</p> - -<p>“It’s up above Arabia, isn’t it?” she began, uncertainly -“Up above the Persian Gulf.”</p> - -<p>“And do you remember any of its cities that were famous once?”</p> - -<p>“Babylon?” suggested Rachel.</p> - -<p>Mr. Sheston nodded.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> - -<p>“Babylon,” he repeated, and after a moment added, as though -to himself, “<i>How far is it to Babylon?</i>”</p> - -<p>“Why, that’s in a book of poetry I’ve got,” exclaimed Rachel. -“It’s called ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses.’”</p> - -<p>“Yes, there are a great many things in Stevenson’s Child’s -Garden,” said the old man. “We’ll find out how far it is to -Babylon presently. But, before we do that, just come into this -room for a moment.”</p> - -<p>He took her hand and led her into a narrow passage to the -right of the big Egyptian hall through which they had come.</p> - -<p>“Is there anything here that reminds you of—something -else?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Rachel glanced about, and suddenly her eyes rested on a monument -against a wall, carved curiously in stone. Beneath it there -was an inscription, and she went nearer and began to read the -words aloud.</p> - -<p>“<i>The tomb of Sheshà, High Priest of Cheops</i>,” she began, and -suddenly stopped short.</p> - -<p>“Why...!” she exclaimed, turning to Mr. Sheston, and then -again stopped short, for in his place stood her friend Sheshà in his -beautiful robe, his young face framed by the strange head-dress -she so well remembered! And yet—somehow—it was Mr. Sheston -too! Sheshà and the old man were in a curious way one and the -same person!</p> - -<p>“Why, you <i>are</i> Sheshà!” cried Rachel, incoherently. “But -then—why?”—she glanced at the tomb—“That means you were -<i>dead</i>—ages and ages ago?” she whispered. “How can you be -here—?”</p> - -<p>The young priest smiled. “Tombs are but folly,” he answered. -“Do you remember, little maid, what I said to you of the soul, -and how it lives and returns after many thousand years to inhabit -the same, or perhaps another body?”</p> - -<p>Rachel nodded, too overwhelmed to speak.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, are not tombs folly?” he repeated, still smiling. -“But come, of Egypt you have had a glimpse already. Now -shall you behold Babylon.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p> - -<p>He turned and led the way towards another gallery running -parallel with the Egyptian one, and, as Rachel followed him, she -wondered for a moment why the people strolling about in the -Museum did not stare in amazement at the wonderful figure of -Sheshà in his priestly robe. No one took the slightest notice, -however, and she remembered that Miss Moore had on a previous -occasion seen and heard nothing.</p> - -<p>“They’re not mixed up with <i>seven</i>, I suppose,” she reflected, -before Sheshà began to speak again. He talked, she thought, -rather as though he were translating from another language, trying -to make what he said quite modern. “But sometimes,” -thought Rachel, “he forgets—and then he says ‘<i>behold</i>,’ and -‘<i>verily</i>,’ and old-fashioned words like that!”</p> - -<p>“Let us first look at some of the wonders which, long buried, -have come at last to this Museum,” he suggested, pausing in front -of a huge statue. It represented a creature with the body of a -bull, and the face of a man with a long curled beard cut -square—while from the shoulders of the beast sprang two great -wings.</p> - -<p>“Here is one out of many such marvels,” he added.</p> - -<p>Rachel looked at the monster, full of curiosity.</p> - -<p>“Was <i>this</i> dug up by the people you were talking about to -Aunt Hester to-day? I mean—at lunch time—when you were—Mr. -Sheston?”</p> - -<p>Sheshà smiled. “I was the same person then as now. It -was only my body that was different.... Yes, little maid, this -was found by the explorers not far from Babylon. Now glance -with me at these pictures in stone.” He turned into a narrow -gallery close at hand, and pointed to the walls against which were -fastened large slabs of stone sculptured most beautifully with -scenes of hunting, with processions in which kings rode in chariots -under graceful canopies like parasols hung with fringe, or stood -looking down upon long lines of prisoners chained together.</p> - -<p>“These came from the palace of one Tiglath Pileser, a king -who lived more than seven hundred years before Christ was born. -He was one of the conquerors of Babylon.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p> - -<p>“But I do want to see Babylon itself!” exclaimed Rachel. -“You did mean I should <i>really</i> see it, didn’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Patience!” murmured Sheshà. “Patience! You are just -about to see Babylon first as it is now—and then as it was in the -days of its splendour. Shut your eyes. Beat seven times with -your foot on this stone floor—and have no fear of what befalls. -You are safe with me.”</p> - -<p>Trembling with excitement, Rachel did as she was told, and at -the last tap of her foot, was conscious of a most strange and wonderful -sensation. She seemed to be out of doors, and not only -out of doors, but rushing through the air, while a noise like that -of a great engine almost deafened her.</p> - -<p>“We are near Babylon!” said a voice close to her ear, and, as -she opened her eyes, Rachel gasped, for she was seated in an aeroplane, -and the pilot of the machine, in the dress of an airman, was—Sheshà! -Rachel had so often longed to fly, that at first she could -think of nothing but the wonder and excitement of her first rush -through the air, and it was only by degrees that she began to notice -the earth below. The machine was dropping nearer to it now, -and she saw they were flying over a vast plain through which flowed -a river. Three large mounds near this river broke the monotony -of the desert place, overarched by the beautiful blue sky, and when -the aeroplane skimmed yet lower, Rachel saw little figures moving -near the mounds, like ants running over an ant heap.</p> - -<p>At the same moment the noise of the aeroplane’s engine ceased, -and she was able to talk to the pilot.</p> - -<p>“Why those are <i>men</i>, aren’t they?” she said, pointing -to the tiny figures. “And what are those heaps of rubbish -there?”</p> - -<p>“All that is left of Babylon—the beautiful and proud City of -Babylon,” answered the voice of the pilot, Sheshà.</p> - -<p>Rachel looked at the desert plain with its three “rubbish heaps,” -as she called them, in silent astonishment.</p> - -<p>“Is <i>that</i> where the bulls with wings and the other things in the -British Museum come from?” she added at length.</p> - -<p>“Some of them—yes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span></p> - -<p>“And are those little men down there digging up other things -now?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. They are working for the Museum. By-and-by, -in a few weeks, perhaps, you may read a column in your newspaper -at breakfast time giving an account of the latest things found in -that heap,” he pointed to the largest of them. “That mound -below you is called <i>Babil</i>, and it covers the palace in which dwelt -King Nebuchadnezzar, nearly three thousand years ago.”</p> - -<p>“The Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible that I was reading about -with Miss Moore only this morning?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—the Nebuchadnezzar who conquered the city of Jerusalem -and brought the Children of Israel captives to Babylon—the -Nebuchadnezzar who set up the golden image to which Daniel -would not bow down.”</p> - -<p>“And the fiery furnace!” interrupted Rachel, eagerly, “that -didn’t burn the three Children of Israel when Nebuchadnezzar -threw them into it.... I remember!... And there’s a psalm -about them when they were prisoners in Babylon.”</p> - -<p>“<i>By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when -we remembered Zion</i>,” quoted Sheshà, in a dreamy voice. “There -is one of the rivers of Babylon.” He pointed to the great stream—the -Euphrates—on both sides of which the city was built.</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t look as though there could ever have been a city -here,” Rachel declared, gazing down upon the desert and the mounds -of earth. “How could it have disappeared altogether like that?”</p> - -<p>“Thousands of years have passed since it was standing. It -has been burnt to the ground many times, and laid in ruins. The -sand of the desert has swept over it, and new races of men have -arisen, knowing nothing of its ancient grandeur. It is only sixty -years ago that scholars from France and Germany and England -began to explore those heaps of rubbish which cover its palaces and -temple.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I <i>do</i> want to see them!” exclaimed Rachel. “I mean -as they used to look when Nebuchadnezzar was king. Not just -the bits of them that people dig up now!”</p> - -<p>“We will make a landing,” said Sheshà in a matter-of-fact<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> -voice, and in a few moments the aeroplane had touched the ground, -and he was helping her to jump out of the marvellous machine, -which, surrounded as she was by so many other marvels, Rachel -took almost as though she had been used to an aeroplane all her -life.</p> - -<p>“You behold Babylon as it looks to-day,” went on Sheshà, -stretching out his hand towards the ruins. “In a second you shall -behold it as it looked three thousand years ago when Nebuchadnezzar -was king. And your guide shall be a little maid of -your own years.” Almost before he had finished speaking he -laid his hand gently over Rachel’s eyes....</p> - -<p>“Count the magic number aloud.”</p> - -<p>The voice that spoke certainly did not belong to Sheshà, and -when full of eagerness her eyes flew open they rested first of all -upon the loveliest and strangest little girl you can possibly -imagine.</p> - -<p>Her hair, black as ebony, was cut straight across her forehead, -and fell in tight ringlets to her shoulders. She wore a thin gauze -robe spangled with gold, and on her bare brown arms there were -bracelets, and round her slim little ankles golden anklets, which -tinkled as she moved.</p> - -<p>As her great dark eyes met Rachel’s blue ones she said gravely:</p> - -<p>“I am Salome, handmaid to the Queen of this city of Babylon. -Come with me and you shall see all its riches and its glory. Sheshà -has commanded it.”</p> - -<p>Rachel was too bewildered to wonder how it happened that -she understood the child, who was certainly not talking English. -But, strange language though it was, she seemed to know it as -well as her native tongue. There were besides, other and even -stranger things to amaze her, for before her, under the burning -blue sky, was spread a gorgeous city, or rather what looked like -miles and miles of gardens and palaces and temples, enclosed -within huge walls.</p> - -<p>From the slightly raised ground on which Rachel with her -new companion were standing, she could see these city walls—a -double row of them—stretching away to form a gigantic square<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> -enclosing the river, the woods and gardens, and all the strange -buildings which made up the city.</p> - -<p>“Oh look! look!” she cried suddenly, as all at once, actually -on the <i>top</i> of one of the inner walls, she saw a brilliantly painted -chariot drawn by four horses, coming at a furious pace towards -her. It was driven by a long-haired man who stood upright -within the car, urging on his steeds—till he came so near the end -of the wall that Rachel held her breath, expecting to see chariot, -horses and driver dashed to the ground. But, before she could -cry out, the man, with marvellous -skill, turned horses and chariot, and -drove at full speed back again -along the wide top of the wall.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe76_375" id="i_042"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_042.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“Just <i>think</i> of a wall broad -enough for four horses to -gallop along—and <i>turn</i>!” -Rachel almost screamed the -words in her excitement.</p> - -<p>“That is Akurgal, the -driver of the king’s chariot,” -said the little Babylonian -girl, unconcernedly. “He -drives like the wind for -fury when it pleases him.”</p> - -<p>Rachel scarcely knew in -which direction to look first, so glorious was the view. She saw -that each of the four sides of the wall was pierced by -gigantic gates made of bronze—all the gates opening upon -broad streets which crossed one another, so that the whole -city was divided into squares, filled with gardens and houses. -The broad river flowed through it from north to south, and -over the river hung a mighty bridge, at each end of which -was a palace.</p> - -<p>It was difficult for Rachel to make up her mind in which -direction to turn her eyes, but the sight of something that -appeared like a forest-covered mountain rising near one of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> -palaces, was so lovely that she pointed to it and turned to -Salome.</p> - -<p>“What a beautiful mountain!” she exclaimed. “How funny -there should be only <i>one</i>—because the rest of the country is so -flat. There isn’t another hill as far as ever I can see,” she added, -glancing over the wide plain in which the city lay.</p> - -<p>Salome smiled.</p> - -<p>“That is no mountain,” she said. “It was made by human -hands. It is the great glory of our city, and, so my mistress says, -in time to come, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon will be called -one of the Wonders of the World.”</p> - -<p>Rachel started. “There are seven Wonders of the World,” -she began, eagerly. “I’ve seen one of them already—the Great -Pyramid, you know. And now——”</p> - -<p>“I have heard of the Pyramid in the land of Egypt,” Salome -interrupted. “But come now and see more closely <i>our</i> wonder—the -Garden that is like no other in the world.”</p> - -<p>She took Rachel’s hand, and in a few moments they had entered -the city through a gate which Rachel noticed was covered with -tiles of blue enamel as brilliant as the sky above them. And on -either side of the gate, like sentinels, stood huge winged bulls carved -in stone. But how different they looked here, she thought, in the -golden sunshine, with the wonderful blue tiles behind them, and -their great shadows, black as ink, stretching on either hand!</p> - -<p>“This is one of the new gates built by our king,” Salome told -her. “He has caused inscriptions to be written about them so -that all the world may know what adornments he has added to -our fair city of Babylon. Our city that shall last for ever,” she -added proudly.</p> - -<p>Rachel glanced at her, and thought of a great rubbish heap -she had recently seen—“<i>the mound called Babil which covers the -palace in which dwelt King Nebuchadnezzar nearly three thousand -years ago</i>”—she remembered the very words of Sheshà.... How -amazing it was to be walking with this little girl in the very city -that now lay under a mound of earth! To be talking to a little -girl who lived nearly three thousand years ago, and had no idea<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> -that her home was even now being dug up in fragments by men -living in the world to-day!... For a moment it all seemed too -puzzling to be true. Rachel rubbed her eyes with her disengaged -hand, and half expected the whole vision to disappear. Yet when -she looked again, the lovely scene still lay before her, and she -could feel the warmth of Salome’s little brown hand within her -own.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe62_5" id="i_044"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_044.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“I must be getting used to the Past,” she -reflected. “Because now I can <i>feel</i> as well as -see the people. They didn’t seem quite real -when I was with Sheshà in Egypt. But now it’s different. Is -it because <i>these</i> people didn’t live quite so far back into the -Past as King Cheops and his slaves, I wonder?”</p> - -<p>She glanced again at the grave, strangely clad little girl at her -side, who talked as though she were quite grown up.</p> - -<p>“I mustn’t say anything about the rubbish mound, or tell -her anything about the sort of world <i>I</i> belong to,” she reflected -hurriedly. “She wouldn’t understand. I suppose she thinks -I’m living in her times, but have just never happened to see<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> -Babylon before. And that’s quite true!” she added to herself, -with a little inward chuckle.</p> - -<p>While such thoughts as these were hurrying through her -mind, she was looking right and left, full of eager curiosity, -for the bridge she was crossing was thronged with amazing -figures.</p> - -<p>Men with black, curling beards, bare-legged, and bare-armed, -wearing tunics of brilliant colours, passed her. Some of these -were seated upon the backs of camels following one another in -long lines. The soft-footed, grey beasts were loaded with merchandise, -and the bales on either side of their humped backs swayed -as they moved. They were decked fantastically with trappings -of plaited scarlet wool, hung with tassels of brilliant colour. After -such a procession of camels and their drivers, would come perhaps -a chariot with four horses abreast, driven by a fierce-looking man -in a gorgeous fringed robe, whose dark eyes flashed like jewels -in his bronzed face. Following one such chariot, she saw a group -of girls in gauzy tunics, bracelets on their arms, tinkling anklets -above their feet, dancing as they came, and singing a wild song -as they tossed their arms above their heads.</p> - -<p>“They are going to the Temple of Belus,” explained Salome, -as Rachel stood still to look at them.</p> - -<p>She turned round and pointed with her little brown forefinger -to a great building at the other end of the bridge.</p> - -<p>“Later, if there is still time, you shall see the temple of the -great God. But let us hasten now towards the gardens, for there, -in the cool of the day, the queen walks with her maidens, and I -must be in attendance.”</p> - -<p>Rachel was torn between her longing to be actually within -the wonderful Hanging Garden and her desire to linger on the -bridge which afforded such a magnificent view. She gazed with -delight upon the broad shining river which divided the city, and -upon the ships with gracefully curved sails which, rowed by almost -naked slaves, moved to and fro over its surface.</p> - -<p>Some of these ships were drawn up against the quays which -lined the river, as far as eye could reach, and Rachel saw a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> -swarming multitude of men staggering under corded chests of -wood which the ships had brought to be unloaded.</p> - -<p>Salome stopped to watch the slaves at their work.</p> - -<p>“That is merchandise for the palace, I trust,” she observed. -“We have awaited it too long, and the queen grows angry.”</p> - -<p>“What sort of things are in those boxes?” Rachel asked.</p> - -<p>“Ivory and ebony for the thrones, and for the couches and the -chariots, emeralds and fine linen, and coral and agate. Spices -from Arabia and precious stones -and gold,” answered Salome, in a -sort of chanting voice.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp53" id="i_046" style="max-width: 50em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_046.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Rachel gasped. It sounded like -a fairy tale. Yet she remembered -something like it—Where was it? -In the Bible, surely!</p> - -<p>Just as the thought of the Bible -crossed her mind, a group of men -passed close to her. They were -dressed rather differently from the -other people around her, their faces, -too, looked different, and their eyes -were very sad.</p> - -<p>“Who are those men?” she -enquired, looking back over her -shoulder. “They look so unhappy—and -<i>homesick</i>, somehow.” Rachel -knew what it was to be homesick!</p> - -<p>Salome glanced at them carelessly. “They are Hebrews who -call themselves the Children of Israel. Our king, the great Nebuchadnezzar—may -he live for ever—conquered their country -and took their treasures from Jerusalem, their chief city, and -brought many of them here to Babylon to live. They hate us, -and we despise them.”</p> - -<p>Rachel started as the words of the psalm darted into her mind. -“<i>By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down.... We hanged our -harps upon the willows</i>....” She had heard this sung in church,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> -and it had meant nothing to her but just “a psalm.” Yet, here -before her very eyes now, was one of “the rivers.” There were -“the willows” fringing streams which flowed through the innumerable -gardens, and she had just met some of the captive Jews! -Rachel gasped again as all these things became “real” to her—something -that had actually happened—was, in fact, happening -before her eyes.</p> - -<p>“It’s awful to be homesick,” she murmured, rather to herself -than to Salome, who, without replying, ran on in front of her to a -flight of steps at the end of the bridge.</p> - -<p>“This is one of the entrances to the Hanging Garden,” she -explained, looking back. “We must hasten, lest my mistress -calls for me.”</p> - -<p>Rachel followed her from terrace to terrace, too overwhelmed -with delight at the glimpses of beauty she caught right and left to -say a word. She saw that the whole garden was supported, tier -above tier, by gigantic arches, and Salome told her each terrace -was made of plates of lead, holding earth so deep that great forest -trees could grow in it. If she had not known this, the whole place -would have seemed to Rachel as though blossoming by magic in -the heart of a forest growing in mid-air. She could scarcely believe -it was not the work of some magician.</p> - -<p>By the time they reached the uppermost terrace, on a level -with the city wall, she was not only breathless, but struck dumb -by the beauty and wonder of everything round her.</p> - -<p>Mighty cedar trees spread their layers of branches between -her and the burning blue sky. The air was perfumed with the scent -from groves of lemon trees. Fountains tossed their sparkling -drops high into the sunshine. Red roses swept in cascades from -her feet down the slope to the terraces below. Along paths paved -with tiles of sapphire-blue enamel, peacocks walked delicately -with outspread tails, and far below, within its four-square walls, -the city of Babylon lay glittering in such brilliant sunshine as -in her own country she had never dreamt of, nor faintly imagined.</p> - -<p>And now, before she had time to recover from her amazement, -a new sight was presented, for, coming slowly in her direction,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> -but as yet in the distance, a group of people approached. In the -midst of them, as the little procession drew nearer, Rachel saw a -lovely woman leaning back in a litter slung between ivory poles -and borne by four slaves. The litter was covered with silk hangings -of a rich purple, and a fringed canopy of the same material supported -on poles also of ivory, was held above the swinging couch -by four dark-skinned girls.</p> - -<p>“The Queen Amytis,” whispered Salome, and Rachel drew -back in sudden fright. “She will wonder who I am—and I shan’t -know what to say,” she began, hurriedly. “I don’t know how to -talk to queens.”</p> - -<p>“Have no fear, she will not see you. No one here sees you -but me. That is the work of Sheshà, who is greatest of all magicians -and has entrusted you to me, why I know not—nor do I know -with any certainty who you are. But he has commanded me to -be your guide here in Babylon. No one sees, no one hears you but -I alone.”</p> - -<p>Wondering greatly, but feeling much relieved, Rachel watched -the slaves as very carefully they set down the litter close to a throne-like -seat, covered with silken pillows. The arms of the chair she -noticed, were two-winged bulls in stone, and the back of it shone -with enamelled tiles and plates of gold. The maidens now surrounded -their mistress, helping her to rise from the litter, and, as -she sank into the great chair, Rachel gazed at her wonderful robe, -made of stuff like gossamer, clasped with a great jewel at the waist. -Her slim, olive-coloured feet were bare, and, to Rachel’s amazement, -she saw the gleam of emeralds in rings upon her toes! -On her bare arms and neck there were jewels, also, and there -were emeralds in the fillet that bound her beautiful black hair.</p> - -<p>Never had Rachel ever dreamt of such a vision! Never indeed -could she have imagined such luxury and magnificence as she -had seen since she entered Babylon.</p> - -<p>“It’s like—like the stories in the Arabian Nights,” she -thought, confusedly. Presently the queen spoke in that language -which sounded strange to her ears, but which with her <i>mind</i> she -somehow understood quite well.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></p> - -<p>“Listen! One can hear the singing from the Temple of -Belus.”</p> - -<p>“To-day is a high festival. They offer sacrifices to the God,” -answered one of her maidens. “There has been great stir in the -city since sunrise.”</p> - -<p>“But when the darkness falls there will be silence, and the -wise men on the topmost tower will watch the stars.”</p> - -<p>Queen Amytis said this as though to herself. Her great dark -eyes were fixed upon the shining city below, and Rachel thought -she looked sad and anxious.</p> - -<p>“The most high God will protect our lord the king on his -perilous journey,” one of her maidens declared consolingly. “And -the wise men will surely learn good tidings from the stars,” added -another.</p> - -<p>The queen did not reply, and Rachel looked enquiringly at -Salome, who was lying full length on a great tiger-skin stretched -in front of her mistress’s chair.</p> - -<p>“Sit near me,” said the little maid, making room for her. -“No one else sees or hears you. What is it you would ask?”</p> - -<p>“Tell me about the temple,” whispered Rachel. “That -temple of Belus.”</p> - -<p>She could see it very distinctly from where she sat, a wonderful -building with a number of storeys piled up one above the other, -each storey covered with glazed tiles of a colour different from -that above and below.</p> - -<p>“It is the Tower of the Seven Planets—the Temple of Belus, -who is the God of our city,” Salome told her. “Our great king -has lately built it where once stood, so they say, the Tower of -Babel.”</p> - -<p>“The Tower of Babel? That’s in the Bible!” But a glance at -Salome’s face showed her that she didn’t know anything about the -Bible—and she remembered that the gods Salome and all the -people here worshipped were those the Bible called “false gods.”</p> - -<p>“Of the Tower of Babel I know nothing but its name,” said -Salome, shrugging her shoulders. “It stood doubtless long ago. -But this is a new temple built, as they say, on its ruins. It is of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> -seven colours, because each of the seven planets has a different -colour, so the wise men who study the stars declare. And within -the temple there stands a golden image of the god Belus, and a -golden altar upon which the priests burn frankincense and all -sweet scents in honour of the god.”</p> - -<p>“But the queen said the wise men watch the stars there?”</p> - -<p>“Even so. At night on the topmost storey of the tower, the -priests study the sky. They are great astronomers, and have -learnt wonderful things about the heavenly bodies, all of which -are written down so that their knowledge may not be lost to people -who live after them.”</p> - -<p>“Then I suppose that’s how <i>we</i> began to know about the stars,” -thought Rachel. “Through these people who lived here in Babylon -thousands of years ago.” It was very strange to think of this, -and strange also, and sad, to remember that what Salome called -“the new temple” was now nothing but a heap of half-buried -ruins! And, yet, there in some magic way lay Salome before her -eyes, her anklets tinkling when she moved, and her little face full -of life. And there sat the lovely queen, surrounded by her -maidens in their transparent robes! And the cedar trees murmured -overhead, and from the groves of lemon trees sweet scents -were blown, and below lay the marvellous city.</p> - -<p>Rachel grew so confused that it was with difficulty she could -prevent herself from saying aloud all she was feeling. And this, -as somehow she knew, would be the greatest possible mistake.</p> - -<p>“The queen is sad because the king is away, isn’t she?”</p> - -<p>The question was put hurriedly, in case she should betray -herself.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Our great King Nebuchadnezzar is in Egypt, fighting -against his enemies. May he be preserved! The queen longs -for tidings of him.”</p> - -<p>Just at that moment the sound of quick footsteps on the blue -tiled path, behind the queen’s chair, made Rachel turn her head. -A slave was running in haste along an upper terrace.</p> - -<p>The queen also turned and half rose from her throne-like seat -as the messenger, drawing near, threw himself face downward on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> -the ground before her, and then, rising and bowing low, put -something into her hand.</p> - -<p>“A letter, perchance, from the king,” whispered Salome -eagerly.</p> - -<p>“A letter?” repeated Rachel, looking with curiosity at the -strange object.</p> - -<p>It certainly bore no resemblance to the letters she knew, for -it looked something like a thin -square brick, and though it had -an envelope, that envelope was -made of <i>clay</i> instead -of paper, and had a -seal upon it.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe75" id="i_051"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_051.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Feeling quite -sure by now that -she was invisible to -all but the eyes of -Salome, she ran to -the back of the -queen’s chair and -watched her break -the seal, and -take out what -it contained. -This proved to be a small brick tablet. Upon it was carved -some writing that was like, yet unlike, the hieroglyphics she had -seen in Egypt, for the letters of which the writing was composed -were wedge-shaped, with curious dots and arrow-heads every here -and there between them.</p> - -<p>And then, smiling happily, the queen began to read the brick aloud.</p> - -<p>“<i>Unto Amytis, my queen whom I love, who loveth me</i>, say, -<i>It is well with me.</i> With thee also may it be well.... Let -the wife of the king, my lady, be of good cheer, for a messenger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> -of good luck from Belus walketh beside the king of the world....”</p> - -<p>Still smiling, she looked round her at her maidens, who all -bowed low and murmured together.</p> - -<p>“Our lord the king, may he live for ever.”</p> - -<p>“The great god Belus, as you hear, protects him!” exclaimed -Salome, turning to Rachel.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the queen clapped her hands, and at the signal, her -maidens snatched up the musical instruments they had laid aside, and -their brown fingers began to sweep the strings of curiously shaped -harps and lyres as they sang a chant of rejoicing....</p> - -<p>The sun was setting, and as she lay stretched out upon the tiger -skin, Rachel saw the city below her glowing like a heap of jewels -within the casket of its walls. The broad river was washed with -gold, and reflected in its depths she saw the purple and embroidered -sails of the ships passing and repassing, as they brought gold and -ivory, fine linen and precious stones, to enrich still further the -magnificence of Babylon. The long line of quays formed a white, -glittering fringe on either side of the river. In the gardens and open -courtyards between the houses the palms and cedar trees and -masses of flowers shone like coloured fire, and the great temple -of Belus towering towards the sky, with its seven storeys of seven -colours, might have been the enchanted palace of a magician. -Rachel gazed and gazed as though she wanted to fix the vision of so -much loveliness upon her mind for ever.</p> - -<p>But her last look after all was for the beauty of the garden -in which she sat—the Hanging Garden that might well, she thought, -be called one of the World’s Wonders! For the sun’s last rays -lent an even greater magic to the lemon groves, to the leaping -cascades which flowed from the upper terrace and were lost among -the forest trees beneath; to the pyramids of gorgeous flowers -and to the group of singing girls surrounding their lovely queen. -Their gauzy robes were dyed with crimson light, the jewels on the -queen’s head-dress and on the brown hands touching the harp-strings -gleamed dazzlingly, and the voices of the singers mingled -with the deep hum of voices floating upwards from the swarming -multitudes below.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span></p> - -<p>“Is not our Babylon well called ‘<i>the lady of kingdoms</i>’?” whispered -Salome. “It shall endure for ever, and in ages to come -men will travel hither to see its glories, and to gaze upon this our -Hanging Garden—one of the Wonders of the World.”</p> - -<p>Rachel turned to look at the grave little girl who spoke like a -woman, yet was perhaps no older than herself.</p> - -<p>For a moment she saw her great dark mournful eyes, and then, -the whole scene, the garden, the great city below with its towers and -palaces, disappeared. For yet another moment she saw the dreary -desert, the three great mounds of earth under the blue sky, and almost -at the same instant, she was walking in a gallery lined with -cases, containing stones, bricks, and various other dull-coloured -objects.... “These don’t look much like the letters the -postman brings every morning, do they?” Mr. Sheston was saying. -“Yet they are the sort of letters the Babylonians wrote to -one another. These marks on the bricks were made with a metal -stick, when the clay was still moist and soft, and then the tablet -was baked, so that the writing should last practically for ever.”</p> - -<p>“I know!” cried Rachel. “The queen had a letter from the -king Nebuchadnezzar, and it was in a sort of clay envelope. And -she read it out, and—”</p> - -<p>But Mr. Sheston only smiled, and went on telling her about the -“brick letters” hundreds of which had already been discovered -in the ruins that cover Babylon!</p> - -<p>It was a curious smile, and in some way it told Rachel that she -must not talk much to Mr. Sheston about Sheshà—even though -they were one and the same person.... “Why, even the beginnings -of their names are alike!” she thought, suddenly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, the Babylonians were wonderful people,” the old man -exclaimed. “They were astronomers as well as sculptors and -metal workers, you know. They built high towers from which they -studied the stars. You may imagine what a splendid view of the sky -they would have from these towers rising out of a flat country into -air so absolutely clear that the stars look enormously big and bright.”</p> - -<p>“And they told fortunes by the stars, didn’t they?” Rachel -asked, remembering the king’s letter.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span></p> - -<p>“Yes, they were <i>astrologers</i>, too—that is they believed that -certain planets had an effect on people’s lives. But, putting that -on one side, we have to thank them for the beginning of all the -marvellous discoveries that later astronomers have made.... -Well, now, my dear,” he went on, presently, just like any other -kind old gentleman, “I’m sure you’re ready for tea and buns.”</p> - -<p>Rachel was quite ready, and she also quite understood that -“Mr. Sheston” and “Sheshà” wished to have very little to do -with one another.</p> - -<p>So she only said, when, half an hour later, the old man left -her at Aunt Hester’s door:</p> - -<p>“Thank you <i>ever</i> so much. I shall never forget Babylon, and—and—the -Hanging Garden, you know. But there are five more -Wonders of the World, aren’t there?” She could not help adding -this, nor could she help a beseeching -glance at Mr. Sheston.</p> - -<p>He laughed. “We’ll see about -them, perhaps,” he said. But Rachel -ran into the house quite satisfied.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe62_5" id="i_054"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_054.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="THIRD_WONDER">THIRD WONDER <br /> -THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES</h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_055" style="max-width: 72.375em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_055.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>One morning, several days later, Rachel received a long letter -from her father, in answer to one she had written to him before -making the acquaintance of Mr. Sheston. (Though, indeed, as -she remembered, she had even then met him without knowing it!)</p> - -<p>“You talk about the British Museum,” he wrote, “and that -reminds me of a dear old friend of mine who works there. I don’t -think I’ve ever told you about Mr. Sheston, have I? And now -I come to think of it I don’t believe I’ve told <i>anyone</i> all he meant -to me when I was a little boy, no older than you are now. I’ve -never seen him since, but he was better to me then than a thousand -beautiful mysterious books. He used to tell me the most -wonderful stories, and I’ve never forgotten them. He must be a -very old man now. (I thought him very old <i>then</i>, but, of course, -he wasn’t really.) I believe he sometimes goes to see your Aunt -Hester, and I want you to meet him. Perhaps he will tell you some -of the strange things he told me. Perhaps even you will have -‘adventures’ when you’re with him! And perhaps not. Anyhow, -if you <i>do</i> have ‘adventures,’ take my advice and don’t talk -about them. People as a rule don’t understand Mr. Sheston, and -some of them say all sorts of silly things about him, and even think -he’s mad. He isn’t. He’s the <i>oldest</i> and the wisest man in the -world.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span></p> - -<p>Rachel folded up the letter feeling very happy. She and -“Daddy” were great friends, and she was as she said to herself -“frightfully glad” that Dad had known Mr. Sheston when he was -a little boy. That hint he gave about “adventures” pleased her -very much, as also his remark about Mr. Sheston being the oldest -man in the world! Oh, yes, certainly Dad had passed through -the same sort of experiences as those she had enjoyed since her -meeting with his old friend. That was a splendid thought. And -all at once she remembered that Dad also was the seventh child -in his family. “So <i>he’s</i> mixed up with <i>sevens</i> too,” was her next -reflection. “He’s one of the lucky people—like me. He’ll be -awfully interested when he gets my last letter to say I’ve met Mr. -Sheston already!”</p> - -<p>That very same morning, Aunt Hester had a note from the -old man to ask if Miss Moore would be kind enough to bring Rachel -to tea at his house the following day, at three o’clock. “I will -bring her back again myself. Don’t trouble to answer this, -because I shall rely upon seeing Rachel at the appointed time.”</p> - -<p>Aunt Hester brought the note into the schoolroom, and, after -reading it aloud, laughed a little and shrugged her shoulders.</p> - -<p>“This is a <i>command</i>,” she said, addressing Miss Moore. “He -always gets his own way. Will you see that the child arrives -punctually?”</p> - -<p>Rachel wanted to jump for joy.</p> - -<p>“It’s exactly seven days since the last time I saw him,” she -exclaimed. “How exciting!”</p> - -<p>Mr. Sheston’s house was tucked away in a little quiet square, -near the Museum. It had a narrow front-door with a brass -knocker that shone with much polishing, and above it, in the -shape of a crescent, panes of glass divided by a tracery in white -plaster.</p> - -<p>Within, the walls of hall and staircase were panelled with dark -wood, and the room into which Rachel followed her host after -Miss Moore had left her was, she thought, the nicest she had ever -seen.</p> - -<p>It had three windows, and was long and low, and like the hall,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> -panelled right up to the ceiling. There were cushioned window-seats, -and books everywhere, and great bowls of spring flowers -on the tables. And in an old-fashioned grate with hobs, a fire -sparkled cheerfully, for it was a cold gloomy afternoon.</p> - -<p>Tea was laid on a table in front of the fire, and in a few moments -the dearest old woman in a frilled close-fitting cap and a spotless -apron, entered, bringing -a teapot and a kettle, -which she placed on -the hob.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe53_125" id="i_057"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_057.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>She smiled at Rachel.</p> - -<p>“The very image of -her father, isn’t she, -sir?” she remarked.</p> - -<p>“Oh! Did you know -Dad?” enquired Rachel, -joyfully.</p> - -<p>“Martha has known -all my young friends,” -said Mr. Sheston.</p> - -<p>“Many’s the time -your father has sat -where you’re sitting -now, my dear,” the old woman continued. -“He was no older than you then, and had -just your look.”</p> - -<p>She went out of the room quietly, leaving Rachel much interested, -and glad to be in a place that Dad had once known well.</p> - -<p>She would like to have asked all sorts of questions about her -father when he was a little boy, but, remembering his letter, she -felt in some curious way that it would be better not to do so.</p> - -<p>Tea was a most cosy and delicious meal, but it was only after -old Martha had cleared the table and swept up the hearth that -Rachel said rather disappointedly—“Then we’re not going to -the British Museum?” Mr. Sheston smiled. “Not to-day. I’m -going to tell you a story instead. But first you’ll have to listen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> -to a little lecture.” He took an atlas from one of the book-shelves, -and opened it on the table before her. “The story I am going -to tell you has something to do with Greece, and in order that you -may understand it better, I want you first to look at this. It -is a map of Europe as it was three thousand years ago, showing -the countries round the Mediterranean Sea. All the parts of the -countries that belonged to Greece in those days are coloured pink.”</p> - -<p>Rachel looked, and saw many pink islands in the Mediterranean -Sea, as well as pink strips along the coast of Asia Minor, and even -a pink tip to the heel of Italy.</p> - -<p>“The Greek people had a lot of land—only all scattered about,” -she remarked.</p> - -<p>Mr. Sheston nodded.</p> - -<p>“Like England, it was a little country owning a lot of land—‘scattered -about,’ as you say. Well now, these islands were the -Greek colonies, just as India and South Africa and Australia are -our colonies. Again, like the English, the Greeks were great -colonists. They sent out their people to live and build and work -in places sometimes far distant from the mother country. But -now I want you to find on the map one particular island-colony -called <i>Rhodes</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Here it is!” cried Rachel, in a minute, putting her finger -on a pink-coloured spot. “It’s a good long way from Greece,” -she observed, “and quite close to Asia Minor.”</p> - -<p>“It belonged to Greece, however,” said Mr. Sheston, folding -up the map. “I only want you to remember its name, and where -it is. Now come and look at this statue.”</p> - -<p>He got up, and Rachel followed him to a recess on which stood -a beautiful little figure of a god.</p> - -<p>“That is a god called Phœbus Apollo,” said Mr. Sheston. “To -the Greeks he meant all the best things in the world—the sun, -poetry, music, wisdom and truth, and everything that is free and -beautiful.”</p> - -<p>“The gods they worshipped in Egypt and Babylon weren’t -beautiful,” said Rachel. “But this god <i>is</i>. He’s much better -than the others.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span></p> - -<p>“Because the Greeks themselves were in some ways higher -and better than the Egyptians or the Babylonians. They were -thinkers and artists, and their minds were free. Therefore they -were able to imagine beautiful gods, and they became the greatest -race of people that ever lived.... Do you remember the name -of their chief city?”</p> - -<p>“Athens,” answered Rachel, who was rather good at geography.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Athens,” repeated Mr. Sheston, softly. “Wonderful -Athens! Well, now, my dear, I can begin my story, asking -you to remember that Greece had many colonies, peopled by Greeks -whose general life was very much like the life led by the citizens -of Athens in the mother country. They worshipped the same -gods—Phœbus Apollo amongst them—and they were, in fact, -part of the Grecian Empire....”</p> - -<p>He was silent for a minute or two, and the room was so quiet -and restful that Rachel had almost begun to feel pleasantly -drowsy when she heard his voice again. “What I am going -to tell you, I once told your father years ago in this very room, -and he sat just where you are sitting now,” he said. Before she -had time to make a reply, he began the story, and though his first -words ought, as Rachel afterwards reflected, to have been rather -startling, they seemed perfectly natural, for she was getting used -to the idea that, as Dad said, Mr. Sheston was “the <i>oldest</i> man in -the world.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>“When I was a little boy, nearer three than two thousand years -ago, I lived in the island of Rhodes. You know where it is, because -a minute or two ago, you found it on the map, and saw it -marked in the Mediterranean Sea as an island some long way from -Greece.</p> - -<p>“In the map, it was nothing but a little blotch coloured pink, -so it’s not surprising if you have no idea what <i>I</i> see, when I remember -Rhodes as I knew it nearly three thousand years ago. -I’ll describe the vision that rises before me now.</p> - -<p>“First of all, my own home. It is a big white house with pillars -at the entrance, and a flat roof, standing in a garden full of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> -roses that slopes down almost to the harbour of the town of Rhodes. -The harbour is full of ships—our own, and those from Tyre and -Athens and Smyrna, and all the great seaports on the Mediterranean—ships -with curious curved sails, some of them purple -and embroidered with strange devices.”</p> - -<p>(“Like the ships from Tyre I saw at Babylon,” thought -Rachel, though she did not care to interrupt.)</p> - -<p>“Beyond the great harbour with its crowded shipping and -merchandise of green and purple figs, heaps of dates, bales of fine -muslin and linen, chests—some full of spices, others of gold and -ivory—lies the sea, blue as the bluest sapphire, over which, going -and coming from every harbour of every country whose shores -touched the Mediterranean, ships go sailing. That is the picture -I have in my mind when I think of Rhodes as I knew it ages ago.</p> - -<p>“My name in those days was Cleon, and I had a beautiful -mother, and a little sister called Penelope.</p> - -<p>“But before I go on, I must tell you that by the time I came -into the world, Athens, our mother city, where my father had -been born, was no longer so great and powerful as it had been in -the days a hundred years before my time. All sorts of trouble -had come to Greece. It had been conquered by a certain king -called Alexander the Great, who died just before I was born, and -all the time I was a child, the generals of his army were quarrelling -among themselves—each one trying to get the largest share of -all the great kingdoms their master King Alexander had won. -You will ask what that had to do with Rhodes, and with my beautiful -home, and with the happiness of everyone I loved. It had -all too much to do with us, as I will explain.</p> - -<p>“Our island had indeed been conquered by Alexander the Great, -but fifty years before I was born we had regained our liberty, -had become a republic and also the greatest sea nation in the -world. But now, though the great conqueror himself was dead, -one of his generals, jealous of our power, determined to subdue -us and make us slaves again. This man’s name was Demetrius, -and, because he had become so famous in war, he was generally -called Demetrius, the Besieger of Cities.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span></p> - -<p>“I was twelve years old when the news came that this dreaded -Demetrius had declared war on Rhodes, and was coming to besiege -us, and never shall I forget the speech my father (who was -Governor of Rhodes) made to the citizens that day!</p> - -<p>“‘We are Greeks,’ he said, ‘and worthy children of Athens, -our mother city. Never will we yield to Demetrius! Let us -prepare for the greatest siege that has ever been known.’</p> - -<p>“A great shout answered him, and my father at once began to -make preparations.</p> - -<p>“‘First of all,’ he said, ‘every useless person must be sent -out of Rhodes.’ That meant all the women and children, and -all men who were not strong enough to fight. For, in the long -siege that was expected, there would not be sufficient food for -anyone but workmen and soldiers. Workmen must instantly -begin to make every sort of warlike weapon, including machines -as far as possible like those which Demetrius would certainly -employ against the city. Other workmen must strengthen its -walls, toiling day and night. Everyone in fact must labour as -they had never done before. I followed him from the marketplace -that day full of dread. If all the children were to go, should -I have to leave Rhodes just at this stirring time, when I so longed -to be in the midst of things? Yet I dared not ask my father to -let me stay, for I knew I must not trouble him with my affairs -when he had the whole town’s business on his mind. I was very -miserable, for I knew he intended to send me, with my mother -and little sister, to Athens. But you shall hear how it was that -I after all remained in Rhodes through the whole dreadful siege.</p> - -<p>“One of our greatest friends was a certain young sculptor -called Chares. He was very fond of me, and deeply interested in -a curious gift which, even as a child, I possessed. My greatest -amusement and interest had always been to draw <i>plans</i> of houses -and towns, and I drew them so correctly and well that everyone -was amazed, for I had never been taught. To <i>me</i> there was -nothing wonderful about this, for it seemed quite easy, and I could -never understand why Chares looked upon my work with so much -astonishment.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p> - -<p>“As soon as I dared I began to beg and entreat not to be sent -away, till my father, growing angry, silenced me, and I was just -creeping off miserably when Chares, who was with us, spoke.</p> - -<p>“He had picked up a plan of the town on which I had been -working, and I saw him studying it attentively, all the time I was -begging to stay.</p> - -<p>“‘Yield to the boy, Hippias,’ he exclaimed, suddenly. ‘Who -knows that this gift of his,’ he tapped the paper he held, ‘may -not be of value? I think he should remain with us.’</p> - -<p>“My father looked from me to Chares, and, after a moment’s -silence, said quietly, and to my great joy, ‘So be it. That is’—turning -to me—he went on: ‘if you can bear hunger and even -wounds perhaps, like a man. We must have no whimpering -children in Rhodes.’</p> - -<p>“I felt I could bear anything if only I might remain, and I was -unspeakably grateful to my dear Chares for his interference. I -knew my father not only trusted him greatly, but also had an -idea that he was favoured by the gods, and could look into the -future. It was because <i>he</i> pleaded for me that my wish was granted.</p> - -<p>“In a few days I was the youngest person left in Rhodes, -which was now filled only with soldiers and workmen. Those -were wonderful days when we waited for the coming of the fleet -that was to destroy us! Almost every hour fresh troops were -landed, for the countries that were friendly to us sent us soldiers -in plenty. Many of them were our own countrymen—Greeks -from other colonies, who rejoiced to fight with us, and arrived -shouting, singing, and full of delight. All day long I ran here, -there and everywhere in the town. Now I was down by the harbour -to see a fresh ship full of warriors come sailing in; now I -walked round the city walls to watch the workmen strengthening -and repairing them. But most time of all I spent in the sheds -where the great war engines were being built, for these fascinated -me beyond measure, and I wondered whether even the celebrated -Demetrius had better or larger ones than those we were making. -I was soon to know.</p> - -<p>“My father had brought me up to reverence the gods, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> -the chief god of our worship was Phœbus Apollo—lord of the sun -which poured its light so gloriously upon our island, and ripened -our grapes and figs, and made the whole land lovely and pleasant -to the sight.</p> - -<p>“In our garden there was a little white marble temple, and in -it, with an altar in front, stood a beautiful statue of the god, made -by our friend, Chares, the sculptor. Here I often went to pray -for victory. One morning I woke before sunrise, and the loveliness -of the sky made me wish to worship the god of the approaching -day.</p> - -<p>“Like a vast mirror the scarcely heaving sea reflected the -pink glow of the sky, where little golden clouds like feathers -floated just above the horizon, and a broad band of amber was -growing momentarily brighter.</p> - -<p>“I rose quickly from my place on the roof, and, running past -rooms filled with sleeping soldiers (for our house had been turned -into a barracks), made my way into the garden all mysterious, -dim and dewy in the dawn.</p> - -<p>“I crossed wet lawns, stopped to pick a handful of the roses -that poured in a crimson torrent from a stone urn, and then ran -on to the grove of lemon trees in which stood the temple.</p> - -<p>“To my surprise I found someone there before me. A dark -figure stood within. Just at that moment, the first ray of the -risen sun darted like a golden arrow between the pillars of the -temple, and the marble statue of the god appeared bathed in -dazzling light.</p> - -<p>“The figure I had seen was now kneeling at the foot of the -altar, and I recognised Chares.</p> - -<p>“Very softly I crept into the temple, and, dropping my roses -on the altar, knelt beside him.</p> - -<p>“Then Chares rose to his feet, and stretching out his arms, -prayed aloud. His words, spoken in the Greek tongue, sounded -like beautiful poetry, but I can only give you in another and -different language, a poor idea of the prayer he offered to Phœbus -Apollo.</p> - -<p>“‘O mighty lord of the sun and of all the beauty in striving<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> -for which men are raised above the beasts that perish, grant us -victory in the coming strife. I, Chares, thy worshipper, who -have many times fashioned in thine honour statues which but -faintly show forth my dreams of thy perfection, do make a vow -before thee here, at the rising of the sun, that, if to thy people of -Rhodes comes the victory we crave, I will raise to thy glory such -a statue as never man yet beheld—the Wonder of the World, an -everlasting sign of thy mercy, the best and last work of my hands.’</p> - -<p>“The little temple was flooded with sunlight, and the heap -of roses on the altar was glowing like a crimson fire, when Chares -turned, and, seeing me beside him, laid his hand on my shoulder. -We moved out of the temple, and he was just going to speak when -I pointed with a cry to the horizon. Crowding sails were in sight, -and Chares started. ‘They come!’ he exclaimed. ‘At what -better moment than after my prayer and vow?’</p> - -<p>“But, even before the last words were uttered, such a shout -went up from the harbour and the town as to make my heart beat -and set me trembling with excitement. From the house, across -the lawns to the gates which led to the seashore, the soldiers came -rushing, and, in a few moments, Rhodes was humming and -buzzing like a hornet’s nest.</p> - -<p>“So the famous siege of Rhodes began. You will read all -about it when you are older, for it was one of the most celebrated -sieges in history. To me, as to hundreds of others, it was a time -which, though full of excitement, was still more full of misery and -sorrow. My dear father was killed fighting bravely, and many, -many of our friends.</p> - -<p>“Months passed, and sometimes we won a victory, breaking -through the enemy forces, and sometimes Demetrius, with his -terrible war machines, triumphed. He had succeeded in landing -on our island and was encamped on a hill near our city, while <i>we</i> -within <i>our</i> walls, resisted all his efforts to break them down.</p> - -<p>“After nine or ten months of fighting, our sailors won a splendid -victory against the fleet of Demetrius, and the temples of the gods -were crowded with worshippers giving thanks for our success.</p> - -<p>“Since my father’s death, Chares had lived with me in our once<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> -beautiful house (now a barracks for the soldiers), and he and I -preferred to worship in our own little private temple of Phœbus -Apollo. When we left it that day, the sun was setting, and the -roses, which during the war had grown in wild profusion, almost -smothered the shrine, and made it look as though set in the midst -of scarlet flames.</p> - -<p>“Chares glanced back at it, and put his hand on my shoulder.</p> - -<p>“‘Cleon,’ he said, ‘if the statue I have in mind ever rises to -the honour of the god, it will be through <i>you</i>.’</p> - -<p>“I was startled and impressed by his words which I did not -understand. How could I, still a child, and not even allowed to -fight, have anything to do with victory—if victory ever came? -For we knew that Demetrius had but retired to bring fresh forces -against us. I began to say something like this, but Chares paid -no heed to my words.</p> - -<p>“‘Are you keeping your drawings and plans in safety?’ he -asked, as though to change the subject. For he knew that my -days now were chiefly occupied in making plans of different parts -of the city, and also careful drawings of our own, as well as of the -enemy’s war machines. This I did to amuse myself, and often, -though Chares did not know this, ran into great danger in my -eagerness to see something I thought useful or important, more -closely.</p> - -<p>“‘How do you think this gift has come to you?’ asked Chares -presently, when I had assured him that I kept all my drawings.</p> - -<p>“And when I said I had never thought about it, and did not -consider it a ‘gift,’ because to me it was like a kind of game, he -replied gravely,</p> - -<p>“‘Some day you will know.’</p> - -<p>“We were not left long to enjoy our victory, for soon rumours -began to fly about which filled us with anxiety.</p> - -<p>“Demetrius, beaten for the time, had indeed retired, but it -was known that he had invented, and was building, a new and a -more terrible war engine than had ever before been designed. By -this time, in Rhodes, we were nearly starving, for our food was -almost all gone, and Phrynis, our general, was full of anxiety,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> -for though he did not doubt the courage of our troops, he knew -they could not fight if they were weak for lack of nourishment. -You may imagine his relief when, just at the blackest moment of -despair, some ships sent by our friend, the King of Egypt, -managed to get past the watching fleet of the enemy, laden with -corn, and, a few days afterwards, other ships arrived with fresh -troops to help our tired men.</p> - -<p>“After they had rested and been well fed, Phrynis gave orders -for soldiers and sailors to prepare for the great machine which -would soon be at our gates, by building an <i>inner</i> wall behind that -which encircled the city. To do this it was necessary to pull down -a great many houses, and, among them, my own beautiful home, -and even the little temple of Phœbus Apollo. Before this was -done, we held a solemn service within the temple, and again -Chares renewed his vow to make the statue, and begged forgiveness -of the god for having to destroy one of his dwelling-places. -I thought my heart would break when instead of the white house -I knew and loved, with its marble columns, its flights of marble -steps leading to a garden beautiful as a dream, I saw waste land, -scattered over with stones and rubbish, all the roses trampled -under foot, and desolation far and wide about the new wall that -was rising. But we were fighting for our lives, and there was -no time either for sorrow or regret.</p> - -<p>“Meanwhile, the war machine which Demetrius was preparing -for our destruction was nearly completed. It was being built -upon that part of the island already in possession of the enemy, -and marvellous tales about its size and deadliness were daily -brought into the city by those of our soldiers who had seen it. -The name they said that was given to the new engine was -<i>helepolis</i>, which means <i>destroyer of cities</i>. As time went on, I -could think of nothing but this awful monster, which I was -quite sure <i>might</i> be overcome if only one could think of the -means.</p> - -<p>“By now, so many were the plans I had made of our city -that there was scarcely a yard of it I did not know, and one day -I said to Chares,</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span></p> - -<p>“‘If only we could discover to which point of the walls this -<i>helepolis</i> will be brought when it begins its attack upon us.’</p> - -<p>“Chares glanced at me quickly.</p> - -<p>“‘Why?’ he asked.</p> - -<p>“‘Because, if only I knew that, I should also know at once -what to do.’</p> - -<p>“I spoke with great confidence, for I was really quite sure of -the plan I had in mind—though <i>why</i> I was so sure, I could not tell.</p> - -<p>“Chares looked at me again, and then as though he had dismissed -the subject, said, ‘To-day I will take you where you may -work at your maps and plans in greater quiet.’</p> - -<p>“Since the destruction of our house, another in the heart of -the town had become our General Headquarters, and here everything -was crowded and rough and noisy with the incessant -tramping of soldiers about its door, and there was no spot in it -that I could call my own. So I was glad that Chares had found -a place for me, and, when after several hours’ absence, he returned, -I willingly followed him to a house on the hill-side beyond the walls. -We passed through a quiet garden and presently entered a room, -where, to my surprise, I saw our general Phrynis, several other -officers, and one or two men I knew to be engineers. These men -smiled in an amused way when I came in, and I heard one whisper -to another,</p> - -<p>“‘Have we been brought here to consult with a child?’</p> - -<p>“But Chares drew a stool up to the table in the window space, -and told me to open the ground plans of the city and the maps -I had brought, and when the men crowded round to see, I noticed -that their faces altered as they passed my drawings from one to -the other in silence.</p> - -<p>“At last Phrynis, who was very grave, spoke touching a point -on one of my plans of the town.</p> - -<p>“‘Cleon,’ he said, ‘if the new war engine should be posted at -<i>this</i> part of the wall, what would you do supposing you had everything -you wanted at your command?’</p> - -<p>“Then I began to explain very fast and confidently—(for it -all seemed quite simple to me)—just the way in which I would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> -lay a mine under that part of the wall, and just the spot where -the engine would sink, if certain directions were carried out.</p> - -<p>“The men glanced at one another again in silence, and all at -once Phrynis rose. ‘The work begins to-night,’ I heard him say. -‘There is no time to lose. Back to the city.’</p> - -<p>“The soldiers clattered out, leaving me alone with Chares, -who took my hand and whispered hurriedly, ‘It is right you should -know—though you understand that no word must cross your -lips. It is <i>there</i>, opposite the place on the plan pointed out to -you by Phrynis, that the machine will be planted. This we have -learnt through our spies. So important is the secret that Phrynis -would hold no meeting in the city itself, and therefore have we -come to this quiet place. You are to follow and direct the work -as soon as it grows dark.’</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe43_75" id="i_068"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_068.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“Can you at all imagine -what a thrilling night that -was for me when by -the light of torches -I saw hundreds of -men working under -my direction? At -the time I was too -preoccupied to wonder -how it happened -that I knew exactly -what to say and do. -It seemed to me -every now and then -that I had done and -said the same things -many times before -and therefore need -not hesitate, nor -even think. It was -as though something -was happening in -my sleep, quite easily and naturally.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p> - -<p>“When the first streak of dawn was in the sky, the work was -finished, and, all at once worn out, I was almost carried by Chares -to our barracks, where I slept for hours. All the rest of that day -we waited in suspense, for, though we knew the war machine was -ready, we were not sure when the attack would be made.</p> - -<p>“It came the next morning. Shouts and battle cries from -the besiegers, and terrific blasts from their trumpets were followed -by flights of arrows, as the huge monster moving towards us over -the waste ground beyond the walls drew near.</p> - -<p>“I watched it, with my heart thumping. The ground -already in the possession of Demetrius had been levelled so that -the ‘destroyer of cities’ might move more easily, and I knew just -where the mine would strike it—if only we had not been deceived -about the track over which it was to pass!</p> - -<p>“But suppose Demetrius had changed his plans? Or that -the spies were wrong? Suppose the machine should pass a -shade too far on the right or the left of the mine. It would then -arrive safely beneath the wall, and we should all, I thought, be -destroyed. For never had I, or any of the Rhodians, imagined -such a monster as this!</p> - -<p>“It was like a square castle upon wheels. Thousands of soldiers -pushed it forward, but their toil was made easier by the wheels -or castors which turned every way under the great frame supporting -it. Nine storeys I counted, with staircases leading up and -down from one to the other. The whole monster, half animal, -half tower (as it looked), was covered with iron plates like the -scales on a serpent. In the front of each storey there were little -windows with leather curtains which moved up and down, covering -them—meant, no doubt, to break the force of the stones and -darts we should hurl in our defence. On it came, towering above -our walls, its windows like the awful eyes of some dragon, glaring -at its victims. As yet it had not begun to spit forth stones and -darts and flaming torches, but evidently it was only waiting for -this till it should be closer at hand, and more deadly in effect.</p> - -<p>“While I held my breath in terror lest anything in my plan -should go wrong, I yet noticed with pride the spirit of our men<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> -who shouted their battle-cries, and shot streams of arrows in return -for those sent over by the enemy foot-soldiers. Nearer and nearer -came the monster—my heart stood still—and then, just as I was -feeling I must faint or scream, with such a crash as to make the -whole city totter, it suddenly disappeared into the ground. <i>Almost</i> -disappeared, for only the topmost and smallest storey was -visible!</p> - -<p>“At first it seemed as though the whole world had been suddenly -struck dumb. Not a sound was heard from either side, -besiegers or besieged. Then, after that moment of deathly silence -a cry went up from the city that was like nothing I ever heard. -The next moment I felt the arms of Chares catching me before I -fell to the ground.</p> - -<p>“The excitement and suspense had been too much for me, -and when I opened my eyes I was lying in our barracks, and Phrynis, -Chares, and crowds of other people, were waiting to embrace -me, and call me the saviour of our city.</p> - -<p>“For the war had ended while I was unconscious. Phrynis -afterwards told me that messengers from many parts of Greece -had for some days past arrived at the camp of Demetrius, urging -him to make peace with us on our own terms. But he added: -‘It was the failure of his last and greatest engine rather than the -entreaties of his friends that decided him to struggle no more for -victory. The victory is ours, and we owe it to you, Cleon, a child -in years, but a man in genius.’</p> - -<p>“Such praise as this might well have filled me with foolish -pride and vanity if I had not been quite sure that somehow or -other I had been <i>helped</i>. I had not thought out the plan at all. -It had come ready-made into my mind. But when I tried to explain -this to Phrynis, he merely laughed at what he called my -modesty, and I could see he did not understand. It was only -Chares who understood, and made <i>me</i> understand also. But that -came much later on, as I presently will tell you.</p> - -<p>“Meanwhile everyone was mad with joy that the siege which -had lasted a whole year, and was the most wonderful and celebrated -that had ever happened, was over. Trumpets blew, bells<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> -rang, the city adorned with flowers and crowded with rejoicing -people gave itself up to festivity.</p> - -<p>“But in all this triumph I had no share, for I was too ill and -unhappy to take any part in the victory rejoicings. Not only -had excitement, lack of food, and the long strain of the war injured -my health but sad news soon came to me from Athens, where -my mother and sister were living.</p> - -<p>“Chares had taken me to live with him at his house in Lindus, -a town in the island not far from Rhodes, and there I heard -that my mother was dead. She was ill when tidings of my father’s -death reached her, and from the shock and grief of this news she -never recovered. So the war had robbed me of both my parents -and separated me from my sister, to whom some friend in Athens -had offered a home.</p> - -<p>“You may imagine that I was a very unhappy little boy in -those first days of victory, and it was not for a long time that I -could bring myself to take joy in the great work that lay before -my friend, Chares.</p> - -<p>“Almost as soon as the fighting ceased, he began the statue -promised to the god, Phœbus Apollo—that statue which became -one of the Seven Wonders of the World.</p> - -<p>“To explain how such a statue as this, requiring enormous -sums of money and an enormous quantity of metal became possible -to make, I must tell you what happened after we made peace.</p> - -<p>“Demetrius was a generous enemy, and just before withdrawing -all his troops from the island, he actually sent us all the very -war machines he had built for our destruction, saying that he could -not sufficiently admire our gallant defence! Now the materials -of which these engines were made were immensely valuable, and -the citizens agreed to sell them and to put the great sum of money -they received for them at the disposal of Chares.</p> - -<p>“So Chares began his work, and for twelve long years I saw -the famous statue of the Sun-God growing under his hands in the -open-air workshop he used for his task.</p> - -<p>“By the end of those twelve years I was, of course, a grown man. -Many things had happened. I had worked hard and was now<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> -a very famous engineer, well known in all the islands of the Mediterranean. -I had caused my old home to be rebuilt, as well as -the little temple to Phœbus Apollo. I was married, and had little -children of my own, who played in the garden I had known as -a boy. It was lovely as ever now, for in that warm climate plants -grow quickly, and once more it was full of roses and fragrant with -the scent of lemon groves.</p> - -<p>“All this you must understand before I tell you what -happened on the evening of the day the great statue was finished.</p> - -<p>“That evening Chares was my guest, and the next day was -to be one of special rejoicing. For not only was there high festival -in the city—because, at last, the statue was to be set up at -the entrance to the harbour—but it was also the marriage day of -Chares and my sister, Penelope, who had now come to live with -us. By this time she was a beautiful maiden of eighteen, and -I was only too happy to think she was to be the wife of my friend.</p> - -<p>“Long after all the house was quiet that night, and everyone -else slept, Chares and I sat on the terrace that overlooked the sea, -and talked of the future and the past.</p> - -<p>“‘Cleon,’ said Chares, after a silence, ‘have you no wonder -about the part you played in the siege, you being then but a -child?’</p> - -<p>“‘I have wondered, indeed, and I still wonder,’ I answered. -‘Often I have seemed to be just about to understand the miracle -of my knowledge when I planned the overthrow of the war engine -And a moment later I am again confused.’</p> - -<p>“‘Come!’ exclaimed Chares, after a silence. ‘Let us go to -the temple in the grove. It was there I made my vow to Phœbus -Apollo, and it is just that there I should return thanks on this, -the happiest evening of my life, when my work is at last finished.’</p> - -<p>“We rose and walked across the moon-silvered lawn towards -the little temple gleaming white amidst the lemon trees.</p> - -<p>“I can never forget the beauty of the night. We could hear -the gently murmuring sea where it lay under the moon, calm as -a shining lake.</p> - -<p>“The shadows of the trees lay motionless on the grass, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> -made a lovely tracery upon the temple roof, and the air was full -of sweet scents. Once again, as when I was a boy, I picked a -handful of roses, and laid them on the altar at the feet of the statue, -which, carefully preserved during the war, stood once more on its -marble pedestal. We knelt before it, and Chares offered a strange -prayer. From his words I knew that he was praying to a <i>Spirit</i>, -and that the statue before which he prayed only represented one -little idea (which was all we poor human beings might understand) -of some God greater than we could know, or than any -statue could suggest. His prayer ended, he turned to me, and I -saw him take something from the folds of his tunic. The moonlight -glittered on what I now saw to be a crystal ball which he -put into my hands.</p> - -<p>“‘Look steadfastly within it,’ he said gravely. ‘Here, in this -temple, it may be, you will understand.’</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe43_75" id="i_073"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_073.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“Full of wonder, I began to gaze into the depths of the -crystal, for the moonlight was so bright that everything reflected -in the ball was plainly visible. At first I saw nothing but a little -upside-down picture of the temple itself, and the overhanging -trees, but after a moment -this reflection melted away, -and other scenes appeared, -dissolving and reappearing -so rapidly that I could catch -but a glimpse of each. Then, -all at once, a clear steady -vision, upon which I looked -intently, took the place -of these shifting ones. -There were pyramids in this -scene, visible from the open -door of a vast hall with -sculptured figures at the entrance. -And in that hall I -saw <i>myself</i>! But I was not -clothed in my ordinary linen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> -tunic. I wore a strange robe, and a still stranger head-dress, and -I was bending over something that looked like a plan of a building. -For a moment I was puzzled, and altogether confused—till -in a flash I <i>remembered</i>, and as the truth came to me, I gave a -startled cry.</p> - -<p>“Chares was looking at me with a smile as I raised my head.</p> - -<p>“‘I was Sheshà—chief engineer and architect among the -priests of Egypt, long ages ago,’ I exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“‘Do you understand now why you were able to plan that -mine, and save our city?’ asked Chares quietly. ‘It was knowledge -you had already gained in another far-away life, though you -were ignorant whence it came, and why the work was easy to you.’</p> - -<p>“I was struck dumb with wonder, for not only did I remember -my life as Sheshà, but fragments of many other lives since then -began to come back to me, some vividly, some only as a sort of -confused dream.</p> - -<p>“But Chares put his hand on my arm and led me out of the -temple.</p> - -<p>“‘Leave your memories now, and let us go in and sleep,’ he -said. ‘See, a new day has begun—the greatest day for me in -this my present life.’ He pointed to the east, where the first grey -streaks of dawn were visible, and I followed him into the house. -So for the first time I <i>remembered</i>. There have been many, many -lives since, and in some of them I again forgot all that had gone -before. But, once more now, the old man you know as ‘Mr. -Sheston,’ remembers again, otherwise he would not be telling you -this story—which is nearly at an end.</p> - -<p>“When the sun rose we were awakened by the sound of -trumpets, the clashing of bells and the shouting of the workmen -who were dragging the huge brazen figure on its wheeled platform -from the workshop. Later on in the morning, came the procession -through the city, where Chares led my beautiful sister up to the -great temple. Children strewed flowers before them as they passed -through shouting multitudes, praising Chares and showering -blessings upon him and his newly made bride.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe50" id="i_075"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> -<img class="w100" src="images/i_075.jpg" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p>‘IT WILL LAST FOR EVER’</p></div> -</div> - -<p>“By sundown, hundreds of workmen working with a will had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> -set up the statue, on a pedestal at the entrance to the harbour, -and now crowds of the citizens took ship, to view it from the sea.</p> - -<p>“In a gorgeously painted barge, all my household, with Chares -and my sister in the places of honour, floated out of the harbour, -and we turned to gaze at the wonderful figure. It flashed and -glittered in the light of the setting sun, as though the god thus -by a gracious sign accepted the gift. A mighty and beautiful -figure it was, towering against the sky; a giant in bronze, proud, -stately and awe-inspiring—a fit memorial of the famous siege of -Rhodes. Well might it become, as it did, one of the Seven -Wonders of the World.</p> - -<p>“‘It will last for ever—like the Pyramids!’ I whispered to -Chares as I took his hand.</p> - -<p>“Little did any of us know that it would last little longer than -one lifetime. In eighty years that marvellous statue was a heap -of ruins. A great earthquake, which shook Rhodes to its foundations, -shattered it also to fragments, and only a memory of one -of the most famous statues in the world remained. And even -that memory faded and grew false, for legends gathered about -the celebrated ‘Colossus of Rhodes,’ and men actually believed -that it had stood astride the harbour and that ships in full sail -passed under its huge body as under an arch.</p> - -<p>“This could only have been thought possible by men who had -forgotten, or never knew, the beautiful Greek sculpture. Never -could a Greek artist have made a figure ugly and grotesque as -this would have been, if later descriptions had been true. And -I who saw the statue daily, smile when, sometimes even in these -days, I read such a description of it in books of history. Chares -was a true artist, and his simple, noble statue was worthy of him, -and worthy of its fame as one of the World’s Seven Wonders.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Mr. Sheston’s voice died away, and at this moment Martha -came in with a lamp; the room was all at once lighted up, and the -old man glanced at the clock.</p> - -<p>“I must take you back at once,” he said. “Aunt Hester -will be getting anxious.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span></p> - -<p>He rose quickly, and Rachel knew without being told that she -mustn’t ask him any questions. He had become the kind, -ordinary old gentleman he seemed to most people—not at all the -same person who in the firelight had looked so mysterious and -had told her the whole long story to which she had just listened, -as though he were reading it from a book!</p> - -<p>As she lay in bed that night, Rachel’s mind was -full of the great statue and the great siege, and in -imagination she saw the sun-god proudly guarding -the harbour of “Cleon’s” brave island.</p> - -<p>“I <i>do</i> wish there hadn’t been an earthquake,” -was her waking reflection.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe137_4375" id="i_078"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_078.png" alt="" /> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOURTH_WONDER">FOURTH WONDER <br /> -THE TEMPLE OF DIANA</h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_079" style="max-width: 87.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_079.png" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<p>Lessons always began for Rachel with a chapter in the Bible -which she read to Miss Moore. She was allowed to choose her own -chapter, and one morning, as she opened her Bible at random, -the word <i>Ephesus</i> struck her. She wondered why this name -immediately reminded her of Mr. Sheston and the story of Rhodes, -for at first they seemed to have nothing to do with one another. -Then she remembered that on the map—(why it was actually -<i>seven</i> days ago since he had shown her that map)—she had seen -the town <i>Ephesus</i> marked on the coast of Asia Minor.</p> - -<p>“Shall I read this? It’s the nineteenth chapter of the Acts -of the Apostles,” she asked suddenly, addressing her governess.</p> - -<p>“Very well,” agreed Miss Moore.</p> - -<p>So Rachel began to read how St. Paul, having come to Ephesus -to preach Christianity, had roused the anger of a certain silversmith, -Demetrius by name, who “made silver shrines for Diana.” -This man, as it appeared from the story, was greatly afraid of -losing his trade, because so many people were becoming Christians -that no one, he thought, would care any more for the silver shrines. -He therefore tried to stir up the citizens against St. Paul and his -teaching, by calling together a great crowd of people, to whom -he declared that all the silversmiths and workmen would suffer -through this new religion of Christianity. “<i>So that not only this -our craft is in danger to be set at naught</i>,” he said, “<i>but also that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> -temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence -should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth</i>.”</p> - -<p>Rachel read this with interest, for she had actually <i>seen</i> some -of the temples built thousands of years ago, in honour of certain -gods, and she guessed that the temple for a goddess, “whom all -Asia and the world worshippeth” must have been particularly -magnificent. She went on to the next verse, which showed that -Demetrius had succeeded in rousing the people to defend their -old worship: “<i>And when they heard these sayings, they were full -of wrath, and cried out, saying, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians.’ -And the whole city was filled with confusion ... some therefore -cried one thing and some another: for the assembly was confused, -and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.</i>”</p> - -<p>Then the story went on to relate how a man called Alexander -tried to speak to the clamouring people, and could not make -himself heard for the noise, for “<i>all with one voice about the space -of two hours cried out ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians.’</i>”</p> - -<p>Thanks to Mr. Sheston’s story of Rhodes, and thanks also to -her own strange magical journeys, Rachel had some sort of -picture in her mind of the scene described in the Bible.</p> - -<p>Ephesus was not so very far from Rhodes, and it was on the -coast. There must then, have been a deep blue sky above that -temple round which the people shouted “<i>Great is Diana of the -Ephesians</i>,” and dazzling sunshine, and a glimpse of wonderful -blue sea!</p> - -<p>Before Rachel had finished the chapter she had made up her -mind to ask Mr. Sheston about Diana of the Ephesians. She -liked the name very much, and it certainly sounded as though -something interesting—perhaps <i>exciting</i> might be connected with -it. Suppose it should even lead to an “adventure”? She -scarcely dared to hope for this, but all the same there <i>was</i> a little -hope at the back of her mind.</p> - -<p>Anyhow, there was something, though of a different nature, -to look forward to this very afternoon, for a little girl was coming -to tea.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span></p> - -<p>“She’s the daughter of an artist I happened to meet the other -day,” Aunt Hester had explained at breakfast time. “He turned -out to be a friend of your father’s, and, when he heard you were -here, he said he would like his little girl to meet you, so I invited -her to come to-day.”</p> - -<p>“What is her name?” had been Rachel’s first question.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know. I forgot to ask. But she’s about your age. -She’s coming early, so you needn’t do any lessons this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>This in itself was good news, and by three o’clock Rachel was -looking out of the window for the expected visitor. But after -all, when the bell rang she was too late to see who was admitted, -because for the third or fourth time, she had moved across the -room to the mantelpiece, to look at the watch which lay there.</p> - -<p>Aunt Hester opened the door.</p> - -<p>“Here is Diana,” she said. “I shall leave you together to -amuse yourselves till tea time.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, is your name really <i>Diana</i>?” exclaimed Rachel, forgetting -to shake hands. “How funny!”</p> - -<p>“Why is it funny?” enquired the little girl, not unnaturally, -while Rachel swiftly looked her up and down.</p> - -<p>She scarcely knew whether to think her very pretty, or only -curious-looking. She had a mop of red hair, big eyes, more green -than blue, and a little pointed face which reminded Rachel of the -faces of certain elves in an illustrated fairy-tale book she possessed. -Certainly she was rather like an elf altogether, light and slender, -with quick darting movements.</p> - -<p>“Why is it funny?” she repeated. And, when she laughed, -Rachel was quite sure she was pretty, as well as curious.</p> - -<p>“Only because I was reading about Diana in the Bible this -morning—and I liked the name.”</p> - -<p>“It’s the name of a goddess,” her visitor announced rather -importantly.</p> - -<p>“I know. ‘Diana of the Ephesians.’”</p> - -<p>The little girl looked puzzled. “I don’t know anything about -the—what did you say? Ephe—something? I was called<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> -<i>Diana</i> because my father was painting a picture of her when I was -born.”</p> - -<p>“What was it like?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s a lovely picture. She’s a girl running through a -wood, and she has a bow and arrows in her hand. And she’s -dressed in a short white thing—a tunic, you know, that comes -to her knees. And her hair in father’s picture is red, like mine, -and there’s a little moon, a tiny crescent moon, just over her forehead. -And running behind her there are some other girls who -are hunting with her. Father told me all about her the other -day, because, you see, as I’ve got her name, I wanted to know.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me,” Rachel urged.</p> - -<p>“Well, the Greek people worshipped her, father said. She -was the twin sister of Apollo——”</p> - -<p>“I know about <i>him</i>,” interrupted Rachel eagerly. “Phœbus -Apollo. He was the Sun-God.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Diana was the <i>moon</i>-goddess. I suppose that’s because -she was his twin sister? Sun and moon, you know. But, anyhow, -she was the goddess of hunting as well. And she loved to -be free and live out of doors in the woods. So do I—that’s why -I’m glad my name’s Diana, like hers. And her father, Jupiter, -let her be free, and gave her some girls called nymphs, to be her -companions, and hunt with her in the woods and on the mountains.... -I think the Greek people had awfully nice gods and -goddesses, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>“Awfully nice,” agreed Rachel. She was thinking of the -little white temple to Phœbus Apollo in “Cleon’s” beautiful -garden, and of the great statue at Rhodes. She glanced at Diana, -who was perched like an elf on the corner of the table, swinging -her feet. How splendid it would be if she could tell her—well, -all sorts of things. But would she understand? Wouldn’t she -laugh and say, “You’ve just made them up!” Again Rachel -glanced at her visitor. She looked as though she <i>might</i> understand. -There was something about her—But she determined -to be very cautious.</p> - -<p>“When’s your birthday?” she began suddenly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span></p> - -<p>“The seventh of May. When’s yours?”</p> - -<p>“The seventh of June.” Rachel found herself growing excited. -This was a promising beginning.</p> - -<p>“How many brothers and sisters have you got?”</p> - -<p>“Six.”</p> - -<p>“Then you’re the seventh child?” Rachel held her breath -now.</p> - -<p>“Yes. And I’m the youngest.”</p> - -<p>“So am I. And is your father the seventh child in his family?” -She scarcely dared to put the question.</p> - -<p>Diana laughed, and began counting on her fingers. “Let me -see—Uncle John, Aunt Margaret.... And there was Aunt May, -but she died, and then Uncle Dick.... And then.... Yes, -he <i>is</i>. I never thought about it before. What made <i>you</i> think -of it?” Diana seemed much amused, but Rachel was desperately -serious.</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute,” she urged, “and perhaps I’ll tell you.”</p> - -<p>The next “minute” was occupied in putting breathless questions -to Diana.</p> - -<p>“Yes!” she exclaimed at last. “You’re just as much mixed -up with <i>sevens</i> as I am. Oh, isn’t it perfectly <i>wonderful</i> that I’ve -actually found someone as lucky as I am? I shall have to tell -Mr. Sheston.... But perhaps he knows. I shouldn’t be a bit -surprised if he had something to do with getting us to meet each -other. You see he——”</p> - -<p>But Diana’s mystified face checked Rachel in the midst of her -excited chattering.</p> - -<p>“Of course you don’t understand anything about it yet,” -she exclaimed. “How stupid I am. I shall have to tell you -everything from the beginning.”</p> - -<p>So she began the story of her first visit to the Museum, of the -little old man who had spoken to her there, of the mysterious seven -times bowing before the Rosetta Stone, and of all the marvels -that had since happened.</p> - -<p>And as she talked, explaining and describing, she saw Diana -beginning to “understand.” Her eyes grew bright with eagerness,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> -and, when at last Rachel paused for breath, she slipped from -the table and began to dance about the room in her delight and -excitement.</p> - -<p>“I knew something like that might happen if only I could -find out the way to make it,” she cried. “Because, do you know, -Rachel, I often have dreams that are quite <i>real</i>—just as real as -this room, and you, and the tables and chairs are now. In those -sorts of dreams I go to places I’ve never seen in my life. Funny -places where everything’s quite different. People wear different -clothes, and don’t talk English—and yet I understand what they -say. But I’m only there for a minute before I come back again -to my own bed and my own bedroom. And then I’m most -<i>awfully</i> disappointed because I’m always quite sure that there’s a -way of making the dream <i>last</i>, so that I can go on, and have adventures—instead -of only seeing things in a sort of flash, you -know.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Sheston can make them last—if they <i>are</i> dreams!” -Rachel declared. “I have to call him ‘Mr. Sheston’ here,” she -added. “But he’s really Sheshà and Cleon, and I expect ever -so many other people as well. And yet all the <i>same</i> person, you -understand. In this life he just happens to be Mr. Sheston, that’s -all.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I <i>do</i> wish I could see him,” sighed Diana.</p> - -<p>She had scarcely spoken before her wish was granted, for at -the last word the door opened, and Mr. Sheston came in.</p> - -<p>Rachel gave a shriek of delight, and seizing Diana’s hand, -dragged her to meet him.</p> - -<p>“This is Diana. She’s the seventh child of the seventh child, -and she was born on the seventh of May, and everything that -happens to her has <i>sevens</i> in it, and she has dreams, and—” Rachel -tripped over her words in her excitement, and Mr. Sheston laughed.</p> - -<p>“Your Aunt Hester told me to walk up,” he said in an ordinary -everyday voice. “So this is Diana? How do you do, Diana?” -He shook hands with her, and turned to Rachel. “I came to -see whether you felt inclined for the Museum this afternoon. But -as you have a friend with you—perhaps another time?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span></p> - -<p>Diana gave a little gasp, and grew very pink, but seemed too -shy to speak.</p> - -<p>But Rachel, who had seen a twinkle in Mr. Sheston’s eyes, -laughed happily.</p> - -<p>“It’s just what Diana wants more than <i>anything</i>. Oh, do -let’s put on our things at once.”</p> - -<p>She was running to the door when the old gentleman stopped -her.</p> - -<p>“Plenty of time. Plenty of time,” he said quietly. “Haven’t -you yet learnt that ‘time’ is as ‘magic’ as most other things? -What have you two been talking about?”</p> - -<p>The children glanced at one another.</p> - -<p>“I was telling her all about it,” said Rachel. “About the -Pyramid, you know, and Babylon, and the statue at Rhodes. I -wouldn’t have told anyone else, but when I found that she was a -‘seven’ girl too——”</p> - -<p>“But before that?” interrupted Mr. Sheston, settling himself -comfortably into an arm-chair.</p> - -<p>“We were talking about Diana,” said the other Diana. “It’s -my name, and Rachel had been reading about her in the Bible. -And my father painted a picture of her, so she was asking me about -it.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” returned Mr. Sheston, “let’s go on talking about -Diana, because there’s a great deal to say. There was a famous -temple built for her once upon a time, wasn’t there? Where -was it?”</p> - -<p>“At Ephesus,” said Rachel promptly.</p> - -<p>“And where is Ephesus?”</p> - -<p>“In Asia Minor,” answered Rachel again. “By the sea. -Not so very far from Rhodes,” she added, with a meaning glance.</p> - -<p>Mr. Sheston got up, and to the children’s surprise, altered the -position of his arm-chair till it faced the window. Then he -fetched two other chairs, and placed one on either side of his own -seat. This done, he took from his coat pocket a leather case, -and out of the case drew a photograph. Then he pointed to the -two small chairs on either side of the big one.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span></p> - -<p>“Sit down, one on each side of me,” he said.</p> - -<p>When the children, too interested and puzzled to ask questions, -had done as he directed, he held the picture in such a position -that both of them could see what it represented.</p> - -<p>“Is it the temple of Diana?” ventured Rachel as she glanced -at the photograph of a huge building.</p> - -<p>“Well, not the picture of the temple itself, because that has -ceased to exist, and lies buried under ruins. But it’s a picture -of what scholars think the temple must have been like when it -was standing.... And they’re not very far out,” he added. -But this he murmured as though to himself, as he again rose -and walked towards the window. Rachel and Diana watched -him breathlessly while he propped the photograph against the -rim of one of the glass panes. After this had been successfully -accomplished, he returned to his seat, and looking from one little -girl to the other, said, “Stand up. Close your eyes. Bow seven -times in the direction of the picture.”</p> - -<p>The children exchanged -glances before they obeyed.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe63_0625" id="i_086"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_086.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“Open your eyes.” -These were the next words—and -they were necessary, -for till they were spoken, -both of them felt all at -once so drowsy that they -had no wish to raise their -eyelids.</p> - -<p>At the command, however, -four eyes flew open -in eager expectation—of -what, their owners scarcely -knew. The scene they -actually beheld was surprising -enough to force a -little scream of astonishment -from both of them—even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span> -though Rachel, who had been through “adventures” -before, guessed at fresh wonders to follow.</p> - -<p>The square-paned window, with its prospect of a road along -which omnibuses, carts and cabs travelled, and people went to -and fro, had vanished. They were looking into the open air.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A mist like a shimmering white veil obscured everything but -the sky, which was intensely blue, and though the children -strained their eyes, they could discern nothing beyond, except, -perhaps, something that might, or might not, be trees. They were -just vague shapes behind the soft wall of mist.</p> - -<p>“You shall see more than this in a moment.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Sheston’s voice was close to them, but as Rachel and -Diana turned their heads to look at him they found that neither -he nor anything within the room was visible. It was as though -they sat in a darkened theatre looking out upon a stage. “And -the curtain hasn’t gone up properly yet,” thought Rachel, full -of tremulous anticipation.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you why the curtain hasn’t gone up yet,” Mr. -Sheston’s voice continued, and Rachel gave a little jump of surprise—for -she had not spoken her thought aloud. Oh, certainly, -as Salome in Babylon had said, Sheshà was “the greatest of all -magicians!”</p> - -<p>“You will understand presently how Diana’s temple at -Ephesus began,” Mr. Sheston went on. “What I am going to -tell you now is <i>legend</i>—that is to say, something that has been -repeated from father to son for a great many years, always -altered a little in the telling, so that though there may be, and -probably is, some truth in the story, we can’t say how much is -true and how much false. Well, the <i>legend</i> part of the story, you -see, is rather like the mist full of vague shapes which you’re looking -at now. I’m going to <i>tell</i> you the legend part—but, directly we -come to what we really <i>know</i>, the curtain will go up.</p> - -<p>“Once upon a time, then, in the country we now call Asia -Minor, the women were taught (or perhaps taught themselves) -to do all the hard and all the fierce work generally done by men.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> -The little girls learnt to hurl spears called javelins, and to shoot -with bow and arrows, and when they grew up were brave fighters. -They also tilled the ground, and gathered the harvest, and built -houses, and in fact did everything of that sort as well as men. -They were called Amazons, and even great men-warriors found -them powerful enemies. According to the old story it was they—these -Amazons—who founded the city of Ephesus. That is, -they were the first people to cultivate the land and to build -houses where the magnificent city of Ephesus afterwards stood. -It was these strange and wonderful women who first worshipped -Diana in the woods and groves near the dwelling-places they had -built. And it was quite natural they should worship the sort of -goddess they imagined, for all wild life was her kingdom. So -the Amazons, being themselves huntresses and fighters, loved and -reverenced her. Forest creatures like the deer and wild boars -belonged to her as the goddess of hunting, and she was also the -protectress of all young human creatures—girls as well as boys. -Thus, even in times so far away that there is no real history about -them, there were altars where Diana was worshipped, and, legend -tells us, the first altars set up in her honour were in, or near, the -city of Ephesus, founded by the Amazons. At first these were -very simple altars, for neither men—nor even women—had yet -learnt to build temples.</p> - -<p>“In a moment the mist-curtain will go up, and you shall see the -sort of altar that once stood, where, afterwards, temples were -built, and at last that most splendid one of all, which was called -a Wonder of the World.” ... Mr. Sheston paused.</p> - -<p>“We have done with legend now,” he went on after a moment, -“and all you will see is what has actually happened in the past.”</p> - -<p>Neither of the children spoke, but they watched in breathless -suspense to see the curtain of mist shake and begin slowly to -dissolve. First, tall pointed trees began to prick through the -fog, then a glimpse of blue sky became visible. Next there was a -gleam of sunshine on low white roofs, and at last, clear and distinct, -a lovely country lay spread out before their eyes. They -seemed to be looking at it as one might sit on a terrace overhanging<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> -a wide view, yet close enough to the nearer trees as almost -to be able to touch them. Warm air in gentle puffs flowed towards -them, and the sun was hot upon their faces and hands.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp53" id="i_088fp" style="max-width: 99.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_088fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>A LITTLE BOY WALKED IN FRONT OF THE PROCESSION</p></div> -</div> - -<p>They saw in the distance a cluster of simple houses between -trees, which Rachel guessed rightly to be the earliest city of -Ephesus. Beyond these houses, lay the deeply blue sea, stretching -away, away towards the distant shores of Greece opposite, -with here and there a rocky island set in the blue. The land -between the sea and the point nearest to them, was all hill and -dale—the hills covered with stiff cypress trees like dark torches -against the sky, mingled with graceful smaller and lighter trees. -But just in front, and quite close, there was an open glade, and -in the midst of it an altar made of piled-up stones. The altar -was overshadowed by a big tree, and hanging from the lowest -branch the children could see a little figure carved very roughly -in wood.</p> - -<p>Just as they noticed this, the sound of faint music—so faint, -so remote that they could only hear it because of the absolute -stillness, made them look quickly to the left of the altar. There, -at a little distance, between the trees they saw approaching a -company of women and children. The smaller children were -almost naked, and their tiny bodies showed white against the -dark background of the wood. The women wore short tunics -with strips of leather bound in a criss-cross fashion round their -bare legs. A little boy, with nothing but the skin of some wild -animal hanging from his shoulders, walked in front of the procession, -proudly blowing into a small pipe made of a hollow reed. -The other children also had reed-pipes in their hands, and most -of them carried armfuls of poppies. They crossed the glade and -gathered in front of the altar upon which the women as well as the -children began to scatter the poppies.</p> - -<p>For a long minute Rachel and Diana watched the little scene, -scarcely daring to breathe, in case it should vanish before their eyes. -Then it <i>did</i> vanish! Blue sea, blue sky, hills and valleys, the small -town in the distance, the glade with its altar, the group of people -about it with their flowers, were all swallowed up in the white mist.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span></p> - -<p>The children, spellbound and silent, while the beautiful scene -lasted, now found their tongues loosened.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what a <i>darling</i> little boy—the one with the fur over his -shoulders,” exclaimed Diana. “Oh, how lovely the sea looked, -and the blue sky, and the woods!” cried Rachel, excitedly. -“And didn’t the children look pretty bringing their flowers? -But they were all <i>poppies</i>. Why did they all bring poppies?”</p> - -<p>“Because the poppy was the flower sacred to Diana. Nearly -all the gods and goddesses of Greece and the Greek colonies had -flowers, as well as animals that were specially theirs. And poppies -belonged to the goddess Diana. But now, if you want to see anything -more, you mustn’t speak again.”</p> - -<p>The children subsided at once into silence, and Mr. Sheston -went on talking.</p> - -<p>“You noticed the little naked boy who led the procession to -the altar in the glade? Keep him in mind, for it was <i>he</i> who -built the first real temple to Diana. Listen, and I will tell you -all I know about him.</p> - -<p>“He was called Dinocrates, and his home was in Ephesus -(you saw the town in the distance, a mile or two from the glade). -At the time when Dinocrates was young, the city was small, the -wild country stretched up close to its walls, and the boy lived -nearly all day long in the open air.</p> - -<p>“His father taught him to hunt, and he learnt so quickly to -hurl the javelin and to shoot with bow and arrows, that everyone -said he was specially favoured by Diana. The belief that the -goddess was watching over him made Dinocrates, even as a tiny -boy, very happy, and filled him with courage so that he was -always successful in the chase, and even grown-up men marvelled -at his wonderful skill. It was so well-known that he was a child -greatly loved by Diana that whenever there was a festival in her -honour, Dinocrates was always chosen to lead the procession, and -to be the first to place his offerings of poppies on her altar. And -later, when he was a little older, he was allowed to sacrifice in her -honour an animal he had killed in the chase. So the boy grew -up with a great love and reverence for Diana, and a longing to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> -serve her in some special way that would shew his gratitude for -her protection. He soon grew dissatisfied with the altar of stones, -and the rough image on the trunk of her sacred tree, and in secret -dreamt of some dwelling worthy of the goddess, which should -<i>last</i>, and not be liable to destruction like the loosely built altar -and the image exposed to the air.</p> - -<p>“As time went on, he found that skill in hunting was -not his only gift. He liked to plan houses, and he soon began -to plan better ones than had ever been built before. By the -time he was a man, he was the most famous architect in -Ephesus, and many new buildings in the city began to rise, -designed by him. But the dream of his life was to build a -dwelling-place for his special goddess on the very spot where -as a child, with other children, he had worshipped her out of -doors under the sacred tree.</p> - -<p>“It must be a real temple, and a temple different from, and -better in every way than any of the attempts yet made by other -men to fashion dwelling-places for the gods. So he worked and -thought and imagined, and at last a little marble building, -supported by pillars different from any other pillars yet designed, -actually covered the spot of the original altar.</p> - -<p>“The day his temple was finished was the happiest day of his -life. There was a great festival, and from the city, crowds of -people had come to worship Diana for the first time under a roof, -and to gaze at the building itself. Small and simple, it was yet -the most wonderful they had ever seen, with its columns of an -entirely new shape, and its marble porch. And everyone was -loud in the praise of its architect.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe46_875" id="i_092"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_092.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“That night, Dinocrates was too happy to sleep. He lay -thinking of the temple which had been his life work, till suddenly -a great desire to see it again swept over him. So he got up, -dressed, and began to walk quickly in its direction. In half an -hour he reached the glade in the heart of which stood the temple, -and before long he saw it gleaming through the encircling trees. -Dinocrates stopped short in delight at the beauty of the scene. -There was a full moon, and its silver light poured down upon the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> -little white building and made it dazzling to behold. Graceful -shadows from the trees trembled upon its roof, and lay in long -bars across the grass, and in the deep silence he could hear his -heart beating. All at once, another sound made him start—the -sound of a horn coming from far away, very faint and sweet! And -then, scarcely trusting his eyes, he saw in the distance through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> -the misty avenues of trees, white forms moving. They came -nearer, rushing over the grass as though blown softly by an invisible -wind, and through the silvery haze he caught a glimpse -of white arms, and beautiful faces, and of one face more lovely -than the rest, with cloudy hair in which something in shape like -a crescent moon, sparkled and shone.</p> - -<p>“For a second he saw the forms of beautiful women sweeping -up the steps towards the door of the temple, and then the vision -disappeared. There was only the moonlight on the grass, and -the shadows, and silence.</p> - -<p>“‘The goddess herself takes possession of her temple,’ thought -Dinocrates. ‘And mortals cannot see the gods and live.’</p> - -<p>“He felt so happy, and yet so tired, that he sank down before -the temple to rest, and the glade was all full of sunshine before -the people who had come to look for him found him lying there, -and saw that he was dead....”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” whispered Diana after a moment, “that’s an awfully -sad story.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Rachel’s voice on the other side of Mr. Sheston’s -arm-chair. “Not really. Because he came back again. In -another life, you know. You’ll see in a minute. She <i>will</i> see him -again, won’t she?” In the darkness Rachel turned towards -Mr. Sheston.</p> - -<p>“The story isn’t finished yet,” he replied. “Let me go on -with it.</p> - -<p>“Dinocrates died in <i>that</i> life, as Rachel says, and hundreds of -years passed. That first temple with the columns of a new shape -was at last destroyed by fire, and a new temple took its place, -much larger, much more splendid, as you will see in a moment. -But the architect who planned the second building copied those -pillars invented by Dinocrates, so though his temple had been -destroyed, his work you understand, in a way, went on. Now you -are going to see that <i>second</i> temple, still on the same place or <i>site</i>, -as it is called, of the first altar in the glade. And you shall see -Dinocrates also—again as a little boy. Before you see him, however, -I may tell you that he doesn’t remember anything about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> -himself or his life many years before. Remember that hundreds -of years have passed between the life-time of those simple people -you have just seen and the people you are going to see now. Even -<i>they</i> lived six hundred years before the birth of Christ. But, as -you will discover, they had already learnt to make wonderful -buildings.</p> - -<p>“Shut your eyes again. Bow seven times—and many years -will have gone by.”</p> - -<p>The white mist was again dissolving when the children opened -their eyes and looked eagerly to see what changes had taken place -during the time that had magically flown.</p> - -<p>Unaltered were the blue sky and the blue sea; unaltered -the hills, unaltered many of the woods, though some of them had -been cut down and houses and gardens had taken their place. -The little white town in the distance, however, had grown into a -large city, whose houses were now big and imposing. But the -greatest change of all had taken place in what was once the glade and -then (though they had not actually seen it) the first small temple.</p> - -<p>A white marble building, covering a great stretch of ground, -now rose in front of the children—a beautiful temple with arcades -of lofty pillars wonderfully carved, and thronging upon the steps -leading to the wide open doors was a multitude of people. They -were gracefully clothed—the men in tunics, with long cloaks -drooping from their shoulders, the women in robes falling in folds -to their sandalled feet.</p> - -<p>But the attention of Rachel and Diana was at once directed -towards a group for whom everyone on the steps of the temple -made way.</p> - -<p>A little boy dressed in a short white tunic, his silky hair -falling on either side of his face, walked at the head of a procession -towards the temple gates. Behind him, richly dressed, followed -his parents, and a train of attendants and slaves.</p> - -<p>He was evidently the son of some great nobleman, and, as he -passed, the crowd pressed forward, and men and women looked -over one another’s shoulders for a glimpse of the pretty child who -walked so composedly alone. And then the temple, brilliant in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> -the sunshine, the crowd on its steps, the blue sky and the blue sea -in the distance, disappeared in a flash. But even before the -watching children could utter a cry of disappointment, they found -themselves, to their amazement and delight, actually <i>inside</i> the -building, and quite close to an altar before which stood the little -boy and his parents. The sound of chanting voices echoed through -the temple, on the marble floor of which the sunshine fell. Sweet -scents floated in the -air from burning incense, -and presently -a priest, dressed in a -rich robe, came from -the altar, followed -by attendant priests.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe50" id="i_095"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_095.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>One of these approached -the boy, -and with a pair of -curiously shaped -shears, cut off his -beautiful silky hair, -letting it fall on to -a silver platter, held -by a priestess. Lifting -the platter aloft -in both hands the -priestess moved -slowly to the altar, -upon which she -placed it, and then -all the great company in the temple bowed themselves to the -ground and worshipped. The little boy—now with close-cropped -hair, and evidently proud and satisfied—was being led back towards -the entrance door, when all at once he stopped and gazed about -him as though he recognized something, and could scarcely believe -his eyes.</p> - -<p>Diana and Rachel, who followed him, saw him point eagerly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span> -to a row of pillars, and then turn to his parents saying something -at which they smiled.</p> - -<p>One second they saw his dark puzzled eyes—the next they -themselves were out of the temple and seated as before, one on -either side of Mr. Sheston.</p> - -<p>The white mist blotted out everything in front of the window.</p> - -<p>“That was Dinocrates. He had come back after hundreds of -years, hadn’t he?” cried Rachel.</p> - -<p>“Oh, do explain about him,” begged Diana. “Why did he -point to the columns like that? Why did he have his hair cut -off? What is he going to do now?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Sheston laughed softly. “I’ll take one question at a time,” -he began.</p> - -<p>But it was Rachel who answered the first question after all.</p> - -<p>“I know, I know,” she exclaimed. “When he looked at the -pillars he was sort of <i>remembering</i>, wasn’t he? Remembering -that a long time ago he made something like them.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s a good guess. He was. He felt that somehow -or other he was as you say, ‘mixed up’ with that temple.”</p> - -<p>“And about his hair?” enquired Diana.</p> - -<p>“Well, that was just a ceremony, meaning that he was dedicated -to, or put under the special protection of the goddess. -Boys at a certain age had their hair cut off and offered to Diana -in the temple to show that they were her worshippers. And in -the case of Dinocrates this was especially true, for he became, -perhaps, the most celebrated of the worshippers of Diana.</p> - -<p>“Now let me go on with the story.</p> - -<p>“Again, as in the life he had lived about three hundred years -before, he became, when he grew up, a most famous architect, -and again, strangely enough, he built another temple to Diana. -The temple you have just seen, famous throughout the world for -its beauty, after standing about three hundred years, was set on -fire one night by a madman, and burnt to the ground; just as -the still earlier temple had been burnt.</p> - -<p>“Two memorable things indeed happened on that night, for -while the fire was raging in the temple just outside Ephesus, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span> -baby was born, who lived to be the greatest conqueror in the world. -His name was Alexander the Great—and Rachel has already heard -something about him.</p> - -<p>“But to return to the story. So great was the grief and horror -of the people of Ephesus at the loss of their temple that they at -once determined to set about another and still more magnificent -one, greater and more splendid than any other in existence. And -of this last temple—which became one of the Seven Wonders of -the World—Dinocrates was appointed to be the architect.</p> - -<p>“Now you might easily think that Dinocrates ought to have -been the happiest man in the world to be allowed to build just -the way he pleased, and with enormous riches at his disposal, a -temple that should be worthy of the goddess he worshipped—the -lovely Diana, the moonlight queen of the chase, the friend of children. -And certainly, if <i>this</i> had been the Diana for whom he worked, he -would have been happy indeed. But what kind of image do you -think was to stand in the midst of the magnificent temple when at -last it should be built? No statue of the graceful Diana <i>he</i> knew, -with her short tunic blowing back in the breeze, and the crescent -moon on her white forehead. The Diana now worshipped by the -Ephesians was nothing but a monstrous black idol, scarcely like a -woman at all! She was an enormous figure carved in ebony, with -great towers upon her head, and a body hideously and grotesquely -shaped!</p> - -<p>“Hundreds and hundreds of years, you see, had passed since the -true, lovely Diana had been worshipped under the trees or in early -temples, and people had forgotten her—or rather they had -perhaps confused the idea of her in their minds with other quite -different goddesses belonging to Egypt. In any case, though they -still kept her name, <i>this</i> was the Diana now adored by the Ephesians; -this gigantic hideous idol which the people believed had -fallen from heaven, sent down to them by Jupiter, the chief of -all the gods! This ugly idol was the precious figure saved from -the fire, for which Dinocrates was asked to build the most -splendid temple in the world!</p> - -<p>“Well, he built it. But all the time he was planning its long<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> -aisles of columns, its splendid entrance gates, its pavements, and -lovely walls, it was of the long-ago, lovely Diana he was thinking, -not of the hideous idol which had taken her place. And in his -heart he built that temple to the Diana he had once known and loved, -and could not imagine how he came to remember. Never, of -course, did he speak of this strange memory, nor of his hatred -for the hideous idol. He would never have dared to do so, for fear -of what might happen to him if anyone knew how he hated and -despised the image held sacred by the Ephesians.</p> - -<p>“So he worked and planned, not for the honour of ‘Diana of -the Ephesians’ but for the sake of a lovely memory, or dream -perhaps, of something worth all his toil. And at last this Wonder -of the World was finished. Kings with gifts of gold had helped -to build it. The greatest king of all, Alexander the Great, had -offered to spend his wealth upon it if only his name might be -written on the building to last for ever. The greatest sculptors -in Greece, and the greatest painters, had made statues and painted -pictures to adorn the temple which covered the very same spot -where once had stood the rough altar under the tree. But now -the great building and numberless smaller ones connected with it, -stretched over acres and acres of land beyond the little glade, and -thousands of people belonging to the temple lived close to its walls. -Priests, priestesses, men who composed hymns and chants to be -sung in honour of the great idol, people who made copies of her -shrine in silver (like the Demetrius in the Bible) all dwelt in the -shadow of the huge temple of which in a moment you shall have -a glimpse.</p> - -<p>“But I will first finish the story of Dinocrates.</p> - -<p>“After the temple was finished, he went on to fresh work, -and became more and more famous as an architect.</p> - -<p>“But better than all the other buildings he planned, he loved -the temple which in his heart he had dedicated to a lovely rather -than to an ugly, cruel goddess. More and more he grudged her -image its proud place in the midst of so much beauty, and longed -for the rightful goddess who should have been there.</p> - -<p>“At last, when he was quite an old man, he returned to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> -Ephesus, which for many years he had not seen, and took a house -in the city. There for some months he lived, often visiting the -temple and thinking of days long past.</p> - -<p>“One night Dinocrates could not sleep. His house was in the -city itself, close to the sea, and from his bed he could look out upon -the long pathway of moonlight that stretched across the quiet -water far away to the horizon. As he lay thinking and dreaming, -it seemed to him that a shining figure was floating close above the -moon-path on the sea, and coming swiftly towards him. He just -caught a glimpse of the waving robe, of white feet, of cloudy hair, -when such a sudden drowsiness came over his senses, that he was -compelled to close his eyes. When he opened them again—how -long afterwards he could not tell—the moonlight was still flooding -his room. He glanced eagerly at the path on the sea, but -to his disappointment it was empty of everything but silvery -sheen.</p> - -<p>“What was it he had seen? Or was it nothing but an idle -fancy before sleep? Dinocrates was coming to believe this true, -when all at once his eyes lighted upon something on the coping of -the terrace which lay before his window. In a moment he was -out upon the terrace, bending over such a lovely little statue as he—who -had seen the most famous sculpture in the world—had -never before beheld.</p> - -<p>“And there—there at last was the goddess of his dreams—the -true Diana with her wind-blown kirtle, her bow, and the crescent -moon above her forehead!</p> - -<p>“Dinocrates did not ask himself how the statue came there. -His first and only thought was to take it straight to the temple -where by every feeling in his heart it belonged.</p> - -<p>“Wrapping his cloak round him, and hiding tenderly within -its folds the statue, which was small enough to lift in his arms, -he stole out of the house, and began to walk from the city towards -the temple. Just so—(though he had no memory of it)—three -hundred years and more ago, he had walked in the night to another -temple, also his work, dedicated then to the <i>true</i> Diana. As though -moving in a dream, he reached the outermost courtyard of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span> -new temple, and saw in the moonlight the gigantic building and -the acres of colonnades and avenues of statues around it.</p> - -<p>“Entering by a little door known only to himself, he stood -at last in the still more wonderful interior of the temple, shining and -glowing with marbles white and pink and green-veined, gorgeous -with jewel-covered altars, above which sculptured columns soared -towards ceilings painted in scarlet, gold and blue. A glorious -place! A fit shrine indeed for the goddess whose image he hid so -carefully—yet there in the midst, black and loathsome behind the -pyramid of lamps, burning before her, towered the monstrous -statue called Diana!</p> - -<p>“All at once Dinocrates was filled with rage. Was it for this -terrible creature he had built a temple that was one of the Wonders -of the World? No, a thousand times no! The likeness of -the goddess <i>he</i> worshipped was the lovely little statue hidden in -the folds of his cloak.</p> - -<p>“He longed to overthrow the hideous black figure which stood -in her rightful place. Yet he knew that to be impossible. It -would take the strength of many men to throw down an idol so -huge and massive. Suddenly an idea came. He could not shatter, -but he might <i>burn</i> the image! With this thought, he ran towards -the mass of lights in front of it, scattering and upsetting -them right and left at the feet of the wooden figure. Behind -it, supported on golden pillars, there was a gallery, and, without -a second’s pause, Dinocrates rushed like a boy up the marble stairs -that led to it, and, standing now high above the head of the figure, -he snatched the little white statue from his cloak, and held it aloft.</p> - -<p>“‘<i>This</i> is Diana of the Ephesians!’ he cried aloud, and his -voice echoed and re-echoed through the aisles and colonnades -of the temple. Before the last sound of it died away, a terrific -clap of thunder shook the temple. Frightened voices were heard -on every side, and suddenly, from every direction, priests in gorgeous -robes came rushing towards the idol. Dinocrates caught -one glimpse of them as they snatched the burning lamps from the -feet of the figure, and then everything went dark.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe40_625" id="i_101"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_101.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>‘THIS IS DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS’</p></div> -</div> - -<p>“In another moment, how he could not tell, he found himself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span> -in the open air, listening to a murmur which sounded like the soft -rustling of leaves overhead. Slowly he opened his eyes, and looked -round him in amazement. The great temple had vanished. He -was lying under trees in a little glade, and there before him stood -a simple altar of stones piled together, and behind it, in the hollow -of a tree, he saw a little figure roughly carved. And then, with -a cry of wonder, he <i>remembered</i>.</p> - -<p>“This was the first altar to Diana, and here, as a tiny boy, -he had laid poppies upon it! Scarcely had he seized that memory, -when the altar melted away before his eyes, and out of the -mist round the place where it had stood emerged a small temple. -He remembered that, too. In another life he had planned it, and -seen it built. He remembered the columns he had invented—those -pillars of a new shape called later the <i>Ionic</i> columns. For a moment -the temple stood there in the glade, gleaming in moonlight, -and then <i>it</i> too disappeared.... In its place, rising out of the -earthlike smoke which gradually took shape, was formed at last -another, this time a mighty temple, covering the whole of what -had once been the glade. He had built this one, also—in yet another -life—hundreds of years later! And, as he gazed at its rows of -shining columns, he saw that they were like the columns of the -first small temple. To the building now before him—again hundreds -of years later—he had come back as a little boy on the day -when his hair was cut off by the priest. How well he recalled -it! How well he remembered looking at the pillars with some -faint memory stirring in his mind, yet with no idea that long, long -before he had built them....</p> - -<p>“He had come now to his present lifetime. This was the temple -that was burnt down while he was quite a young man. In -another moment what he expected happened. The building before -him vanished, and magically, in its place, stood the new one, -the last work of his hands.... Now at last he understood how, -for hundreds of years, in many different lives and with long intervals -between them, he had been making temples for Diana—for -the true, beautiful Diana. And her worship and honour had -been stolen from her by the hideous black monster now enthroned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> -in this last and most magnificent temple!... Dinocrates was -full of misery at the thought, and full also of confusion about what -had recently happened. Had he really tried to set fire to the false -goddess? Had he really held up the statue of the true one? -What was real in all that was happening to him, and what was -not? He felt wretched and afraid. Was he mad, or dreaming?</p> - -<p>“Such a heavy drowsiness came over him that he was obliged -to close his eyes, and sink down upon one of the marble benches -in the outer courtyard of the temple where now he found himself -standing.</p> - -<p>“And then, though he could not lift his tired eyelids, he knew -that some wonderful presence was near him. Sweet scents were -in the air; faintly from far away he heard the music of a horn, -and then a beautiful voice spoke close to his ear:</p> - -<p>“‘Fear not, Dinocrates,’ he heard, ‘for thou hast ever been -a worshipper of all the truth and beauty thou hast known. Thou -hast striven to place me in a seat of honour, and thy work has -not been in vain. The day will come when another god shall reign -in that last temple, the work of thy hands—a merciful god who -shall triumph over the false Diana worshipped by the Ephesians. -And I, too, the Diana thou hast adored, shall be no more a goddess -worshipped by men. But the thoughts I have given to men -shall remain, and the beauty thou hast seen in me shall remain -also. And because thou hast been my faithful worshipper I will -give thee, as I have given thee once before, a happy passing from -this to another life.’</p> - -<p>“The voice ceased, and, smiling with perfect happiness, Dinocrates -gave a long sigh, and then lay still.</p> - -<p>“His friends, finding him next morning in his bed by the open -window, thought he was asleep, and it was a long time before -they knew he would not wake again.</p> - -<p>“‘His last dreams were happy ones,’ they said as they -gathered round him, ‘for, see, he smiles as though in great -content.’”</p> - -<p>Rachel and Diana both together gave a little sigh.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span></p> - -<p>“Then he didn’t <i>really</i> try to burn the black image?” asked -Rachel. “He was really in his own room all the time?”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe50" id="i_105"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_105.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said -Mr. Sheston, slowly. “It -was such a magic night -that I scarcely know what -was ‘<i>real</i>,’ as you say, and -what was dream.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, can’t we see the -temple just once more,” -begged Diana. “It will be -even more lovely to see it, -now we know all about -Dinocrates!”</p> - -<p>“You shall see it again. -And, when you see it, remember -what the voice -said to Dinocrates about -the new merciful God. Your -Bible tells you the story of -St. Paul, who, three hundred -years after the death of -Dinocrates, went to Ephesus, -and, by preaching the -new religion of Christianity, -caused that great tumult when all the people shouted: ‘<i>Great is -Diana of the Ephesians</i>.’ Well, not long afterwards, in the temple -which St. Paul had first seen as a heathen place of worship—but -you shall see.”</p> - -<p>The children eagerly turned to the place where the window had -once been. There, in the glaring eastern sunshine, stood the temple -once more, and through its wide open doors they caught a glimpse -of the high altar. But now a great crucifix stood above it, and low at -its feet, overturned, lay the ebony image of Diana of the Ephesians!</p> - -<p>In a flash the vision was gone, blotted out by the white mist, -and Mr. Sheston spoke again:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span></p> - -<p>“Three hundred years after Dinocrates passed away, Ephesus -had become a Christian city, you see.... Again many years -pass. Ephesus now belongs to Rome, the mistress of the world. -And the temple still stands. Then Rome grows weak, and a barbarous -nation, the Goths, attack her possessions. You shall see how -they treated one of the Seven Wonders of the World nearly three -hundred years after St. Paul was in Ephesus. Look once more.”</p> - -<p>Under the blue sky, in ruins, scattered far and wide, with here -and there a column or a fragment of wall standing, lay the mighty -temple. All about and around it swarmed wild-looking men, -clothed in uncouth garments, with long hair and many of them -with red beards. They were seeking for gold and silver among -the ruins, fighting among themselves like wild beasts for the treasures -of the once beautiful temple they had destroyed. Just for -a second the children saw them. Then they, too, were gone.</p> - -<p>“One more glimpse, and the story is told,” said Mr. Sheston’s -quiet voice.</p> - -<p>The mist that had gathered dissolved once again. There was -the blue sky, there the sea—though it looked further away than -in the days when Ephesus was great. But where was Ephesus -now? Not a trace of the city remained. Where once it had -stood, the children saw in the distance the few low scattered houses -of a small village. Not a trace, not even the <i>ruins</i> of the great -temple of Diana could they see. Instead, mounds of earth, great -pits and long cuttings in the soil, where workmen were digging, -was all that stretched in front of them.</p> - -<p>“This is Ephesus as it looks to-day,” Mr. Sheston was saying.</p> - -<p>He pointed to the group of small flat-roofed houses in the -distance.</p> - -<p>“That Turkish village covers the proud city where St. Paul -walked, and where, in the open-air theatre, the people shouted -<i>Great is Diana of the Ephesians!</i> The mouth of the river now -choked with mud has pushed back the sea. Here in front of you, -where the temple stood, men of to-day are digging to find fragments -of its pillars and pavements to send to the British Museum.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke the last word, the scene wavered before the eyes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span> -of the children, and through it came the glimmering shape of the -schoolroom window. In another second they sat closed in by four -walls, and the clock on the mantelpiece pointed to half-past three.</p> - -<p>“Why—why—it was half-past three when you came in,” -stammered Rachel. “The clock must have stopped.”</p> - -<p>“I think not,” said Mr. Sheston, smiling quietly. “We shall -have plenty of time for the Museum—if you still want to go.”</p> - -<p>Rachel and Diana exchanged glances which contained all the -wonder they felt it was better not to express.</p> - -<p>In five minutes, having spoken to Aunt Hester on the way, -they were driving through the streets in Mr. Sheston’s car, and a -very little while afterwards, they entered a hall in the Museum, -over the door of which was written <i>Ephesus Room</i>.</p> - -<p>“Here,” said Mr. Sheston in a voice which gave no hint of all -the marvellous scenes they had just beheld, “are fragments from -two temples built in honour of Diana of the Ephesians. These -broken pillars and pieces of carving on the right are from the -temple that was burnt down on the night Alexander the Great -was born. On the left, are fragments of the latest temple which -was still standing when St. Paul was at Ephesus.”</p> - -<p>Having said this—and, if they hadn’t known what they <i>did</i> -know, it would not have interested the children in the least—he -walked on to look at something on one of the walls, leaving Rachel -and Diana standing in front of a piece of broken pillar.</p> - -<p>“St. Paul may have <i>touched</i> this, and seen that boy with wings,” -whispered Diana, gazing up at the beautiful carving upon it. -“Oh, Rachel, hasn’t it been perfectly splendid?”</p> - -<p>“Do you know,” returned Rachel, in an answering whisper, -“I’m sure he was once Dinocrates—Mr. Sheston, I mean. He -couldn’t know so much about him if he <i>hadn’t</i> been—could he? -And he’s lived ever and ever so many times. He said so. And -he’s been heaps of different people. Only, when he’s <i>Mr. Sheston</i>, -you know, we mustn’t talk much about him.”</p> - -<p>Diana nodded gravely. “I thought not. That’s why I didn’t -say anything.... We must only talk about just what’s here,” -she added quickly, as she saw their guide coming back to them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span></p> - -<p>The rest of the time at the Museum passed delightfully. And -then, to Rachel’s joy, Mr. Sheston took them back to tea at his -quaint old house, and afterwards sent them home together in his car.</p> - -<p>“It’s jolly to be alone. Now we can talk about it,” exclaimed -Diana, jumping up and down upon the comfortable springy -cushions. “Wasn’t it exciting and <i>lovely</i>? And, somehow, -it was all the more exciting in the Museum when he told us all -sorts of things that we shouldn’t have understood if we hadn’t -<i>seen</i> it all, out of your schoolroom window. It made me quite -sure I <i>had</i> seen everything from the beginning. Not just dreamt -it, you know. But, anyhow, we couldn’t have had the <i>same</i> -dream, could we?”</p> - -<p>“It’s heavenly that you’re a <i>seven</i> child too,” declared Rachel. -“I was getting so tired of having to keep all my adventures a -secret because no one would believe me if I told them. And now -there’s you—and you understand. Oh, Diana, just think how we -should have hated going to the British Museum on a holiday if -we didn’t have these adventures! Aren’t you glad we belong to -the ‘seven’ children?”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe65_625" id="i_108"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_108.png" alt="" /> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="FIFTH_WONDER">FIFTH WONDER <br /> -THE MAUSOLEUM OF ARTEMISIA</h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_109" style="max-width: 78em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_109.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>It was fortunate that Diana lived so near. Her father’s house -was in fact scarcely five minutes’ walk from Aunt Hester, and the -two little girls whose acquaintance had begun so wonderfully -began to see a great deal of one another.</p> - -<p>They had, as you may imagine, much to talk about, and, when -they met, the conversation always turned upon the amazing -adventure they had lately shared.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Rachel, did you notice the tiny little girl with the red -hair who walked next to Dinocrates in the glade—when they put -the poppies on the altar?” or, “Do you remember the lovely -dress the priestess had? The one who carried the silver dish in -the temple?”</p> - -<p>Questions and exclamations such as these flew between Rachel -and Diana, each one reminding the other of something she had -noticed particularly, in the magic scenes beheld from the schoolroom -window.</p> - -<p>They were, of course, very careful to keep their talks strictly -private ones, and Aunt Hester sometimes wondered why such -quiet reigned when they were alone together. She was however, -very glad that Rachel had found a companion, for she had been -rather anxious about having her little niece to stay with her for -so long a time as seven weeks. “You see, I haven’t had anything -to do with children for years, and I was afraid she would be -very dull here,” she told her friends, “but old Mr. Sheston, who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> -seems to have taken a great fancy to the child, has been a godsend, -and now that there’s this little Diana as well, I feel I need -not trouble about Rachel any longer. I can’t imagine how the -old man manages to interest children so much in the British -Museum,” she often added. “When I was her age, though, of -course, I don’t tell Rachel so, there was nothing I hated more than -to be taken to a dull place like a museum. But these two, -Rachel and Diana, are always clamouring to go. It’s very -strange.”</p> - -<p>It <i>was</i>. And even stranger than Aunt Hester thought, as -Rachel and Diana could have told her. But of all that made -the Museum literally a place of enchantment to the children, she -naturally had no idea, nor did she know that <i>without</i> “Sheshà” -and his magic, they would probably have been as little pleased -with museums as she herself at their age.</p> - -<p>It was a wet afternoon, and Diana, who had come round to -tea with Rachel, sat perched on the corner of the table, her usual -seat, while every now and then she cast a quick glance at the door.</p> - -<p>“Do you think he’ll come?” she asked for the twentieth -time. “It’s raining so horribly that perhaps he won’t.” (<i>He</i> -always meant Mr. Sheston nowadays).</p> - -<p>“Oh, I expect he’ll drive up in his car soon,” said Rachel. -“It’s seven days since last time, and I’ve never yet missed seeing -him on the seventh day. Somehow or other I’m <i>sure</i> we shall -have an adventure. Only you never know beforehand how it’s -going to happen. And it generally happens quite suddenly, and -just when you don’t expect it.”</p> - -<p>The afternoon wore on, tea-time came. Still no Mr. Sheston, -and at last, when it was almost dark, Diana was obliged to go.</p> - -<p>She was almost tearful as she said good-bye.</p> - -<p>“It’s so awfully disappointing,” she wailed. “Perhaps it’s -all over—all the <i>magic</i>, you know, and we shall never see any -lovely things again.”</p> - -<p>Rachel was just as puzzled, but not quite so hopeless as Diana.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow, even if the magic part is over, he can go on telling -us stories,” she observed. “And his stories are splendid. That<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> -one about the Siege of Rhodes, you know. I tried to tell you, -but I can’t do it properly. Perhaps he’ll tell you himself some -time or other. I <i>did</i> think we should have had at least a <i>story</i> -to-day,” she added, mournfully.</p> - -<p>Rachel repeated this remark to herself as she lay in bed -several hours later. The rain had ceased, and a full moon shone -in a clear sky. She had pulled up her window blind, and the -beautiful silvery light came pouring into the room and made her -long more than ever for the magic which Diana feared was “all -over.”</p> - -<p>For a long time she lay with wide-open eyes staring out of the -window at the radiant sky. And then, all at once—how was it? -How could it be?—she found herself looking at something quite -different.</p> - -<p>What was that strange shape high up above her head?... -Where was she? What had become of the bed in which a second -ago she had been lying? How did it happen that she was -standing upright, gazing about her, in what seemed a vast hall -filled with moonlight and shadows and dim forms?</p> - -<p>She heard a voice—Diana’s voice, surely!</p> - -<p>“Where are we? I can’t understand <i>anything</i>. Can you?”</p> - -<p>Rubbing her eyes, Rachel looked again. Yes! Diana was -beside her. She too was in her nightgown, and they were both -standing on the pavement of some huge room which stretched -away right and left into darkness. It certainly ought to have -been frightening to find oneself all at once in an unknown place -surrounded by mysterious shapes, in the middle of the night. -But curiously enough, Rachel was not in the least frightened, -nor, judging from her voice, was Diana. Both children were -deliciously excited, indeed. But of fear there was not in either -of them a trace.</p> - -<p>“Do you know I believe it’s the <i>Museum</i>,” Rachel whispered. -“Only it’s a part of it I’ve never been to before.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that big thing up there?” returned Diana in an -answering whisper. “Let’s come back a little—we shall see -better.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span></p> - -<p>They were standing just under something that looked in the -half light like a great block of stone on the top of which there was -an object which neither of them could see distinctly.</p> - -<p>Taking hands they moved backwards a few steps, and again -looked up.</p> - -<p>The silver-green moonlight, streaming in from some window -high above their heads, fell full upon the face, and part of the -body of a marble horse.</p> - -<p>The statue aloft upon its pedestal looked very grand and majestic. -But, as even in the dim light, the children could see, it was -only after all a <i>fragment</i> of a statue.</p> - -<p>“What a lovely horse. But he’s broken,” exclaimed Diana, -still in a low voice. “Isn’t it a pity? There’s only his face and -a piece of his body left. I wonder how he got broken?”</p> - -<p>Before she had finished speaking, Rachel suddenly squeezed -her friend’s hand with a tight clasp.</p> - -<p>“Look! Look!” she whispered, scarcely able to speak for -excitement. For the strangest thing was happening. A kind -of pearly mist was gathering to form the missing body of the horse, -and presently out of the mist, his face, no longer a marble one, -but quivering with life, looked out. He shook his head and the -metal curb in his mouth rattled as he fixed his great dark liquid -eyes upon the children.</p> - -<p>“He’s coming down,” cried Diana, half excited, half afraid.</p> - -<p>Quickly she leapt back to make room for him, dragging Rachel -with her.</p> - -<p>In less than a second, with a bound so rapid that they could -scarcely see how he left the pedestal, a graceful, beautiful white -horse stood on the pavement before them, gently pawing the -ground, and moving his head slowly from side to side.</p> - -<p>And then, marvel of marvels, he <i>spoke</i>.</p> - -<p>“Have no fear, O little ones,” they heard, in a tone soft, yet -distinct. “I am here at the bidding of your friend, Sheshà—greatest -of magicians.”</p> - -<p>Rachel glanced triumphantly at Diana, as if to say, “I told -you so.” And the beautiful steed went on:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span></p> - -<p>“For this one night I am your slave. Command me. What -is it you wish to know, or to see?”</p> - -<p>Diana pinched Rachel’s wrist as a sign for her to speak, and -after a moment she said timidly:</p> - -<p>“We would like to know about <i>you</i> first. Why were -you on that pedestal? And all broken? Where do you come -from?”</p> - -<p>“Something of my history, little maidens, you shall hear later. -For the present, be content to know that you behold in me a horse -as famous as he is beautiful.”</p> - -<p>This was said very simply, and the children could well believe -its truth, for never had they seen such a lovely creature as that -now standing before them.</p> - -<p>His coat, smooth and soft as ivory satin, gleamed in the -moonlight. His limbs were strong, yet formed with perfect -grace, and his dark, lovely eyes shone in a face that was at the -same time gentle and full of intelligence.</p> - -<p>“I don’t wonder that someone made a statue of you,” exclaimed -Diana. “But what a pity it’s so broken. How did it -get broken?”</p> - -<p>“Many things get broken in the course of two thousand years -and more, little one. Since I was first carved in marble, much -that was beautiful has been destroyed, either by man, by earthquake, -by fire, or other calamities.”</p> - -<p>He sighed and turned his head restlessly as he glanced right -and left about the great hall. Rachel and Diana, who till now had -been too engrossed by his marvellous and sudden appearance to -pay attention to anything else, now followed his gaze, and saw -that the hall in which they stood was filled with fragments of -buildings, with broken statues, broken columns, stone or marble -lions and other wild animals, all more or less damaged.</p> - -<p>“Behold!” exclaimed their strange companion, after a moment. -With a movement of his head, he indicated something -which stood on a massive block near him, and the moonlight was -so bright that the children saw the object plainly.</p> - -<p>“It’s a big wheel!” cried Diana. “What is it?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span></p> - -<p>“One wheel of the chariot to which my statue was harnessed -ages and ages ago!”</p> - -<p>“But where? Why? <i>Do</i> explain all about it,” cried Rachel, -eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Would you see the monument itself of which these columns, -these statues, these poor broken things are but the fragments?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, <i>yes</i>!” returned the children, both together. They -glanced at one another rapturously, for evidently this adventure -was to be continued.</p> - -<p>“Your wish shall be granted,” said the lovely creature. -“But first, that you may gaze upon one of the Wonders of the -World with greater interest, look round you and behold, here, -where you stand, the poor scattered remains of its beauty.... -Take note of those statues facing you, for defaced, disfigured as -they are, they represent a famous king and queen.”</p> - -<p>The children looked up obediently at two gigantic statues of -a man and a woman, both clad in robes beautifully draped, who -stood side by side on a great block of stone. Scarcely anything -was left of the woman’s face, though the head of the man was -almost perfect.</p> - -<p>“You behold Queen Artemisia and King Mausolus,” said -their new friend. “Now turn and regard that pillar behind -you.”</p> - -<p>The children looked in the required direction and saw, flooded -in moonlight, a tall, beautifully fluted column, to which was attached -a piece of broken ceiling.</p> - -<p>“That was once part of the monument you shall presently -see as it looked in its first beauty,” he continued. “Come, mount -upon my back. We tarry too long in this narrow place where -there is scarce room to move, encumbered as it is by these fragments -of the past. Let us away to sunshine and blue -sky!”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe40_625" id="i_115"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_115.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>THEY HAD A GLIMPSE OF THE CITY</p></div> -</div> - -<p>Very gently and carefully, so that he did not touch any of the -objects close to him, the snow-white horse knelt down, and, with -a shake of his bridle, invited the little girls to climb on his back.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span> -They glanced at one another, rather afraid, but Rachel, after a -moment’s hesitation, went boldly up to him and, holding tight to -his mane, scrambled on to his back.</p> - -<p>“Come along!” she called to Diana. “It’s always all right -when Sheshà manages anything, and he’s managing this.”</p> - -<p>Taking courage, Diana followed, and, in a moment, both children -were seated.</p> - -<p>“Well done!” exclaimed their steed. “Have no fear, little -maidens. You are safe. No harm shall befall you.”</p> - -<p>With the last words he began to rise from the pavement, floating -slowly upwards.</p> - -<p>“Oh! we shall bump against the ceiling!” began Diana, in -alarm.</p> - -<p>“No. Look! look!! There isn’t any ceiling!” cried Rachel. -“It’s all melted away, and there are the stars....”</p> - -<p>In another second they were out in the open air, seated as comfortably -on the back of the white horse as though they were on -the schoolroom sofa, and feeling quite as safe. Below them lay -the roof of the British Museum, and beyond it, stretching for miles -and miles, all the crowded roofs, the spires, the domes and the -lights of London. For a moment they had a glimpse of the wonderful -city lying silent under the moonlit sky, and then they -soared upwards so high that all sight of it was lost.</p> - -<p>“We’re going awfully fast,” whispered Rachel. “Isn’t it -perfectly lovely?”</p> - -<p>And Diana sighed in perfect content. For, indeed, it was -beyond all words wonderful to be rushing through soft, warm air -under the moon, and to feel the gentle rocking motion of the horse’s -body under them. Faster and faster they flew through the ocean -of air, and the children screamed with delight when now and again -their giant shadows were thrown for a second upon a white cloud -as they shot past in their flight.</p> - -<p>On and on fled their magic steed, moving his limbs in the sea -of air as a swimmer moves in water, his beautiful mane streaming -like a white mist behind him.... Gradually the moonlight faded, -and, for a time, only the stars shone in the dark blue sky.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span></p> - -<p>“We’re flying over the sea now. I can hear it!” whispered -Rachel presently, for they had dropped lower by this time, and a -deep murmur and even every now and then the gentle splash of -waves could be distinctly heard.</p> - -<p>“It’s getting light,” answered Diana, in a sleepy voice.</p> - -<p>There was silence for some time, and perhaps both children -fell asleep, for, almost at once as it seemed, instead of a grey -gleam of dawn, they saw that the sky was all flushed with rosy -light, and everything was now clearly visible.</p> - -<p>“Look! Look!! We’re quite close to the land!” cried -Rachel, pointing to where rocky mountains stood up against the -sky. “Oh, Diana, isn’t it beautiful?”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe62_5" id="i_118"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_118.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>By this time they were hovering above a white-roofed city, -curving round a beautiful blue bay.</p> - -<p>“Where are we?” begged Rachel, leaning forward to speak -to their flying steed, who was now moving slowly.</p> - -<p>“This land, O child, is Asia Minor, and the part of it you now -see was called long ago, when I was young, Caria. The city just -below us is Halicarnassus.”</p> - -<p>“Then the sea is the Mediterranean, I suppose?” said Rachel. -“And we are not so far from Rhodes?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span></p> - -<p>“Yonder is the island of Rhodes,” he answered, turning -his head in its direction. “You can see it, a dim shape on the -horizon—not so very far, as you say, from the city of -Halicarnassus.”</p> - -<p>“Oh! what is <i>that</i>?” exclaimed Diana, suddenly -catching sight of something -gleaming white through a -grove of trees at a little -distance.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe50" id="i_119"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_119.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“The very monument I have brought you to behold. A Wonder -of the World. The place where, carved in marble, my image<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> -once stood beside the statues of a king and queen. Come, let -us approach it.”</p> - -<p>Turning a little aside from the city itself, the horse dropped -gradually lower, and, after just skimming the ground for a moment, -allowed his hoofs to touch it, and finally stood motionless in front -of a lovely building.</p> - -<p>A stately flight of steps, whose balustrade was guarded by -marble lions, led up to a square tower, and higher still to a cluster -of beautiful columns. Above this was a sort of pyramid, with -steps mounting yet again to a chariot of marble in which stood -two figures, a man and a woman. The chariot was drawn by -magnificent horses, and as the children looked at these, they cried -out together, pointing to them, eagerly:</p> - -<p>“Why, they’re all of them—<i>you</i>!” exclaimed Diana. In -her excitement she let herself slip easily to the ground. Rachel -followed her example, and both stared up at the group of horses -on the summit of the building.</p> - -<p>“What we saw in the Museum before you turned into a -real horse is just one head of you!” cried Rachel. “Then -those people in the chariot must be the broken statues that -are also in the Museum—I mean before they were broken?” -she went on.</p> - -<p>The steed bowed his head. “You are now beholding the -statues of Queen Artemisia and King Mausolus as they appeared -soon after the sculptors had finished their work. There -also you see <i>my</i> image as it, too, appeared nearly three thousand -years ago. Or, rather, my image four times repeated in each of -the four horses.”</p> - -<p>The children were at first silent, for amazement and -admiration held them spellbound. The sun was rising, and -bathed in its light, the building was more lovely than tongue -can tell.</p> - -<p>“It’s like a tower in a fairy tale. The kind of tower a magician -builds, you know!” declared Rachel, at last.</p> - -<p>“But what is it for?” added Diana, after a moment.</p> - -<p>“It is a tomb, little maid.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p> - -<p>“A tomb?” echoed Diana. “All that great big beautiful -place only for a tomb?”</p> - -<p>“The great Pyramid was a tomb,” Rachel told her in an aside, -“and that’s bigger, you know. Whose tomb is it?” she went on.</p> - -<p>“Would you hear the whole story? I am here to tell it, if -that should be your wish. Let us then rest in the shade of these -cypress trees while you listen.”</p> - -<p>Their guide lay down and stretched -his beautiful body at full length on -the soft turf, while the children, with -their hands clasped round their knees, -sat facing him, eagerly -waiting for him -to speak.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe78_5" id="i_121"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_121.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“I cannot, O little maidens,” he began, “relate to you the -history of this magnificent tomb without telling you something -of my own story, which is in a way bound up with it. Already -it must be clear to you that I am no ordinary horse. The -time has now arrived when I may reveal my name. Know, then, -that I am no other than <i>Bucephalus</i>, the famous steed of the greatest -conqueror in the world, Alexander the Great.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span></p> - -<p>“I was born in Greece, but when I was still very young, I was -sent as a gift to the King of Macedonia, a country bordering upon -my native land. As yet, no man had ridden me, and being young -and untried, I was so impatient of control that when the king -would have mounted upon my back, I reared and plunged, lashing -out with my hind legs in a fashion so dangerous and unseemly -that no one might approach me.</p> - -<p>“Full of anger at my fierce behaviour, the king was ordering -me to be sent back whence I came, when his son, the young -Prince Alexander, cried out, ‘This is a noble horse! Will you -lose him for lack of a little skill and courage? Give me leave, -my father, to make trial of him.’</p> - -<p>“At first the king, afraid for his son’s life, refused, but, the -entreaties of Alexander at last prevailing, he gave consent for -the prince to approach me.</p> - -<p>“At once the noble boy drew near, and boldly seizing me by -the bridle, turned me about so that my face was to the sun. For -he had the wisdom to perceive that what had terrified my foolish -young heart was nothing but my own shadow. This, now -that the sun was not at my back, I could no longer see, and gradually, -as I felt the prince’s kind hand patting my neck and stroking -my glossy hide, I ceased to tremble. But, even so, such was my -folly and youthful pride I would not have allowed him to mount -if he had not with great skill taken me by surprise. As it was, -before I had time to consider, I felt him already on my back, and, -bounding forward in anger, I began to run like the wind. Far -from making any endeavour to check my speed, the prince, -without touching me with whip or spur, urged me on with -ringing shouts of encouragement, and not till I was worn -out did he draw rein. By that time I was his slave. His -voice, his gentle touch had tamed me, and with delight I accepted -him as my master. Never shall I forget how the king and his -courtiers who had been struck dumb with fear while I raced -like a mad thing, Alexander upon my back, now gathered round, -praising us both.</p> - -<p>“The king, embracing the prince, exclaimed, as I remember:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span> -‘My son, seek a kingdom more worthy of thee, for Macedonia -is not sufficient for thy merits!’</p> - -<p>“This advice as perhaps I need not remind you, Alexander -was not slow to take, for a few years later, when his father died -and he became King of Macedonia, he began those conquests which -have made him for ever famous. Soon nearly all the world that -was then known owned his sway. In all his victories I, Bucephalus, -had my share, for I carried him into every battle. No one -but my dear master would I allow to mount me, and, in order that -he might do this the more easily, it was my custom to kneel down -upon my forefeet as soon as he was ready to bestride me—just -as some little while ago I knelt down for <i>you</i>, little maidens.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe75" id="i_123"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_123.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“Ah! those were happy days when we went out to conquer, and -great was my joy in battle. I felt no fatigue when I carried Alexander -into the fight, and no horse -ever loved a master so well as I -loved mine. No master on the other -hand was more devoted to a steed -than Alexander to his. -What other horse, I -pray you, has given -his name to a city? -Yet of me this may -be said, for where at -last, worn out in his -service, I died, Alexander -built a city -where he buried me, -and called it <i>Bucephalia</i>.”</p> - -<p>The beautiful -creature sighed, but -a moment later recovered -himself.</p> - -<p>“You will wonder,” -he went on,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> -“when I am coming to the story of the noble tomb before you, -and what it has to do either with me or with Alexander. This I -will now relate. About the time when Alexander became King of -Macedonia, there was a Persian king reigning here in this city of -Halicarnassus. His name was Mausolus, and he had a beautiful -wife called Artemisia, who loved him devotedly.</p> - -<p>“You, O little ones, who live in modern days in a grey city, -where people go clothed in sad colours and walk in dingy streets, -have no idea (except from your fairy tales) of the manner in which -a Persian king and queen kept their court nearly three thousand -years ago.</p> - -<p>“Ah, the beauty and luxury I have seen in those Persian palaces!” -exclaimed Bucephalus, as though to himself. “The marble -courtyards with their springing fountains, the jewelled thrones, the -silken robes, men and women alike blazing with precious stones—and -over all the glorious blue sky and the splendid sun!” -He sighed again, and for a while seemed lost in thought.</p> - -<p>“Those days are gone for ever,” he went on at last. “But -it was amidst such scenes, in such pomp and luxury as this, -that Mausolus and his queen Artemisia dwelt in the city of Halicarnassus. -Some years they lived together in great happiness, and -then, to the terrible grief of his queen, King Mausolus died. In -her despair and misery, Artemisia could think of no other means -of distraction than that of building to the memory of her husband -so beautiful a tomb that it should be famous throughout the world, -and for ever preserve the name of Mausolus.</p> - -<p>“She had vast riches, and because she was a learned and enlightened -queen, she knew that it was to Greece she must turn -to spend her wealth. For in Greece dwelt all the great -artists, whether sculptors, architects or poets.</p> - -<p>“This tomb raised to the memory of her husband, Mausolus, -was to be the Wonder of the World. Not content with one Greek -architect, therefore, she employed no less than four to design and -beautify the building you see before you, which faces north, south, -east and west. Scopas it was who built the eastern side, Leochares -the west, Bruxis the north, and Timotheus the south. These<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> -were famous men in my day, and even when they had finished -their labour, and even when the tomb of Mausolus was surrounded -by colonnades, supported by beautiful pillars, and lined with -magnificent statues, the queen was not satisfied. The tomb must -be still more wonderful, still more stately. So she sent for -Pythios, a great sculptor, and ordered him to erect above the -temple-like tomb, a pyramid. On the top of the pyramid he was -to place a group in marble which should represent herself and -Mausolus, standing side by side, in a chariot drawn by four horses.</p> - -<p>“Now Pythios was anxious to find as a model for these horses -the most beautiful steed in the world. And where, said everyone, -could he find a creature more beautiful than the famous Bucephalus -of Alexander?</p> - -<p>“So Pythios came to our court and sought of my master permission -to make drawings of me in varying attitudes as I reared -or ran. This being granted, I became the model for all four of -the marble steeds who drew the chariot of King Mausolus and -his queen Artemisia. Behold them! For in magic fashion you -see them as they appeared long, long ago, when this tomb was -first completed. Greatly favoured are you, little children, for other -mortals now living must be content to gaze only upon those broken -fragments of the tomb, which, in recent days, have been drawn -from the earth. Long, long ago, was this magnificent monument -destroyed, and were it not for my company and the magic of -Sheshà, who has called me to this earth once more, you would be -looking upon nothing but ruin and destruction here in this place. -See how splendidly white and dazzling appears that noble group -against the deep blue of the sky! And then contrast it with the -battered figures, the one chariot wheel, the broken horse’s head, -which is all that now remains. Still more wonderful that such -fragments should at last have found their way to your grey city -of London—thousands of miles away.”</p> - -<p>Bucephalus paused once more, wrapped in earnest thought, -which the children scarcely dared to disturb, though they were -longing to ask questions.</p> - -<p>“You will ask,” he continued presently, “how I, who at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> -time when this tomb was built dwelt far from Halicarnassus, -know all that I have related. Let me explain.</p> - -<p>“Though Pythios had taken me as a model for those famous -horses of his, I never thought to behold them, and when I have -completed the story of Queen Artemisia, I will relate how it -chanced that I <i>did</i> at last look upon them with my own eyes.</p> - -<p>“The great tomb, so marvellous, so beautiful that it became -one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was at length finished—as -you see it. A miracle in marble, with the queen herself and -her dearly loved husband standing together to endure as she thought -for ever. Her task completed, and with nothing else to live for, -the queen pined away, and a year later died. The monument -she raised, as you know, is shattered to fragments, but, after all, -Artemisia’s wish was fulfilled, for the name of her husband, at -least in a fashion, yet lives. Ever since her day, every splendid -tomb, such as that in which kings or great heroes are buried, has -been called a <i>Mausoleum</i>. And when people of the present age -speak that word, though they may not be aware of it, they are -uttering the name of Mausolus, so dear to Artemisia.</p> - -<p>“And now to return to my own history.</p> - -<p>“Fourteen years after the death of this unhappy queen, I -bore my master, Alexander, into yonder city of Halicarnassus, as -a conqueror. He had fought and defeated the sovereign then -reigning in Caria, and all the inhabitants of this country did him -homage. How well I remember the morning he rode out to see -with his own eyes this very tomb of which he had heard so much.</p> - -<p>“It was a morning such as this. The sun, just as you see it -now, had newly risen, and then, as now, the marble pillars, the -chariot group, the statues stood out white as sea-foam against a -sky, every whit as deep and blue as you behold.</p> - -<p>“Alexander stood transfixed with admiration, and I could -not refrain from a glance of pride at my own image, four times -repeated on the summit of the building.</p> - -<p>“‘Ah!’ thought I, ‘when she ordered those marble horses to -be carved by the greatest sculptor of her time, little did Queen -Artemisia guess that the model from which they were designed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> -would one day gallop proudly into her city, bearing upon his back -the conqueror of her kingdom.’ It was a sad and overwhelming -reflection, and, as I gazed upwards at the statue of Artemisia herself, -I half expected her to descend in wrath from her chariot to punish -my insolence. But, after all, it was Alexander, not I, who had -taken Halicarnassus, as I made haste to assure myself, and I -turned my head to look in the face of my beloved master. He was -gazing sadly at the tomb, and I fancied that, conqueror though he -was, he thought with sorrow and pity of the unhappy queen. -For as generous as brave was my dear master, Alexander the -Great.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Quite a long silence followed the last words, and it was a silence -which somehow the children had no wish to break, for they -both felt a little dreamy and disinclined to speak.</p> - -<p>“Presently,” thought Rachel, “we’ll ask him to let us go up -that splendid staircase and get inside the temple where Mausolus -is buried. There must be all sorts of lovely things there.” But -at the moment she felt it was enough just to sit still and gaze at -the outside of the tomb, at the burning blue of the sky behind it, -at the sparkling bay beyond, about which the flat-roofed white -houses of the city clustered.</p> - -<p>“It will be awfully interesting to walk about in Halicarnassus,” -she reflected. “I wonder whether we shall see Queen Artemisia? -We <i>might</i>. Anything of course could happen. And it’s all just -as real as—as though it <i>was</i> real,” she added, at a loss how to put -it to herself. It was just when she had made this half-dreamy -reflection that she saw the tomb of Mausolus beginning to totter. -It swayed for a moment right and left before her eyes—and -then was gone. So also was the city. She had a flashing -glimpse of mounds of earth, and of a plain scattered over with -stones, before Grayson stood putting a can of hot water upon the -wash-stand.</p> - -<p>“Time to get up, Miss Rachel,” she observed, cheerfully.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Never had Rachel so longed to see Diana as now. If Diana<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> -knew nothing about this adventure—then it was only a dream, -and that would be too dreadful.</p> - -<p>She could scarcely wait till the afternoon, when her friend -was to come round to go for a walk with her. One glance, however, -at Diana’s face when at last she came, reassured her. Their eyes -met, and Diana’s were sparkling and full of mystery. You may -imagine what they talked about in Kensington Gardens that -afternoon when they ran on together in front of Miss Moore.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe125" id="i_128"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_128.png" alt="" /> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="SIXTH_WONDER">SIXTH WONDER <br /> -THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA</h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_129" style="max-width: 59.375em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_129.png" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<p>The day after their walk in Kensington Gardens, Diana, full -of distress, ran in to see Rachel early in the afternoon.</p> - -<p>“What do you think? I have to go to the seaside to-morrow!” -she exclaimed, breathlessly. “Mother and Father -are going, and they say I’m to go with them, and—”</p> - -<p>“But how lovely!” interrupted Rachel. “For <i>you</i>, I mean. -It will be horrid for <i>me</i>,” she added, dejectedly. “Why don’t -you want to go?”</p> - -<p>Diana stared at her. “Don’t you understand? I shall be -away more than a week, and”—she lowered her voice mysteriously—“the -<i>seventh</i> day, you know, will come round, and I shan’t -be here, and I shall miss the chance of an adventure. Oh, I do -envy you, Rachel! I’d rather never go to the seaside again than -miss all the exciting things that might happen. And you see I -can’t explain why I don’t want to go—so it’s all perfectly horrible.”</p> - -<p>“But you know I don’t believe it makes a scrap of difference -<i>where</i> we are,” declared Rachel. “If ‘he’ wanted us to go to the -Museum, or to Egypt, or to Rhodes, or anywhere, we could go just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> -the same, whether we were in London or by the sea, or at the North -Pole. You remember what everybody says about him.” She -glanced over her shoulder to make quite certain that they were -alone, and went on to quote in a whisper, “‘<i>Sheshà, greatest of Magicians</i>.’ -Salome said that, when I was in Babylon, and the other -night, you remember, Bucephalus said it when he changed into a -real horse. And, of course, he <i>is</i> the greatest of magicians. He -can do anything he likes. I shouldn’t worry a bit about going -away if I were you. I only wish I had the chance.”</p> - -<p>Diana’s face became radiant.</p> - -<p>“I never thought of that!” she exclaimed. “How clever -you are, Rachel. Oh, if only you were coming, too, it would be -perfectly splendid.”</p> - -<p>Rachel sighed. “It will be awfully dull without you. But -all the same I expect I shall meet you <i>somewhere or other</i> in a few -days. Seven days, or perhaps nights, from the evening before -last, you know!” she went on with a little chuckle of anticipation.</p> - -<p>She felt nevertheless so depressed at the thought of losing -Diana, even for a short time, that what happened next seemed -altogether too good to be true.</p> - -<p>“Would you like to go to the seaside with Diana?” enquired -Aunt Hester at tea-time.</p> - -<p>Rachel’s face of joy was such an answer that Aunt Hester -laughed.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe75_375" id="i_130"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_130.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“Well, I think you may. I’ve just had a note from the child’s -mother to say you could share a room with -Diana at the hotel. They’ll be there for a -week.... It will do her good to -get out of London for a few -days,” she went on, turning to -Miss Moore. “She’s a country -child, you see, and she’s beginning -to look a little pale. A -breath of sea air won’t hurt her.”</p> - -<p>Rachel could have screamed -for delight, and as though things<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> -could not happen too fortunately, just at that moment, Mr. Sheston -was announced.</p> - -<p>She hadn’t seen him for nearly a fortnight, so she would -anyhow have been very glad of his arrival, but to-day, his coming -seemed specially fortunate as a kind of sign that she had been -right in offering consolation to Diana. A few minutes later, -indeed, she was even more certain of it.</p> - -<p>“It’s no use suggesting a visit to your favourite place of amusement,” -said Aunt Hester, in a quizzical tone when she had welcomed -the old gentleman and given him some tea. “Rachel is -going to St. Mary’s Bay for a week with her little friend, so she’ll -be far away from such entertainments as museums.”</p> - -<p>“So shall I,” returned Mr. Sheston, helping himself to cake. -“Curiously enough <i>I’m</i> going to St. Mary’s Bay in a day or two -for a little change of air.”</p> - -<p>Rachel really <i>did</i> scream for joy at this news, and when, after -some eager questioning she discovered that Mr. Sheston was actually -going to the very hotel in which Diana’s father and mother -had taken rooms, she was almost sure that whatever else happened, -she and Diana would not miss an “adventure.”</p> - -<p>It was altogether delightful at St. Mary’s Bay. The weather was -perfect. Diana’s father and mother were, next to her own, Rachel -thought, the nicest father and mother in the world, and it was -gratifying to find that they very much liked their little daughter’s -new friend, Mr. Sheston. All day long, she and Rachel were out of -doors, scrambling about bare-footed on the rocks, and enjoying -themselves tremendously.</p> - -<p>At intervals, of course, they discussed their chances of an adventure, -and, as the magic seventh day approached, their excitement -increased.</p> - -<p>“It makes it such fun that he never says anything about the -magic between whiles, doesn’t it?” Rachel observed on the morning -of the day when something might be expected to happen. -“He’s just like a nice old gentleman, except at ‘seven’ times. -Can’t you imagine how people would stare at him if they knew he -was Sheshà, and Dinocrates, and Cleon, and ever so many more?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span></p> - -<p>“And that he can make Alexander’s beautiful horse come -back again to the world, and fly with us to Halicarnassus!” put in -Diana with a laugh of triumph. “They only think he’s a dear, -clever old gentleman who knows all about things in the British -Museum. It’s jolly to be us and to know ever so much more about -him than just <i>that</i>!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t forget he’s promised to take us up the lighthouse this -afternoon,” remarked Rachel, as they went into the hotel for lunch.</p> - -<p>They reminded him of this promise almost before he had taken his -place opposite to them at the table, and an arrangement was made -to meet on the terrace outside, at three o’clock. “After I’ve had my -nap,” said Mr. Sheston, in his character as an old gentleman who -took care of himself and could not do without his midday sleep.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe45_3125" id="i_132"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_132.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Punctually at three o’clock, however, he made his appearance -on the terrace, -and they all set -out to walk to the -lighthouse.</p> - -<p>It was built at -the end of a long -spur of rock which -jutted out from the -bay for quite half -a mile, and when -at last they reached -the strong stone -tower, both children -thought how -lonely was the spot -on which it stood.</p> - -<p>It was great fun -to climb the twisting -stone staircase -within the lighthouse -and to come -at last into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> -“lantern”—a round room at the top, from which there was a wonderful -view of the great expanse of sea now calm and blue as any -mountain lake.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I should like to live up here!” exclaimed Diana, enthusiastically, -when the lighthouse-keeper had explained all about -the working of the great shining lamp.</p> - -<p>“Ah, it’s all very well now, missie,” returned the old sailor-man, -shaking his head. “But you wouldn’t like it so much on -some of the nights we gets up here in the winter. To look at that -there sea now, you’d never think, p’raps, what it’s like in the winter -when there’s a great storm, and the waves come on mountains -high, a-dashing all around, with the wind howlin’ and shrieking -like a lot ’er wild animals, and the spray tossin’ right up to them -there winders, and beatin’ against ’em like mad. And the birds—them -sea-gulls flying round the light as they do—gettin’ all ’mazed-like -and confused, dashin’ theirselves against the glass, poor -things, an’ cryin’ most uncanny.... It’s wild enough up ’ere -then, I can tell you. Not altogether comfortable-like either,” -he added, with a broad smile.</p> - -<p>“And it’s even worse for the poor sailors in the ships, isn’t -it?” said Rachel, nodding seawards. “How glad they must -be to see your light that keeps them from getting on to the rocks. -I should think they feel awfully glad then that lighthouses are -invented. How <i>were</i> they invented?” she asked, suddenly turning -to Mr. Sheston. “I mean who first thought of making a -lighthouse?”</p> - -<p>Scarcely had she asked the question, when the glass-encircled -room, with its huge lantern, was blotted out in darkness. Another -second and Rachel felt a fresh wind blowing in her face, and, before -she had time to cry out to Diana, Diana herself gave a scream of -amazement and delight.</p> - -<p>“Rachel! Look—look! What is it? Where are we?” she cried.</p> - -<p>For a moment Rachel paid no heed to the second question. -She had no idea where she stood. She only knew that she was -gazing upon something very strange and wonderful. It was -night and quite dark, and she heard the sound of water lapping<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> -close to her feet. But her eyes were fixed upon something that -looked like a gigantic lily rising out of the sea, and made visible -by <i>flames</i>, which at its summit leapt and danced and streamed -upwards towards the night sky.</p> - -<p>“We’re on a <i>ship</i>,” whispered Diana, excitedly.</p> - -<p>And then, for the first time, Rachel realised that she was standing -on the deck of a vessel, and that all around her, sailors were -moving, busy with ropes and sails as they shouted to one another -in a language she did not understand.</p> - -<p>The flames darting from the top of the wonderful column -lighted up a great track of water between the ship and the coast, -which was plainly visible in the red glare of the fire. So also was -the ship that sailed over the illuminated sea, and the figures of the -sailors on board. They were like no sailors she had ever seen, -for they were clothed in a strange fashion, and wore curiously -shaped caps.</p> - -<p>“There is the first lighthouse,” said a well-known voice, and -turning together, the children saw standing behind them—Mr. -Sheston. Rachel, at any rate, knew it was Mr. Sheston, even -though he looked quite different, and wore a tunic with a cloak -thrown over his shoulders, for she was accustomed by this time -to seeing him in various guises.</p> - -<p>“Oh, <i>do</i> tell us where we are,” she begged. “We’re on the -sea, of course—but what sea is it? And how far are we back -into the Past? And what is your name <i>this</i> time?”</p> - -<p>The tall dark man laughed.</p> - -<p>“Let me take the questions singly. This is the Mediterranean -Sea. We are about two thousand five hundred years back into -the Past. The land there is the coast of Egypt. And my name -you already know, for I am Dinocrates.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, then it was you who built the Temple of Diana?” asked -Rachel.</p> - -<p>“And you were the little boy with the leopard skin? And -afterwards—hundreds of years afterwards—you built the <i>first</i> -temple—and the second and third ones too,” cried Diana. -“Mr. Sheston told us all about you, and——”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span></p> - -<p>But here Diana paused, for she suddenly realised that Dinocrates -and Mr. Sheston were one and the same.</p> - -<p>Rachel had evidently come to a like conclusion, for all at once -she said in a whisper, “I thought so.”</p> - -<p>There was silence for a moment while both children, rather -confused, were considering the strangeness of this. Then Rachel, -who was never very long quiet, began again:</p> - -<p>“There’s a great town behind the tower, isn’t there? When -the flames blow backwards I can see the houses.”</p> - -<p>“You behold the city of Alexandria.”</p> - -<p>“Alexandria?” repeated Diana quickly. “That reminds me -of—<i>last</i> time. Bucephalus, you know, and Alexander the Great.... -Has the town anything to do with him?”</p> - -<p>“Everything,” answered Dinocrates. “He founded it, and -gave to it his own name, the name by which men who live in your -world of to-day, still call it. But it was I who built it,” he added. -“That is, you understand, it was I who made the plans for the -building of the city.”</p> - -<p>“And did you build the lighthouse too?” asked Diana.</p> - -<p>Dinocrates shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Nay, not to me, but to another, do the sailors owe that tower -of warning—the tower that has saved many lives.”</p> - -<p>“Do tell us about it,” urged Rachel. “Who first thought -of it? I suppose the sort of lights we have now with reflectors -and all that, weren’t invented when <i>this</i> lighthouse was made? -But what a good idea to make flames come out at the top instead.”</p> - -<p>“You shall hear the story of the lighthouse,” said Dinocrates, -“but let us sit at our ease while I relate it.”</p> - -<p>He pointed to a coil of ropes, and the children, settling themselves -close together upon it, found that it made a most comfortable seat.</p> - -<p>Dinocrates meanwhile wrapping his cloak about him lay full -length upon the deck near them, and turned his face in the direction -of the lily-white tower with its crown of leaping flames. For -a moment he did not speak, and the children were so impressed by -the wild beauty of the scene that they too were silent.</p> - -<p>The vessel, as strange to their eyes as were the sailors who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span> -formed its crew, glided slowly and softly over the dark water on -which lay a pathway of crimson light. To and fro moved the -sailors, sometimes singing, sometimes laughing, sometimes shouting -to one another as they went about their work, but paying no -heed to their visitors.</p> - -<p>The flames from the lighthouse rising and falling revealed a -coastline with a fringe of white houses, and on the sea other ships -moving in various directions, their sails sometimes lighted up -brightly in the red glow of the fire.</p> - -<p>Rachel, who had sunk into a sort of happy dream, started -when at last their companion spoke.</p> - -<p>“Do you remember,” he began, “what Bucephalus, that -famous horse, has already told you concerning his master, Alexander -the Great? How that he set out to conquer the world? -Bucephalus has, I know, related to you how his master took the -city of Halicarnassus in Asia Minor and visited the tomb of -Mausolus, built by the sorrowing Queen Artemisia. That, however, -was only the beginning of his victories.</p> - -<p>“A little later, when all Asia Minor owned his sway, he turned -his thoughts to Egypt and conquered <i>that</i> country also. Sailing -in his barge up the great river Nile which waters the land, he -came at last to where it flows out into the sea—this very sea upon -which you are now sailing. But he found no city there, such as -by the light of that beacon fire you now behold. Only a few poor -huts stood then at the mouth of the great river. ‘Here,’ thought -Alexander, ‘is the place for a mighty port, and here a mighty -town shall arise. But whom shall I employ to build such a city -for me? Who is the greatest architect now living?’ Instantly -my name was upon his lips. For, only a year before, he had seen -the great new temple I had completed at Ephesus, in honour of -Diana.</p> - -<p>“At once he sent for me, and straight from the building of -that temple in Ephesus I came hither. Let me now show you, -little maids, what I found where now that lighthouse and that -city stand. Rise, and bow with closed eyes seven times in the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span>direction of the shore.”</p> - -<p>Rachel and Diana needed no second invitation. They leapt -to their feet and obeyed.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp54" id="i_136fp" style="max-width: 114.25em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_136fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>THE PHAROS LIGHTHOUSE</p></div> -</div> - -<p>“Open now your eyes and behold,” said Dinocrates.</p> - -<p>Again the children did as they were told, and found, scarcely -to their surprise now, so accustomed to marvels had they grown, -that the night had vanished. It was broad daylight, and the sun -streamed down upon a bare rocky island separated by a narrow -belt of sea from the mainland. There was no city, no lighthouse, -only a few rough huts upon the rocky island round which the sea-gulls -circled, uttering sad cries. A mighty river, flowing through -miles of flat land, poured its waters into the sea close to the island.</p> - -<p>“This,” said Dinocrates, when the children had gazed a moment -at the scene, “was what I found, when, at the command -of Alexander, I came hither to build the city. That bare island -in front of the mainland was then, and is still called, the Isle of -Pharos.”</p> - -<p>He waited a moment.</p> - -<p>“Close once again your eyes, and wait till I pronounce the -magic number,” he presently directed.</p> - -<p>At the word <i>seven</i>, the children looked again, and together -uttered a long <i>Oh!</i> of astonishment at the change which had taken -place. There was the island indeed, but no longer bare and uninhabited. -A gleaming bridge joined it on the land side to a city -whose temples, open-air theatres, statues and monuments shone -white and splendid in the sunshine. The whole, including three -sides of the island, was enclosed by a mighty wall with turrets -at intervals upon it, and the water space between the island and -the city was now a harbour in which ships rode at anchor.</p> - -<p>“There stands Alexandria as I built it over two thousand years -ago,” said Dinocrates, quietly. “And there, bearing the same -name, the name of Alexander the Great, it stands to-day. English -sailors anchor their ships in its port, many English people live there, -and it has heard the guns of the Great War that is just over.”</p> - -<p>“Not like Babylon, or Ephesus—all in ruins,” murmured -Rachel. “Alexandria has <i>lasted</i>.”</p> - -<p>“It has lasted—but it no longer looks as you see it here. Time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span> -and change! Time and change!” murmured Dinocrates, softly. -“It is a modern city now, and most of what <i>I</i> built is ruins beneath -its present squares and houses.”</p> - -<p>“But there’s no lighthouse—even as we see the place now,” -exclaimed Diana.</p> - -<p>“There was no lighthouse even in my time, little child. It -was not till I had been dead twenty years and more that the beacon -tower was built.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe56_25" id="i_138"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_138.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>Rachel glanced at him. “After you had—gone on? Gone -into another life, you mean?” she said.</p> - -<p>Dinocrates smiled kindly at her.</p> - -<p>“That is a better way of saying the same thing, little maid,” -he agreed.</p> - -<p>“But you promised you would tell us about the lighthouse,” -began Diana, after a moment. “<i>Do</i> tell us, please,” she urged.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span></p> - -<p>Again Dinocrates smiled.</p> - -<p>“I am coming to it, impatient one,” he began, when Rachel -interrupted.</p> - -<p>“I want to know all sorts of other things first,” she declared. -“Did Alexander live here after the town was built?”</p> - -<p>“Nay, and he never saw more of the city than its beginning. -He was marching always from country to country, conquering -the world, and had no time to return to the place which bears his -name. Though, after all, I am wrong. He <i>did</i> come back. But -when he came, Death, not he, was the conqueror. He died in -Babylon, but they brought him hither, to the city built at his command, -and here he was buried.”</p> - -<p>“Was his lovely horse dead by that time?” asked Diana. -“I hope so. Because he would have missed his master.”</p> - -<p>“Why, yes,” put in Rachel. “Don’t you remember that -Alexander buried him and named a town after him?”</p> - -<p>“Of course! How silly of me....” Diana turned expectantly -to Dinocrates.</p> - -<p>“And about the lighthouse?” she persisted.</p> - -<p>“Our ship is about to enter the harbour,” said their companion. -“We will land, and go to the spot where the lighthouse -finally arose. There I may best tell you its story.”</p> - -<p>In a few moments the little vessel on the deck of which they -stood, had been safely steered into the harbour between the island -of Pharos and the city. At a quay running alongside of the -island, they stepped off the ship, and “Dinocrates” led the way -to a rock jutting out into the sea. It was a position from which -there was a view of the busy harbour, and of the long bridge joining -the island to the city, over which passed continually a gaily -coloured crowd. Mules with gaudy trappings were driven by -shouting boys. Ladies in silken litters were borne along by dark-skinned -slaves. Men dressed in tunics like the one worn by “Dinocrates” -sauntered by, and from the city itself came a confused -hum of voices.</p> - -<p>By turning their backs to the bridge the children found the -blue sea almost at their feet, stretching away to the distant horizon.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span></p> - -<p>Dinocrates began to speak again, and the water lapping against -the rocks close at hand murmured between the pauses of his story.</p> - -<p>“There lies the city I began to build while Alexander was yet -alive,” he said, pointing backwards over his shoulder. “I was -a famous architect in those days, and rich men sent me their sons -to learn from me. But among all my pupils the best, the most -brilliant, was Sostratus. He came to me when he was but a lad, -and I early foretold for him a great career. I loved him dearly, -and he was to me like a son. His native land was Greece, and, -though he spent some years with me during the building of Alexandria, -he returned more than once to his home, and on one of -these visits fell deeply in love with a beautiful Grecian maiden.</p> - -<p>“Never shall I forget the happiness of Sostratus, when he told -me that the maiden, with her parents, was coming to Alexandria, -where the marriage was to be celebrated. All was prepared for -the bride, and on the appointed day, she set sail to cross the stretch -of sea between Greece and Alexandria. But, alas, the weather, -till then calm and peaceful, suddenly changed. A great storm -arose, and the ship, when it came into sight, though it held bravely -on, was tossed like a cockle-shell upon the waters.</p> - -<p>“Now this bay of Alexandria is difficult of navigation, and in -the darkness, full of danger. Night came on; there was no -friendly beacon fire to show the way, and presently we, who were -gathered here on this very spot, heard the shouts and cries of -drowning men. Powerless to help, we waited in despair for daybreak, -only to see the waters strewn with wreckage. Close to -land, the good ship, with all on board, had gone down for lack of -a light to show the captain where lay the treacherous rocks.</p> - -<p>“Sostratus was wild with grief, from which, as time went on, I -strove in vain to rouse him. Nothing I could say or do would comfort -him, till at last, when I was ill and near to death, I called him to -my bedside and urged him not to waste his life in useless idle despair.</p> - -<p>“‘Build something,’ said I, ‘which shall be at once a monument -to the memory of your bride, and of use to the living. So shall you -not have passed through this your present life in vain.’</p> - -<p>“‘What if I should build a light-tower?’ he asked presently.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> -‘Something that shall serve as a beacon and a warning to sailors? -Already has the thought of such a tower begun to take shape in -my mind, and now, O master, I swear to thee that I will not rest -till such a building arises, for by such means, grief such as I have -endured may be spared to others.’</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe50" id="i_141"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_141.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“With that he began to discuss with me how such a tower, -the first of its kind, could be constructed so that a light should -stream constantly from its summit during the darkness of the -night. And I, seeing him roused from his grief and ready for a -new interest, passed some days later, happily from that life. All -that follows, I learnt long afterwards when once more I returned -to this earth.</p> - -<p>“Even before my own death, Alexander the Great had passed -away, and the world he had conquered was being divided amongst -the generals who had fought under his command. This land of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> -Egypt, with Alexandria as its port, fell to one of them—a man -whose name was Ptolemy. (He it was who helped the Rhodians -against Demetrius in the famous siege),” he added, turning with -a smile to Rachel.</p> - -<p>“And you were <i>Cleon</i> then—not Dinocrates,” she exclaimed -quickly. “You remember I told you about that siege, Diana?”</p> - -<p>Diana nodded. “But do go on about Sostratus,” she begged, -turning to Dinocrates. “Ptolemy let him build the lighthouse, -I suppose?”</p> - -<p>“After my death,” continued their friend, “my pupil went to -King Ptolemy with his plans, and he was ordered not only to set -about the building of the tower, but to spare no expense and to -make it the most beautiful monument he could possibly accomplish. -So Sostratus worked and thought and invented, and in -time, on the very spot where now we are seated, there rose the -tower you beheld a short while ago. Four hundred feet high it -towered above this rock, built of white marble, slender as a lily, -yet strong as steel. And in the cup-like hollow at the top, was -sunk a brazier, that is, a huge basket of iron in which a fire was -kept always burning. The men who from the gallery around this -hollow tended the fire and fed the flames, were the first lighthouse-keepers, -and the tower itself, being the first lighthouse, was the -model for others all over the world. The lighthouse on the spur -of land at St. Mary’s Bay, little maids, owes its existence to the -marble tower of Sostratus, as in like fashion do all the other famous -lighthouses of modern days, such as Eddystone, the North Foreland, -and the rest. No longer, it is true, do naked flames stream upwards -into the darkness from these modern towers—for, in two thousand -years other light has been invented, as well as shielding panes of -glass. Nowadays, strong electric globes shoot forth their gleams over -the sea at night. But the tower of Sostratus was not only the first of -these friendly beacons but also the most beautiful as a monument. -So beautiful, indeed, and in those early days so strange to the sight, -that it was named amongst the Seven Wonders of the World.”</p> - -<p>“Was it called the Tower of Sostratus?” asked Rachel.</p> - -<p>Dinocrates smiled and shook his head.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span></p> - -<p>“Nay,” he returned, “though that was the wish of Sostratus -himself. It was called the <i>Pharos</i> Tower—after the name of this -island upon which it stood.”</p> - -<p>“Why,” exclaimed Diana suddenly, “<i>phare</i> is the -French word for lighthouse. Is that because of the Pharos -tower?”</p> - -<p>Diana had a French governess, and to Rachel’s wonder and -admiration, spoke French, if not as well, at least as quickly as she -talked in English.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Dinocrates. “Every time French sailors -use that word, even though they have no knowledge of its meaning, -the work of Sostratus is mentioned by men who live to-day. His -work is remembered, his <i>name</i> forgotten, even though he strove -hard that this should not be the case.</p> - -<p>“Listen, and I will tell you what chanced. When the tower -was at length finished and stood gleaming white on this headland, -the time had come for an inscription to be placed upon it, -and Ptolemy, King of Egypt, ordered Sostratus to engrave these -words upon the marble: <i>King Ptolemy to the gods, the saviours, for -the benefit of sailors</i>.</p> - -<p>“Now Sostratus, to whom the lighthouse represented all that -he now cared for in life, was determined that his own name should -be read, if not at the moment, at least in time to come. Yet he -dared not disobey the King’s command. This, then, was the device -by which he tried to ensure remembrance.</p> - -<p>“Deep in the marble he first engraved:</p> - -<p>“‘<i>Sostratus, son of Dexiphanes</i>, to the gods, the saviours, for the -benefit of sailors.’</p> - -<p>“Having thus placed his own, instead of the King’s name -upon the tower, he then covered up the whole inscription with -mortar, and on the top of it engraved the inscription commanded -by Ptolemy. Well he knew, that in the course of years, the mortar -would decay and his own name become visible.... Rise, make -seven obeisances towards the sea, and you shall behold, if it please -you, the lighthouse as it appeared a hundred years after Sostratus -and King Ptolemy alike had left this world.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p> - -<p>The children lost no time in obeying, and when they opened -their eyes they found themselves, to their delight, standing at -the foot of the beautiful white tower. Dinocrates, smiling, stood -beside them, and pointed to some lettering upon the tower at a -little height above his own head. The inscription was cracked -and defaced, and as the words were in Greek, they could not read -them, but in a hollow, where the mortar had broken away at the -beginning of the sentence, they saw a name which Dinocrates -pronounced aloud—the name of Sostratus, now at last plainly -to be seen.</p> - -<p>The children gazed with interest upon the splendid graceful -tower springing high above their heads, and then looked from it -across the bridge to the city.</p> - -<p>“Why, the town is ever so much bigger. Twice, three times as -big,” cried Rachel, as she saw the clustering houses and let her -eyes wander over the new domes and colonnades, courtyards and -gardens visible on the other side of the harbour.</p> - -<p>“A hundred years have passed between the opening and -shutting of your eyes,” said the voice of Dinocrates. “The city -founded by Alexander and built by me has had time to grow and -to become one of the most famous homes of learning in the world. -There great men have lived and died, and been forgotten, even as -Sostratus, despite this inscription made in vanity, is forgotten. -But Alexandria still lives, though the Pharos Tower, the Wonder -of the World, is no more. And there, to-day, men who have -fought in this last great war are planning to dig for buried treasures -under modern houses and squares. Time goes on and men are -forgotten, but the work of their brains lasts longer, and sometimes -bears fruit centuries after they themselves have departed.... -Here, for instance, we stand in this modern lighthouse....”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It was Mr. Sheston (no longer in the guise of Dinocrates) who -uttered the last words. Dinocrates, the Pharos Tower, the City -of Alexandria had vanished, and a moment later Rachel and Diana -were listening to the sailor-man.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know who invented them,” he was saying, as though<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> -in answer to a question, “but, whoever it was, he did a good piece -of work. There’s too many wrecks as it is, but there’d be a considerable -number more if it wasn’t for these ’ere light-’ouses.”</p> - -<p>“<i>We</i> know who invented them,” whispered Diana to Rachel, -as they clattered down the winding stairs of the tower.</p> - -<p>“Didn’t I tell you that being away from London wouldn’t -make any difference?” demanded Rachel, triumphantly. -“Sheshà can do <i>anything</i>!”</p> - -<p>“Hush! Here comes Mr. Sheston,” Diana warned her in a -low voice. “And I suppose we mustn’t say anything. But <i>he</i> -knows that <i>we</i> know he’s Sheshà and Dinocrates—”</p> - -<p>“And Cleon—and all the rest,” put in Rachel. “Isn’t it -wonderful and—and <i>fun</i>, you know?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Sheston, who had lingered in talk with the old sailor -upstairs, now joined them, and all the way -home the children chattered demurely -about the St. Mary’s Bay lighthouse. There -was no mention of the Pharos at Alexandria.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe125" id="i_145"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_145.png" alt="" /> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="SEVENTH_WONDER">SEVENTH WONDER <br /> -THE STATUE OF JUPITER OLYMPUS</h2> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp100" id="i_146" style="max-width: 71.875em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_146.png" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<p>Both the children were back again in London a few days later, -sadly missing the sea and the freedom of St. Mary’s Bay, of course, -but consoled by the knowledge that Mr. Sheston had also come back -to town.</p> - -<p>One afternoon, soon after their return, Rachel met Diana with -a radiant face.</p> - -<p>“Dad and Mother are coming back,” she exclaimed joyfully. -“They’re on their way now. And Mother is ever so much better, -Dad says. And this day week I shall see them, and go home with -them. Isn’t it perfectly lovely?” But there were sudden tears -in Diana’s eyes, and, in the midst of her excited talk, Rachel paused. -“You’re to come and stay with me, of course,” she declared hastily. -“Do you think I should be so glad if I had to say good-bye to -you? Mother says she’s writing to <i>your</i> mother to ask her to let -you stay for a month. And she will, won’t she?”</p> - -<p>This announcement had the effect of making Diana’s face -almost as joyful as Rachel’s, and during their walk that afternoon -their chattering tongues never ceased. There was so much -to talk about.</p> - -<p>When Rachel had described all the delights of her country -home, the farm, the garden, the river with its punt, the woods -in which they could build huts of branches—the conversation -turned, as usual, upon the “adventures” in which Mr. Sheston -was concerned.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span></p> - -<p>“There’s still another one to come, you know,” Rachel presently -declared. “At least I expect so. I’ve been here six weeks now, -and every seventh day it’s—<i>happened</i>. And there’ll be another -seventh day on Wednesday.”</p> - -<p>“I do wonder what it will be this time, don’t you?” said -Diana. “It’s so exciting not knowing where it will begin. Perhaps -in the British Museum again. I rather hope it will be there. -It’s so jolly to go with ‘him’ just as other children go with grown-up -people to the Museum, and yet to know all the time that something -frightfully interesting is coming.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s just what <i>I</i> feel is so jolly about it,” Rachel -agreed. “You go through all those rooms and you see statues -and tombs and stones and things, and they all look <i>dead</i>, and you -can’t believe the people who saw them thousands of years ago -were just as much alive as we are now. Every time I go to the -Museum I feel like that at first. Don’t you? And then it -<i>happens</i>, you know. Quite suddenly. And everything that looked -all dull and dead comes to be <i>real</i>. I hope it will begin in the -Museum this time.”</p> - -<p>It did. But before it happened, and as a last treat for -her niece, Aunt Hester took both children to the circus at -Olympia.</p> - -<p>“What is <i>Olympia</i>?” asked Diana, suddenly, when she and -Rachel, full of anticipation, were walking with Aunt Hester to the -omnibus.</p> - -<p>“It’s where the circus is held,” said Aunt Hester. “It’s a -good long ride, so we must make haste.”</p> - -<p>“But I mean what <i>is</i> it?” persisted Diana.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s a great building. Big enough for all sorts of entertainments, -as well as the circus, to go on inside it.”</p> - -<p>“Why is it called Olympia?” asked Rachel. “It’s such a -funny name for a place where there’s a circus.”</p> - -<p>“You must ask Mr. Sheston,” returned Aunt Hester, vaguely. -“He’ll tell you why, better than I can. By the way, he’s going -to take you both to the Museum to-morrow. I had a note from -him this morning. Come along,” she exclaimed, hurriedly, as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> -they turned a corner, “there’s the omnibus just starting. We -must run for it.”</p> - -<p>Seated opposite to one another in the omnibus when rather -breathlessly they had settled down, Rachel and Diana exchanged -meaning glances.</p> - -<p>“It <i>is</i> going to begin there, you see,” whispered Rachel at -the earliest opportunity, and Diana agreed with a nod and smile -of secret delight.</p> - -<p>They enjoyed the circus immensely, but beautiful as the horses were, -and much as they admired them, both children thought of another -and still more wonderful horse than any that appeared in the ring.</p> - -<p>“But, then, Bucephalus was the loveliest and cleverest thing -in the world,” observed Diana, in a low voice, after Rachel had -murmured his name. “And I’m sure he would hate to do tricks -in a circus. He was a <i>war</i> horse.”</p> - -<p>“And used to real battles,” agreed Rachel, in an answering -whisper.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>“Well,” said Mr. Sheston next day, when Miss Moore had -left both the children with him at the entrance to the Museum. -“Well, how did you like the circus at Olympia yesterday?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it was lovely!” they exclaimed together.</p> - -<p>“Aunt Hester said we were to ask you why it’s called <i>Olympia</i>,” -put in Rachel, as they began to walk slowly through a statue-lined -room that had become familiar.</p> - -<p>“We may find the answer this afternoon,” answered the old -gentleman, turning into a room that Rachel knew already. It -was the room containing the statues of the headless women clothed -in beautiful drapery.</p> - -<p>“These are Greek statues, aren’t they?” she began, pointing -to the group in the middle of the room. “They were on the outside -of a temple once, weren’t they? I forget what it was called.”</p> - -<p>“The Parthenon in Athens,” Mr. Sheston told her. “There’s -a model showing the temple as it stood in ancient days, over there -in that glass case. We’ll go and examine it in a minute. But -first look up and see those young men riding on horseback.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span></p> - -<p>He pointed to a frieze in marble which ran the length of the -walls and represented a procession of youths mounted upon -beautiful horses.</p> - -<p>“Now let us have a look at this model which shows part of -Athens as it appeared two thousand years or so ago,” he went on, -after a moment. The children followed him to a stand upon -which, modelled in plaster, was a rocky hill with various buildings -like fair-sized toys scattered over its slope. The names of these -buildings were written below them, on the white plaster hill, and -Diana had just exclaimed, “<i>Here’s</i> the Parthenon!” when -a young voice, which neither of the children recognised, but -which sounded close at hand, said:</p> - -<p>“<i>Seven times with closed eyes shall you bow.</i>”</p> - -<p>“Diana!” cried Rachel, a few seconds later, “It’s Athens. -<i>Real</i> Athens, you know!”</p> - -<p>There was no doubt about its reality, for they felt the warmth -of the sun, saw the overarching blue sky, and gazed with wonder -and delight upon a beautiful scene.</p> - -<p>A hill-side stretched before them, no longer of plaster, but a -<i>real</i> hill-side, scattered over with marvellous buildings in white -marble, with groves of trees, and stretches of gardens between them.</p> - -<p>“Look! Look!” exclaimed Diana, recognising at least one -of the buildings. “That’s the Parthenon. There are the great -beautiful women up in that pointed place above the columns.”</p> - -<p>“And they’re not broken!” cried Rachel, excitedly. “They’re -quite perfect. Look at their faces, and their arms. They had no -faces and no arms the last time we saw them.”</p> - -<p>“And there’s the procession of boys on horseback!” cried -Diana, pointing to the frieze....</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>“Will it please you to come with me, O maidens?” enquired -a voice, so near that both the children started before they turned -round.</p> - -<p>Behind them stood a boy of perhaps eleven or twelve years old. -He was dressed in a shirt or tunic of white wool, without sleeves, -and over it a white purple-bordered cloak wrapped about him in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span> -such a way as to leave his right arm and shoulder free. His legs -were bare, but on his feet were sandals fastened with slender -cords of leather strapped about his ankles.</p> - -<p>His head was covered only by its thick crop of red-gold hair -which curled closely about his head, and was one of his many -beauties. For he was an exceedingly handsome boy—slim, yet -strongly built. He held his head and body well, and all his movements -were quick and graceful.</p> - -<p>“Who are you?” stammered Rachel, the first to recover from -surprise.</p> - -<p>“My name is Agis,” said the boy. “I am commanded by -Sheshà, greatest of magicians, to be your guide through our city -of Athens. Later, I understand, he himself will conduct you to -the Olympian games.”</p> - -<p>Again, as it had so often happened before, though the language -spoken by the boy was not her own, Rachel understood him perfectly.</p> - -<p>“I suppose it’s Greek he’s talking,” she thought hurriedly -before she began to ask questions.</p> - -<p>“That’s the Parthenon, isn’t it?” she asked, pointing to the -gleaming temple. “We’ve seen those statues up there before. -At least, we’ve seen——” She was going to say “bits of them,” -but Diana pulled her sleeve, and she stopped just in time to remember -that it was no use trying to explain to a boy who lived -thousands of years ago, all about the British Museum!</p> - -<p>“Will you tell us what god is worshipped here?” put in Diana, -politely.</p> - -<p>“No god, but a goddess, the great Pallas Athene,” returned -the boy, glancing at her with his bright eyes.</p> - -<p>“She’s the same as <i>Minerva</i>, you know,” whispered Diana -quickly, having learnt this from her father.</p> - -<p>“Within,” the boy went on, “stands the statue of the goddess -made by Phidias, the wondrous sculptor.”</p> - -<p>“Is he alive now?” enquired Rachel.</p> - -<p>Agis laughed. “Nay. He has been dead two hundred years -and more. You must have come from a very far country, O -maidens, to be so ignorant!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span></p> - -<p>“We have,” said Rachel, smiling in her turn. If only the boy -could have known. It was only two hundred years for <i>him</i> since -the sculptor Phidias died, while for her and for Diana it was considerably -more than two <i>thousand</i> years. “We don’t know anything -about your country,” she continued, “so will you please -explain everything.”</p> - -<p>“That would take me far too long, because I must soon return -to the gymnasium, whither you may accompany me. I have -only brought you here for a moment that you may glance at the -most famous of our temples and public buildings. The city itself -lies down yonder.” He pointed to a sea of white flat-roofed houses -below.</p> - -<p>“What is that place, high up on the hill?” asked Diana.</p> - -<p>“The citadel—our fort of defence which we call the Acropolis. -Beneath it, as you see, and under its protection, as it were, are the -other buildings, of which the most precious is the Parthenon.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t we go in, and look at the statue of the goddess?” -begged Rachel.</p> - -<p>Agis shook his curly head.</p> - -<p>“Time is lacking. But it may be that, some days hence, you -will see another, and perhaps even more famous statue, carved -also by Phidias. It stands in the temple of Zeus at Olympia.”</p> - -<p>The children exchanged quick glances at the mention of the -word.</p> - -<p>“What <i>is</i> Olympia?” asked Diana, and as she put the question -she suddenly remembered asking it before. Yesterday, was it?... -It seemed ages and ages ago, or like something in a dream. -She and Rachel had been then on their way to the circus at <i>Olympia</i>, -and she had asked Aunt Hester——</p> - -<p>Her bewildering thoughts were interrupted by a long shrill -whistle from Agis. It was so like the sort of whistle her brother -Jack gave when he was teasing her, that Rachel laughed. After -all, Agis was very much like an ordinary schoolboy, even though -he did talk in what she called “an old-fashioned long-ago” style.</p> - -<p>“You know not <i>Olympia</i>, maidens? What then have you to -live for, if you know not the Olympic games?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span></p> - -<p>“We really <i>don’t</i> know anything about them,” said Rachel, -apologetically. “You see we live in a different country, and—well, -in a different time.”</p> - -<p>She couldn’t help adding this, in her desire to defend herself -from the charge of ignorance, but the boy took no notice of the -last remark.</p> - -<p>“Come with me, and by degrees it may be I shall enlighten -you,” he said, still in a mocking voice.</p> - -<p>He turned quickly, and Rachel and Diana, after one backward -glance at the snow-white temple adorned with its perfect sculpture, -followed him meekly down the hill. In a few moments they found -themselves threading their way through the narrow streets of the -city of Athens. These streets were bounded on either side by -blank walls, broken here and there by a door.</p> - -<p>“But where are the houses?” enquired Diana presently.</p> - -<p>“These doors lead to our houses,” returned the boy, tapping -one of them as he passed.</p> - -<p>“There aren’t any windows!” objected Rachel.</p> - -<p>“Would you have windows upon the street?” said Agis. -“An idea comic indeed, O maidens!”</p> - -<p>The children were too occupied with the strangeness of everything -around them to reply to this. Every now and then they -emerged from narrow roads between walls into a great square, -and here the surrounding buildings were magnificent. There were -long colonnades where people, dressed more or less in the same -fashion as Agis, lounged or walked, and often in the midst of the -square they saw beautiful statues.</p> - -<p>“Look!” said Diana presently, pointing to a garland of leaves -hung upon the knocker of a door. “Why is that wreath put -there?” They had turned into another narrow street by this -time.</p> - -<p>“A new-born child is in the house without doubt,” returned -Agis carelessly. “A boy.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know?” asked Rachel.</p> - -<p>“If it had been a girl, there would be a wreath of wool, instead -of olive leaves. You may see such a one over there,” replied Agis,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> -nodding in the direction of another door further on, where a twisted -loop of violet wool hung from a knocker.</p> - -<p>The children were much interested.</p> - -<p>“It’s awfully nice to know like that about the babies,” declared -Diana.... “Where are we going, Agis? What is this -place?” she added curiously, as the boy ran on in front of them -up a broad flight of steps leading to an imposing building.</p> - -<p>“This is the gymnasium, and unless we hasten, I shall be late, -and my instructor will be angered.” Agis looked over his shoulder -to say this. “Follow me, and pay no heed to anyone, for no one -will pay heed to you. Sheshà has put you under my guidance—I -know not why. But I know that, except to me, you are invisible. -Go boldly into yonder courtyard and watch. I must -first leave my garments in the corridor.” He ran quickly down a -passage to the right, and the children, full of wonder, walked on -into a sunny square, enclosed by high walls, where little boys were -going through all sorts of exercises.</p> - -<p>“Oh, don’t they look pretty without their clothes!” was -Diana’s first exclamation. For all the boys were naked, and as -they ran and leapt, and the sunshine fell upon their little white -bodies, they did indeed look beautiful.</p> - -<p>“He said it was a <i>gymnasium</i>,” said Rachel. “But there -aren’t any rings and poles and things, like there are in our -gymnasiums. I suppose this was the <i>first</i> sort of gymnasium, and ours -are named after it?” she went on suddenly, as the idea struck her.</p> - -<p>“There’s Agis!” cried Diana, as the now naked boy appeared. -“Doesn’t he look like a statue come to life? Oh, look, Rachel! -What is he going to do? That man—I suppose he’s the master?—is -rubbing him all over with something. It’s oil, isn’t it? and -those other boys are being rubbed with it too.”</p> - -<p>“It’s to make them move their bodies easily, I expect,” said -Rachel. “You know how oil makes stiff things like rusty locks quite -smooth and easy. I suppose it’s the same with people’s joints.”</p> - -<p>“Now they’re throwing sand over one another!” Diana exclaimed. -“What’s that for, I wonder? Oh! they’re going to -wrestle. Agis and that dark boy together. Do you see?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span></p> - -<p>“That’s why they put sand on themselves then,” suggested -Rachel. “They’d be too slippery to hold one another without. -Oh, <i>do</i> look! Isn’t it jolly to see them? Agis is winning! -I’m sure he’s winning.”</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe83_25" id="i_154"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_154.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>With breathless interest the children watched the -boys as they turned and -twisted—all their movements -swift and graceful as the -movements of beautiful wild -forest animals. After the wrestling -they saw several races -between companies of boys, and -then looked on at exercises in -throwing a round object something -like a quoit made in lead.</p> - -<p>It was all wonderful to see. -To sit in the sunshine, to hear -the voices and laughter of the -boys, to watch their graceful -movements, and yet to know -that the scene before them was -really far away—back two -thousand years and more into the Past, indeed, was a strange-enough -experience. Every now and then, when they realised -this, it made both of the children very quiet, and even a -little sad.</p> - -<p>They forgot this impression however when, at last, the training -over, Agis beckoned to them to follow him out of the gymnasium.</p> - -<p>In a few moments he was dressed again, and as the children -walked on either side of him, through squares and streets, they -kept up a fire of eager questions.</p> - -<p>“This is the last day of our training,” explained Agis. “To-morrow -we start on our journey, and in three days begin the great -games in Olympia. May the gods grant me patience to live till -then!” he went on excitedly.</p> - -<p>“But you haven’t yet told us what Olympia <i>is</i>,” urged Diana.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span></p> - -<p>“Strange that you are ignorant of the Olympic Games which -are renowned throughout the world,” sighed Agis. “Yet do I -remember that Sheshà bade me have patience to tell you everything.</p> - -<p>“Know then, as all the world but you, O maidens, are aware, -that every five years, at Olympia, which is in a part of Greece -called Elis, games are held at which it is the highest honour in the -world to compete. For the four years between the great year -of the games, all youths who are Grecian by birth are trained -at schools called gymnasia—one of which you have lately beheld.</p> - -<p>“Towards the end of the fourth year, in every part of our -country, those who have best acquitted themselves in the training -are chosen to go to Olympia and contend for the prizes.”</p> - -<p>“Then <i>you</i> are chosen,” said Rachel joyfully.</p> - -<p>“I to my great content am to run in the first race, and my -elder brother, Phidolas, is also among the athletes. <i>He</i> is to compete -in the horse race, for he is a skilled rider, and has the most -perfect mare that was ever bred,” he added enthusiastically. -“Her name is Aura, and presently, if it please you, we will see -her.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, we <i>love</i> horses!” exclaimed Diana. “Do tell us some -more about the games. Who began them? How long have -they been going on?”</p> - -<p>“For a thousand years and more. Zeus, father of all the gods, -first commanded them to take place, to celebrate his victory over -the giants who, before him, ruled the world. Since then, they -have been held, as I have already said, every four years, for the -honour and glory of heroes.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Zeus</i> is the same as Jupiter, I think,” whispered Diana to -Rachel. “Yes. I remember. Father told me so.”</p> - -<p>By this time Agis had stopped at one of the doors set in the -blank wall of a narrow street, and he lifted and let fall the knocker -with a resounding clang.</p> - -<p>“This is my home. I must set some repast before you, for -indeed you must need it, O strange and ignorant maidens,” he -added, with his teasing schoolboy smile.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span></p> - -<p>The door was opened at the moment by an old man whom the -children at once guessed to be a servant.</p> - -<p>“Or a <i>slave</i>, I expect,” said Rachel, as Agis hurried on in front. -“They had slaves in Greece, didn’t they?”</p> - -<p>“Now we shall see the inside of a Greek house as it was -thousands of years ago,” returned Diana eagerly.... “Isn’t -this a <i>splendid</i> adventure?”</p> - -<p>They found themselves in a passage which led into a square -courtyard roofed by the blue sky. A colonnade ran the length -of the four sides of this courtyard, and from it on the side away -from the open space, they saw various rooms. Agis pushed back -a door, and called to the children to follow him.</p> - -<p>“It is past noon,” he said, “and our meal is already served. -Enter and eat with us.”</p> - -<p>Full of curiosity, Rachel and Diana followed the boy into a -room whose walls were covered with large black panels upon which -were painted figures in brilliant colours. Surrounding each panel -there was a rich border of painted flowers. In the midst of the room, -placed on trestles, was a table, at which the men of the family -were already seated. The father, a middle-aged man, dressed -very much in the same fashion as Agis, except that he wore a -saffron-coloured instead of a white cloak, looked up and smiled -as the boy entered. But he took no notice of the two little girls, -and they felt quite sure he neither saw nor heard them.</p> - -<p>Seated near to him was a very handsome young man who -looked about nineteen or twenty. Except that his curly hair was -dark and his eyes brown, instead of grey, he was so like Agis that -the children knew he must be the brother Phidolas, of whom he -had spoken.</p> - -<p>Agis swung himself into his place at the table, which was spread -with dishes containing olives, figs, a sort of cream cheese, and -flasks of wine, and passed some of these things to his invisible -guests.</p> - -<p>“Phidolas and I are, as a matter of course, in training for the -games,” he said. “Therefore we must eat only of such diet as -this. But it may be that simple food pleases you? Eat and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> -drink, and fear no questions from my father and brother. The -magic of Sheshà protects you, and they are ignorant of your -presence.”</p> - -<p>Rachel and Diana were too interested to care much for food, -though the ripe figs they tasted were delicious. They cast quick -glances about a room so strange to them, and noticed that it contained -scarcely any furniture. Except for the simple trestle -table, and the chairs round it which were of a beautiful shape and -had curved arms, there were only two tripods, each holding an -elegant vase, placed in corners against the walls. The door opened -upon the colonnade, and beyond it they saw the courtyard with -its roof of wonderful blue sky.</p> - -<p>“To-morrow at this hour we shall be upon the journey!” -exclaimed Agis, addressing his brother. “And at this hour three -days hence thou wilt without doubt be in the midst of the race, -Phidolas!”</p> - -<p>“The gods grant thee victory, my sons,” said the father -gravely. “I pray to them for their favour and protection.”</p> - -<p>Before long the three were in animated talk about the games, -and the children listened eagerly to discussions as to which of the -candidates from Athens had the best chances of victory.</p> - -<p>“All goes well with thy mare, I trust?” asked Agis, presently, -turning to his brother.</p> - -<p>“With Aura all is well,” returned Phidolas cheerfully. “Let -us now go to her stable and see that she is fed.”</p> - -<p>The boys rose, and at the moment two slaves entered, who, -taking the dishes from the table, removed the board and the trestles, -thus in less than two minutes leaving the room practically empty.</p> - -<p>“<i>Our</i> dinners take much longer to clear,” murmured Rachel. -She looked at Agis. “Haven’t you any mother? Or any -sisters?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” said the boy. “My mother lives, and I have two -sisters. But they are not with us, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?” demanded Diana.</p> - -<p>Agis stared. “Always I forget you are strangers!” he declared, -laughing. “They are in the women’s part of the house,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span> -where they live. They do not pass their time with us. In our -country such is not the custom. Look yonder!” He took them -out into the courtyard and pointed to where, through a passage, -they saw another open space surrounded by a colonnade.</p> - -<p>“That is the women’s quarter,” he explained, carelessly. -“There my mother and sisters live and do their work.”</p> - -<p>“What sort of work?” asked Rachel.</p> - -<p>Agis shrugged his shoulders. “The usual work of women. -They and the female slaves spin wool for our garments and cook -our meals and prepare medicines and cordials in case of illness.... -But come, follow me, and you shall behold Aura, who is well -worthy of your regard.”</p> - -<p>“I shouldn’t like to have been a Greek girl in Athens long ago, -would you?” whispered Rachel to Diana. “It must have been -horribly dull!”</p> - -<p>“I wonder what Agis thinks of <i>us</i>,” chuckled Diana. “He’s -never met girls like us before. You can see that. Sheshà seems -to be able to do anything he likes in any country. No wonder -everyone calls him ‘greatest of magicians.’”</p> - -<p>They were following Agis and Phidolas all this time, and -presently through a door that led from the covered colonnade -came to a yard, in which stood a stable built of rough stones. -Aura, the mare of which they had heard so much, was looking over -its low door, and, at the sight of her, both children cried out in -delight.</p> - -<p>“She’s almost prettier than Bucephalus,” Rachel declared. -“Look at her lovely brown satin coat, and her sweet beautiful -eyes!”</p> - -<p>“And doesn’t she simply <i>love</i> Phidolas?” exclaimed Diana. -“Look at her now.” The beautiful creature was rubbing her -head against the young man’s shoulder while he talked to her, as -though she were a human being.</p> - -<p>“Thou wilt win me the race, is it not so, my lovely one?” he -murmured in her ear, while Agis, after patting her shining neck, -went to fetch a handful of corn.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Rachel, if <i>only</i> we could go to Olympia and see the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span> -games!” sighed Diana. “But you heard what Agis said. The -journey will take about three days, so of course we couldn’t——”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>She broke off in the midst of the sentence to rub her eyes. -Rachel was rubbing hers also.</p> - -<p>“Where are we?” she began incoherently, gazing about her.</p> - -<p>“We were looking at Aura—and now—oh, Rachel, I do believe -it’s <i>Olympia</i>!” the last words were uttered with a gasp of excitement.</p> - -<p>“It <i>is</i>. I’m sure it is,” Rachel agreed.</p> - -<p>“Then we must have passed over three days in just that second -while we stood by the stable. How could we possibly have done -that?”</p> - -<p>“Sheshà says Time is a magic thing,” returned Rachel, dreamily. -“And it isn’t, anyhow, more wonderful than all the other things -that have happened.... Just see how lovely everything looks, -Diana. Don’t let’s bother about how we got here.”</p> - -<p>“The sun is just going to rise, isn’t it?” whispered Diana, -still bewildered and rather awed by the suddenness of this change -of scene.</p> - -<p>They were standing on a rocky spur of mountain looking down -upon a huge circular space, enclosed by tier above tier of empty -seats.</p> - -<p>On the left, through a gap in the hills, they saw the calm blue -sea, stretching away to where above the horizon the sun, like a -shield of fire, was just rising. In front of them, and overshadowing -part of the enclosed space (which at once reminded the children -of a huge circus ring) there lay a thick wood.</p> - -<p>Everything was very still. Not a sound broke the silence, and -there was something in the appearance of the vast empty ring -with the empty seats about it, and the mountains and the sea -as background, which for a moment was rather terrifying.</p> - -<p>Diana drew closer to Rachel.</p> - -<p>“I wish someone would come,” she murmured.</p> - -<p>It was just then that a well-known voice made the children -turn with joyful relief to see Sheshà. They knew him at once,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> -though he was dressed in the Grecian costume to which they were -now growing accustomed.</p> - -<p>“Oh, we’re so glad you’ve come!” sighed Rachel. “It was -getting lonely here. This is Olympia, isn’t it? But where is Agis?”</p> - -<p>“And Phidolas?” put in Diana.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe50" id="i_160"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_160.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“This is Olympia, on the western shores of Greece. Here, -when the sun has fully risen on this the first day of the games, -will be held those contests renowned -throughout the world. From every part of Greece -the competitors have already arrived, Agis and Phidolas among -them. The youths are lodged in yonder town; and in all the -villages near, other athletes, as they are called, have found -lodging. Ere long they will begin to assemble.”</p> - -<p>“And you will tell us all about it!” exclaimed Diana. “Better -than Agis, because <i>you</i> know who we are, and he can’t understand—lots -of things. But he’s awfully nice,” she added hastily.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp53" id="i_160fp" style="max-width: 125.5em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_160fp.jpg" alt="" /> - <div class="caption"><p>THE OLYMPIC GAMES</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span></p> - -<p>Sheshà smiled.</p> - -<p>“Come with me, and, before the games begin, I will show you -what I can. First shall you see the temple which encloses one -of the Wonders of the World.”</p> - -<p>“One of the Seven Wonders?” asked Rachel.</p> - -<p>“One of the Seven Wonders,” repeated Sheshà.</p> - -<p>In another second, and without knowing how they reached it, -the children found themselves standing near a temple in front -of which stretched the wood they had seen from the mountain -side.</p> - -<p>“This is the famous temple of Zeus or—to give him the name -more familiar to your ears—of Jupiter Olympius. He it was who, -according to the Greeks, first commanded these games—the -Olympic Games—to be held. Later you shall behold the great -statue it contains. For the moment let us wander a little through -this wood, sacred to Jupiter.”</p> - -<p>“These are oak trees. It’s an oak wood,” said Rachel, who -was wise in knowledge of the country and its trees and flowers.</p> - -<p>“Yes, because the oak is the special tree of Jupiter—his sacred -tree. Therefore, very rightly, an oak wood stretches before his -temple.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, there’s a statue!” exclaimed Diana suddenly, pointing -to where, between the trees, she had caught sight of a gleam of -white.</p> - -<p>“There’s a whole line of them,” she went on. “Do let us go -and look.”</p> - -<p>“Patience,” counselled Sheshà. “We shall pass them on our -way. These,” he said, when in a moment or two they had -reached the marble figures, “these are the statues representing -those youths who, as victors in the Olympic Games, claimed the -right to have their statues set up in the sacred wood. Some of -them, as you behold, are already ancient, for it is long, long ago -since these contests first began.”</p> - -<p>“Where are we exactly—in the ‘Past,’ I mean?” asked -Rachel. “Has Alexander the Great conquered Greece -yet?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span></p> - -<p>Sheshà shook his head. “Alexander is as yet unborn. The -games you will behold to-day are full a hundred years before -his time. Greece, though declining from the height of her glory, -is still free.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, look! There’s quite a little boy here,” cried Diana, -who was carefully examining the statues. “Anyhow, he doesn’t -look any older than Agis. But <i>he</i> must have won a prize, I suppose, -or his statue wouldn’t be here?”</p> - -<p>“It has sometimes happened that young children have been -victors,” said Sheshà. “That child was one of them.”</p> - -<p>Rachel and Diana gazed admiringly at the slim graceful figure -of the boy.</p> - -<p>“How pleased he must have been!” exclaimed Diana. “Oh, -wouldn’t it be joyful if Agis should win to-day?”</p> - -<p>“The funny part of it is,” began Rachel, slowly, “that it’s -settled—one way or the other. We shall be seeing all over again -something that’s already happened, you know. It’s awfully uncanny -when you come to think of it, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>Sheshà smiled, and gently smoothed her hair.</p> - -<p>“All new ideas appear ‘uncanny’ at first, little maid. Yet -the familiar is really quite as marvellous as the little known.... -Come now, it is time we returned, for the sun is mounting higher, -and the competitors will be arriving. We will return to this -sacred wood, and to the temple, at the end of the day. Then -shall you behold the great statue of Zeus, the Seventh Wonder -of the World.”</p> - -<p>Almost before he had finished speaking, the children found -themselves back again in the huge “circus-ring” with its background -of mountains! But now it was no longer empty. An -enormous multitude of people filled the seats surrounding the -hollow space, and from the crowd there rose a murmur like the -hum of thousands of bees.</p> - -<p>Rachel and Diana, seated on either side of Sheshà, in “the -best places of all,” as Diana excitedly whispered, looked round -them with amazed curiosity. First they let their eyes wander -over the rows of spectators, clad in the Greek dress that was still<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> -strange to the sight of little English girls. The general colour -of the crowd was white, varied by patches of the crimson and -green and blue of many of the cloaks.</p> - -<p>Overhead was the glorious blue sky, and the sun’s rays, warm -but not as yet too hot, streamed over and lighted up the wonderful -scene, which every moment grew more interesting and -animated.</p> - -<p>“That,” said Sheshà, pointing to the clear space below, “is -the place of combat, called the <i>stadium</i>. And, now, behold the -judges are just about to take their places.”</p> - -<p>There was a raised platform or daïs in the middle of the -stadium, and towards this the children saw several stately figures -advancing. In a few moments these men, seated in chairs of a -shape like those they had already seen in the home of Agis, had -taken up their position on the daïs, each one holding on his knee a -crown of olive leaves, and in his hand a palm branch.</p> - -<p>“What are those for?” Rachel asked.</p> - -<p>“To crown the victors. They are the only prizes, and are -more eagerly coveted than gold or precious stones. To win those -simple crowns the youths of Greece train strenuously for years. -You have already in Athens seen a gymnasium. That to which -Agis belongs, is only one of hundreds, as such training schools exist -all over Greece, for the teaching of these physical exercises which -have made the Greek nation the most beautiful in the world.... -Here come some of the competitors—the <i>athletes</i>, to give them the -right name. Behold them!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, look! look, Diana!” shouted Rachel, pointing to where -a procession of boys on horseback came riding into the stadium.</p> - -<p>“What does it remind you of?” asked Diana quickly.</p> - -<p>“Why, it’s exactly like that marble picture of boys riding -we saw—where was it? Why, on the Parthenon temple, of -course!”</p> - -<p>“But we saw it first in the British Museum,” Diana reminded -her.</p> - -<p>“Where it rests now, having been torn from one of the noblest -temples in the world,” said Sheshà, sadly. “The sculptor who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> -made that frieze, the great Phidias, must have many times seen -processions like to this,” he added, pointing to the beautiful boys -who, mounted on no less beautiful horses, were now cantering -round the stadium while the crowd applauded loudly.</p> - -<p>“Yes! Yes! It’s just as though those marble boys had come -to life,” declared Diana, excitedly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look!” interrupted Rachel, still more thrilled. “There’s -Phidolas riding upon his lovely horse! Oh, don’t they look -splendid together?”</p> - -<p>“And there’s Agis!” cried Diana, jumping up and clapping -her hands. “Do you see? With a crowd of other boys, just -coming in. Oh, this is simply <i>frightfully</i> exciting!”</p> - -<p>Sheshà laughed. “Listen to the heralds,” he counselled. -“The games are just about to begin.”</p> - -<p>A silence all at once fell upon the vast swaying crowd, while -several men with trumpets, advancing from the centre of the -stadium and addressing the people, cried out the names of the -competitors, and the cities from which they came.</p> - -<p>Rachel and Diana exchanged delighted glances when the name -of Agis of Athens was announced among the rest, and, after the -last notes of the trumpets had died away, they saw the athletes -being arranged for the first race.</p> - -<p>“That’s the umpire, I suppose?” whispered Rachel, pointing -to a man who was marshalling the boys.</p> - -<p>Sheshà nodded, and, a second later, Diana asked eagerly: -“What are they doing now?” For one of the umpires was reciting -something in a loud voice, to which all the competitors -replied with a shout of assent.</p> - -<p>“The athletes are taking the oath to observe all the rules of -the games, and to gain no advantage by means unfair and dishonourable,” -explained Sheshà.</p> - -<p>“Look! Look! They’re off,” cried Rachel, as she pranced -up and down, quite unable to keep still.</p> - -<p>Like a streak of white lightning round the ring, the boys and -young men rushed with a swiftness which made the children hold -their breath. Shouts of encouragement and of delight from the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> -audience accompanied their course, and, after a few moments of -tense excitement, the trumpets blew, and, yes—! It was the -name of Agis that resounded through the stadium! There came -a hurricane of applause in which the children madly joined. Then -other contests took place.</p> - -<p>Each one of these, the wrestling, boxing, quoit throwing, and -especially the chariot racing, had its separate thrill, and was -followed with breathless interest by the crowd. But it was the -great horse-race to which both the children looked forward with -the most intense longing—the race in which Phidolas and his -beautiful mare, Aura, were to compete. At last it came. There -were many competitors, all of them splendid youths, mounted -upon splendid horses. But, while preparations for the start were -being made, Rachel and Diana’s eyes strayed oftenest to Phidolas -and Aura.</p> - -<p>A deep sigh from both of them told of their suspense, when like -an arrow from a bow, Aura sprang forward with her rider, and the -whole crowd of horsemen were off like the wind.</p> - -<p>Once round the stadium had the racers been, when suddenly -a great cry arose from the spectators. Phidolas had been thrown! -For a second he lay on the ground, till the umpires, rushing forward, -dragged him out of the way of thundering hoofs. Then a -mighty clamour arose....</p> - -<p>“What are they saying? Oh, what <i>is</i> it they’re shouting?” -begged the children, wild with anxiety.</p> - -<p>“They are pitying Phidolas, since it was to keep faithfully -the rules of the race that he was unseated,” explained Sheshà. -“Did you not see how he swerved to avoid hindering the rider -that followed him in his course?”</p> - -<p>But the children scarcely listened, for another shout, this -time of amazement, made them look to where everyone was -pointing.</p> - -<p>Wonder of wonders, Aura, unchecked in her speed by the fall -of her master, was racing as though he had still been on her back -to guide her!</p> - -<p>On she flew, keeping the pace well, though two or three other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> -horses had already outstripped her. The crowd had become silent, -too full of wonder and interest to shout, and all eyes followed Aura, -who was still a little behind the foremost riders.</p> - -<p>And now, at the last round, according, as Sheshà explained, to -the usual custom, the heralds raised their trumpets, and blew -strong blasts to encourage the racers.</p> - -<p>At the sound, pricking up her ears, Aura gathered herself -together, and, with a flying leap, outdistanced the foremost horsemen, -and amidst the deafening cries and applause of the -spectators, was first to reach the goal!</p> - -<p>Nor was this all. No sooner was the race at an end, than, -throwing up her graceful head, she trotted to the daïs where the -judges sat, and stood meekly before them.</p> - -<p>“Oh, the darling lovely thing!” cried the children, incoherently, -amidst the tumult. “She’s won! She’s won! The -judges <i>must</i> say she’s won!”</p> - -<p>And they did. In another moment the children saw two -umpires leading Phidolas, unhurt, between them. Lightly he -sprang upon the back of his mare, and as wild shouts rent the air, -the judges placed the wreath of olives upon his close-cropped curly -head, and proclaimed him and his horse joint victors.</p> - -<p>After this wonderful thing had happened, it seemed almost -impossible that there should be any greater excitement in store. -Yet when, preceded by heralds blowing trumpets, the successful -athletes marched round the stadium and the air rang with the -shouting and applause of the multitude, it seemed that <i>this</i>, after -all, was the greatest moment of the day. It was difficult to decide -which of the two brothers, Phidolas or Agis, was received with the -wildest enthusiasm. When Agis was crowned, the people roared -their applause because of his youth (and, indeed, as he followed -the heralds he looked a charming, but very little boy). And when -Phidolas, in his turn, rode round the stadium, the people were -again worked up to a frenzy of delight, and Aura, as though she -knew that part of the applause was meant for her, stepped -proudly, and arched her glossy neck, while her beautiful dark -eyes thanked the people for praising her.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span></p> - -<p>“Oh, won’t their father be proud!” exclaimed Rachel. -“Fancy having two sons winning the olive wreath!”</p> - -<p>“Will they have their statues put up in the sacred wood?” -Diana asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes—and there also will be the statue of the mare, Aura,” -said Sheshà.</p> - -<p>Diana jumped for joy. “So she ought! So she ought! She -deserves it,” she cried.</p> - -<p>“Nor does the triumph of those athletes who have conquered -end here,” Sheshà went on to say. “When they return, each to -his native city, the whole population will come forth to greet them. -The victor belonging to each city, wearing his olive crown, will be -placed in a chariot. Torch bearers will receive and run before him, -and, when he approaches the wall of his native town, he will find -that a breach has been made in it through which he will drive in -triumph instead of entering at any one of its gates. In such honour -do the citizens of Greece hold a victor in the Olympian -Games.”</p> - -<p>“I expect Phidolas and Agis will drive in the same chariot -when they get back to Athens?” suggested Diana. “Oh, won’t -their father be pleased. I’m glad. He looked such a nice -man.”</p> - -<p>“He <i>has</i> been pleased, you mean,” said Rachel, rather quietly. -“It all happened long ago.”</p> - -<p>“It’s so difficult to remember that,” murmured Diana.</p> - -<p>There was a little silence, and then Rachel exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“See, the people are going. Is this the end of the games?”</p> - -<p>“It is the end of the first day’s contests,” Sheshà replied. -“There will be yet four days, but these will not be wholly occupied -by the racing and wrestling and quoit-throwing. Poets will -read their odes in praise of the victors. Plays by the greatest -dramatists in Greece will be judged and acted, and musicians -will play the music they have composed. Olympia does not -exist solely for the body. It is for the spirit also. And -some of the most famous plays in the world have been acted -here.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span></p> - -<p>“Oh, can’t we see them too?” begged the children. “Why -need we go on into the Present at all?” added Diana. “The -Past is so wonderful.”</p> - -<p>Sheshà smiled at her kindly. “The Present is wonderful -too. It’s <i>all</i> wonderful. Come now, and you shall behold yet -another wonder, for the people are going to the temple of Zeus, -where the victors will worship and give thanks. We will follow -them, and you shall have a glimpse of the statue which Phidias -made in honour of Zeus, or to give him his other name—of Jupiter -Olympius.”</p> - -<p>“He’s called that because his temple is here at Olympia, I -suppose?” Rachel said. “Agis told us something about Phidias. -He made the statue of Minerva in the Parthenon, didn’t -he?”</p> - -<p>“And the frieze of riding boys too,” put in Diana.</p> - -<p>“Yes—he was the sculptor who adorned the Parthenon at -Athens,” said Sheshà, as they followed the huge crowd that was -moving towards the temple of Zeus. “But the citizens were -ungrateful to him. Therefore he left Athens, and came to live here, -near Olympia. And for the people of this part of Greece, he -carved a statue even larger and more famous than that of -Minerva in the Parthenon—the statue you are about to behold.”</p> - -<p>“Look! The doors are open now. They were shut when we -saw the temple before,” cried Rachel.</p> - -<p>“Let us walk where we may gain a view through the gates,” -Sheshà suggested. In another moment the children saw the -interior of the temple.</p> - -<p>There, towering upwards to the height of sixty feet, they caught -a glimpse of a majestic figure. It gleamed with the white ivory -and flashed with the gold which crowned it, and for a second they -saw a grand calm face looking down upon the olive-wreathed victors -who bowed low before the shrine.</p> - -<p>“You behold the masterpiece of Phidias—the Seventh Wonder -of the World,” murmured Sheshà. “Jupiter Olympius from his -temple blesses the victors in the games he was the first to institute.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span></p> - -<p>The voice of their guide sounded so faint and far away that the -children scarcely caught the last words.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe55" id="i_169"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_169.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>But blending with them, uttered in fact almost at the same -time, came a remark from Mr. -Sheston.... “You see where -the frieze, now on the walls of this -Museum, really belongs? Phidias, -the sculptor, in all probability, saw just such a procession at the -Olympic Games, celebrated throughout the world, and even now -not forgotten. Didn’t you ask me what the word <i>Olympia</i> meant? -Now you know....”</p> - -<p>“Yes, now we know,” said Rachel, slowly. She and Diana -were still standing by the glass case containing the model of the -Acropolis of Athens.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span></p> - -<p>They both glanced quickly at Mr. Sheston, but his face was -quite grave as he looked at his watch.</p> - -<p>“I think it’s time to go to my house for tea,” he said. “I -expect you’re tired?”</p> - -<p>The children glanced at one another now, and smiled.</p> - -<p>“We <i>ought</i> to be—because we’ve been away about four days, -really,” whispered Diana, lingering a moment after Mr. Sheston -turned to go.</p> - -<p>“And yet I expect it wasn’t even four <i>minutes</i>!” was Rachel’s -hurried answer.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>A week from the day on which the children had seen Athens, -sat through the Olympic Games, returned to the British Museum -and had tea with Mr. Sheston—they were both in Aunt Hester’s -drawing-room.</p> - -<p>Rachel’s father and mother were also there, and the following -morning she and Diana were to return with them to the Seven -Gables.</p> - -<p>“Rachel looks in the seventh heaven of delight!” remarked -Aunt Hester, glancing with a smile at her niece, who sat on the -arm of her father’s chair.</p> - -<p>“There’s <i>another</i> ‘seven,’” Rachel whispered meaningly to -Diana, when the grown-up people began to talk amongst themselves....</p> - -<p>“The Pyramids are amazing,” Rachel’s mother was saying, -after she had been describing what they had seen in Egypt. -“Weren’t they counted among the Wonders of the World? I’m -not surprised.”</p> - -<p>“It was the first Great Pyramid that was one of the Seven -Wonders, I think, wasn’t it?” Rachel’s father returned. “What -were the others? I don’t believe anyone knows!”</p> - -<p>“We do!” exclaimed Rachel, suddenly. She really couldn’t -help it.</p> - -<p>Her mother and father laughed, but looked surprised.</p> - -<p>“Well, what are they?” asked both of them, speaking together.</p> - -<p>“There’s the Great Pyramid, and the Hanging Gardens at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> -Babylon, and the Colossus at Rhodes—” began Rachel, very -quickly.</p> - -<p>“And the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and the Mausoleum -at Halicarnassus, and the Pharos at Alexandria,” added Diana -with equal speed.</p> - -<p>“And the statue of Jupiter Olympius.”</p> - -<p>The last one they said together, almost in the same breath.</p> - -<p>“That’s seven,” was Rachel’s last word.</p> - -<p>“Well, I never!” exclaimed her father. He looked across at -Aunt Hester and laughed again. “How on earth have they -learnt all that?”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Sheston, I expect,” returned his sister. “He was always -taking them to the British Museum.”</p> - -<p>At the mention of the old man’s name, Rachel’s father glanced -quickly at his little daughter, who returned the look with a smile.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Sheston is a wonderful old boy, isn’t he, Rachel?” he -remarked quietly.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe68_75" id="i_171"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_171.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>“Oh, yes!... And, Dad,” she began, moving even closer -to him. “It’s lovely to be going home, but I’ve -enjoyed it <i>awfully</i> here with Aunt Hester, and -Diana, and—Mr. Sheston. And it would be -dreadful never to come back again. I may—some -time or other—mayn’t I?” she begged -earnestly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes!” -cried Diana, -with equal fervour.</p> - -<p>Rachel’s -father put his -arm round her.</p> - -<p>“Of course -you may,” he -said, “if your -aunt will have -you.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span></p> - -<p>“Of <i>course</i> I will,” returned Aunt Hester, looking gratified.</p> - -<p>“I’m glad you like Mr. Sheston,” observed Rachel’s father, -smiling first at his little daughter, and then at Diana.</p> - -<p>“Let’s give <i>seven</i> cheers!” exclaimed Diana. And both -children laughed.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe90_625" id="i_172"> - <img class="w100" src="images/i_172.png" alt="" /> -</div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class = "transnote"> -<h2>Transcriber’s Note</h2> -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> -<p>Original publication date 1921</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RACHEL AND THE SEVEN WONDERS ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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