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diff --git a/old/66745-0.txt b/old/66745-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5c7fc12..0000000 --- a/old/66745-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11987 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Belshazzar: A Tale of the Fall of Babylon, -by William Stearns Davis - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Belshazzar: A Tale of the Fall of Babylon - -Author: William Stearns Davis - -Illustrator: Lee Woodward Zigler - J. E. Laub - -Release Date: November 15, 2021 [eBook #66745] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Tim Lindell 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.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELSHAZZAR: A TALE OF THE FALL OF -BABYLON *** - - - - - -BELSHAZZAR - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: “The poet sang a marvellous song, full of all the flowery -flatteries of the East, praising the princess.”] - - - - - BELSHAZZAR - - A TALE OF THE - FALL OF BABYLON - - BY - WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY - LEE WOODWARD ZIGLER - DECORATIONS BY - J.E. LAUB. - - NEW YORK - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. - 1902 - - [Illustration] - - COPYRIGHT, 1901, 1902, - BY JOHN WANAMAKER. - - COPYRIGHT, 1902, - BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY. - - PUBLISHED JUNE, 1902. - - NORWOOD PRESS - J. S. CUSHING & CO.—BERWICK & SMITH - NORWOOD MASS. U.S.A. - - - - -[Illustration: CONTENTS] - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. BABYLON THE GREAT 1 - - II. BELSHAZZAR THE KING 14 - - III. THE YOKE OF THE CHALDEES 31 - - IV. RUTH 48 - - V. THE TEMPLE OF NABU 60 - - VI. THE GLORY OF THE CHALDEES 75 - - VII. THE SPELL OF THE MASKIM 97 - - VIII. THE HAREM OF THE KING 117 - - IX. THE KING OF THE BOW 131 - - X. BEL ACCUSES 154 - - XI. NABU DEFIES THE KING 167 - - XII. THE WISE GUDEA PROSPERS 181 - - XIII. GUDEA FARES ON A JOURNEY 196 - - XIV. BELSHAZZAR CHOOSES HIS PATH 212 - - XV. DANIEL DELIVERS A MESSAGE 229 - - XVI. THE PROCESSION OF BEL 245 - - XVII. BEL TOTTERS 264 - - XVIII. AVIL-MARDUK GIVES COUNSEL 283 - - XIX. CYRUS, FATHER OF THE PEOPLE 297 - - XX. BELSHAZZAR’S GUESTS FORSAKE HIM 310 - - XXI. BELSHAZZAR PURSUES IN VAIN 325 - - XXII. THE KING AND THE FATHER 342 - - XXIII. BELSHAZZAR SECURES HIS PREY 354 - - XXIV. THE WARNING OF JEHOVAH 370 - - XXV. NABU BETRAYS BEL-MARDUK 387 - - XXVI. THE FULFILMENT OF JEHOVAH 397 - - XXVII. “BEL IS DEAD” 412 - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS] - - - “The poet sang a marvellous song, full of all the flowery - flatteries of the East, praising the princess” - (page 82) _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - “Darius had proved his title, ‘King of the Bow’” 24 - - “Isaiah plucked him roughly by the robe. ‘Make your feet wings, - or I will aid you’” 104 - - “All the Persian’s skill could not save his horse” 150 - - “They did not know the lion spirit within the king, that made - him as steeled against fear as against mercy” 272 - - “The starlight touched something that glittered—a soldier’s - helmet” 318 - - “‘Here is only the king; within your father waits’” 348 - - “They saw terror flash across the king’s face as he looked - upward” 386 - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: BELSHAZZAR] - - - - -CHAPTER I - -BABYLON THE GREAT - - -On a certain day in the month Airu, by men of after days styled April, -a bireme was speeding down the river Euphrates. Her swarthy Phœnician -crew were bending to the double tier of oars that rose flashing from the -tawny current; while the flute-player, perched upon the upcurved prow, -was piping ever quicker, hastening the stroke, and at times stopping -the music to cry lustily, “Faster, and faster yet! Thirty furlongs to -Babylon now, and cool Helbon wine in the king’s cellars!” Whereupon all -would answer with a loud, “Ha!”; and make the bireme leap on like a very -sea-horse. Under the purple awning above the poop, others were scanning -the flying waves, and counting the little mud villages dotting the -river-banks. A monotonous landscape;—the stream, the sky, and between -only a broad green ribbon, broken by clumps of tassel-like date palms and -the brown thatched hamlets. Four persons were on the poop, not counting -as many ebony-skinned eunuchs who squatted silently behind their masters. -Just as the flute-player blew his quickest, a young man of five and -twenty rose from the scarlet cushions of his cedar couch, yawned, and -stretched his muscular arms. - -“So we approach Babylon?” he remarked in Chaldee, though with a marked -Persian accent. And Hanno the ship-captain, a wiry, intelligent Phœnician -in Babylonian service, answered:— - -“It is true, my Lord Darius; in another ‘double-hour’ we are inside the -water-gate of Nimitti-Bel.” - -The first speaker tossed his head petulantly: “Praised be Ahura the -Great, this river voyage closes! I am utterly weary of this hill-less -country. Surely the Chaldees have forgotten that God created green -mountain slopes, and ravines, and cloud-loved summits.” - -Hanno shrugged his shoulders. - -“True; yet this valley is the garden of the earth. The Nile boasts no -fairer vineyards nor greater yield of corn-land. He who possesses here a -farm has a treasure better than a king’s. Gold is scattered; the river -yields eternal riches. Four thousand years, the tablets tell, has the -river been a mine of things more precious than gems. And we approach -Babylon, rarest casket in all this vast treasure-house.” - -“All men praise Babylon!” quoth the Persian lightly, yet frowning -downward. - -“Yes, by Astarte! I have seen India and the Tin Isles, the chief wonders -of the world. Yet my heart beats quicker now. A hundred strokes brings us -to the first view of the mistress of cities.” - -But Darius did not answer—only scowled in silence at the foam-eddy under -the flying stern. As he stood, a stranger could have noted that his tight -leathern dress set off a figure short, but supple as a roe’s, with the -muscles of a leopard. Fire sparkled in his steel-blue eyes; the smile on -his lips, from under his curling, fair beard, was frank and winsome. His -crisp blond hair and high forehead were pressed by a gray felt cap, and -upon his untanned jacket hung his sole ornament, a belt of gold chains, -whence dangled a short sword in an agate sheath. Here was a man of power, -the first glance told. - -After no short silence the young man turned to his companions. Upon one -of the couches lounged a handsome elderly nobleman, dressed in a flowing -white and purple robe, and with a felt cap like Darius’s; on the next a -lady, clad also in the loose “Median” mantle, beneath which peeped low -boots of crimson leather. But her face and shoulders were quite hidden by -an Indian muslin veil. Without speaking, Darius stood beside her for so -long a time that she broke the silence in their own musical Persian:— - -“My prince, you grow dumb as a mute. Does this piping desert breeze waft -all your thoughts after it? By Mithra! Pharnaces”—with a nod to the old -nobleman—“has been a wittier travelling companion.” - -And, as if to gain a better view, the lady lowered the veil, showing a -face very white, save as the blood of health crimsoned behind it, and -deep-blue eyes, and hair bound by a gold circlet, though not more golden -than the unruly tresses it confined. The lines of her face were soft; -but despite the banter on her lips none was in her eyes. Upon her breast -burned a single great topaz, such as only kings’ daughters wear. - -There was no levity in Darius’s voice when he answered:— - -“Princess Atossa, you do well to mock me. Let Ahura grant forgetfulness -of that night in the gardens at Ecbatana, when we stood together, and -heard the thrushes sing and the fountains tinkle, and said that which He -alone may hear. And now we near Babylon, where Belshazzar will hail you -as his bride. In Babylon they will proclaim you ‘Lady of the Chaldees,’ -and I Darius, son of Hystaspes, must obey Cyrus, your father—must deliver -you up, as pledge of peace betwixt Persia and Babylon; must sit at your -marriage feast”—with a pause—“must return to Susa, and forget Atossa, -daughter of the Great King.” - -The lady drew back the veil and answered softly: “Cyrus is King; his word -is law and is right. Is he not called ‘the father of his people’?” - -“Yes, verily, more a father to his people than to his friends,” was the -bitter reply. “In my despair when you were promised to the Babylonian -I went to him, and he professed great sorrow for us both. But ‘he were -unworthy to rule if he set the joy of a daughter and a friend above the -peace of his kingdom.’ Then he bade me ask any boon I wished, saving your -hand; I should have it, though it be ten satrapies. And I asked this—‘to -go as the envoy that should deliver you to Belshazzar.’ He resisted -long, saying I made the parting more bitter; but I was steadfast. And -now”—hesitating again—“we are close to Babylon.” - -Atossa only looked away, and repeated, “Better to have parted in Susa! We -should be learning a little how to forget.” - -Darius had no answer, but Hanno, who could not hear her, cried from the -steering oar, “Look, my lords and my lady! Babylon!” He was pointing -southward. - -The river bent sharply. Just above the topmost plumes of the palms on the -promontory thus formed hung a glitter as of fire, pendent against the -cloudless blue. - -“Flame!” exclaimed Darius, shaken out of his black mood. - -“Gold!” answered Hanno, smiling; “the crest of the queen of _ziggurats_, -the uppermost shrine of Bel-Marduk, the greatest temple-tower of the -twenty in Babylon.” And Darius, fresh from the splendours of Susa, -marvelled, for he knew the wondrous shining was still a great way off. - -But even without this bright day-beacon they would have known they -approached the city. The shores were still level as the stream, but the -palm-groves grew denser. They saw great cedars and tamarisks, blossoming -shrubs, strange exotic trees in pleasant gardens, and the splendour of -wide beds of flowers. Tiny canals drained away inland. The villages were -larger, and beyond them scattered white-walled, rambling farm-houses. -They saw dirty-fleeced sheep and long-horned kine; and presently Hanno -pointed out a file of brown camels swaying along the river road—a Syrian -caravan, doubtless, just safe across the great desert. - -But never in her mountain home had Atossa seen a sight like that upon the -river. For the Euphrates seemed turned to life. Clumsy barges loaded with -cattle were working with long sweeps against the current; skiffs loaded -with kitchen produce were drifting southward; and especially huge rafts, -planks upborne by inflated skins, and carrying building-stone and brick, -were creeping down-stream towards Babylon. In and out sculled little -wicker boats, mere baskets, water-tight, which bore a goodly cargo. And, -as the bireme swept onward, the boatman gave many a hail of good omen. -“Marduk favour you! Samas shine on you!” While others, who guessed the -royal passenger, shouted, “Istar shed gladness on the great lady Atossa!” - -So for the moment the young Persians forgot all cares, admiring river and -land. All the time the tower of Bel shone with growing radiance. They -could see its lower terraces. Around it other _ziggurats_, nearly as -high, seemed springing into being, their cone-shaped piles of terraces -glowing with the glazed brickwork,—gold, silver, scarlet, blue,—and about -them rose masses of walls and buildings, stretching along the southern -horizon almost as far as the eye could traverse. - -Hanno stood smiling again at the wonderment of the Persians. - -“Babylon the Great!” he would cry. “Babylon that endures forever!” - -And truly Darius and Atossa thought his praise too faint, as they saw -those ramparts springing up to heaven, worthy to be accounted the -handiwork of the gods. - -“Do you say now,” asked Hanno, “that the Chaldees have forgotten the -hills? Elsewhere the gods make the mountains; in Babylonia men vie with -the lords of heaven! You can see yonder the green feathers of the trees -in the Hanging Gardens. The great Nebuchadnezzar once wedded Amytis the -Mede, who wept for her native uplands. In fifteen days, such was her -husband’s love and might, he reared for her this mountain upon arches, -and covered it with every fruit and tree. And this paradise shall be -yours, O Lady Atossa!” - -“Verily,” cried Darius, half bitterly, “on this earth you will enjoy the -delights of Ahura’s _Garo-nmana_, ‘the Abode of Song.’” - -But Atossa, shuddering, answered, “Not so; in _Garo-nmana_ there is no -such word as ‘farewell.’” And for a moment her eyes went back to the -river. But now Hanno was thundering to his men to back water. A crimson -pennant was being dipped on the staff before an ample country house -by the river bank, and as the Phœnicians stroked slowly backward, a -six-oared barge shot out towards the bireme. Behind the white liveries -of the rowers one could see two figures sitting in the stern, and -Hanno, with his hawk’s eyes, cried again, “I am not deceived. The -‘civil-minister’ Daniel and the chief of the eunuchs, Mermaza, are coming -aboard, as escort of honour, before we reach the city.” - -Darius appeared puzzled. “Daniel?” he asked. “That is not a Babylonian -name.” - -“You are right. His official name is Belteshazzar, but he is by birth a -Jew; one from the petty kingdom Nebuchadnezzar destroyed. He has held -very high office in these parts. All men honour him, for he is justice -and faithfulness itself. The priests hate him because he clings to the -worship of his native god Jehovah; but the government continues him, -old as he is, as ‘_Rabsaris_,’ the ‘civil-minister.’ His popularity -strengthens the dynasty.” - -“And the eunuch with him?” - -The captain laughed significantly. “There must be like pretty serpents -at Cyrus’s court. He was born a Greek. Men say he is soft-voiced and -soft-mannered, yet with a brain sharp enough to outwit Ea, god of wisdom. -But he is nothing to dread; never will dog run more obediently at your -heels than will he.” - -The boat was near. The two figures in the stern rose, and the elder -hailed, “God favour you, Hanno! Is the Lady Atossa aboard?” - -“May Baal multiply your years! She is here and the Lords Darius and -Pharnaces.” - -Then, while the boat drew alongside, the younger of the strangers, who -was beringed and coiffured in half-feminine fashion, burst into a flowery -oration, praising every god and goddess for the safety of the princess, -for the sight of whose face the King Belshazzar waited impatient as the -hungering lion. The need of clambering upon the bireme cut short the -flow of his eloquence. Darius had only good-natured indifference for the -eunuch, who was, as Hanno said, quite one of his kind—handsome, according -to a vulgar mould, rouged, pomaded, and dressed in a close-fitting robe -of blue, skilfully embroidered with red rosettes; gold in his ears, gold -chains about his neck, gold on his white sandals; the whole adorned with -a smile of such imperturbable sweetness that Darius wondered if he were a -god, and so removed above mortal hate and grief. - -But the Jew was far otherwise. The Persians saw a man of quite seventy, -yet still unbowed by his years, his hair and beard white as the -wave-spray; in his dark eyes a fire; strength, candour, and wisdom -written on his sharp Semitic features. His dress was the plainest—a white -woollen robe that fell with hardly a fold, a simple leathern girdle, -around the feet a fringe of green tassels. He was barefoot, his hair was -neatly dressed, but he wore no fillet. Upon his breast hung his badge of -office, a cylinder seal of carved jasper, bored through the centre for -the scarlet neck-cord. - -Daniel had salaamed respectfully; Mermaza brushed his purple fillet on -the very deck. The salutations once over, Darius began with a question:— - -“And is it true, the report we heard at Sippar, that my Lord Nabonidus, -the father of my Lord Belshazzar, has been so grievously stricken with -madness that he can never hope to be made whole, and that his son must -rule for him, as though he were dead?” - -Daniel’s answer came slowly, as if he were treading on delicate ground. -“The rumour is too true. So it has pleased the All-Powerful. Nabonidus -is hopelessly mad, the chiefs of the Chaldeans declare. He lies in his -palace at Tema. Belshazzar has, seven days since, as the saying is, -‘taken the hands of Bel,’ and become sole Lord of Babylon.” - -“And I trust, with Ahura’s grace,” replied the prince formally, “soon to -stand before him, and in my master’s name wish his reign all manner of -prosperity.” - -Then, when the ceremonies of greeting were ended, formality fled, and the -talk drifted to the wonders of the approaching city. - -“And was it your own villa that your boat left?” asked Darius; to which -the minister answered affably: “My own. As Hanno may have told, I am -by birth a Jew; yet our God has blessed me in this land of captivity. -I possess a passing estate; it will be a fair marriage portion to my -daughter.” - -“Your daughter? Does God refuse a son?” A shiver and sigh seemed to sweep -over Daniel at the question. - -“I had three sons. All perished in the conspiracy when the young king -Labashi-Marduk fell. They are in Abraham’s bosom. Now, in my evening, -Jehovah sends me one ewe lamb, Ruth, who now waits for me in Babylon. But -alas! her mother is dead.” - -“Ahura pity you, good father,” protested the Persian, thrilling in -sympathy; “in Persia there is no greater woe than to lack a son. You have -much to mourn.” - -But the other answered steadily, “And much to rejoice over.” Then, -raising his head, he pointed forward. “See! We are before the great -water-gate of the outer wall. The king waits in his yacht inside the -barrier. We are sighted from the walls; they raise flags and parade the -garrison in honour of the daughter of Cyrus.” - -Darius gazed not forward, but upward; for though not yet within the -fortifications, the walls of brown brick lowered above his head like -beetling mountains. The mast of the bireme was dwarfed as it stood -against the bulwark. Steep and sheer reared the wall; a precipice, so -high that Darius could well believe Hanno’s tale that the city folk -boasted its height two hundred cubits. At intervals square flanking -towers jutted and rose yet higher, faced with tiles of bright blue and -vermilion; and behind this “rampart of the gods” rose a second, even -loftier; while Daniel professed that inside of this ran still a third, -not so high, yet nigh impregnable. As the current swept them nearer they -saw the water-gates, ponderous cages of bronze, hung from the towers by -ingenious chainwork, ready to drop in a twinkling, and seal all ingress -to the “Lady of Kingdoms.” - -Then, while Darius looked, suddenly the sun flashed on the armour of -many soldiers pacing the airy parapets. He heard the bray of trumpets, -the clangor of kettle-drums, the tinkling of harps, and soft flutes -breathing; while, as the vessel sped between the guardian towers, a -great shower of blossoms rained upon her deck, of rose, lily, scarlet -pomegranate; and a cheer out-thundered “Hail, Atossa! Hail, Queen of -Akkad! Hail, Lady of Babylon!” - -Daniel knelt at the princess’s feet. “My sovereign,” said he, with -courtly grace, “behold your city and your slaves. We have passed the -water-gate of Nimitti-Bel; before us lies the inner barrier of Imgur-Bel. -Except Belshazzar order otherwise, your wish is law to all Babylon and -Chaldea.” - -And at sight of this might and glory, Atossa forgot for a moment her -father and the love of Darius. “Yes, by Mithra!” cried she in awe, “this -city is built, not by man, but by God Most High.” - -But Daniel, while he rose, answered softly, as if to himself, “No, not by -God. Blood and violence have builded it. And Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel -shall be helpless guardians when Jehovah’s will is otherwise.” - -Another shout from Hanno, and Daniel cut short his soliloquy. - -“My lady,” said the Jew, in a changed tone, “the royal galley comes to -greet us. Prepare to meet Belshazzar.” - - - - -[Illustration: BELSHAZZAR THE KING] - -CHAPTER II - - -While Hanno’s bireme glided betwixt the portals of Nimitti-Bel, a yet -more magnificent galley had been flying up-stream to meet her. On the -poop, where the polished teak and ivory glittered, stood a group of -officers, in array glorious as the orb of Samas. Here stood Sirusur, the -_Tartan_, commander of the host; here Bilsandan, the _Rabsaki_, grand -vizier; here, proudest of all, Avil-Marduk, whose gray goatskin across -his shoulders proclaimed him chief priest of Bel,[1] highest pontiff -of the kingdom. Tall, handsome men were they all, worthy rulers of the -city of cities. But at their centre was no less a person than Belshazzar -himself, sovereign lord of “Sumer and Akkad,” as myriads hailed him. -The monarch sat while his ministers stood round him; yet even on his -gold-plated chair Belshazzar seemed nearly as tall as they. The royal -dress differed from that of the nobles’ only as the embroideries on the -close-fitting robes blazed with more than common splendour, and the gems -on the necklet would have drained the revenues of a petty kingdom. -Upon the carefully curled hair perched the royal tiara, white and blue, -threaded with gold, cone-shaped, but the top slightly flattened. There -was majesty and force stamped upon his aquiline features; force—and it -might be passion—glittered in his dark eye, and shone from the white -teeth half hid by the thick black beard. In brief, no diadem was needed -to proclaim Belshazzar lord. - -Avil-Marduk, a gaunt, haughty man, with a strident voice, was speaking to -Sirusur, while the eunuchs behind the king flapped their ostrich fans to -keep the flies away from majesty. - -“I would give much,” quoth he, “to know how long Cyrus will remain blind. -We must dissemble to the envoys; chatter peace. By Istar! I wish the -Egyptian treaty were signed! Pharaoh’s envoy is timorous as a wild deer.” - -Sirusur laughed dryly. “I have less fear. There are two envoys—Pharnaces, -an old nobleman, but the chief is the young Prince Darius. They say his -eyes are only for hunts and arrow-heads, after these Persian barbarians’ -fashion. We will give him a great fête, and show all courtesy. He will -return to Susa dazzled, and tell Cyrus that Belshazzar is friendly as his -own son.” - -“Nevertheless,” answered Avil, cautiously, “be guarded. The Persians -forgive twelve murders sooner than one lie. If Darius dreams we ask the -marriage treaty but to gain time for an Egyptian alliance and war—”he -broke off—“then, my gallant _Tartan_, you may have chance to prove your -valour.” - -Sirusur shrugged his shoulder. “The power of Cyrus is great. Media and -Lydia were both swallowed by him; but Babylon, Bel grant, shall prove -over large in his maw!” - -“The ship of the princess approaches,” announced Bilsandan. And even -Belshazzar arose as the vessel of Hanno swept alongside. The king stepped -to the bulwarks, the purple parasol of royalty held above his head by a -ready nobleman. The nimble Phœnicians lashed the two vessels together, -and laid a railed gangway between. Of the Persians Atossa crossed first, -followed by her eunuchs; and as she knelt at the king’s feet, she -unveiled. Her face was very pale, but marvellously fair in the eyes of -the Chaldeans, accustomed to the darker beauty of their own race. - -Belshazzar spoke to her, his voice deep, melodious, penetrating. “Rise, -daughter of Cyrus. Istar grant that the white rose of Persia shall bud -with new beauty in the gardens of Chaldea!” - -Atossa stood with downcast eyes. “I am content to find grace in the -sight of my lord,” was all she said. Then Darius followed, bowed himself -before the king, and delivered the good wishes of his master, to which -Belshazzar made friendly reply. After these compliments were ended, and -the Babylonians had salaamed before Atossa, Belshazzar commanded the -Persians to sit beside him, and affably pointed out each new building as -they entered the city. - -“Before us, on the left, rises the citadel of Nebuchadnezzar; yonder -flashes the brass of the great Gate of Istar; beside the mighty -_ziggurat_ of Bel rises that, scarce smaller, of his consort Beltis. -These brick quays on either bank extend ten furlongs, yet do not suffice -for the shipping. The high walls to the right are of the royal palace, a -city in itself, and the forest of the Hanging Gardens is close by. Though -all the rest of Babylon were taken,” Belshazzar spoke proudly, “a host -might rage against the palace in vain.” - -Darius could only wonder and gaze. The quays were a forest of masts. The -houses that crowded the water-front rose three and four stories high, -and were flat-roofed, walled with plastered wicker brightly painted. -The windows were very small, and all the buildings were closely thrust -together. - -“By Ahura!” cried the Persian, “do your people forget the smell of pure -air?” - -To which Belshazzar answered, laughing: “If one would live in Babylon, -one must pay his price. Happy the man so rich as to possess a little -garden in the midst of the city. As you go south, you find vineyards and -country houses inside the walls.” - -“Verily,” declared Darius, “better a reed hut in the forest, and good -hunting, than a thousand talents and life in Babylon!” - -The frankness and good nature of the Persian seemed contagious. -Belshazzar laughed again, heartily. - -“Now, by Marduk! you will never covet my kingdom. Tell me, do you love to -follow the lion?” - -The prince’s eyes flashed fire. “What are the joys of Ahura’s paradise -without a lion hunt before the feasting? Understand, O king, that the -name men call me by in Persia is the ‘King of the Bow,’ for I boast that -I have no peer in archery.” - -“Then, by Nergal, lord of the hunting,” swore the monarch, “you shall -face the fiercest lions and wild bulls in my preserves in the marshes! -And I will learn if a Persian can conquer a king of Babylon in the chase.” - -“Excellent,” exclaimed the Persian. “Babylon and Persia are at peace; -they shall test their might on the lord of beasts. And if I am not -Cyrus’s self, next to him there is none other of my nation that calls me -vassal.” - -But now the water-gate of Imgur-Bel was passed, and while on the left -the cone of Bel-Marduk lifted its series of diminishing terraces to a -dizzy height, on the right spread the royal palace, a vast structure, -surrounded by a dense park, and all girded by a wall. On the river side -the buildings closely abutted the shores, rising from a lofty brick-faced -embankment, themselves of brick, but splendid with the gilding on the -battlements, with the sculptured winged bulls that flanked the many -portals, and the bright enamel upon the brickwork. Out of the masses of -walls sprang castellated towers crowned with gaudy flags, and toward the -centre reared a _ziggurat_, the private temple of the king. - -For an instant Darius was at Atossa’s side as she gazed, and no one -watched them. - -“This is the dwelling of Belshazzar,” said he softly, “a great king. Joy -to be his wife.” But the lady shivered behind her veil. - -“He is a great king, but they will never call him, like Cyrus, ‘the -father of his people.’” - -“You will soon forget Persia, happy as mistress in this wondrous city.” - -“When I have lived ten thousand years I shall forget—perhaps.” Then she -added very softly, “I am afraid of Belshazzar; his lips drop praise, his -heart is cold and hard as the northern ice. I shall always dread him.” - -“You wrong the king,” Darius vainly strove to speak lightly; “the ways of -Babylon are not those of Persia. But there will come a day when you will -feel that the Chaldees are your own people. Belshazzar is a splendid man; -he will delight to honour you.” - -But Atossa only held down her head, and answered in a whisper Darius -might not hear. - -They had no time for more. A vast multitude was upon the embankment -before the palace—white-robed priests, garlanded priestesses, the -glittering body-guard, all manner of city folk. A shout of welcome -drifted over the river. - -“Hail, King Belshazzar! Hail, Lady Atossa! May your years exceed those of -Khasisadra the Ancient!” Then, amid tinkling harps, many voices raised -the hymn of praise to Marduk, the conductor of the royal bride:— - - “O merciful one among the gods, - Marduk, king of heaven and earth, - Mankind, the black-headed race, - All creatures, and the spirits of the sky, - Bow down before thee!” - -The royal galley headed toward the landing. The great orchestra of -eunuchs and playing-girls raised a prodigious din; yet all their music -was drowned by the shoutings of the people. The staid citizens brandished -their long walking-staffs, and cheered till the heavens seemed near -cracking. But a large corps of the body-guard had cleared a portion of -the royal quay, and the party disembarked between two files of soldiers. -Close to the landing waited the chariots—the six-spoked wheels all -glistening with the gilding, more gilding on the panels of the body, the -pole, and the harness, and jewels and silver bells braided into the manes -of the prancing bay Elamites. For Atossa was ready a four-wheeled coach, -adorned as richly as the chariots, drawn by two sleek gray mules, and -with a closed body, that the daughter of Cyrus might rest on her cushions -within, undisturbed by the vulgar ken. Belshazzar ceremoniously waited -upon the princess, till Mermaza closed the door upon her. Then the king -beckoned to Darius to mount one of the chariots, while he leaped himself -into another. “To the palace,” was the royal command; but just as the -charioteers upraised their lashes, the steeds commenced to plunge and -rear almost beyond control. - -Along the brick-paved terrace tugged several lumbering wains, for -which great and small made way. As the wagons approached, a low rumble -proceeded from them, which set all the chariot horses prancing, and -the women and timid burghers uttered low cries and began to mutter -incantations. The eyes of Darius commenced to sparkle. The meaning of -that rumble he knew right well. - -“Lions?” demanded he of his chariot-driver. - -“Yes, lord,” the man answered, scarce reining the horses, “twelve -bull-lions just taken, being sent to Kutha for the king’s preserves.” - -The Persian’s nostrils dilated like a charger scenting battle. And as if -in answer to his half-breathed prayer, lo! one of the oxen, stung by the -goad and fretted by the roarings, commenced to shake his yoke, halting -obstinately, and lifting a full-voiced bellow. Instantly his mates -answered; the lions’ thunders doubled; the wagon-train was halted. - -Belshazzar called fiercely to the chief wagoner, “Quiet instantly, or -fifty stripes!” - -His voice was drowned in the roar. The teams were so near now that one -could look into the cages, and see the great beasts pent up behind the -stout wooden bars; bars that seemed all too frail at this moment, as -lion after lion, frightened and enraged by the din of the oxen, the -multitude, and his own fellows, began to claw at the bars, digging out -huge splinters with tooth and talon, and roaring louder, ever louder. - -Belshazzar’s voice sounded now above all the noise. “Clear away this -rabble!” he was ordering Sirusur, “Master of the Host.” “The man who sent -the lion-train this way shall face me to-night. Silence the beasts, and -get off with them!” - -But not the lord of Babylon and all his guards could still those oxen and -their maddened freight. - -Sirusur did as bidden. His men pushed on the crowd with their -sword-scabbards, but truth to tell the press was so close, and the exits -from the quay so cramped, the soldiers could accomplish little. The panic -was spreading swiftly enough, however. The goads on the oxen had only -driven them into deeper obstinacy. - -“Look! In Nergal’s name, look!” cried Darius’s charioteer; and before the -prince’s half-terrified, half-exulting eyes he saw the lion within the -nearest cage leaping to and fro, trebly maddened now by all the growing -tumult. The wagon swayed on its wheels. The wooden bars gave a crash -every instant. - -“Three more leaps and he is free!” the prince was shouting, transported -by his excitement. - -“Danger! The wagon topples!” was the howl of the people, and at last they -began to give way indeed. - -Sirusur, having abandoned his hopeless effort to restore order and -silence, hurried men to form before the chariots, while others ran to -aid the despairing drivers. Late—the unruly oxen strained their chains. -Darius saw the heavy cage totter, fall—a crash, a murk of dust, a noise -that thrilled the stoutest, hard wood giving way under harder talons -and teeth, then a roar of triumph. Out of the dust he saw a kingly lion -bounding, in all his panoply of tawny mane. As the beast leaped, drivers -and soldiers sped back like leaves before a gale. The multitude was -shrinking, trampling. - -“The lion! The lion! Loose! Escape!” - -Belshazzar’s curse was heard above all else. “Take him alive, or, by -Marduk, you are all flayed!” Some guardsmen sprang forward, but the lion, -crafty brute, did not fling himself against those breasts of steel. There -were bowmen present, but the king stayed their arrows. “Not a shaft. -Better ten killed than have him butchered!” The soldiers stood impotent, -while the lion ran with low bounds straight into the helpless crowd, that -recoiled as at the touch of fire. Belshazzar was in a towering rage. -“Nets and hot irons from the palace!” he thundered. “Impalement to all if -he escapes!” - -The people were screaming, panic-struck; priests were trampling down -women; the noise grew indescribable. The other lions dashed against -their cages. The brute ran like a great cat down the lane opened through -the multitude. A moment, and he would have broken clear and ranged the -streets. But from his own side Darius heard a cry of mortal fear. - -“Jehovah, have mercy! Ruth! My daughter!” - -In the next chariot stood Daniel, covering his face with his hands. The -Persian glanced toward the lion. In the centre of the lane, before the -escaping monster, stood a white-clad girl, terrified, shivering, her eyes -upon the lion, fascinated by his gaze, held helpless as a dove before -the snake. How she came there, what fate ordained that she alone of -those thousands should be left to confront the monster, that was no time -to know. But present she was, and before her the lion. The whole scene -passed in less time than the telling. The beast had instantly forgotten -his own perils. Keepers, soldiers, multitude, all ignored. He seemed -again in his forest—fair prey! That was all he knew! - -The lion sank low upon the earth, and crept by little leaps nearer, -nearer. The charming fire in the eyeballs Darius saw not, but he saw the -red, lolling tongue, the bristling mane, the great tail undulating at the -tip, the paws fit to crush an ox. Daniel was turning away his face. - -“Arrows, O king! Shoot! My only one!” pleaded he; but Belshazzar flung -back, “What is a maid beside a royal lion! Too far—no bow can carry!” - -[Illustration: “Darius had proved his title, ‘King of the Bow.’”] - -Many an archer’s fingers tightened around his bow, but the king’s eye -was on them. Not a shaft flew. There was a moment’s silence, lions and -oxen hushed. A low moan seemed rising from the people. The lion had -covered twenty of the thirty paces betwixt him and his prey. The maid was -quaking, yet her feet seemed turned to stone. Belshazzar stood in his -car, no god more splendid, more merciless. - -“Pity me, O king!” was Daniel’s last appeal. He had leaped down, and -grovelled as a worm before the royal car. - -“Too late,” came the answer, “only Bel’s bolt now can save!” What joy to -the king to see those lithe limbs in the monster’s clutch! But a great -cry had broken from Darius. - -“No, in the name of Ahura the merciful!” Few saw him, bounding from his -chariot, pluck bow and quiver from a soldier. The lion coiled his limbs -for the final leap; men saw his body spring as a stone from a catapult; -heard a twitter of a bow, and right at the bound the shaft entered the -shoulder, cunningly sped. A roar of dying agony, the body dashed upon the -pavement at the girl’s feet. No second shaft needed—a twitch, a great -bestial groan. Darius had proved his title, “King of the Bow.” - -But Belshazzar, who had seen the shot but not the archer, blazed out in -blind fury, “As Marduk rules, who shot? Impale him!” - -Darius stepped beside the royal chariot; his pose was very haughty. “My -lord,” said he, “I give proof we Persians are fair huntsmen.” - -Belshazzar’s hand went to his sword-hilt, but Darius met the flame in his -eyes unflinchingly. By a great effort the king controlled himself, but -did not risk speech. The drivers had mastered the oxen, the lions grew -still. The people were shouting in delight, “Glory to Nergal! The Persian -is peer to the hero Gilgamesh!” - -Daniel was kissing Darius’s shoes, his voice too choked for thanks. But a -young man with a forceful, frank face, a manly form, dressed like Daniel, -very simply, came and kissed, not the shoes, but the dust at Darius’s -feet. - -“For life I am your slave, O prince! You have saved me my betrothed!” -Then he ran among the people to lead away the girl. Belshazzar ventured -to speak. - -“How now, Daniel?” ignoring Darius. “By Nergal, your wench has been the -death of an African lion! Why here? You keep her locked at home, safe as -a gold talent. I have never seen her.” - -“She was with Isaiah, her betrothed. In the crowd they were swept -asunder. The king saw the rest.” - -Belshazzar was still raging. - -“Yes, verily. A rare bull-lion sacrificed for a slip of a wench like -her!” Then to the eunuchs: “Run, bring the lass to me. Rare treasure she -must prove to make her more precious than the lion.” - -Darius saw a fresh cloud on the old Jew’s face. In a moment Isaiah and -the maid were before the king. Very young and fragile seemed the Jewess. -The blood had not returned to the smooth brown cheeks. Her black hair was -scattered in little curls, for veil and fillet had been torn away. She -looked about with great, scared eyes, and all could see her tremble. She -started to kneel before the king, but Belshazzar, regarding her, gave a -mighty laugh. - -“Good, by Istar! So this is your treasure, Daniel? Not the Egibi bankers -possess a greater, you doubtless swear. Stand up, my maid. Bel never made -those eyes to stare upon that dusty road. Closer. Look at me, and I vow -I will forgive you the lion. There are more in the marshes, but only one -daughter of Daniel!” - -“Look up, child; his Majesty bids you,” the old Hebrew was saying, but -his face was very grave. Ruth raised her great eyes; her lips moved, as -if in some answer, but no sound came. Belshazzar smiled down upon her -from his car. Atossa was to be his queen, but when was a king of Babylon -denied a maid that was pleasant to his eyes? He turned to Darius. - -“Now, by every god, I thank you, Persian. I was about to curse, but your -archery saved one beside whom Istar’s self must flush in shame. Well are -you named ‘King of the Bow.’” - -Then he gazed again upon the maid. “Mermaza,” he commanded, “put the girl -in a chariot, and take her to the palace harem. Give her dresses and -jewels like the sun. Do you, Daniel, draw five talents from the treasury. -Not enough? Ten then. Fair payment for a daughter—ha!” - -Daniel was on his knees before the king. “Mercy! Hear me, my lord. If -ever, by faithfulness serving you and your fathers, I gather some store -of gratitude—” - -Belshazzar cut him short. “Now does Anu, lord of the air, topple down -heaven? What father says to a king, ‘Mercy. Give back my daughter’? Oh, -presumption! No more, or you forfeit the money.” - -“The money,” groaned Daniel, “the price of my daughter? Kiss the earth, -Ruth; and you, Isaiah, entreat the king to forbear!” - -Belshazzar turned his back. “Fool,” he cried, “the money is truly -forfeit! Away with her, Mermaza. Great mercy I leave the Jew his life.” - -But Darius deliberately thrust himself before the king, and looked him in -the face. “My lord,” he said soberly, “if to any, the girl belongs to me. -I saved her and restore her to her father.” - -“You beard me thus, Persian, barbarian!” broke forth Belshazzar, again in -his wrath. The prince answered him very slowly:— - -“Your Majesty, in me you see the ‘eyes and ears’ of Cyrus, lord of the -Aryans. What if I report in Susa, ‘On the day I delivered Atossa to -Belshazzar, he, before her own eyes, showed his esteem for her by haling -to his harem a maid chance sent him on the streets’? Would such a tale -knit the alliance firmer?” - -Avil-Marduk was beside the king in the chariot, and he whispered in the -royal ear, “Risk nothing. Dismiss the maid; the eunuchs can watch for her -and secure her quietly.” - -Belshazzar was again calm. His passion was swift; he subdued it more -swiftly. “Son of Hystaspes,” said he, with easy candour, “I am a man of -sudden moods. The maid pleased me; but, by Istar, I did not think to -insult the princess. Let the Jews go in peace, and to heal their hurts -let the treasurer weigh to each a talent. The Jewess shall sleep safe as -a goddess’s image in the temple. I swear it, on the word of a king of -Babylon. Enough, and now to the palace.” - - * * * * * - -Darius was received with stately hospitality at the palace. He was told -the arrangements made for Belshazzar’s bride. The king would give her a -great betrothal feast at the Hanging Gardens, but could not wed her for -one year; for before marriage she must be taught the religious duties -of a queen of Babylon. Darius paced the open terrace of the palace that -evening. Below him and all about lay the city of the Chaldees, fair as a -vision of heaven, with the white moon riding above the tower of Bel. But -the beauty of the city brought no joy. Into the hands of what manner of -man had Atossa fallen? The desire of Belshazzar to sacrifice the maiden -for the beast, followed by the outburst of carnal passion—how unlike this -king to Cyrus, whom the meanest Persian loved! At last, when it had grown -very dark, Darius looked about him. No one was near. He lifted his hands -toward the starry sky. - -“Verily this Babylon is a city of wickedness, and most evil of all is its -cruel king. But I am young. I am strong. Belshazzar shall not possess -Atossa for one year. And in that year a brave man may do much—much. Help -Thou me, Ahura-Mazda, Lord God of my fathers!” - - - - -[Illustration: THE YOKE OF THE CHALDEES] - -CHAPTER III - - -Near the meeting of the great Nana-Sakipat Street with Ai-Bur-Schabu -Street stood the banking-house of the “Sons of Egibi.” The long bridge -of floats across the river was close by, and in and out the portals of -the wide river-gate poured a constant stream of veiled ladies, with their -guardian eunuchs, intent on shopping, of donkey boys, carters, pedlers, -and priests. Under the shade of the great stone bull guarding one side of -the entrance, the district judge was sitting on his stool, listening to -noisy litigants; from the brass founder’s shop opposite rose the clang -of hammers; and under his open booth descended a stairway to Nur-Samas’s -beer-house, by which many went down and few ascended, for it was hard to -recollect one’s cares while over the drinking-pots. - -The Egibis’ office, like all the other shops, was a room open to all -comers, nearly level with the way, without door or window, but made cool -by the green awning stretched across the street in front, and the shadow -cast by the high houses opposite. In the office many young clerks were on -their stools, each busily writing on the frames of damp clay in their -laps with a wedge-headed stylus. Itti-Marduk, present head of this the -greatest banking-house of Babylon, was a plainly dressed, quiet-speaking -man; and only the great rubies in his earrings and the rare Arabian -pomade on his hair told that he could hold up his head before any lord -of Chaldea saving Belshazzar himself. At this moment he was entertaining -no less a client than Avil-Marduk, the chief priest, who came in company -with his boon companion, the priest Neriglissor, as did all the city at -one or another time, to ask an advance from the omnipotent broker. As for -Itti, he was angling his fish after his manner, keeping up a constant -stream of polite small talk, sending out a lad to bring perfumed water to -bathe his noble guests’ feet, and yet making it plain all the while that -current rates of interest were exceedingly heavy. - -“Alas!” the worthy banker was bewailing, “that I must speak of shekels -and manehs before friends, but what with heavy remittances I must send -to agents in Erech, with the farmers all calling for funds to pay their -help for the coming season, and a heavy loan to be placed by his Majesty -to complete the fortifications of Borsippa, I have been put to straits to -raise so much as a talent; and were you any other than yourself, my dear -high priest, I fear I could do nothing for you.” - -“Yet I swear by Samas,” protested the pontiff, with a wry face at the -loan-contract before him, “you have enough in your caskets to build us -poor priests of Bel a new _ziggurat_.” - -“A new _ziggurat_!” protested the banker; “am I like Ea, able to see -all hidden riches? I declare to you that what with the rumour that the -tribes in the southern marshes around Teredon are restless, money becomes -as scarce as snow in midsummer. Ramman forbid that anything come of the -report! It will wither all credit!” So at last, with many protests from -Avil, the contract was signed, and stored away in a stout earthen jar, in -the strong room of the cellar, where lay countless jugs of account books. -And Itti, to make his guest forget that he had just bargained to pay -“twelve shekels on the maneh,”[2] inquired genially if the recent taking -of the omens had chanced to be fortunate. He was met by blank faces both -from Avil and his chariot comrade, the toothless old “anointer of Bel,” -Neriglissor. - -“The omens are direful,” began the latter, in a horrified whisper. - -“Hush!” admonished the chief priest, “a state secret. To breathe it on -the streets would send corn to a famine price.” - -The banker had pricked up his ears. “I am not curious in matters of -state; Marduk forbid! Yet if in confidence I were told anything—” - -Neriglissor was only too ready to begin. “The Persians,” he whispered, -“the Persians! Barbarous dogs! Faugh! I sicken thinking of the strong -Median nard the daughter of Cyrus smeared on her hair!” - -Itti smiled benevolently. “What Persian can have the delicate taste of a -Babylonian? Yet you have not told the omen.” - -Neriglissor’s voice sank yet lower. “These Persians are friends to the -Jews, that race of blasphemers. Each nation worships the same demon, -though the Jews style him Jehovah, the Persians Ahura-Mazda. Long have -the pious foreseen that unless these unbelievers were kept out of Babylon -the gods would be angry. Yesterday this Atossa comes to Babylon to be -his Majesty’s queen. Thus we are about to strike hands with the foes of -the gods, as if it were not enough to continue the old scoffer Daniel in -office. And this morning follows the omen.” - -Itti was bending over that not a word might escape. Neriglissor -continued, “As Iln-ciya, the chief prophet, and I stood by the temple -gate, a band of street dogs, all unawares, strayed past, and entered the -enclosure.” - -Itti started as he sat, forgot his manehs, and began to mutter an -invocation to Ramman, while his lips twitched. “Impossible!” was all he -could gasp. - -“Too true,” put in Avil, solemnly. “You know the ancient oracle,” and he -rolled out the formula:— - - “‘When dogs in a court of a temple meet, - The hosts of the city face swift defeat.’ - -We brought the news to the king. He is all anxiety. There will be a -special council and consulting of the oracles. We trust, by laying extra -burdens on these stubborn Jews, we can in some measure avert the wrath of -heaven. Yet this is a fearful portent, just as his Majesty is about to -marry a Persian.” - -Itti was still shaking his head, when an increased din rising from the -street warned Avil that there would be no passing at present for his -chariot. - -“Way! way!” a squad of spearmen were bawling, forcing back the -traffickers to either side. The banker and his guests stared forth -curiously. - -“Way! way!” the shout grew louder, and behind sounded a creaking and a -rumbling. The chief priest glanced toward the gate. - -“The new stone bull,” commented he, “comes from Karkhemish. They landed -it above the bridge; now they drag it to the old palace of Nabupolassar, -which the king is repairing.” - -“Then the Jews,” remarked Itti shrewdly, “are already being rewarded for -their impiety. Has not the labour gang been taken from their nation?” - -“You are right,” said Avil, “they will fast learn that to keep clear of -forced labour they must go to the _ziggurat_ and the grove of Istar.” - -“Strange people,” declared Itti, “so steadfast to their helpless god!” - -“If Marduk gives me life,” swore Avil, “I will bend their stiff necks. -His Majesty promises the indulgence of former reigns shall end forever.” - -The rumbling in the streets drowned further words. Long before the bull -came in sight appeared four long lines of panting men, naked save for -loincloths, dusty, sullen. Each man tugged at a short cord, made fast in -turn to one of the four heavy cables stretching far behind them. At times -the march would come to dead halt; then every back would bend, and at a -shout from the rear the hundreds would pull as one, and start forward -with a jerk. The laggards were spurred on by the prick of the lances of -the spearmen outside the lines, or felt the staffs of the overseers who -walked between the cables. Young boys ran in and out with water jars, -and now and then a weary wretch would drop from the line to gulp down -a draught, and run back to his toil. So the long snake wound down the -street, groaning, panting, cursing. Behind this thundered the bull. The -stone monster was upon a boat-shaped sledge, itself the height of a man. -Busy hands laid rollers before it. To steady its mass, men ran beside, -holding taut the cords fixed to the tips of the huge wings. On the front -of the sledge stood the guard’s captain, bellowing orders through a -speaking trumpet. The bull reared above him to thrice his height. Last of -all came many toiling from behind, with heavy wooden levers. - -“Ah, noble Avil,” called the guard’s captain, familiarly, “who would say -the chief priest makes way for Igas-Ramman, captain of a fifty?” - -And Avil, recognizing a friend, called back, “Beware, or I beg your head -of the king! Make the Jews give full service.” - -“They shall, by Nabu!” And Igas trumpeted, “Faster now! Wings of eagles! -Feet of hares, or your backs smart!” - -The overseers’ blows doubled, the bull swayed as it leaped forward, but -suddenly Igas cursed. “Now, by the Maskim, foul genii of the deep, what -is this? Down again, worthless ox!” - -An old man had fallen from line. Overcome by weariness he lay on the -stone slabs while the strokes of the overseers’ staffs made him writhe. -Rise he could not. Neriglissor recognized him. - -“A Jew named Abiathar, a great blasphemer of Marduk. Ha! Smite again, -again!” - -Igas leaped into the throng, waving a terrific Ethiopian whip of -rhinoceros hide. At the second blow blood reddened the flags. The Hebrew -groaned, tried vainly to rise. - -“Beast,” raged Igas, swinging again, “you shall indeed be taught not to -lag!” - -The great whip whisked on high, but just as it fell, a heavy hand sent -the captain sprawling. Young Isaiah stood above the prostrate Igas, his -eyes burning with righteous wrath, his form erect. - -“Coward! You will not strike twice a man of your own age!” - -The spearmen stood blinking at Isaiah in sheer astonishment. Igas crawled -to his feet; rage choked the curses in his throat, then flowed forth a -torrent of imprecations. In his wrath he forgot even to call for help. - -“Beetle!” howled he, bounding on Isaiah. But the Jew had caught the -whip, lashed it across the guards captain’s shoulders, and raised a -smarting welt. Then at last all leaped on the intruder, but he laid about -as seven, till a stroke of a cudgel dashed the whip from his grasp; -he was carried off his feet, overpowered, and gripped fast. Around -the motionless bull a tumultuous crowd was swelling, when a squad of -red-robed “street-wardens” hastened up to arrest the peace-breakers. - -“High treason against the king!” Igas was screeching. “His head off -before sunset!” But the police rescued Isaiah from the spearmen, and -their chief urged:— - -“Softly, excellent captain, he must be tried before the judge.” - -“A Jew! A Jew!” shouted many. “Away with him! Strike! Kill!” - -The multitude seemed growing riotous, and ready to attack the police, -when a new band of runners commenced forcing a passage. - -“Way! way! for the noble Persian Darius and the Vizier Bilsandan!” was -the cry; but to the astonishment of those in the banking-house, they saw -the young envoy leap from his chariot and plunge before his escort into -the crowd. Dashing back the mob with sturdy blows from his scabbard, he -was in an instant beside the Jew. For a moment few recognized him. Igas -thrust at him with a lance, a quick thrust, yet more quickly had Darius -unsheathed, and struck off the spear-head. “Treason! Rebellion! A plot!” -shouted a hundred. The police endeavoured to arrest the new offender. - -“Death to the Jews!” rang the yell, as many hands were outstretched. But -the Persian had released Isaiah, and thrust a cudgel in his hands. His -own sword shone very bright. - -“Guard my back!” commanded he, and braced himself. The crowd cut him off -from his escort. - -Avil cried vainly across the deafening tumult. - -“Hold, on your lives! Will you murder the Persian envoy?” - -There was a rush, a struggle; those thrust against Darius shrank back -howling, all save two, who had tasted his short sword. - -In the respite following, Bilsandan had forced himself to the envoy’s -side. Mere sight of the vizier was enough to enforce quiet. - -“Peace, dogs!” thundered Bilsandan. “Why this tumult?” - -Darius had sheathed his sword, but looked about smiling. Joy to show -these city folk the edge of Aryan steel! - -“I struck only in self-defence,” quoth he to the vizier. “You saw the -cruelty of this scorpion. Isaiah deserves reward for avenging the old -man. I will mention the evil deed of this captain to the king. We -Persians hold that he who reveres not the gray head will still less -reverence the crown.” - -Igas was falling on his knees before Darius. Well he knew Belshazzar -would snuff out his life so cheaply to humour the envoy of Cyrus, if only -Darius asked it. But the Persian laughed good-naturedly, forced him to -swear he would pay old Abiathar two manehs, for salve to his stripes, and -the king should hear nothing about it. As for Isaiah, spearmen and police -were glad to leave him at liberty. They bore the two wounded away. Darius -was about to return to the chariot in which Bilsandan had been driving -him about the city, but gave Isaiah a last word. “By Mithra, I love you, -Jew! You are like myself, swift as a thunderbolt, striking first and -taking counsel later.” - -“Jehovah bless you again, my prince!” cried the other. “How may I repay? -They would have taken my life.” - -So Darius was gone. The bull lumbered on its way. Isaiah alone remained -to help home the wretched Abiathar. As he bargained with a carter to -take the old man to his home on the Arachtu Canal, Avil-Marduk called -from the banking-house: “Praise Bel, Hebrew, you are not on the way to -execution! Be advised. I love men of your spirit. Enter our service at -the _ziggurat_, and, by Istar, you may wear the goatskin in my place some -day!” - -Isaiah held up his head haughtily. “I would indeed enter the service of -a god—not of Bel-Marduk, but of Jehovah. I am a Jew, my lord.” - -Avil smiled patronizingly. “Excellent youth, you are too wise to think I -do not set your wish at true value. No offence, but where does Jehovah -rule to-day? Fifty years long we have used the dishes from His temple at -your village of Jerusalem, in our own worship of Bel-Marduk. Your god is -helpless or forsakes you; no shame to forsake Him.” - -Isaiah bowed respectfully. “Your lordship, we gain little by debate,” -replied he. - -“Nevertheless,” quoth Avil, blandly, “I am grieved to see a young man of -your fair parts throw his opportunities away. Be led by me; what do you -owe Jehovah? Bel-Marduk will prove a more liberal patron. You are Jew -only in name, your birth and breeding have been in this Babylon. To her -gods you should owe your fealty. Believe me, I speak as a friend—” - -Isaiah straightened himself haughtily. - -“My Lord Avil, do not think Jehovah is like your Bel, the god of one -city, of one nation. For from the east to the gates of the sun in the -west is His government. And all the peoples are subject unto Him, though -the most part know it not.” - -The high priest’s lip curled a little scornfully. “Truly,” flew his -answer, “Jehovah displays His omnipotence in strange ways,—to let the one -nation that affects to serve Him languish in captivity.” - -“I fear many words of mine will not make your lordship understand,” -replied Isaiah; and he bowed again and was gone. Those in the -banking-house looked at one another. - -“Sad that so promising a youth must cast himself away in fanatical -devotion to his helpless god,” commented Itti the banker. “Yet he only -imitates his father, Shadrach, the late royal minister.” - -“Young as he is,” responded Avil, “he is already a power amongst his -countrymen. He has the reputation of being a prophet of their Jehovah, -and many treat him with high respect. Nevertheless, if he is not better -counselled soon, he will find his head in danger, unless the king stops -his ears to my warnings.” - - * * * * * - -Isaiah walked beside Abiathar as the cart rumbled homeward. The old Jew -was all groans and moans. - -“Ah, woe!” he was bewailing, “is this to be the reward of the Lord God -for remembering Him, and keeping away from the _ziggurat_! Stripes and -forced labour and insult! Speak as you will, good Isaiah, you who have -the civil-minister to protect you from all harm; it is easy for you to -toss out brave words. You are passing rich; we are poor, and all the -stripes crack over our shoulders!” - -“Hush!” admonished the younger Jew, severely; “my perils are great as -yours, did you but know them. It is for our sins this trouble is visited -upon us. Our fathers have forgotten Jehovah, and is He not now visiting -their sins upon us, unto the third and fourth generation, even as says -His Law?” - -“I do not know,” replied the other, moodily; “I only know that a little -oil and fruit offered now and then to Sin or Samas would cure many aching -backs!” - -Isaiah did not answer him. In truth, there was very little to reply. He -walked beside the wagon until Abiathar was safe at his little house by -the Western Canal. Then he left him, and went in the bitterness of his -spirit to the palace of Daniel, near the Gate of Beltis in the inner city. - -Like all Babylonian gentlemen, the civil-minister had an extensive -establishment, though the exterior was gloomy and windowless. When -Isaiah had entered the narrow gate he found himself in a spacious court, -surrounded by a two-story veranda, upborne on palm trunks. In the court -were ferns, flowers, and a little fountain; an awning covered the opening -toward the sky. In a farther corner maid-servants were pounding grain and -sitting over their embroidery. - -Isaiah entered unceremoniously; but just at the inner door of the farther -side of the court he came on Daniel himself, dressed in his whitest robe, -and surrounded by several servants, as if about to set forth in his -chariot. - -“My father!” And the younger Hebrew fell on his knees while the other’s -hand outstretched in blessing. - -“The peace of Jehovah cover you, my son,” declared the old man. Yet when -Isaiah had risen, he was startled at the anxiety written on the other’s -face. He knew it was no light thing that could shake the civil-minister -out of his wonted calm. - -“As Jehovah lives,” adjured the younger Jew, “what has befallen? Where -are you going? You do not commonly ride abroad in the heat of the day.” - -“I have urgent need of going to Borsippa to see my good friend Imbi-Ilu, -high priest of Nabu, on a private matter.” The effort to speak lightly -was so evident that Isaiah’s fears were only doubled. - -The minister turned to the others. - -“Tell Absalom to hasten with harnessing the chariots,” commanded Daniel. -The servants took the hint and withdrew. Their master cast a searching -glance about the courtyard, to make sure that no others were in easy -earshot. - -“Listen.” His speech sank to a whisper. “I am in sore anxiety concerning -the safety of Ruth.” - -“Of Ruth!” Isaiah’s grave face grew dark as the thunder-cloud. “How? Who -threatens?” - -Daniel spoke yet lower. “This day I have received a message from friends -in the palace, that the king still remembers her beauty, and desires her. -His promise to Darius was a lie, to appease the envoy for the moment. I -dare not doubt that some attempt will be made by Mermaza, or by others of -his spawn, to carry away the girl at the first convenient opportunity. -She must not sally abroad, however much she may desire it. I do not know -how great is the immediate danger, but there is nought to be risked. On -this account I am going to Borsippa without delay.” - -“Then as our God rewardeth evil for evil, so will I reward the king!” -Isaiah had turned livid with his wrath. “I will slay Belshazzar with my -own hand, and then let them kill me with slow tortures.” - -Daniel smiled despite his heavy heart. - -“Small gain would that be to our people. The fury of the Babylonians -would grow sixfold. If the yoke is hard to bear now, what then?” - -“Yet will Belshazzar truly break his promise?” demanded Isaiah, plucking -at the last straw of hope. - -“Promise?” Daniel laughed grimly. “He will break ten thousand oaths, when -they stand betwixt him and a passion. Avil-Marduk urges him each day to -ruin me and mine, as a lesson to the rest of our people. The Jews are to -be driven like sheep to the _ziggurat_, and forced to blaspheme Jehovah. -Alas! When I think of the plight of our nation, the dangers of a few of -us seem but as the first whisperings of a mighty storm! If no succour -comes, Ruth and you and I are utterly undone; and our people will forget -its God, as He in His just wrath seems to have forgotten them.” - -“And is there _no_ hope?” groaned Isaiah in his despair. - -Before Daniel could answer, a sweet girlish voice sounded, singing from -the upper casement, over the court. The two men stood in silence. - - “My beloved spake and said unto me, - ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. - For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone: - The flowers appear on the earth; - The time of the singing of birds is come, - And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land!’” - -“It is the song of Ruth,” said Daniel, as in dreamy melancholy. “She has -waited you for long. Blessed is she; to her Jehovah thus far is kind. She -does not know her danger. The ‘Song of Songs’ is ever in her mouth, in -these days of her love. You must go to her.” - -“Let all Belshazzar’s sword-hands take her from me!” was Isaiah’s rash -boast. But then he asked more calmly: “And why do you, my father, go to -Borsippa? You have not told.” - -“To ask Imbi-Ilu if he will give sanctuary in the temple of Nabu to Ruth, -if worst comes to worst. Bitter expedient!—a daughter of Judah sheltered -in the house of idols! Such is the only shift.” - -“But Imbi could not guard her always, if the king’s mind is fixed. And -what of our nation, of the peril of great apostasy? Ah!” Isaiah lifted -his hand toward heaven. “I am not wrong. I must kill Belshazzar; then if -we die, we die not unavenged!” - -Daniel quieted him with a touch. - -“Do not anger God with unholy rashness. All is not yet lost. I have -still my position as ‘civil-minister,’ and though the Babylonians may -rage against our people, they reverence me still. My word and name are -yet a power in Babylon. Even the king will hesitate to strike me too -openly. And if the worst _does_ come, let them know I have yet a weapon -that may shake Belshazzar on his throne.” - -“What mean you? For Jehovah’s sake, declare!” - -Daniel smiled sadly at the impetuosity of the younger man. - -“No, not now. Fifty years long have I served the kings of the Chaldees, -and betrayed none of their secrets. I keep fealty as long as I may; yet -the time for casting it off may be near at hand. The Lord grant I may not -be driven thus to bay—” - -“The chariot waits, my lord,” interrupted a servant. And Daniel gathered -his robe about him, to depart. - -“Remain with Ruth until I return,” was his last injunction; “the king -will hardly wax so bold as to go to extremities to-day. But till -Belshazzar lies dead, or Jehovah creates in him a new heart, we must not -cease to guard her.” - - - - -[Illustration: RUTH] - -CHAPTER IV - - -The chariot of the “civil-minister” clattered away, and Isaiah stood -for a long time in gloomy revery. Ever since Nabonidus had been thrust -from power, the condition of the Hebrews had been growing steadily more -miserable. Belshazzar was in all things guided by Avil-Marduk, and the -high pontiff’s rage against the Jehovah worship of the exiles was nothing -new. Shadrach, Isaiah’s father, had been a fellow-minister with Daniel, -but the liberal sway of Nebuchadnezzar was long since past. Isaiah saw -himself shut out of every office, so long as he clung to the God of his -people. Amongst his fellow-Hebrews Isaiah had passed as a prophet; in -moments of ecstasy he had poured forth burning words,—of encouragement to -the faithful, of threatenings to the oppressor, of promised restoration -to that dear Jerusalem he had seen only in his dreams. But at this moment -the dreams seemed shadowy indeed. The events of the day had darkened -him utterly; and, crowding upon Avil’s scarce veiled threat, came the -tidings of the king’s unholy lusting after Ruth! The young man’s heart -was sickened. How could he sit with smiling face, and listen to his love, -and her merry nothings? The task was seemingly impossible, when the sweet -voice sounded again from the casement. “Ah! my wandering swallow, why -linger? Up quickly! Say something to make me glad. I am exceeding vexed -with my father.” - -Merry or sad, the young man waited no second bidding. He sped up the -narrow stairway by the side of the court, and reached the upper veranda. -Here a sort of balcony, overhanging the yard, had been walled with -curtains of blue Egyptian stuffs, and behind had been set a tall loom, -its frame half filled with a web of bright wools, where a brilliant rug -was unfolding under skilful fingers. Two dark-eyed Arabian girls were -aiding their mistress; but at sight of Isaiah, the red thread shook from -her lap, and she flew twittering into his arms. Then like two birds -they cooed together, their eyes talking faster than their lips; and at -last—for all things lovely must find end—Isaiah was in his accustomed -seat, a cushioned footstool beside the loom, and there he could sit and -chatter while the broad web grew. - -But Ruth was in no mood for small talk. Her little lips were wrinkled in -a pout, the cast of her eye was sulky. And while she wrought over the -loom, her fountain of wrath was emptied. - -“Were I not an obedient daughter of Israel, I should say unholy things of -my good father. Surely Jehovah forsakes us and suffers him to wax mad!” - -“Daniel mad? He has the sagest head in all Babylon. Fie, little owlet!” - -“Either he is mad or worse. There!” the red-thonged sandals over the -small feet stamped angrily, “I will tell all, though it be a sin to -revile a parent.” - -“Verily, for _you_ to be wroth with your father must spring from no -slight cause!” protested Isaiah, feebly attempting to smile. - -“Is it not sufficient that I must be kept precious as a finch in his -cage?—never suffered to go forth to any of the fêtes at the palace, -veiled always, when I sally abroad, and guarded as if I were a prisoner -about to make escape?” - -“Old tales, Ruth,”—Isaiah strove to speak lightly; then more gravely, -“Was the last time we sallied forth, and met the lion and the king, so -joyous that you wish it repeated daily?” - -He saw her shudder, and her mouth twitched, as he recalled that scene; -but she was too thoroughly filled with wrath even to let that memory turn -her. - -“Not so—let my father send fifty servants about me, and wrap my face in -twoscore veils! But now I am made utter prisoner. Yesterday I visited the -bazaars with Gedeliah, our body-servant; and in the jeweller’s shop of -Binzurbasna by the Gate of Istar I saw an armlet that fitted my eye as -water its cup. I had no money, but last night my father gave me more than -the price. To-day Gedeliah starts at dawn with a letter to Kisch. Later -I say, ‘Father, I will take another servant and go and buy the armlet.’ -He makes all manner of objections to my going. ‘Let the serving-man go; -do you remain.’ ‘No,’ answered I, ‘only Gedeliah and I can tell which is -the armlet; if I wait, it is sold.’ I beseech exceedingly, whereupon he -says, after his firm manner: ‘Peace, Ruth; I know what is well for you. -You shall not go to-day.’ Then he summons his chariot, and departs to -Borsippa. Have I no cause for anger?” - -Isaiah did not reply immediately; and she returned to the charge. -“Speak,—are you so jealous that no man may set eyes on the hem of my -mantle? Speak!” And she snapped her bright eyes before his. - -“Your father is a wise man,” began Isaiah, cautiously; “assuredly he had -reasons.” - -“Which clearly you agree in?” pressed she, sharply. - -“I said not that; though, were he to tell, no doubt they would seem -sufficient.” - -“He has not told them? What passed then so slyly, when you stood -together?” - -Isaiah had boasted that in a city where the clever liar was deemed the -sage, he had been wont to speak truly; but he found himself close to -equivocation. - -“We spoke of the increasing power of Avil. Your father grows anxious.” - -“And was not _my_ name mentioned once, twice?” - -Ruth had turned from the loom, and was looking Isaiah in the face. - -“You did wrong to eavesdrop,” he faltered, nigh desperately, for -falsehood tripped hardest off his tongue when those soft eyes were on him. - -“No answer,” she challenged, lowering her head till her curls almost -brushed his cheek. “Speak! Why did you use my name?” - -“You must have confidence in us,” began Isaiah, putting on manly -austerity, “to believe that whatever we said was only for your good.” - -A tart retort was tingling on her tongue, when a voice from the court -interrupted. “Ho! Is the young master Isaiah above?” - -It was the old porter’s call; the other responded instantly. - -“Since my Lord Daniel is away,” went on the porter, “will my young master -come down at once? His friend, the guardsman Zerubbabel, is here, and -demands instant speech of weighty matters.” - -Isaiah was down the stairs by leaps. In the court he met a young man of -about his own age, comely and erect, dressed in the short mantle of a -soldier off duty. - -“Where is my Lord Daniel?” was his quick demand; he was breathless with -running. - -“Has none told? Gone to Borsippa.” - -“Jehovah God have mercy!” - -Isaiah caught his friend by the arm. - -“Hold, Zerubbabel; gain breath, and speak to the point. Your wits are all -scattered on the road behind!” - -The guardsman took a deep breath. - -“Be a man, Isaiah,” he admonished, as if speaking sorely against his -will; “I have a heavy piece of news for you.” - -“Touching Ruth?” - -Zerubbabel nodded. “You have heard that the king had designs on her. Did -you know Mermaza was to make an attempt on her this very night?” - -His voice had risen, despite Isaiah’s warning “Hush!” They heard a little -cry on the balcony above—a louder scream. Isaiah clapped his hands to his -face. “The Lord spare her now!—she has heard it!” - -The next instant Ruth was beside them. She was trembling; her hand -quivered in her lover’s while he held it, yet it seemed as much in anger -as in dread, though her face had blanched to the whiteness of a summer’s -cloud. - -“Tell me all! All! Do you think me too weak to bear?” was her plea, -turning her great eyes from the soldier to Isaiah and back again. “What -danger waits?” - -The young prophet’s voice grew very calm. - -“Beloved, blessing and bane come from the Lord God alike. He can do -nothing ill. Let us listen to Zerubbabel.” - -The guardsman’s speech came falteringly,—no joy to chase the gladness -from those bright eyes. - -“Daughter of Daniel, I know that your father reproaches me for having -conformed to the Babylonish worship, and taken service on the royal -guard; but, believe me, my heart is still faithful to Jehovah. At no -small peril have I come here, to warn you. You, O Isaiah, have not been -without an inkling; but did you know that Belshazzar has given his royal -signet to Mermaza, chief of the eunuchs, commanding him—” - -Before he could utter another word, a bitter cry had burst from Ruth: -“Would God I had been unborn, or died while yet a speechless child, than -win the love of Belshazzar. For the love of the king is tenfold more -cruel than his hate. Slay me; slay now, rather than let the eunuchs lay -hands on me!” So she cried in her sudden agony; and what might Isaiah say -to comfort her? She could only feel the muscles of his arms grow hard as -iron, as she leaned against his breast. - -“Fear not,” he answered, with that confidence born of a touch and a -thrill that can make the weakling giant strong; “were Belshazzar seven -times the king he is, he shall never do you harm.” - -“So be it!” quoth Zerubbabel, gravely, “yet the proof is close at hand. -It is as I said. Mermaza has received an order, signed by the royal -signet, authorizing him to take Ruth, the daughter of Daniel, when there -may be ‘convenient opportunity’—which is to say, when no disturbance will -arise likely to hamper Avil-Marduk and his plots.” - -“How know you this?” demanded Isaiah, almost fiercely. - -“One of the eunuchs, whose life Daniel had once begged of Nabonidus, told -me. I more than fear that my visit to this house has been observed, and -will be laid up against me.” - -“And what hinders the ‘profoundly-to-be-reverenced’ chief eunuch from -coming this moment, with his Majesty’s ring and order, and carrying away -the maid perforce? Does not Belshazzar command all the sword-hands in -Babylon?” pressed Isaiah, in cutting irony. - -Zerubbabel smiled bitterly. “Even a king must know some restraints. He -has passed his word to Darius, the Persian envoy, that the maid shall -not be touched. What if Darius heard of the kidnapping! Would he trust -Belshazzar’s professions of friendship longer? And Daniel is popular -with the city folk. Enter his house at mid-day, and let some outcry -rise,—behold! there is a riot in the streets.” - -“Therefore the attempt will be made this evening, when all is quiet?” - -Zerubbabel bowed gloomily. “You have said.” - -Isaiah shot one glance at the shadow cast by the tall “time-staff” set in -the centre of the courtyard. - -“It lacks three hours of sundown. There is yet time!” he cried. - -But Ruth had suddenly steadied herself, and looked from one young man to -the other. Her voice was very shrill. - -“Who am I to make you rush into peril for my poor sake? If you hide me -from the king, his fury will turn against you, and against my father. -How can you save me? Go to Mermaza. Tell him he may take me when he -wills. I can endure all rather than ruin those I love.” - -She stood before her lover with head erect, eyes flashing. The glory of -a great sacrifice had sent the colour crimsoning through her cheeks. -If beautiful before, how much more beautiful now, in the sight of her -betrothed! Had she counted the cost of her word? No, doubtless; but for -the moment she was the girl no more, but the strong woman ready to dare -and to do all. - -But Isaiah answered her with a sternness never shown by him to her till -now: “Peace! You know not what you say. What profit is my life, with you -sent to a living death in Belshazzar’s impure clutch? There is but one -thing left.” - -“Away! Leave me!” she implored, new agony chasing across her face. “Is it -not enough that I should be victim? Those who cross Belshazzar’s path are -seekers for death.” - -“Peace!” repeated Isaiah, and not ungently he thrust his hand across her -mouth. “Must the whole house hear us? You, Zerubbabel, indeed, begone. -You can only add to your peril, not aid.” - -The guardsman hesitated. “If I can do aught—” he began. - -“Avoid suspicion,” commanded Isaiah; “if you learn of anything new -plotted, forewarn. In so doing you prove truest friend.” - -“The Lord God keep you, dear lady,” protested the guardsman, kissing her -robe; “believe me, I am your and your father’s friend, though men say I -bow down to Bel-Marduk.” - -He had vanished; and Isaiah looked upon Ruth, and Ruth back to Isaiah. -The peril had broken upon her so suddenly that she was yet numbed. She -had not realized all she had to fear, and the ordeal awaiting. But if her -lover realized, he proved his anguish by act, not word. - -“Ruth,” spoke he, “your father knew the king had not forgotten you, -though that the deed was planned so soon was hid. He has ridden to -Borsippa to see if Imbi-Ilu will shelter you at the temple of Nabu. If we -await his return, it will be too late. The shadows are falling already. -You must quit this house without delay.” - -“I am ready,” she answered, but she spoke mechanically, not knowing what -she said. - -Old Simeon, the porter, had approached, his honest face all anxiety for -his betters. “My mistress is in trouble? Zerubbabel brought ill news?” he -ventured, not presuming more. But Isaiah ordered sharply:— - -“Let the closed carriage be made ready at once.” - -“The closed carriage? For the mistress? My Lord Daniel commanded—” -hesitated the worthy; but Isaiah’s tone grew peremptory. “Daniel’s -commands weigh nothing now. Were he here, he would order the same. No -questions; hasten.” - -The stern ring in the young man’s voice ended all parley. Simeon shuffled -away to rouse the stable grooms, and Isaiah turned once more to Ruth. - -“Beloved, we must drive to Borsippa at once. Take what clothes you need, -nothing else. No tarrying. Each instant is worth a talent.” - -“And this house? The room of my mother? The thousand things of my glad -life—all left behind?” - -The tears would come again. Ruth was weeping now—bitterly, but not from -dread of Belshazzar. Events had raced too fast these last few moments to -leave room for the greatest griefs or fears. - -“Trust that Jehovah will send you back to them, in the fulness of His -mercy. He is more pitiful than even Daniel your father.” - -She did as bidden; in the turmoil of emotions, at least some sorrows were -spared her. The maid-servants stared at their mistress, as she flew about -her well-loved chambers. The little bundle was soon ready,—so little! And -so many girlish delights and trinkets all left behind. Isaiah’s voice -was summoning her. The carriage was waiting in the yard. Daniel had not -taken his swift pair of black Arabs in the chariot, and for these Isaiah -thanked his God! - -Ruth darted one glance about the court—the well-known balcony, the -drapery hiding the loom, the swallows flitting in and out of the eaves, a -thousand dear and homely things, so familiar she had forgotten how much -she loved them—one last sight; when could she see them again? - -“The servants,—my friends,—I must say farewell,” she pleaded; but Isaiah -shook his head. - -“You must leave with as little commotion as possible. The Most High grant -we have not tarried too long!” He lifted her almost perforce, and thrust -her upon the soft cushions inside the carriage. She heard him tying the -door to the wicker body, to secure against sudden and unfriendly opening. -The only light that came to her was from the little latticed window in -the roof, through which she could see only sky. She heard Isaiah leap -upon the driver’s platform, in front, beside Abner, one of the stoutest -and trustiest of her father’s serving-men. The courtyard gate creaked -open. The carriage rumbled forth. “Abner,” sounded Isaiah’s voice, “if -ever you drove with speed, drive now. To Borsippa, to the temple of Nabu!” - -The lash cracked; the restless horses shot away eagerly, the heavy -carriage lumbering behind. Soon all around them buzzed the traffic of the -streets. Onward, onward they drove, till Ruth ceased counting the time. -Then at last the truth and her wretchedness fully dawned on her. She felt -a weakness, a misery words may not express. She laid her head on the -cushions and wept, as might a little girl. - - - - -[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF NABU] - -CHAPTER V - - -If Bel-Marduk, “father of the gods,” reigned supreme in his temple -opposite the royal palace, he was not without rival. Older than the -“Lofty House” of Bel rose the venerable _ziggurat_ “_E-Zida_,” the -“Eternal House” of Nabu of Borsippa, “god of wisdom.” Time was when -Nabu had been the guardian god of all Babylonia, and his priests still -refused to yield to the supplanting Bel more than a nominal concession -of supremacy. Unlike the great city sanctuary, this temple in the quiet -southern suburb sprang out of a great grove of nodding shade trees, -girded about with pleasant gardens. A sluggish canal crept under the -shadow of the terraces of the sacred tower, and mirrored the rambling -brick buildings and leaf-hung walks of the temple college. For here -at Borsippa was the most famous, as well as the oldest, university in -all the fair land of the Chaldees. From time immemorial students had -listened here to lectures on astrology, the science of omens, and the -interpretation of dreams. Vainly had Avil-Marduk striven to raise his -own temple-school to an equality with that of Borsippa. Were not these -paths beside the canal hallowed by three thousand years of academic -tradition? Had not every famous demon-caster, for more generations than -could be told, learned his art under the shadow of this _ziggurat_? Then -again, while Bel was fanatical, Nabu was tolerant. Avil moved heaven -and earth to ruin the Hebrews, while Imbi-Ilu, pontiff of Borsippa, was -Daniel’s bosom friend, and his under priests openly declared that they -hated Bel-Marduk quite as much as they did Jehovah. Of late the coldness -between the two pontiffs had almost turned to open hostility; the king -and court paid homage to Marduk, the city at large sent most of their -gifts to Nabu. And within recent days Imbi-Ilu had more than once given -offence even to the king by harbouring inside the temple precinct persons -whose arrest had been urgently commanded; Belshazzar had fumed, and -muttered threats, but Imbi was obdurate. There was the law,—graven on -two stone tablets, by King Sargon I., a potentate three thousand years -departed,—denouncing curses upon the body, goods, kinsfolk, and soul -of the man or king who should dare to molest a suppliant that had once -passed the boundary stones, which were set one furlong on every side of -the enclosure of Nabu. The king had raged, but was helpless; not even the -“son of Bel-Marduk,” as he boasted himself, could abolish a privilege -like that. - -But on the afternoon in question, none would have dreamed that aught -save studious repose brooded over quiet Borsippa. The lectures were -ended. The boys in the lower school had flung away the tablets on which -they had been copying the old dead language of the Akkadian classics.[3] -Teachers and pupils had wandered forth to enjoy the cool of the evening. -From the crest of the great temple-tower drifted the chant of the litany -to Nabu:— - - “Lord of Borsippa, - Thy command is unchangeable like the firmanent. - In the high heavens thy commandment is supreme!” - -So the chant had risen for four thousand years, each evening; so it -would be repeated, unless all omens were profitless, for as many more. -Dynasties might come and go,—the worship of Nabu endured forever! - - * * * * * - -Upon the housetop of one of the larger buildings, close by the gate of -the wall enclosing the sacred precinct, two men in deep discussion were -seated. The roof-tiles were covered with soft carpet, a yellow canopy -stretched overhead, there were cushioned stools and divans—a cool and -pleasant spot to lounge and rest. - -But the two were not lounging; their talk had lasted long. The one, -Daniel, had drawn his stool close beside the couch of the other, and was -speaking earnestly. - -“We have debated before, we debate again,—to little profit. You have been -a true friend, Imbi-Ilu; the difference in our faith has never stood -betwixt us. You have done what you could to abate the persecution of my -unfortunate people,—in vain, but I thank you.” - -The high priest looked concernedly upon his friend. He was an -eagle-visaged, majestic man, who bore his years lightly, and whose white -locks sprang out all around his forehead, like the mane of a lion. - -“It is as you say,” he answered soberly, “yet I deserve no praise. -Avil-Marduk urges on Belshazzar against the servants of Jehovah, as being -the weakest of the gods opposed to the supremacy of Marduk. Soon he will -try to crush Nabu himself. I have acted in self-protection. But this is -old chaff; all the wheat was long since winnowed out of it.” - -“Well do I know that,” replied the Hebrew, bitterly; “we are being pushed -to bay, you Babylonians as well as I. Avil-Marduk has made the king -entirely his tool; almost I think he seeks the throne himself, nought -less.” - -Imbi nodded gloomily. “I believe you;” then, a shade more lightly, “but -you, O Daniel, are under some greater constraint than distant anxiety for -your people. By your own god, whom I much reverence, tell me truly, what -brings you now to Borsippa? Since you saved my life, with those of the -other wise men, because we could not reveal to Nebuchadnezzar his dream, -have we not been sworn comrades, in good and in ill? Speak freely. Your -wish?” - -“Your friendship may be indeed tested,” quoth the other, still soberly; -“the king is none too much your friend to-day. If you grant my wish, he -will neglect no occasion against you.” - -“By Nabu!” cried the pontiff, affecting carelessness he did not feel, -“you interest me. Tell it out. But not yet.” He snapped his fingers -loudly; a white-robed servitor appeared. “This way, boy! Bring my Lord -Daniel the oldest and coolest of the wine that came yesterday from -Larsam, and a platter of honey cakes. He has driven far, and is weary.” -Then to Daniel, “No excuses. No sorrow is doubled by a cup from my own -vineyard.” - -“Another time,” remonstrated the minister. “I have not come hither to -make merry; I must be back to Babylon with all haste.” - -“Not sleep in Borsippa? Your little goddess Ruth will not weep her sight -away in your absence?” - -“Ruth!” Daniel had started at the name; but, as if there were an omen in -the word, there sounded a sudden rumbling and jarring in the brick-paved -road outside the temple precinct, the noise of a heavy carriage at a -headlong speed, the cracking of a whip, shoutings and cursings, all -rising together. When before had a like din roused the peaceful suburb? -Imbi sprang to the parapet and stared across in wonder. - -“God of Borsippa,” he swore, “have we a chariot charge!” - -The clamour swept nearer, broken now by a yell of keenest pain, followed -by a great shout from the younger priests and students watching from -below. - -“Nabu save him! The wheel has crossed his body!” - -“Eunuchs! The king’s eunuchs! They violate the sanctuary!” bawled many -more, with a scamper of feet through the gateway. - -“In Jehovah’s name, what is this!” cried Daniel, leaping up beside Imbi; -but the pontiff had just time to clutch at his friend, as he tottered -almost in a swoon. The noise below grew sevenfold. - -“Down! He has smitten Mermaza!” - -Imbi was again at his post. A closed carriage had lumbered in at the -gateway, the horses panting and steaming. The pontiff started in turn, -when he saw a young man leaping from the driver’s platform, still -clutching tightly his long whip. - -“Isaiah the son of Shadrach, and lifting Ruth the Jewess from the -carriage! Why this tumult? Some fearful deed!” - -The minister had recovered and stood at the pontiff’s side. He was again -self-possessed. “Let me know with what the Lord God has visited me,” was -all he said, and waited silently, as a breathless young priest rushed up -to his superior, never so much as salaaming. - -“Master! a frightful outrage. The royal eunuchs have pursued these -fugitives past the boundary stones to our very gates. They attempted -violence, and now clamour without, demanding their prey!” - -Imbi turned very deliberately, took his white peaked tiara from the -divan, and set it on his head. - -“Gross sacrilege, indeed, Merdovah; impossible that his Majesty should -authorize such violence!” - -More priests and students were howling in the yard below: “Away with the -eunuchs! To the canal with them! Avenge the insult!” - -“Master,” remonstrated the messenger, “except you quiet the temple folk, -expect a riot. They are maddened and furious.” - -Imbi leaped upon the divan beside the balcony. “Below there, silence! -What is this tumult?” The voice of the superior produced instant -stillness. - -“You there, Hasba, speak for all. Why is this carriage here, and these -eunuchs?” - -The priest addressed, a gaunt, athletic man, stepped forth from the crowd -of fellows clustered around the gate. - -“Why it is here, I know not, but I saw this,—the carriage approaching at -topmost speed from Babylon, and many of the royal eunuchs pursuing on -foot, crying loudly and calling to passers-by to aid. When they passed -the boundary stone, the carriage slackened, as being in safety; and we -looked to see the eunuchs halt. Not so,—they impiously followed after, -and two snatched at the heads of the horses. Isaiah the Jew flogged them -with his whip. The wheel passed over one; nor did my Lord Mermaza escape -the mire. They are without the gate and still threatening.” - -“They may well threaten,” spoke Daniel, hoarsely, at the pontiff’s -side, “for the king seeks Ruth for his harem. I came to Borsippa to ask -sanctuary in her behalf. Be your god Jehovah or Nabu, fail not now!” - -The civil-minister was very pale, but Imbi-Ilu flashed back proudly, -“If I yield to Mermaza and his vermin, let the ‘Eternal House’ find -other master.” Then he turned again to those below. “This is no common -sacrilege. Who is this crying so shrilly, ‘Entrance’?” - -“The master of the eunuchs himself. Shall we not buffet him to death?” - -“Not so; admit him, but none other. Bring him here upon the housetop, -with Ruth the Jewess, and Isaiah. Let them answer face to face before me.” - -In a moment a bevy of priests had ushered three persons before their -superior: Isaiah, with flushed face and eyes that still darted fire, -Ruth, whose cheeks were scarce less white than her dress, and the “very -supreme” chief eunuch. The last was sadly lacking in dignity, for his -purple-embroidered robe was rent and mud-splashed, and across his -forehead spread the long stripe where the lash had marked him. As Ruth -and he confronted one another, she shrank in dread behind her betrothed; -but the scowls and muttered menaces of the priests about made even the -venturesome eunuch cautious. There was an awkward silence before Imbi -spoke. - -“Well, my Lord Mermaza, has it slipped your mind that there is a certain -law, old as the _ziggurat_, concerning the rights of sanctuary of the -precinct of Nabu?” - -Mermaza’s perpetual smile had become a very forced grin indeed; he looked -downward, without replying. - -“And is it not also true,” went on the other, haughtily, “that whosoever -transgresses the right of the god incurs the wrath of all the host of -heaven? He is ‘devoted,’ given to Namtar the plague-demon, and her -fiends; his life forfeit, his soul cast into Sheol. Is it not thus, my -lord?” - -Mermaza had recovered enough wits to attempt an answer. - -“Right, most reverend pontiff. But I seek no fugitive criminal. In -performance of my duties I pursue one of his Majesty’s runaway slaves, -who can claim no right of sanctuary.” - -“A slave of the king? Where? We will never shelter such!” And Imbi stared -about in well-affected astonishment. - -Mermaza fumbled in his bosom, and produced a small clay cylinder, which -he handed to Imbi, bestowing at the same moment a gleeful leer upon Ruth. - -“His Majesty’s own seal—read.” - -The pontiff read aloud deliberately:— - - “_Belshazzar, ‘King of Sumer and Akkad,’ to Mermaza, ‘Master - of the Eunuchs’_: You are commanded at the first convenient - season to seize, and take to the royal harem, a certain maid, - one Ruth, the daughter of Daniel the Hebrew. And hereof do not - fail, on peril of your head.” - -Imbi examined the document the second time, and handed it back to the -eunuch with a salaam of ironical reverence. - -“Noble friend,” quoth he, with mock politeness, “explain, I pray you. In -what part of this warrant does his Majesty command you to set at naught -the right of sanctuary, and commit gross sacrilege?” - -But Mermaza, beneath whose veneer of urbanity lay a hasty and arrogant -temper, answered with rising gorge:— - -“This is no answer, priest; obey the king! Do you refuse to surrender the -wench? Think well before you reply—the king’s wrath—” - -“Daniel,” remarked Imbi, turning his back on the eunuch, “is it your -desire that your daughter go to the palace?” - -“By all you revere, by our bonds of friendship, no!” The Jew started -to fall on his knees, imploring. But Imbi faced Mermaza, with a lordly -gesture. - -“Go back to the palace, and say that I will send Ruth the daughter of -Daniel hence, only on her father’s personal or written command. Low -indeed is Nabu sunken if at barking of hounds of your litter he were to -turn suppliants away!” - -“The slave of the king—keep her at your peril!” threatened Mermaza, -growing desperate, for his position was anything but enviable. - -“A slave? When before in the royal harem? Where is the bill of sale from -her father? Is she not freeborn?” - -“She is a Jewess,—despiser of Nabu!” cried the eunuch, launching his last -shaft. A yell of derision from all the priests answered him. - -“Friend,” answered Imbi, smoothly, “you are so dear a companion to -Avil-Marduk and _he_ reverences Nabu so exceedingly, that these words -drop indeed fitly from your lips.” - -Mermaza swung about and faced Daniel and Isaiah. - -“I see the pontiff is mad,” he shouted, his thick cheeks reddening. “Do -you Jews hear reason. For this resistance to the royal decree you shall -both rot in the palace dungeons unless the girl is yielded, and that -instantly.” - -Ruth had started forward, outstretching her hands. - -“Not that, not that, O my father! Say you are willing. I will go.” - -But Imbi-Ilu sprang between the eunuch and the Hebrews. - -“And I, high priest of Nabu of the ‘Eternal House,’ declare that only -as you take oath with all the gods to witness, that Daniel and Isaiah -shall be in nowise molested in this matter, will I consent to withhold a -criminal charge against you of extreme impiety and deliberate sacrilege. -The crime is notorious—twenty witnesses. Let Belshazzar himself save -you, if I sow this tale of the outrage done the god, through Babylon.” - -There was a stern menace in the pontiff’s voice that sent all Mermaza’s -bravado trickling out through his finger-tips. The unfriendly ring of -faces about added nothing to his courage. Twice he faltered, while speech -choked in his throat. His face was swollen with mortification at his -blunder. “Will you swear, toad?” croaked Hasba, at his side; and Mermaza -gasped out thickly, “I will swear.” - -“Good, then,” was Imbi’s dry comment; “but let us go down to the ‘holy -room’ of the temple. There you shall lay your hands on the ark of the -god, and take your oath. I spare no precaution, in taking a pledge of -such as you.” - -The priests swept their victim down the stairs. The three Hebrews were -left alone on the housetop, looking one upon another—at first in silence; -then a great and grievous cry arose from Daniel:— - -“Ah! Lord God of my fathers—must I, who have served Thee so long, see my -one child brought to this!” - -He opened his arms wide; and Ruth fled into them, there to be locked -fast. It was a moment when Isaiah knew he might do and say nothing. -He stared vacantly across the parapet, counting the herd of dun-brown -sheep a countryman was driving past the temple gate. The sheep would be -butchered to-morrow, but they shambled on with never a thought save -for the little patches of grass that thrust through the chinks in the -pavement. The sheep were happy, but he, Isaiah, the young man, whose -heart was thrilled with high and holy things, with visions of the Great -King and of His awful throne,—he was beyond words miserable! Darker, -darker grew his thoughts; but the voice of Daniel recalled him. - -“Isaiah, my weakness is passed. The Lord who saved your father and -Meshach and Abed-nego from the flame of Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace,—He is -our refuge still. We must trust and bear. And not bear only. There is a -deed for you to do this night. You have risked much to-day: will you face -peril yet again?” - -“You know I will walk through death at your least bidding, O my father!” - -Daniel put Ruth gently away, and taking Isaiah by the arm, led him beyond -her hearing. - -“I told you before, I had one last weapon against Belshazzar; but -scruples of loyalty restrained me. After _this_,” with a weary smile, -“all fealty truly ends. Hearken now to each word. You must be all -resources to-night. You know the king gives a betrothal feast in the -Hanging Gardens, in honour of the Persian princess. All the ministers and -captains are invited saving myself—sure sign of the royal disfavour. You -must contrive to enter the Gardens after the drinking has made the guards -negligent, when you can shun discovery. After the wine has set the feast -in confusion, seek out Darius the Persian envoy. God must aid you to have -words with him alone. You must act to-night; for though Mermaza’s oath -may delay his revenge a little, none can tell when the stroke may fall, -and we be helpless in prison or as fugitives. Tell Darius that I, Daniel, -who know all the king’s secrets, though they think it not, say that the -treaty he makes with Belshazzar is a snare for the feet of Cyrus. The -hand of Atossa was asked to lull him into security. Belshazzar negotiates -with Amasis the Egyptian for a league against Persia, and Babylonish -agents scatter sedition in Media and Carmania. Belshazzar is collecting -troops and munitions. His bolt will fall as lightning from a smiling sky.” - -The younger Jew was startled indeed. “Jehovah Omnipotent! I did not dream -this, that Belshazzar’s and Avil’s perfidy could sink so deep!” - -Daniel laughed aloud at his simplicity. - -“When you have my years, O Isaiah, you will have sounded the depths of -many seas of guile, and never marvel. You are young and trustful. Alas, -that you must grow wise! But go now, before Mermaza returns to the -palace. Our persons are safe for the moment: and Ruth can find shelter -so long as Imbi-Ilu is our friend. But for true deliverance, Cyrus’s -gratitude and the Persians’ might,—the Persians who worship the one God -like ourselves,—these are the only hopes.” - -Isaiah drove away from the temple that evening in a strange mingling of -terror, yet of hopefulness. The warm touch of Ruth upon his cheek was -still thrilling him, the sweetness of her kiss was on his lips. Was all -lost while he was strong and free? And with the fate of his people and of -those he loved resting upon him, where was the moment in which to dare -to dream of failure? Darius had declared himself his friend; Darius, he -felt, he scarce knew why, was already Belshazzar’s foe. Why might not -Jehovah raise up this prince as a second Moses, to lead His people out of -their new and more grievous bondage? - - - - -[Illustration: GLORY OF CHALDEES] - -CHAPTER VI - - -Nightfall—the light of a thousand flambeaux shivered over the great -winged bulls guarding the palace gateways. The bulls formed the base -of towers faced with brightly enamelled brick, and crowned with masts -whence trailed the royal banners. In and out streamed the palace -servants—eunuchs of the harem, cooks, grooms, chamberlains, guardsmen; -sometimes a chariot thundered through at a gallop, bearing a nobleman to -Belshazzar’s banquet. As one peered inward from the gate, he could see -the whole broad court of the king’s house lit bright as day by cressets -and bonfires. The pictured tiles on the inner walls displayed their -lion-hunts, battles, processions, and sieges, so that he who regarded -them closely could learn all the history of Babylon for a hundred years -by a mere circuit of the court. But Khatin, the royal executioner, and -two cronies, who sat drinking wine between the feet of a winged bull, -had little heed to give to departed glories. Khatin was a stout muscular -giant, with thick, black hair and beard shining with strong pomade and -butter. His speech was gruff as the bay of a hound; and the two eunuchs, -Nabua and Khanni, who divided with him the tankard of Armenian white -wine, regarded him with awe, as being the person who might be the last to -converse with them, in case his Majesty found them disagreeable. - -“I tell you,” declared the headsman, dipping his cup for the fifth time, -“that Persian Darius is a pretty fellow. I dearly love a man of his -spirit. You heard the story? The worthy Igas came near to scraping my -close acquaintance. By Marduk! why was the envoy so tender-hearted as not -to ask for his head?” - -“Surely,” ventured Nabua, “you have nothing against the captain. He only -flogged a dirty Jew, and a second Jew interfered. But for Darius, this -last, Isaiah they call him, would have been the one to speak with you.” - -Khatin gave a hoarse laugh. “Jews? They are mice. Small glory in -beheading vermin. Give me men of spirit, my dear eunuch, men of parts, -like Igas-Ramman. Ah! You cannot know the satisfaction of feeling the -sword go through a stout, stiff neck.” - -“Ugh!” grunted the others, feeling their own heads none too firm on their -shoulders; and Khanni began soothingly, “Now, by Istar, you would never -do the last offices for a friend—for us, by example?” - -The executioner burst into a braying chuckle. “Ah! my swallows, my -lambs, the more I love a man, the more I love to be by at the end. My -father-in-law, Sadu-Rabu, dear man, must needs turn robber; to this day -I pride myself on my neatness. ‘Beloved Sadu,’ said I, ‘be content; you -have my best art for a smoother journey to the “Mountain of the World” -than the late vizier.’” - -“Ugh!” grunted the two again, very unhappy; and to turn the drift Khanni -interposed, “But you began by praising the Persian?” - -“Yes, a man of fine spirit—a very pretty neck—by Samas, an exceeding -pretty neck! I wish I were in Susa, as Cyrus’s executioner, just for the -hope of testing it; there is small chance of Belshazzar needing me to -attend to an envoy.” - -“They say,” answered Nabua, “Cyrus has little use for his headsmen. The -Persians all love him; they keep the laws, and there are no executions -for days together.” - -“Then, by Allat, queen of Hades,” cried Khatin, in disgust, “Cyrus is -no king! Hark you! Some day I will plot treason and wear the royal cap -myself. Then how many ministers will I have? Just one—an honest headsman. -A king and an executioner—the one to begin, the other to finish—these are -governors enough for the wide world.” - -But as Khatin was running on with more wisdom, scarlet-robed -torch-bearers began pouring through the gate, with the cry, “The knee! -the knee! The king, the daughter of Cyrus, and the Persian envoy!” - -The executioner and the eunuchs fell on their knees, to make obeisance. A -vast host of guardsmen, priests, and pages came first; and Khatin asked -Khanni, “They go to the Hanging Gardens?” - -“Yes; the betrothal feast for Atossa will be held there. But they are -late. Something has delayed the chief eunuch, and all has waited for him.” - -“Yet they come at last. See his Majesty and the Persians.” - -The royal party advanced, hidden by a moving hedge of steel-clad -guardsmen and the shadows of fifty torches. Belshazzar was in his state, -the jewelled embroideries on his robes worth the plunder of six cities. -At his side in the chariot stood Darius, no longer in native dress, -but in the splendid Median blue caftan. Men whispered that the Persian -looked none too merry, though he seemed to be laughing at some jest from -the king. Directly behind the car came a litter—all gold relief work -and ivory—borne by eight of the Chaldee nobles, wherein rode Atossa and -Mermaza, chief eunuch. When the torchlight flashed on her fair hair and -the rose and white of her face, there was a loud shout of admiration from -great and small, “A goddess! Istar come to earth! The ‘Great Lady’ is -amongst us!” - -Whereupon Atossa leaned from the litter, crying in her sweet, foreign -Chaldee, “The Most High bless you, good people, for your praise!” At -which there were more cheerings. But Atossa had sunk back on the muslin -pillows, and closed her eyes to the torch-glare. - -They passed down the inclined plane leading from the palace terrace; all -about, outside of the red circle of the flambeaux, stretched the dim -masses of the foliage of the “paradise,”—the wide park around the king’s -house. Then the company came again to a rising way, and a word from -Mermaza shook Atossa from her revery. - -“Look!” Atossa saw before her, in the faint gloaming, the columned halls -of a far-reaching temple, as it were—massive pillars curiously carved and -banded, which stretched away along long colonnades, yoked together by -heavy vaulting and arches. Marvel enough this would have been, even in -Babylon, city of marvels, for these galleries covered a prodigious area; -but they were only the beginning of the wonder. Above them, springing -from their roof, was a second system of like columns, and arched above -this, a third; and above this, so high that the eye grew weary of staring -upward, rare Indian palms and stately cedars of Lebanon were spread -against a sky dyed red by a hundred great bonfires. - -“Do we mount to heaven?” cried the princess. - -And Mermaza answered, smiling, “Ah, my lady, I think the ‘Mansion of Ea’ -will be scarce fairer than the Hanging Gardens.” - -The king had left his chariot, to ascend on foot; but the litter went -straight up an easy stairway—higher, higher, till it seemed the climbing -would never end. Mermaza told how luxurious chambers were hid in the -masses of the lower colonnades; and how a hydraulic engine was pumping -unceasingly, raising water from the Euphrates. Then, when at last the -crest was reached, suddenly the stars were blotted out by the flaring -of innumerable fresh cressets, till the avenues of trees and the almost -virgin laurel bowers and fern-brakes glowed as if touched by the dawning. - -They had arrived, it seemed to Atossa, upon a broad mountain summit, -thickly overgrown with trees, but with here and there a clearing. In and -out the trees were flitting white-robed figures, ghost fashion. Scattered -about where the torches glimmered brightest, she could see the guests -of the king, the nobles of the Chaldees, the chiefs of the priesthoods, -their wives, and harem women, all in their gayest robes, crowned with -flowers and myrtle wreaths. Out of the shadows of the groves drifted -music, now soft and sensuous, now swift and martial, and delicate voices -lifted up their song. - -But the litter moved onward, through all these leafy ways, until it -halted in the open air, at a space on the side of the gardens overlooking -the river. On north, south, and west the woods closed in, dense as the -primeval forest: but here all the ground was carpeted with sweet grasses, -and there was a clear view eastward over the wide stretch of the city, -where the shimmer of its lights answered the twinkling stars on high. -There were bowers of wreathed blossoms, ivy, and tamarisk; under these -were spread many small tables loaded with food and drink; and behind each -table waited a eunuch, dark, silent, statue-like, in gaudy livery. - -The king had gone on foot before the litter; now he halted in the centre -of this sky-canopied hall at the tallest of the bowers, and they set -Atossa down beside him. - -“Behold,” spoke Belshazzar; “look on these gardens, the like of which -is nowhere else in the world. They are given to you. This shall be your -feast. These eunuchs are your slaves. We shall all eat of your bounty.” - -“The king is kind,” said the Persian, meekly. “What have I done that he -vouchsafes such favour?” - -Belshazzar laughed before them all. - -“Done? Who demands of Istar anything save the brightness from her eyes -and honey from her lips?” - -“True,” cried fifty at once; “there is no lady like Atossa, like Atossa, -daughter of Cyrus.” - -Then Mermaza ceremoniously handed his mistress to the high seat beside -the two couches prepared for the king and Darius. - -Now, in the feast that followed, Belshazzar bore himself as if all the -world’s joy were summed up in that one night; he drank, laughed, jested, -and went to no small lengths to make Darius as merry as he. But though -the prince paid laughter for laughter, and played his part in the -game of repartee, he never forgot that close by sat one for whose sake -he would have braved the might of Belshazzar and all the host of the -Chaldees. And Atossa laughed with her lips, but could not with her eyes. -The Persians dared not glance at one another. How much better if Darius -had never come on the embassy! It would now take so long to forget! - -During the feast the court poet came before Atossa, with a great -orchestra of harpers and dulcimer players. The poet sang a marvellous -song, full of all the flowery flatteries of the East, praising the -princess:— - - “O light of heaven who hast come down to dwell among men, - Thou art exalted in strength! - Mighty art thou as a hyena hunting the young lamb! - Mighty art thou as a restless lion! - Thou art Istar, maiden of the sky! - Thou art Istar, consort of the very Sun!” - -So the stately poem ran, and Atossa gave its author her thanks and a -bracelet unclasped from her own white wrist. But Mermaza, who served her, -noticed that she ate little of all the venison and fresh-caught barbel, -of the pomegranates and grapes. And he shrewdly observed that Darius did -scarcely better. At last the viands were borne away. Belshazzar turned to -Mermaza. “Let them bring the drinking bowls,” he commanded. - -“Yes, my king,” was the answer; “and shall the sacred vessels of the gods -of the nations conquered by my lord’s predecessors be filled, that we -may drink to the health of the princess and the glory of Bel-Marduk?” - -“Bring, then, those from the sack of Nineveh, the spoils from the victory -over Pharaoh Necho, and from the temple at Jerusalem.” - -But Atossa touched the king’s hand. “May my lord’s handmaid speak?” - -“Yes,” swore he, “though you ask the head of the chief prince of Babylon.” - -“Then do not bring the vessels sacred to the Jewish Jehovah. For though -under different names, Persians and Jews alike worship one God.” - -Avil-Marduk, close by, was frowning; but Belshazzar answered graciously: -“Is this not your own feast? Let Jehovah’s vessels lie in their coffers.” - -So the eunuchs set on the tables huge bowls of chased silver, and into -these emptied many wine-jars. A sweet odour was wafted by the night -breeze from the perfumed paste dissolving in the liquor. Soon the cups -began to go about, and the Babylonian nobles roared their pledges,—to -Belshazzar; to his betrothed; to Cyrus, their new ally; above all, to -Bel-Marduk, guardian of Babylon, “god of gods, and lord of lords, through -whose might their city had waxed great for a thousand years.” Belshazzar -drank deeply; Darius only touched his goblet; Atossa did not touch it at -all. - -“Ha, son of Hystaspes!” cried the king, his spirits rising with the wine -that was flushing his temples. “You Persians have a custom to take -counsel when drunken. Strong wine is a gift from your god, yet they wait -to fill your second goblet.” - -Darius drained his cup, and handed it to the eunuch behind him. - -“True, your Majesty; but the spirit of the wine is not to be invoked -lightly. On what take counsel? War? We sealed the treaty of peace to-day.” - -“Yet wine is a gift from Nabu, lord of the wise. Woe to the despiser! -Come, evening wanes; they call the third hour of the night from Bel’s -_ziggurat_. One thing is left.” - -Belshazzar rose from his couch. There was a great crash of music. The -drinkers were silent instantly. The king stepped beside Atossa. - -“Look, lords of the Chaldees!” rang his voice. “This hour I proclaim -Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, my affianced wife. One year from this hour -shall be my bridal feast. Behold the sovereign lady of the land of Akkad!” - -He lifted the blue and white mitre from his head and placed it on the -Persian’s golden hair. A great shout reëchoed, making the dying torches -shimmer. - -“The queen! The queen! Hail, all hail, Atossa!” - -Darius rose also. No Babylonian knew what the words cost him. He raised -his goblet:— - -“To Belshazzar, son of Cyrus. May Ahura grant him and his house -prosperity for ten thousand years!” - -Another shout. Avil-Marduk, leading the rest, leaped to his feet, -crying:— - -“To the favour of Sin, of Samas, of Marduk upon the house of Cyrus, and -upon the noble Prince Darius!” - -The pledge was drunk amid furious cheering and the clatter of wine-cups; -and the king shouted, last of all:— - -“To the peace betwixt Persia and Babylon, may it be firm forever!” - -More applause. Mermaza was bowing before Atossa:— - -“Dread lady, the feast is at an end. All the women will return now to the -palace; but, after our custom, the king’s nobles will sit over their wine -as long as they desire.” - -Darius had not spoken to Atossa during the entire evening. But he knew -that the end had come, and could not see her go without one word. - -“My lord,” said he to Belshazzar, “I must say farewell to the Queen of -the Chaldees. Henceforth she is Babylonian, not Persian. Into your hands -I commit her. Yet, with your permission, I will speak with her—for the -last time, before she enters your harem.” - -“Say what you will,” came the careless answer. - -Darius stood beside the princess’s chair. It was only for an instant. Why -did his voice sound so harsh and metallic? Why did Atossa seem to fear to -look him in the face? - -“My lady,” said he, “I am at the end of my commission concerning you. I -shall be in Babylon for some time upon your father’s business. But we -shall see each other no more. Farewell; may Ahura the All-merciful grant -you peace and every joy. And before all, may you learn to forget the name -‘Darius.’” - -It was not what he had intended to say; he had thought on these words -of parting since the feast began. Why was it his tongue would not move -obedient to his will? - -Atossa raised her head, gave him one look out of those blue Persian -eyes—so blue! Was Mithra’s light-robed azure fairer sight than they? - -“And may you forget there was a maid named Atossa, who found all Paradise -in sight of you. You are right. Time will be kind. Farewell.” - -That was all she said. They had spoken in their own native Persian, which -the rest could not understand. And if the sly Mermaza had thoughts in -secret, while he watched them, what did Darius care? - -Then they took her away in the litter, after Darius had knelt and kissed -the hem of her dress. He found himself beside the king, but ceremony was -at an end. Noblemen were wandering from table to table, bawling to the -yawning eunuchs for more wine. Avil-Marduk came to the king and entered -into a familiar conversation on some matter of repairing the temple at -Uruk. Seeing that nothing more was expected of him, Darius craved the -royal permission, readily granted, to wander about the gardens. - -Only a few steps carried him under the shadow of the woods. The cries -of the revellers drifted through the thickets; a pale moon was hanging -in the sky; there was an uncertain light on the carpet of moss and -turf under the great trees. He almost thought himself, except for the -shouting, in the heart of an untrodden wood. He wandered on aimlessly, -half in a dream. How beautiful Atossa had been that night! He knew that -the pain in her heart was as great as that in his—and his, how great! -Would Belshazzar treat her honourably, cherish her as “first queen” in -his harem, after the immediate need for propitiating the all-powerful -Cyrus had passed? The king had impressed him more favourably that night -than ever before; he had shown himself affable and generous. Doubtless -his flaring passion for the Jewish Ruth had long since vanished; but what -if his desires and impulses always mastered him thus easily? - -Darius wandered onward, looking within, not without, until he was roused -by stumbling against a brick parapet that marked the outer wall of the -gardens. He sank upon the trunk of a fallen tree—for this strange forest -had been suffered to grow nigh wild since its creation. The noise of -the drinkers seemed to come to him from a great way off. Despite the -fact that he had touched little wine, he felt his head becoming heavy. -Bred as he was to the life of a Persian cavalryman, able to pillow -upon the hardest steppe, the prince was close to falling asleep and -slumbering soundly. He was drifting into semiconsciousness; the shouts, -the torchlights, were alike fading away. A moment more and he might have -slept till daybreak, if not searched for, when a sound of crackling -underbrush startled him. - -“A deer!” his first thought, the hunter’s instinct foremost, and his -hand felt mechanically for an absent sword. In an instant he recognized -human voices—three forms approaching through the darkness. “Drinkers,” -he argued; “they leave the rest to enjoy a bowl in secret.” And he arose -noiselessly, as one of his training could, not desiring to interrupt such -a party. Suddenly a familiar voice sounded—Belshazzar’s. - -“Darius? Where is he?” - -And the voice of Mermaza replied, “Almost I can swear he was in the party -that went to the chariots for the palace.” - -“More likely asleep under the tables,” came from a third, clearly -Avil-Marduk. - -“Not there,” commented the eunuch; “he was barely civil in his drinking.” - -“No matter if he is not here,” answered Belshazzar. “Faugh! How much -longer must I juggle with this marvellous envoy? By Nergal! his only sane -talk is of hunting. I grant that he is a fair archer.” - -“Not comparable with my lord,” flattered Mermaza. - -“Most headlong and unprincely,” added Avil. “Could the king have but -seen him this morning rush into strife as a dog after a carcass.” - -“Hist!” cautioned the king; “what stirs in the thicket?” - -Mermaza peered into the dark. As Darius stood, he could have touched the -eunuch; but he remained motionless, and Avil-Marduk reassured: “Only a -harmless snake. We are more alone here than in the palace, where every -wall has ears.” - -Belshazzar groped his way to the log Darius had just quitted and seated -himself. The others dutifully remained standing. - -“By Samas!” began the king, as if rejoiced to feel himself free to -speak, “we have thus far played the game out well. Marduk grant the sky -may remain calm! What do they say in the city concerning Nabonidus, my -father?” - -Avil laughed softly. “Let the king’s heart be enlarged. My underlings -tell me the people say, ‘Though the public records still run in the good -Nabonidus’s name, he is grievously stricken by the “madness-demon”; and -praised be Istar who sends the noble Belshazzar to replace him!’” - -“If the tale spreads that Nabonidus is in sound health, shut up in Tema, -what then?” - -“Many things, my lord,—revolt, mutiny in the army; but nothing shall -leak. In a year you will be firmly set upon the throne and can mock at -all rumours. Only I fear the two men we have looked askance at for so -long, Imbi-Ilu and Daniel.” - -“Daniel!” exclaimed the king, as if struck by a sudden suggestion. “I had -forgotten about his wench. She is at the harem, of course, Mermaza,—you -shall bring her to me in the morning.” - -There was a long and very awkward interval before the eunuch found -courage to stammer:— - -“Pardon, River of Compassion,—I, the least of your slaves—” - -“She _is not_ at the harem?” demanded the king, threateningly. - -What followed, Darius did not well comprehend, thanks to the darkness, -and the mingling of Mermaza’s snifflings with Belshazzar’s curses and -oaths. The Persian imagined the eunuch had fallen upon his knees, and -was almost pleading for his head. It sufficed that substantially the -full story of the fruitless pursuit of the Jewess, and the defiance of -Imbi-Ilu, was gasped out at last. When it was finished, Belshazzar swore -madly. - -“Now as Marduk lives, I will have the life of Daniel by another day, and -pluck his daughter—” - -“Peace, your Majesty,” interposed Avil, abruptly. “Will you raise all -Babylon in an uproar? Believe me, Daniel is a power, even as against -you, my king. Men may think him old, honest, unsuspecting; but I know -better. He is rich, like all his accursed race. The city folk worship -him. Imbi-Ilu can rally half the priesthoods, as many as are jealous -of Bel-Marduk, in his behalf. And again beware; for raise a wind that -will blow into the Persian envoy’s ears that you are seeking the maid, -and when will he trust oath of yours again? I pray all the gods he hear -nothing of Mermaza’s rash blunder this day.” - -“The envoy!” grunted Belshazzar. “What does he see and know while in -Babylon? No bat is blinder to all save his sport.” - -“The king is mistaken,” admonished Avil, smoothly, “if he thinks Darius -utterly witless. I have watched him, and I boast to be a judge of men. -When not in liquor, he is deep and crafty beyond appearance. Do nothing -to offend him till the proper time; and as for the Jew’s daughter, let -the king wait. Mermaza can find many another as likely maid, sold in the -market for twenty shekels.” - -“No, by Samas!” asserted Belshazzar, testily. “I wish for no fowls out -of that flock. Whatsoever I once set my heart on, that will I possess, -though all the plague-demon’s sprites rage round me. I have sworn to gain -the girl, and were she ten times less comely than she is, no power of man -shall say to the king of Babylon ‘nay.’” - -Avil coughed, it seemed derisively, and spoke in an authoritative tone -wondrously disrespectful to a crowned monarch:— - -“Lord, we have many things to think of before wasting time or sleep on a -slip of a girl. When the father is snug in the palace prison, we can give -thought to the child. Yet give me time, your Majesty, and I will weave a -net for Daniel, and his daughter, too; but make no new attempt on her -for the present. Again I repeat, nothing to offend the Persian.” - -“Now, by Allat’s fiends!” cursed Belshazzar, “must it be the Persian, -always the Persian? I grow weary dissembling; yet I do it well?” - -“Excellently well,” soothed Avil, who felt he might be stepping too far. -“But consider once more: touch Daniel before there is proper occasion, -or outrage the envoy, and abroad we have war with Cyrus, and at home all -Babylon buzzing about the palace in revolt. Gently, my king, gently! -Remember that your government is not two months old.” - -“Daniel the Jew!” repeated Belshazzar; “the Jew! I do not know why I hate -that race so utterly. They are a stiff-necked people, sticking to their -Jehovah-worship like flies at the mouth of a wine-jar. And the Persians -are like them. Oh, that they all had one neck, that Khatin might cut it!” - -“Let the king’s liver be at peace,” began Mermaza, comforting; but he -took a step backward. Darius, behind a shrub, had been unable to stir -hand or foot from the beginning of the conversation, for the least sound -would have betrayed. His cheeks had flushed hot when he heard his own -name spoken; he had swelled with utter wrath when he knew that the pledge -touching Ruth had been given only to be conveniently broken. Mermaza’s -arm swung at a careless gesture, and brushed the Persian’s face. A -shout, and Avil and Belshazzar had leaped upon the eavesdropper before he -could escape in the dark. - -“Conspirators! Assassins!” Avil-Marduk was howling. “Help, guards! The -king is beset!” - -But the royal wine had laid half the attendants low with unseen arrows, -and the wits of the rest moved very slowly. There were answering cries -from the distance, torches tossing, commands thundered; but it was -nothing easy to find one’s way in the wood. Avil had gripped the Persian -round the throat, so that for an instant he gave not one gurgle; but when -Darius once put forth his strength, the three found they had bayed a lion -indeed. With his left fist he smote over Mermaza, so that the eunuch went -down with a groan. The chief priest nipped fast, but the Persian tore -away his fingers, plucked him round the girdle, and flung him sprawling. -The king remained. Darius’s first impulse was to cry aloud, but thoughts -raced fast at that moment. To betray his identity might mean ruin for -kingdoms. For an instant prince and monarch grappled. Belshazzar’s -fingers closed like talons of steel, but Darius had not been vainly -trained to wrestle. Twice he lifted Belshazzar, and the king clung to the -ground; the third time, just as Avil-Marduk was staggering to his feet, -Belshazzar’s foothold spun from beneath him, and he fell heavily upon the -greensward. There were shouts now, torches coming nearer. - -Darius could see them flashing on bright steel. - -“Murderers!” bawled Avil. “The king is slain!” - -Darius took a great bound into the thicket, a second, a third; then ran -swiftly as a cat, and as silently, onward in the dark. His long Median -cloak caught on a thorn bush and was whisked from his shoulders before -he realized it. To recover it in the gloom and danger was impossible. -“Ahura grant,” ran his prayer, “none may find it and recognize!” Many -of the drinkers had staggered from their wine and were wandering about, -shouting, “Murder! Save the king!” but their pursuit was aimless. Yet he -saw men staring at him as he ran back toward the banqueting area. Who was -this at the royal feast without a courtly garment? None recognized him as -yet, but he knew that his condition, if he remained, must excite speedy -comment. He was a stranger to the place, and wandered vainly about, -seeking the exit, and only running on new groups of frightened eunuchs -and tipsy guardsmen. His position was becoming serious, when of a sudden -he was startled by a hand plucking at his elbow. - -As he started, a familiar voice sounded in his ear:— - -“My lord, do you not know me? Your servant, Isaiah the Jew. My lord is in -trouble. What may I do for you?” - -The prince wasted no words. “In Ahura’s name, lead me down from these -gardens and away from all these people before I am recognized.” - -“Willingly,” came the answer. “I know this place as well by starlight as -at noonday. We are near the private staircase by the northern wall of the -gardens.” And Isaiah led away into a winding path between dark shrubbery. -In a moment they were at the head of a long, narrow stairway that wound -downward and was lost in the gloom below. There were two spearmen on -guard at the upper landing, but both had long since invoked the wine-god -over-piously, and were stretched prone and helpless. Isaiah gave them -only a sniff of contempt. He plucked a flickering flambeau from the wall, -and guided the Persian downward—a weird and uncanny descent. Above there -were shouts and commands; and before they had put twenty stairs betwixt -them and the landing, there came a cry from over their heads. - -“Guard this exit! These swine are drunken; the assassins may have fled -this way!” - -“Speed, my lord,” admonished Isaiah in a whisper. The sound of many feet -following made them descend by bounds. Well it was that their pursuers -were deep in their cups, and they themselves were sober. At the foot of -the stairs there were two more guards, each as prone and senseless as -their fellows on high. - -“The danger is at an end, my prince,” declared Isaiah; “they can suspect -nothing now.” - -He led the Persian by a second dark circuit under the colonnades of the -lowest stage of the gardens to where they had left the carriages at the -beginning of the feast. Here none met them, though there was still much -din from the gardens. Darius told himself that if the king of Babylon and -his lords often feasted thus, not fifty sword-hands would be found sober -if an enemy attacked the palace on such a night. They found no chariots -waiting to bear the royal guests back to the palace. And Isaiah remarked, -with a shrug of the shoulders:— - -“None expect them, my lord. Good Babylonians drink all night.” - -“All the better. Guide me back to the palace in secret.” - -So the two walked back together, and a man need not be wise to imagine -what the Persian told the Jew, and the Jew told the Persian. - -At the great gate of the palace they met more drunken guards, and Isaiah -conducted Darius to his own chambers, where at last they found the -Persians of the prince’s suite moderately sober. - -“Let us pray the one God, my friend,” were Darius’s words at parting, -“the one God we both fear, for strength and wisdom beyond that of man. A -great work lies before us, and by His help we will bring low the ‘Lie’ -whose seat is this great Babylon!” - - - - -[Illustration: SPELL OF THE MASKIM] - -CHAPTER VII - - -As the afternoon waned, Nur-Samas’s beer-house buzzed louder and louder, -until a stranger might have deemed it one vast beehive. The jolly liquor -and the bouncing serving-maids about Sadasu, the hostess, were twin lures -that stole the stamped silver out of the pouches of the most wary. The -room was large, cool, and dark. Stools were scattered about in little -groups, every seat occupied with its toper. In the hands of each was a -sizable earthen jug that was replenished by the girls as often as its -holder snapped his fingers or clapped his hands. Everybody was talking -at once, with little heed whether his neighbour was also talking or -listening. All were trying to barter broad jests or roaring at them, -though scarce a man or woman there but was too tipsy to tell a straight -story or understand the point of what was told them. - -When Khatin, the executioner, went down the stairway to enjoy his -afternoon tankard, he found Gudea, the lean “demon-ejector,” and Binit, -his angular wife, who acted as hired wailer at funerals, both with their -noses deep in their cups, and they only lifted them when Khatin drew his -stool close by theirs, and began to tell of the mysterious attack that -had been made on the king’s own person at the great feast. - -“A fearful atrocity!” the headsman was bewailing; “and the worst of it -all is that no one has yet been laid by the heels and brought to me for -it. Only two heads sheared to-day—wretched eunuchs who fell out with the -queen-mother Tavat-Hasina. I grow sluggish for lack of work.” - -“Poor Khatin!” commiserated Binit. “Yet sympathize with Gudea; for two -days he has not cast out a single ‘sickness-demon,’ and I have only -wailed at one funeral, that of the rich old goat Isnil, who died of -sheer age. The city grows impious and healthy. Men give up calling in an -honest wizard when sick, and trust to roots and herbs and those horrible -Egyptian doctors. The gods must grow dreadfully angry. The Jews still -refuse to worship Bel and Nabu, despite the forced labour, and this makes -heaven yet more furious. Alas! Such evil times!” - -Khatin raised his head, with a chuckle. - -“Now by all the host of heaven!” professed he, “I think the gods must get -on excellently well, even if a few less shekels are wasted on such worthy -servants as you, my dear Binit and Gudea. They _do_ say that even if the -gods grow furious, when one really longs to be rid of a sickness, it is -safer to trust the Egyptian doctors than the most noted wizard in all -Babylon.” - -“Khatin,” admonished Gudea, rising in his dignity, “you call yourself my -friend; understand that if you call down the wrath of the gods by your -blasphemies, you need expect no help from me to avert their rage.” - -“No offence, brother,” responded the headsman, as soothingly as he knew -how. “Here, girl, fill the noble exorcist’s jug again, and put it on my -reckoning. A long pull now,—to the confusion of every Jew and traducer of -the gods! Ha! What a happy life this would be, if it were all one round -of quaffing palm-wine.” - -“You are very generous,” remarked Gudea, appeased. “I swear these last -skins Nur-Samas had sent up from Sirgulla are delightfully heady. My -crown already begins to go round like a chariot wheel. You are an -excellent man, my lovely Khatin, a most excellent man! By Marduk, I love -you!” He had pulled his stool beside that of Khatin, put his arm around -the executioner, and rocked to and fro, displaying his affection. - -Khatin likewise, feeling the liquor loosening his tongue, began to grow -confidential. - -“Hist!” admonished he, “I am in a great way to be consoled. Do you know -there is a rumour around the palace, about Daniel—” - -“Daniel the ‘civil-minister,’ the great Jew?” demanded Binit, jerking her -nose out of her jug. - -“The very same,” grunted Khatin, chuckling again; “it is reported that -Avil-Marduk—” - -Before he could finish the sentence, which all around had stopped -drinking and talking that they might hear, a call came down the stairway -from the street entrance. - -“Where is Gudea the exorcist?” The wizard rose, not too tipsy to answer:— - -“I am he. Who are you? What do you wish?” - -“I am Joram, son of Saruch, the rope merchant,” came the reply. “My -father is again torn by convulsions. Terrible demons are rending him. -Hasten! Come and cast them out.” - -Gudea put on a professional tone at once. - -“Take comfort, excellent youth; you command my best skill. Yet my time is -valuable; in justice to my wife I must ask five shekels.” - -“Say ten, if only the demons never return.” - -“Will you come also, my Khatin?” said Gudea, adjusting his long robes. -“You shall see my spells accomplish that of which no Egyptian dreams. And -you, wife, hasten home, bring the incense pots, aromatic herbs, cloves, -garlic, the wool of a young sheep, and some raw serpent’s flesh. We shall -need a powerful exorcism.” And with that Binit went her way, while Khatin -followed his friend into the yet busy street. - -The young man who had summoned them bore indeed a Jewish name; but, -as Gudea explained, he and his father Saruch were men of true worldly -wisdom. If they still prayed to Jehovah, they had long since cast -off their native bigotry; they brought offerings to the temples, and -knew that in times of illness one must run for the wizard. As idlers -recognized Gudea, and the whisper spread that he was headed for Saruch’s -house, a great crowd followed, for there were few better sights than -a skilful incantation. So, with a long train of pedlers, donkey-boys, -guardsmen off duty, and their kind, the exorcist came to the dwelling -of the rich Jew, beside the quays. The courtyard was open, and soon -thronging, but Gudea ostentatiously bade the servants to clear a space -and bring forth their master. The convulsions were over for the moment. -They laid Saruch, ghastly pale, and scarce conscious, on the cushions in -the sunlight of the court. Gudea knelt, blew in his nostrils and ears, -and rose with a long face. To the anxious wife and son he announced -solemnly:— - -“Good people, you have indeed done well to summon me. Nothing less than -the ‘Maskim,’ the ‘seven arch-fiends of the deep,’ have entered into the -worthy Saruch.” Whereupon all the jostling crowd began to shrink and -shiver, though none cried aloud lest the demons quit Saruch and slip down -their gaping mouths. But Gudea reassured them pompously. “Be not afraid, -excellent friends. The demons are still in Saruch, but I have muttered -an infallible spell to control them as they pass out. They will enter no -other.” The crowd pressed again nearer. - -“Alas, noble wizard,” began the wife, weeping, “can even _your_ skill -eject the ‘Maskim’?” Gudea drew himself up, offended. - -“Were I another exorcist, perchance you might doubt rightly. But am I not -the most notable conjurer in Babylon? Fear nothing; you shall yet see -Saruch walking before you, well and happy.” - -“Nevertheless,” muttered Khatin, impiously, “it were no harm to call an -Egyptian.” But Binit had bustled in with divers bundles, on which all -cast awesome glances. Gudea unpacked; took sundry earthen pots, filled -them with spices, struck fire, and presently from them drifted a thick -aromatic smoke, that blew in Saruch’s face and set him coughing. - -“Back, all of you. Adore the gods!” commanded the wizard. “I will now -commence the never failing exorcism of the Maskim.” - -There was not a whisper, while the conjurer began casting bits of wool, -hair, dried flowers, and beans into the fire, each time repeating loudly:— - - “Even as the bean is cast in the fire, - Even as the fire consumes the bean; - So may Marduk, chieftain of the gods, - Drive the demons and their spell from Saruch!” - -At first Gudea stood still; then, laying off his shoes and rubbing -his hands,—token of purification,—he commenced the sacred dance about -the sufferer. In the first rounds he moved slowly, his white garments -swelling and falling as he turned, while his watchful wife fed the fire -with scraps of dry flesh, spices, and splinters of magic woods. Gudea -recited incantation after incantation, calling on Marduk, Istar, Ea, -and every other god to aid in driving the “seven fiends” out of Saruch’s -throat. He continued, until suddenly the sick man began to quiver and -foam at the mouth. - -“The convulsion again!” moaned the sufferer’s wife, starting forward. -“Alas! my Saruch!” - -“Peace, woman!” thundered Gudea, “will you break the spell? No danger, -the fiends are risen in his neck. They struggle against coming forth, but -I compel them.” The sufferer almost rose from his cushions; his face was -black, his eyes bloodshot. - -“Glory to Marduk!” howled Gudea, “the spell works. The Maskim depart. -Now, wife.” Binit leaped to her feet with a screech that sent all the -sparrows scurrying from the eaves. Seven times she screamed, until every -ear was tingling, and all the time Gudea danced faster, faster, in a -narrow circle about Saruch. - -“Come out of him! Come out of him! Away, away!” he yelled at each -interval in the screeching. The sick man was tottering to his feet. - -“Glory to Marduk!” bawled Gudea again, “the fiends are mastered. The -final spell now, the infallible incantation.” - -And every breath was bated while he chanted, still dancing, the -age-honoured song of the “Maskim”:— - - “Seven are they, they are seven! - In the deeps below they are seven; - In the crest of heaven they are seven; - In the low abyss were reared the seven; - Man or woman are none of the seven; - Whirlwinds baneful are all the seven; - Wife or child have none of the seven; - Mercy or kindness have none of the seven; - Prayers and tears hear none of the seven; - Eager for mischief are all the seven; - Sky-spirit conjure away the seven! - Earth-spirit conjure away the seven!” - -A final howl from Binit. Saruch’s answer was a groan of mortal pain; he -reeled, fell. - -But the wife and son had rushed to the old Jew, and a fearful cry burst -from the woman:— - -“Dead! dead!” When she lifted the head, it fell back lifeless. Almost at -the same moment the crowd was thrust aside by a heavy hand, and all saw -the stalwart form of Isaiah striding toward Gudea, and at the Hebrew’s -heels a dignified, dark-skinned man, in a spotless white robe. - -“Urtasen, the great Egyptian doctor,” whispered one fellow to another. - -Gudea was standing panting, gazing upon the dead, the widow, and Joram. -His jaw was dropped, his eye vacant. Even his own effrontery had failed -him. Isaiah plucked him roughly by the robe. - -“Make your feet wings, or I will aid you,” he commanded. “You have truly -raised the ‘Maskim’ now.” - -The wizard recovered his tongue. - -[Illustration: “Isaiah plucked him roughly by the robe. - -“‘Make your feet wings, or I will aid you.’”] - -“Dead?” cried he, incredulously; “he is but in a trance. He sleeps; he -will awake in quiet. The demons tore him grievously in departing, but he -is not dead.” - -Urtasen had knelt by the body, examining. Now he looked upward. - -“Saruch had an incurable disease. Thoth, the wisest god, could have -scarce saved him in the end. But this smoke and bellowing brought on a -last convulsion. With treatment he could have lived many years. Now he -will wake only at the call of Osiris.” - -The widow and Joram had leaped upon Gudea. - -“Imposter! Juggler!” screamed the Jewess; “_you_ boast to cure? Call my -husband’s spirit back from Sheol, if you may.” - -In their rage they would have wrung the wizard’s neck. Isaiah interposed. -“You alone are to blame, Joram—you, false Jew, who have forsaken the -faith of your fathers! Jehovah justly requites you. How long have you -forgotten our law forbidding dealings with wizards and necromancers? I -heard the rumour of Saruch’s state, and hastened hither with Urtasen to -forestall this viper,”—with a glance toward Gudea,—“but the Most High -ordained that I should come late, and you all be dealt with after your -sins.” - -“No more! On my father’s soul, no more!” Joram was moaning, while his -tears came fast. - -“You do well to weep,” was the stern retort; “but I have said enough. Now -let these servants of the very fiends depart.” - -Gudea had recovered his composure. - -“Luckless people,” began he, “it was none other than the counter spells -muttered by this Isaiah which ruined my incantation and gave victory to -the demons. I accuse him of black magic and murder.” - -But Gudea had lost all favour with the crowd. A guffaw answered him. - -“Ha, scoundrel!” yelled twenty, “do not cover your mummery!” And Khatin -added, “Verily, friend, if any murderer needs speech with me, his name is -Gudea.” - -“Out with him!” roared all the onlookers, putting forth rough hands on -Binit and her husband. - -“No tumult; respect the dead!” implored Isaiah. - -“And my ten shekels?” howled Gudea, struggling in the clutch of ten men. - -“Let the crows weigh them out to you,” groaned Joram, in his agony. - -“And may I not engage to wail at the funeral?” pleaded Binit, never -setting safety before business. - -“Screech at your own,” admonished many at once. - -Khatin joined the rest in thrusting the necromancers very ungently into -the street. - -“Good people,” said Isaiah to those yet in the court, “this is the house -of death. Let all who are needless here go their ways.” - -“You shall repent this!” belched Gudea, as they haled him away, but none -heeded him. - -The servants drove the rabble from the court. The portals clanged; the -household was left to its grief. Khatin was laughing like a jackass. - -“Ah, my wise raven! Ah, my sweetly chirping sparrow! How amiably the -demons obey you! Pity they took Saruch’s soul with them when they flitted -forth.” - -“The Jew! the Jew and his sorceries!” groaned the wizard. - -The roar of the bystanders drowned his protest. Since most had with -them a heavy freight of palm-wine, they might have dipped him in the -Euphrates; but at this moment a squad of police charged down the street -and dispersed them. Gudea, Binit, and Khatin found themselves thrust into -a side alley. - -“By Nergal! my pot at Nur-Samas’s turns sour,” cried the headsman, “yet -not so sour as your smile just now, dearest brother. That Isaiah is a -pretty fellow also, if he is a Jew! A fine neck! Pity I missed him the -other day.” He turned on his heel. For a moment Binit’s tongue flew so -fast that she soon stopped for want of breath. - -“Our conjuring vessels, the herbs, spices, charms, amulets—all lost. -Sheerest theft! Go to the magistrate. Seize Joram, Isaiah, the widow, -the—” - -“Silence!” commanded her husband. “All this talked in a crowded court? -Bel forefend! I could never exorcise another demon for a year. You are a -fool!” - -“But did I not screech beautifully?” - -“Sweetly as the king’s musicians, my dear one. But how shall we be -avenged on this Isaiah? All Babylon will hear of this. Woe, woe!” - -“Avil-Marduk?” suggested she. - -“I do not understand you, wife,” quoth the wizard, his wits still shaken -by the rude events of the hour. - -“Are you become senseless as a sick sheep?” cried she, scornfully. “What -was Khatin about to say at the beer-house? You know the chief priest -would love nothing so much as some ground for new accusations against the -Jews. Go to him boldly. Accuse Isaiah of murder by means of sorceries. -Say he hated Saruch because he adored our gods of Babylon. The moment -your spell begins to work, the sick man falls dead. Isaiah appears the -next instant. Clearest proof! If Avil-Marduk can be persuaded to make -your cause his own, an accusation supported by him will be true as an -oracle; though all the city might mock if you brought the charge alone.” - -The wizard’s eyes were shining with relief and glee, as the inspiration -came to him. - -“Ah! my Binit,” cried he, merrily, “happy the day when Istar made you my -wife! Not Ea himself could counsel more craftily.” - - * * * * * - -So it befell that the wizard wended his way in the cool of the evening -northward to the precinct of Bel-Marduk, guardian god of Babylon. - -The temple of Bel was far more than a shrine perched on the crest of a -_ziggurat_. Its walls, outbuildings, and priests’ houses covered many -“large acres.” It occupied a site with the river on the west, the great -“Eastern Canal” to north, and on south and east there was ready entrance -through the towering gateways, guarded, like the king’s palace, by stone -lions and winged bulls. Here sleepy priests on watch gave not a glance -to the exorcist as he entered. Once past, he found himself in a broad -court girdled by a façade of lofty pillars glittering with silver plating -and brilliant enamel, and behind the columns all the walls shone with -brightly glazed bricks. Burnished bronze glistered on the doors of the -many rooms, and Gudea could just see the sheen of jewels inside the “dark -room,” the great sanctuary at the end of the court, where was guarded the -ark of Bel, of which the portal chanced to be open. - -Through a noisy crowd of priests, priests’ wives, children, and visitors, -Gudea wormed his way to the west side of the court, till almost under the -shadow of the towering _ziggurat_. Here he was halted by a serving-man -guarding a private doorway. - -“Hold, friend! Your business.” - -Gudea made a lowly salaam. - -“Excellent sir, be so gracious as to tell whether the high priest, -Avil-Marduk, my lord never-to-be-too-much-praised, is willing to listen -to one of his slaves who craves his compassion.” - -The sentinel put his hands on his hips. - -“Now, by Bel himself, are you a peasant just from the country? Does Avil -have evenings to squander on fish of your spawn? Shall I call the dogs?” - -But Gudea knew his game. Down went his hand into a little bag. Up came a -silver quarter shekel. - -“Not so roughly. I am an honest citizen, as expert a wizard as you will -find from Sippar to Erech. If at any time you have need of exorcising -a demon—” here the silver changed hands, and the other replied, three -shades more affably:— - -“Assuredly the chief priest’s time is not for all. Still, I will -endeavour—” - -“Tell him Gudea, the exorcist, desires speech as to certain plottings of -one Isaiah, betrothed to the daughter of the civil-minister, Daniel.” - -The other vanished and returned speedily. “The high priest will speak -with you,” he announced. - -Gudea was led down many darkened hallways, until he entered a small, cool -room, where a few lamps already twinkled, where the footfalls fell dead -on heavy carpets, and all the walls were bright with blue and white tiles -picturing the long-famed combat of Bel and the Dragon. There was very -little furniture in the room—a few armless stools, a low table covered -with writing tablets. At the extreme end stood a high arm-chair, whereon -sat Avil-Marduk himself, for the moment idling over a cup of wine. Old -Neriglissor, who had been invited to keep his superior company, sat at -the right, on a chair much lower; at the left squatted a negro boy, -watching the moment to rise and refill the cups. - -Avil-Marduk vouched no sign of recognition until Gudea had come and knelt -before the high seat. Then the pontiff raised his eyes. - -“You say you are Gudea the exorcist?” - -“Yes, noble lord,” and the wizard still knelt. - -“Stand up, then. State your errand. You have something against Isaiah the -Jew?” - -Gudea bowed; it was not well to risk long speeches with the great. Avil -demanded again:— - -“Well, do not waste any time. What is the complaint?” - -“Lord,” came the reply, “he commits murder.” - -“Murder?” Avil raised his eyebrows. Neriglissor laid down his -well-beloved wine-cup. “But why come to me? Am I the judge? Who is dead?” - -“Saruch, the rich rope merchant, by birth a Jew, a most pious servant of -the gods, especially of Bel-Marduk.” - -“Ah, woe!” began Neriglissor; “he gave five skins to us at the last -feast. Excellent wine! Cruel murder!” - -“And how has this worthy servant of Bel been butchered by Isaiah?” quoth -Avil, sternly. “Is justice denied? Where is the magistrate? Can assassins -stalk scatheless in our very streets?” - -“Alas, lord! Isaiah is worse than those who slay with dagger. What armour -can repel the evil eye, the secret incantation?” - -“Ah!” Avil dropped his jaw. Gudea felt uneasily that the high priest was -very close to a smile. “Well, how did Saruch die?” - -Whereupon Gudea launched into a long and tearful narrative of his unlucky -exorcism, and how, just as the “Maskim” were mounted to Saruch’s throat, -Isaiah appeared, and behold! the sufferer was dead. Gudea had seldom seen -or heard of a crueller taking off; and, what was worse, it would be vast -encouragement to those stubborn Jews to continue to worship their foul -demon, Jehovah. - -“You bring a sad tale, my friend,” patronized Avil, when the wizard was -ended. “It is too true that in these days, when faith in the gods is -failing and so many noble _ziggurats_ are sinking in ruins, your noble -art is threatened by these pestilential Egyptians. Your tale is but too -common. But this Isaiah is no ordinary scoffer. His connection with the -civil-minister makes him trebly dangerous.” - -“True, lord; and if a blasphemer like him is seen to go harmless, where -will be any piety in Babylon? Men serve the gods through fear only. They -say, ‘If we do not, trouble hastens.’ When one mocks, yet prospers, the -rest all follow after. The very priests of Bel will starve.” - -“Oh, such days of impiety!” groaned Neriglissor. “Religion withers -like an unwatered palm. When I was a lad, no man dared buy a kid on an -‘unfortunate day’; now—” - -Avil cut him short. - -“You do well to be anxious for the gods, my Gudea; but I have other -reasons for wishing the end of these Jews. Not of Isaiah so much as of -the civil-minister.” - -Avil turned to the squatting cup-bearer, and at a motion toward the door -the servant salaamed and vanished. The chief priest’s eye suddenly fixed -itself on Gudea, and seemed to go through him like a sharp sword. - -“Now, fellow,” and Avil’s tone was low, but piercing as his gaze, “are -you a rascal of discretion? Can you lie piously? Can you lift your hands, -bidding Marduk and Samas strike dead if you are perjuring? Have you the -nose of a dog, the teeth of a cat, and the stealth of an adder?” - -The wizard hung down his head. The priest, with a single blow, crushed a -fly that lit on his palm and snapped:— - -“Understand, you are clay in my fingers. At my will I dash you out as -this fly. Silence now, or your wagging tongue wags your head off also.” - -“Ah, lord,” answered Gudea, “Bel forbid I should whisper one secret—” - -Avil sprang to his feet and paced the room. - -“Hark, you knave! I see through you as through Phœnician glass. You will -mortgage your soul for ten shekels,—say five rather. If I take oath from -you, it will bind while your interest holds, no longer.” - -“Alas, your Excellency, enemies blast my character.” - -Neriglissor raised a great laugh, crying:— - -“An exorcist of honesty! Hear, Heavens! Behold, Earth! Wonder of wonders!” - -But Avil-Marduk ceased pacing. - -“My dear wizard,” said he, in his oiliest manner, “I am infinitely -delighted to have a man of your liver seek me to-night.” His voice fell -to a confidential pitch. “Great things are afoot. If certain events -befall,”—he hesitated,—“Daniel will become a most undesirable man to -remain in high office.” - -“Ah!” Gudea dropped his jaw in turn. Avil ran on:— - -“If Daniel were found to have resorted to magic to work harm to Saruch, -whom he hated for leaving Jehovah; if many witnesses were found who could -swear ‘thus and thus the civil-minister slew Saruch with sorceries’; I -say, if such testimony were brought against Daniel, it would be most -ruinous to his popularity. He might even be brought to pass words with -Khatin.” - -“To suborn witnesses is costly,” hinted Gudea, rising to the bait. - -“Suborn?” cried Avil. “I did not speak the word. I say, ‘_If_ the -evidence were found.’” And then, turning suddenly, his tone lost all -smoothness. “I will give you three manehs this night. If one month from -to-day Daniel (Isaiah matters nothing) lies in the palace dungeon, I -will weigh you two talents. If not—” The exorcist was very uneasy, -while Avil’s eyes burned through him. “If not, if you play me false, if -you fail, I will blow you out as a lamp! A nod from me to the vizier -suffices.” - -Two talents were life riches, but the wizard’s heart was thumping when he -answered, “Lord, lord, I am a poor man, my skill is small. Some other—” - -Avil cut him short again:— - -“No grunting now, pig! After telling you this, did you expect me to say: -‘Go in peace. Tell the story to all Nana Street’? You shall do as bidden. -When the evidence is ready, silent as a tomb you come to me, and I use -you and your witnesses in my own time and way.” - -“And if I fail?” began Gudea. - -“Then, by the king’s life, you fail only once! No goad to a man’s wits -like saying, ‘Do this, or visit Allat, Queen of the Dead.’” - -Avil-Marduk recalled his servant, and had the three manehs wrapped in a -napkin given to Gudea. With many protestations and excuses the wizard -took his farewell. - -“You risk all on this juggler,” declared Neriglissor when the fellow was -gone. But the chief priest shook his head. - -“I know him by rumour to be one of the cleverest rats in Babylon. He will -have enough real bricks to build his tale with and make it credible. I -have him utterly in my power. Should he confess all to Daniel, who would -believe him against my denial? He will not fail.” - -The “anointer” cast a shrewd glance at his superior. - -“You are a man of many devices. When did it enter your head to make use -of this exorcist?” - -“The moment he opened his business. I had been casting about for many -days for a chance like this against Daniel, and was at my wit’s end.” - -“Therefore, if we were not priests, we should say, ‘Bel has wondrously -favoured us’; but since we are priests, we will preserve our -thanksgivings—” - -“To ourselves,” interposed Avil, dryly; “and now to the other part of my -business. You must ride with me to the palace. The king will hold council -again.” - -Neriglissor grew even more insinuating. - -“My dear lord, _was_ that cloak, found in the shrubbery after the assault -on his Majesty, the garment of the Persian envoy?” - -But Avil only gave a great shrug with his shoulders. “My very good -friend,” answered he, “there are some things which if whispered to a gnat -would put even my throat in peril. But I can tell you this: the subject -of our debate this day might prove wondrously entertaining, if overheard -by the ‘exceedingly noble’ Prince Darius.” - - - - -[Illustration: THE HAREM OF THE KING] - -CHAPTER VIII - - -Atossa awoke the morning after the feast with the same aching heart she -had carried for more than one weary night and day. She had probably -spoken with Darius for the last time. He had sat beside Belshazzar, and -all through the feast she had been arraying the two men against each -other,—and the All-Seeing knew who found favour in her partial eyes! -But the deed was done, and no human chance promised to mend it. Already -Pharnaces, the subordinate envoy, had started for Susa to inform Cyrus -of the splendour of his prospective son-in-law. For one year Belshazzar -could not actually take Atossa as his bride, but she was none the less -the inmate of his harem. Life had hitherto been very lovely to the -Persian; the turn of destiny that sent her to this gilded bondage had -darkened her life utterly. Love lost, kindred lost, home lost,—and only -half-known pains before! Small need to say further; enough that, as -Atossa looked forth upon the city that day, she saw not one friendly -object that made her sense of loss less keen. - -Early had come Avil-Marduk to instruct in the mysteries of the -Babylonish religion. The high priest, from whose tongue smooth words -flowed as readily as oil from the oil-jar, exerted himself to entertain -her by recitations of the ancient poems,—how the hero Gilgamesh was -sought in love by Istar, and having dared to repulse her, was smitten -with leprosy; and how he journeyed to Khasisadra, the Old Man of the -Sea, and by him was healed. Avil flattered himself that he declaimed -uncommonly well, and had amused his pupil not a little. He did not hear -the ill wishes sped after him, when he salaamed himself out of her -presence. - -Later Atossa was taken to a wing of the palace, where in solitary state -ruled Tavat-Hasina, daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and queen of the deposed -Nabonidus. There could be little friendship between the royal ladies. -Tavat’s political power as queen-mother was still considerable; but she -saw in Atossa the rival who would in time strip her of the vestiges of -authority, and greeted the other with studied coldness. And Atossa saw -merely an elderly woman, tricked out with wig and Egyptian rouges, fleshy -through her inactive life, supercilious and querulous because of ennui. -Their interview was as brief as the punctilious chamberlains would allow. - -The rest of the day was Atossa’s own; the king had promised to visit her, -but she had small grief when affairs of council prevented. As the first -cool airs of the afternoon began to creep over the place, she was pacing -the roof of the harem, thoroughly out of temper with herself and all -the world. And truth to tell, the Babylonish maids and eunuchs set to -wait on her whispered to themselves that the new queen was no more gently -disposed than her kingly consort, and it would be only the favour of the -gods that could keep them out of Khatin’s clutch, if she was always so -unreasonable. - -Therefore Atossa without difficulty scared them from her presence, and -had the harem roof to herself. A delightful place, she would have said in -other moods: lifted up above all the earth,—only the _ziggurats_ higher. -The city lay spread below; she could trace the great Euphrates north -and south, until it faded to a darkling thread upon the horizon. The -roof tiles had been strewn with white sand and gravel; there were seats, -divans, flowering shrubs, and tropical plants in huge earthen vases,—a -second hanging garden, scarcely less. - -Atossa had thrice paced the length of the long walk, when her eye caught -a face timidly upraised from the entrance. She spoke at once, - -“Come up, Masistes; I did not command _you_ to stay away.” - -A gray old eunuch shuffled up the stairs, and knelt and fawned around her -feet. The face of Atossa had softened as she smiled down on him, though -her smile was still bitter. - -“Ah! Dear old playfellow, rise up! Have I not been your fosterling since -first I could walk? When at Susa or Ecbatana have I passed one day -without you close by to scold and grumble over me? And now that all -other friends are gone, you alone are left; and I have learned to love -none too many new faces here, to wish to keep you quite afar.” - -The honest fellow thrust his arm within hers,—a familiarity born of -lifelong comradeship. - -“Ah! Little mistress, you do not right in crying down this wondrous city. -Surely, there is naught else like it under heaven!” - -“Masistes,” said Atossa, looking upon him half playfully, half in anger, -“I must have you whipped. Since coming hither you have learned to lie.” - -“I lie?” he lifted his hands in dismay. “Ahura, Lord of Truth, forefend!” - -“Nevertheless,” she answered, laughing now, “you speak falsely, praising -Babylon. From the bottom of your soul you hate it. How do I learn this? -Because I know when you are indifferent to a thing, you are silent; you -like it, when you begin to mutter against it under breath; but if you -love it exceeding well,—there is nothing you may say of it too ill! But I -am open, and I say to you,—and to any who wills to hear,—this city is the -abode of _dævas_: _dævas_ are all its lords, its priests, its people; and -Angra-Mainyu, arch-fiend, is little fiercer than its king.” - -“Alas! lady, such speeches make no winds pipe sweeter!” - -“Not sweeter? I only know that except I empty my heart to some one, it -will burst; and I think no Egyptian doctor could heal that with all his -cordials!” - -“Come, little mistress, in five years Babylon will have become dearer to -you than Susa. What is strange, we hate.” - -“So has said Darius; but I would answer this: When Belshazzar can love a -maid above a lion, I will try to think otherwise.” - -“But at the Gardens last night was he not all courtesy and compliment? -Doubtless his manners are not those of your august father—” - -“Silence!” she commanded, truly wrathful now, “speak not of Belshazzar -and of Cyrus in one breath! Where is the king worthy to sit beside my -father? I say nothing of his power,—but of his tenderness, his mercy. And -Belshazzar,”—some force seemed tugging the name across her teeth,—“no -doubt he can speak glozing words; but his heart is dark, and under the -softest of his speeches you can hear the muzzled roarings of the lion.” - -The good eunuch began to whimper in sympathy, a great tear on each cheek. - -“Alas! lady, all is as you say. Yet you will not curse Cyrus who sent -you?” - -Atossa’s eyes were dry; she held her head up proudly. - -“No, I may not curse. I am born a king’s daughter,—and therefore a -slave,—a slave to the welfare of my people. Better that I should dash my -wings and beat out my little life against the bars of this cage, than -that thousands of our Aryan sword-hands pour out their blood in war with -Babylon. I am but a maid; but I am wise enough to know this,—king’s child -and peasant have alike one heart, and in it the same pains. Happy for the -world, if the grief of the first may spare grief to the thousand others!” - -“The world says, ‘Let the thousand suffer, that the one may laugh.’” - -Atossa threw back her head again. “Yes—so Belshazzar would say, but not -Cyrus; therefore, my father is a great king, and Ahura prospers him.” - -“Peace, little mistress,” exhorted the faithful fellow, tenderly; “let us -say no more. Verily, your heart is emptied now!” - -They paced side by side, measuring the ample circuit of the harem roof, -each striving desperately to talk on indifferent matters. Presently they -were both startled by a slight scuffling as of feet, in one of the small -courts at the farther extremity of the walk. They leaned across the -parapet, but the court seemed unoccupied save for a dozen white doves who -were plashing in a little fountain, prinking their feathers, and admiring -themselves in the rippling water. Atossa tossed a bit of loose mortar -downward into the fountain. There was one whir of wings, and the doves -returned to their stations. She was turning away, when, as if in answer -to her missile, a tiny brick was flung upon the parapet beside her. She -looked across—the court was still empty, but the brick was covered with -writing. She read these words:— - - “If the Lady Atossa is alone upon the roof of the harem, or - with those she may trust to the uttermost, let her throw back - this letter, as sign that I may mount to her. Some danger must - be faced, for the danger of Prince Darius is yet greater.” - -Atossa knew perfectly well that the stranger who penetrated the harem of -the king ran the risk of being sawn asunder. The consequences to herself -of a stolen interview might be more than disagreeable. But the princess -was in no mood for prudent counsels. Masistes had naught but fears. -“What danger could lurk for the sacred person of the envoy? An insolent -interloper! Summon help, and give alarm at once.” - -She would have nothing of his caution. None could overlook the harem -roof. The others had been bidden to keep below stairs; a shout could -bring aid if there was the least need. “Danger to Darius” whispered by a -flitting breeze would have made her open to far more desperate recourses. -With a heavy heart Masistes saw her fling the brick down beside the -fountain. - -A moment of waiting, and forth from the shadow of the wall, directly -under Atossa’s station, appeared a young man, with a companion in the -armour of a guardsman. The first stranger, without word or hesitancy, -swung himself upon the thick-stemmed vine that twisted upward to the -parapet from the court below,—no easy feat; but he clambered upward -with an agility worthy of Darius himself, and landed beside the lady -almost before she realized he had commenced ascending. Once mounted, he -shot about a single glance in search of some unfriendly eye, then stared -abruptly upon Masistes. - -“Is this eunuch trustworthy?” he demanded, with no courtlier greeting. - -“He will die for me; is that sufficient?” answered Atossa, still -wondering, and almost off her guard. - -“So the Lord God grant!” The newcomer glided behind a wide tamarisk bush -that cut off view from any mounting the stairs. “And the others below are -quiet?” he pressed. - -“They will only come when I summon them.” - -He leaned across the parapet, saying something softly to his companion. -Atossa did not know the language, but imagined it Hebrew. When he turned -to her again, she saw he was a powerful, handsome young man, with a -manner of speech not unlike that of Darius. - -“Lady,” said he in Chaldee, “doubtless you know me not. You were in the -closed carriage when his Highness the prince saved Ruth, my betrothed, -from the king’s lion. Prince Darius deigns to call himself my friend; -last night in some slight measure I repaid the debt I owe. To-day I -strive to pay more, but I need your aid.” - -“Good sir,” spoke Atossa, her dignity rising, and cautious at last, “he -who is Prince Darius’s friend is mine; but I know neither your name nor -race. At best your errand here is a strange one.” - -The young man took one step nearer Atossa. - -“Lady, are you so fond, concerning Belshazzar, that you seek many tokens -to vouch for him who declares himself the foe of the king and the -well-wisher of Darius?” - -Atossa became yet haughtier. “Belshazzar is my betrothed husband. Will -you revile him to my face? Am I not mistress in this palace?” - -A nod from her would have sent Masistes to summon help; but without -premonition the newcomer held out his finger, showing a ring—on the beryl -seal a swordsman was stabbing a lioness. - -“When last did your Highness see this?” he demanded, very quietly. - -“It was on Darius’s finger at the feast last night.” And even Masistes, -as he looked, stifled the cry that was on his tongue. - -“Know, O Lady Atossa,” went on the stranger, “that Darius, son of -Hystaspes, gave me this ring, after the feast, in token of sure and -abiding friendship. Will you hear me now, wherefore I would speak with -you?” - -“I will hear,” answered she, almost faintly, and there was no colour in -her cheek. But as she spoke a voice sounded from the hall below, and the -young man shrank behind his tamarisk. - -“Gracious princess, condescend to honour your slaves by coming down to -the luncheon, which is ready.” - -Atossa sprang to the stairway. - -“Have I not bidden you magpies keep silence? Do I not know when I hunger? -Begone, or—” - -Retreating footsteps told that the menials had not waited for her threat. -She turned to the stranger, and faced him fairly. - -“Sir,” she said directly, “I will believe you are Darius’s friend. Say -on.” - -Now what Isaiah told of the adventure of Darius with the king in the -Hanging Gardens we will not here repeat. When he had finished, when -Atossa knew the height and the depth of the Babylonians’ guile, the Jew -looked for a scene of terrible agony. He did not know the royal strength -of the daughter of Cyrus. Her white cheeks grew yet whiter, but her only -answer was, “Yet though I know all this, what profit? Am I not prisoner -here? I shall see Darius again, at a time only Ahura the Merciful -knoweth. By your own mouth the prince is safe and free.” - -“He is free, but not safe.” - -“Not safe? Belshazzar will put forth his hands against the sacred person -of an envoy? I cannot believe this guile,—I will not!” Atossa flushed as -in the anger of despair. “The king may swear a thousand oaths, as you -say, and keep none; but to murder an ambassador were a deed which Marduk -and Ramman, his own foul gods, would reward with swift vengeance!” - -“Lady,” said the Hebrew, gently, “whether Marduk and Ramman may requite -or not, Avil-Marduk is the physician who can mingle drugs to soothe -the king’s conscience. Since morning those who brought me the earlier -warnings have borne me this: The king and his council have pondered long -over the ownership of the Median cloak torn from the shoulders of the -wrestler in the gardens. They have suspicions,—suspicions only; but if -they seem well grounded, Avil and Belshazzar are not prone to stickle at -trifles with such a stake.” - -“Jew,” Atossa spoke slowly and calmly, “tell me, in what way is the -prince to be attacked? Answer truly, as we Persians and your people call -on one truth-loving God.” - -Isaiah’s answer was given in so low a tone that Masistes heard none of -it. When he finished, Atossa asked aloud. - -“And why do you not go to the prince yourself? Why bring all this to me?” - -Isaiah smiled bitterly. “Already a net of spies is spread around Darius. -This morning I found I was more than suspected. An attempt to meet the -prince would have been the signal for my arrest. But Zerubbabel, my good -friend, stood sentry at the harem gate, and suffered me to pass. He -guards below. The harem is accounted so inviolable, that in mere security -it is less watched. Though you may not see Darius, have you no Persian -servant who can be trusted to warn? Who dreams that you are to be guarded -against?” - -“Behold the messenger!” interposed Atossa, turning half playfully to -Masistes. - -Before Isaiah could answer there were steps again on the staircase, and -there thrust itself into view of the fulsome smile of Mermaza. - -“Samas pity me!” smirked that notable, “the ‘supereminently admirable’ -lady alone on the harem roof with only two under-eunuchs for company! -Verily, she may well cry out against the palace that supplies no more -agreeable companionship!” - -“Two eunuchs?” answered she, facing him with cold dignity, and moving -directly before the tamarisk,—“two? I trust I grow blind, for by all -gods, Persian and Babylonish, if there is another of that breed here, -saving Masistes, he comes against my express command. And I will teach -these well-fed underlings of yours that Cyrus’s daughter may fall in love -with their heads!” - -Mermaza cast his eyes about, winked, and replied suavely, that “he had -thought he saw the forms of two persons near her, but was deceived. -Only Masistes was present. The ‘blindness-demon’ had begun to plague -his sight. Only he fell at his lady’s incomparably beautiful feet, and -besought that she would not forbid him her presence.” - -Atossa moved slowly away from the tamarisk, keeping herself carefully -betwixt it and Mermaza. “My excellent sir,” quoth she, taking care never -to lose the chamberlain’s eye, “I am most delighted to have you here. -Masistes has been telling a wondrous tale. This morning he was crossing a -court, when behold! his hair rose in cold fright, for a groom was leading -a great lion past him, by no stouter tether than a hound’s leash; yet -the beast seemed gentle as a little dog. Surely, the cowardly rascal was -merely affrighted by some monstrous mastiff?” - -Atossa saw the worthy dart one sidling glance of keenest scrutiny upon -her, but she endured it. - -“My sweet mistress,” said Mermaza, speaking more halting than was his -wont, “Masistes brings only truth. You have not seen, then, the king’s -tame lions?” - -“Assuredly not.” Atossa led the chamberlain to the opposite parapet, and -gazed across, seemingly enraptured by the panorama of the city. In his -anxiety to seem interested he never looked behind, where her keener ears -detected the crackling branches as of one descending. - -“Then,” smiled he, “we have a new wonder to show you. As soon as the king -returns from the hunt we will bring the lions into the harem; you will -find them harmless as cats, and vastly more entertaining.” - -“Why not to-morrow? Does the king use them for hunting?” - -“They are better than hounds. To-morrow his Majesty takes our dear -friend the ‘worshipful’ envoy to his game preserves. The gods grant,” he -continued piously, “that no wild beast harm the prince! ‘Prudence,’ I -fear, is not a Persian word. He is all rashness.” - -Atossa deliberately led him back to the other end of the walk. The refuge -behind the tamarisk was empty, and so was the little court below. - -“I have strolled here long,” asserted she suddenly; “even the view of the -city grows wearisome. Let me go down to the luncheon.” - -Mermaza was not pleased to have her end the promenade, yet perforce -consented. But when Atossa’s petulance had chased the frightened maids -from her chamber, it was to have a moment alone with Masistes, and to put -in his hand a written slip of papyrus. - -Later in the evening he was back, and a nod told her that the message -had been safely delivered. But Atossa slept little that night. Once the -eunuch who kept her door thought he heard some one within speaking, and -entered unbidden lest there be an intruder. His mistress did not see him, -for she was kneeling beside her bed, and praying softly in her Persian -tongue. Before the fellow tiptoed away he noticed that ever and anon she -would shake with sobbing. - -“Marvel,” he grunted to himself, “the ‘Lady of Sumer and Akkad’ is -weeping! What can such as _she_ have to move to tears?” - - - - -[Illustration: THE KING OF THE BOW] - -CHAPTER IX - - -Darius the envoy had been assigned a spacious suite of rooms in the -old palace of Nebuchadnezzar; he had his own guards, his own retinue -of Persian body-servants. The prince’s private chamber was a high -vaulted room, elegantly tiled, with little windows pierced in the -arching roof. During the heat of the day the serving lads sprinkled the -brick floor with water, and, as this evaporated, there arose a cool -and refreshing vapour. All that afternoon the prince had kept to his -chamber, and appeared to be in even less of a merry mood than had been -his wont lately. Boges, who kept the door, was whispering to Ariæus the -chamberlain that their master must have been mightily disturbed over the -murderous attack on the king during the feast in the Gardens. - -“As Ahura lives!” protested the worthy, “there is somewhat on his -lordship’s mind. He has kept company with his writing tablets all day.” - -And it was indeed so; for though the scribe’s art was not commonly among -the accomplishments of an Aryan nobleman, Darius had long since mastered -it, and now for a long time he had sat with his clay frame in his lap -and his stylus in hand. Boges had ventured once the question:— - -“And does my prince require me to send Artabanus to copy down the -despatches to Susa?” - -“I do not,” came the answer, so curt that Boges risked nothing more. - -Presently Darius rose from his stool, and turned to the doorkeeper. - -“The time grows late,” said he; “the city gates will soon be shut. Yet no -messenger has come from Cyrus? from Susa?” - -“None, master; we have heard that the Elamite mountain tribes are -restless and stop couriers.” - -“Couriers of Cyrus? Do they so desire to be made jackal’s meat that they -must stop the Great King’s despatches? No, no, Boges—the Elamites are not -the delayers.” - -“Who if not they, lord?” - -“I do not know,” was the answer, in a tone that made the servant sure his -superior had lively suspicions. - -“And will my lord dress for the supper Bilsandan the vizier gives -to-night?” asked Ariæus the chamberlain, smoothly. - -“Another feast! Angra-Mainyu, arch fiend, confound them!” fumed Darius; -“these Babylonians boast many gods. In truth they have but two—the mouth -and the belly. Praised be Mithra, the king goes hunting to-morrow, which -will give some respite!” - -But just as the prince was about to let Ariæus lead him away to the bath, -his eye lit on a newcomer among the knot of attendants by the door. His -tone changed to that of good-natured banter, for he saw his favourite -body-servant, a sharp-tongued, keen-witted Persian of about his own age. - -“Ha, Ariathes! So you have been roaming about the city once more. Tell -me, is there one beer-house in all Babylon you left unvisited? Where did -you find the most heady liquor?” - -“My lord wrongs his slave,” quoth the fellow, demurely. “See! I am quite -sober.” - -“By Ahura, that is true. Surely the throne of Cyrus must totter, now a -marvel like this can befall!” - -“My prince,” answered Ariathes, very respectfully, “I have heard -something that made me in no mood for palm-wine. And I think my lord -should hear it also.” There was something in the rascal’s eye that made -Darius bid all the others stand back, while he led Ariathes to the upper -end of the chamber, after drawing close the door-curtain. - -“Well, fellow,” began he lightly, “your tales are commonly of witching -black eyes and the bottoms of deep wine pots. What now—a strapping lass -slapped you?” But Ariathes did not smile at the sally. - -“My lord,” he said, “I have quite another story. Does the prince remember -Igas-Ramman, the captain who flogged the old Jew?” - -“Assuredly. I curse myself I did not require his head.” - -“I have hatched a great friendship with him. He has been taking me about -the city. To-day we went to the temple and grove of Istar, and the girls -who serve the goddess brought wine enough to make us stagger till the -great day. But it was too sweet for me, and I took little; though Igas -would never cease pulling at his beaker. At last, when he seemed well -filled, he led me to the summit of the great temple tower to have a -sight of the wide city. The tower stands by the northern wall, where -Ai-bur-shabou Street passes through the Gate of Istar, close by the -canal. There is a marvellous view to all sides; but what made me wonder -most was the sight of many squadrons of horsemen drilling in the open -country before the Gate of Bel—ten thousand lances, to my thinking.” - -“Ha!” and Darius’s jaw dropped involuntarily. - -“My lord is interested? Shall I go on?” - -“Yes, by every archangel!” - -“I said to Igas, ‘Brother, what are all these horsemen? Your king is at -peace. To maintain so many cavalry will make his treasury as empty as a -leaky water-skin.’ Thereupon he began to laugh, then, clapping his hand -across my eyes, he cried, ‘Ah, my dear Persian, your sight is too keen! -Ask no troublesome questions, for friendship’s sake. Come, let us go back -to the maids and the wine.’” - -“And you followed him?” asked Darius. - -“Yes, lord; but not until I had counted the number of the squadrons and -seen that chariot brigades were drilling with them.” - -“But why should Igas try to conceal this from you? Belshazzar is a great -king. We all know Babylon has a powerful garrison ever on duty.” - -“True; but let my lord take what my bucket drew up from Igas-Ramman’s -well. He began by vowing he would peril his head if he chirped once about -the army of his master; then straightway all this comes out—the garrison -of Babylon is being increased, extra chariots are being built, and war -horses collected. The troops in Eridhu and Larsam are being sent north -to strengthen the frontier posts of Sippar and Kutha. There is a great -gang of labourers at work enclosing Borsippa within the outer defences of -Babylon. Finally, the militia of the country districts are being armed.” - -“For what enemy?” - -“My lord can guess better than I. When I pressed Igas on this point, he -only laughed and brayed tenfold louder than common; but he had become -very drunken, and before long fell over upon the bricks.” - -The prince was frowning darkly. - -“Ariathes,” said he, “you are a man of nimble wit. Do you think -Belshazzar is sincere in seeking peace with Cyrus?” - -The other smiled grimly. - -“I am only my lord’s slave. Who am I to meddle in the affairs of princes?” - -“Well, you have a throat that will cut as quickly as any man’s; and know -this well, if you walk in the steps of Igas-Ramman and chatter loud -enough, you will forswear palm-wine forever.” - -Ariathes grinned and was about to salaam before withdrawing, but the -prince spoke again. “Look you; we have been for days in Babylon, yet no -courier comes from Susa with despatches. What does it mean?” - -“Have I not said I am blind to affairs of state?” - -“Then receive sight; for, as you love me and as you love Cyrus, you need -two wide-open eyes, as well as a ruly tongue. Cast about and find some -means of sending a letter from Babylon without Belshazzar or Avil-Marduk -smelling it. My last messenger travelled openly. Do you understand?” - -Ariathes replied with a low bow. Darius returned to his seat, took his -writing tablet, and deliberately mutilated the letter just completed. In -its stead he stamped a very brief message, which he did not place in the -chest by the wall, but wrapped in linen and hid in his own bosom; for -an uneasy suspicion was beginning to haunt him that the very pictures -enamelled on the bricks could see all that befell in this palace of -Belshazzar. - -“It grows late, my lord,” admonished the chamberlain, after a discreet -interval; “will you go to the vizier’s feast?” - -“I will go,” replied the master, testily, and he suffered the servants to -dress him. - -As he went to the palace court to take chariot, the inevitable multitude -of palace servants and guardsmen crowded around, bowing and scraping. -The press was so dense that the staff-bearers had no little ado before -clearing the way. Suddenly, out of the crowd, Darius recognized a -familiar face—the old eunuch, Masistes. The two were side by side only -for an instant. - -“Your lady is well?” demanded Darius, eagerly. - -“She is well,” was the cautious answer, “but do not seem to speak to me. -Read this in secret. It is from her.” - -Masistes was swallowed in the throng before Darius had time to startle. - -“The chariots are ready, my lord,” Boges was shouting. - -The prince felt something like a tiny roll of papyrus thrust up his -sleeve; but he curbed his curiosity and guarded it carefully until he was -back at his own chamber that night. Then with all precaution he read this -note, written in Atossa’s own hand, in their native Persian:— - - “Atossa, consort of Belshazzar, to the great prince Darius. - Many things hid to the world without are revealed in the king’s - harem. Do not seek to know how I learn this thing, but wait - Ahura’s good time. Beware of the royal hunt on the morrow. Of - all things beware of the king’s tame lions. For _you_ they may - not be so tame. As you love me, return to Susa when you may, - and forget my name, as I pray Ahura I may forget yours. I dare - write no more. Masistes’ craft will bring you this. Farewell.” - -Darius sat a long time over this letter, though it was past midnight -and he must be up with the dawn. Ariathes had just reported that he had -intrusted his master’s second despatch to an obscure Jewish caravan -merchant, who swore by his God that he would deliver it to the commandant -of Cyrus’s nearest garrison. If the messenger proved faithful, and eluded -the watch, the king of the Aryans and his council would be soon learning -wisdom. But what part was left to be played by Darius? Clearly the plot -was thickening. For some reason, manifestly, Belshazzar desired him -anywhere but in Babylon. Was he suspected of being the eavesdropper upon -the king? Should he plead some excuse and refuse to go on the hunting? -Should he humour Belshazzar’s wishes by hardly disguised flight? The -prince was a proud man—proud of his race, his king, his own prowess. The -battle spirit was rising in him. Was he not “King of the Bow”? Should he -desert Atossa and leave her in the harem of Belshazzar without one friend -in all Babylon, saving the eunuch Masistes? The prince, we repeat, loved -to dare first, and count the cost thereof afterward. And that night he -vowed afresh, “I will brave all danger. With Ahura’s help I will not -turn back the width of one hair before the guile of these ‘lovers of the -lie.’” - -Long before dawn, Idina-aha, master of the hounds, had emptied his -kennels of the fifty black mastiffs who were to accompany the royal hunt; -and at gray dawn itself Darius met Belshazzar in the central palace -court. A score of trained game beaters were mounted and ready; and what -with the escort of dog boys, guardsmen, and eunuchs, the chariots, the -lead horses, and the long mule train with the baggage, Belshazzar drove -forth with no little army. The monarch had appeared in the best of -spirits; had looked Darius fairly in the eye when he told the Persian -that they intended to hunt the auroch—the wild bull—whom no dog could -face; and that on this account he had with him his pride—his three -hunting lions, to whom even the wild bull could have no terrors. When -Darius saw the brutes, huge as the beast that he had slain so memorably, -he had indeed marvelled, though not after the manner Belshazzar imagined; -and the king laughingly vowed to him, that if the Persian should be so -fortunate as to slay an auroch, he should have his choice of which of the -lions he should take back to Susa, excepting always “Nergal,” the royal -favourite, whom his master could not spare. - -So they set forth, Belshazzar with seemingly one end in the world—to -make his fellow-huntsman merry. They passed the great Western Gate, and -sped through the pleasant suburbs, past luxuriant gardens, prosperous -farm-houses, and innumerable canals fringed with long arbours of trees. -Now and then they saw countrymen dragging their hand-carts of kitchen -produce to early market, two or three tugging together. As they halted to -water beside a little village of dome-roofed huts Darius saw the peasants -ploughing in the fields, with the usual team—a mule and a cow—and heard -the ploughing song, already thousands of years old:— - - “A heifer am I, - To the mule I am yoked. - Where, where is the cart? - Go look in the grass; - It is high, it is high!” - -Fields of wheat, barley, and millet waved far and near. Darius grew weary -counting the prosperous landed estates and thriving villages. Truly -Hanno the Phœnician spoke well, the wealth of the country of Babylon was -beyond that of the mine. The corn lands and the thrifty peasants had made -possible Imgur-Bel and Belshazzar’s kingly glory. - -But at last the farms were falling wider apart. The canals were -dwindling. The land where untilled was brilliant with spring flowers, and -the wind crossing the plain came to the travellers sweet with all the -fragrance of the unscorched verdure. The company kept on until, beside -the last of the narrowing canals, the king cried, “Halt!” and the weary -footmen were glad to drop by the roadside, beside the panting dogs. Then -the panniers on the carrier mules were unloaded, wine was passed about, -and food. The noon hours were spent in rest and chatter. - -Darius had gazed about him curiously. - -“So far, and no signs of jungle? Only the open plain.” - -Belshazzar gave his usual answer—a laugh. “This is not your mountainous -Iran. Other gods created Chaldea. Years ago there lay a broad stagnant -lake beyond yonder rising, nestled in a deep hollow in the plain. The -kings drained and enclosed it, planted trees, and stocked it with game. -Here are still found the wild bulls—the aurochs—left nowhere in all -Babylonia saving here. To kill one was the glory of the kings of old. -The preserve is many furlongs on each side. The beasts run wild, and are -fierce as in the virgin forest.” - -“Ahura grant we meet them!” - -The prince had spoken so naturally that Belshazzar darted one glance at -him—arrow-swift. But it sped quickly as it came, and Darius added:— - -“Yet must you hunt the bull with lions?” - -“After you have once faced an auroch you will not marvel that only the -king of beasts dare bay him.” - -When Belshazzar had remounted the chariot, the whole company were away; -and once past the hillock, Darius wondered as he saw a sweep of woodland, -trees and thickets, stretching north and south far as the eye might -reach, the whole enclosed by a brick rampart too high for the bound of -the hardiest lion. Merely to enclose so huge an area was a task nigh -equal to building the temple-tower of Bel. At a ponderous gate they found -a company of soldiers, who opened and saluted. Instantly the forest -closed round them. Meadow lands and farms were lost from view. It was -like traversing one furlong, yet in that journey entering another world. -The paths were leaf-strewn and scarcely trodden. The cypresses and cedars -bowed in canopy overhead, and with them rarer trees, native doubtless of -India or Ethiopia, but here long grown wild. There were acacias beside -the meandering streams, and tamarisk thickets. The woods grew wilder the -deeper they penetrated. - -“And how old is this strange forest?” demanded the Persian of his -Babylonish charioteer, at which the fellow answered:— - -“Esarhaddon drained and fenced it more than a hundred and twenty years -ago. Since then it grows wild. Except for the guards and gamekeepers no -man enters the preserve on peril of his head, unless the roving lions get -before the executioner.” - -The words were broken short by the rush of a frighted creature. “Whir!” -quicker than the telling a wild ass had sped across their path: one sight -of his shining gray coat—the leaves closed after him. Belshazzar forbade -the eager grooms to unleash the dogs. - -“No hound can run down an ass, and the game we seek is fiercer.” - -So they fared onward till, in a clearing, they came to the huts of two -old foresters, who, after thanking the gods for suffering his Majesty and -his noble guest to deign to visit their forest, reported that they had -just discovered an auroch of most marvellous size. - -“Marduk grants,” ran their tales, “that the beast should be a monster -terrible as the ‘divine bull Alu’ slain by the hero Gilgamesh. To-night -he is deep in the jungle; but if the gods favour, his Majesty shall find -him in the morning.” - -Thus the camp was pitched for the night. Busy hands brought bales of -linen and tent poles from the pack train. The royal tent—a huge ten-sided -structure—was soon ready, its dome-shaped roof stretched above, and -within was arranged a complete set of portable furniture, including the -ivory throne mounted on wheels, which a mule had tugged all the way from -Babylon. Scarce smaller was the pavilion set for Darius, who had brought -his own Persian servants with him. Around them the tents for men and -horses spread like a little village. At night the king set abundant cheer -and fare before his guest, but there was no deep drinking, for sober -heads were needed in the morning. Darius bade Boges discover how and -where the tame lions were kept, and the good fellow reported that they -were safely chained and guarded in a distant tent. The prince contrived -that no Babylonian should sleep inside his own pavilion. He kept his bow -strung and his naked sword beside him, but nothing disturbed till he -woke in the morning. - - * * * * * - -The foresters had been out very early. They had tracked the auroch -and laid a hound on him, but he had distanced them and had hidden in -the innermost jungle. Already half of the huntsmen had set forth to -make circuit, rout the monster from his lair, and drive him nearer the -encampment. After the king had poured libations to Marduk and Istar -he mounted horseback and thundered away, the prince and the remaining -huntsmen flying behind him. - -“And where are the tamed lions?” demanded Darius of a Babylonian riding -at his side. - -“They were taken away before dawn to aid in baying the auroch. Doubtless -they are on him now. Hark! By Nabu, they have found him!” - -Through the mazes of the wood reëchoed something deep as thunder, though -seemingly very far off. - -“Ha!” Belshazzar was crying, “the ox is bellowing. They are driving him -from his covert.” - -“Will they force him this way?” was Darius’s question. - -“So Bel grant! But you will need no bow, son of Hystaspes,” for the -Persian was putting on a new string. “The auroch’s hide is arrow-proof. -Trust to your short sword.” - -“I do not love the sword. It is the bow of Iran that has made us Persians -a great people. It will not fail!” - -“I have warned you. You will slay no auroch and win no lion.” - -The prince answered with silence. Riding side by side with Belshazzar, -he had not suffered a word or an act of the king to escape him; but he -had not noted how their escort in the rear had gradually dwindled, two -falling off here and three there. - -“This is the spot. Let us rein and wait the auroch,” declared Belshazzar. -Darius glanced about, barely in time to see the last of the retinue -vanishing behind the trees. He realized, suddenly as a trap locks round -its victim, that he was alone with Belshazzar; not one telltale presence -to carry report of any strange deed that might befall. He had bidden -Boges to keep near him. Gone—diverted by what means, Ahura the Wise alone -knew. The prince had many times looked “the Lord of Death” in the face -upon the battle-field—what soldier of Cyrus had not? But for all that -his breath came quickly, his muscles grew rigid. Here at last was the -moment that should prove whether Atossa warned truly, whether the king -suspected who it was that had wrestled with him in the garden. Had the -letter Ariathes had sent passed through Belshazzar’s spies and guards in -safety? The Persian needed none to tell him the details of the plot to -take his life. Somehow, in the next few moments he was to be murdered. -His rashness as a hunter was known in Susa. What could Cyrus say if the -Babylonian wrote, “Your envoy was reckless and an auroch killed him”? -But Darius’s thoughts were not of himself only—the weal of Daniel, of -Atossa, of Cyrus and all his realms, hung on his own life, perchance. Oh, -the headstrong pride and folly that had rushed him into this hazard! - -But these thoughts came and went in less time than the telling. -Belshazzar was beside him,—Belshazzar, splendid, arrogant,—and Darius -knew the king’s heart was harder than hardest marble, while he waited the -outcome of his guile. The Persian had his bow in his hand, and his bow -was his good friend, part of himself as much as hand or eye. He would -not be slain like a snared hare while there were so many keen shafts in -his quiver. The silence seemed growing long. Belshazzar, as if intent -on waiting the chase, said nothing. Not even a breeze was rustling the -tree-tops. The prince sat and waited. - -Presently the auroch lowed again, nearer this time, and they could hear -the distant shouts of men and the deep baying of the mastiffs. The -scene was no strange one to Darius, but when before had he himself been -one of the hunted? A thought flashed across him—to point his arrow at -Belshazzar, bid the king swear to send him home scatheless, or take the -shaft in his breast. But that were madness. Belshazzar had sworn once and -cast his oath to the winds; would he remember it now, if wrung from him -by force? The Babylonian must be the first to strike. - -A new thunder through the wood shook Darius from his despair. The bolt -had not fallen. Ahura grant it should not until he had taught these -Babylonian “fiend-worshippers” somewhat. He turned to Belshazzar. - -“Why do you wait here? Is not the hunt leaving us?” - -“What do you fear?” was the reply, with a smile none too reassuring. “The -sport is for us alone. The rest will bring the game to us. Fie on you, -Persian, if you fear to be overmatched!” - -“Not overmatched by ten aurochs!” cried the Persian, looking fairly in -the king’s eye. “But will not the chase pass some other way?” - -“The game _I seek_,” flew the answer, “will pass nowhere else.” - -Darius’s fingers itched to send one arrow through that royal mantle then, -and let all Babylon do its worst. Suddenly it dawned on him that if he -were tensely strung, the king was likewise. While he ever questioned, -“How will the bolt fall?” Belshazzar’s one thought was, “How much does -the envoy suspect?” They each would have given a hundred talents for one -peep into the heart of the other. The thought appeared so comical to the -prince that, to Belshazzar’s wonderment, he began to laugh; and that -laugh refreshed him and strengthened him like a draught of new wine. - -“Crash!” A vast lumbering object was dashing through the trees. They -heard thickets shivering; birds flew screaming from their nests. The -noise neared rapidly. Again the thunderous bellow—close now, and deep. -The ground shook with the thunder, and an answering quiver ran through -the Persian. Peril or no peril, he had never before faced an auroch, and -his hunter’s instinct was strong within him. - -Belshazzar’s horse pricked his ears, snorted, and began to rear and -plunge. The king barely controlled him. The Persian’s beast started to -do likewise, but felt the touch and press of an iron hand and iron knees -so powerful that all the spirit was crushed out of him. Not so with -Belshazzar. - -“Marduk blast me,” rang his curse, “if I do not flay Rabit for giving me -this beast!” But the horse only plunged more wildly. - -One last thunder! Darius saw the saplings bowing, the leaves shook down -as a falling cloud; out from betwixt the trees shot a beast the like -of which the prince had never beheld before. A bull, but a bull of -monster size—his horns the span of a bow, his hide mud-brown; out of his -mouth, and with the lolling red tongue, one almost saw the live flames -breathing, with more flame in the huge balls of his eyes. To see this -took one instant. The auroch crashed on until face to face with the two -riders, then halted in his shambling run not twenty paces from them, -dropped his horns, and lashed his flanks with his tail. Darius wondered -no more that mastiffs did not love to bring him to bay. - -The Persian’s arrow lay on the bowstring, but he did not shoot. All the -trembling had gone out of him. As if by a new sense, he knew that there -was something stirring, creeping, in the thicket behind him. Did his ears -fail when they heard a human whisper, low, but distinct—a whisper as of a -man urging on his hound—“Now!” - -Darius did not turn his head. His horse, subdued by his master touch, -stood stock still, while the bull glared at them. But Belshazzar was in -deadly straits. Try as he might, his beast would not stand steady, and, -with the horse plunging underneath him, what chance to strike the bull -with the short sword? The king’s face turned livid as he struggled. - -“Shoot!” he cried, between his teeth; “shoot!” - -Darius’s hand drew the arrow to its head. The auroch shook his horns, -bellowed for the last time, and looked from Darius to Belshazzar, from -Belshazzar to Darius. Which should feel his charge? The bull fixed his -eyes on the king, gave a snort, a bound. - -“Shoot!” cried Belshazzar again. As if in echo came a voice out of the -thicket, “Back, Nergal! Woe! The king! Do not leap! Too late! Woe!” - -And Darius swung himself in the saddle just in time to see the tawny body -of Nergal, the royal lion, launching itself—not on the auroch, but on -him. The arrow flew to meet the lion. It was Ahura the Great who shed -on Darius the power that sent the startled charger with a wide bound -to one side by the mighty press of a knee. The lion leaped. His flying -claws tore the leather on the Persian’s sleeve. A mighty snarl—the beast -dashed upon the turf. The saving of Ruth had been no shot like this. The -deed was done too swiftly for thought or fear, while all around the woods -were ringing with a fiercer conflict. The auroch had sought his prey -the moment Nergal had leaped on his. The king had striven desperately -to master his steed, but vainly. The monster caught the horse under his -horns and tossed mount and rider in the air. Halting in full charge, he -shook his great head and looked about. The horse was disembowelled—dying. -The king, cast upon the greensward, was struggling to rise. He had lost -his sword. The auroch lowered his head again. Still a foe? He would -trample it out instantly! - -“Help, in Marduk’s name, help!” the king was calling. - -Out from the thicket whence sprang the lion sped a man, Idina, master of -the hounds, and leaped beside Belshazzar. A brave deed, but foolish. In -his hand was only his whip of office. - -[Illustration: “All the Persian’s skill could not save his horse.”] - -“Help! the king is in peril!” was his shout to the distant beaters. But -Belshazzar might have fared to the “World-Mountain” that day had it not -been for another. Right at the raging bull rode the Persian, and a second -shaft flew, not at the arrow-proof hide, but into one flaming eye. The -loudest bellow of all shook the forest when the monster charged Darius. -All the Persian’s skill could not save his horse. One horn hooked in the -belly—the scream of a dying charger, that was all. But Darius was on -foot before the bull could turn from his triumph. His short sword was in -his hand. He met the charge of the bull on the side where the shaft had -blinded. Belshazzar saw him shun the sweep of the terrible horns, and the -onrush of the bull drove the steel clean to the hilt in the shoulder. -Another snort, a bellow that made the high boughs quiver, and the auroch -tore away. They heard him dash down a small tree in his charge, a second, -a third; then there was a crashing fall, and silence. - -Darius stood staring about and leaning on his bow. Nergal, pierced to the -heart, lay twitching, though life was fled. The horses were struggling in -their last agony. Belshazzar was trying to stagger to his feet. How long -it had seemed since the bull burst upon them! - -King and envoy looked upon one another. Darius saw Belshazzar strive -twice to speak, but the words thickened in his throat. Then the king’s -eye lit on Idina, and the royal wrath blew out on him:— - -“Verily, as I am lord of Babylon, you shall be impaled! Why not rescue -sooner?” - -“Lord,” replied the other, losing his wits as he trembled, “it was as you -ordered. When the prince was confronting the auroch, I was to unleash -Nergal—” - -The words were like fire upon dry straw; for the king had forgotten all -else in the thought of his own danger. - -“Nergal? By the Maskim, what is lying there on the ground? A lion?” - -“Yes, your Majesty,” said Darius, very coldly. “When Idina unleashed him, -while they stood behind me in the thicket, he forgot the auroch to spring -at me. His claws have torn my dress. I prefer the auroch, my king. _He_, -at least, charges fairly and face to face.” - -The king did not risk himself to reply to Darius, but, turning to Idina, -declared icily: “Fellow, for your cursed folly this day, I swear by every -god of Babylon, you shall be beaten to death.” Then to Darius, in a tone -equally icy: “Persian, you have saved my life. Ask what reward you will.” - -“I ask nothing,” replied the other, haughtily, “nothing but this—to meet -no more of the king’s tamed lions.” - -Before Belshazzar could answer, the foresters and beaters were all around -them. The king and envoy spoke not a word to each other, while the -gaping hunters cried out at the hugeness of the slain auroch, and loudly -lamented their master’s misfortune. There were more wailings over the -dead lion. - -“The king’s trust in these beasts is misplaced,” commented Darius, -dryly; “Nergal was no less dangerous than the auroch.” - -The Babylonians who were wise looked at one another slyly. The Persians -following Darius soon arrived at a tearing gallop, cursing a forester who -had said he was leading them close behind the prince, but only brought -them to a halt in a matted jungle. - -Belshazzar had to be lifted, and carried back to the tents. His ankle was -hurt, not dangerously, but for the while he could enjoy no more hunting. -He seemed in no slight pain, and his body-servants were rejoiced when he -contented himself with ordering Idina’s tongue to be cut out, before the -luckless “master of the hounds” was flogged to death, and did not command -the execution of any others. - -Between Belshazzar and Darius there did not pass one syllable for a -very long time. A messenger had come post-haste from Babylon. “Urgent -despatches,” he announced, “from the chief priest to his Majesty.” That -afternoon, accordingly, after Idina had passed beyond the reach of the -royal wrath, the whole company returned with speed to the capital. - - - - -[Illustration: BEL ACCUSES] - -CHAPTER X - - -Daniel the civil-minister had been arrested on the charge of committing -murder by sorcery. All Babylon had rung with the news. Even though the -accusers were vouched for by Avil-Marduk himself, the city had received -the tale with indignant incredulity. When Sirusur went with a “hundred” -of lancers to make the arrest, the burghers would have rescued the -prisoner by sheer force, had not Daniel leaned from the chariot in which -they were bearing him to the palace, and entreated the citizens to shed -no blood. Even those closest to the king shook their heads, and expressed -the hope that no ill would brew from the high priest’s doings. - -But Daniel had spent the night in the palace guard-house, and the rage -of the city folk had in a measure subsided. Nevertheless, when the doors -were thrown open to the “Hall of Judgment,” the wand-bearers had no -slight ado to control the multitudes that pressed for entrance. There on -the ivory throne sat Belshazzar, in the robes of state, splendid as on -the night of the feast in the Hanging Gardens; behind the king stood -the parasol bearer and the fan bearers; at his right hand, in his white -mantle of office, was the high justiciar of the realm; on his left, in -resplendent scarlet livery, was Khatin, statuesque, impassive, save as -at rare intervals he stole a sly glance at the ponderous naked sword at -his side. On the three broad steps of the throne were arrayed the royal -officials, each in due order of precedence, they likewise in glittering -array; down the walls the sunlight flashed on the enamelled pictures, the -great cedar beams of the ceiling shone with their gilding. The pathway to -the foot of the throne was marked by a costly rug. If Daniel was to be -tried, it was not to be without due state! - -As the old Jew entered, escorted by Bilsandan the vizier, there had -occurred something that made Avil-Marduk, as he stood at the accuser’s -station before the king’s right hand, swell with hidden rage. Of all the -huge company that thronged the lower hall, scarce a head failed to bow in -salutation to Daniel; and not a few were bold enough to shout a “Heaven -prosper you!” after him. “Silence! or I clear the hall!” Belshazzar -ordered angrily, and the noise ceased; but there was no need to tell on -which side was arrayed the people. - -Unmoved by all, Daniel, ushered by the vizier, advanced to the foot of -the throne, and there, as etiquette demanded, remained kneeling, until, -after long silence, a barely perceptible nod from Belshazzar told him to -rise. Bilsandan salaamed, and stepped beside the justiciar, at the right -of the king, leaving Daniel confronting the monarch. - -More silence, and then Belshazzar began abruptly: - -“Daniel, otherwise named Belteshazzar, answer: Did you, or did you not, -commit murder of late, by spells and witchcraft?” - -The Jew, who seemed as composed as the king himself, in the face of that -peering company, answered mildly, but without the least hesitation, “that -if his Majesty pleased, he would not plead until his accusers had stated -their charges.” - -“And if I do not please?” demanded the king, ominously. - -“Then, your Majesty, I shall be constrained to recite to you the -law, honoured by all your royal predecessors since its decreeing by -Khammurabi, two thousand years ago, ‘Let no man be condemned, except -he be first accused, and his guilt proven out of the mouths of two -unperjured witnesses.’” - -“Have a care, Jew! have a care!” warned Belshazzar; “it ill becomes a -leopard of your spots to teach the law to the king of Babylon.” - -“I ask only justice, your Majesty.” - -“And, by Bel, you shall have it!” swore the king. “Advance, Avil, and -produce your witnesses!” - -The high priest appeared before the throne, at his back three men and a -woman, who bowed themselves most awkwardly in the presence of royalty. - -“The wise Gudea,” muttered Khatin in his beard, “and Binit his dear wife -have scarcely learned courtly graces at the beer-house of Nur-Samas.” - -But, leaving his myrmidons to gape around the hall, Avil commenced a -fiery invective. If his arguments were faulty, his epithets were strong. -Daniel, the most impudent blasphemer of Bel in all Babylon, had, he -explained, at last carried his impiety so far as to accomplish the -death of the most excellent Saruch, simply because the latter forsook -his impotent Jewish demon, Jehovah. If the king failed to punish the -murderer, the outraged gods would haste to blast Babylon with fire and -brimstone. - -“Do you still deny the accusation?” questioned Belshazzar, when Avil -concluded, and the Jew, all unmoved by the fierce harangue, answered -steadily, “Utterly, my lord; my whole life lived in this city denies it.” - -“Present, then, your witnesses,” commanded Belshazzar of Avil, who -proceeded to hale Gudea to the front, with a muttered injunction in his -ear to “tell a well-welded story, or the ‘Earth-Fiends’ would have him by -night!” - -Therefore the exorcist, with smooth countenance and glib tongue, rattled -off the tale of the death of Saruch, adding that if the man did not -meet his end by foul enchantment, he was willing to bare his back for a -thousand stripes. - -Khatin had rolled his eyes more than once during this recital, and did -so again when Binit was thrust forward after her husband. The good -woman’s examination was the more brief because the lardy ointment she had -smeared on her hair was so pungent that even the king could hardly regard -her steadily. She avowed that early on the day of the alleged murder -she had sold a quantity of magic wood and magic wax to two men whom she -identified as the remaining pair of witnesses. There was an audible -titter when she ended. - -“Will you cross-examine these witnesses?” asked the justiciar of Daniel. - -“My lord,” the prisoner smiled quietly, “I can ask these worthy people -many things, but since neither have connected me in the least with the -death of Saruch, I will only reserve my right to examine them later.” - -“Come forward, then, Tabni,” commanded Avil, confidently; “tell the king -the rest of the story, that he may see how the testimony of the most -pious Gudea tends to convict the accused.” - -A more partial judge than Belshazzar, even, might well have looked -askance at the personage who now faced Daniel. A squalid dress, an -unkempt beard, and a single eye with a most snakelike twinkle, made it -difficult for Khatin to swallow his guffaw. Avil examined his witness -sharply, and Tabni answered with the readiness of a well-drilled -pupil. He was a “charmer,” of a profession akin to Gudea’s, only he -made the spells which the other counteracted. He would supply good -crops, profitable investments, or successful love-making as promptly -and cheaply as any in the city. On the day of Saruch’s death, Daniel -had summoned him very early, and told him he needed his services to -“wither” a mortal enemy. Tabni had hesitated, and Daniel raised the fee. -Therefore, as the witness put it, since it seemed a mere “overcasting,” -with no impiety involved, he consented, for business had been slack of -late, and one must live. He had gone with Daniel’s servant Shaphat to buy -the needful conjuring material of Binit. Then Daniel took him, in company -with Shaphat, into a secret chamber. They made a waxen image; named it -Saruch; thrust three red-hot needles through it; and Tabni had pronounced -the infallible spell over it,— - - “We entwine you with ropes, - We catch you in a cage, - We twist you in a sling, - We drown you in filthy water, - We fling you down from a high wall.” - -That afternoon Tabni heard that Saruch was dead. He had reflected, and -became convinced that he had been privy to a fearful deed. His conscience -had troubled him, and he had conferred with Gudea, who advised him to -make a public confession. - -“And will you examine this man also?” asked the justiciar again, to which -Daniel, still composedly, made answer, “May your lordship first deign to -hear the other witness.” - -“It is your right,” responded the justiciar; to which Belshazzar added -viciously, “I have sworn it, you shall have full justice, Jew; but take -notice, your guilt is established out of the mouth of one witness. Let -a second swear to his tale, and the case is proved. I give you this -opportunity. Confess now, and I will see if I can relax the just penalty -of the law.” - -“I demand the other accuser,” answered Daniel, almost haughtily; and -Belshazzar nodded to Avil. - -“Shaphat, former servant of Daniel, advance!” commanded Avil, -peremptorily. - -And now there was a rustle and a flutter in the hall indeed. “One of the -minister’s servants will betray him,—and one who is a Jew, at that!” ran -the whisper, while an ill-favoured young man was thrust before the king. -But all men noticed that the fellow hung down his head, and would not -look the prisoner in the eye. Avil’s voice was very stern. - -“Now, Shaphat, you have heard all that the pious ‘charmer’ Tabni has -said. Tell the king: Were you not a Jewish servant in the house of -Daniel, and did you not quit his service because you grew to love the -gods of Babylon, while he worshipped his demon Jehovah and gave himself -over to vile sorceries?” - -The witness nodded, very faintly. - -“You were with Tabni when he bought the magician’s material from Binit?” - -“Yes,”—the word barely audible. - -“You were with him at the making of the waxen image?” - -“Yes,”—the word came still fainter. - -“Now is it not your oath, taken in the name both of the gods of Babylon -and of Judea, that Daniel pronounced the name of Saruch above the waxen -image?” - -But at this instant the witness raised his head, and Daniel looked him -in the face. They saw Shaphat’s countenance working in agony; the words -were choking in his throat: “I cannot! I cannot!” That was all they could -understand. - -“Cannot what, knave?” demanded the king, fiercely. But the wretched -fellow had cast himself before Daniel, and embraced his knees. - -“O master! master!” he groaned, “I cannot lie before your face. I was -dismissed justly for my thieving, and only in your mercy did you spare me -prison. You are guiltless; Tabni’s tale is all perjury: I never saw him; -never saw Binit; you never had the ‘charmer’ in your house. Alas! that I -listened to Gudea, and took his money—” - -“Silence, hound!” shouted Avil, flinging dignity to every wind, and -catching the luckless witness by the scruff; “would you be cut into -sandal-leather?” - -But a fearful din was rising from the company. Not only the city folk, -but the courtiers, were thundering: “Innocent! Innocent! Away with the -false witnesses!” - -“Silence!” commanded the king, his countenance darkening. “What is this, -Avil? What is this witness saying?” - -“Your Majesty,” answered Avil, barely heard in the tumult, “you see with -your own eyes that Daniel is a sorcerer. While Shaphat came forward, he -muttered magic spells to force him to utter falsehood!” - -The efforts of the wand-bearers had restored stillness. Belshazzar’s -frown was still very black when he addressed the prisoner. - -“That the accused has dealing with demons, who come to his aid, should be -manifest to all men. Speak, Daniel; even now I give you chance to show -wherefore you should not die the death.” - -“I stand upon the law, your Majesty.” The Jew seemed the soberest mortal -in all that excited company. “My past life should be a defence against -the slanders of this Tabni; and the king has heard Shaphat and his -confession. Even receiving the oath of Tabni, only one witness swears to -my guilt.” - -“And let your Majesty observe,” interrupted Avil, angrily, “that the -civil-minister, being a Jew, cannot claim the protection of the law of -Babylon.” - -But at this Bilsandan the vizier leaped from his station. - -“Are you mad, priest?” he cried. “Deny foreigners our law, and all the -great Egyptian and Syrian merchants quit Babylon; our trade is blasted!” - -“And will you presume to teach _me_ my duty to the king?” retorted Avil, -still more wrathfully. But before the tumult could rise higher, the -justiciar stepped out before the throne. - -“Live forever, O king!” spoke he, salaaming. “Before your Majesty passes -judgment, hear this concerning the witness Tabni. Daniel has not yet -asked him, but I do ask, whether he was not the ‘charmer’ who was brought -before the ‘Tribunal of the Five Judges,’ in the past year, when Daniel -sat with me among the members? He is silent; he dares deny nothing. -No; nor dare he deny that he was convicted first of embezzlement, then -of perjury; and that all the judges save Daniel voted ‘death,’ but the -civil-minister persuaded us to mercy. We imposed three hundred stripes. -Behold the gratitude!” - -The uproar was doubled now, the exertions of the wand-bearers utterly -futile. The luckless Tabni cowered behind the chief priest, who still -clamoured, “Execute the blasphemer! No mercy to the sorcerer!” While -Bilsandan as loudly bade the priest “make an end to his patter!” and -to remember the precept in the “Book of Maxims,” “Let the king avenge -according to the law, or swiftest destruction waiteth upon his city.” - -Yet, through all the clamour and turbulence, Belshazzar sat upon the -ivory throne, impassive, implacable. The very sympathies of the company -had made his stony heart still harder. Was he not king? Should any -ancient law, from men of ages forgotten, stand betwixt _him_ and his own -royal will? At the first instant of silence his voice rang clear:— - -“Hear my judgment. Daniel is a Jew, and the law does not cover him. His -guilt is sufficiently proved. Advance, Khatin; seize the prisoner!” - -But it was not merely shoutings now that drowned the king’s voice. Right -before the monarch sprang Sirusur, “Master of the Host.” - -“Lord,” cried he, hotly, “if your Majesty desires to put crown ministers -to death on the word of such as Tabni, let the king find another -general!” And he cast his baton of office at the royal feet; so did -the justiciar, so the “Master of the Granaries,” the “Master of the -Treasury,” and a dozen great officials more. Khatin, the boldest of the -bold, had shrunk from fulfilling the kingly order. But while Belshazzar -sat lowering and unbending in the face of every protest, Mermaza had -thrust his way through the angry officers, and salaamed before his master. - -“Your Majesty,” spoke he, and his ever present smile had become dimmed in -truth, “I am commanded by the queen-mother, Tavat-Hasina, to say that she -has heard with no pleasure of the accusation against that dear servant of -her father Nebuchadnezzar, the civil-minister Daniel; that she entreats -the king her son to listen to no perjured evidence, and she warns the -minister’s accusers of her most high displeasure.” The colour was leaving -Avil’s cheek, for Tavat was still a power to be reckoned with. “And I am -also commanded,” went on Mermaza, more haltingly, “to say in behalf of -the worshipful Persian envoy, the Prince Darius, that Daniel the Jew has -become most dear to him, and he trusts the king will do nothing hastily, -if he desires to retain the ambassador’s good will.” - -They saw Belshazzar’s face grow even darker, saw him lift the gold-tipped -sceptre, as if to dash it in the eunuch’s face. But fewer saw Avil’s -signal to his lord, as the priest stood close beside the dais, and the -muttered whisper, “Yield for the moment.” The staff-bearers enforced -silence at last. In profound stillness the king announced his decision:— - -“In mine own eyes the guilt of Daniel is clear as the moon on a cloudless -night; but I perceive that many faithful servants are minded otherwise, -and that a question has arisen as to the veracity of the witness Tabni. -Let therefore the accused be remanded to prison until his case can be -more carefully examined into. And since nothing else is brought to my -judgment seat, let the hall be cleared.” - -The assemblage dispersed. Daniel was led to the palace prison. The king -vanished in the harem. Khatin stole away to Nur-Samas’s beer-house with -very dejected countenance,—he had not taken Daniel’s head. Only Avil and -Gudea conversed together, but not amiably. - -“Scorpion,” raged the priest, “what mean you by playing with me thus? To -pin half your tale on a creature like Tabni, and then to have the other -witness fail!” - -“Compassion! my lord,” whined Gudea. “Hardly a man would do an ill turn -by Daniel, he is so beloved. Even Tabni and Shaphat set their prices -high.” - -“And Shaphat has vanished, after having made sport of me before all -Babylon!” fumed Avil. “Better to have Daniel at large, than in prison -with so many revilings flung after me as there were to-day! You have -failed me utterly, you and your cursed wife. May you never darken my -sight again!” - -“But your lordship recalls a small matter,” sniffed Gudea, as unable as -Binit to forget the money-bags,—“a promise, of two talents; merely of two -talents. A trifle amongst friends—” - -“And I will pay them,” swore Avil, “when Allat has requited you in the -‘House of Torment.’ Therefore, get you gone!” - - * * * * * - -When Gudea returned to his home that night, he had occasion to meditate -long on the ingratitude of the mighty. - - - - -[Illustration: NABU DEFIES THE KING] - -CHAPTER XI - - -If Gudea’s heart was sorrowful that night, so were those of greater men -than he. Avil had never before found Belshazzar so irascible, as when -they conferred in a quiet chamber of the palace, about sundown. - -“The Jew is obstinate as an old camel!” cursed the king. “He knows no -more fear than a mad auroch. I can do nothing with him!” - -“And the king threatened?” insinuated Avil. - -“Torture, impaling, flaying alive, hot furnaces,—and all else; yet he -will not give me an order on Imbi-Ilu for his daughter.” - -“Let the king’s liver find peace,” comforted Avil, sweetly. “Daniel will -not torment him long. The feast of Bel is near, when I as chief priest -may crave, in the god’s name, one boon which you may not refuse. If I ask -then the life of Daniel, can the queen-mother complain? You are powerless -to deny such a request.” - -“Ah, well, that will end _him_!” snapped the king. “I seek the daughter.” - -“Patience, your Majesty.” - -“No patience, I have waited long. At dawn I will go in person to -Borsippa, and demand her surrender. If not—I will find if Nabu can make -the hides of his priests too thick for sword-blades!” - -Avil shook his head. “Nothing rashly, lord. All the people revere Nabu.” - -“Let them learn the greatest god in Babylon is its king,” Belshazzar -threw up his head; “there is too much priestly rule here for my liking.” -He looked hard at Avil, who bit his lips at the open hint. “You failed -miserably in the accusation,” continued Belshazzar. - -“I did not know Shaphat had so sore a conscience,” confessed the pontiff, -ruefully; “but once in prison, Daniel shall find it nothing easy to learn -the way out of it.” - -“And the Persian Darius grows more intolerable every day. He has saved my -life now. Would that any other had done it!” - -“And wherefore should that be an offence to my lord. I never was sanguine -the lion would succeed. There are many ways of speeding even so great an -archer as Darius out of the world.” - -“Avil,” spoke Belshazzar, eying his minister, “I believe that the gods -have set in your breast no heart, but a block of iron; you may persuade -me to many things, but not to slay Darius until I stand in sorer need -than I stand to-day.” - -“Ah! well,” answered the pontiff, smiling somewhat uneasily, “it is all -one whether he lives or dies. My watchers are everywhere; not a letter -to or from Susa fails of interception. He is harmless in Babylon. Let us -delay the envoy as long as we may peaceably. If he demands to be sent -home and seems to know too much, there is but one thing left.” - -“To clap into prison and prepare for speedy war with Cyrus?” - -“The king has said!” bowed Avil. - -“Very good,” answered Belshazzar, not without bitterness. “I follow your -wisdom; but woe to Babylon, and woe to you, if your wisdom prove but -folly!” - - * * * * * - -The king had come to Borsippa with a “fifty” of war chariots, and five -hundred mounted lancers. So a frightened underling reported to Imbi-Ilu, -just as that pontiff was sprinkling himself with purifying water, before -going to the great altar, to proffer the morning “fruit-offering.” - -“He demands instant entrance,” continued the messenger, in no steady -voice, “both for himself and the soldiers who follow him.” - -“Armed men in Nabu’s temple precinct!” cried the high priest, dropping -the palm branch with which he had been sprinkling his garments. “Never -has warrior planted sandal inside our gates since the founding of the -_ziggurat_! Surely, your wits are wandering.” - -“Would to Nabu they were!” groaned the other; “but hearken!” - -And Imbi heard the clattering of spear-butts against the portals. - -“This is an important hour for the dignity of Nabu,” announced he, -regaining composure. “We must at once reverence the king and defend the -honour of our god. Go, tell his Majesty that we will admit him, as soon -as I can array the corps of priests and temple ministers in due order to -receive him with proper state.” - -Then the great gong that hung by the steps to the tower began to clang -furiously. The school boys joyously flung away their clay tablets, while -their professors hastened to don their whitest robes. The sluggish temple -servants ceased dozing on the sunny bricks of the court, and shuffled -toward the gateway, where the long lines of priests and other servitors -of Nabu were forming. - -When the entrance was at last thrown wide, and Belshazzar’s chariot -entered, the king confronted extended files of “Necromancers,” -“Libation-Pourers,” “Dirge-Singers,” and many more sacred colleges, each -drawn up in proper order, every man in his snowy garment and peaked -tiara, with Imbi-Ilu in his pontiff’s goatskin at their head. And at a -signal from their chief every knee was bent in salutation, while the -temple choir intoned the chant of welcome. - - “Grant prosperous life, - Innumerable years, - And children uncounted, - O Nabu, most wise! - To Belshazzar our king!” - -The chariot had halted in the courtyard, but the swarms of soldiery -without the gate had not begun to enter when Imbi-Ilu stepped before the -sovereign, and salaamed almost to the bricks. - -“A fortunate day, O Nabu, a fortunate day that brings Belshazzar the -heaven-loving sovereign to the ‘Eternal House’! Let the king deign to -make known his will to his servants; he knows,” the pontiff rubbed his -hands craftily, “that Nabu is poor, his priests lack corn. Strange and -young gods bewitch the pious of Babylon.” - -Belshazzar leaped from the chariot without waiting for the grooms to set -the footstool. He was clearly striving to appear conciliatory. - -“I greet you well, you, and all these other venerable priests,” nodding -to the company. “I have not forgotten that the revenues of Nabu have -diminished. I have commanded that the treasurer deliver upon your request -a hundred _gurs_[4] of barley and as many of millet, also I deed to you -an estate of the crown near Erech of fifty ‘great acres’ of corn land.” - -“Blessing to the ever bountiful son of the gods!” chorussed the company, -every head bowing again. - -“But I have come to make a request,” went on Belshazzar. - -“The king’s wishes are law,” smiled Imbi-Ilu. “He desires the -supplications of his servants for the continuance of peace; be assured—” - -Belshazzar raised his hand. “I crave a smaller boon, that will not take -these reverend men from their studies. There is in this temple a damsel—” - -Imbi-Ilu bowed yet again. “The king has spoken,—the Jewess Ruth.” - -“Be so good as to bring her forth immediately. I take her back to -Babylon.” - -Imbi-Ilu repeated his salaam. “The king’s word is good. We are all -obedience. Where is the letter from Daniel her father?” - -“The letter?” there was a dangerous flush on Belshazzar’s bronzed cheek; -“I do not understand you, priest.” - -“Let not the king take anger,” returned the pontiff, calmly. “Who am I so -bold as to remind him that only on command of the father can we give up a -maid entrusted to us for asylum?” - -“Well,” affirmed Belshazzar, tossing his lordly head, “your learning, of -a truth, teaches that the king is greater than the father; and it is the -king who orders now.” - -There was a dead hush for a moment, every eye fixed on Imbi. His was the -next move. - -“Your Majesty,” began he, firmly, “_I_ am but the meanest of your slaves; -but as a priest it is not I that answer you, but Nabu the Wise, making -use of my poor tongue.” And he met the haughty glance of the king with -one as haughty. “Nabu cannot suffer you to take the maiden.” - -Belshazzar tugged at the sword upon his thigh. “No insolence,” he -threatened; “I give you one moment to consider. Give up the wench -peaceably, or my guardsmen drag her forth by force, and you away to -prison, to answer charges of gross rebellion against my will.” - -Imbi turned to Hasba, the subaltern at his side. “Haste!” was the -muttered command, “put the Jewess in the shrine behind the god’s own -image.” Then, still boldly, he confronted Belshazzar. “Live forever, -O king! This is my answer. If the king is bent on wickedness, let him -proceed in person with one attendant, and search our precinct. If he find -the Jewess, let him take her hence with his own hand. Let the soldiers -remain without. So shall we be guiltless of resistance to your Majesty, -and on your own head shall be all the anger of the god for this insult to -his right of sanctuary.” - -Belshazzar had unsheathed his weapon. - -“I will see who is monarch in Borsippa, you, Imbi-Ilu, or I!” sounded his -menace. “Forward, soldiers; brush these priests aside! Search the place -from pinnacle to cellar; and woe to you,” with a scowl at the temple -folk, “if you withstand.” - -But Imbi-Ilu stepped before the gate, where the escort was thronging, and -the lances tossing threateningly. - -“Hear, ye! Hear, ye! soldiers of Babylon!” rang the pontiff’s voice; “ere -you obey the command of Belshazzar, hearken to the divine law, revealed -to Sargon I. in a dream sent him from Nabu, and confirmed by the kings -Sin-iddina and Sennacherib, ‘Let him who enters the precinct of the -“Eternal House” be devoted to the Maskim forever. Let his sons perish, -his daughters remain unmarried, his cattle starve, his enemies prosper, -his soul eat mud in the “Abode of Torment.”’ You have heard the ordinance -of the god and of the king; obey you which you list—Nabu or Belshazzar!” - -And as he spoke, the lines of priests moved steadily forward, until they -formed a solid rank across the entrance way, denying all ingress. - -“Advance, men!” thundered the king; “out swords; hew these rebels down, -and make a pathway over them, if such is their mad wish!” - -But not a soldier advanced. The priests confronted Belshazzar stolidly. -Again the king commanded; again mute disobedience. Presently Igas-Ramman -the captain took a cautious step forward and saluted. - -“Let the king’s heart find peace; in other things the soldiers do his -least bidding, but they cannot massacre these holy priests in the god’s -own house.” - -“Well, then,” cried Belshazzar, sending a glance of burning anger through -the captain, “be it so. I think the ‘king of Sumer and Akkad’ has might -enough to hale forth a simpering Jewess. As for you, Imbi, in due time -I will teach you how foul was the day when you made a foe of me. Who is -there who will go with me, and seek out the maiden?” - -Not a captain advanced, but into the gate strode a towering giant, -Khatin. “Here am I, your Majesty,” he announced pompously; “we go -together, the headsman and the king!” - -“Good, then. Let us find this wench without delay.” - -The array of priests opened for the twain. Imbi ceremoniously walked -beside the monarch, offering no suggestions, but courteously leading -wherever the king desired. They searched the college buildings, -the quarters of the _kali_, the eunuch priests, of the zikari, the -“female-recluses,” the houses of the married priests, and the great -storerooms. Their quest ended in nothing but mortification for -Belshazzar. Vainly he threatened and commanded Imbi-Ilu. The pontiff only -protested that his lips were sealed—the guilt of outraging the asylum -must rest on Belshazzar alone. The king was nigh to returning to the -gateway discomfited, when a whisper by Khatin made him turn to Imbi-Ilu. - -“One thing more,” he ordered. “Lead me to the sanctuary on the crest of -the tower. We have not yet searched through _that_.” - -“The shrine of the god!” cried the pontiff, throwing up his hands in -surprised dismay. “What is the king saying? Do my ears deceive?” - -“In no way, priest,” repeated Belshazzar, sternly; “the sanctuary, and -nowhere else.” - -“Oh, my lord, my lord,” Imbi began to groan, falling on his knees, “at -least spare our temple this outrage. Forbear—” - -“Nip him close, my king,” exhorted Khatin, gruffly. “I swear by his own -god we shall find the damsel hid under the very image.” - -“No delaying, Imbi,” repeated the king, fiercely. “Your moaning tells too -well where the girl is concealed. To the shrine immediately.” - -“But my lord knows the story,” protested the pontiff, leading to the foot -of the temple stairs, with all seeming reluctance, “how when King Ourina, -twelve hundred years since, sought to drag a suppliant from this very -sanctuary, the god smote him with leprosy, and he went out of the temple -white as snow.” - -“A beldame’s tale,” grunted Khatin; “lead onward.” - -“Or how King Samas-Nin, for merely saying in his bedchamber that Nabu -had no power to defend his servants from the royal will, fell down -speechless, and died in three days torn by demons.” - -“That was many years ago,” growled the headsman, “and the estimable god -has begun to show old age. Up, priest, up!” - -Imbi said no more. He led the two along the lofty flights of stairs -toward the upper shrine, deliberately and slowly. As they mounted from -terrace to terrace, and the lower world began to drop away below them, an -unnatural hush seemed spreading all about, that made even Khatin’s river -of strange jests and oaths flow sluggishly, and finally cease altogether. -Suddenly, when one terrace below the shrine, Imbi halted, and pointed to -a black stone, set in the bricks of the parapet. - -“Look, your Majesty!” he spoke, in a bated whisper, and pointed. - -“Well?” questioned Belshazzar, his own voice husky. - -“This stone marks the spot where the impious General Naram-Sin fell down -dead when by command of King Esarhaddon he went up to arrest a fugitive -in the sanctuary.” - -The king stared at the stone fixedly, saying nothing; but Khatin gave a -loud bray,—too loud, in fact, to be unforced. - -“An hundred years ago! As I said, the good Nabu has grown many gray -hairs since then. Come, your Majesty, let others quake and gibber. The -executioner and the king are of too tough stuff to be thus frighted.” - -“Silence, impudent villain!” commanded Imbi; “reverence the king, even if -you must blaspheme the great Nabu. Shall I lead on?” - -“Lead on,” ordered Belshazzar, doggedly, but Imbi saw that he was -stealing glances out of the corners of his eyes at Khatin, and the -headsman seemed anything but at ease. Belshazzar might be “son of -Marduk,” but it required something better than loud-mouthed boastings to -make him advance to a deed like this without a tremor. - -They had reached the topmost terrace. Below them lay Borsippa and -Babylon, spread like a fair broidered garment. Directly at their feet -was the wide courtyard, packed with the gazing priests, and the soldiers -before the gate, all staring upward; and Belshazzar knew that not a man -of them envied him and his deed. - -Imbi halted at the silver-plated door of the sanctuary. His voice was -even lower. “At least, let the king put off his sandals before entering -the god’s dread presence.” - -Belshazzar and Khatin complied without a word. Even before Imbi thrust -in the door, the air they breathed seemed weighted to the would-be -violators. Why did the swallows twitter so shrill? Why did their own -hearts beat so loudly? - -The door creaked on its pivots. Imbi stepped to one side. “Let the king -enter,” he whispered, “but suffer his slave to remain away from this -fearful deed.” - -The two peered within. The sanctuary was absolutely dark, save for a -single bar of yellow light that shot through an unseen opening in the -vaulted roof, and did not diffuse the gloom in the slightest. A few -jewels on the garments of the idol twinkled faintly. Barely could they -see the outline of the great image, looming to monstrous size at the -opposite extremity of the chamber. Two steps within, their feet echoed -and reëchoed, while the darkness seemed pressing all about them. After -the brightness just quitted, no dungeon could have been blacker. Khatin -uplifted his voice, throwing into it his last grains of courage. -“Boldly, lord. We have her instantly!” And he took a third step, but no -farther. His voice was doubled by countless echoes, and scarcely had they -died ere a rumbling and muttering as of distant thunder reverberated from -end to end of the sanctuary. Khatin felt an icy touch run down his spine -in a twinkling: his teeth rattled in his head. There was a quivering at -the roots of his hair, as if it were rising. - -A second muttering, and to their straining gaze the tall idol seemed -rocking on its pedestal. The whole shrine jarred. A pale flicker of light -touched the hideous features of the image, illumining the grinning mouth. -Then the light vanished, and all the dark seemed alive with writhing -demons uncounted, right, left, before, behind,—thronging and threatening. -Khatin’s feet were frozen under him. He would have given his all for -strength to flee away. Suddenly out of the rumbling thunder came a voice, -slow, muffled, sepulchral. - -“Woe, woe, unto Belshazzar, the impious king; woe, woe unto Khatin, the -ungodly servant. For ten thousand years let them eat of fire; for ten -thousand years let them drink of wormwood; for ten thousand years—” - -But king and headsman had awaited no more. Power of flight returned -to each simultaneously. They were outside the doorway in a trice; and -Belshazzar had dashed to the portal and bolted it before Imbi might speak -a word. - -“Away!” gasped the king, all the while shaking as with ague; “away, lest -the god pursue us! Back to Babylon with all haste!” He was running down -the _ziggurat_ with leaps and bounds, Khatin after him. - -“Your Majesty leaves his sandals,” Imbi shouted, but Belshazzar never so -much as heard. - -When he reached the courtyard, Belshazzar stumbled. The chariot servants -saw that his face was ghastly white, and, fearing leprosy, dreaded at -first to help him into the car. With no explanation to any, Belshazzar -ordered that they drive at headlong speed to the palace. - -It was three days before the king showed himself again in public, and -even then all saw that his features were haggard. Khatin had recovered -more swiftly. Amongst his cronies, and when well in liquor, he was wont -to boast that _he_ had been all courage, only the king commanded him to -retire just as he was dragging Ruth from behind the image. Be that as it -may, on the evening following the attempted sacrilege, Imbi privately -commended his faithful Hasba for having done his duty so manfully in the -sanctuary during the morning. - - - - -[Illustration: THE WISE GUDEA PROSPERS] - -CHAPTER XII - - -Now after the king for the third time had refused the prayer of all the -great merchants of Babylon, to accept their security and release Daniel -from his prison, Ruth the Jewess declined more and more. Zabini, the -motherly wife of Imbi-Ilu, went one day to her husband with no little -concern, and told him how the girl was daily becoming pale and languid, -her appetite was failing, she took no interest in the songs and dances of -the temple women, and how every time a mule-cart rumbled in the streets -outside the gates, she would start and shiver, fearing lest it was a new -visit from the king to drag her from sanctuary. - -Imbi was a kind-hearted man. He directed Bel-Nuri, the oldest and -wisest of the temple doctors, to examine the Jewess, and prescribe. -The physician did his duty carefully, and announced that the girl -suffered from “the wasting sickness,” perhaps aggravated by an attack of -formidable demons. Ruth accordingly was duly medicined with a paste of -“white dogs’ brains,” supplemented by a most powerful spell, which was -chanted over her one whole afternoon by Zabini and six other priests’ -wives. Privately, however, Bel-Nuri had a long conference with Imbi-Ilu. - -“Nought ails the girl,” declared the doctor, “except anxiety for her -father, now mewed up in ‘The House of Walls,’ for her betrothed, who -you know is now in hiding, and whose arrest has been ordered, and for -herself. She trembles every moment lest the king lay hand on her; -besides, as a Jewess, our temple rites are most displeasing. She fears -the anger of her god if she continues to witness them. We cannot change -his Majesty’s purpose to imprison Daniel, although, now that Gudea -and the other accusers have utterly vanished from sight, it is gross -persecution to hold him without cause. But assuredly we may rid her of -the last evil influence. Send her away from Babylon and Borsippa; beyond -doubt there are some safe and pleasant hiding spots in the country, where -she will be happier.” - -Imbi meditated long on this advice, and consulted Zabini; they both -agreed it were best for Ruth that she should be sent quietly away. - -Day passed into day, however, with no opportunity presenting, and Ruth -drooped yet more. All the bloom had vanished from her cheeks. She spoke -little, slept long, yet wakened unrefreshed: therefore it was with a very -glad heart that one afternoon Imbi-Ilu went up upon his house roof, where -the Jewess was languidly aiding Zabini at her weaving. - -“Beloved child,” he announced, “I have to tell you that Nabu’s house will -shelter you no longer. Isaiah your betrothed has communicated with me, -and desires to take you out of Borsippa this very night.” - -“Away from Babylon and Borsippa? Oh, joy!” And it did Zabini’s heart good -to see the colour return to the Jewess’s wan face. - -“But how is it to be managed?” questioned the wife. - -“I scarce know myself,” confessed Imbi; “a strange slave lad left this -sealed tablet at the temple gate. You see it is Isaiah’s own signet, and -cannot be doubted.” - -Zabini surveyed the tablet critically. “The king may have secured the -seal, or it may have been forged by his orders,” she objected. - -Imbi shook his head. “Between ourselves, I dare not deny that his Majesty -is capable of many strange things; but his strokes are those of a lion, -not of a fox. I do not believe he would descend to theft or forgery, -especially in a matter where Avil-Marduk does not thrust him on. For this -pursuit of the girl is against Avil’s express advice, as I am surely -informed.” - -Zabini accordingly handed the tablet to Ruth, who read:— - - “Isaiah writing secretly to Imbi-Ilu by the hands of a trusty - messenger. I have heard how Ruth my betrothed is unhappy in - the temple of Nabu, and am resolved to take her to a safe, - agreeable hiding spot at a distance from Babylon. Deliver her - to-night, at the first ‘double-hour’ after sunset, to the three - persons who shall meet her by the clump of five palm trees - before the gate of your temple. They are to be trusted in all - things, and will show my signet as voucher. I will be at hand - with a closed carriage, to take her away. Farewell.” - -“Isaiah’s seal!” exclaimed Ruth, joyously, recognizing the likeness of -the hero Eabani, “and the characters are like those from his hand.” - -“I have consulted with Hasba,” added Imbi, “and we have decided it is -best for you to go. Doubtless these persons are faithful servants of your -father, though Isaiah would not mention them by name, lest the letter -should fall into unfriendly hands.” - -Accordingly, the rest of the day Ruth passed in delightful impatience. -She was to be taken from Babylon. She was to see her betrothed. She was -to be put beyond the power of the hated king. Zabini had to urge her -that this one time, at least, she should eat heartily; for doubtless she -would have to journey the night long, and would need all her strength. -When twilight fell, Ruth had gathered her little bundle, said farewell -to Zabini and the friendly priests’ wives, and restlessly counted the -stars as they twinkled forth one by one above the great tower. The time -seemed endless before Imbi and Hasba conducted her stealthily through the -silently opened gate, and she quitted the refuge that had sheltered so -long and well. The five palm trees were just visible in the thickening -gloom. Fifty paces brought her to them, and there, as promised, -were waiting three figures, the capes of their long mantles drawn so -completely across their faces that in the starlight no features were -visible. Imbi peered about to see that there were no unfriendly watchers. - -“Your business?” he demanded of the three; and one answered, in a husky -voice that Ruth did not in the slightest recognize:— - -“We are the servants of the good Lord Daniel, and act for his excellent -friend Isaiah. Jehovah grant,” the wish sounded exceedingly fervent, -“that you have brought our adorable young mistress with you.” - -“You answer well,” replied Imbi, “but I must see your token.” - -The speaker drew back his mantle far enough to uncover a faint rushlight -that he concealed, burning in a small earthen jar. - -“See this, then,” he answered, and held up something in the glimmer. - -“It is Isaiah’s seal,” admitted Imbi; “you are vouched for. Take the girl -and guard her well.” He was turning to go, when some monitor prompted him -to add sharply, “And beware of faithlessness; or, as Nabu liveth, I will -make your fate no merry one, though the king himself befriend you!” - -“The Lord God of Israel forbid that we should fail even to lay down our -lives for our dear mistress!” protested the other. - -“Go with these people, Ruth,” commanded the pontiff; “and when next -we meet, may it be in happier days for your father. And let Nabu and -Jehovah, my god and yours, protect and prosper you.” - -The Jewess murmured a low farewell. The two priests hurriedly returned -to the temple gate. She heard it closed and bolted. One of her new -companions caught her by the hand. - -“Come, little lady; Isaiah is near by with the carriage.” - -But at that touch, instinct, surer than knowledge, flashed a warning. The -Jewess did not follow. - -“Who are you?” she demanded, for the first time wavering, “which of my -father’s servants? Your voices are strange.” - -“Merciful Jehovah!” protested the other, tightening his grasp at the -word, “do you not know the voice of your dear Simeon?” - -“You are not Simeon,” cried the girl, startled now in truth. “I do not -understand. I will not go with you.” - -But a woman’s cracked voice piped at her elbow. “Come, pretty gosling; -the carriage is ready. No fears; your friends provide everything!” - -It needed no more to make Ruth’s lips open in a piercing scream, a -second, a third, before three pairs of rude hands plucked her round the -throat and almost throttled her. - -“Curses on you, Binit,” the first speaker was muttering, “for croaking so -soon! Off with her; the priests are rousing!” - -Force irresistible swept Ruth from her feet. She was carried away by -main strength, still struggling feebly, and gasping out little shrieks -whenever the grip on her throat relaxed the slightest. There was indeed -need of haste, for the gate was opening, while Imbi’s voice sounded, -“Torches! After the kidnappers!” and a great clamour was rising from the -temple compound. - -The weakest animal is terrible at bay, and so was the Jewess. Once she -almost writhed out of the arms that gripped so fast; but long before the -bewildered priests could do more than rush blindly hither and thither in -the dark, her captors had hurried her to a closed carriage that awaited -under the shadow of the long wall of a granary. The three flung her -inside, and two leaped in after, while the first speaker, whom the woman -had addressed as Gudea, bounded upon the driver’s stand and lashed the -horses furiously. - -It was some moments before Ruth lay back on the cushions, silent, -helpless, too stricken and terrified to shed one tear, but quaking with -dry sobs of impotent agony. The carriage flew through the night at a -terrific pace, Gudea never sparing the horses. For a time the abductors -were content to let their prize lie quiet; then, when the distance from -the _ziggurat_ seemed great enough to defy all pursuit, and speech became -audible, the cracked voice of Binit sounded again. - -“Now, my little lady, be reasonable. Harm you? Binit and Gudea and their -dear friend Tabni harm a pretty dove like you? We would not ruffle a -feather for a talent of gold. Cease crying, then; listen.” - -Ruth’s spasms of sobbing ended; not because she was in the least -comforted, but through utter exhaustion. - -“You are driving me to the palace, are you not?” was her trembling -question. “Are you servants of Mermaza?” - -Even in the dark she could see Binit throw up her nose in a crackling -laugh. - -“Servants of Mermaza? The last person in Babylon we wish to see at -present is the ‘Master of the Eunuchs.’ Eh, Tabni?” - -“You are right, by Nergal!” snickered the charmer. - -“Where, then, are you taking me?” moaned Ruth, in nowise reassured. - -“To a river boat that waits us.” - -Ruth made a desperate effort to speak calmly. “You imagine I am handsome, -and will fetch a great price as a slave. My father is in prison, but he -has rich friends. They will pay any ransom you can ask within reason.” - -“You a slave?” howled Binit; “Istar forefend the thought! Do you think us -as heartless as Ninkigal?” - -“By any god or demon you fear, if indeed you fear any,” implored the -Jewess, “tell me, then, for what you have seized me?” - -Binit laughed and screamed again. “Verily, you _are_ affrighted. Why have -we taken you? Because his Majesty loves you, to be sure.” - -Ruth was smitten dumb by her agony. Binit merely grinned through the -gloom, and continued: “You are asking why we make for the river boat. -Hearken, then. From the time my pious Gudea parted with Avil-Marduk, -after most surly threats on the high priest’s part, somewhat has -seemed needful to restore us to the king’s good graces; for since the -examination of your most noble father—” A faint groan from the Jewess -induced even Binit to forbear, and she changed her thread of narration. - -“Now, if we were to drive you straight to the palace, what would happen? -Out would bustle my lord Mermaza, and take you from us, and away you -would vanish in the king’s harem,—while we would be left with cold thanks -and perchance a poor gift of five shekels. But my Gudea is rightly called -‘The Wise.’ His design is this: Tabni and I put you on a river barge, and -embark, professing that you are my slave-maid. We take you up-stream to a -quiet village near Sippar, where Tabni has a brother-in-law who will be -hospitable. When we are well on our way, Gudea, who remains in Babylon, -goes straight to the king. ‘Lord,’ he will say, ‘I can get you your -Jewess. She is no longer at Borsippa.’ His Majesty questions, and Gudea -will answer, ‘Lord, I cannot tell you where the maid is hidden, but pay -me ten talents and I swear I can produce her.’ The king rejoices to get -you thus cheaply; you will too rejoice, as soon as you learn the sweets -of being his favourite; and we rejoice, dividing the riches. Surely, -Gudea is a most wise man!” - -If a second groan from Ruth meant assent to this assertion, Binit was -rewarded. Not iron, but ice, had entered into the young girl’s soul. She -sat on the cushions, in helpless misery, while Gudea lashed and cursed at -the horses. - -“But the seal—the letter from Isaiah?” Ruth at last plucked up courage to -ask. - -“Ah!” chirruped Binit, “for that we must thank the excellent Tabni. Luck -sent him a letter from Isaiah his way; and even you must confess that he -imitated the hand cleverly, and cut a new seal that would pass in the -faint light when we showed it to Imbi-Ilu.” - -A third groan, and for a long time Ruth gave not another sound. It was a -long drive across the breadth of Babylon, from the Borsippa suburb on the -extreme southwest, to the river. Ruth hoped against hope that there might -be a rescue. Imbi-Ilu was not a man to sit down helpless before a fraud -like this. But as the carriage sped onward, this tiny gleam of hope sank -to a faint spark indeed. - -Once, in fact, as the horses’ hoofs beat hollow upon the bridge crossing -a canal, they were suddenly halted. It was the guard-house marking the -octroi limit to the inner city. Voices sounded and a lantern light -flashed through the wicker body of the carriage. - -“You are late,” a gruff soldier’s voice was grumbling. “Few honest people -drive at such an hour. I must search your carriage, lest you bring in -something liable to ‘gate money.’” - -Ruth started from her lethargy, opened her lips for a scream, when, -before a sound could escape, Binit’s fingers squeezed her neck. - -“Not a twitter!” murmured the wailer, hoarsely, “though you strangle.” - -“Friend,” spoke Gudea, naught abashed, “I have nothing taxable and am in -great haste.” - -They heard the chink of a bit of silver, an appeased grunt from the -official, the lash whistled, and the horses went forward with a bound. -Ruth was gasping before Binit relaxed her hold. - -“Fool,” snapped the latter, “had the guard taken you, what profit to you? -Would he not have sent you straight to the king?” - -So they hastened onward, Ruth seeing nothing of all the silent streets -and market squares they threaded. Presently they rattled over brick -pavements, and she knew they were on the quays. Then the carriage halted -with a jerk, voices sounded again, and Gudea thrust open the door. - -“Out with you,” he ordered, “the boat has waited long, and the captain is -cursing and impatient!” - -“But the girl must be painted,” objected Binit. - -“Haste, then. Ea knows what will befall if Imbi raises the alarm.” - -They were in the muddy courtyard of a warehouse, the thatched lofts and -storerooms rising in the blackness on every side; two or three swarthy -boatmen were standing by in the light of a pair of flickering torches. -Binit drew her prisoner’s mantle until it covered the face. - -“Now, my gosling,” squeaked she in an ear, “one little cry, and you feel -this tingle!” And she followed up her word by pricking the Jewess’s neck -with the tip of a very keen knife. - -Ruth was silent while Binit hurried her up a dark stairway to an upper -loft, full of straw. And there, by an uncertain rushlight, she tore -off the girl’s white dress, not neglecting to appropriate two valuable -rings on Ruth’s fingers, smeared the Jewess’s body with a red cosmetic -that gave her the hue of a sun-tanned peasant; and finally, to complete -a transformation, which she accomplished with a dexterity worthy of a -loftier cause, threw over her the soiled and sombre garments suitable to -a slave-girl. - -“A proper serving-maid in truth, by Istar!” asserted Binit, surveying her -work, while Gudea summoned from below, “Haste! The boat is departing.” - -Binit let the cold edge of the knife touch Ruth’s throat yet a second -time. “Remember,” was her warning, “to the boatmen you are my maid. -Chatter otherwise—” but she did not complete the promise; the dumb, -scared expression on Ruth’s face was token that the threat had gone home. - -From the warehouse Tabni and Gudea accompanied them to the quay, where, -amid a score of dark masts and hulks, they sought a low-lying, clumsy -river barge. The exorcist aided the others aboard, while the six boatmen -were loosing the tackling. - -“We have waited two ‘double hours,’” swore the master, “for your wife and -her accursed wench. Another half shekel, or I thrust you all ashore!” - -“With gladness, good captain,” quoth Gudea, complying, and feeling very -generous with so much of the king’s silver prospectively his own. - -“And you will not promise to give the king our treasure,” enjoined Binit, -in a whisper, “for less than ten talents, not though he rage, and talk of -calling for Khatin.” - -“By Nergal, surely not! I will begin by demanding twenty—” - -His words ended with a cry. There was a splash over the low gunwale into -the sluggish water that crept around the quay, and a wide ripple spread -out under the starlight. In a trice the three friends began to tear their -hair and howl piteously. - -“Overboard!” groaned Tabni, rending his mantle. “Lost!” - -“No, madness,” exhorted the captain, coolly, “it was only your maid that -missed her balance. She will drift beneath the quay and drown. But -another as good is only ten shekels in the market!” - -“Ten talents!” shrieked Binit; and she would have leaped in after, but -the boatman dragged her back fiercely. - -“Do not rave,” he commanded; “none of you can swim. She rises yonder a -second time. Well, I will save her for five shekels.” - -“Yours! Yours! Only save!” came from the three in a breath; while Binit -threw her mantle over her head, and screamed and moaned. - -The boatman flung off his garment, plunged overboard, and -presently,—though it taxed all his art,—he was seen plashing alongside, -upbearing the Jewess. She was unconscious when they laid her on the deck, -and it was no easy matter to revive her. At the first gasps of returning -life, Binit hastened her down into the little stern cabin, rejoicing all -the while that, thanks to the excellence of the cosmetic, it had not -yielded to the water, and the boatman could have discovered nothing. - -“She is safe?” demanded Gudea, anxiously, when his wife reappeared, -leaving Tabni down below. - -“Safe, praised be Istar; but she must hate the king terribly to prefer -suicide to his harem. How we must watch her! And remember the price,—ten -talents, nothing less.” - -“Nothing less,” assented Gudea; then he gave the master his promised -bounty, and leaped ashore. - -The hawsers were cast loose; the six sturdy boatmen thrust out their -long sweeps, and worked the barge slowly into the current, where the soft -night wind, puffing from the distant southern gulf, bellied out the huge -square sail, and the barge began crawling northward over the black water. -Soon it would be past the river gates, and furlongs away from Babylon. -The exorcist stood watching the receding boat for a long time, from the -deserted quay. - -“Ten talents,” he repeated, “are ours as surely as Samas will rise with -his sun to-morrow. Verily, O Gudea, the gods have planted in you a most -clever heart!” - -And then, being a very pious man, he vowed three white heifers to Marduk -out of gratitude for this high favour. - - - - -[Illustration: GUDEA FARES ON A JOURNEY] - -CHAPTER XIII - - -Long after the easy heaving of the boat on the choppy waves told that -they were well on their journey, Ruth continued to struggle and moan. - -“I swear to you,” she would cry again and again to Binit, “I swear -by the awful name of my father’s God, that if the chance come again, -I will fling myself in the river. Death is sweet beside passing into -Belshazzar’s cruel clutch. Before the throne of the Most High God, whose -ear is open to the cry of the innocent, I will stand and curse you!” - -“Hush!” vainly exhorted Binit; “think of being his Majesty’s -favourite,—the jewels, the dresses, the eunuchs to serve you!” - -“Away with them!” groaned the Jewess; “if indeed Belshazzar shall love me -so well as to grant me one boon, it shall be this, to ask the heads of -you two, and of Gudea.” - -“Be still!” warned the wailer, producing her knife; “the boatmen will -hear you.” - -But, helpless as Ruth seemed, she was not utterly devoid of -understanding. “You dare not!” she challenged defiantly, “dare not! Will -the king give a shekel for my dead body?” - -Tabni produced from his girdle a little flask of blue Phœnician vitrium. -“We must quiet her,” he remarked grimly to Binit, “or there is trouble -yet. She must sleep.” - -The captive resisted, but her guards forced down the liquor by thrusting -a blade betwixt her teeth. The draught burned like fire on Ruth’s tongue, -but, once swallowed, she felt a fearful languor creeping over her. Vain -to resist it: her eyelids became heavy as lead, and even the pain in her -heart ceased galling. It was not long before her heavy breathing told -that she slumbered. - -“What has ailed your maid?” demanded a surly boatman from above. “You -made wondrous ado over such a slattern!” - -“Alas,” whimpered Binit, “the poor thing is tormented by most horrible -‘sickness-fiends’; I feel for her as for my own daughter.” - -Then the good woman, having arranged with Tabni to take turns watching -their precious charge through the night, composed herself also for -slumber. - -But Ruth, as she slept, had all the fair and lovely things that had -hitherto made up the gladsome world of her guileless life, return to her. -Her father, her mother, who had become only a memory while she was yet -a little child, and Isaiah,—all were there. Then she dreamed that some -one spoke to her, “Belshazzar the sinful lies with the dead; his power -is vanished forever.” And she walked in a strange city, not Babylon; and -Isaiah was at her side, while all around were fair and lofty mountains. -Isaiah’s hand was in hers, she knew she was his wife, and he said to -her, “Behold Jerusalem! the city which God gives back to us! Here is our -home, and let us be glad together!” Before them was a stately temple, but -not that of Nabu or Marduk. Whereupon Isaiah said: “Let us enter in and -give thanks to the good Lord God.” But just as she was passing within -the gates, her whole being quivering with rapturous joy, the sweet dream -ended; and she was lying on a rude straw pallet, and awakening—where?... - -A sudden rasping of tackling plucked her down from paradise to the -nethermost abyss. There was a thin streak of twilight stealing through -the open hatch. Near her was stretched Tabni, snoring a little louder -than a bull. Her misery returned to the Jewess in one awful surge; -she pressed her hands to her face. “Lord God, if indeed Thou hast any -power at all, have pity,” was her murmured prayer, “and let me die!” -But a rustle at her side proclaimed the presence of Binit. “The little -mistress,” purred the woman, “is awaking refreshed and happy?” - -Ruth did not answer. “Be comforted,” continued the wailer; “we shall -reach our destination by noon, and there we shall all delight to serve -you. Here, Tabni,” rousing the “charmer” with a kick, “go on deck, bring -the lady some sweet wine and the cakes of fine barley I provided. She is -faint.” - -Grumbling, and rubbing his eyes, the other was about to comply, when -a frightful howl from the deck above made captors and captive startle -together. A second howl was followed by a distant shout and yell, then in -turn by a furious clatter of the oars upon their thole-pins. - -“Marduk defend us!” cried Binit, the most frightened of the three, “what -happens? Up, Tabni—” more words were drowned by the simultaneous bellows -of the six boatmen, “Save, O Nergal, save!” all the time they were -working their sweeps like madmen, while the great sail came down with a -crash that made the barge quiver from stem to stern. - -Tabni thrust his head from the hatchway, cast his single eye about in the -morning half-light, then added his voice to the yell of terror. - -“Will you destroy me?” implored Binit. “What has befallen?” But Ruth lay -perfectly still; at that moment she was thinking that no human ill could -make her condition worse. - -Tabni dropped from his station, his face the colour of a whited tile. His -jaws twitched so that he could scarce utter a syllable; then came two -words, “River thieves!” - -“River thieves?” groaned Binit, leaping up as if she had sat on an adder. - -“Their boats are hard after us. Two skiffs, ten men in each. The -bargemen are straining to make for shore. Then they will only lose the -boat. Woe! woe! If we are taken—” - -A prolonged screech from Binit, who practised her art in very earnest -now, drowned out Tabni’s own noise. In the first instant of silence the -voice of the barge captain thundered: “Up, all of you, if you would save -liberty. Fling these wine-jars overboard, as quickly as if the Maskim -were following!” - -With feverish haste Binit led or rather carried the Jewess to the deck. A -glance told the whole story. Out from the bank of gray morning mist that -clung over a stagnant lagoon near the eastern bank were shooting two long -reed boats, full of armed men, who came straight on toward the luckless -barge. The boatmen had dropped the sail, as useless in the morning calm, -and were pulling with despairing energy toward the western shore, in -hopes of escaping to land, where they could save their freedom, though -the barge was doomed as plunder. - -“Every plague-fiend pounce on you, woman,” was the captain’s greeting -to Binit, while he sweated over his oar; “it was waiting for you that -delayed us and gave these scorpions their chance.” And even while he -spoke, a whoop of triumph pealed across the glassy river, and two arrows -splashed under the barge’s stern. - -Yet, despite all the master’s cursings and rage, Binit would not aid -Tabni in thrusting the cargo overboard, but simply sat on a bale, -clutching tight hold of Ruth. - -“Ten talents,” the wailer was repeating, even while her knees beat -together, “ten talents, if only I can hold you fast!” - -A third arrow dug into the deck, and the boatmen put forth their last -strength. But the two skiffs were flying three cubits to their two. -Already they could see the white teeth and wolfish bright eyes of the -bandits. - -“Yield, yield as you love your lives!” bawled many shrill voices. A -new flight of arrows smote down a rower, but at this instant the barge -thumped on a mud-bank close to the western shore, and stuck fast. - -“Save yourselves!” was the last shout of the captain, and he with his -remaining men dashed through the shallow water, and, scrambling up the -low bank, were soon on shore, flying inland at full speed, leaving their -passengers to the mercy of fate. - -“Come, little lady!” Binit commanded; but Ruth hung perfectly limp on her -arms, and Tabni and the woman lifted her and tugged her to the shore. - -“Run!” exhorted they, setting the Jewess on her feet. - -There was no time to be lost. The bandits, leaving the barge to plunder -later, paddled straight up to the embankment, and were in pursuit in a -twinkling. “Three prizes! After them!” was the general yell. - -“Run!” commanded Binit again, when Ruth still dragged helplessly. And at -the word she relaxed for a trifle her grasp. In an instant the Jewess -had glided out of it, and wheeled, as if in bewildered terror, straight -toward the robbers. - -“Ten talents lost!” And Binit gave the loudest screech of all her noisy -life. - -By instinct she and Tabni turned to recover their prisoner, but arrows -flew out to greet them, and in a moment Binit was moaning in a heap, as -a shaft grazed her shoulder, while ten rough hands were securing the -charmer, and as many more were holding Ruth. Then twenty tongues wagged -all together, shouting, cursing, laughing, questioning; until, the breath -of the robbers having failed, they dragged their three captives back to -the barge, which they speedily rifled with a thoroughness born of long -experience. - -Only when the first flush of victory had spent itself did some order -become apparent, and the late kidnappers, with their victims, were ranged -before an enormous Amorite, rings in nose and ears, jewels all over his -tawdry dress, a tremendous spiked mace flourishing in his fingers. - -Binit was so frightened that she had ceased howling; Tabni held down his -head as if avoiding scrutiny; while Ruth remained in perfect silence, as -if dumbness were her last refuge. - -“Well, my brothers,” commented the leader, surveying the three, and -pulling reflectively at his nose ring, “the gods reward us for the -morning’s toil. These good folk seem to be worth little for ransoms, -but, praised be Moloch! there are Arabian caravan merchants in the next -village ahead, who, if they have not started for Egypt, will give silver -shekels for three such likely slaves.” - -The announcement drew forth a new spasm of screams from Binit, who cast -herself at the Amorite’s feet. - -“Oh, kind, handsome, generous lord!” she entreated, “do not sell to -Egypt. See, I am wounded; I cannot work; I shall die under the whip!” - -“Now, by the Maskim,” swore the giant, “this is the first time for long -I have been ‘kind or handsome’ to man or maid!” And he with his fellows -brayed together with laughter. - -“Pity us,” thrust in Tabni, stretching forth his hands beseechingly. “I -cannot labour. Alas! I am old; soon I must make my peace with Ea, and -prepare to die.” - -But as he spoke, a bandit leaped forth before the rest. “Do you not know -me, Tabni, you half-blind coney?—Eri-Aku the Elamite, whom you drove into -this life by your false accusations of murder. Great mercy if I do not -commit murder in truth! Give me leave, comrades—” - -He brandished his sword over the quivering charmer’s head, but his -companions plucked him back, while the leader set eyes on Ruth. - -“Comely for a swart peasant maiden,” he remarked, “but her limbs are -frail as lily stems. She cannot work.” - -“Deliver her to me, noble captain,” suggested Eri-Aku; “my hut in the -marshes needs a likely wench like her.” - -The blood came tingling into the Jewess’s face, and crimsoned almost -under her reddened skin, as the Elamite’s words and leer smote her. But -the captain shook his head. - -“All captives must be sold for the good of the band. She goes to the -Arabians like the rest.” - -Binit commenced to bawl out something to the effect that this was no -ordinary serving-maid, and that the king would give for her riches -untold. But alas for the wailer’s craftiness, Ruth looked anything but -the favourite of Belshazzar, thanks to the cosmetic; while to Binit’s -signs and grimaces to her to declare herself, she answered not one word. - -“The woman raves!” declared the Amorite, and he ordered his men to gag -Binit and Tabni, and haste away, for there was no telling how soon a -king’s bireme might be up the river, and their situation become awkward. - -Therefore three captives spent the morning very disconsolately, paddling -northward by hidden canals and watercourses in the bandits’ skiffs. The -sun was broiling them at noon when the robbers landed at a squalid mud -village, where the Arab caravan train was halting. Fifty odd grumbling, -dirty-brown camels were kneeling on the slough of the little square, -while their drivers adjusted the last bales of Babylonish carpets and -Indian muslins that had just come up from the gulf. The Amorite marched -his prisoners before the master of the troop, and the bargain was not -long in making. - -“These people were come by honestly?” quoth the merchant, with one eye in -his head, for he knew his man. - -“Honestly, by Moloch!” and the Amorite swore an oath loud enough to make -up for all its other shortcomings. - -“But these two,” objected the Arab, jerking a thumb towards Binit and -Tabni, “are too old for hard toil. The risk on the desert is great. I can -spare little water. Of the three, one is sure to die.” - -“Consider how cheaply you get them. The three, and only forty shekels!” - -“Not unreasonable, but they look most sluggish for field work.” - -“‘Much scourging, much labour!’” answered the chief, “so runs the old -proverb.” - -“The Egyptian taskmasters remember that, by Baal!” cried the Arab, -gleefully, while he counted out the sum; then, with a sudden glance at -one of his subordinates, a low-browed young fellow: “Verily, what ails -you, Shaphat? Have these creatures the evil eye, that you gape at them -so?” - -The man addressed only shuffled away, remarking “that he had known -something about the prisoners in Babylon, and would tell the leader -later.” - -The Amorite and his following went their ways, rejoicing in the good -fortune the god of gain had sent them. The Arabs tied their new -passengers upon the backs of camels, and the caravan started; but it did -not move rapidly. First a camel went lame, then a girth broke and let -a heavy load tumble, then a donkey broke loose and was captured with -difficulty. Night caught the caravan at a second little village only a -few furlongs above the first. - -The master of the Arabs was a discerning man, and he presently called -Shaphat aside, and pointed to the youngest prisoner, - -“You act strangely, fellow,” declared the merchant; “did you know this -girl in Babylon? When I engaged you, I understood you were a Jew, once -servant of the imprisoned minister, Daniel. To my mind, this maid is of -your own race.” - -“You are right,” was the seemingly frank answer. “She is a Jewess, and -at some time I have met her in the city; but I forget at whose house she -may have been servant. As you see, she is comely. Treat her well, and she -will bring twice the price of the two others. And do not bind her. Who -dreams that a frail thing such as she can run away?” - -“You speak well; she shall not be bound; but cease making eyes at her. -Her good looks are not for such as you.” Whereupon Shaphat professed -himself all obedience. - -That night Ruth lay alone upon a dirty truss of straw in a village hut, -while without great camels grunted, dogs bayed the moon, and watchmen -trolled coarse ditties. First one calamity had thronged upon her, then -another, from the moment Isaiah took her from her father’s house, only -an hour ago it seemed. She had long since passed beyond the solace of -tears. She had striven to pray. Her whispered words seemed only to -awaken echoes of mockery. Either Jehovah was Himself a fiend, or He was -helpless, Bel-Marduk His master. Once a terrible thought crossed her -mind. She would curse Jehovah, she would cry to Marduk, to Istar, and -to Ramman; the Babylonians called on them and prospered, why might not -she?—what good thing had Jehovah granted, that she should love Him? But -at the suggestion all the strong forces of the Jewess’s nature rose in -rebellion within her. Should she, the daughter of Daniel, the betrothed -of Isaiah, near and dear to two men who were perilling their lives for -the sake of Jehovah, be the one to doubt? No, though the present ills -waxed tenfold worse, if such a thing might be! And presently, it seemed -as if out of the night a voice was speaking, and she heard it, while an -awful stillness was reigning in her heart,—the words of the psalm of her -people, the song of David when God delivered him from the murderous hand -of Saul. - - “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress and my deliverer: - My God, my strength, in whom I will trust, - My buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. - I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, - So shall I be saved from mine enemies. - He bowed down the heavens also, and came down: - And darkness was under his feet. - He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me.” - -The voice was gone. The camp had become very still. A wondrous peace and -hope seemed to have stolen over Ruth. She was about to let herself drift -away into the arms of sleep, knowing by her pure, unreasoning woman’s -faith, that One stronger than father or lover was at her side to shield -from all real harm, when she heard a guarded footfall on the earthen -floor. A figure of a man darkened the little patch of black violet that -marked the door; then he spoke:— - -“Lady Ruth, dearest mistress, do you not know me?” - -It was the voice of Shaphat. - - * * * * * - -The next morning the master of the caravan and his fellow merchants and -camel drivers were scouring all the country round about. They began at -last to give some ear to the frenzied protestations of Binit, that the -youngest captive was indeed a prize for the king. The Jewish servant, -who had hired himself to them at Babylon, had vanished from all sight, -taking with him his fellow countrywoman and a round little bag of money. -But the merchants could not push their search too far, for the village -bailiffs might ask them to explain how it was the maid had passed into -their possession; and if they admitted the Amorites’ share in the matter, -there might be more disagreeable questions to answer. Accordingly, after -a bootless search through another day, they set off across the desert, -and in due time Binit and Tabni found employers in the Sais slave-market, -who taught them the inconveniences of sloth in Egyptian field labour. - -But long before these twain had reached the end of their wanderings, -their confederate Gudea had been started on a yet longer journey, with -even scantier prospects of return. Promptly on the morning after the -kidnapping, he had bribed his way through the chamberlains to a private -audience with Belshazzar himself. As expected, the king had been stormy -at first, but ended by paying the exorcist two talents as earnest money, -with promise of eight more when the girl Ruth was delivered. Gudea -promptly sent a letter up river, bidding Tabni and Binit return with -their booty in all haste. No answer; and a second letter had no better -reply. When a third message brought nothing, Gudea began to realize that -his associates had miscarried in some unknown manner; while the king -waxed impatient, and hinted that the earnest money was best back in the -treasury. Then Gudea, being at his wit’s end, let all wisdom forsake him. -He turned the two talents into gold, and strove to steal out of the city -by night, hoping to save at least this fraction of the expected booty. -But the crafty gods that had thus far prospered him, at this moment -abandoned him. He was arrested at the Gate of the Chaldees, by command -of Avil-Marduk, who had not forgotten the affair of the trial, and was -not slow in informing Belshazzar that the exorcist had tried to cheat -the monarch himself. The case before the high justiciar was brought to a -speedy issue, for the defence was the lamest. - -“Let Gudea, the exorcist,” sounded the sentence, “die the death by the -iron sword. Let his head be set above the Gate of Ilu, and let his body -be flung to the hyenas and ravens; so shall all men fear to extort money -deceitfully from our lord the king.” - -“Hearken,” the despairing exorcist had howled, while Khatin and two -assistants pinioned him, before haling him from the tribunal: “Am I not -the most pious wizard in Babylon? Shall I sacrifice to all the gods for -nought?” - -“Off, off!” commanded the justiciar, quitting his seat; “silence this -babble!” - -Gudea turned to Khatin, struggling vainly to free his hands. - -“Ah, dearest Khatin, surely you will not let me die. Remember all the -pleasant pots we have drained together at Nur-Samas’s; remember our -pledges of friendship, and how often I have professed that I love you!” - -“And do I not love _you_, my precious jackal?” said the headsman, with a -snort. “Have I not many a time said, ‘The more love I bear a man, the -more joy to see him safely ended.’ Bethink you, sweet friend, is it not -pleasanter to slip out of the world with the delightful whir of my sword -singing in your ears, than to depart as did the lamented Saruch, with -Binit and yourself howling above him?” - -“Ah,” whimpered the exorcist, so limp now that the others had to keep him -on his legs, “it is not the dying only, though that is most fearful; but -woe! alas! despite all my sacrifices, what will not the gods do to me? -How may I justify myself to Ea? Allat will torture me eternally!” - -“Fie, my lovely Gudea,” belched the headsman, “what expectations for a -man of your piety! Yet be consoled; Ea sends every soul to its proper -place, and even Allat can be little less handsome than your dearest wife, -especially when Binit’s palm-wine was heady.” - -“Cursed be you! cursed with a dying man’s last curse!” howled Gudea, all -hope vanishing now, as they dragged him away. But Khatin only answered -with his mildest chuckle: “I have heard that music whistled by stouter -asses than you, comrade. But no grudge; I must drink a double pot -to-night at the beer-house,—one for you, one for me,—as token of how I -shall miss you.” - -But Gudea’s only answers came in wordless chatterings. And how it -prospered him on the rest of his long journey is not written, even in the -wisest book. - - - - -[Illustration: BELSHAZZAR CHOOSES HIS PATH] - -CHAPTER XIV - - -On the same night that Ruth lay down to sleep in the mud cottage, Atossa, -betrothed of Belshazzar, “queen designate of Sumer and Akkad” not to add -titles more, was pacing the leafy avenues of the Hanging Gardens. As -the summer advanced she had been removed to the chambers beneath this -mountain forest, from the sultrier rooms of the palace. Here, with the -cool mould and the ocean of tossing green interposed betwixt her and the -parching sun, one could almost forget that out in the dusty world the -wretched Jews of the labour gang were panting and groaning, that all the -fields about the city were searing brown with the pitiless heat, and -the canals were creeping riverward through beds half empty. No sensuous -delight was wanting to lull the Persian into forgetfulness of the past. -Belshazzar had spared nothing. The maids, the young eunuchs, that served -her were the handsomest, the most soft-footed and skilful-handed that -could be found in all the slave-markets betwixt Carthage and India; the -waters that sprayed from the fountains breathed rare essences and Sabæan -nard. There were fresh flowers sprinkled each morn in lieu of carpets, -and a cool wreath always ready; the fragrance of the petals wafted on -every wind. Each day they brought the mistress some new dance, or some -new music. And in the evening, after the sun’s copper ball had sunk -behind the long shadows of Imgur-Bel, and the broad Euphrates flashed -in ever darkening ripples, then it was joy to quit the lower chambers -and roam over the wondrous garden domain. There the fireflies would flit -out with their beacons from behind fern and thicket, and the nightingale -would throb and the thrushes whistle from their safe coverts in the -trees, till the night seemed one enchantment, and the Hanging Gardens -indeed the Chaldee’s “Garden of the Blest.” - -But on this night Atossa was not watching the stars creep out of the -feathery palm trees, nor knew she the silence when the last tired bird -ceased trilling, and hid his head behind a wing. She was waiting for -Darius. - -Masistes had brought her the message, and said he had it from Ariathes. -The prince would meet her in the Gardens at this hour, for there was -something of weight that he must tell. The dangers, said Ariathes, had -all been foreseen and provided for; there could come no peril. As for -Atossa, she thought very little of the dangers or of anything else, save -this one fact, that speedily she would be face to face with the man she -loved. - -Atossa was alone in the Gardens. To secure the solitude had been easy. -Long since her servants had learned that the Persian desired nothing -better than to be left alone of an evening, with only the unseen birds, -the whispering trees, and the friendly stars for her company. None -wondered when she did the like this evening. The Gardens were safe as the -harem, every ingress and exit guarded below by soldiers. What danger to -let her roam at will? - -She sat upon a moss-bank, and felt for the little cool weeds at her feet, -pulling them one by one. There was a sweet northeast wind crooning over -the Gardens, and setting all the groves to whispering. “The breeze is -from my own Iran,” she spoke aloud, while the hidden crickets answered -her; “it has blown over Ecbatana and Susa; it has kissed the mouth of my -mother, my father; it bears their kisses to me.” She shook her coronal -of golden hair, and let the soft breeze caress her neck. The Gardens -were growing very still. Once or twice arose a distant chant from the -river boatmen, singing as they plied their oars. Save for that, she might -have dreamed herself a thousand furlongs removed from human kind. As the -silent night crept onward there spread an earthy smell about, the smell -of green things growing, and the very odour made the breeze a delight. -The great trees above her head continued their murmur,—the cadence just -varied enough by the puffing wind to make music sweeter than that of -harp or flute. She was letting the dreamy mood possess her, when her ear -caught the snap of a twig under gentle stepping sandals. Some one had -mounted the privy staircase; a form was approaching through the soft -darkness. - -Atossa sprang to her feet; she gave one little cry. The stranger bounded -toward her; and she heard the voice and felt the touch of Darius, son of -Hystaspes.... - -They sat and talked together upon the cool moss, for a long while, in -tones so low that the sage old thrush who had stirred on his bough over -their two heads gathered nothing, though he listened long. But at last, -when their minds passed down from heaven to earth, their voices grew -stronger, for their lips were no longer so near. - -“Lady mine,” spoke Darius, his strong arm still holding fast, “do you -know what Isaiah the Jew has told me? Do you know for what end Belshazzar -brought you here?” - -“Have I not heard from Isaiah’s own lips the story of what befell in -these same Gardens and of the king’s unholy guile?” - -“You know all and are yet so calm?” - -She looked into his face almost defiantly. - -“Because Ahura grants to you the fame of being ‘King of the Bow’ and -of swinging the stoutest sword in wide Iran, has he denied that I also -should be strong to bear? Am I not Cyrus’s own child, and must I show -these ‘lie-loving’ Chaldees only tears and pain?” - -“By Mithra, Lord of Light, I think it is I that must gain the courage -out of you, for when I hear of your state, and the treachery with which -Belshazzar had ensnared you, I was close to weeping like a maid, and -doing deeds of madness!” - -A faint sound, as of something moving, startled her. - -“What is this?” she cried, leaping from the moss-bank. “There is danger!” - -The sound, be it what it might, had vanished. Darius peered into the -gloom; black shadows, the dim tracery of leafage, the distant sheen of -the star mist—that seemed all. - -“No peril,” he protested, drawing her back to the soft cool carpet. -“Boges is on watch below; the eunuchs proved exceeding corruptible. -Naught will be suspected.” - -“So Ahura grant,” she murmured, pressing closer, “yet I hear that spies -are all about you. You are in danger, grievous danger. Would that you -were back in Susa, were anywhere, save here,—in the chiefest place of -peril.” - -Darius laughed softly. “Are you so glad to have me vanish? I declare to -you by all the host of the holy ‘Yazatas,’ the just spirits who ever wait -on God, that where you are, were it in the foulest prison, or parching -desert, or in remotest star, there would be my _Garo-nmana_, my ‘Abode of -Song’!” - -“Folly!” she replied, but her laugh was sweet as the dying winds. “What -am I?—a voice and a blooming flower; to-day I am joy to you, or to -another, because my face is fair to see. To-morrow all is past; faded -like every blossom, I lie down and die, and the world knows of me no -more. But you,” and there was pride in the light of her smile, “there -will be other tales to tell of Darius, son of Hystaspes, long after the -day when your tongue is cold and still. And that should be your task, -doing fair deeds in the sight of men, not wasting griefs or tears on such -as me.” - -But his answer was a hand upon her lips, and he answered her: “I will not -give wisdom for your foolishness, the barter is unfair. But this I know, -concerning the Great Day when every soul must cross the Chinvat Bridge -to enter into the world hereafter (for you have heard our Aryan tale as -chanted by the Magi), then to every man there shall come a maiden, in -beauty or foulness after his own righteousness or guile. And she shall -say to him, ‘See, I am thine own conscience, come to meet thee, and -to dwell with thee through unending time.’ And my prayer to Ahura the -Merciful is but this, that when my own dread ordeal comes, and my maiden -looks me in the face, her eyes and her smile may be that of Atossa, the -daughter of my king.” - -“Folly!” cried she again, and again her laugh was sweet. But then her -mood grew grave. “It is night,” she said, “the stars are circling onward; -soon they will wonder why I linger here so late, and some will come to -see if all is well. Alas! that we have tasted of this bliss; the morsel -truly is most sweet, but it is supped and gone. Am I not Belshazzar’s -betrothed, full soon his bride? And you, what is left save but to speed -back to Susa, and tell my father all, and how he robbed me of my joy and -all for naught?” - -But Darius’s voice grew low, he tightened the grasp upon her hand. -“You speak but ill. You shall never be Belshazzar’s bride. I, son of -Hystaspes, have so sworn, though all the Chaldees rise to say me ‘nay’!” - -“Never?” He felt Atossa thrill. “What is this you say?” - -His head was again close to hers when he answered. “Listen, then; for as -you say, I must tell all quickly. Belshazzar asked your hand as a pledge -of eternal peace betwixt Persian and Chaldee; but to make a pledge there -must be no oath broken, and he has broken his. You are his betrothed, -but not his bride. No law of man or God binds you to him, nor, as the -Most High gives me wit and might, shall it ever bind! My position since -returning from the lion hunt, whereof you must have heard the palace -rumours, has been intolerable! There is never a moment when I do not -tremble for my life. I fear every messenger of mine to Susa is waylaid -and halted. Cyrus must not be suffered to remain blind forever. My soul -loathes flight from a foe, but what is left me?” - -“And have they refused you convoy back to Susa?” pressed Atossa. - -“Not once, but many times,”—the prince’s voice was very bitter,— “I have -been to Bilsandan the vizier, and only met smooth excuses and scarcely -veiled lies. Now the Elamite mountain tribes make all travel dangerous; -now there is such restlessness in the gulf cities that not a soldier can -be spared for escort. And yet, to cast the vizier’s words back in his -teeth, the garrison of Babylon grows stronger day by day, and the walls -mount higher.” - -“You must go back to Cyrus,” spoke she, with beating heart; “you must -tell all to my father. But, oh!” and her woman’s voice nigh faltered, -“his wrath and the war will be most terrible. Aryan blood and Chaldee -blood, each poured out in rivers, and my sacrifice will all be in vain. I -had one joy left me, that through my own grief I was giving peace to my -people, but now at last even this is taken away!” - -“Not so,” cried the prince, almost sternly, “for out of Belshazzar’s -cruelty and falsehood shall spring my joy and yours also. For now you -are free, and I am free to bear you away in my flight. All is provided, -horses fleet as the desert winds, and my Persian followers are with us -to the death. Seven days from this night you shall look on your father’s -face at Susa, Ahura prospering us—my own! Gaze long, gaze hard, upon this -city,” he pointed over the slumbering vista of _ziggurats_, palaces, and -the dark river; “to-morrow at this hour you shall see its accursed beauty -no more,—except, indeed, as you ride under its gates at the side of your -father when he enters it to conquer.” - -“Ah!” she cried, his own bright hopes kindling before her eyes, “and how -may you persuade him to give me to you?”—she broke short—“Am I wrong? Do -I not hear a noise?” - -The prince rose once more; again eyes and ears brought him nothing. -“There is naught beholding us save God’s bright stars; and are not the -stars best friends to man and maid in love? How shall I persuade Cyrus? -Did you not see how he tossed in his mind, and how his heart was torn -almost as yours or mine, when he resolved to send you to Belshazzar? Let -him hear the tale we have to tell, the tale that will make every ear in -Iran from Media to Bactria to tingle with hot wrath, and I know little of -men, if Cyrus prove hard of heart. Let Babylon fall, as fall it will, and -in these same Hanging Gardens—not then your prison, but your joy—shall -they kindle the torch for our marriage feast.” - -But Atossa glided out of his clasp. - -“Ah!” said she, outstretching her arms in the starlight, “your words are -but as words spoken in a vision; I feel such sweetness cannot be. You -wake dear phantoms, but they are phantoms still. I know not why; but -there is a voice that tells me now, as it has told me long, that I must -not look for any sudden joy. I must learn to be yet stronger, and learn -to bear not only these, but new ills also. And Susa and my father are -very far away.” - -“And do you doubt my boast?” he flashed, nigh wrathfully, at her failing -to warm to his own sanguine joy. - -“I doubt you?” she cried, as if scarce understanding his words,—“you? For -your least wish, how glad a thing to die! But the power of Angra-Mainyu -is strong, and he and his fiends put forth their might against us. -Ahura will conquer, but the triumph is delayed. Fly alone; that will be -safer—and let the sword of Cyrus be the key to my golden prison.” - -“Not save _you_?” reëchoed the prince, all the might of his strong nature -rising up in refusal at her command. - -“Hush! Not so loud!” warned she, and again she started; “surely in the -thicket—” - -“There may be other eavesdroppers!” spoke a voice from the covert -directly behind them, and the words were the words of Avil-Marduk. - -A shout from Darius, a cry from Atossa, answered him in the same instant. - -The sword shot from the prince’s scabbard and flashed in the starlight; -one stroke, and Avil would have uttered no more fell counsellings, but -the priest stepped deliberately forward and caught the upraised hand -before Darius could gather wits enough to smite. - -“Nothing rashly, your Highness,” was his admonition, he himself perfectly -calm. “Your life is in no danger, and I make bold to presume that any -hurt that might befall your humble slave would meet with no slow -requital.” - -And even as he spoke there emerged from his hiding-place, or out of the -ground of the garden rather, for aught Darius could see in the gloom, the -figures of six men, a trembling torch in the hands of one, naked swords -borne by the others. - -Darius stood facing them, his head thrown back haughtily, his weapon -still raised high. - -“Do not think to slay me without dear payment!” rang his despairing boast. - -But Atossa had fallen on her knees, crying to the Babylonians, “Spare -him! Spare!” for her only thought was of Darius. - -“And has not Avil already told you your lives are safe?” added a -newcomer, who needed no torch-glimmer on his eagle features to proclaim -him the king himself. “Put away your sword, son of Hystaspes; it avails -you nothing. The Lady Atossa trembles at sight of bare steel, and well -she may!” - -In the faint light they saw Darius break his sword across his knee and -dash the hilt away. - -“You are right, O king,” he cried, shrill with anger, “for her sake I -must bow my neck in peace. Only wreak the vengeance all on me. It was -_I_ who sought this meeting, who plotted all; she had no part, and is -guiltless.” - -“The noble Persian wrongs himself,” spoke Avil, as sweetly as when he -commented on his dinner; “neither he nor the Lady Atossa arranged this -meeting in these delightful gardens. The author is your most obedient -slave.” Whereupon he salaamed. - -“You?” burst forth the prince. “What snake’s part is this of yours? By -the aid of what _dæva_ came you here with the king? My plans were well -laid, my servants trusty.” - -“Excellently laid, and exceedingly trusty,” quoth Avil, still perfectly -cool; “alas! that Wisdom is not ever the bedfellow of Faithfulness. It -did not need the knowledge of Ea to discover that your Highness would -love nothing fairer than an evening’s talk with her ladyship. That being -the case, and we being greatly desirous to discover your noble plans -and the reports you were anxious to transmit to the king’s illustrious -ally, Cyrus the Persian, I took it upon myself to make this interview in -every way most easy. It was I that arranged that the eunuchs and guards -should prove conveniently corruptible, that nothing should hinder your -easy access to these Gardens, or interrupt your agreeable conversation -until you had unbosomed your hearts one to another. I must confess -myself deeply pained to have to disarrange the least of your Highness’s -projects.” - -“You have overheard?” questioned the prince, controlling himself by an -effort. “Be so gracious, then, as to inform a barbarous Persian like -myself by what wings you flitted up into these Gardens.” - -“By the wings of the same privy staircase soon after your Highness -ascended. You may deign to recollect you left your Boges on watch below. -It was no grievous matter to overpower and gag without a cry escaping. -Afterward I conducted his Majesty and these worthy guardsmen to this -thicket, whence we could hear all that passed. As Marduk liveth! I -believe we could have made more commotion than we did, and to little -harm; you two had ears only for each other.” - -“And you understand Persian, priest?” asked Darius. - -“Indifferently well,” answered Avil, modestly,—“at least, very little -that was said escaped me!” - -“Then escape not this!” shouted Darius, and with the word he flung -himself bodily toward Avil-Marduk. - -The pontiff gave one leap backward, and in the darkness his foe just -missed him, but fell with all his might upon an unlucky soldier who -interposed. The man went down upon the greensward with a rattle in his -throat, as Darius smote him. But the others instantly piled upon him, and -after a desperate and aimless struggle the Persian was plucked from his -prey. He faced Belshazzar while two guardsmen clung tight to his terrible -arms. - -“Well, your Majesty,” rang his demand, “how long is left to me to live?” - -“You are safe,” answered Belshazzar, from a distance; “you saved my life -from the auroch. I will not take yours at present.” - -“So I am a prisoner, envoy of Cyrus though I be? You refuse my demand for -instant return to Susa?” - -“After what has passed here and now,” retorted Belshazzar, grimly, “I -think you will not marvel if I dare to delay you.” - -“Better the executioner, and have done!” cried the prince, almost -struggling out of his captors’ hold. - -“We gain little by bartering high words, Persian,” thundered the king, in -unconcealed triumph; “you are a prisoner. They shall give you the liberty -of your rooms, until you prove yourself disobedient to my will.” - -“Am I then a hostage?” - -“You shall see. In dealing with Cyrus—” - -But the king said no more, for Atossa deliberately placed herself betwixt -the two in their anger. - -“Will the king hear me?” - -All her courage had returned the instant she knew Darius’s life was for -the moment safe. She was the great king’s daughter still, and she stood -before Belshazzar, fair and strong. He told himself he had never seen man -or woman more calm, more beautiful. - -“I will hearken,” was his sole answer, and Atossa continued her speech, -that came very slowly. - -“Lord of the Chaldees, when my father sent me to Babylon, I loved this -man,” her eyes were on Darius, “beyond all the Indian’s pearls,—yes, -beyond very life; but I was content to be the price paid for the peace -of my people. I was resolved to be your true and faithful wife. But -I come to find the price paid all in vain,—to find treachery blacker -than blackest night, to learn that oaths are only to be blown out as -a rushlight, at the first convenient season. My love gone, my joy all -blasted, for naught, the prospering of the sapient Avil’s serpent guile, -and that of his cringing master.” Avil had winced under the flash of her -eye, but now she looked on Belshazzar. “King of Babylon, thus far have -falsehoods borne you; count up well the cost. Do not think oath-breaking -can prosper man or king forever. Let the walls of Babylon mount yet -higher; higher still are God’s heavens whence He looks downward, and -beholds us all, and all the secrets locked up in the heart. You can still -repent. You can send Darius to his own land, and I will yet be to you an -obedient wife. You can still regard the oaths taken to Cyrus as sacred, -and as such keep them fast. Thus far you have done naught that may not be -undone; go no farther. But let the prince, the inviolable envoy, guarded -alike by Persian and Chaldee gods, endure one hour of prison, and only -heaven shall judge the war. Do not think my father is all blind. The moon -cannot fall from the sky, and no man marvel. This is the moment, and the -last when you may choose,—the moment which we Persians say to every man -is granted,—to make choice of the Right Mind or the Wrong Mind, the -great spirits ever at strife. I do not pray this for myself, nor for -the son of Hystaspes, but for you, O king of the Chaldees, whom I would -honour as husband if I might. To you is this word,—choose the path, of -righteousness or guile, of peace or war,—choose!” - -The king gazed on her, and she returned his glance fearlessly. Her -beauty seemed doubled in that shimmering torchlight, her presence seemed -self-illumined, glorious. For an instant, before the eyes of Belshazzar’s -mind there passed a vision of peace; he saw himself like the great -Nebuchadnezzar, fighting as he must, but glorying in peace and not in -war. He saw his kingdom prosperous and glad, and Atossa beside him on -the throne, his counsellor and guide in all fair enterprise. And on the -monuments in the after days, men should grave these words, “In the reign -of Belshazzar the land was blessed; no war raged; no mouth lacked corn.” -Fair vision! And this was truly the moment of choice—to dismiss Darius or -to imprison; should he thrust this vision by? But at that instant some -demon or god put speech in the mouth of Avil-Marduk. - -“Verily by Bel himself,” and the pontiff gave a low and mocking laugh, -“the Lady Atossa will almost persuade his Majesty to burn his war -chariots and set his sword-hands to digging ditches!” - -One laugh; did Avil know that the fate of the “Beauty of the Chaldees” -hung on that single breath? But Belshazzar spoke now, the spell of -Atossa all broken: “Surely as Samas and Sin bear rule in the heavens, so -surely have I chosen. I know the path. And who shall teach another way to -_me_?” - -He made a menacing gesture in Atossa’s face. She never quailed. - -“You have indeed chosen,” said she, in icy tone; “hereafter there is -war: betwixt darkness and light, _dæva_ and angel, Angra-Mainyu and -Ahura-Mazda, implacable, truceless,—till the abasing of the ‘Lie’!” - -Belshazzar motioned impatiently to the soldiers. “Let the prince be taken -to his chambers as commanded, and let the Lady Atossa go below to her -eunuchs.” - -The two Persians sped one glance upon each other—but neither spoke -farewell. - - - - -[Illustration: DANIEL DELIVERS A MESSAGE] - -CHAPTER XV - - -Isaiah the Jew, whose arrest had been urgently commanded by the king, -continued to defy all the zeal of the royal officers. Truth to tell, that -was not great. More than one captain of the “Street Wardens” had been -beholden to Daniel or his late colleague, Shadrach, for one service or -another, and were loath to bring the young Hebrew within Khatin’s gentle -mercies. Likewise, not a Jew in Babylon, barring a few recreants, would -have betrayed the youth, who passed amongst them as a veritable prophet -of Jehovah, hardly less inspired than Daniel himself. When a new levy -of forced labour was proclaimed, and scarce a Hebrew but had to choose -betwixt toilsome days in a broiling sun and the offering of a little -corn to Marduk, Isaiah had gone up and down by night among their little -cottages along the Street of Kisch, exhorting, warning, encouraging. -“Endure a little longer,” was his message, “a few more trials to prove -their devotion, and God would recall them to His mercy.” - -Such was the burden of Isaiah, and to Avil-Marduk’s discomfiture scarcely -a Hebrew chose apostasy, though the “whip-masters” had been ordered -to be trebly harsh. The pontiff gnashed his teeth and swore by all the -Anunnaki that he would yet break this Jewish stubbornness. - -“Arrest Isaiah, living or dead,” fulmined the mandate again from the -palace, but the royal thunders spent themselves in noise. Isaiah had -found a safe refuge, the house of Dagan-Milki, a Babylonish schoolmaster, -and confessedly one of the most devoted servants of the gods in Babylon. -Once upon a day Isaiah had saved the goodman’s only son from the -Euphrates, and now Dagan repaid the debt of gratitude. He conducted a -little day school by the Borsippa Canal, where fifty boys and girls -buzzed from morning till night, learning their lists of syllables, and -the “Book of Fables” and the “Book of Countries and Rivers”; for there -were few parents in Babylon that let even a daughter grow up so ignorant -that she could not sign a letter, and had to content herself with her -“nail-mark.” Dagan announced that his scholars had grown so numerous that -he needed an assistant, to aid him to correct their tablets. The young -man he took into his family seldom showed himself to the pupils; if he -had, who would have thought of connecting him with the fugitive Hebrew? -Dagan was such a pious man! But a terrible day came to Isaiah when a -secret messenger of Imbi-Ilu contrived to search him out, and he heard -the story of the abduction of Ruth. Imbi had done what he could, but to -have pushed the inquiries about her far would have brought the case to -the ears of the king, and that were sheerest madness. Friendly eunuchs -reported that no such maid as the Jewess had been introduced into the -royal harem. Neither Isaiah nor Imbi knew what to hope or to fear. Isaiah -said little of his grief, but he went about with a face seven years older -than his wont; and Dagan-Milki, worthy soul, was troubled for him and had -wordy comfort. - -“Surely, the daughter of Daniel cannot be dead?” - -“Would God I knew she had perished, spotless and unsullied; I could then -have peace! But into the hands of what human ‘Maskim’ may she not have -fallen!” was the bitter answer. - -“But be not reckless in exposing yourself,” urged Dagan; “you will not -save her by stalking about the streets so boldly. The last time you went -to search for her, in the warehouses in the lower city by the temple of -Samas, I trembled for your head. The stoutest wine-jar cracks at last, -if carried too often. Daniel’s plight is miserable, but yours would be -worse, if Avil-Marduk once puts the gyves on your wrists. No _Tartan_ or -vizier will interpose himself betwixt you and Khatin.” - -“I am in the Lord God’s keeping,” retorted the young Jew, with a swelling -voice; “it is all one whether I live or perish!” - -Dagan stifled a cynical sniffle. He did not love Jehovah more than any -other Babylonian, but he did not wish to offend his guest. - -“My dear Hebrew,” he suggested, “at least put by your prejudices enough -to accept the aid the gods will send you. Consult a necromancer. I know -Kwabta, a ‘wise woman’ by the temple of Nergal, who keeps a familiar -spirit. She can reveal everything that has befallen your unfortunate -betrothed.” - -“Dagan,” warned Isaiah, sternly, “speak not of this again, if you would -be my friend. Sooner shall the king slay me with tortures than I wilfully -break the ordinance of my God.” - -Dagan said no more. Nevertheless, he went himself privately to the witch, -paid her half a shekel, and stated the facts of the case, concealing only -the Jewess’s name. Kwabta left him in an outer room, bidding him cover -his head and mutter certain powerful spells, while in an inner chamber -she conferred with her demon. She came back, reporting that the question -was a difficult one, but that in ten days Dagan should have a dream, -which she could interpret for a second half-shekel, and this dream would -reveal all he desired to know. The schoolmaster accordingly had few hopes -to bring back to Isaiah, whose mood grew blacker than ever. Another day -passed, and Dagan saw that the young Hebrew was unwontedly preoccupied. - -“I have been to Borsippa,” he explained at length, “and talked with -Imbi-Ilu. Daniel’s life is in grievous danger. Avil-Marduk is preparing -to demand his execution on the day of the feast of Bel, and the king -will only rejoice to comply. Nevertheless, Daniel shall be saved.” - -“From the power of the king himself?” quoth Dagan, pricking up his ears. - -“From Belshazzar’s own power,” assented the Jew, “but the manner is hid. -I have another task, however, to-night. I must see Daniel himself. He has -asked to see me.” - -“Daniel himself? Daniel in prison? Are you mad?” almost shrieked the -schoolmaster. - -“I was never in sounder mind. Zerubbabel, my friend who brought the -message, keeps the prison watch to-night. The eyes of the other warders -can be closed with a little silver.” - -Dagan argued and besought in vain. Away went Isaiah soon after nightfall, -and Jehovah, or some other power who loves the bold, protected him. He -had his hour alone with Daniel. - -The dungeon of the palace prison was fetid, the straw damp, the only -light that of a single shivering candle. At sight of his friend and all -but father in chains and amid these squalid surroundings, the younger Jew -burst into tears. - -“Alas! my father,” was his cry, while he knelt for Daniel’s blessing, -“what is this I see? What does the Lord God suffer? He who has served Him -beyond all others, whose life has been naught but holiness, in the state -of the vilest felon!” - -“Peace!” commanded the old man, never more calm and majestic than -now; “what is there to fear? Did God simply go with me when I was -‘civil-minister’ of Babylon, and cannot His goodness follow within this -prison?” - -“Ah! father,” protested Isaiah, “I do not doubt God’s power, yet how can -I trust His mercy? First you, then Ruth, the guileless of the guileless, -have been brought to bitter grief,—and lo! the wicked wax fat and -prosper!” - -“I know it well,” answered Daniel, his voice unfaltering; “but all is -not yet ended. I have heard of the abduction of Ruth, of the malice of -Belshazzar and Avil-Marduk against me; yet neither for myself nor for her -have I any fear.” - -“Would God you could teach me your own trust!” - -The old Jew smiled gently. “You are yet young, and I an ancient river, -close upon the sea. The wisdom that you ask is not written in all the -books of Imbi-Ilu at Borsippa, nor can a treasure-house of silver buy. -But as you fare onward with obedient will and open mind, you shall yet -see the vision, and shall hear the message from on high, and know that -all is well. The Chaldee’s power passes not beyond the grave, and there -are no griefs in Abraham’s bosom.” - -Isaiah lifted his head, and shook the unmanly tears from his eyes. - -“I have put by my faintness,” spake he, as if in anger with himself; “who -am I to stand as prophet to our people, when my own faith in God grows -pale? You have sent for me, my father, on some weighty errand, for I know -you never summon me to needless peril. Declare; I am all obedience.” - -Daniel spoke with bated breath. “Dearest son, Jehovah is speaking again -to me in visions, as in the former time. Again His command has come upon -me, and with a message which your mouth must give.” - -“I am unworthy to be the mouthpiece of God Most High.” - -Daniel smiled again. “Who of living men is worthy? But be confident and -strong; fear nothing, and He will lead you out of all perils. Is the -Persian Darius still in prison?” - -“Closely guarded, and they watch all persons that pass out of Babylon, -lest they be secret bearers of news to Cyrus. But there is a report—” - -“Of what?” asked Daniel, as eagerly as ever was his wont. - -“That Ariathes, the favourite servant of Darius, was not arrested with -the other Persians of the prince’s suite, and there is a chance that he -has fled to Susa, bearing tidings of the outrage done the envoy.” - -“Jehovah’s name be blessed, your task is made easy!” - -“_My_ task,” cried Isaiah. - -“Yours,” again Daniel’s voice sank low. “This is what is commanded you of -God: On the day of the feast of Bel cast all fear from you. Trust in the -guardianship of Jehovah. During the festival the customary watch will be -relaxed. You know the great tunnel beneath the Euphrates, from the palace -to the Eastern City?” - -“I have been through it twice. It is treading amongst the dead to -traverse it, but I do not fear.” - -“By means of it you can pass unnoticed to the very temple of Marduk. -Take your stand upon the terrace of the _ziggurat_, before all the -thousands when they approach with the ark of the idol. Cry aloud against -Belshazzar, against Avil-Marduk, against the sinful city and its evil -gods. For Jehovah commands that they shall not be cut off unwarned. Bid -them repent, and to cease the persecution of the Lord God’s people. -Nevertheless they will not hear, for they are to be cut short in their -sins. But though they rage against you, they shall not harm you. You -shall escape. You shall go to Susa, and stand before Cyrus the righteous -king, and give him the mandate of Jehovah, for God has summoned him to -bring low this Babylon. The words which you shall speak to him, God will -put in your mouth in due season; for He has chosen you out of all the -sons of Judah for this high honour—the freeing of His people.” - -“My father! my father!” again Isaiah fell upon his knees, “who of all am -I to do this deed? Again I cry, ‘unworthy.’” - -“And again I say to you, not righteousness, but obedience, is demanded. -Go forward with all boldness.” - -“Hist!” warned Isaiah, “Zerubbabel approaches to warn us that we must -part. When shall I see you again?” - -“In His own good time,” answered the old man, sweetly; then he laid his -fettered hand on Isaiah’s head, “the God of our fathers keep you, my son, -in His service, and teach you that nothing truly evil may befall.” - -The door opened. “The guard changes,” announced Zerubbabel; “away, -quickly, or all is danger.” - -Isaiah embraced the prisoner once, and followed the friendly guardsman -out of the palace precinct. Then he wended his way alone back to the -house of Dagan-Milki, through the silent streets of the capital. - - * * * * * - -At the schoolmaster’s door the good man himself confronted Isaiah with a -beaming face and a voice that trembled with agitation. - -“Glory, glory to every god! Praised be Nabu and Nergal! Compose yourself, -my dear Isaiah, be collected; do not grow excited; bless your god with -calmness—” but here the exhortations ended in a new shout of “Praised be -the name of Bel-Marduk!” and Isaiah stared at Dagan, wondering if his -kind host had been blighted in his wits. - -“I would fain rejoice!” remonstrated he, coldly, for in his heart he was -telling himself that he must have no other joy now save the labour for -his people. - -Dagan almost dragged him across the threshold, and led through the -courtyard of the little house. - -“Rejoice!” he was commanding, almost angrily, “rejoice! Do you not wish -to be glad?” tugging Isaiah behind him, as he strode feverishly forward. - -“Now, as Jehovah liveth!” protested the Jew, beginning to wax furious in -turn, “shall I make merry against my will? Wherefore this cry, ‘rejoice,’ -save for one dear thing the good God will not grant?” - -“And will He not grant it?” fumed the schoolmaster, forcing on his -unwilling companion. But while he spoke he felt Isaiah totter on his -feet. By the light of the copper lamp he carried, Dagan saw the Jew’s -face turn very pale. - -“Friend,” Isaiah spoke hoarsely, “do not mock me if you wish to live.” - -“By Ramman!” swore the Babylonian, not a little fearful, “I think you -are in earnest.” He pushed in the door of a little sleeping chamber, and -waved the lamp, sending a wan flicker around, that now hid, now revealed, -all the room. - -“Behold!” - -Dagan pointed downward, where a mattress was spread upon the floor and on -it the form of one sleeping. And as they looked, there was a rustle upon -the pallet, two little hands unclasped across the breast, while Dagan saw -that again the Hebrew was trembling. - -“Dagan,” commanded Isaiah, still hoarsely, “set the light upon the floor -and get you hence.” Which injunction, the schoolmaster, being a wise as -well as a kindly man, hastened to obey. - - * * * * * - -“Shaphat,” said Isaiah, later that same night, in another chamber of the -house, “tell me the story of your flight with the Lady Ruth, for I would -not suffer her to speak long, but bade her go back to rest.” - -Whereupon a young man, who had been dozing in a dark corner, shuffled to -his feet; but he would not look Isaiah in the eye. - -“Ah, lord,” stammered the fellow, “who I am to tell my master,—I on -whose head rests untold guilt? Who will believe, though I swear by every -god? Even these Babylonians, if they know me, will cry ‘bricks for the -perjurer,’ and will pelt me in their streets.” - -“And well you say,” muttered Dagan, who stood by,—“the servant who robbed -so kind a lord as Daniel, then conspired with that viper Gudea to work -his death. By Marduk!” and he turned to Isaiah, “I will not trust him; -no, not till cockcrow! If he has saved the Lady Ruth, it is but to serve -some dark and hidden end. He knows your secret. Let him never quit this -house alive!” - -The renegado cowered at Isaiah’s feet. “Woe!” he groaned, “I am undone -utterly; accursed on earth, and accursed in heaven! If such is the wrath -of man, what is not God and His just and holy anger?” - -But Isaiah deliberately stooped and raised the wretched man by the hand. -“Peace, Dagan,” he commanded, and then he looked sadly but calmly upon -the apostate. “Shaphat,” his voice was very gentle, “I have but just -stood beside Daniel, the most righteous man in all Babylon. He is in -chains in a noisome dungeon. If God suffers him to undergo this, what -punishment is left for such as you to endure, were we all rewarded after -our ill-doings? But were He to remember all the foul deeds in even the -most righteous, who of us shall stand? Rise up, and speak with boldness. -You are rewarded, not of man, but of God. _I_ will hear and believe your -story.” - -“Master,” cried the penitent, the big drops on his cheeks, “your words -are precious beyond seven talents of gold. Yet have I not sinned beyond -the Lord God’s mercy?” - -“You have not if by your future deeds you atone as in you lies. And now I -am hearkening.” - -Whereupon, with many groans and protests of sorrow, Shaphat told how, -after the trial, and his almost forced exposure of Gudea’s infamy, he -had rushed away and hid himself in the vilest quarters of the city, -amongst the bargemen and sailors. Often he meditated slaying himself, -but the fear of the angry Jehovah passed his fear even of his stinging -conscience. Daniel lay in his prison, and Shaphat knew that up to the -last moment he had been consenting to the “civil-minister’s” misfortune. -His own scanty means were soon ended. Avil-Marduk was his enemy, and -desired his arrest. As a last recourse, Shaphat hired himself to a band -of nondescript Arab caravan merchants, who were about to set forth for -Egypt. Perchance, he vainly argued, he would find that the goad of memory -might not follow to the strange Nile country, and he could commence life -there afresh. But on the day after setting forth, while the caravan -halted in a village, lo! after the manner already told, the Amorite -bandit came with his three captives, nor was Shaphat long in recognizing. - -And then began his new agony. Well he knew that Ruth was all Binit -protested,—worth her weight in silver to any who might deliver her to the -king. And first he resolved to tell his employers that Binit’s ragings -were indeed truth, and they had great prize. But the serpent of guile -brought him yet darker thoughts. Why should he not flee away with the -Jewess herself, deliver her to Belshazzar, claim the royal reward, and -drown his remorse in the delights of riches? It was with this thought -uppermost that he suffered himself to drift into new falsehoods when -the leader of the caravan questioned him as to their youngest captive. -All that day he adhered to his black purpose, and the delays which -prevented the advance of the caravan were largely of his contriving. In -the evening, as soon as the camp grew still, he filched a bag of money -from an Arab and prepared to make off. The flight was not difficult. -Ruth obeyed him implicitly when he promised he would conduct her back to -safety. They wandered onward toward the city until the Jewess’s feet were -so weary she could trudge no more, and she slumbered out the remainder of -the night in a farmer’s stack, while Shaphat remained on guard to beat -off the wild dogs and jackals. In the morning he contrived to purchase -some millet bread in a village, and they plodded southward. - -“But now,” continued Shaphat, while his voice once more was near to -breaking, “I found all the demons of the Chaldees rising up within me; -for it seemed impossible that I should refuse life riches, and yet a -voice spoke ever goading, warning, torturing, ‘Better a life of beggary -and rags, than do this deed which will cry out to God.’ But then I -answered myself, saying: ‘God is already angered past all atoning. He -can never forgive. Let me make joy to-day, for to-morrow is only endless -gloom.’ And so I continued debating long and bitterly, while we measured -the long road. But when we drew near to Babylon, the Lady Ruth spoke to -me, after her gentle way, ‘Good Shaphat, what are you fearing, and why -does your face become so sad?’ Whereupon I answered her: ‘You know I have -promised to deliver you to some friend who will keep you safely. Do you -put trust in me, seeing that I have done great wrong to my lord, your -father?’ And she looked up at me, and said, in her innocency, little -knowing all the evil that was passing in my breast, ‘You have truly -done great ill, and on this account I will put trust in you yet more, -for I know you will not wish to anger the good Lord God for yet a second -time.’—‘Alas!’ cried I, ‘have I not so angered Him that I can never be -forgiven, though I had all the riches of the Egibi bankers, and spent -them in alms-deeds on the poor?’ But she said, and her voice was like -a cool hand laid upon my brow, ‘And wherefore should the good God not -forgive? for I know that I, since I see you truly sorry, have forgiven, -and so, surely, has my father; and have we more of pity than Jehovah the -All-Merciful?’ Then,” but here the apostate must needs stop and weep -hot tears indeed, “as I looked down upon her, and saw how fair she was, -how her face was pure as a summer’s cloud, and her heart guileless as a -bursting flower, and when I told myself how selling her to Belshazzar -would be selling her to worse than death, I said within my soul, ‘I -cannot do this evil deed in sight of God; no, though I die this hour, and -descend to Sheol forever, I shall yet have this to comfort me, that I am -free from this great sin.’ For I felt as if ten thousand talents from the -king would turn to fire in my hands. All the rest of the way to Babylon -the fiends pressed close to tempt me, but they had lost their power. I -fought them all away. I scarce knew where to take the Lady Ruth, but I -remembered that Dagan-Milki was your friend, and unsuspected among the -Babylonians. I little thought to place her in your keeping. When I gave -her to Dagan, for a moment my soul had peace. Nevertheless, when I saw -how even he, a Chaldee, turned the back on me, and I thought on my great -sins, my sorrows all returned, and I have been fearfully tormented. But -as Jehovah is my judge, I have told all truly.” - -He was weeping once more, but Isaiah stepped beside him, and took him by -the hand. - -“The Lady Ruth is right,” he said simply; “God is more merciful than man. -You are forgiven in His pure sight. I believe all your story.” - -“Blessings upon you for the word!” cried the penitent; “you make me your -slave forever. How may I serve you, even unto death?” - -But Isaiah only smiled. “Fear not that through me God will not find you -ample chance for service. But the present duty is rest. Sleep to-night, -and wait His commands for the morrow.” - - - - -[Illustration: THE PROCESSION OF BEL] - -CHAPTER XVI - - -Upon Ai-Bur-Shabou Street, not far from the Northern Gate, called the -Gate of Ilu, stood the barber’s shop of Mulis-Assur. A shop, we say, -though in truth it was only an open booth, thrust in betwixt two houses, -and its sole furnishings were two low stools, a reed carpet, a little -chest for the razors and silvered mirrors, and a brass brazier, over -which at this moment curling irons were heating above the smouldering -charcoal. Mulis-Assur was neither the first nor the last of his kind -whose principal staple of sale was gossip. At this moment, as the worthy -man stood patting the lump of melted butter upon the black locks of -Gabarruru, the corn merchant, who occupied one stool, his head was turned -to reply to Itti-Marduk, the banker, who was lolling on the other stool. -It was a great festival day—the day of the procession of the patron god -of Babylon, of the “going forth of Bel-Marduk,” and for once the broker -had forgotten his jars of account books. - -“Well,” Mulis was declaring, while he lifted the irons from the brazier, -“I am the last to chatter treason, but may the gods ward off from his -Majesty the consequences of listening to that frog Gudea’s croakings, and -casting the civil-minister into prison! Not one man can say a fair word -for the deed.” - -“The more particularly,” thrust in the merchant, “because Gudea himself -has died the death not long since. I saw the crows around his skull the -last time I passed under the gate. Jew or Chaldee, no man ought to suffer -bonds on such evidence. The minister is no more guilty of slaying by -sorcery than you or I. A trick of Avil-Marduk, I say; there is too much -priestcraft loose in Babylon. My head already sits overlightly on its -shoulders.” - -“Peace!” conjured Itti, “never will I, a loyal and pious citizen, suffer -such treason to be prated against my betters!” - -“No alarm,” answered Gabarruru, feeling that perhaps he had gone too far, -“we are all loyal and obedient men. Daniel, at least, has been saved for -the present by the queen-mother.” - -“The queen-mother saved the Jew for the moment,” replied the barber, -“but I think his neck will last through to-day, and no longer. You know -the custom. When the ship of Bel reaches the foot of the _ziggurat_, the -chief priest can demand of the king one boon, and the king cannot refuse -it. You may imagine what that boon will be.” - -“The life of Daniel?” - -“Nothing else, by Marduk! But I imagine there is likely to be another -part to the tale. Imbi-Ilu, the chief priest of Nabu, is Daniel’s good -friend. Mark my words, the priests of Nabu and of Samas and Nergal of -Kisch hate Avil, and his designs to make all their temples subordinate to -his own, more than they do the harmless Jehovah worship of the minister. -I look for a spark on the firewood in Babylon, and strange sights this -very day.” - -“Ramman protect us!” muttered the banker, uneasily. “I have put down -fresh loans only last night. I shall lose all.” - -“Yes,” continued Mulis, who was happiest when peddling bad news that did -not touch himself, “we must prepare for grievous times. Now that the -king has clapped the Persian envoy in durance, and keeps him prisoner in -his chambers at the palace, I think we may see a war the like of which -was not since the brave days of Nebuchadnezzar. Ea, the God of Wisdom, -alone knows what it was that befell during the royal hunt. Forth goes his -Majesty and Darius, boon companions as Gilgamesh and Eabani; they come -back eying each other like two cocks in the farmer’s yard. The next thing -we hear, the Persian is a state prisoner. Woe, what wretched times!” - -A groan cut the barber short, for a hot curling iron had tingled on -Gabarruru’s neck. - -“Nergal blast you, chattering sparrow!” was his curse. “Must I be roasted -like a stalled ox every time I seek your shop?” - -“Mercy, gentle sir,” soothed Mulis; “I was but saying to the noble Itti, -that the evil omens which have plagued the city of late, seem too nigh -fulfilment. Piety declines, the gods are neglected—” - -“Small loss!” growled the corn merchant, who was a very impious man; “the -gods are of little use. They may be all-wise, and know each secret we -would give everything to learn, but they are most inconveniently silent -when they might serve us. My brother spent half his estate on priests and -exorcists; much favour heaven gave him—he died childless and poor! While -I, who have not given one of Avil’s cattle two shekels in ten years, wax -prosperous and fat!” - -“Hush,” exhorted Itti, horrified, “do not blaspheme before me! Doubtless -heaven will, with one clap, smite you down for your wickedness—” - -A second touch of the iron and renewed curses interrupted the broker. -And before the conversation resumed, into the shop came Hasba, the -tall, gaunt priest of Nabu, his costume very threadbare, and his eyes -glittering as if with ill-concealed excitement. - -“Well, Hasba,” cried Mulis, pausing in his curling for the twentieth -time, “you are in a strange robe for a festival day. Is Nabu so poor a -god he can give his priests nothing better?” - -“Nabu is very poor and hungry—to-day,” responded Hasba, with a -significant cough, which made Itti look at him very hard. - -“But not yesterday or to-morrow?” pressed Mulis, pricking his ears. - -“Quietly.” Hasba’s voice sank very low. “You are all good friends, and -will leak nothing. See!” He showed a short sword girded under his mantle. - -“Istar help us!” cried the broker. “What will happen?” - -“Patience, worthy Itti. Avil-Marduk is likely to learn strange things -before nightfall. We have sworn loyalty to Belshazzar, but not to Avil. -His Majesty loves the priest of Bel-Marduk too well. Why is Daniel in the -palace prison? Not because he ‘kills by sorcery,’ as that scorpion Gudea -charged, nor because he is a Jew. He stands betwixt Avil and his design -to make Belshazzar his tool, to make all the priesthoods of Babylon -slaves of Bel-Marduk. Imbi-Ilu is not a man to see the deed done in -silence. To-day we of Nabu appear in tattered mantles that the people may -see how the king is starving us. And as for Avil, if he seeks Daniel’s -life, let both him and the king beware!” - -“Ramman protect us!” muttered Itti again. “When was ever such strife in -Babylon?” - -“A strange case that of Daniel’s,” commented Mulis. “I hear that the king -was very desirous of laying his hands on his would-be son-in-law Isaiah, -who was so loud in denouncing the gods, and more than desirous of getting -the minister’s daughter (the maid was called Ruth) for his own harem. Yet -both have escaped him, though their arrest was ordered.” - -“Vanished utterly,” replied the priest, gathering his robe tightly, to -guard against an unfriendly eye upon the sword; but his tone and wink -made the others stare at him, then exchange knowing glances. - -“As for the young Jew,” continued Hasba, with the air of a person -who knows far more than he is likely to tell, “he is a man of great -resources, and knows the city as a bird the way to its nest. All the Jews -reverence him as a prophet of their Jehovah, and protect him when they -can. My own master, Imbi-Ilu, esteems him highly, notwithstanding his -absurd devotion to his native god. But the Jewess,” Hasba’s lips curled -in a very bitter smile, “she is safe also, and Nabu grant shall remain so -long, for the man who prompted his Majesty to try to take her by force -from our temple is devoted to the ‘Maskim’ if the gods keep any power to -punish sacrilege. Better worship a thousand Jehovahs, than do one deed -like that.” - -“You of Borsippa do not hate this Jewish god so very fiercely?” remarked -Mulis, shrewdly. - -“He is a harmless demon. We of the temple of Nabu only know this,—that we -have no hate to squander on any, saving Avil-Marduk and his underlings.” - -“Be that as it may,” was Mulis’s answer, “Isaiah and the maid have been -in marvellously safe hiding. The king threatens Mermaza’s head if she is -not found.” - -“Then may the chief eunuch’s pate topple off quickly!” swore Hasba. -“Next to Avil we love him the least.” - -Gabarruru’s tortures were at an end at last, but just as he was about -to quit the barber’s shop, the sudden rush of people to the street from -all the adjoining alleys, and the din of distant horns and kettle-drums, -told that the long-waited procession was at hand. Hasba excused himself -and was off, leaving the others to meditate on his warnings and await -the issue in what peace they might. The clangour of cymbals grew louder -continually. The street was becoming one sea of heads. By standing on the -little raised platform of the barber’s shop, it was possible to gain a -fair view up the avenue, where one could see standards tossing, and the -shimmer of steel. - -“Way! way!” rang the familiar cry at length, and a squad of scarlet-robed -wand-bearers began forcing the people backward toward the house walls. -After this advance corps streamed the priestesses of Istar, tall, comely -women, their heads and necks wreathed with flowers, their dresses -of tinted Egyptian gauze floating around them in bright clouds, the -transparent web falling in folds none the most prudish. The older -priestesses walked in well-drilled files, bearing gay banners, and -keeping up an incessant clatter upon their tambourines; but their younger -sisters would break ranks, time and again, and whirl in voluptuous -dances, joining hands, shaking out their streaming black locks, tearing -off their coronals to cast amid the admiring crowd, or even when they -saw a handsome youth, would pluck him from the multitude by sheer force, -and whirl him with them; then, at a change in the music, all released -their captives, and marched demurely until the spirits moved them to new -madness. - -So the “Maids of the Grove,” to the number of many hundreds, passed. But -when the soldiers of the palace guard followed, each in his gayest mantle -and brightest helmet, Mulis whispered in the banker’s ear:— - -“A costly blunder, unless there is no fire under much smoke. Look at the -guard!” - -“What is amiss?” demanded Itti, rubbing his eyes. - -“The troops have neither shields nor spears with them, only their parade -arms, sword, and helmet. His Majesty may have cause to rue this blunder.” - -“Ramman protect us!” implored Itti yet another time. But now fifty -squeaking pipers headed the files of the priests of Samas from the -southern city, a notable array of handsome men, white robes, and nodding -banners. After them marched their brethren of Sin, the moon-god; then -those of Nergal from the Kisch suburb; then the priestesses of Nana, -consort of Nabu. - -Suddenly a great shout began running down the street in advance of the -next contingent. - -“Hail, Nabu! Hail, son of Marduk! Hail, Imbi-Ilu, holy priest of the -god!” - -“Nabu, they say, is the son of Marduk,” commented Gabarruru, dryly. “He -bears dutiful love for his parent, if what Hasba says is true.” - -“Do not blaspheme him,” implored the broker; “he is a great god, the -peer of Marduk almost. The son has the place of honour in the father’s -procession. Pity the two must quarrel.” - -“Bow down! The knee! The knee!” rang the shout, and the multitude (all -that had room) knelt on the stone pavement, while from a distance sounded -a mighty rumbling as of clumsy wheels. Soon there lumbered into view -an enormous wain, dragged by long cables like those for a stone bull, -but no sullen labour gang was tugging now. Many leaped from their knees -and contended with the priests who were toiling at the ropes, for the -honour of drawing the god. Upon the wain rode Nabu’s “Ship of the Deep,” -a goodly-sized galley, fitted with a towering mast and tackle. Upon her -decks swarmed a score of priests in lieu of crew, and perched upon the -upcurved stern was the idol of the god, a block of black stone, human -size, but with features of such ugliness that the very fiends beholding -might well have trembled. Yet at sight of that image even Gabarruru bowed -his head, for it had been the guardian genius of Babylon and Borsippa for -more generations than the wisest could tell. - -Yet a great wail of wrath and disappointment seemed rising from the -people. “Nabu’s priests are threadbare! Where are their robes of honour? -Where are the jewels once on the gunwales of the ship? Where are the -golden dresses of the image?” The three in the barber’s shop rubbed their -eyes. In the crowd they saw Hasba and others, doubtless fellow-priests, -bustling about, whispering in the ear of this burgher and of that. - -Imbi-Ilu, second pontiff of the realm, the friend of Daniel and the -arch-foe of Avil, stood handsome and erect beside the image of his god; -but there was no tiara on his head, his robe was torn and sombre. - -“Marduk is robbing Nabu!” some bold spirit in the crowd was shouting. -“The priests of Bel-Marduk grow fat; those of Nabu starve! Down with -Avil!” - -But the servants of the Borsippa god marched on in silence, each man -smiling grimly when he saw how their pitiful display was working on the -crowd, and pressing his mantle around his hidden sword. And there were -other cries at times:— - -“Release Daniel! Release the good minister! Release! Down with Avil!” - -“Evil times!” muttered Itti. “While Nabonidus was king the processions -were suspended; now they become mere occasion for tumult.” - -“Well,” protested the cheerful barber, “here comes his Majesty and the -car of Bel-Marduk. We shall soon see now.” - -A new corps of musicians, new guards. A second boat creaked past on its -many wheels. High above the noise of the crowd sounded the hymn chanted -by the choir of chosen priests and priestesses in praise of Bel-Marduk, -smiter of the great dragon. - - “Look favourably upon thy dwelling-place, - Look favourably upon thy city, O Lord of quietness! - May Babylon salute thee, and thy temple, - May the city find safety under thee!” - -After this choir moved the car, and, unlike Nabu’s, it was a single blaze -of colour. The four snow-white “sacred horses” who aided to drag the -ship tossed their bridles of silver chains, and champed on bits of pure -gold. The sail and pennons were covered with the rarest embroideries, -the gunwale glittered with precious stones—agate, onyx, lapis-lazuli. -The idol on the stern wore a robe that was one sheen of golden lace. But -Belshazzar the king, who sat under his purple umbrella upon the prow, -scowled at Avil, his prime counsellor, who stood beside him. - -“The people give thrice as many cheers for Nabu as for Bel. The gods -reward me if I do not make Imbi-Ilu pay the price for his mummery! -To appear with his priests in tatters, and his car all stripped of -decoration, at the moment when the procession was about to start! He knew -well I would never have suffered his company to march, had it not meant a -riot to leave behind the car of Nabu!” - -Avil deliberately cast his eyes down over the swelling crowd, and -readjusted the horn-set tiara that crowned his head. - -“The more reason for striking down Daniel, my king. His fate will be a -mighty warning to Imbi-Ilu.” - -“Once you advised me to move gently with him, yet you are bold now.” - -“True; but I have set my feet on the path, and see no danger to-day.” - -“Release Daniel! Release! Release! Down with Avil!” broke in the bolder -spirits in the crowd, as if to give the lie to the hardy pontiff. - -Avil spat at them in contempt. “Stingless drones!” commented he. “They -will forget the Jew by another Sabbath.”[5] - -“I am led in all things by you,” replied Belshazzar, in a tone that -showed he nigh felt himself overpersuaded. Avil only salaamed, and turned -to pay his respects to the Princess Atossa, whose chair was upon the -prow, close beside that of her royal lord. - -“My princess sees a sight that must be rare in her native Persia,” began -he, blandly. “If my information does not fail, the worship of the Persian -Ahura and his archangels does not demand such elaborate processions as -these.” - -Atossa turned upon him haughtily, and from under her veil shot through -him a glance such as can dart only from the eyes of a great king’s -daughter. - -“Assuredly, worthy priest,” and Avil winced before her disdainful -patronage, “it is true our prophet Zarathushtra[6] enjoins no -processions where the populace heap personal revilings on the chief of -our Magian pontiffs.” - -“Down with Avil! Release Daniel! Nabu is outraged!” buzzed from the crowd. - -“Ah, my princess,” said Avil, smiling, “the king is overkindly disposed. -Could I persuade him, these seditious fellows would soon shout otherwise.” - -“His Majesty is too kindly disposed?” replied she, removing her veil that -Avil might see the unconcealed sneer on her lips. - -“His heart is a mountain of compassion,” asserted the priest, who felt -that he was being made sorry sport of, yet would not retire from the -encounter. - -“But not so merciful as my Lord Avil,” interposed Mermaza, the oily chief -eunuch, glad to prod his comrade, “for his heart is one sponge soaked -with magnanimity.” - -“Marduk blast you, Mermaza!” muttered Avil under breath. - -“I trust not,” replied the smirking eunuch, “the excellent god, my dear -Avil, will need all his powers for weightier things to-day. Hear the -people—” - -“Avil conspires against Nabu! Rescue for the good minister! Release -Daniel!” - -To reënforce the shouts, a brick flung by some mad rascal in the crowd -dashed against the car. - -“Be persuaded, Avil,” urged Mermaza; “make no demand for Daniel’s life.” - -“Spare the Jew? Never will I yield a ‘finger breadth.’ Having gone thus -far, it is self-destruction to turn back.” - -“Nevertheless, I wish we had brought more soldiers from the palace.” - -Belshazzar was beckoning to the priest, and he turned away, whereupon -Atossa addressed Mermaza wearily:— - -“Is it far now to the temple of Marduk?” - -“Not far; yet why is my mistress so tired? The under eunuchs tell me she -did not sleep. The king’s Egyptian doctor must prepare a night draught.” - -“Alas! that can profit little when I consider that Prince Darius’s life -is in danger while he is a prisoner.” - -“Danger?” Mermaza’s smile was radiant as the moon. “Has not his Majesty -pledged that he is perfectly safe? His life is more precious than the -gems in the royal treasure chamber.” - -Atossa fixed her clear eyes straight upon the eunuch, and even he glanced -away from her uneasily. - -“Mermaza,” said she, very coldly, “I think it will be better for both of -us if we hide fewer black thoughts under smooth protestations. You know -as well as I that Darius is held as a hostage, to tie the hands of my -father in requiting Belshazzar for his dark intrigue.” - -“I am only your ladyship’s slave,” the eunuch bowed obsequiously. “Who -am I to say my mistress ‘nay’?” - -“And for once you speak well in very truth,” answered she, the hot colour -of anger rising at last; “for to a man I would bow as to one mightier -than I, and to a woman I would answer wrath with wrath. But to you, who -are neither man nor maid, but only creature, I will vouchsafe not one -curse; one does not bend the bow to slaughter gnats!” - -Mermaza’s smile had become sickly indeed; but she deliberately turned her -back upon him, and kept company with her own gloomy meditations. - -She had not seen Darius since that evening hour when they were surprised -in the Hanging Gardens. Report in the harem had it that the prince was -under close ward in his own chambers, and that all the Persians of his -suite had been arrested. All save one: Ariathes, the crafty and the -nimble, had passed from sight as completely as if he had never been born. -Was he escaped to Susa, and had the truth come to the mighty Cyrus’s -ears? It was a faint hope, but all that was left in the princess’s -despairing breast. The seizure of Darius, just at the instant when the -future seemed bursting fair before her, and escape so close at hand, -had almost blotted out the sun for Atossa. It had taken all her womanly -strength and royal pride to bear up in the presence of her oppressors. -Yet at that moment she had become possessed with one deep desire,—to see -that Babylonian mob rise and take vengeance on Avil-Marduk and his grim -master; and the howls of the multitude sounded sweeter in her ears than -all the harping. - - * * * * * - -The great _ziggurat_ at last! They had passed up the “Procession Street,” -the broad avenue that led past the temple of “Istar the Foe-smiter.” -There had been howls, ever increasing, from the multitude. Once the -soldiers had charged with drawn blades to clear the way for Bel-Marduk’s -car, but there had been no bloodshed. Avil, Mermaza, and their royal lord -breathed easier. Before them was rising “_E-Sagila_,” “The Lofty House,” -queen of the temple-towers of Babylon. The seven terraces of the great -cone were all decked with flowers and streaming banners, the parapets -of the different stages were swarming with the people, flowers were -festooned over every pinnacle and battlement. - -There it uprose against the azure, a vast mountain of brick, its lowest -terrace painted white, the second black, the third purple, the fourth -blue, the fifth vermilion, the sixth plated with silver, the seventh—the -day-beacon first hailed by the Persians—was glittering with its sheen -of gold. The bull-guarded gates had opened wide for the ship of Marduk. -Inside the vast courtyard at the foot of the tower had arrayed themselves -all the priests and soldiery that had preceded the car of the god. -All but those from Borsippa stood on the left of the gateway; but the -servants of Nabu, with their ship, were arrayed silent and sombre on the -right. Imbi-Ilu’s company thus kept an ominous peace, but there was no -lack of cheering for Bel-Marduk now. Even the disaffected multitude that -had tried to attack the procession grew hushed and quiet when it passed -within the sacred gates. - -Loudly rose the well-drilled acclamations from the thousands of -gentlefolk and temple servants perched upon the heights of the terraces -above. - -“Hail, Marduk! Hail, Dragon-smiter! Hail, Belshazzar, beloved of the -gods! Hail, Avil, servant of the Guardian of Babylon!” There were more -cheers for Atossa, for the vizier, for the “commander of the host.” Then, -just as the ship of Bel-Marduk reached the foot of the great stairway -leading to the first stage of the tower, the corps of priests marching -before the god suddenly raised a shout that had not been heard before -that day:— - -“Death to the Jew! Death to Daniel the murderer! Death! Death!” - -Instantly the crowds of Avil’s underlings upon the tower caught up the -cry. But though the noise swelled to a deafening clamour, and all the -files of the soldiers joined, Atossa heard no priest of Samas or Sin or -Nergal open his lips. They were every man silent, like their fellows -from Borsippa. And the great multitude that had trailed into the gate -at the tail of the procession was silent also. Yet from Avil-Marduk’s -supporters, and from the throng of courtiers about the king, the outcry -continually increased. Belshazzar, she divined, must be able to say he -sacrificed Daniel to quell the general clamour. - -Louder, ever louder, “Death to Daniel! Death to the murderer! Extirpate -the Jews!” - -Atossa saw men with speaking trumpets stationed at advantageous points to -roar across the sea of heads, and make one voice pass for twenty. - -“Death to Daniel! Death to the civil-minister!” - -The heads of the sacred colleges of the temple, the chief -“libation-pourer,” the chief “demon-restrainer,” and their peers, had -come to lift the idol from its station in the car, and bear it to the -summit of the _ziggurat_; the king had descended from the ship to -follow them. Their feet were on the first stair, when across their path -stood Avil-Marduk, in his hand the long white staff of his office, and -obedient to his gesture the clamorous underlings and soldiers were silent -instantly. - -“Hearken, O Belshazzar, lord of Babylon and Akkad. On the day of the -great feast of Bel, when the image of Bel is borne to the crest of the -Lofty House, is it not the right of the god—a right, and not a boon—to -demand of the king of Babylon one thing whatsoever the god, even -Bel-Marduk, may desire?” - -It was so still that the thousands could hear Belshazzar’s answer:— - -“It is so, O Avil, mouthpiece of the ‘Lord of the Lofty House.’” - -“Therefore I, O Belshazzar, do demand, as a thing not to be denied, -the life of that enemy of the god, that guilty murderer, that impious -blasphemer—” - -But the high priest said no more. Every eye had turned, his own also. -Directly above him, at the head of the steps to the first terrace, had -stepped forth a young man, who beckoned to the people. And a hundred -whispered to their neighbours:— - -“Isaiah! Isaiah the Jew, who prophesies for his God, Jehovah!” - - - - -[Illustration: BEL TOTTERS] - -CHAPTER XVII - - -Isaiah was robed in spotless white. His station at the head of the broad -stairway to the lower terrace of the temple-tower raised him full thirty -cubits above the multitude. With the myriads packing the area below, the -glittering array of the procession at his feet, the shining crest of the -_ziggurat_ towering above, no marvel he was the one figure on which a -thousand eyes were fastened. And as they gazed on him, the crowds grew -still. Who was this that stayed the hands of Bel-Marduk’s own priest, -in the god’s own dwelling? Men felt their hearts beating loudly, their -breath was bated; and each passed to each the whisper, “Either the Jew is -mad, or the spirit of some mighty god possesses him. Let us listen.” - -The king was silent, Avil-Marduk was silent, and the chiefs of the sacred -colleges, the captains of the army. Only the spell of power passing -human—every heart was confessing—could make the high priest’s words die -on his lips, his eyes hang captive on the compelling power sped from the -eyes of the youthful Jew. - -In the profound silence Isaiah spoke. Clear and strong his words sounded -across the packed enclosure. - -“Woe, woe, woe unto Babylon! Unto the great city, the cry of whose sins -is gone up to heaven! Whose evil deeds are uncounted! Woe unto Babylon, -and woe to her base priests and baser king!” - -Was it not a god that dared to revile the lord of the Chaldees before his -face? The silence was not broken. Isaiah spoke again. - -“Woe unto Belshazzar and Avil-Marduk, who seek the blood of the innocent -for their own dark ends! Whose power is born of treachery and lies! Who -spare neither the hoary head, nor the guileless maid! Woe unto king and -priest and to all who walk after them!” - -Men saw Avil-Marduk turn away his gaze as from a sight of ill-omen. Those -near by heard him mutter to Sirusur, commander of the host:— - -“This is a madman! Pluck him down, and end his ravings!” - -But Sirusur only stood and stared dumbly, and Avil was impotent. - -“Hear ye, hear ye, men of Babylon!” thundered the prophet. “Hitherto the -spirit of Jehovah, the Lord God, has sent me to my own people. This day -His message is to you and to your sinful king. - -“Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon! There is -no throne left to you, O daughter of the Chaldees. No more shall you be -called tender and delicate; therefore take the millstones and grind the -meal in hard labour. Your vileness and shame shall be revealed; for I, -Jehovah, will take vengeance. I will bring the strong races that serve -me, and the king that worships me, against you. I will abase your pride. -Therefore sit you in silence, and get you into darkness, O daughter of -the Chaldees, for never again shall they declare you ‘Lady of Kingdoms’!” - -By this time the most hardened scoffer felt his knees beating together -in dread. The rumour of evil omens that had shaken the city of late, -the suppressed excitement of the morning, which all now expected to -end in a tumult, the sudden apparition of this Jew, whose arrest had -been diligently sought—what more was needed to spread a trembling among -the thousands? And when Isaiah paused, there came in answer many gasps -and cries: “No more! Woe, woe! Heaven is wroth with us, and with our -children!” But the Hebrew had not finished. - -“You have trusted in your strong walls, men of Chaldea; in Imgur-Bel, -in Nimitti-Bel; in the breadth of your rivers. You have filled your -granaries, you have numbered your chariots, you have gathered your -captains. But I say unto you, except you put away the oppression from -your midst, except your king spares the innocent, and turns back his -lust from the helpless, and makes end to the captivity of the people of -Jehovah—I, even the God of gods, will mock your rage; will bring low -your pride; will make a way for your enemies through the deep waters; -will go before them; will prevail with them, and give the empire unto -another who shall be my servant, who shall execute righteousness toward -my people, and judgment toward their oppressor. Thus, thus is the word of -Jehovah, before whom Marduk is less than dust, and Istar than hoarfrost -beneath the sun at the noonday.” - -Isaiah had ended. He swept his robe about him, and stood silent, -steadfast, neither advancing nor trying to flee away. Whence he had come, -Ea the Wise alone might tell. There was stillness one instant, till the -first magic of his spell had passed. Then, following the impulse already -strong in their hearts, and trebly strengthened by the Jew’s inspired -warning, most of the multitude broke into the howling cry:— - -“The gods are angry on account of Daniel! Spare Daniel! Spare! Spare!” - -The yell was the signal for the loosing of pandemonium. Instantly, with -a din redoubled by the strange interruption, the priests of Avil resumed -their opposing clamour. - -“Death to both Jews! Death! Death! Marduk is enraged! Away with Daniel!” - -The two shouts rose in one deafening babel. But in the midst of the din -the chief pontiff had made himself heard by the king, and a “ten” of -guardsmen sped up the stairs, seized Isaiah, who had waited them in -perfect passiveness, and hurried him down to their royal lord. Belshazzar -was standing beneath his purple parasol at the foot of the steps, close -by the car of Bel. Ramman, spreading the hurricane clouds, was never -blacker than the king’s face when they dragged the Hebrew before him. - -“Kill! kill!” that was all they could hear him shout, striving to be -heard above the increasing din. - -“In what manner?” demanded Sirusur, barely heard, salaaming respectfully. -“I wait my lord’s command.” - -“Hew off his head; let the dogs fight over his body!” came from the king -in one breath. - -“Ah, Jew!” sneered Avil, during a lull; “it would have been better to -have been led by me, to have forgotten Jehovah for Bel-Marduk. Will your -god save you _now_?” - -“If it be His will He can indeed save me!” flashed back Isaiah, -unflinching. “When my father Shadrach would not bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s -great statue of Bel in the plain of Dura, did he come from the king’s -furnace living or dead?” - -“Fairly smitten on the very thigh,” grunted Bilsandan, who took small -pains to conceal his enmity toward the pontiff. But Avil’s flushed face -only turned the darker, as he threatened the prisoner. - -“By every god of Babylon you shall nevertheless die a jackal’s own -death!” he shouted, while Belshazzar still thundered, “Kill! Kill!” But -Sirusur stood hesitant; for if his lord had cast off the Jew’s spell, -the general was still under it. - -In his fury Belshazzar tugged at the short sword at his side that he -might become himself executioner, when a new shout of the people finally -drowned his commands. - -“Spare Daniel! Spare the good minister! Do not anger Heaven!” - -Avil’s underlings were fairly howled down at last. - -“Except the king promise to spare Daniel, I look for a riot instantly,” -remonstrated Bilsandan, the vizier, in the first instant of silence. - -“Better let Babylon flow with blood, be he ten times innocent,” blazed -the wrathful king, “than I give way to these hissing geese. Khatin ends -him to-night.” - -Avil-Marduk sped to the terrace where Isaiah had taken station, and -beckoned in vain for silence. - -“Away with him!” roared the crowd, led on by Hasba, the bold priest of -Nabu. “Away with the king’s evil councillor!” - -Belshazzar had mounted to his friend’s side. - -“Well,” cried he, in Avil’s ear, “Allat has loosed all her fiends! Let -sword and spear quiet them!” - -“So be it, my king,” answered Avil, putting on a bold face, though -quaking within. - -Belshazzar turned to Sirusur, the “Master of the Host,” “Hark you, -general,” stormed the king, “this is more than half your own doing; it -was you and Bilsandan who favoured that accursed Daniel, gained his -reprieve, and left these geese chance to hiss so loudly. Chase them -outside the temple grounds, and that quickly, or I call you my enemy as -well as Avil’s.” - -“I am your Majesty’s slave,” retorted the general, colouring angrily, -“not this man’s,” with a menacing scowl toward Avil. “I have been -Imbi-Ilu’s friend, but while he raises hand against the king I become his -enemy.” - -“Prove it, then,” enjoined Belshazzar, fiercely; “form your men! Charge!” - -“And Isaiah?” the general asked. - -“Spare now. We must torture him to learn where that wench Ruth is hidden, -for she is no more at Borsippa. Now silence this hubbub.” - -A hubbub, indeed. The people were flinging dust in the air and calling -ominously for “bricks.” Just as Sirusur had formed his men in a solid -body by the stairway, a priest of Nabu drew forth a short sword, and the -rest, with their brethren of Sin and Samas, imitated him instantly. - -“Down with Avil! Away with Avil, the king’s evil councillor!” swelled the -shout. - -“Charge! Drown out this yell in blood!” commanded Belshazzar. And with -this command winging them, the guardsmen hurled themselves on the mob. -But Mulis, the barber, had warned truly, that the king would repent that -the soldiers had marched with only their parade swords. Charging in a -solid body upon the disorderly array opposed to them, they had small -difficulty in beating down the first rioters they encountered; slew some, -arrested others, and drove the whole multitude—rebellious priests and -lawless city folk—backward toward the temple gates. Flushed with their -triumph, Sirusur’s men even surrounded the ship of Nabu, and dragged from -his high car Imbi-Ilu, author of the outbreak. - -“Ha, good pontiff!” the general laughed, covering his real sympathy with -Imbi-Ilu’s cause under a mighty show of zeal, “you are not likely to find -this day’s sport cheaply bought!” And he called to two under officers to -hale the arch-malcontent before the king. - -But even as Belshazzar was foaming and threatening over his captive, the -tide of conflict turned; for, led by Hasba, the priests of Nabu rallied -to a man for the rescue of their chief. The ranks of the soldiers had -been broken as they followed up their victory. And once their solid array -shattered, their advantage was gone. The priests and rioters were all -around them, almost crushing them with incessant volleys of bricks, and -guardsmen as well as the mob were now falling fast. The rioters tore -down the copings of the enclosure walls, securing an exhaustless supply -of missiles. The troops were brave. They charged this way and that, but -every time their companies were shivered into smaller fragments, around -which the multitude rolled like the billows of an angry sea. Sirusur was -in the act of re-forming his men to attempt a second charge, when a -brick smote his helmet, and with a great yell of triumph the priests of -Nabu leaped on him, plucked him out of the midst of his men, and dragged -him away safe prisoner. The soldiers made one last effort to rally, but -with their leader taken, and outnumbered ten to one, they were swept back -to the stairs of the _ziggurat_; and in a moment the exulting priests -of Nabu were charging after them, forcing them upward step by step, and -making straight for the lower terrace of the tower, where the royal party -was stationed. Only when they saw Sirusur taken had their own peril -dawned fully on Belshazzar and his suite. The riot was taking alarming -proportions. A new king might be proclaimed ere sunset—who could say? - -“Glory, glory to Nabu! to Samas! to Nergal!” a thousand throats were -yelling. “Rescue for Imbi-Ilu! Death to Avil!” - -The troops, desperate now, turned at bay halfway up the wide staircase, -and for an instant their close array of swinging swords made the rioters -recoil; but what with the bricks’ constant pelting, no men without armour -could hold such a position long. - -Avil had turned to the king. The haughty pontiff fell on his knees, his -face ashen with terror. - -[Illustration: “They did not know the lion spirit within the king, that -made him as steeled against fear as against mercy.”] - -“Protection, lord! Save me! Save! They will pluck me in pieces!” And -he caught at the hem of his master’s robe. But if any had reckoned on -Belshazzar’s quailing at that dread moment, they did not know the lion -spirit within the king, that made him as steeled against fear as against -mercy. Atossa had never seen him more kingly, more truly the incarnation -of his arrogant, indomitable race, than now, when he leaped upon the -parapet of the terrace, and faced that screeching, raging mob. - -Three bricks brushed past him in a twinkling, a fourth smote the purple -and white tiara from his head, but he would have heeded snowflakes more. -And at sight of him, the king, “lord of Sumer and Akkad, who had taken -the hands of Bel,” even this foaming multitude gave back, and grew quiet. -The king spoke to them as to crouching hounds. - -“Back, imps! Do you so love Allat that you seek quick voyaging to her? -Get you gone, or by the Anunnaki, the dread spirits, I swear the kites -shall eat you all by morning!” - -A moment of hesitation and silence. “And you, spawn of Nabu,” thundered -the king, “advance one step farther, and the head of Imbi-Ilu, your chief -demon, is flung down to you!” - -Untimely boast, for Hasba instantly howled back: “Be it so, and we of -Nabu swear that Sirusur, the general, dies when Imbi-Ilu dies. Life for -life, and death for death!” And to this all the priests answered; “It is -so! We hold Sirusur hostage for Imbi-Ilu!” - -The king gave a fearful curse. “So be it!” cried he, in his passion, -“but if the general loses an hair, he shall be terribly avenged. Execute -Imbi-Ilu this instant!” He had leaped down from the parapet. The bricks -were flying again. He repeated his command to Igas-Ramman, the captain -now heading the troops, but Igas had salaamed before his lord, saying:— - -“Live forever, my king! Your slaves, the guards, will die for you; but -they will throw their swords away rather than see Sirusur, their leader, -sacrificed. We dare not touch the high priest of Borsippa.” - -“Have you, too, the hearts of conies?” warned Belshazzar. And they saw -his hand go to his sword, as if to smite Imbi with his own arm. But the -instant he had sprung from the parapet the attack had been renewed. The -troops, cowed and ill-led, broke under the pressure, and the volleys gave -way; and in a twinkling the rioters were on the first terrace. It was a -moment of uttermost danger for king and courtiers. The mob swept up upon -the platform in a single human wave. “Back, my lord! back!” exhorted -Igas-Ramman, thrusting himself with a handful of men betwixt the rioters -and Belshazzar; but the king brushed him aside. - -“Where is Isaiah?” shouted the monarch, casting about one glance. “Though -I perish, let not _him_ escape!” - -But while the words quitted his lips, a young man in the foremost of the -assailants, had bounded past the demoralized soldiers, and in an instant -loosed the Hebrew’s bands. - -“Shaphat! Shaphat the accuser of Daniel!” howled many voices together; -but rescuer and rescued were already swallowed in the sea of writhing, -fighting forms. A moment later, the victorious priests of Nabu had -plucked their leader out of the hands of the panic-struck guardsmen, and -Imbi-Ilu once more headed his cheering followers. - -“Away with Avil-Marduk!” rang the shout, never louder. “Fling him over -the _ziggurat_!” - -The pontiff barely saved himself by most headlong flight up the next -stairway to the second stage of the tower. After him fled Mermaza, and -many a dignitary followed them. But there was one who did not fly, and -that was the king. Marduk, guardian of his house, cast his shield indeed -before him, and saved him, for he was foremost in the press of death; and -more than one stout priest of Nabu and riotous burgher howled no more -after the royal sword smote them. - -Atossa had watched the first moments of the battle with keen delight. -The hated Avil and the scarce less hated king were the assailed; their -enemies were her friends. But now that the strife was all about her, she -was whirled from her place by a sudden rush of the rioters; an instant -more and she was in rough hands, the veil rudely torn from her face, with -ten brutal voices crying in her ear:— - -“Praise Istar! A prize! A prize! Off with her!” - -They should have guessed from her dress who she might be; and she -declared herself haughtily, but her voice was drowned in the babel. -Atossa was feeling herself hurried down the stairway to the temple -enclosure, the whole rude scene enacted so swiftly that she scarce knew -what had befallen, when suddenly a strong arm was thrusting aside her -excited captors. - -“Fools!” a loud voice was crying, “are you bat-blind? Release! she is no -spoil for you. Wrong her, and you bring Cyrus down on Babylon!” - -The hands upon Atossa relaxed, as her captors stared into the face of the -young man who had awed them so shortly before—Isaiah the Jew. - -“She is ours,” commented the leader of the band, little liking to let -so fair a bit of spoil slip through his fingers. “Who are you, Master -Hebrew, to give the law unto us?” - -He flourished a cudgel in air, when a second cudgel, wielded by the same -young man who had released Isaiah, smote the weapon out of his hand, and -left him disarmed and cowed. The brutish weavers who had taken Atossa -blinked at one another in confusion. - -“This way, lady,” commanded the Hebrew, taking Atossa by the hand, “and -those who lay finger on you shall pay right dear.” - -The weavers stared at him, but Shaphat’s cudgel was waving very close to -their heads. One fellow, bolder than the rest, stretched forth a hand to -seize the Persian again, but he only earned from Isaiah a buffet behind -the ear that laid him prone on the pavement. - -“Be warned,” exhorted the Hebrew. “I am your friend, and the king’s -enemy; but as Jehovah my God liveth, you shall not do violence to this -woman!” - -“We meant no harm,” protested the leader of the band, cowed and sullen. - -“Good, then; she is safe in my hands. Go again to the struggle, for by -the Lord of Hosts, Belshazzar is far from mastered.” - -They were gone, rushed back to the conflict now raging at the foot of the -stairs to the second temple stage, whither the king had retreated with -the soldiers. Isaiah caught a dusty robe from the bricks, where it had -lain since being rent from its owner’s back, and threw it over Atossa. - -“Cover your gay dress and your face, my lady,” commanded he, “so none -will recognize, and I will conduct you back to the palace. This is truly -proving a day of deeds fierce and terrible.” - -Many rioters stared at them, but as soon as they recognized the prophet, -they made way rapidly, and Isaiah led on unhindered, Shaphat following -silently after, and guarding their rear. - -Thanks to this half-reverence, half-dread, the two were soon clear of -the tumult within the temple enclosure and were threading the city -streets. Here everything was nigh quiet as the grave. Sober burghers -and shopkeepers had long since barricaded their houses and closed their -booths, lest the malcontents turn speedily from sedition to pillage. -Once Isaiah led into an alley while a chariot corps from the Northern -Citadel thundered past at headlong speed, bearing belated succour to the -hard-pressed king. - -Isaiah guided the princess westward, past the temple of Nana, and down -the great street until they reached the river, the bridge of boats; -and that once crossed, Atossa saw before them the stately gates of the -palace, within which was her safety. - -“Declare yourself fearlessly to the sentries, my lady,” said the young -prophet, “and your danger is at an end.” - -“And you?” said she, while he turned to leave her; “where is your safety? -What may I do in reward for this peril run for me?” - -The Hebrew smiled gently. “I shall be scantily welcome in the king’s -house, I fear. And in serving you I have but repaid in part the debt I -owe Prince Darius.” - -“Yet you must not go without one token. What may I give?” - -“Some talisman, then, that shall be known to all Persians to vouch for my -truth, if I say I bring word from Babylon of you and of Darius.” - -Atossa tore a gold locket from her neck. “Take this, then,” and she held -it out; “it was given me by my father on my last birthday. It is marked -with the winged likeness of Ahura the Great. Cyrus and all his lords -will recognize.” - -Isaiah and Shaphat were salaaming again to make farewell, but Atossa had -one more appeal. - -“Ah! brave Jew,” spoke she, “if the one God leads you—and He must—to let -you do the deed you have done this day, do not forget my wretchedness, -or the peril of Darius. Do you verily purpose to stand before Cyrus my -father?” - -“As speedily as the Lord God shows me the way,” assented Isaiah. - -“Oh!” she cried impulsively, “am I not for the instant free? Can I not -trust you in all things? Why may I not flee with you to the city of my -father, and see this wicked Babylon no more?” - -The young Jew smiled. “Spoken like a king’s own child, in very truth! But -such things cannot be. You cannot go where I may go, or endure what is as -naught to me; that were not trusting, but rather tempting, God.” - -“But you will tell all to Cyrus,—of myself, of Darius, of Belshazzar and -his guile. You swear that you will conceal nothing, that my father may -dash from power this evil king of the Chaldees.” - -There was a strange light on Isaiah’s face when he answered: “Fear not, -lady, Cyrus shall hear. And think not that the one God will forget the -wickedness of these servants of stone and brass; for I say to you, He -shall turn all their guile against themselves, and shall humble them -utterly.” - -“Alas! brave Jew,” Atossa cried, at parting, “would to Ahura your faith -were mine. My own faith in Him grows weak, but my faith in you, who can -dare so much, is very strong.” - -“Put no trust in me,” Isaiah replied, kissing her mantle; “but trust much -in the Spirit that moves in me, and in every soul whose love is light and -truth.” - - * * * * * - -How Belshazzar made good the tower of Bel-Marduk that day against half -of Babylon, how soldiers came at last from the garrison cantonments to -the aid of the hard-pressed royal guard, how the king slew his tens and -surpassed all his captains in valour—of this there is no place to tell. -Save for Belshazzar himself, the priests of Nabu and the rioters would -have stormed the _ziggurat_ to its topmost stage, and flung monarch and -chief pontiff upon the pavement below. But Nergal, or some other divinity -of the bold, watched over the king, and saved him from mortal wound. The -malcontents gained the second stage of the tower after a bitter struggle, -so that the steps of the _ziggurat_ flowed with blood. But here their -progress was stopped. Companies of soldiers, arriving outside the temple -enclosure, threatened to cut off the retreat of those rioters who had -entered, and the troops within turned at bay, and held their own at last. -Then, finally, the tide seemed to have turned. The valour commenced -to ooze out of the undisciplined priests and burghers. Only one thing -prevented Belshazzar from making good all his threats, and causing the -brethren of Nabu to curse the day they had lifted their heads against his -power and the supremacy of Bel-Marduk. Sirusur, the general, was still -captive in the malcontents’ hands. Let them be pressed too hard, and his -life was not worth a shekel. The king raged at his captains, but they -were obdurate. - -“Rather than sacrifice Sirusur,” declared Bilsandan, the vizier, bluntly, -when his lord gave orders for a final charge, “the soldiers will declare -for Imbi-Ilu. The rebels are desperate. We can ill afford a victory that -will plunge half Babylon in mourning. It will sow ill feeling to blossom -into twenty new revolts. We dare not do it, your Majesty.” - -And so the king had been persuaded. The criers had made proclamation, -and the decree had been promptly published, that his Majesty, out of the -goodness and benevolence of his heart toward his subjects, would proclaim -amnesty to all who had taken part in the day’s riot, from Imbi-Ilu -downward. As for Daniel, the king gave his royal word that he should be -kept in honourable custody, and no attempt made against his life. This -concession ended the tumult. The rioters dispersed. The priests of Nabu -returned—as many as were yet alive—to Borsippa. They were not completely -satisfied, for Avil-Marduk was still living and in power; but a great -blow had been struck at his prestige. The lower temple of Bel had been -thoroughly sacked. Avil would have to mortgage all the lands of his -god to make good the damage, unless the king was generous out of the -treasury. Daniel had been saved from death. Belshazzar had been taught -a lesson, likely to be remembered, that Bel was not the only god worth -conciliating. So on the next day peace reigned in Babylon. - -There had been one exception to the amnesty, however. Whatever the secret -thoughts of many, none dared openly to express sympathy for the mad -Jewish prophet. Belshazzar had desired to make a notable example. - -The next night, as the boatmen warped their barges into the current -to drop down the river to Erech, they heard the criers upon the quays -shouting across the water:— - -“Two manehs of silver! Two manehs from the king for the body of Isaiah -the Jew, alive or dead! Two manehs for Isaiah the Jew!” - -Yet, though the silver was coveted by a host, the gods strangely suffered -their blasphemer to remain at large, and the money to lie safe in the -royal coffers. - - - - -[Illustration: AVIL-MARDUK GIVES COUNSEL] - -CHAPTER XVIII - - -The seventh day of the month, sacred to the dread goddess Sapanitum, -and by every calendar pronounced an unfortunate day. The king had been -forbidden by divine law to eat cooked food, change his dress, mount -his chariot, or approach an altar for sacrifice. As for his subjects, -they dared not, however sick, call in a physician or conjurer lest the -wrathful goddess turn the remedies into poison. Nor had they ventured -to breathe a curse against the bitterest enemy, lest the malediction be -visited upon their own heads. It was a day of gloom and anxiety in all -Babylon. - -Graver things than the calendar were troubling Belshazzar and his -ministers. Yet Khatin, the headsman, who waited beside Neriglissor, at -the door of the king’s council-chamber, while their betters deliberated -within, seemed in an unwontedly merry mood for so black a day. - -“I profess, dear priest,” chuckled he, “his Majesty’s humour has most -happily changed since the riot. He orders beheadings by the score, not -of whining bandits, but of stout guardsmen and fat temple folk like -yourself. By Samas! I shall need an assistant to aid me.” - -The old “anointer” looked at him out of the corners of his eyes, and -sidled away, fearful of too close company. - -“Yes,” he assented, “since the riot the king cries ‘kill!’ every time a -fly hums past his ears. The eunuchs who serve him every morning vow a -goat to Sin if they are kept safely through the day.” - -Khatin was just beginning some impious remark to the effect that “the -worthy god was being over-fed with goats’ flesh,” when Igas-Ramman the -captain burst in upon them on the run, and flew up to the sentry guarding -the council-chamber door, almost before the two others knew his presence. - -“Hold, friend!” shouted Khatin, a ponderous hand clapping on Igas’s -shoulders; “your business? The headsman is better than the king. Give him -the news first!” - -“Allat wither you!” growled Igas, writhing out of his clutch. “Do not -stop me! Such tidings for his Majesty!” - -“Speak, rascal!” Khatin was thundering, when the door suddenly opened, -and Bilsandan, the vizier, admitted the messenger instantly, then slammed -it in the others’ faces. Those without stared at one another for many -minutes, until the door reopened suddenly as before, and Bilsandan called -for Khatin by name. - -“Your slave waits my lord’s orders,” began the executioner, gleefully -expecting the vizier was going to ask for a head. - -“Go with Igas to the chambers of Darius the Persian. There is no time to -summon a regular guard; but on your life do not let the prince escape -you. He is active and daring. Watch him well.” - -“Be he strong as Tiamat the dragon,” laughed Khatin, gruffly, “he shall -find me almighty as Bel.” Then he strode away after Igas, wondering -vainly what this strange summons of the Persian might mean. - -Since his arrest Darius had been confined in easy captivity in the tower -of the northeast angle of the palace. The king’s eunuchs had supplied -every physical want; but he had been separated from his suite, and -allowed no communication with the outside world. At sight of the royal -signet borne by Igas, the subaltern commanding the squad of troops -guarding the tower promptly led forth his prisoner. Darius appeared -little the worse for his imprisonment. He bore himself haughtily, and -was silent when Khatin croaked in his ear, “that, in his opinion, the -king was about to have the envoy’s throat sundered.” In fact, the Persian -carried himself so arrogantly, and showed his guards such supreme -contempt, that they in turn had come to feel some little awe of a man who -dared treat them thus; and they were glad when they had marched their -captive into the council-chamber, where Khatin, to his great delight, was -bidden to remain and witness the scene to follow. - -Neither the room nor its company was large. Belshazzar occupied an ivory -chair on a low dais. At his right hand two white-robed scribes were ready -with clay tablet and stylus to take down all that passed. On other stools -facing the dais were seated the coterie of magnates who made up the privy -council—Avil-Marduk, Bilsandan, Mermaza, Sirusur the general, and a few -colleagues. Behind the king stood the inevitable pair of eunuchs with -their fly-flappers. As for Darius, he had been placed directly facing the -king; and to the surprise of all he remained standing with folded arms, -without any obeisance, during a silence that soon became awkward. - -Belshazzar had heavy rings beneath his eyes, as if he had drunk -overdeeply the night before; and when he turned to motion to Bilsandan, -his hand was seen to tremble. Seemingly, he was deeply moved. Then, while -the vizier was feeling around for words, Darius broke forth rudely:— - -“Well, your Majesty, this bullock here”—with a nod toward Khatin—“says -you desire my head. By Mithra! I wonder that, after imprisoning Cyrus’s -envoy, you hesitate to kill him also.” - -Belshazzar, by an effort, ignored the taunt, and with uncommon smoothness -answered: “Noble prince, few have deplored more than I your nominal -imprisonment. I have summoned you here to declare that you are shortly to -be set free.” - -Darius looked gravely into the king’s eyes. - -“I rejoice to hear it, my lord,” said he, sternly; “yet more would I -rejoice to know how your Majesty will account to Cyrus for this outrage -upon the person of his ambassador. A strange story, surely, to send to -Susa!” - -“If the noble prince,” commenced Avil in turn, speaking gently, as if -treading on slippery ground, “will deign to listen to his slave—” - -“Ugh!” grunted the Persian, turning his back on the pontiff, “what foul -_dæva_ told _you_ how I was to serve the king of the Aryans?” - -“Do you speak for us all,” Belshazzar nervously commanded Bilsandan. - -“May it please the preëminently noble son of Hystaspes,” began the -vizier, also timidly, “there has just come to Babylon a courier saying a -second embassy from Cyrus is close to Babylon, and has sent so unfriendly -a letter on before it, that we are fain to ask my lord to explain it to -us.” - -“Ha!” They saw the prince’s lips curl in half-suppressed triumph; but he -demanded, “And what proof, wretched oath-breakers, have you to lay before -me, a prisoner, that you are telling me one morsel of the truth?” - -Bilsandan flushed, but tried to keep his temper. - -“Believe me, my prince, we have nothing to gain by concealing anything. -We had expected no new embassy from Persia so quickly. Now, all unwarned, -comes Igas with tidings that Gobryas, the general of Cyrus, is within a -hundred furlongs of the city. And doubtless if he is not persuaded to -alter his mood, as shown in his letter, we fear Cyrus, your master—” - -“Will take swiftest vengeance on Belshazzar, lord of Babylon, and all -his guileful race!” shouted the Persian, triumphing at last. Then, with -a step straight toward the king, for he had not been fettered, he shook -a knotted fist in the royal face. “Give me the letter, the letter,” he -commanded, “or, as Ahura reigns on high—” - -So fierce was his passion that for the moment king and council quaked -before him. It was Belshazzar himself who commanded, “Bilsandan, give him -the tablet.” So Darius was suffered to take it, and read:— - - “_Gobryas, servant of Cyrus, king of Persia and of the Aryans, - to Belshazzar sends greeting_:— - - “Know, O king, my master has sent me to inquire into the - strange tales that have come to his ears touching his former - envoys, and their treatment. Why have their couriers been - halted when bound for Susa? Why does Belshazzar negotiate - with Pharaoh Amasis, Cyrus’s foe, and gather soldiers in time - of peace? Why does he speak ‘peace’ with his lips and in his - heart weave war? I have come to demand an answer of you, O - Belshazzar; do not think to hinder my return. For if in twelve - days I come not back to Susa denying the tales of treachery, - the hosts of the Aryans are in arms. Farewell.” - -Darius turned again to Belshazzar. His smile became yet haughtier. “Your -Majesty,” declared he, “the meaning of this letter is plain as the moon -on a cloudless night. Cyrus has caught scent of your plottings, ere -their completion. Instead of Persia being in danger, the peril confronts -Babylon. Yet doubtless the worthy Avil is ready with his serpent’s -craft. Look to him, Belshazzar, for escape from a net of his own making!” - -But the king in turn had put on his arrogancy, and spoke back in wrath:— - -“Have a care, bold Persian. You are utterly in my power. I did not send -for you to have you revile me to my face.” - -The prince only stood more proudly than before. - -“Well said, my king; I am summoned here to aid these wise Chaldeans in -devising an escape through the blasting of their own plots. I am to yield -myself a tool to Avil-Marduk and his fellow-crows. I am to excuse my own -letters of warning, and the tidings borne by Ariathes, who it is plain -escaped your spies and guards, and reached Susa safely. I am to profess -to Gobryas and Cyrus, ‘I was mistaken. The stories are false. Trust -Belshazzar in all things!’” - -It was as if he had taken the words out of the king’s own mouth. All the -council stared at him. “And if not?” he demanded, suddenly stopping. - -“If you will not,” threatened Belshazzar, blackly, “prepare to die. We -know a Persian’s word can be trusted. Once give your pledge, you will -explain away everything—” - -Darius almost shouted his reply:— - -“And I know that it would be better to groan in ‘The Land of the -North’[7] for years uncounted, than to put trust in _your_ word. From -your own mouth I know how your oaths are sworn only to be broken, how -you have prated ‘friendship’ in my ear, and all the while plotted death. -Therefore take my life. I do not fear to cross the Chinvat Bridge, and -stand before the throne of Ahura. But rest assured, Cyrus will wreak full -vengeance!” - -When Darius ended there was silence in the council, for every man knew -they had laid hands on a monster, equally dangerous to release or to -retain. - -“And what, then, would my lord have us do to preserve the peace?” -faltered at length Sirusur the commander. - -“Let your king send an embassy in sackcloth to Susa to confess his fault -and declare his penitence. Let him send to Cyrus the head of Avil-Marduk, -chief begetter of these falsehoods. Let him send me back safely with the -Princess Atossa, and present my king with a great treasure. Finally, let -him throw down two furlongs of the city walls of Babylon, to show he -meditates no war. Do thus, and you preserve the peace; and thus only.” - -Belshazzar had risen on his throne. - -“Let us have an end to this,” cried he, darkly. “I see the prince’s wits -have been blasted, or else he has fallen in love with death. I have -spared his life, because he saved me from the auroch; but my forbearance -is near its end. Yet he shall have chance to reflect on his madness. -Hale him away, clap him in the lower dungeon, beside that of Daniel, -double-fetter, and let him prepare to die!” Darius neither salaamed nor -gave other sign when his guards stepped beside him to lead him away. -Having delivered himself to the council, he became silent as a stone idol. - -When the prisoner and his escort were gone, there was yet again stillness -in the council. When presently the storm broke out, it was upon Avil. - -“Cursed are we, priest,” growled Bilsandan in his beard, “for listening -to your counsels. It is you who poured the oil on this fire. It is you -that advised the sham treaty, then browbeat the king into arresting the -envoy. Whither are we come, indeed? The Pharaoh still holds back. Cyrus -knows all, and it will take more than smooth words to stop the charge of -his lancers!” - -“We have the prince as hostage,” retorted Avil, trying to retain his -composure. - -“Pliable hostage, indeed!” snarled the vizier; “catch the lion cub, as -hostage for the friendliness of the lioness. We may cut off the prince’s -head, but such a deed is little suited to make Cyrus more friendly. You -temple folk, Avil, will be the first to whimper when your crafty deeds -return one and all to nest on your own heads. I love wisdom, but not the -wisdom that is like to ruin all ‘Sumer and Akkad.’” - -Avil kept his temper by a manifest effort. It had not escaped him that -Belshazzar was staring at him very fixedly, a most ominous sign of royal -displeasure. - -“Noble Sirusur,” spoke the priest, turning to the general, “surely you -and all the king’s sword-hands have not waxed so unvalorous that you -dread the war. Has his Majesty only harem girls for an army?” - -“The sword-hands of the Chaldees,” retorted Sirusur, testily, “are able -to fight for their king, and, if needs be, die; but I say only truth when -I tell you, the host is in no condition to meet the Persians in pitched -battle. Madness to risk it.” - -“I congratulate our lord,” flashed back Avil, “on the heroic spirit of -his gallant _Tartan_.” - -“Aye!” shouted the “Master of the Host,” “the taunt comes right well from -such as you,—you who have lit the blaze, and fain would see others quench -it now. I know your prowess. While I was risking my life in that mob, all -say the valiant high priest was cowering like a cornered hare.” - -But it was the king who terrified the pontiff most; for, though -Belshazzar spoke not, Avil-Marduk saw his eye fixed on him, full of that -cold menace which, he knew well, had often preceded a curt command to -Khatin. - -“You may speak, Avil,” remarked Belshazzar at length, his tones icy as a -blast of the north. - -But the courage of Avil-Marduk, if not that which might carry unblenching -through the ragings of a hostile multitude, was yet courage after its -kind. He had turned pale in the face of the furious rioters, but he was -steadfast before the hostile council and angered king. - -He rose and addressed Belshazzar almost as haughtily as had the Persian. - -“Do you well, my Lords Bilsandan and Sirusur, to revile me?” retorted he, -hotly. “Am I not a man of peace? Is it my business to see that the royal -guard does not fly like sparrows at the yells of an unarmed rabble? As -for this coming of the second embassy, who save Anu and Ea could know -that a letter of Darius could pass through our watchers—so many were -they—even had some foul demon whispered the truth in the Persian’s ear? -I am not a god, your Majesty; but what human wit has done, I have done -also.” - -“But human wit,” quoth Belshazzar, grimly, “has not sufficed to avert an -issue with Cyrus. What are we to do now, my dear pontiff?” - -When the king became affectionate, men said he was not far from ordering -an execution. Avil knew his danger, but he only let his voice rise higher. - -“O King Belshazzar,” cried he, “Bel-Marduk, the sovereign and guardian -god of Babylon, even he and none other it is that has set you upon your -throne of Sumer and Akkad. Did he not clothe you with power that he might -bring all nations in subjection unto you? That the gods of the Persians -and of the Medes should be brought low before the power of his servants? -Is Cyrus the first king who has raised his head against Babylon? Where is -Sin-shar-ishkun the Assyrian? or Zedekiah the Jew? or Necho the Egyptian? -Gone, all of them. Their gods have brought them no help, but Bel has -fought for his servants. And will you now, King of Babylon, distrust the -god that has protected you so long? Will you cringe to this Ahura of the -Persians, that we may be taunted before every nation, ‘Bel of Babylon is -subject to the god of Cyrus the barbarian’? The gods one and all forbid -that Belshazzar should do this thing! Let him be strong. The guardians -of Babylon shall yet show how much mightier they are than the weakling -spirits of the Persians, before whom also the spiritless Jews shall whine -in vain.” - -The priest paused a moment. The swift rush of his speech had borne away -all the hesitancy that had risen in the heart of his lord. Avil knew he -had saved himself and had triumphed. He went on boldly:— - -“Trust the strong walls of Babylon, my king. They can mock all Cyrus’s -thousands. There is yet time to assemble a great host. The warriors of -Chaldea have not all waxed cowards. Meet the Persian fairly in the field, -and if fortune there fail, Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel will not fail. There -is provision inside the walls for a siege years long. Before many months -the Aryan hosts will be dissolved for lack of forage. Revolt will kindle -in Cyrus’s provinces. The Pharaoh will take arms. Be bold and the gods -will bless you. I speak not of myself, for is the king of Babylon a dog -that he should submit to the commands of Cyrus or his envoys? Take my -life, if so your Majesty will, but bow the knee to the Persian?—never!” - -The king’s eyes were flashing. He had risen again on his throne. - -“And the high priest counsels well!” cried Belshazzar, doubting no more. -“We will put the might of Bel-Marduk to the test! Bel-Marduk against the -puny god of the Persians and the Jews! Bel-Marduk, who rules forever, -against the god who might not save Jerusalem to his servants, who shall -not now save them Susa. In Darius we have a hostage that will make Cyrus -hesitate long before taking the field against us. Away with all fears, my -lords. I, the king, have spoken, and my word is ‘war’!” - - * * * * * - -That same day there went a letter to Gobryas, the new Persian envoy, who -had just arrived outside the city, bidding him return to his land with -all speed. “Belshazzar,” wrote the Babylonian ministers haughtily, “would -not receive any embassy sent on so unfriendly an errand as this. The king -would make due explanation to Cyrus for the detention of Darius; but if -Cyrus would not accept it, let him be warned that the first hostile move -on his part would be followed by the execution of the son of Hystaspes. -And in the war that might ensue Belshazzar shunned no issue.” - -That night also an order went forth for the arrest of Imbi-Ilu, chief -priest of Nabu, on the ground that he had violated the terms of the -amnesty, and was conspiring against the king; but the next morning found -all Babylon astir with the news that the threatened pontiff had already -escaped to the Persian envoy outside the walls. Gobryas had taken no -risks of detention. The instant the letter of Belshazzar reached him he -had started straight homeward, outstripping any chance of pursuit. - -A second fugitive likewise fled with Gobryas. In the second Persian -embassy Isaiah had beheld the opportunity divinely promised through -Daniel; he should stand face to face with Cyrus the Aryan, and deliver -the message of Jehovah. There was no longer any refuge at Borsippa for -Ruth, but he counted her safe at the humble house of Dagan-Milki. Shaphat -would be her guardian, and if needs be die, to save her from the hand of -Belshazzar. Very beautiful and strong had been the smile on the Jewess’s -face when she kissed Isaiah farewell. - -“Go, beloved, go,” were the last words the young prophet carried on his -journey; “who am I to give you care, when God has called you to His -service?” - -“Ah!” thought Isaiah, many times while on the way, “if the prayers of -the pure and good avail anything with the great Lord God, I have already -persuaded the king of the Aryans.” - - - - -[Illustration: CYRUS, FATHER OF THE PEOPLE] - -CHAPTER XIX - - -Another king, another council, another palace. The twilight was creeping -over Susa, the city of Cyrus, over the blue Choaspes winding southward, -over the rambling town, with its shops and bazaars, which stretched -away to eastward, and over the great mound betwixt river and city. High -above dwelling and street loomed the ramparts of the palace fortress -of the king. Complacent Babylonian envoys might sneer under breath -at the barbarism of the decorations, but under the failing light the -palace wore a glory all its own, the like of which was nowhere else -save at its prototype in Ecbatana, city of the Medes. The citadel was -natural, but strengthened by human art. Twenty furlongs and more was its -circuit; its sheer height rose for fifty cubits. On its summit spread -the Aryan palace. Original in nothing save truth-speaking, the Persian -had been a borrower from many lands. A stranger would have declared -the house of Cyrus like that of Belshazzar, yet in manner unlike it. -Endless colonnades; huge courts, unroofed save for the Tyrian purple -tapestries on great feast days; giant-winged bulls; walls brilliant -with innumerable processions of huntsmen and spearmen, wrought in blue -and green enamel,—all these from Babylon. But Greek chisels had given -delicacy and grace to the sculptures; the conceit of India had set the -four heads of griffins on the corners of each stately capital; Median -ostentation had plated the ceilings of many of the chambers, as well as -the cornice and parapet without, with the pale lustre of silver, or even -with garish gold. - -He who entered would have lost himself in court after court, hall after -hall, each a-swarm with its hordes of guardsmen, eunuchs, and courtiers. -His feet would have trodden priceless Bactrian carpets; over his head -would have twinkled a thousand silver lamps and red resinous torches. Yet -had he kept onward, he would have at last come to a door guarded by a -score of watchful “eyes of the king,” and then, if some talisman suffered -him to pass them, have stood face to face with the lord of the Aryans. - -The king was taking counsel with his peers. The Tartar on the chillest -steppe, the Brahmin by the hoary Indus, might quake at the name of Cyrus, -son of Cambyses; but the six princes of the tribes of Persia and of Media -were suffered at all times to speak their word to the monarch, and he -must hear them. - -There was no throne in this chamber. The king sat in a ponderous -arm-chair, at the head of a long table, his fellow-councillors ranged -on lower seats at either side. They had long since cast off ceremony. -Cyrus’s cone-shaped tiara was taller than that of the others, the -embroideries on his flowing Median robe richer; these alone distinguished -him. There was no scribe present, nor other attendant. After a long -silence the king was again speaking. - -“My friends,” Cyrus smote a fist on the table with a buffet weighty -enough to fell an ox, “you seem to have suffered Apaosha the -‘Drought-fiend’ to dry up all your thoughts. I called you for counsel; I -meet silence and black frowns. Have you nothing to say?” The king looked -from face to face; his own was troubled. There was care spread upon his -high, bronzed forehead, care was in the lines of his mouth under the -flowing gray beard, care was dimming the genial lustre of his keen blue -eyes. - -A man at the king’s right hand made answer, and all heard respectfully, -for he was bowed with age and its wisdom. - -“Live forever, King of the Aryans! Do not blame us if Ahura denies us -the presence of Vohu-Manö, angel of good counsel. What is left to say? -Yet let the king know this—determine the fate of Darius, my son, without -thought for my own private loss or grief. The honour of Persia and of -Persia’s king is more than the safety of forty sons of mine.” - -But Cyrus shook his head, replying sombrely: “You are a true friend, -Hystaspes; but understand that the honour of Persia and of Cyrus demands -to-day that Darius should come harmless from that snare to which I, in -folly, sent him. The blame is mine. Belshazzar has deceived me. Would to -Ahura that I alone might bear the calamity, and not the noblest of our -youth!” - -But the dark-eyed Median prince, Harpagus, who sat at the king’s left -hand, broke forth hotly: “Now as Mithra rains light from the heavens, -I protest the Babylonian will never dare to make a hair of our prince -to fall. Belshazzar and his pack of snivelling priests and paltering -corn-merchants put to death a prince of our blood royal? The Chaldeans -will love well to see our Aryan cavalrymen eating up all their dear -farmlands like locusts! Belshazzar’s was a coward’s threat. He will make -it good—never!” - -“Peace,” commanded the king. “You do even that _dæva_ wrong. We -have Gobryas’s letter and cannot doubt. Belshazzar has a city nigh -impregnable. His army, if not so large as our Aryan hordes, is well -drilled, valorous. His capital is provisioned for a siege of years. Only -a man who had resolved to follow his path to the end would dare to utter -this threat.” - -“True,” Hystaspes looked down, grievously tormented; “yet for the honour -of our people and our god, there is but one answer to make to this -defiance.” - -Cyrus was standing erect and confronting his council. - -“Do you, princes of Persia and Media, bid me to sacrifice Darius, son of -Hystaspes, proclaim instant war, and send our forces over the Tigris to -strike Belshazzar! An answer,”—the king’s voice grew hard,—“peace or war?” - -Stillness for a moment, and then Harpagus was thundering:— - -“War, in the name of every archangel! Tell Belshazzar that if Darius dies -we will beat down Babylon till she be a city for wolves and jackals.” - -“And you, Hystaspes?” demanded the king. - -“I have spoken,” replied the old prince, wearily. “Not to save my own -child can we cringe to Belshazzar, that ‘Son of the Lie.’ There is no -other way.” - -Cyrus was looking wistfully from one to another. - -“And is there no word for peace?” he was asking, almost eagerly. “The -power of Babylon is great. If we fail, the empire will depart from us. On -such a war we stake our all.” - -“And our all truly is lost,” Harpagus replied, nigh fiercely, “if the -king of Persia crouches trembling under a threat like this!” - -“Your voices then are all for war?” was Cyrus’s last appeal. - -“For war,” was the sullen answer of many, none looking upward. But Cyrus -smote again upon the table, making the firm oak quiver. - -“But I, Cyrus, son of Cambyses, king of Persia and all Iran, am very ill -content with your counsel. We all will be partners in Darius’s blood, -if he is left to die. I, the king, have chief blame in sending him to -Babylon, but you all were consenting. Would to Ahura I had followed my -own heart, and given him Atossa! Of her fate in the clutch of Belshazzar -I say nothing.” It was the first time he had mentioned his own child that -day. The princes saw a tear on the iron cheek of the conqueror of Mede -and Lydian. None answered him. The king ran on: “Our debate ends as it -began—in darkness. I will not act on your advice to-night. Orasmasdes, -the chief Magian, shall pour libation to the great star Tishtrya[8] and -all the other heavenly powers, that they may incline the Lord God to -favour with his wisdom. I am no ‘Father of the People,’ if, to spare my -own dignity, I suffer the bravest and choicest of our Aryan youths to die -miserably.” - -The king had thrust back his chair, and motioned to the others to rise -also. They were obeying, in moody silence, when the door was flung open, -and Phraortes, the high chamberlain, was kneeling before Cyrus. - -“Live forever, O Bulwark of the Nations! May your slave speak?” - -The monarch good-humouredly motioned to him to say on. Phraortes arose, -and punctiliously hid his hands in his flowing sleeves—token that he -meditated no attack on the royal person. - -“Your Majesty, the General Gobryas sends in advance a young man who -demands instant speech with my lord.” - -“Does he come from Babylon? Who is he?” - -“He brings a letter from the general, that he is in all things to be -believed. He also bears a token from the ever-to-be-reverenced Lady -Atossa.” - -“From Atossa?” They saw the king’s grip on the arm of his chair grow hard -as a vise. “Bring him in instantly.” - -Cyrus had reseated himself; the rest imitated perforce. - -A moment later Phraortes ushered before them a young man in Babylonish -dress, handsome-visaged, but now dusty, unkempt, travel-stained. The -stranger did not cover his hands, Persian fashion, but fell on his face -and kissed the rugs at Cyrus’s feet, nor did he arise until Cyrus bade -him to fear nothing. - -“Your Majesty understands Chaldee?” began the stranger, his eyes still on -the carpet. - -“I understand and speak it,” was the answer. “Do not tremble. We Persians -forgive all else so long as men speak the truth. Who are you? Not a -Babylonian?” - -While the king spoke he had sped a glance keen as a spear through the -newcomer, as if searching every recess of his soul. But the other, -unconfounded, lifted his own gaze and met Cyrus boldly eye to eye, a -glance in turn so penetrating, yet so winsome, that half the suspicions -of monarch and princes were disarmed. - -“I am no Babylonian, O king!” The young man tossed his head proudly. “My -people are the Hebrews, whom it pleases the Omnipotent God should suffer -oppression at the hands of these servants of speechless brass and graven -marble, but who would not exchange the Lord God of their fathers for a -thousand Belshazzars and his kingdoms. Know, your Majesty, that my name -is Isaiah, son of Shadrach, the Jew, though born and bred in Babylon, -city of darkness. And in proof of what I may tell you, receive this.” - -He was extending something which Cyrus caught eagerly. - -“Beware,” admonished Hystaspes, in the king’s ear, “this may be but a spy -of Belshazzar.” But the young man overheard and answered boldly:— - -“I a spy of Belshazzar? May Jehovah the All-Seeing smite me as I stand, -if I speak one jot or one tittle more or less than truth!” - -Cyrus had raised his head, and looked on the Hebrew again. - -“And I believe you,” swore the king; “for as Ahura reigns, I do not deem -he could set deceit behind so frank a face and eye. This, my lords”—he -held up the trinket—“is the locket I hung on my daughter’s neck before -you all. And now, Jew, say on.” - -And long the council sat and listened while Isaiah unwound to them the -tangled web of Belshazzar’s and Avil’s intrigues and ill-doings—the sham -marriage treaty, the attempt on Darius’s life, the plottings with Egypt, -the preparations for war. - -They had gathered much from the tale of the fugitive Ariathes, and the -hasty despatch from Gobryas; they saw all clearly now. But when Isaiah -had finished, Cyrus asked simply:— - -“One question: By what means did you gain this locket from the Lady -Atossa? Can you enter Belshazzar’s own harem?” - -Whereupon Isaiah told very modestly the manner in which he had saved the -princess during the riot; and despite his slackness in self-praise, as he -ended, the king demanded of his lords:— - -“Men of Persia, do you now believe this man?” - -“Every word,” came from Harpagus, and he spoke for all. - -“How, then, shall the great king reward him?” - -“Let the Jew take three talents of gold,” answered the councillor, and -Cyrus nodded approval. - -“So be it. Son of Shadrach, you shall have as Prince Harpagus has said.” - -“The king jests with his servant,” and again the Hebrew looked downward. - -“Not so, on the inviolable pledge of a king of the Aryans!” - -“Your Majesty,” Isaiah spoke very rapidly, as if to escape repentance for -his boldness, “if I rescue Prince Darius from his dungeon—what reward -then?” - -The eyes of the Jew were very bright. They could see he was hanging on -the king’s every word. Cyrus had lifted his hand in an oath. - -“The man who saves Darius shall enter my treasure-house in Ecbatana, -where are stored the jewels taken from the Assyrian by Cynaxares the -Mede, and bear thence his own weight in precious stones, though he take -rubies and diamonds only!” - -They who watched Isaiah saw him sweep his hand, as if in high disdain. - -“Keep the jewels, O Cyrus!” cried he, nigh passionately. “I have not come -to sell my service like a huckster, to bargain for gems or gold. Yet -would you truly see Darius free?” - -His voice had risen almost to a menace, but the king was not angry. - -“Good, Hebrew!” Cyrus was smiling. “I did not think riches would tempt -such as you. You seek something nobler—and by Ahura’s great name, I -declare that if you may save Darius, you may ask anything in reason, and -it is yours.” - -Isaiah’s eyes glittered even brighter than before, but his voice grew -calm. - -“King of the Aryans, the one God, whom you worship under the name of -Ahura-Mazda, and we as Jehovah, has given my people now for fifty years -into the power of the idol-worshipping Chaldeans. Fifty years long have -we bowed beneath this yoke, and besought our God that he would forget -our sins, would restore us to His mercy. Now at last the hour comes when -it shall be proved before all nations which is the greater, Him whom we -serve, or Nabu and Marduk and Samas, the demons of the Chaldees. For the -rage of Avil-Marduk, the chief pontiff, and of Belshazzar is gone out -against my people, and the oppression they suffer is more than most may -bear. Either my people must bow the neck, must forsake their God, must -teach their children to serve the idols of Babylon, or you, O Cyrus, must -hear the summons of the Lord Most High, and make the oppressed go free!” - -“I? What are you saying, Jew?” The king had leaped from his seat. They -faced one another, monarch and prophet for the instant equals. - -“Sovereign of Persia,”—Isaiah bore himself as proudly as if he were the -“King of kings,”—“the God of nations has clothed you with power, the -like of which he never shed on mortal man before, not on Assur-bani-pal, -the great Assyrian. The tribesmen on countless plains are yours; your -horsemen He alone may number. Belshazzar, the Babylonian, casts defiance -in your teeth. You hesitate, for you fear for Darius. Were he free, the -perjurer would already see from his walls the sky lit with the villages -blazing under the Persian torch. And _it is I_ that may set Darius -free. Jehovah has set in me a spirit of craft and wisdom that with His -help shall not fail. Though they seek my life in Babylon, I know how to -avoid them. Be this the reward for the rescue of Darius: you shall call -forth your myriads and dash Belshazzar from his ill-gained throne, and -then”—brighter than ever were the Jew’s eyes now—“you shall restore my -people to their own land, that they may rebuild their desolate Jerusalem. -_This_ is my reward!” - -Stillness, while many heard their heart-beats. The rest saw Cyrus -approach three steps toward the Jew; the two were yet looking eye to eye. - -“Hebrew,” Cyrus was striving to speak quietly, “a great thing you -propose, a great thing you ask. How long a time will you require to -return to Babylon and do this deed?” - -“In forty days I pledge my head to show you Darius safe and free, here or -in your camp. In Babylon I have two fellow-countrymen who will peril all -to aid me.” And Isaiah thought of Zerubbabel and of Shaphat. - -“By Mithra! you speak of return to Babylon as of returning to a feast!” - -“Fairer than a feast, my lord. I return to the fulfilment of my heart’s -desire—the winning of freedom for my people.” - -“Yet though you prosper, what if we fail? We may drive Belshazzar from -the field, but the ramparts of Babylon—” - -Isaiah took the words from the king’s mouth. - -“Shall lie smooth as the plain to the feet of Cyrus, the called of -Jehovah!” - -Cyrus looked again, and very earnestly. “One thing more, Hebrew—my -daughter, in Belshazzar’s harem?” His voice sank exceeding low. “What -will be her treatment? Answer me truly this.” - -“Your Majesty,” was the unfaltering reply, “even the Babylonian is not in -all things a fiend. Belshazzar does not carry his villany so far, that -if Darius escape, he would wreak vengeance on his own betrothed wife. I -grieve for the Lady Atossa, but the swords of the Aryans are the only -talismans that will make her lot less wretched.” - -Cyrus moved another step nearer. He had raised his hand toward heaven. - -“Then in the name of Ahura, One God of All, and the Ameshaspentas, His -archangels, I swear that if you save Darius, I will lay low Babylon and -set your people free. And you, princes of the Persians, are my witnesses.” - -When he looked downward, he saw Isaiah kneeling before him, kissing the -hem of his mantle. - -“Do not fear, my king,” he was declaring; “Jehovah, who has plucked me -from so many perils, will not fail me now, when I speed upon His service.” - -But Cyrus had turned to his council. - -“Men of Iran,” said he, simply, “Ahura has not forsaken us. He has sent -us Vohu-Manö, the spirit of wise council. We need linger no more here.” - - - - -[Illustration: BELSHAZZAR’S GUESTS FORSAKE HIM] - -CHAPTER XX - - -Avil-Marduk had visited a strange place for the chief priest,—the -nethermost dungeon in the palace guard-house, by the royal quay. Here one -could hear the river brawling against the slimy walls. The black murk of -the sunken galleries leading to the cells had been charged with a damp -and sickening odour. The light from the slits against the ceiling was -just enough to suffer one, with eyes accustomed to darkness, to grope his -way. When the chief warden put his key in the ponderous wooden lock of a -door, the pivots creaked and a whiff of air drifted from within, but so -stifling that for an instant the priest recoiled. - -“Who is here,” demanded he of the warden, “the Persian or Daniel? My -errand is to both.” - -“The Persian, my lord. Your eyes may not see him, but he is crouched in -the farther corner. He is dangerous. Seven men had to hold when we put on -his fetters. Shall I stay by while you speak with him?” - -“Wait within call, though I must talk alone.” Then, raising his voice, he -jeered boldly: “Ha! noble prince, do you find the raw millet and canal -water of this guard-house daintier than the fare on Cyrus’s tables? Be -comforted; twenty-seven years did Zedekiah, the Jewish king, languish in -this very cell. You are not likely to enjoy its hospitality so long.” - -Out of the dark came an ominous growl. - -“Take care, _dæva_; come within reach, and chained though I be, I can -kill you!” - -“I will keep a safe distance from your Highness,” was Avil’s undisturbed -reply. - -“And now, son of Hystaspes,” he continued, dropping the catlike purring -from his voice, “let us understand one another. You are utterly in our -power. By this time, at least, you will begin to confess it.” - -He heard the chains begin to rattle from the corner. - -“By this time, O Prince of Treachery, you begin to hear the roar of the -Persian lion. Do you confess it? Has the news that comes of late to -Babylon been sweet as Assyrian honey?” - -Avil let a moment pass before he answered:— - -“It is true that Cyrus is massing soldiers,” he admitted. - -“It is true that Kutha has surrendered, and Sirusur the Tartan suffered a -defeat. Make your toads, these jailers, keep tighter mouths, if you would -have them leak no news to me.” - -“If those turnkeys chatter, the stakes are ready to impale them,” cursed -Avil, under breath. Then, returning to the charge boldly: “Yes, it is -true, war has blazed forth. No profit to deny. But nothing decisive has -befallen. The king leads his host into the field in a few days. If Cyrus -be the first to attack—” - -“I shall be put to death?” - -“Unless you will serve our ends. Are you bent on destruction?” - -“I am in Ahura’s hands. It is His, not yours, to give life or death.” - -Avil incautiously advanced a few steps into the darkness. - -“The ‘suicide-demon’ possesses you, Persian,” he was asserting, when with -a clatter of chains the prince bounded from his corner and dashed the -priest to the bricked floor. - -“At last, adder!” snorted he, uplifting his manacled hands, and smiting -once and again. - -“Rescue! Help! Murder!” bawled Avil, helpless on his back. - -Well that the jailers ran swiftly, or Bel would have lacked a pontiff. -They plucked the prince from his victim by sheer force, and dragged Avil -away, covered with bruises. He stood, invoking upper and nether powers to -blast the Persian race forever. They put a shorter chain on the prisoner, -but he still challenged out of his gloom. - -“Closer, friend! Closer! I dearly love a fair wrestle!” - -But the priest turned away, quaking, and bade the others open the door -of the adjacent cell, for he desired speech with that second prisoner of -state, the Hebrew Daniel. - -Darius was left in his dungeon; the bolts clanked into place, the -footsteps died away. At first he heard only the swash of the current -against the oozing bricks, and the shouts of bargemen forcing their -craft up-river. But the prince did not rage in his fetters, as a month -earlier, when first they cast him into this “death-in-life.” Laying his -ear against the partition, he could hear voices uplifted—Avil-Marduk -in angry colloquy with Daniel, who, contrary to Belshazzar’s pledge in -the proclamation, had not been kept in light captivity, but in heaviest -durance. Darius caught no word, but he guessed that the priest was ill -satisfied with his errand when Daniel’s door clashed to suddenly, and -Avil’s voice sounded in the gallery:— - -“Now, as Bel is lord of Babylon, we will find straiter quarters yet for -this stiff-backed pair!” Then there were more steps, and again silence; -but presently a soft rattle at Darius’s own door, and the prince crept -toward it, as far as his chains suffered. Some one spoke at the ample -keyhole. - -“Listen well, my prince, the other wardens are all around us.” - -Existence in such a prison had taught Darius to catch every whisper. - -“I hear you. You are Zerubbabel, the Jew. Where is Isaiah?” - -“He is more suspected than I; and even my fidelity as turnkey is half -in doubt. Isaiah is looking to the locks on the tunnel. The escape must -be to-night or not at all. Shaphat is arranging to have horses waiting -beyond the gates.” Feet sounded once more in the gallery. The speaker -moved noiselessly away. Again silence and again the voice:— - -“The chief priest swears that longer parley with you is useless. He urges -the king to cast your head into Cyrus’s camp. That would bar the last -door to peace, and spur on Babylon to resist to the uttermost.” - -“And Daniel?” - -“Avil would love to slay him with you, but dare not. News of his -execution, were it to leak out, would still raise the city in riot. But -we hope to save him with you.” - -“Till when shall I wait to-night?” The words came eagerly. - -“We cannot stir before the third ‘double-hour’[9] of the night. All is -ready.” - -Shouts sounded down the gallery; Zerubbabel was gone, and Darius sat in -his gloom. How many times since he had been thrust within that cell had -he watched the bar of pale golden light, which drifted through that chink -against the ceiling, creep, silent as the tread of a dream, across the -floor! It was his only sun-dial. Pictured in its brightness he had seen -many a sight he had told himself he would never see more with mortal -eye,—his father, the hills of his native Iran, and Atossa, always Atossa, -fair as on the night of their meeting in the Hanging Gardens, when for -the last time he had looked into her dear eyes. - -Interminable waiting! All the hard-learned lessons in patience, in which -Darius had schooled himself since existing in that dungeon, forgotten in -an hour! But, nevertheless, the day _did_ wane. The little bar of light -crawled snail-like across the wet bricks of the floor, and began to -climb the reeking wall. It mounted higher, higher, then began to fade, -and for once the Persian’s heart commanded “go quickly,” though the ray -had ofttimes been his dear friend. The chief warden entered with eight -men, examined his captive’s chains. Intact. He and his band with their -blinding torches were gone. Once more stillness, and only the monotonous -music of the great river fleeting seaward. - -The last daylight had long vanished before Darius heard again—how -gladly!—something stirring in the gallery without. There were a shout and -a challenge when the guards were changing, the trample of heavy sandals, -silence again, then Zerubbabel’s voice close to the door. - -“Quiet, my prince, my watch ends at midnight. We must be all haste.” - -The bolt was withdrawing noiselessly; the door crept open; inside glided -a man with a flickering lamp that shed a red, uncertain light, leaving -half the cell veiled in its shadows. Darius started, but a warning -“Hist!” fixed him. - -“Where is Isaiah?” - -“In the next dungeon, releasing Daniel. The sentries have been drugged. -Now off with these chains.” - -Babylonian fetters needed no key; the bronze circles, never locked, -were simply hammered together around wrist or ankle. Happy mortal was -he who, having felt them close upon him, could feel them also release. -The turnkey set down his lamp, drew forth a stout iron bar. One twist -of the lever freed the Persian’s good right arm, and like an unchained -lion Darius tore his other limbs free, almost with his empty hand. The -Persian’s heart gave a great bound as he sniffed a clear, sweet puff of -night air, while ranging the gallery. A second lamp and two more figures -came out of the gloom, but it was no place for stately greetings. - -“The noble Prince Darius!” exclaimed Isaiah, softly, advancing from the -darkness. “Jehovah be praised!” - -“And with you is my Lord Daniel?” - -“Safe and free, Jehovah willing,” answered the older Jew, stepping -forward. - -“Good, then,” replied the Persian. “Lead the way, for I am helpless here. -Next to Ahura, I owe all to you, Isaiah, and to your friends!” - -“Fear nothing.” And Isaiah trod forward into the dark. “Few know the -secrets of this city and palace as do I. We must haste to the tunnel.” - -They advanced in silence. The prison seemed empty of all life. Their -feet awoke loud echoes down shadow-veiled galleries, but nothing hostile -started forth to greet them. Presently they began ascending stairways, -and the foul stench of the dungeons grew yet fainter. - -Then a door swung open before them, and a cold breath smote their faces. -A strange form thrust itself across their path. - -“Who comes? Shaphat?” demanded Isaiah, never off his guard. - -The newcomer stared about him in the dark. - -“I am he; the guards are quieted. There is no danger. But where is my -Lord Daniel? Let me fall at his feet.” - -And recognizing the older Jew, he cast himself then and there upon his -knees. - -“O lord, gracious master, who was as a father to me and whom I have -requited after the manner of demons, speak to me one word. Declare that -you forgive, for the blackness of my sin is ever before me!” - -Daniel beckoned him to rise. - -“You are forgiven long ago; I have heard of the atonement made by saving -Ruth, and by rescuing Isaiah in the riot. You have sinned and have -repented. The Lord God requires nothing more.” - -“Speed,” interrupted Isaiah, “we must be all haste.” - -Then without another word he led the way over the threshold, past the -ponderous prison gate, and Darius rejoiced yet again when he found -himself beneath the glittering canopy of the stars. No moon. Under the -starlight he could see the vague white tracery of the great palace to -his left; to his right the outlines of the _ziggurats_ beyond the river, -trebly tall in the darkness, and before the temples the opalescent -twinkle of some wavelet of the mighty Euphrates, where a constellation -was mirrored. Isaiah hastened northward. They saw, far off, a form pacing -the embankment above the stream. The starlight touched something that -glittered—a soldier’s helmet. Darius heard the chanted call pealing over -the sleeping fortress:— - -“The Ninib-star[10] rises. Midnight approaches. Marduk prosper Belshazzar -our lord!” - -“They change sentries soon. Speed!” urged Isaiah. And he led faster along -the deserted quay. Soon before them rose a low, square building, and they -halted. - -“The entrance to the tunnel beneath the river,” whispered Zerubbabel. -“Now, if at all, let Jehovah show His mercy. All other exits from the -palace fortress are too well watched.” - -[Illustration: “The starlight touched something that glittered—a -soldier’s helmet.”] - -Isaiah, who had kept his lamp pricked down to a bare flicker under -his mantle, boldly thrust in the door. They were in a small, bricked -guard-room. Directly before them was a second door, small, ponderous, -and heavily barred. Across the threshold lay a man in armour, but snoring -in the slumbers of the just. - -“This is the passage to the great tunnel of which I have heard so much?” -asked Darius, softly. “Is not the exit guarded?” - -Isaiah shook his head. “That, too, is provided for. The guard across the -river is more lax than here. But now we must push away this dolt and -force the door.” - -Darius motioned with his hands, signifying that one twist of his fingers -around the sentinel’s neck would speed him past mortal outcry; but when -they rolled the rascal over, his guardian god favoured him. He grunted -once, folded his hands, and fell again to snoring. The drug had done its -work. - -Isaiah, Shaphat, and Zerubbabel applied themselves to the massive door. -Its bolts and bars yielded one by one. They were about to put their -strength against it and thrust inward, when the turnkey stepped to one -side into a darkened corner. One step, but the mending or ending of -five human lives was hanging on the planting of that foot. He trod on -something soft, something living. In a twinkling there followed a howl, a -yelp, a prodigious barking. - -“Fiends of Sheol blast the cur!” swore Zerubbabel, his iron bar -clattering from palsied fingers. “All is lost!” - -Darius leaped upon the dog, caught him, strove to throttle; but the -mongrel brute writhed from his grip, bounded to the outer door, and -lifted up his muzzle, howling. Instantly a second dog answered, a third, -a fourth, and more, till they seemed encircled by dogs uncounted. Human -voices were beginning to swell the din. - -“Alarm! To arms! Turn out the guard!” The distant sentries were passing -it one to the other. - -The five stood and stared in one another’s faces. The hopes of the night -had been utterly dashed. What was left save death? But Darius, ever the -soldier and leader, tossed up his head, and demanded fiercely: “Why gape -and gibber here? Down the tunnel! We can cross before they reach the exit -by bridge or boat.” - -“My lord,” answered Isaiah, sadly, “below this door, on the staircase, is -machinery to the sluice, whereby the tunnel can be flooded. We cannot bar -this entrance from within. To descend means drowning beneath the river.” - -The drunken sentinel stirred in his slumber, but did not waken; yet the -others heard the nearing shouting. The sleepy soldiers were tumbling from -their barracks. The five heard the clangour of the great brass gong at -the palace gate. The Lord God knew how soon a “ten” of infantry would be -on the fugitives. Darius had possessed himself of the helpless watchman’s -sword. - -“By Ahura Most High!” was his desperate oath, “it is better to mount -aloft with seven foes sped on before me, than to drown beneath the river. -They shall not take me unresisting!” - -Feet approached rapidly. A new cry was rising, “The state captives, the -Persian and Daniel! Escaped! Pursue!” - -Isaiah dashed to the door of the tunnel-house and bolted it. It would -take a few moments to force. Darius had turned to the others. - -“I am a man of war, and know the look of death. If two men were to remain -in the narrow entrance to this stairway, they could defend it long. Five -must not perish where two suffice.” He was stripping the drunkard of helm -and shield. “I and one other will defend against pursuit, the rest flee!” - -But Isaiah threw up his hands in dismay. “Folly, my prince. Your life is -worth a thousand such as mine. I am no weakling. Shaphat shall guide you -to safety. Leave the defence to Zerubbabel and to me!” - -A thunderous beating on the door, and Igas-Ramman, the captain, was -clamouring, “Open! Open! In the king’s name!” - -Isaiah reached to pluck the sword from Darius’s hands. “Haste!” he -exhorted, but another hand caught his. - -“Folly again.” It was Daniel who cried it. “You are all young. Life is -sweet. God will give you many days and power to do great deeds. _I_ will -defend the entrance.” - -“You?” The others were staring now in truth. - -“Open! Open, or you die the death!” howled the soldiers without; and Igas -commanded fiercely: “Beat in the door! Hew it asunder!” - -The stout portal shook on its pivots, battered by spear-butts. It could -not last long. - -“This shall never be!” shouted Darius, while the deadly clamour -increased. “Who will abide with you? You are the least fit of us all.” - -But at this instant Shaphat spoke forth boldly: “If my Lord Daniel -remain, he shall not remain alone, nor shall my betters be brought to -death. Of us all, I am of least worth. I have but one life to proffer, as -sacrifice for my sins, let it be offered now!” - -“Dare you trust this man?” cried the prince, nigh angrily, while the door -leaped inward with every stroke—“a confessed perjurer?” - -But Daniel answered, with his wonted calm majesty: “Yes, as the Lord God -liveth, I can trust him. He and I shall cover your retreat as long as -Jehovah grants us strength.” - -But still the friendly rivalry went on, until Shaphat plucked away -Zerubbabel’s own sword, and set himself boldly across the doorway. Daniel -turned to the others imploring. - -“Away! away!” he prayed; “do you not see delay only ruins each and all?” -And with a marvellous strength that white-haired man had wrung the weapon -from Darius’s grasp, and was putting on the helmet. As he stood in the -wan lamplight, his form loomed erect, powerful. He seemed to have cast -off the weight of twenty years. Woe to the first to meet him man to man! - -“Bring a beam!” raged Igas to the soldiers. “Shatter the door!” - -“Off!” urged the minister, tears now in his eyes. “Will you cast yourself -away, Isaiah, and leave Ruth desolate when I am taken? Will you leave the -Lord God’s purposes for you undone, my prince, by dying here in vain? I -am old. I have done His work. I live or die by His will. I do not fear.” - -Crash! Before the battering beam the door was splintering. - -“We will never leave you!” came from the young men; but Daniel answered -with a gesture of command. It was he who was prince, not Darius. - -“Go! I command it!” cried he, almost arrogantly; “or your own blood and -God’s wrath are on you.” - -The tone, the majesty of his presence, these made his words as law. -Darius’s heart cried out in revolt, but he bowed his head and obeyed. -They thrust open the inner entrance, and a dank stairway wound down into -the darkness. They kept Zerubbabel’s lamp. Isaiah left his for Daniel. No -instant for long partings. Isaiah strode over beside Shaphat—“You are a -true son of Judah,” said he simply. But Shaphat only bowed his head. - -“The One God spare you, my father!” came from Darius’s trembling lips, -though the fear was not for self. - -“And you, my son”—like words between Daniel and Isaiah, and that was all. -They saw the civil-minister standing, sword in hand, across the narrow -entrance, hoary, but then, if never before, terrible. And at his side, -steadfast and unflinching, was Shaphat, the one-time recreant. - -A last crash—the beam, swung by twenty arms, beat the outer door inward. -It toppled on the bricks. Half a score of torches tossed together and -flickered on bared blades and lance-heads. A great yell of triumph, -followed by a howl of surprise. A last vision was branded on Darius’s -memory. He heard the clash of steel above him, the crash of conflict. -Then the stairway turned, cutting off sight and sound, and all about was -blackness. - - - - -[Illustration: BELSHAZZAR PURSUES IN VAIN] - -CHAPTER XXI - - -The last glimmer of light from above had vanished. The darkness, deeper -than that of deepest night, crowded about the three. The little lamp in -Isaiah’s hand shed only a tiny gleam that made the shadows behind and -before tenfold the blacker. As they descended the air grew foul, so that -the lamp sank to a poor spark, and all were gasping. It was like passing -alive into Sheol, and threading the avenues of the dead. No word, save -when Isaiah halted an instant and pointed to a ponderous bronze lever set -in the brickwork. - -“This controls the sluice,” quoth he, in a whisper; “we pass beneath the -river soon.” - -Darius had caught the lever in a giant clutch, and twisted it in its -socket; it would play less easily now, and delay the flooding. Then the -air around them grew yet more foul, so that they were fain to bow their -heads and haste onward, catching the purer breaths that hung along the -slimy bricks at their feet. And above him, and all around, the Persian -heard what sounded as a rushing wind—yet not a wind, for it sang and -sang, without gust or crooning, one ceaseless, monotonous murmur, and he -knew that it was the great Euphrates speeding above his head. No longer -any stairs—their path led right onward. - -So narrow the way that they could have reached to each wall at once with -outstretched hands. But they seldom did so, for all the bricks were -slimy with an ooze that made the flesh creep to the touch. And Darius -trod through a plashing mire, cold, fetid, unsunned for many a long -year. What monsters lurked in the all-encircling dark? Did not the dread -“Scorpion-Men” of the Chaldees’ tales here find dwelling? Were they not -near the gates of Ninkigal, “Lady of Torment,” of the Anunnaki, the -“Earth-Fiends”? - -Once Zerubbabel, just ahead of Darius, had stumbled; they heard a splash -and clatter of some object escaping into the dark—some vile, light-hating -creature that loved this pathway of the dead. Yet there was no time for -halting or even for trembling. Above them the rush of the river became -a maddening torture. Every heart-beat seemed long, every breath of the -death-laden air bought with a pang. And behind them at the mouth of -the tunnel was the old man Daniel with Shaphat,—renegade once and hero -now,—sacrificing themselves for the fugitives. But how long might such as -they hold back Igas-Ramman and his scores? How long before hostile hands -would be wresting on that sluice lever and this thoroughfare of the dead -become a tomb indeed? - -Darius knew that Isaiah was counting the brick piers bedded in the -casement; but, though he stared into the blackness ahead until his eyes -nigh throbbed with the pain, he met only darkness and ever more darkness. - -Once he cried aloud to Isaiah, “How many piers are yet to pass?” - -His words seemed to have awakened all the ghosts and ghouls of this foul -country. Echo pealed upon echo, his words were multiplied a score of -times. Hidden voices flung back his question out of murky deeps. And he -thought (for what were not his thoughts at such a moment?) that these -same tongues were answering for Isaiah: “Forever! Forever! You must run -this course forever!” - -Onward and ever onward, till senses reeled and ears were filled with a -buzzing that dimmed the fearful music of the river. Almost was Darius -ready to pray for death, if life were longer to be this. But still -Isaiah’s lamp went on before him, and still the Persian followed, his -feet obeying his instinct, not his numbing will. The Jews wasted no -breath on speech. The journey was seeming interminable, when Isaiah -uttered a great cry of relief: “Praised be Jehovah. The last pier is -passed; we soon mount upward!” But the words had just crossed his tongue -when the three groaned together, “Hark!” And blended with the steady -rushing of the Euphrates swelled another rushing, as of water, splashing -and swirling rapidly in the tunnel, but far behind. - -“They have opened the sluice at last,” came from Isaiah, with awful -calmness; “we must haste, and may the Lord still speed us!” - -And haste they did, human feet pacing against the tread of the waters. -They stood erect despite the deadly air, and ran—ran, while the swirling -behind them grew to a roaring; and of a sudden the slimy pools at their -feet, through which they stumbled, began to swell from their soles to -their ankles; and all the water, once chill, grew warm, rushing fresh -from the sun-loved current. Then all around the air began to whistle -past them in stifling blasts, heralds of the conquering river, blowing -as swift as the waters chased them, and hurrying the fugitives onward. -The roaring behind rose to reëchoing thunder, cavern answering to cavern, -till it seemed that all the demons of the deep were howling after as for -their prey. - -The stream had risen from ankle to knee—now higher. Isaiah stumbled; -his lamp was quenched, and all was noise and utter darkness. Darius’s -voice sounded above the swirl, his firm spirit bent at last: “Let us -make our peace with Ahura! That only is left!” But the Jews caught him -by the hand; he saw nothing, but under foot he felt a stairway. They -were rising, rising; the waters raved after them, loath to quit their -spoil. But the air—praised be the Merciful!—was growing sweet. The crash -of the element was dimming below. The Jews were halting on a platform, -and groping about for a keyhole. A rattle of bolts, a creaking of -the pivot—Isaiah was withdrawing the huge wooden key and relocking. -The three trod the embankment on the eastern side of the river. The -moon was creeping up above the tracery of the tower of Bel-Marduk, and -spreading her mellow light over the sleeping city. For a moment it seemed -still—still as the peace of the Most High. They saw no one, they feared -no one; but each fell on his knees, and after his own manner prayed. - -Yet they had scarce risen before Isaiah was plucking the Persian’s -mantle, while Zerubbabel stretched a finger toward the river. Gliding -from the royal quay, now hid in shadow, now clear in the glistening -moonlight, was something black, crawling,—a huge beetle as it were upon -the glancing river—a boat and their pursuers. But Isaiah was calm as the -heavens above him. - -“Fear nothing. We have by far the start. The gates are open. My friends -are ready with the horses. Jehovah, who has saved us out of the clutch of -the great Euphrates, shall He not much more save from the feebler wrath -of man?” - -“I fear nothing,” answered Darius; for after that journey what were -swords and spears for him to dread? - -“Come, then; we go the Gate of Kisch.” - -The boat had crept out into the current when the three sent a last -glance across the river. A red beacon fire was flaming on a tower of -the western palace. Soon the guard in the “Old Palace” on the eastern -bank would be stirring. But they did not tarry for the alarm. The three -followed the length of Nana Street, silent and desolate, and for a time -heard only the soughing of the kind night wind from the balmy west. The -vision of the tower of Bel faded into the star-mist. They crossed the -bridge of the East Canal, where no drowsy watchman challenged them. As -they passed the gates of the temple of Beltis, a dozing soldier cried, -“Your business!” from his guard-room; but he was too fond of his warm mat -to sally into the dark and pursue possible robbers. - -The Arachtu Canal was behind them, behind them the shops of the great -merchants, the still bazaars. Once two men sprang out of the dark before -them,—street thieves, perchance, lurking for the unwary; but one sight -in the moonlight of the stalwart shoulders of the three, and the others -vanished without a cry. A faint light gleamed from the steps of a low -beer-house; they heard brutish laughter and more brutish jesting as they -sped onward. The tall houses were beginning to lessen, the moonlit alleys -to widen. Another canal and another bridge, and the houses were breaking -away into vague masses of shadowy villas and gardens. Still forward; -and now behind, and far off, came a roar and a clattering,—the sound -of horsemen at their speed,—and the sound lent wings to their going. -But Isaiah, who paced even the prince as they ran, cried across his -shoulder:— - -“No peril! Jehovah is with us! See, the walls!” - -And lo! as Darius gazed upward, above him was rising the naked height of -Imgur-Bel, the black battlements clearly outlined against the roof of -heaven. - -Far above their heads, as the voice of a sky-dweller, came once more the -call of a sentry, “The morning star rises! Sleep holds the city! Marduk -shed favour on Belshazzar the king!” - -The loud noise of hoofs behind was ominous, but Isaiah led unfaltering -toward the gate. There stood the portal, at either side a soldier in -his armour, but here also prone on the ground in sleep; and the great -bronze-plated doors were unbarred, and opened wide enough to give passage -to a man. They glided through them without a word. Twelve paces more -and the drawbridge was cleared. Suddenly forms rose up out of the gloom -before them—five horses, and at their heads as many men. - -“Who comes?” cried a voice, and Isaiah halted. - -“This, my Lord Prince,” he announced to Darius, “is that Abiathar in -whose behalf I had attacked Igas-Ramman when you saved me. He is not -ungrateful.” Then to the others: “We are here, Abiathar, though late. -You and your friends have not failed us; Jehovah reward you and give His -mercy!” - -“And my Lord Daniel and Shaphat?” answered the other, grieving to find -three, not five. - -“In the Lord God’s keeping,” was the solemn answer; no time for more. -“Save yourselves, for all Babylon will ring with this, and rigorous -search be made.” - -“Farewell!” The strange forms vanished in the darkness. A cry was rising -from the gate: “Treason! Escaped! The guards are drugged! Pursue!” Darius -had leaped, and felt betwixt his knees a blooded Assyrian horse. The Jews -had mounted. The three together felt the good steeds spring under them. -Down the brick-paved way they flew, whirlwind-swift, the reins lying -slack on the manes. The portal of Nimitti-Bel, closed and guarded only in -actual siege, stood wide before them. They saw it come and saw it vanish. -Shouts behind, and a raging gallop also; but Darius knew a horse by a -touch, and he knew the best in Belshazzar’s stables might run long before -breasting the Assyrian that was speeding beneath him. Before the three -spread the Chaldean plain-country, lulled by the moon into that last hush -before the bursting dawn. They heard the pursuers follow a little way, -then deeper silence. The Babylonians had found their chase was vain. The -three rode for a long time without speech. Once Darius glanced across his -shoulder—walls, palaces, temple-towers, had sunk to a shapeless haze. -He had left “The Lady of Kingdoms,” “The Beauty of the Chaldees.” Stars -and moon above, a soft west wind, and the sleeping country—that was all. -But a strange exhilaration possessed the prince. He was saved; he was -free; he had still the might of his good right arm, the keenness of his -unerring eye. - -“Hebrews!” he cried, tossing his head proudly, “behold the man you have -plucked back from death unto life. Hereafter you shall learn how the son -of Hystaspes can reward his preservers and their people. But now—” he -flung his voice to the arching heavens—“to Cyrus! to Cyrus, the avenger -of all the wronged! And then war—for the abasing of ‘The Lie,’ and the -love and the joy of Atossa!” - - * * * * * - -There had come a Tartar cavalryman into Babylon, a small wiry man -on a bay horse fleet as Bel’s lightning bolt. When he cantered up -Ai-Bur-Schabu Street and turned the head of his Scythian toward the -king’s house, a great crowd had gaped at him. “This,” ran the whisper, -“was the bearer of the last message from Cyrus before the bursting -of war!” He had ridden straight up to the palace gate, and flung his -lance against the bronze-faced doors, turned the head of his steed, and -galloped headlong from the city, no man molesting. Thrust on the head -of the lance was a leaf of papyrus, and they had brought the letter to -Belshazzar, after which he and his ministers wagged their heads in long -debate. - - “Thus says Cyrus, King of Nations, to Belshazzar his perjured - and unfaithful slave. Your guile and your plot is known unto - me. Would you live and not die? Disband then your armies; throw - down your walls; send me your treasure, and your choicest - harem women; likewise restore unharmed my daughter and the - Prince Darius, my servant. But if you do otherwise, behold! I - will make Babylon as Nineveh, a dwelling for starving wolves; - and as for you, I will cut off your ears and nose, and chain - you forty days at my palace door, that other perjurers may see - and tremble, and after that you shall be crucified. Farewell.” - -When this was read Avil cried out to burn the last bridge and cast -Darius’s head into the Persian camp. So would Babylon be goaded on to -resistance to the end. But the king had shaken his head. “The prince was -a hostage,”—he repeated the word often,—“Cyrus would never dare to pass -beyond threats.” Therefore the ministers departed and Belshazzar sought -to drown his fears in wine. He had called for Atossa to come and drink -with him. He told her brutally, as if she had not heard it before, how -the game stood betwixt him and her father. When the colour mounted her -white cheek he brayed with laughter; when it fled he had new jeers. To -save the life of Darius, he asked her, would she not write in her own -hand to Cyrus, and warn him to postpone the war? But Belshazzar, who had -known only the simpering women of his seraglio, was cowed at the burst of -womanly passion he had raised. Under his blows the sparks flew from the -anvil, and that anvil was Atossa. - -“I am Persian, O ‘Fiend-lover,’” and Atossa stood before him raised to -queenly height; “kings were my ancestors, men beloved and prospered of -Ahura. When the Assyrian oppressed my people, he sank back smitten. -Where now is Crœsus the Lydian, or Astyages the Mede, who defied Cyrus my -father? Sooner let your lions growl above my bones, than a daughter of -Cyrus make herself wax to such as you!” - -“But you have loved Darius,” the king protested, sorely abashed; “I saw -you in his arms in the Gardens.” - -“Yes,”—Atossa’s anger was becoming terrible,—“I _have_ loved him. But I -do not love his poor body more than his Aryan honour. To us death and -life may be a very little thing; but outrage, insult, oath-breaking—Ahura -may forgive such things, not we!” - -“Out of my sight, woman!” thundered Belshazzar; and he had spurned her. -The eunuchs took her away. The king drank alone, draining goblet after -goblet of the most heady “Elamite”; but though he wished it, he could -not grow drunken. His body eunuchs put him to bed. He tossed long on the -India-web pillows and the Sidonian purple. They had bathed his feet in -perfumed water at last, and very late he fell asleep. The little group -of servants had gathered outside the door of the chamber, squatting in -silence on the tiles, each inwardly blessing some god that he had been -spared the royal wrath that day.... - -Midnight. The king turned once on his pillows, and the eunuchs’ -hearts commenced quaking. Anew he slept soundly, and they were again -rejoiced.... But what was this hasting of feet on the stairway, this -thundering summons to the guard below not to hinder? “The king! The -king!” Sirusur the _Tartan_ was before the eunuchs, sword drawn, fully -armed. - -“Rouse his Majesty,” commanded the general, halting his run. “Rouse -instantly! Darius the Persian is fled!” - -A eunuch stood by the bedside, awoke the king, and told him. The fellow -had vowed a sheep to Samas, but the god did not favour. The king caught -the short sword, ever ready, and smote the messenger of ill tidings to -the floor. Then he raged from the chamber, and even Sirusur fell on his -knees, cowering, for the king’s wrath passed that of bayed lions. - -“Not I—O awarder of life! I was not guards-captain; no blame is mine!” -The general’s teeth chattered as he spoke. - -“Who commanded the watch?” came from Belshazzar, in a voice betokening -the bolt impending. - -“Zikha, ‘captain of a thousand.’” - -“Go you,” Belshazzar addressed Mermaza; “have a stake made ready. Let -Zikha be impaled at dawn. And now, Sirusur, where is the fugitive? By -Istar, you deserve death likewise! Whither fled? Is pursuit made? Speak, -as you love life!” - -“He fled by the tunnel, lord. The guards were drugged. Traitors aided. -Daniel fled with them also, but he has been retaken.” - -“Daniel? Namtar, the plague-fiend, destroy him! Is the tunnel flooded?” - -“Not so wrathful, lord.” Sirusur was still trembling. “Your slaves -did all in their power. The old man Daniel remained in the entrance -to the tunnel with Shaphat, his one-time accuser; they made desperate -resistance.” - -“Shaphat defend Daniel? You are mad, Sirusur.” - -“Alas! no. Shaphat slew with his own hand two men, and as Bel reigns his -master fought valiantly as Gilgamesh the hero. You will not believe there -was such might in so old an arm. We killed Shaphat at last, and disarmed -Daniel, after nearly every man in the squad had his wound. Then finally -we were able to flood the tunnel, but I fear too late. The Persian had a -long start. The exit is poorly guarded. The bridge is raised, so we sent -soldiers across the river by boat. Nergal grant they nip Darius ere he -pass the city gate!” - -“Bring Daniel the Jew before me!” and Belshazzar’s teeth shone white, -hateful. The men obeyed silently. The king stood in the palace gallery, -the light of one red torch touching the blood of the slaughtered eunuch -on his sword-blade. The anger on his face was fearful. The old Jew’s -dress had been torn to shreds, his white hair fouled by blood and mire, -his left arm hung limp at his side. Two petty officers upbore him. They -thought to hear Belshazzar cry “Slay” at first sight; but the king -reined his passion enough to taunt bitterly:— - -“Ha! is it custom to quit the king’s house with so scant leave-taking?” - -The old man shook back his bloody locks and looked straight into -Belshazzar’s rage-shot eyes. “As you have kept faith to me and mine, so -have I to you, O king!” - -“Revile me now!” Belshazzar’s sword whistled as he brandished. Before a -mere reed Daniel might have winced not less. - -“I do not revile. True servant have I been to you and your fathers. My -reward is this!” He held up his right arm, with the red ring marked by -the fetter. - -“And this”—Belshazzar swung the sword higher—“one last mercy—death.” - -But Daniel had shaken off the soldiers. He stood erect. Some power from -his eyes stayed that upraised hand as by a spell. “No, lord of the -Chaldees! You cannot kill me, nor all your sword-hands, for I am mightier -than they.” - -They heard the king laugh, but—wonder of wonders—the weapon sank at his -side. - -“Sorcerer! By what magic can you make your old neck proof?” - -Belshazzar had moved two steps backward, turning his head to escape -the Hebrew’s compelling gaze, but could not; and he watched with a -fascinated, uneasy smile. - -“O king, as in former days the word of Jehovah, One and All-powerful -God, spoke through my lips to Nebuchadnezzar the Great, so now again -His spirit comes upon me, and puts these words into my mouth. And this -is the word,”—Belshazzar was uttering a formula against the evil eye, -but he could not look away,—“There shall come a time when I, whom all -your wrath cannot destroy, shall stand again before you, shall declare -to you the mandate of Jehovah, and when you and with you all the world -shall know that whom He wills He saves, whom He wills He lays low, and -whoso blasphemes Him He rewards utterly; that all may fear the Lord God -of Israel, before whom Bel-Marduk is less than the small grains of the -threshing-floor!” - -Then they saw a strange thing. They saw Belshazzar, that man of wrath, -shrink back step by step before the blood-grimed, aged Jew, until from -a long way off the king laughed again a shrill and direful laugh: “Away -with him! Back with him to his dungeon! Keep him fast, till he longs for -death, till he knows that his puny god is helpless before Bel-Marduk!” - -But all the strength seemed passed out of Daniel. The soldiers caught him -as he fell. The king was staring wildly from one servant to another; he -was as a man awakened from a frightful dream. - -“Wine!” he demanded. “I cannot sleep. Do you, Sirusur, pursue the -Persian. Hound him down. But wine, more wine! My head throbs!” His gaze -wandered; he in turn was tottering. - -“The king is ill,” declared Mermaza, just returned; “bear him back to his -bed.” - -“Allat consume you, eunuch!” Belshazzar buffeted him in the face. Then -the royal gaze lit again on Daniel. - -“Off! Off! What hinders that I kill you? All your babbling is folly. You -shall cry to your Jehovah many times, and cry in vain!” - -The aged prisoner shook off the soldiers; once more he stood fast. -“Remember the prophecy, King of Babylon! Remember! You shall with your -own lips summon me; with your own tongue pray to me; with your own hands -stretch forth imploring me to speak the mandate of the God you now -blaspheme!” - -“Silence, dotard!” Belshazzar smote the captive on the mouth. Then -again the king reeled, and did not resist when Mermaza caught him. The -eunuchs carried him to bed. A frightened page roused the Egyptian court -physician. “Raging fever,” quoth that wise man gravely, and ordered -“poultices of lotus leaves, well soaked in lizards’ blood and in the fat -of sucking pigs’ ears.” Before long the king was in violent delirium; -his servants had to hold him on his bed, while he made the chamber ring -as he cursed them. But one word was uppermost in the royal mind as he -raved—“Jehovah, Jehovah!” When he repeated the word he would foam in -hate. “Let me master Cyrus; let me conquer in the war, and I swear by -every god and every fiend it shall be safer in Babylon to do murder by -open day than to whisper the name of that foul spirit before me!” - -Avil-Marduk smiled grimly when the next morning they told him of the -king’s oath, taken in madness. - -“Ah, well,” declared the pontiff, “happy for pure religion if his Majesty -keeps this pious frame of mind when heaven gives back health. Yet he -did ill when he spared Daniel. The Jew will be harmless in only one -prison—the grave!” - -But long since Daniel had been thrust back into a dungeon, scarcely less -noisome than that which he had quitted. Ten armed men stood by when -they replaced the fetters, all fearful of some withering spell; and the -sentries pacing the galleries mumbled incantations to Nineb and to Ilu, -shuddering every time they caught a glitter from the terrible Hebrew’s -eye. - - - - -[Illustration: THE KING AND THE FATHER] - -CHAPTER XXII - - -The Persian army lay in the plain before the captured Kutha. Far as the -eye might reach, it touched only avenues of black camel’s-hair tents, -sprinkled with the gaudier red and blue of the princes’ pavilions. The -gloaming was at hand, the first stars budding; all around myriad red -sparks were twinkling forth—the camp-fires of the host of the Aryans. -Over their drink the stout Median footmen and Scythian horse-archers -were roaring out pledges—“Confusion to Belshazzar and destruction to -his city!” For if there was one thing the hearts of the soldiers lusted -after, it was to see the walls of Imgur and Nimitti-Bel. But the army had -waited inactive for days, and save for petty skirmishings had scarcely -sped an arrow. “Negotiations,” grumbled some wiseacres; and others would -answer, “The Father (meaning no one less than their august king) will -not cast away all hopes of saving Prince Darius.” Whereupon comrades -would shake their heads gloomily, “We shall see the prince, in this -world—never!” Then the banter, even of veterans, would lag, for Darius -was the darling of the army. - -So throughout the black tents. And in that village of pavilions, of -guardsmen and grooms and chamberlains, where the king found lodging, -there was no common gloom that night. For Cyrus sat alone in the -innermost tent, and refused all drink and food. This was the fortieth -night, on which Isaiah had promised to return with Darius, and naught had -been seen or heard of the Jew since he had quitted Susa. Atrobanes, “the -bearer of the royal handkerchief,” and the attendant with whom Cyrus was -most familiar, had ventured once to enter the tent, and light the tall -silver candelabra. There was the master on the high ivory throne, looking -straight before him upon the rugs, combing his flowing beard with his -right hand, while his left gripped hard on the jewelled hilt at his side. - -“Lord,” Atrobanes had ventured, kneeling, “the feast in the banqueting -tent is ready. The Princes Harpagus and Gobryas and the other captains -have come, for you deigned to command that they should eat meat with you -this evening.” - -No answer. Cyrus was still looking straight before. - -“Live forever, O king,” began Atrobanes again. An angry exclamation cut -him short. For Cyrus to be in wrath was so unwonted that the attendant -trembled. - -“Live forever? Are you mad? Is life so utterly sweet, that one may never -long to lay it down?” - -“Mercy, lord of all goodness; mercy!” protested the shivering servant. - -“By Mithra, you are frightened.” Cyrus laughed softly; it seemed more in -melancholy than in mirth. “I meant nothing; I scarce knew that you were -here. What is your wish?” - -“Will the king condescend to be present at the feast appointed for -to-night to the captains of the army?” - -A weary sigh, and more silence. Then Cyrus replied, almost bitterly, -“Would to Ahura I had not ordered it! How can I sit over wine this night? -Yet I must not dishonour the princes. Go to the high steward and say that -I can touch no food, though I thank him for his pains. Yet say that when -the evening advances, and the wine is brought, I will come and sit with -the captains.” - -“And the king requires nothing for himself?” - -“Only this—that you leave me.” - -Atrobanes kissed the cushioned footstool at his master’s feet, and -vanished behind the heavy draperies. There was profound stillness, save -for the vague hum of the busy camp and the clatter of plate and dishes -many hands were bearing to the banqueting tent. The king sat for a long -time motionless, the grip on the sword-hilt ever tightening. Then, -letting the weapon rest, he fumbled in his bosom, drew forth a locket, -and gazed on it as on treasure untold. “The locket of Atossa. It has been -close against her own pure breast.” He pressed it to his lips, once, -twice, thrust it back in his mantle, slipped from the high seat, and -began treading to and fro, his feet noiseless on the carpets. - -“Live forever, O king, O lord of all goodness! Live forever!” As he -repeated the words he was smiling, but not with mirth. “Praised be the -All-Merciful, these flatteries are but flatteries, nothing more!” - -Voices sounded at the tent door. - -“I come to report to the king from Artaphernes, commander of the -skirmishers.” - -“Unless you have definite news, his Majesty is not to be troubled.” - -“Wait, then; I have only to declare that our scouts bring in nothing.” - -The pacings of the king grew swift and feverish. - -“Nothing, nothing; well, it was to be expected. Are you waxed so old, -Cyrus, son of Cambyses, that you will pin your faith on an open face and -a ready tongue? The Jew spoke fair, but is like all men of every race -saving our own—a liar. If he but come within my power after betraying -thus—” - -There was a javelin standing against a tent-pole; the king grasped and -almost poised it. But the royal mood shifted; Cyrus replaced the weapon, -and ran on, communing with himself darkly:— - -“I am lord of a million sword-hands; at my word nations sink down in -ruin. Men worship me as being a god on earth. Holy Ahura, when Thou -madest me king, why did I not cease to be a man; why could I not cease -loving, losing, longing? The garment of life is woven of the same stuff, -whether for the vilest slave or the lord of the Aryans. I have godlike -powers, but I am miserable!” - -A noise without—the sentries passing the watchword for the night, as they -changed the guard, “Vengeance for Darius!” Again the king touched the -javelin. - -“Of course the Jew failed, and that without playing falsely. His project -was a mad one. Darius has long since died under Belshazzar’s torments. -Died; ay, and by Mithra the _dæva_-smiter, the watchword shall not prove -vain! Men call me merciful; but to the son of Nabonidus and all his -perjured brood, Angra-Mainyu, the arch-fiend, and his demons shall seem -more compassionate than I. But ah! though I slay all Babylon, I may not -breathe life into one form once stilled, nor woo back a loved spirit with -all the rubies of Ecbatana!” - -Again a voice at the tent door, and Cyrus, recognizing, commanded, -“Enter.” - -Hystaspes passed within. The prince was in his coat of shining scale -armour, for years had not made him too feeble to keep the saddle. The -short Persian spear was in his hand, the sword dangled at his thigh. The -king attempted to brighten before his friend, and threw out boldly:— - -“Well, comrade, has not the country been scoured, and all the farms -so well sacked, that a man of your hale years need ride with the -skirmishers?” - -The other laughed, though none too heartily. - -“The young hotbloods who lead your Majesty’s cavalry troops are all -valour and no prudence. An older eye is needed to see that Sirusur with -his Babylonish chariots does not dash down on us unawares, and fling us, -man and beast, into the Tigris.” - -“Caution, always caution,” answered the king, with an impatient gesture, -when the other attempted to salaam. “Come, you have no longing for the -feast. Let tables be brought here. I have only promised to appear at the -banquet when they serve the wine.” - -“Your Majesty is thrice kind; a thousand pardons, but for some reason I -cannot eat. Perhaps I have ridden too long; as you say, I grow old.” - -But the king plucked him nigh roughly by the shoulder. - -“No, you cannot eat, nor can I. Away with merry lips, when they speak -from grieving hearts. Darius, your son, is not here. We were fools to -trust the Jew, who has either failed or dealt falsely. Yet we must eat, -must eat heartily—you and I—and all.” - -“Does the king command that I feast against my will?” - -“Yes; for if Darius is dead, Belshazzar lives, and all the asps of his -guilty kind. And we need all our strength for a vengeance, the fame -whereof shall last as long as Mithra’s car glows in the heavens.” - -“Ah! lord, not so bitterly. I am the father, yet I can bow to Ahura’s -will!” - -“But I, the king, who sent Darius forth, and sped him to his death, find -like submission hard. For the king shall answer on the Great Day for the -blood of all his people!” - -“I do not blame your Majesty.” - -“Nor does any man.” Cyrus smote his own breast. “The voice that blames is -here.” - -But as he spoke a strange sound was spreading in the camp, a roaring as -of wind, though very far away. - -“An alarm!” and Hystaspes started from the tent. - -“Alarm? No such outcry; the soldiers are at some sport.” - -Yet still the sound was rising—was swelling nearer; and now they caught, -as it seemed, the clamour of countless voices. - -“Alarm surely! I must seek my post!” Again Hystaspes started from the -tent; but the king gripped his arm with so tight a clutch that it brought -almost pain. - -“Hystaspes,”—Cyrus spoke in a hoarse whisper,—“this sound—comes it from -men or from angels—is a shout of joy, not of fear!” - -[Illustration: “‘Here is only the king; within your father waits.’”] - -Then they stood side by side, those strong men, and listened; for a -mighty tumult was swelling through the camp, passing onward, nearer, -nearer, rising and falling like the wind-driven billow bounding -across the deep. Now the distant encampment of the Tartar Sacæans was -thundering, now the Bactrians and the Medes; closer now, it had reached -the Persians, the core of the army, and the “Immortals,” the royal -life-guards, were tossing on the cry. Then through the cheering the two -heard something else—riders galloping fiercely; and words came at last, -the shout of the captains and lords about the tent of the king. - -“The prince! The prince! Glory to Ahura!” - -The high chamberlain had entered. When he salaamed he stumbled. His ready -tongue spoke thickly. - -“Font of all goodness,” he began; but Cyrus did not hear. Straight -through the door strode the king, and into the throng of officers in -the tent without. They parted to either hand at sight of him, like sand -before the desert gale. Inside the pavilion itself a score of joyous -hands were plucking from his steaming beast a young man, who started, -tattered, dust-covered as he was, to kneel before the sovereign. Started: -but Cyrus beckoned him on, and spoke before them all:— - -“_Here is only the king; within your father waits._” - -So Darius was gone, with no man following him. Then two more newcomers -were led forward, and bowed themselves to Cyrus, who saw that they were -Isaiah and a stranger, though clearly a Jew also. - -“Lord,” Isaiah was saying, “behold my pledge fulfilled. This is the -fortieth night, and your eyes see Darius.” - -But Cyrus would hear no more. - -“Stand up, son of Shadrach, for the pledge is indeed made good. Look -on this man, captains of the Aryans; honour him as you would honour -your king, for he has brought joy out of anguish, brought life out of -death. Take him away, Hydarnes,”—with a nod to the “master of the royal -dresses,”—“clothe him in a robe of state; give him the wine and dainties -you would give to me; in the morning put the kingly tiara upon his head, -mount him upon my sacred Nisæan charger, and lead him through the host, -proclaiming to all men, ‘This is the Jew who is honoured by Cyrus!’” - -“Hail! all hail, Isaiah, justly honoured of the Great King!” - -So thundered an hundred; yet when there was stillness, Isaiah answered -humbly, yet boldly, “Lord, I despise not your gifts and your honours; but -it was not for even this that Zerubbabel, my comrade, and I plucked the -prince out of the dungeon and the clutch of Belshazzar.” - -Cyrus shook his stately head and smiled. - -“Ah! good Jew,” spoke he, “do you think the promises of the Persians are -pledges graven on water? Fear not that your people will find the king of -the Aryans aught but a father and a friend. But enough—you have ridden -hard and far; rest for to-night shall be the first reward. Lead them -away, Hydarnes, and give this other, Zerubbabel, ten talents also.” - -But Isaiah did not follow the chamberlain. - -“Your Majesty,”—he fell on one knee,—“I bring you not Prince Darius only. -I bring you this.” - -He drew from his girdle and proffered a tiny clay cylinder, scarce the -thickness of two fingers. The king grasped it, eagerly as the drowning -clutch after the float. They saw him read, and lo, a marvellous thing! -the eyes of the master of half the nations were bright with tears. Thus -ran the letter:— - - “_Atossa in Babylon, to Cyrus, lord of the Aryans:_ - - “I know that you must be first the king and then the father. - Yet when you sent me from Susa, did you send me to this—to - loathsome bondage, to be queen in name only, to be the toy - of a man of wrath and guile, and the pledge of a peace sworn - only to be broken? Come to me, my father, for I am of your own - proud blood. Let other kings’ daughters learn a master’s yoke; - a child of yours must be the mistress, or must die. Heaven - favouring, the noble Isaiah will save Darius, whom I love; but - I, who cannot fly, can only pray for the hour when the swords - of my people shall flash within this accursed city. Yet save - speedily; for the time grows near when I shall be Belshazzar’s - bride in very deed. Farewell.” - -“Did you penetrate the harem of Belshazzar?” asked Cyrus, his voice -unsteady. - -“Yes, your Majesty; I have seen the most gracious princess. Belshazzar -triumphs in holding the child of his arch-enemy captive. To force her to -his bridal will be his joy. And in three months he will celebrate another -feast—the wedding one year from the betrothal.” - -“Then in three months Babylon is to be taken?” - -“The king has said. Belshazzar will risk little in the field. He boasts -his walls will mock your armies seven years, and yet be strong.” - -“And you say that he boasts well?” urged Cyrus, shrewdly. - -“Lord, I only know that speaking from human wisdom, there may be doors -to Babylon Belshazzar little dreams of; and speaking from the voice -within”—Isaiah’s own voice rose, and he swept his hand proudly—“the -promise of Jehovah is yet strong,—‘I, who have prospered so far, and -saved from so many perils, will still favour even to the end.’” - -“And favour He will!” cried the king, as in a great gladness; “three -months for the might of the Aryans to master the ‘fiend-servers’ and -their mute brick and stone! Let Ahura lay on us a harder task!” - -Then the chamberlains took the Jews away, and forth from the inner tent -returned Darius, who knelt now at Cyrus’s feet. - -“Rise up,” the king commanded; “you also need food and sleep. And in the -morning—” - -“What in the morning, lord?” cried the prince, now standing. - -“In the morning you shall ride at the head of the van. But you have won -the right to crave a boon—and ask it, whatsoever you will.” - -“My king,”—Darius’s voice was trembling,—“you well know what I would -ask.” - -Whereupon Cyrus only smiled once more, and lifted his hand as in an oath. - -“By the light of Ahura I swear it, that when we have conquered Babylon -and plucked Atossa from the _dæva’s_ clutch, you shall ask for her in -marriage, and I will not say you nay.” - - * * * * * - -Three nights later the burghers of Babylon, when they mounted their house -roofs, as was their wont in the cool of the evening, saw a light that -stilled the bravest boasters. East, west, and north the horizon glowed -with a redness which shone ever brighter, ever nearer, till it climbed -the heavens. Rising smoke was blotting out the stars. Men spoke together -in whispers, as they stared and shuddered at the brightness: “The host of -Cyrus. All the country villages are burning. Marduk be praised, the walls -are yet strong!” - -At next morn the city folk saw a sight yet more terrible. The plains were -covered with innumerable black tents and pavilions, and horsemen more -than the sands of the sea. The king of the Aryans was at hand, and with -him all the might of the far East. Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel were put to -proof at last. - - - - -[Illustration: THE GLORY OF THE CHALDEES] - -CHAPTER XXIII - - -Three months nearly had the host of the Persians lain under the walls -of the capital. They had ravaged far and wide, had driven the country -folk by thousands inside the defences; the thriving villages were become -one blackened waste. But still the great Euphrates brawled through the -massy water gates; still the battlements loomed unapproachable above the -besiegers’ heads! What had Belshazzar and his city to fear? The battering -ram? Let Cyrus first bridge the network of protecting canals, drain the -moats, drive the archers from the walls, and establish his enginery, and -then he might beat for months on those mountains of brick and accomplish -nothing. Did he trust to starvation? There was corn enough, yes, and -daintier fare, to let Babylon hold off famine three long years; and -besides, the gardens and orchards within the long circuit of the walls -could in themselves supply a multitude. After the first fright was passed -the Babylonians had ceased to tremble and gibber, when they thought of -the foe without the gates. Trade was resumed in the bazaars; the scholars -returned to their schools; the rope-walks, the carpet factories, and the -brass foundries were again busy. Merchants counted impatiently the days -when the interrupted caravan trade with Egypt and Syria might recommence. -Plentiful stories were afloat that Cyrus was having vast difficulty in -feeding the myriad mouths in his army; that the Persian generals were -at strife amongst themselves; that revolt in Media and Carmania might -send the invader home discomfited at any moment. Therefore the worthy -city folk had advised one another “patience”; and behold, to-day, their -waiting was rewarded! A royal crier was parading the length of Nana -Street, and his proclamation was heard even above the plaudits of the -crowds:— - -“Rejoice! Rejoice, men of Babylon, city favoured by Marduk! Last night -the noble Sirusur, ‘Master of the host,’ made a sortie from the Gate of -Borsippa, and smote the Persian barbarians utterly, slaying hundreds, -and taking many of their great princes captive. This morning Cyrus, the -impious blasphemer of our gods, being utterly discomfited by the valour -of his Majesty’s army,—his generals deserting him, and his kingdoms of -Media and Bactria having rebelled against his tyranny,—is raising the -siege in all haste. His power is destroyed forever. Glory, glory to -Bel-Marduk, to Istar, to Samas, whose favour is over Babylon! Rejoice! -Rejoice!” - -“Glory to Marduk! Glory to Belshazzar, favoured son of the almighty god!” - -So the thousands had hailed the glad tidings, and rushed with one accord -to the walls, to make sure of the news. Even so; the black tents of the -besiegers were disappearing. Already the pavilion of Cyrus had vanished -behind the plains; the retreat bore almost evidence of a rout. - -“Follow after! Destroy them utterly!” advised the younger and bolder -captains about the exultant king, while he surveyed the welcome scene -from the Gate of the Chaldees. But Sirusur, the victor of the sortie, -who next to Belshazzar’s self had won most glory in the defence, only -observed, with the prudent wisdom of the all-knowing Ea:— - -“Leave them alone, your Majesty; the barbarians are at strife among -themselves: they will soon turn their swords on one another, and so fight -for us. Our army is weary with the siege, grant it some reward before we -take the field to conquer Cyrus’s provinces. Proclaim a great feast of -thanksgiving throughout Babylon.” - -“And is it not one year to-morrow night,” demanded the king, nothing -loath, “since I betrothed Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus?” - -“Even so, your Majesty,” quoth Bilsandan the vizier, at the other elbow. - -Belshazzar clapped his hands in right kingly glee. - -“Praised be every god! Do you proclaim a feast over the city for -to-morrow and to-morrow night. Let Babylon be one house of mirth, for -it shall be her king’s triumph and wedding-night together. Prepare the -palace for a banquet such as no king before—no, not Nebuchadnezzar the -Great—set for his lords and captains; there I will drink wine before all -Babylon, and show forth the daughter of Cyrus, whom I take to wife.” - -Therefore for a second time the crier had fared through the streets, and -all Babylon gave itself over to merriment. - -None did so with a gladder heart than Itti-Marduk the great banker. That -evening, when he sat with Neriglissor on his house roof, the excellent -man was in a state of enviable content. Two days before he had sold out a -huge granary of corn at half a shekel on the homer[11] above the price it -would now fetch, the siege being over; and when Neriglissor had examined -the entrails of three white geese, to see if his friend ought to risk a -very profitable loan, the omens had been most happy—the livers so white, -the hearts so very large, that some great advantage was foretokened, -unless all faith in augury was bootless. Therefore from business they had -passed to small talk. - -“Happy evening for Babylon,” Neriglissor was saying; “I did not think -Cyrus would give us the back so readily.” - -“Or that Sirusur the general would prove so valiant, if the flying -rumours had been true.” - -“Rumours?” demanded the old priest; “in Bel’s name, what rumours?” - -“Are you so ignorant at the temple, as not to know the talk of the city?” - -“Will you slaughter me, by not telling?” - -The banker grew confidential. - -“My dearest Neriglissor, surely you know that there have been many tales -afoot lately that, since the day of the great riot, and that scene in -his Majesty’s council where Sirusur the general and your own lord, -Avil-Marduk, passed such bitter words, the two have been as cold friends -as a lamb and a desert hyena. I have heard no less than two tales, one of -which is proved false,—the gods know concerning the other, not I.” - -“Well, tell them: I am tortured by curiosity.” - -“The first is that Sirusur the _Tartan_ and Bilsandan the vizier fear the -hostility of Avil and his influence over Belshazzar so much, that, rather -than see him wax in power, they prefer to open the gates to Cyrus.” - -“A lie! Sirusur’s valour in the sortie proved it so.” - -Itti let his head come yet closer to the priest’s as they sat together; -his gaze was shrewd and penetrating. - -“And is this a lie also?—that Avil-Marduk, the worshipful priest of Bel, -would not be greatly displeased if some hap of fate were to set him on -the throne of Nebuchadnezzar? By Samas, you are startled!” - -Neriglissor was smiling uneasily. “Have you the eyes of Nergal, dear -Itti? Well, you are a good friend, and know the meaning of that hard -word ‘silence.’ His Majesty is childless, thus far; he is the last of -his line; if by some dispensation of heaven,—which Ramman forefend,—if -Avil-Marduk were to be summoned to the throne—” - -The banker broke the other short with a dry chuckle. “Ah! then I did -not hear old-wives tales merely. Sirusur and Bilsandan would have good -cause for quaking with Avil wearing the purple cap. But the king weds the -Persian,—there may be an heir.” - -Neriglissor rolled one eye in his head. “Many things can befall before an -heir is born to his Majesty.” - -“Ha!” laughed the other, “so be it, if trade is not disturbed, and -Avil-Marduk remembers that he yet owes me twelve talents, be he king or -priest.” - - * * * * * - -So the gossip ran in the town, and in the palace there was one continuous -carnival. Belshazzar sat on his throne in the great audience hall; two -tame lions crouched at right and left, but he, in his kingly majesty -looked the noblest lion of them all. Before him had come the captains of -thousands and of hundreds, to pay obeisance and listen to the royal words -of praise, or even receive some crowning mark of good will—a chain of -gold hung round their necks by the monarch’s own hand. - -Then, next to Belshazzar, all paid court to Avil-Marduk, who stood -more modestly in a corner of the great hall, while the noblest of the -princes salaamed to him, and wished him “a thousand sons and a thousand -daughters;” for it was hardly more an hour of triumph for the king than -for Avil. His policy of mingled caution and boldness had been completely -vindicated. His influence in the royal council would be supreme. Never -had Babylon stood so clearly in the zenith of glory. And now that the -power of Cyrus seemed broken, to what bounds might not the dominions of -the Chaldee reach? And Avil-Marduk was saying within his crafty heart, -“The city may ascribe the triumph to Belshazzar if they will, the wise -will confess it won by me.” Only one thing marred the high priest’s -bliss. Sirusur the _Tartan_ and Bilsandan the vizier gave no compliments, -only dark frowns, when they passed him; and Avil spoke again within -himself of a certain ambition that boded little good for general or -minister, or even king. - -But the hopes and fears of his underlings had little place in the heart -of Belshazzar that day, when he dismissed the levee, and his parasol -and fan bearers followed him into the harem of the palace. Hardly had -Igas-Ramman the guards-captain departed after reporting that the last of -the Persian host had vanished in such haste as to leave much valuable -armour and camp furniture, when Mermaza came before the king with a tale -that made his smooth face beam with complacent mirth. - -“Let the king’s heart be enlarged, his liver exalted. Know, my lord, -Marduk sends no fair thing singly. May your slave speak?” - -“Say on.” The king was smiling, too, for he saw Mermaza had some wondrous -good fortune to relate. - -“Lord,” quoth Mermaza, smirking, “have you forgotten the daughter of -Daniel?” - -“Forgotten? By Istar, am I like to forget those stars, her eyes? or how -her accursed father has hidden her, despite all search?” - -“Wrong, my king.” Mermaza brushed his stiffly pomatumed curls on the -leopard’s skin at Belshazzar’s feet. “I and my eunuchs have discovered. A -shy partridge, but she is snared.” - -“Nabu prosper you, fellow! How did you secure her? When? Where?” - -Mermaza’s smile grew yet more honeyed. “Lord, your slave can tell the -story quickly. Daniel hid the maid with his friend Imbi-Ilu at Borsippa; -but when that traitor fled to Cyrus, he gave the maid into the keeping of -one Dagan-Milki, a schoolmaster who owed Daniel some debt of gratitude. -To-day in the rejoicings one of the older scholars, well laden with -palm-beer, chattered somewhat in the ears of Ili-Kamma, the slyest rat -amongst all my eunuchs. Said the lad, ‘Our master has a strange maid in -his family, and her manner is thus and thus.’ Ili comes to me; together -we go to the school and house of Dagan-Milki. And behold! Dagan lies in -the inner prison, and Ruth, the daughter of Daniel, waits now the good -pleasure of Belshazzar, the ever victorious king!” - -Belshazzar gave a laugh that almost set Mermaza to trembling; for it was -safer sometimes to hear the roar of uncaged lions, than such burst of -royal mirth. But the eunuch had naught to fear. - -“I thank you, rascal; by every god I thank you! Truly, Marduk sends all -things good at once; let him keep back some now, that his later store may -not be exhausted. Where is the maid?” - -“Already here in the harem. I have commanded that she be dressed in a -manner pleasing to your Majesty.” - -“And she has lost none of her beauty—she is fair as on that day when -Darius (curses light on the Persian!) beguiled me into letting her slip -through my grasp?” - -“She has lost nothing; nay, rather, in one year her bud has blown to full -blossom; she is doubly fair.” - -“Again I give you thanks. Lead me to her.” But the king paused an -instant: “One thing also,—command that Atossa be brought to me, when I am -with the Jewess in the harem.” - - * * * * * - -Atossa had been on the palace roof that afternoon, where she had spent -many a long hour during the siege,—gazing toward the lowering walls, -and praying for the moment so long delayed, when Aryan steel should be -flashing on the summits of those ramparts. And now Mermaza had come to -her, declaring: “Rejoice, my lady! for all Babylon rejoices. Cyrus raises -his siege; his host melts away like snow in the springtime!” - -Then Atossa had stared hard at the eunuch, wasting no tears on such as -him. “Another lie, serpent! Earth will turn to fire ere the host of the -Aryans turn the back from a war once begun.” - -“Nevertheless,” answered Mermaza, with an unusually lowly salaam, “you -will find your slave’s words do not err.” - -Full soon the shouts of gladness and the tidings that the under servants -brought into the palace told the Persian that Mermaza had indeed spoken -well; and right on the heels of this great bitterness trod a summons -from Belshazzar to appear before him without delay. A fearful outburst -rewarded the eunuch who brought it. - -“Get you gone! Tell Belshazzar that Atossa will love to see your Chaldean -‘Maskim’ more gladly than him.” - -“Lord,” explained the myrmidon, who knew how to soften tart messages -to the king, “the Lady Atossa is much indisposed; she prays to see you -later.” - -“Much indisposed!” roared Belshazzar, clapping his thigh. “Yes, by -Nergal, she and all her race need more than an Egyptian doctor’s physic -for their ills! Bring her hither, by force if needs be!” - -No disobeying this; Atossa was brought to the king. She found Belshazzar -in one of the cool, softly lighted, high-vaulted chambers of the harem; -he was lolling on the crimson cushions of his couch, in one hand his -constant companion of late—a wine-cup. But what Atossa was swiftest to -see was a young girl seated on a footstool at his right elbow,—a slender, -graceful thing, but shivering, and glancing furtively this way and that -like some trapped creature watching for escape. Only the flutter of -the fans of the inevitable corps of attendants broke the silence, when -Atossa was led before the king. She made no motion or sound; only looked -straight before her, with stern, glassy eyes, as if seeing all, yet -seeing nothing. - -Belshazzar raised himself and tilted the goblet to his lips. - -“Your health, my queen; may it be happier than that of your valorous -father.” - -The hot colour in Atossa’s cheeks was the king’s sole answer; he drained, -and thrust back the cup into the ever watchful cup-bearer’s hands. - -“Lady,” began he again, a trifle more soberly, “you have fought against -the bridle, but the Chaldee’s curb is too strong. To-morrow you become -indeed my wife. One year in Babylon is time enough to forget Susa. You -are of us now.” - -“I Babylonish?” demanded Atossa, and in the last word there was a whole -weight of scorn. But Belshazzar only let his eyes half close in easy good -humour. - -“You are a comely maid, even though Cyrus be your father. I do not -repent his sending you to Babylon; for Istar’s self might stand beside -you, and flush with shame. Be you who you may, you shall become my ‘first -queen’; and if you are but reasonable, you will find your least wish a -law to the Chaldees, no sorry thing even to a princess of the Aryans. Not -so?” - -“So I am to be first queen?” spoke Atossa, pointing with a finger; “but -this woman—who is she?” - -Belshazzar pinched the smooth arm of the maid at his side. - -“Look up, my queen! The lady does not remember the day when her -marvellous archer friend Darius saved you from the lion. Never since then -have my soul’s eyes lost sight of you, my flower, though your father hid -so carefully; and I have plucked you at last! The Persian is the lily, -and you shall be the rose in my sweet nosegay!” - -Atossa caught the girl roughly under the chin, and looked into her face. -“Excellent taste, my king,” she taunted; “so this is the maid who is to -divide honours with me. Is her father the Pharaoh, or Nadab the boatman?” - -The girl shuddered out of Atossa’s grasp. - -“You forget,” quoth Belshazzar, ogling from one woman to the other; -“her father is no boatman, by Nergal! though, like your own, scarce now -on good terms with the god of good fortune. He is Daniel, the one time -civil-minister.” - -All the anger vanished from Atossa’s face instantly. - -“Were you not Ruth, who was betrothed to Isaiah the Jew?” asked she of -the girl, who only nodded dumbly, for fear had stolen her power of speech. - -“And what does the king require of her?” spoke the Persian, almost -haughtily; “possessing me, does he not possess enough?” - -“Fie!” answered he; “because I keep the swiftest Elamite bay in my -stables, must I own no other charger? You need not fear her as a rival -in power. You shall be queen, and she?—” he lifted the dark curls on the -Jewess’s soft neck, “we shall find her place when some lucky god gives -back to her her tongue.” - -Ruth cringed and shivered under the touch; more than ever she seemed the -dumb, netted creature. But Atossa took her by the hand. - -“Your Majesty,” said she, more mildly than before, but losing none of -her lofty tone of command, “surely you have made merry enough with your -two slaves for to-day. Let me take the daughter of Daniel with me, to my -chambers.” - -“Let the king so favour his handmaiden.” It was the first word Ruth had -spoken. And Belshazzar declared, with another great laugh:— - -“So be it. Go your ways. Teach this wench speech, Atossa, and I thank -you. But one last command,—let the Jewess be present at the feast of -triumph; for if you are to shine as Istar, the other great goddess, -Beltis, must not fail.” - -Once in the private chambers of Atossa, Ruth cast herself on the tiles -at the princess’s feet and burst into a flood of tears. - -“O lady! if you have any power indeed, give one favour, a speedy death, -and end my pain! Better black Sheol than to hear again the voice of -Belshazzar!” - -But the Persian, stronger and maturer, raised her up, and held her head -against her own breast. - -“Peace, peace. Lamentation binds up no broken hearts, else would mine -have ceased its grieving long ago.” - -“Ah! merciful mistress,” cried the Jewess, falling again on her knees, -“forgive your slave; what freedom is this that I have shown before your -face? Forgive—” - -“I forgive nothing; there is naught to be forgiven,” answered Atossa, -with a wan smile. “We are equals in the wretchedness of our lot. Whether -your plight or mine is worse, Ahura knows, not we.” - -“Ah! God is weak,” groaned the Jewess, “else why has Belshazzar thus been -suffered to blaspheme Him and to prosper? The king has hounded my lover -from the city, has flung my father into a dungeon, and soon will take -his life. Just before you came to us, Belshazzar said unto me, ‘Forget -your Jewish god, my pretty, for I will teach the nations how helpless -is the demon the Hebrews and Persians serve.’ Once I was strong, once I -bade Isaiah risk all for our God, and count nothing for Him too dear. But -now,—I am not of kingly blood, as you, O lady,—I can only know that to -all seeming Marduk has conquered Jehovah.” - -Atossa pointed from the window, beyond the green foliage of the -“paradise” about the palace, beyond the _ziggurats_ and the towering -walls. - -“How can these things be? I do not know. Ahura-Mazda is all-wise -and all-good. That should suffice, were we but perfect as His -‘Ameshaspentas.’ But this I know: beyond those walls are Cyrus and Darius -and Isaiah; and while those three live, let these Babylonish swine grunt -their boastings, I know that hope is not ended.” - -“But Cyrus departs. His princes disobey him, and turn against him.” - -Atossa pointed again toward the window. “Cyrus departs? Little you know -my father, or the princes of the Persians, and our Aryan fealty. Other -kings have cried ‘victory’ when they warred with Cyrus—but those kings, -where are they?” - -“Then you still hope?” almost implored the Jewess. - -“Yes, because Ahura still sends Mithra the ‘fiend-smiter,’ into the -heavens, pledge of His favour; and because Cyrus, lord of the Aryans, is -Cyrus still; and Darius, son of Hystaspes, is Darius still.” - -“Yes, lady,” cried Ruth, still quivering, “hope is sweet; but I have long -hoped, and hoped in vain; and it grows hard. To-morrow is the feast, and -after the feast Belshazzar will possess us utterly.” - -“The time truly is short”—Atossa’s eyes, for the first time that day -shone with tears; “yet if Ahura willeth, one last moment shall yet bring -low this Babylon and its most evil king.” - -“But we?” - -Atossa shook her head impatiently. - -“We are only women, made to trust and bear. We can only wait his will.” - - - - -[Illustration: THE WARNING OF JEHOVAH] - -CHAPTER XXIV - - -Nightfall again; and again a feast at the same hour when one year earlier -Belshazzar had given a banquet to the daughter of Cyrus and proclaimed -her his prospective bride. At early dawn all Babylonians had awakened to -eat, drink, and make merry. Every beer-house had reëchoed with drunken -revel. No business in the bazaars, no priests chanting their litanies on -the temple-towers. The great merchants had thrown open their doors to the -most distant friends, who were welcome to enter and quaff a deep-bellied -flagon. By noon half Babylon was in drink: drunken sailors roaring along -the quays, drunken priestesses at their orgies with tipsy youths in the -groves of Istar, drunken soldiers splashing their liquor as they stood -guard on walls and gates. Cyrus was gone. The siege was at an end. What -need of watch and ward? One would have thought the city had forgotten -Marduk and Samas, to adore the one god, Wine! - -As the first twilight spread, the multitudes commenced to surge through -the open gates of the palace. Long before the proper feast was prepared -the royal stewards had brought skins of the rarest vintage from the -palace cellars, and emptied them into the great silver mixing-bowls -which stood in every corner of the vast courts, with a busy eunuch by -each, handing forth goblets to great and small—for all Babylon could -call itself Belshazzar’s guest that night. The walls of the courts -had been hung with gay stuffs curiously embroidered; over each of the -courts rippled a vast awning of Sidonian purple, hung by a clever system -of pulleys, making the huge space one banqueting chamber. And under -this canopy, as everywhere else in the king’s house,—save the inner -harem,—jostled the shouting, rioting multitude, maddened with drink: -ass-drivers, gardeners, artisans, women, children even, pressing around -the eunuchs and stretching forth eager hands for the goblets, with only a -single cry: “Wine! Wine! More! More!” - -In and out through this human whirlpool ploughed Khatin the giant -headsman; other pates might whirl with the cheer, not his, though none -had seen the bottom of more cups that night than he. - -“One year to-night,” the executioner was braying, “since the betrothal -feast; you recall your dear friend Khanni was with us then. Pity his -Majesty bade me end his services four months since!” - -“Peace; speak not of it!” groaned the eunuch Nabua, who dragged, very -tipsy, on Khatin’s arm. - -“Silence, then, if you wish. Well, to-morrow I trust to say farewell to -those Persian noblemen taken in the sally—stout lads, all of them!” - -“But Darius has slid through your clutch,” hiccoughed Nabua, snatching a -honey-cake from a table, grasping and swallowing almost as one act. - -“Darius? Yes, all the gods have won a grudge from me by that. But I shall -be repaid. Avil-Marduk will have a free course against the Jews now. I -doubt not to chaffer with that surly oaf, old Daniel, before another -Sabbath.” - -“Sure of this?” - -“So Mermaza whispered in my ear to-day. Imbi-Ilu is no longer in the -city, to raise riots in the Jew’s behalf. Avil has sworn Daniel’s death. -Not even his Majesty could save him, if he wished.” - -“The procession! The king! Way! Way!” bawled many. “To the great -court!” Hardly did Khatin with all his might win an entrance to this -huge enclosure, so vast was the crowd. Where save in Babylon was a like -banqueting space! One hundred and fifty cubits long, one hundred broad; -walls to the height of five men; the pictured walls of enamelled brick, -the castellated and gilded parapet above; the great purple awning on -high; the giant winged bulls at the many entrances,—this was the scene -that glowed under the light of six score silver lamps hung from the -awning, and as many resinous, red torches flaring in the sockets on the -wall. - -Straight across the lower half of the court stretched a rope barrier, -cutting off the vulgar herd. Above, a bevy of eunuchs were making the -last arrangements for the feast, setting innumerable chairs and stools -beside the low tables, or hanging a great bower of dark cypress above the -high couch on the dais at the end, where Belshazzar would take his wine, -viewing and viewed by all. - -Suddenly the brawl even of drunken voices was hushed. - -“Hark! The king and all his captains!” - -Nearer and nearer was approaching the clangour of cymbals and of -kettle-drums; then out of the din burst the wailing of flutes and the -blare of the war-horns. A louder crash,—fifty harps and zithers were -joining. Into the court came filing two long lines of spearmen in -silvered armour, who swept the multitude to right and left, then halted, -leaving a long lane for the royal procession. After the soldiers marched -the musicians, handsome men, each wearing the tall, peaked mitre of his -guild: and after these a company at sight whereof every onlooker craned -his neck, and a loud “ah!” arose. - -“The Persian prisoners,” grunted Khatin in Nabua’s ear; “to-night they -shall see his Majesty’s triumph. To-morrow they shall die. Hah! They -strut haughtily enough!” Then he howled aloud as the captives came -nearer, “Fine plunder, my merry sirs, are you finding in Babylon; sad -your dear lord Cyrus is not near you now!” - -But the pinioned Persians were led straight forward. Cords had been -fastened to rings in their lips, by which their guards could drag them. -Around the necks of many dangled unsightly objects—the heads of comrades -whose bodies had fallen into the Chaldees’ hands. A thousand jeers flew -around them; but no Persian repaid with so much as a shake of the head -or a curse. Even the most drunken of all that throng felt a small mite -of respect, if not of pity, for these men, who showed their foes that -where an Aryan could not conquer, he at least knew how to die. Silently -they were arrayed inside the barriers, to await the royal pleasure. And -now all forgot them, as, with more musicians accompanying into the court, -marched the priests of Bel-Marduk, bearing glaring flambeaux. The ruddy -light flickered on the white dresses and sleek goatskins of the priests, -and their mitres set with bullocks’ horns. The company ranged itself -before the soldiers, that the king might pass up a lighted way. Loudly -now rose their triumph song—for was this not the night of Bel-Marduk’s -own victory? - - “O Ruler Eternal! O Lord of all being! - Smiter of the foes of Belshazzar thy servant: - Who stillest the ragings of Cyrus the Persian: - Hast broken his spear, hast shattered his quiver: - Confounding his god and the vile Jewish demon: - We praise thee, and with us all Babylon worships!” - -The chant ended with a terrific clap of cymbals and thunder of drums. -Then the wonted cry was spreading: “The knee! the knee! Hail! Hail! -Belshazzar!” Soldiers again: the chosen sword-hands of the guard, the -golden scales of the armour flashing: scarlet pennons trailing from every -spear-head. Behind them on a lofty litter rode Belshazzar the king,—never -more kingly than now, never arrayed before in costlier robes and tiara. -And at sight of him a great shout rose spontaneously from the multitude. - -“A god and not a man! Marduk appears on earth! Happy Babylon—your king -was begotten in heaven!” - -Belshazzar looked neither to one side nor the other, the faces of the -stone bulls more mobile than his. “The king was indeed half god—what part -had the son of Marduk with the life of vulgar men!” so his thought ran. - -Under the firm steps of twelve great noblemen moved the litter. Right -behind was a second, not so high, yet lofty also, and she that rode -therein exposed to common sight. And now there was a titter here, a taunt -there, and yonder silence. - -“The daughter of Cyrus!” “Joyful day for her!” “Away with the chalk-white -Persian!” - -White indeed was Atossa, but Belshazzar gave the multitude no less heed -than she. Where better to show her Aryan pride and courage, than before -these _dæva_-worshippers! - -“Fie, Persian wench!” hissed the tipsy Nabua, “your eyes turn green as a -cat’s with rage!” But a great hand clapped ungently upon his mouth. - -“Peace, fool,” Khatin whispered hoarsely. “Persian or Chaldee, I know -a true man or a true maid. Where is the Babylonish hussy who could bear -herself in Susa thus?” - -Three more litters, bearing Tavat-Hasina, the stately queen-mother, -Avil-Marduk, and the Jewess Ruth. Both women, like Atossa, shone with -jewels that twinkled under every torch; but Avil was clad in perfectly -plain robes and fillet,—strange contrast to the gay-robed company about. -He met the gaze of the multitude with his wonted stare and smile, -arrogant almost as his royal betters. But the Jewess was quaking like -aspen behind her purple and crimson. She said nothing; but her great eyes -were wandering all about, well telling the terror that had sunk too deep -for tear or cry. - -Then behind the litters came the lords and captains of the Chaldees, two -by two, and more gilded armour, gem-crusted helmets, brilliant mantles -and surcoats; stately men all, who had anew given their Babylon the proud -title of “Lady of Kingdoms,” for they were the first warriors before whom -Cyrus, the terrible Aryan, had turned away in defeat. - -Belshazzar had stretched himself on the high couch, the ladies and -pontiff took the chairs set at his side, the captains were seating -themselves below at the many small tables. Yet the king’s eyes wandered -about, inquiringly. “Where is Sirusur the general?” - -Whereupon Bilsandan the vizier approached with a profound salaam. - -“River of Omnipotence! the _Tartan_ asks me to beseech that he be -pardoned. He lies unwell in his own house; much service and the reopening -of an old wound drive him to his bed.” - -“Lord,” quoth Avil, _sotto voce_, to his master, “Sirusur was anything -but ill this noon. To my mind—” - -But Bilsandan interrupted nigh testily: “Priest, you sniff for treason -as a hound for a hare! Is it conspiracy for the king’s generals to be -stricken with the sickness-demon?” - -“Nevertheless,” objected the priest, “let a messenger be sent to -Sirusur’s palace—” - -But the vizier sneered boldly: “My dear pontiff, not one ‘double-hour’ -since I saw him on his bed, with five wizards from your own temple -preparing incantations over him. Shall we not rather vow three steers -that he come from their clutches safely?” - -“Samas protect Sirusur from the ‘five fiends,’” laughed the king. “I -mourn his absence, but he is forgiven. Enough delay! Let the feast begin.” - -Instantly, as by magic, the tapestries upon the walls were brushed aside, -revealing doorways, whence a long procession of eunuchs filed into the -hall, each bearing a silver dish or basket; and soon fish and flesh of -every manner were piled upon the dishes of the king’s guests. Nor were -the throngs below the rope barriers forgotten; here, too, food was served -until man and child could take no more. - -The music rose and fell in swaying rhythm and cadence; and now and again -the choir of Bel would burst into their song of praise to god and king, -raising their pæan louder, louder, until the canopies quivered:— - - “Bel-Marduk, sovereign of archers, - Bel-Marduk, spoiler of cities, - Bel-Marduk, lord of all gods, - Bel-Marduk, who rulest forever; - Thee, thee we praise!” - -After the carp and pigeons had vanished, lo! amid shout and creaking, -four flower-wreathed cars were wheeled into the court, each groaning -with the weight of a roasted ox. Then the company—as if they had starved -before—fell to feasting with true glutton’s zest. From time to time -Belshazzar would deign to command Mermaza to bear to this or that captain -a morsel of meat carved from the king’s own plate,—a rare mark of favour -to the happy soldier thus commended. - -So at first the feasters devoured in silence; then when even the hunger -of the mighty men of the Chaldees began abating, the talk ran swiftly. -Vainly Belshazzar strove to force the Jewess into speech. The Persian -answered the king only curtly. Then at last he stretched forth his mighty -hands, plucked Ruth by the arm, and drew her close to his couch. - -“Hail, daughter of Cyrus! do you not hate your rival?” cried he. - -But Atossa only answered, though the flush on her cheek grew crimson:— - -“I pity the lord of the Chaldees.” - -“Pity?” Belshazzar stared at the Persian. - -“Yes, verily! What save pity for a king who uses his power more to -torture helpless women than to perform right kingly deeds?” - -Belshazzar thrust the Jewess away with a curse. “Allat possess you, girl! -Why is your touch so icy cold?” Then fiercely to Atossa, “Speak out, -Persian; what mean you?” - -“Mean?” Atossa leaned forward from her own seat, and met his angry glare -unflinchingly; she spoke in a whisper, yet a whisper that could be heard -for far around: “I say that if it were Cyrus who had won the victory you -boast, he would not be lolling over a stalled ox and wine, but in the -field, grinding to dust his fleeing enemies. But I speak as a Persian -barbarian—the Chaldees are wiser. Their watchmen drink and sleep snug -to-night, knowing that the Aryan’s power is broken utterly.” - -Belshazzar gave a laugh so loud that every feaster kept silence before -the king. “Bravely sped are your arrows, lady! I praise you! Were your -race as valiant with the sword as you with your tongue, scarce would we -be feasting here. Yet look on those captives yonder, choicest princes of -Cyrus’s host. Where is his power if he suffer _such_ to be taken?” - -“Beware to boast; the Persian memories are long. They will not forget -revenge in a year or a generation.” - -“Long truly if they would wait the crumbling of Imgur-Bel and -Nimitti-Bel!” But here the king halted, for Bilsandan approached his -couch once more. - -“May the king’s liver increase, his heart find rest!” saluted the vizier. -“I crave his compassion. A messenger from my palace: my youngest daughter -lies grievously ill—a sudden torment sent by the ‘Maskim.’ Be gracious, -and suffer me to quit the feast.” - -Belshazzar frowned. “You and Sirusur both away? I like it little. Yet go; -I can refuse no boon to-night.” - -But the vizier had another request. “Lord, these Persian captives are a -doleful sight at so gay a feast. Command that they be taken away.” - -The king nodded carelessly. Bilsandan whispered to the prisoners’ guards -and was gone; a moment later the captives were removed also, followed by -the hoots of many. Mermaza, who was serving the royal party, laid his -head beside Avil’s for an instant. - -“First the general and then the vizier. Strange! I would stake five -wine-skins these excuses are lies!” - -“I believe you,” was the guarded answer; “but what mischief can hatch -to-night? Yet I mourn that the king dismissed Bilsandan so readily.” - -“Ha!” interrupted Belshazzar; “enough of fowl and oxen; bring on the -wine. Wine, the true gift of the gods, is the crowning of the feast!” - -The music crashed again. The nimble eunuchs cleared away the viands in a -trice, and as quickly brought in the great mixing-bowls of chased gold -and silver. One huge tankard of perfumed Damascus they set beside the -king; and Avil, taking a jewelled cup, stood pouring libation and praying -loudly: “Grant, O Istar, O Nabu, O Bel, mighty deities whose power is -over Babylon, that Belshazzar your servant may reign ten thousand years. -Let his foes stumble, their weapons break, their bodies grow fruit for -his sword. And so will we offer you sacrifice forever!” - -Then on one knee Mermaza passed to Belshazzar another cup; and the -monarch raised it with the cry: “Away with the ‘care-demon’ and his kind -this night. This is the time appointed by Nabu for glee. When has Babylon -shaken off a foe like Cyrus the Persian? Drink, men of Babylon, drink to -the present glory and the coming triumphs of your king!” - -“Wine! Wine!” from every captain and sword-hand; and the goblets went -back to the waiting eunuchs in a twinkling. - -Atossa had never seen Belshazzar so riotous before. He seemed to have let -the mad spirit of the hour gain utter possession of him. - -“Drink!” he shouted again, “drink! He is traitor who does not measure -seven goblets.” Then, turning to Atossa, he thrust his own cup into -her hand. “I have been cruel, lady,”—his voice sank into hoarse -soothing,—“cruel, because hitherto you have been Persian. But to-night -you are become Babylonish by becoming my wife. We strike hands in a -truce. Peace is better than war. Bel-Marduk is your god now, not Ahura -the helpless. Are you not ‘Queen of Sumer and Akkad’? Ask whatever -you will, if in reason, and I will not refuse. But drink you with the -rest,—drink to the triumphs yet to be won by Belshazzar your husband, -whose glories are all yours.” - -Mechanically Atossa tasted; put the goblet away. But Belshazzar still in -his mood ran on: “Yes, you are a great king’s daughter, and worthy to be -my wife, though Persian born. As for this Jewess here,” with a leer at -Ruth, “she shall learn to love me, when her father and his cursed god are -all forgot. The fiends blast me; why can I not drive the thought of that -drivelling Hebrew from my mind? To-morrow Khatin ends him, or I am no -king.” - -But to the threat and curse neither Ruth nor Atossa answered, for the -iron had long since entered deep into their souls. - -Already the first set of mixing-bowls were emptied; the eunuchs bustled -in with others. The rounded bottoms of the silver goblets, making it -impossible to lay them down, forced rapid drinking. Avil sat and quaffed -in silence; but once or twice paused to cast sinister glances toward the -vacant seat of Bilsandan. “A care, good vizier,” spoke he to his own -heart, “beware; the time is not far when I will brush you and the general -from my path, as I served Daniel and Imbi-Ilu; and then if aught of -mortal fate befell the king—” - -But these forecastings were broken by the entrance of a great corps of -harem girls, clothed in gauzy dresses of all the tints of the rainbow. -While the harps tinkled softly they came before the king, to the space -cleared at the foot of the dais, and sped about in sensuous dances, -raven locks flying, smooth brown limbs twinkling, while they wove their -figures. And again and again their delicate voices joined with the -priests’ in the great chorus to Bel, bestower of all Babylon’s bright -glory:— - - “Bel-Marduk, who rulest forever, - Thee, thee we praise!” - -The music throbbed faster and faster, the players breaking into ever -madder melodies, as though their music was answering to the mounting -and throbbing of the wine. Belshazzar had sunk back on his couch in -contented revery, scarce watching the dancers. What king of the Chaldees -before him had opened his reign with a fairer triumph? Already to -Belshazzar’s vision the artists were portraying upon the palace walls, in -imperishable stone and enamel, the mighty deeds of the all-victorious son -of Nabonidus. Already before the king’s mind Media, Armenia, Egypt, and -farthest Tartary lay conquered. Nay, the barbarous tribes of the Greeks -beside their distant sea should learn to pay tribute to the monarch of -“Babylon the Great.” But the king’s dreaming ended when Avil touched his -elbow and whispered in his ear. And at the next interval in the dances -Belshazzar had a command for the chief of the eunuchs:— - -“Hasten. Bring us the captured vessels, sacred to the gods of the nations -I and the great kings my fathers have put to shame. For we will drink -from them to the deities whose favour is upon Babylon.” - -An expected order, and quickly obeyed. The eunuchs put in the hands of -the captains, the harem girls, and the musicians, innumerable fresh -goblets of gold and silver, of many and curious patterns. But to -Belshazzar Mermaza bore three golden drinking-cups, each huge and crusted -with jewels. Then the king took the first and raised himself from the -couch before the vast throng. What with his tiara, his own fair stature, -and his lofty seat, he seemed a god indeed. - -“Again, lords of the Chaldees!” he commanded, “drink again! I hold -the goblet used by Pharaoh Necho, in worship of Ammon-Ra, his god. -Nebuchadnezzar took it in the great battle of Karkhemish. Where is -the power of Ammon against our Babylonish gods?” Belshazzar held the -glittering goblet on high. “Rise, Ammon, god of Egypt, rise! Thou art -mocked! Display thy power!” Perfect silence, and the king shouted again, -“Drink then with me, since Ammon lies helpless, a pledge to our great -Istar, ‘the Lady of Battles’!” - -“Hail! Hail to Istar!” from a thousand, and they drank the pledge. - -A second goblet was in Belshazzar’s hand; and again he called: “Look—a -vessel taken from the temple of Assur in Nineveh, when our fathers sacked -the city. Rise, Assur,—rise, god of Assyria! Thou art mocked.—Helpless -also—drink therefore again, a pledge to our Samas, ‘the Glory of the -Heavens’!” - -“Hail to Samas, the undying sun god!” was the tumultuous answer. But the -king had not ended. - -“Look, warriors and princes! I hold the goblet taken from Jerusalem, from -the temple of the impotent demon the shambling Jews and flying Persians -fear. When did Jehovah save Zedekiah the Hebrew out of the Chaldee’s -power? And how now shall Cyrus, who cries to him under the name of Ahura, -find deliverance from my hands? For Cyrus has turned away ashamed, his -vassals fail him, his god is helpless, his power is broken! Victorious -war is before your king, and empire never won before!” - -“Victory! Victory to Belshazzar, the favoured of Marduk!” so the vast -company cried; and the king yet a third time uplifted a goblet. - -“Rise, Jehovah, or Ahura,—whatever be thy name,—rise; thou art mocked!” -Again the pause and stillness, then the shout of the king: “Rise, rise! -thou who art boasted all-powerful. I defy thee, I laugh thee to scorn.” -The great cup was nearing his lips. “For the third and last pledge, -men of Babylon—to Bel-Marduk, whose power waxeth forever; who shall -be praised a thousand ages after the Persians’ and Hebrews’ god is -forgotten! To Bel-Marduk, lord of lords, and god of gods, drink!” - -But as every man lifted his own wine-cup, and the shout of the pledge was -on his tongue, there was suddenly a silence. The goblet fell from the -royal fingers. They saw terror flash across the king’s face as he looked -upward; and each beheld something moving against the plastered wall.... - -[Illustration: “They saw terror flash across the king’s face as he looked -upward.”] - - - - -[Illustration: NABU BETRAYS BEL-MARDUK] - -CHAPTER XXV - - -Since first dusk the army of Cyrus had been in motion: the horse-archers -of Tartary, the Hindoo infantry, the Persian lancers. The army marched in -silence, no kettle-drums thundering, no war-horns blaring, the commands -sent softly down the long line, from officer to officer. When the last -bars of light had flickered out in the west, there had come a halt; bread -and wine were passed among the men, the horses were watered in a canal: -and Orasmasdes, chief of the Magians, shook incense into the portable -altar carried beside the king, and offered prayer. Softly yet clearly -rose the song in praise of Mithra, the great minister of Ahura-Mazda:— - - “His chariot is borne onward by Holiness. - The law of Ahura shall open the way for him; - At his right hand speeds Obedience the holy, - At his left hand flies powerful Justice, - Behind him drives lie-smiting Fire!” - -When the chant was finished the General Gobryas rode up beside the royal -chariot. - -“Lord of the Aryans, what shall be the battle-cry to-night?” - -And Cyrus, leaning from the car, made answer, “Give this battle-cry to -the host, as it shall enter Babylon,—‘For Ahura, for Atossa!’” - -The officer bowed, vanished in the deepening gloom. Cyrus turned to his -charioteer. “Forward!” he commanded softly. - -The reins shook over the white Nisæans. As the chariot moved -onward, the thousands made haste to follow. Once Atrobanes, the -“handkerchief-bearer,” who cantered beside his lord, ventured -remonstrance. - -“Will not your Majesty take your litter? My lord is not so young as once. -If he drive all night, he will grow weary.” - -Cyrus stood erect upon the car, taller seemingly than ever. - -“Peace, good friend; the king of the Aryans has at least the strength to -ride when his children are marching, and with such a prize before!” - -“True,” quoth the other, as he rode beside, “even your Majesty does not -often stretch forth his hands to take a Babylon.” - -“Do you think I ride for Babylon this night?” demanded the king, almost -angrily. - -But Atrobanes did not reply; he knew the guerdon of all the deeds that -night would not be “The Lady of Kingdoms” but the Lady Atossa. - -So onward in the darkness, the trailing host keeping wondrously still. -They had wound wisps of hay around shield and scabbard and over the -horses’ hoofs to deaden all noise. As the night advanced, the sense of -awe sank deeper. Even the beasts gave no whinny; only as one clapped an -ear close to the earth would he have caught the jar and rhythm of many -men marching. The sky along one horizon was just beginning to overcast -and hide a few stars. Soldier muttered to soldier, “There will be a -storm,—lightning and thunder.” But for the hour all the elements kept -silence, with no wind creeping across the plain or lifting the lifeless -pennons. - -Cyrus had ridden long without speaking, when the muffled canter of two -horsemen sounded, approaching from ahead. A moment later Darius and -Isaiah were reining beside the monarch’s car. - -“You meet nothing? no alarm? no watchers?” asked the king in a whisper. - -“None, lord,” answered Darius; “we rode to the shadow of the outer wall; -there was no sentry to challenge us.” - -“The stillness may be ominous,” remarked Cyrus, shrewdly—“a pretended -carelessness to lure us under the walls, when Belshazzar can fling wide -his sally-ports and dash on us with his thousands. And you did grievous -wrong in perilling your lives so near.” - -“Am I not a Persian too, your Majesty?” answered the prince in his pride; -“have I not learned to dare and to do from you and from none other?” - -“True,” they knew Cyrus was smiling, “but Belshazzar may nevertheless -have set a trap.” - -“Then the Babylonians’ guile is deeper yet,” replied Darius; “you do not -see, my lord, in the darkness, who it is Isaiah has mounted behind him.” - -“A deserter from Babylon?” - -“Imbi-Ilu, the exiled pontiff of Borsippa, just come from the city. Let -him speak for himself.” - -The chariot halted, while a figure leaped to the ground from behind the -Jew, and salaamed before the king. - -“May every god shine on your Majesty,” Imbi reported; “at no small peril -your slave disguised himself as commanded and entered Babylon. He has -communicated with Bilsandan the vizier, and Sirusur the _Tartan_. They -accept your Majesty’s promises, and rejoice to become your servants,—the -more because Avil-Marduk works hourly on Belshazzar to gain their ruin. -The guards on the gates have been withdrawn by Sirusur, the rest of the -garrison is nigh drunken to a man. My priests at Borsippa swear they will -not fail.” - -“The garrison drunken? Is Belshazzar mad; does he think my power -shattered so utterly?” asked Cyrus, marvelling. - -“Be that as it may, my king,” interposed Isaiah, “while we awaited -Imbi-Ilu under the walls, we heard from within nothing else than the -sound of music and of revelling. The Chaldees are not Persians. Their god -is the wine-cup, if the truth be told. Jehovah has caught them in their -wickedness. He has led them into the net prepared by His servants.” - -“So be it,” remarked Cyrus; then to the priest he hinted sternly, “Your -friends will do well to keep troth. Let there be treachery in this, -and I swear by your gods and by mine, I will lift your head from your -shoulders!” - -The Babylonian was not discomposed. “And I accept the warning; if I or -my priests of Nabu play false, do to me as you will. But if Babylon is -taken—” - -“You shall not fail in your reward,” declared Cyrus, “on the word of a -Persian king; I renew my promise of the high priesthood of Bel-Marduk in -Avil’s stead.” - -“Forward then,” urged the Chaldee; “let the king possess his city.” - -The charioteer made the lash whistle, the car whirled forward. The shadow -of the great walls was above them now; speed, not silence, demanded; the -guards about the king pricked with the spur to keep beside. Darius spoke -again to Cyrus:— - -“Lord, Imbi-Ilu tells us that at midnight Belshazzar quits his bridal -feast.” - -Cyrus shot a glance up at the heavens, where the advancing clouds had not -yet quenched all the starlight. - -“By the movement of the stars, it lacks three hours of midnight,” he -answered. - -“We must therefore take all Babylon in three hours. Away with prudence; -haste, oh, haste!” cried the prince. - -But Cyrus spoke back to him, “If so Ahura willeth, in three twinklings of -an eye we could yet save Atossa!” - -But, notwithstanding, they heard the king’s great voice swell out in a -shout that was music in the ears of all the army. - -“Forward, men of Iran!” - -It was the word that let the hounds slip from the leash, that uncaged the -lion. Directly above their heads was the beetling rampart; they saw the -glassy shimmer of the broad canal under the vanishing stars, and they -heard—from within the vast bulwark, even as Isaiah had said—the sound -of mirth and of harping. The footmen burst into a run, every horseman -pricked deeper, while one shout, though in many tongues, echoed against -the fortress. - -“The Father! The Father! Let us die for Cyrus our king!” - -Then the battlements surely quivered while a second shout smote them, -“For Ahura, for Atossa!” - -The echoes died; no battle-cry from behind the walls pealed in answer. -The column was skirting the southern rampart, when yet another messenger -flew up beside the king. - -“I come from the Princes Harpagus and Hystaspes; their troopers are in -station before the northern city. They attack as soon as the uproar -proclaims that the king is assaulting.” - -No answer from Cyrus, for the van was beside the water-gate of the great -canal of Borsippa. The column perforce had halted. The last stars had -fled. It was very dark. The walls above seemed barriers lifted to the -very gates of heaven; undefended, might not Belshazzar’s city mock its -mightiest foe? The canal was creeping through the dark cage-work of the -bronze water-gate. For an instant was stillness, while king and soldier -waited; and then, all vaguely, they saw the great fabric of metal rising, -crawling like a sluggish monster from its slimy bed. Unseen chains and -pulleys strained, grated; the gate rose higher; now the canal coursed -freely under, now it was lifted to the height of a mounted man. Close -under the wall lay a causeway, wide enough for a single cavalryman to -enter. Nimitti-Bel was unsealed! - -Out of the darkness appeared figures and flickering torches. - -“Live forever, O king,” spoke Sirusur the betrayer, “the city is sunken -in mirth and drunkenness. Forward boldly—you will dash the wine-cup from -Belshazzar’s own hand.” - -Cyrus started to descend from the chariot. - -“A horse,” he commanded abruptly; “there is no space for the car to -enter.” - -But at his words one cry of protest arose from Darius and all the -officers, “The king will not _himself_ enter the city!” - -“Not enter?” Cyrus’s voice became stern and high. “Am I not king? To whom -may I give account?” - -None stirred to obey him. Moments were rubies; the monarch was swelling -with anger. - -“Have I not commanded? I can yet be terrible to the disobedient. I am -still the ‘Giver of Breath’ to all Iran!” - -But the others stood mute and motionless. The preciousness of the hour -made Cyrus blind to all save his desires. He bounded from the car, and -snatched a mounted officer with a giant’s clutch. - -“Down! Your horse!” he commanded thickly. The man was helpless in that -grasp, but suddenly a dozen hands were put forth upon the king himself. - -“Lord,” said Gobryas, the senior general present, “we cannot suffer this -thing. Your Majesty must remain without the gates till your slaves have -mastered the city.” - -The king struggled to be free. - -“Must? Not even you may use that word to me. As Ahura liveth, you shall -die for this madness.” - -But the others did not release him. - -“Lord,” repeated Gobryas, “when your Majesty wills, I bow my neck to the -stroke; but till then, I love the ‘Light of the Aryans’ too well to see -it quenched, even at its wish.” - -“But I implore you—” protested the king, for commands were useless. - -And Gobryas answered, “We love the king too well even to heed his -prayers.” - -Cyrus gave one bitter groan, but he remounted the chariot and said no -more. - -“Advance,” entreated Sirusur; “every instant gives Belshazzar chance to -take alarm, and my work is undone!” - -“We will enter,” spoke Darius; and in the faint torchlight they saw Cyrus -bow his head. Then every officer bent low in the saddle, saluting the -king. The host behind was fretting and wondering at the strange delay. -But once more the king’s command rang out strong. “Forward, my children! -And swiftly—your father prays it!” - -“For Ahura, for Atossa!” - -So thundered Darius, and as all the rest rolled on the cry, he sent his -steed at headlong gallop straight through the narrow portal; after him -Isaiah, after him the choicest of the Aryan cavalry. Within the gate the -priests of Nabu met them with more horses and torches to guide them on -their way; for the Borsippa folk’s hatred of Avil-Marduk passed their -dread of the Persian. Darius glanced over his shoulder,—the gate had been -forced wide open, the sword-hands and lancers of his people were pouring -in by tens, by hundreds. The gate of Imgur-Bel opened wide for them. Let -Belshazzar defend his inner barrier as he might, the strongest were lost -him. The night was darker yet, the storm was rumbling nearer. But far -away, down the long vista of Nana Street shone a dull redness against an -inky sky—the torches and bonfires of the palace, where the Lord of the -Chaldees sat at feast. - -Darius pressed the spur until his good beast almost screamed with the -pain. - -“The City of the Lie is ours!” he cried to Isaiah, who flew beside him, -while a thousand raged close behind. “Ours! And Belshazzar is ours!—and -Atossa!” - - - - -[Illustration: FULFILMENT OF JEHOVAH] - -CHAPTER XXVI - - -There on the wall the letters glowed, right under the torch-holder; -glowed like ruddy fire, the whole dread inscription spreading in one -long, terrible line under the eyes of king and nobles. While Belshazzar -looked, his bronzed cheeks turned ashen. The awful hand had vanished the -instant the sentence was written,—gone—whither? The lord of the Chaldees -gazed upon his servants, and they—back at their master, while none spoke. -But the letters did not vanish; their steadfast light burned calmly on. -Then came another fearful deed; for Belshazzar caught the golden cup that -had fallen from his hand, and dashed it against the wall. A great square -of the plaster fell, but lo! the letters were burning still. Then new -silence, while every man heard the beatings of his heart and thought on -his unholy deeds. - -But the stillness could not last forever. Belshazzar broke it. The pallor -was still on his face, his knees smote together, his voice quivered; but -he was kinglier than the rest, even in his fear,—he at least was brave -enough for speech. - -“Ho! captains of Babylon! Why do we gape like purblind sheep? A notable -miracle from the gods! Some new favour, no doubt, vouchsafed by Marduk!” - -No one answered; all strength had fled from the stoutest sword-hand. -Belshazzar’s voice rose to a sterner pitch, as he faced the array of -priests. - -“What mean these letters? They are not the characters of the Chaldee. -Their meaning? Here are learned men, wise in every tongue. Translate to -us!” - -Still no answer; and the king’s wrath now mastered all his fears. - -“Fools!” his hand was on his sword-hilt; “Marduk has not added to -the miracle by smiting all dumb.” He confronted the “chief of the -omen-revealers,” who stood close to the dais. - -“Here, Gamilu, this falls within your duties. Look on the writing. -Interpret without delay; or, as Marduk is god, another has your office!” - -Gamilu, a venerable pontiff, lifted his head, and stared at the -inscription. He mumbled inaudibly, but the royal eye was on him. With -vain show of confidence he commenced:— - -“Live forever, lord of the Chaldees! A fortunate sign, on a doubly -fortunate day! This is the word which Bel, the sovereign god, has sent to -his dearly loved son, the ever victorious king, Belshazzar—” - -But here he stopped, bravado failing. Thrice he muttered wildly, then -grew still. The king’s rage was terrible. “Juggler! you shall learn to -mock me. Nabu destroy me too, if you are living at dawn!” - -The luckless man fell on his knees, tearing his beard: his one groan was, -“Mercy.” Belshazzar heeded little. “You other priests,—you the chief -‘demon-ejector,’—do you speak! The meaning?” - -A second wretch cast himself before the king. “Pity, Ocean of Generosity, -pity! I do not know.” - -The king wasted no curse. “You, Kalduin, ‘master of the star-gazers,’ who -boast to be wisest astrologer in Babylon,—look on the writing. I declare -that if you, or any other, can read these letters, and make known to me -the interpretation, he shall be clothed in scarlet, and a chain of gold -put about his neck, and he shall be third ruler of the kingdom, next to -Avil and myself.” - -But Kalduin also fell on his knees, groaning and moaning. Belshazzar -turned to Avil-Marduk, who had not spoken since the apparition, and -who was still exceeding pale. “Avil!” the accent of the king was icy -chill, “if you are truly the mouthpiece of your god, prove your power. -Interpret!” - -Then came a wondrous thing, even on that night of wonders. For the chief -priest, to whom Babylon had cringed as almost to the king, cowered on the -rugs by the royal couch. “Lord! Lord!” he moaned in fear, “I know not. I -cannot tell. Mercy! Spare!” - -Belshazzar shook his kingly head as might a desert lion, he alone -steadfast, while a thousand were trembling. - -“And is there no man in all Babylon who can read this writing?” was his -thunder. - -There was a rustling beside him. From her chair the aged queen-mother, -Tavat-Hasina, leaned forward. “Your Majesty,” she whispered, from pale -lips, “live forever. Let not your thoughts trouble you. There _is_ a man -in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.” - -“What man?” demanded Belshazzar. Every eye was on the queen, who -continued:— - -“In the days of your father, light and understanding like the wisdom -of the gods were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar made him master -of the magicians and soothsayers, because an excellent knowledge and -interpretation of dreams and dissolving of doubts was found in him.” - -“Ay! The man! His name!” The king snatched her wrist roughly. Many voices -reëchoed, “The man! His name! Send for him! Send!” - -The queen-mother looked steadily into Belshazzar’s eyes. - -“The name of the man is Daniel, whom the king called Belteshazzar; now -let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.” - -But the words were like fire thrust into the king’s face. He recoiled -from her; the ashen gray came back to his cheeks. “Not Daniel! I will -never see him! I have sworn it! Not he! Not he!” - -So cried the king. But from all the captains rose one clamour:— - -“Send for Daniel! He is the only hope. He alone can reveal. Send! Send!” - -Avil found courage to rise and whisper in the royal ear, “Let all Babylon -burn, ere the king craves one boon of this villanous Jew!” - -“Never! I will not send,” cried Belshazzar. But as he saw again that -burning line, he grew yet paler. - -“Daniel! Daniel! We are lost if the writing is longer hid! Send for the -Jew!” - -The captains were waxing mutinous. Scabbards clattered. Would the feast -end in rebellion? Belshazzar addressed Mermaza. “Eunuch, go to the -innermost prison and bring Daniel hither without delay.” - -“Hold!” cried Avil, at the top of his voice; “what god can speak through -_his_ lips? Is the king of Babylon sunk so low—” - -“Read and interpret yourself, priest,” bawled an old officer; and from -fifty fellows rose the yell: “Away with Avil-Marduk. It is he who angers -heaven!” - -“Shall I go, lord?” questioned Mermaza, and Belshazzar only nodded his -head. - -Then there was silence once more, while monarch and servants watched -those letters burning on the wall. Presently—after how long!—there were -feet heard in the outer court, the clanking of chains; then right into -the glare and glitter came Mermaza, followed by two soldiers; and betwixt -these an old man, squalid, unkempt, clothed in rags, the fetters still -on wrist and ankle. But at sight of him a hundred knelt to worship. - -“Help us, noble Jew! Make known the writing, that we may obey heaven, and -may not die!” One and all cried it. But Daniel heeded nothing until he -stood before the king. - -As Belshazzar rose from his couch to speak, a cry broke forth from Ruth. -“My father! My father! Help me! Save me!” Almost she would have flown to -his arms, but he outstretched a manacled hand, beckoning away. - -“Not now, daughter. On another errand have I come.” Then to the king, -“Your Majesty, I am here.” - -Belshazzar tried vainly to meet the piercing eye of the Jew. His own -voice was metallic, while he groped for words. - -“Are you that Daniel, of the captive Hebrews, whom Nebuchadnezzar brought -out of Judea?” Where were the king’s wits fled, that he asked this of the -man so long known and hated? A stately nod was his reply. - -“I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you, and light and -understanding and excellent wisdom. And now the wise men and astrologers -have been brought to read this writing, and to interpret, but they could -not. And I have heard that you can make interpretations and dissolve -doubts.” The king’s voice faltered; he would have given a thousand -talents not to be driven to speak the rest. “Now, if you are able to -read the writing, and make known the interpretation, you shall be clothed -in scarlet, and have a chain of gold about your neck, and be the third -ruler of the kingdom.” - -No response: Daniel looked straight upon Belshazzar, and again Belshazzar -strove to shun the captive’s gaze. - -“Will you not speak?” demanded the king. “Speak! or you are beaten to -death!” - -Was it triumph or pity that lighted the old Jew’s face? “Death? My times -are in mightier hands than yours, O king. Answer truly—will you have me -speak? For this is not the word of Bel.” - -All saw Avil leap up, as if in creature fear; but Belshazzar at least -faced Daniel steadily, with all save his eyes. - -“Answer me truly—be it good or ill. But answer!” - -The king stretched forth his hands to the Jew, imploring. The prophecy -was fulfilled; Belshazzar the king supplicated Daniel the captive! The -old man’s form straightened; he swept his gaze around that company, every -eye obedient to his. His voice was low, yet in that silence each whisper -swelled to loudness. - -“Let your gifts be for another, O king; give your rewards to another, but -I will read the writing to the king, and make known the interpretation.” - -Then he told the tale all Babylon knew so well, how when the mighty -Nebuchadnezzar hardened his heart in kingly pride, madness smote him, -and made him no better than the beasts, till after living seven years -thus humbled, he came to himself, and knew that the Most High was above -all kings. And by the time the tale was ended the silence was so great, -that even the sputtering torches were loud to hear. Daniel stood directly -before the dais; the chains rattled as he stretched forth a finger, and -pointed into the king’s face. - -“But you, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew -all this; but have lifted yourself up against the Lord of Heaven; and -they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you, and your -lords, and your women have drunk wine in them; and you have praised the -gods of silver, of gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, -nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose -are all your ways, you have not glorified. Then was the hand sent from -Him, and this writing was written.” - -The finger pointed toward the glowing characters upon the wall. “And -this is the writing that was written: ‘_Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin_.’ -And this is the interpretation: ‘_Mene_’—God has numbered your kingdom -and finished it. ‘_Tekel_’—you are weighed in the balances and are found -wanting. ‘_Upharsin_’ which is otherwise ‘_Peres_’—your kingdom is -divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.”... - -... A fearful cry was rising; captains were on their faces, groaning to -Samas, to Istar, to Ramman: “Save! Save from the wrath of Jehovah!” The -workings of Belshazzar’s features were terrible to behold. Thrice he -strove to speak,—his lips moved dumbly. Then, as the king looked, lo! -another wonder. The fiery words were gone, and only the shattered plaster -showed where they had burned. “Woe! Woe!” all were moaning; but the -vanishing of the letters gave back to Avil his courage. He leaned over, -whispering to the king. In an instant Belshazzar uttered a hideous laugh. - -“Good! By Istar, the Jew has me fairly on the hip! Clever jugglery, I -swear, to contrive a trick that could chase the blood from the cheeks -of the stoutest captains of the Chaldees! Show me the conjurer; I will -pardon and reward. A clever jest, my princes, a clever jest.” - -The shout died away in profound silence. The king grasped a goblet once -more. “By Nabu, the jest is so well played, you still wander for wits. -Daniel must have reward. Ho! Mermaza; the robe of honour and the chain of -gold. Off with these rags and fetters. Behold in Daniel the third prince -of the kingdom. Set a new seat on the dais. A health to his Highness!” -He drained the cup, then in a darker tone, directly at the Hebrew: “This -is the promised reward. But when at midnight I quit the feast, if your -prophecy is not fulfilled, you die the perjurer’s death, for mocking thus -your king.” - -Daniel answered nothing. The eunuchs pried off his fetters, put on -him the robe and the golden chain. They set him in a chair beside -Belshazzar, offering a jewelled goblet. He took it, tasting only once. -Avil had risen, in vain effort to fuse the company with the same mad -merriment affected by himself and the king. - -“I congratulate Prince Daniel, my colleague in government! Another health -to him, and to our ‘ever-to-be-adored’ Queen Atossa. Strike up, harpers; -raise the triumph hymn to Bel once more.” - -With reluctant fingers the musicians smote harp and zither, the choir of -priests and maidens lifted quavering voices,—sang a few measures,—the -weak notes died away into ghastly stillness. Every eye crept furtively -up to the square of shattered plaster. Then, as if in desperation, and -bound to hide his mastering fears, a “captain of a hundred” motioned to a -eunuch. - -“Wine, fellow, wine, heady enough to chase these black imps away! Let us -drink ourselves to sleep, and forget the portent by the morning.” - -“Wine!” echoed all, “more wine! Surely the Jew has lied. Forget him!” - -The revels were resumed. The torches flared above the king of the -Chaldees and all his lords draining their liquor,—beaker on beaker,—in -one mad, vain hope—to drown out their own dark thoughts. The fiery -apparition had vanished from the plaster only to glow before the -uncertain vision of each and all. Soon rose drunken laughter, more -fearful than any scream or moaning. - -Avil at least kept sober. Once he turned to Mermaza. - -“What are these flashes? The lamps cast shadow. And this rumbling?” - -“A storm approaches, though still far off.” - -“Foul omen at this season!” answered Avil, and under breath—scoffer that -he was—he muttered a spell against the “rain-fiends.” - -Atossa sat on her own high seat, watching, waiting, wondering. One can -hardly say whether she had hopes or fears. She had not spoken since the -miracle. What followed she remembered as she would recall a dim memory -of long ago. Daniel was sitting by her side. Once she ventured, despite -Belshazzar’s frown, to speak to him. - -“My father, the spirit of the holy Ahura is on you. Tell me, shall we be -saved, you, and Ruth and I, from the power of these ‘Lovers of Night’?” - -And Daniel, calm, unblenching, sober, amid a hundred gibbering drunkards, -answered with a confidence not of this world: “My child, we shall be -saved. Doubt it not; but whether we be saved in this body, or depart to -see Jehovah’s face, He knoweth, not I. But His will is ever good.” - -The king interrupted boisterously, with unveiled mockery:— - -“Give wisdom, noble Daniel. Shall I rebuild the walls of Uruk or spend -the money on new canals at Sippar?” - -The Hebrew made the king wince once more, as he looked on him, - -“Lord of Babylon, think no more on walls and cities. Think of your past -deeds. Think of the Just Spirit before whom you must stand.” - -“Verily, Jew,” sneered Avil, “you will play your mad game to the end.” - -“To the end,” was all the answer; but neither king nor pontiff made mock -of Daniel again. - -Deeper the drinking, madder the revelling. From the outer palace rose -the laughter of soldiers and the city folk. The priests of Bel at length -gathered courage from their wine. They roared out their hymn, and the -dancing girls caught up red torches,—brandishing, shrieking, dancing, -one lurid whirl of uncaged demons. The officers put forth their hands -time and again for the beakers which the eunuchs could not fill too fast. -In the reaction after the portent, the scene became an orgy. The king’s -cheek was flushed, his voice was loud and high. Tavat, the queen-mother, -quitted the feast; and Atossa would have given all she possessed—how -little!—to be suffered to follow. She had hardly tasted the cups pressed -on her. She was utterly weary. The gold and jewels on her head seemed an -intolerable weight. Oh, to be away,—to have that scene blotted out, even -by death’s long slumber! Her head fell forward. Ahura was kind. Did she -sleep? Suddenly Belshazzar’s voice aroused her. - -“Midnight, the feast ends; and you, O Jew, have lost!” - -The king was standing. The lamps were smoking low; the noise of the -feasters failing, as the wine accomplished its work. The tipsy priests -had quavered out their last triumph song:— - - “Bel-Marduk, who rulest forever, - Thee, thee we praise!” - -Belshazzar addressed Mermaza. “Eunuch, deliver Daniel the Jew to Khatin -for instant death. His mummery turns to his own ruin. _Now_ truly let his -weak god save!” - -Even as he spoke there was a strange clamour rising in the palace -without: a headlong gallop, a shouting, not of mirth but of alarm. None -yet heeded. - -“Your Majesty,” Daniel was answering steadily, “suffer me only this: let -me embrace my daughter Ruth.” - -The king nodded. “Be brief, for you have vexed me long!” Then, turning to -Atossa: “Ah! lady, Queen,—at last! to the harem! you are my wife!” - -Atossa knew she was being taken by the hand; she saw all things dimly as -through darkened glass. Nearer the gallop without, louder the shouting, -and through it and behind a jar and a crashing,—not of the elements -surely! Daniel had clasped Ruth to his breast. His words were heard only -by her and by Another. The king gestured impatiently. “Enough! Away!—” -But no more; there was a panic cry at the portal, the howl of fifty -voices in dismay; and right into the great hall, over the priceless -carpets, through that revelling throng, spurred a rider in armour, two -arrows sticking in target, blood on crest, blood streaming from the -great wound in the horse’s side. Up to the very dais he thundered; and -there, in sight of all, the beast staggered, fell, while Igas-Ramman, the -captain, struggled from beneath and stood before the king. - -“_All is lost, lord of the Chaldees!_” and then he gasped for breath. But -already in the outer palace was a fearful shout. “Arms! Rescue! The foe!” - -Belshazzar tottered as he stood, caught the arm of the throne. His face -was not ashen, but black as the clouds on high. “What is this, fool?” he -called. And Igas answered, “O king, Sirusur and Bilsandan are traitors. -The retreat of Cyrus was a ruse. By night his host has returned. -Imbi-Ilu, the exile, has tampered with the priests of Nabu, and they have -opened the Borsippa water-gate. Sirusur has withdrawn the garrisons from -the chief defences; Bilsandan has released the Persian prisoners and with -them overpowered the guard at the Northern Citadel. Prince Darius is -speeding to the palace.” - -“And you, where did you fight?” demanded the king. - -“We made shift to defend an inner gate. Treachery is all about. We were -attacked in the rear. I fled with the tidings. The Persians carry all -before them,—hear!” and hear they did; “the foe will come and none to -stay!” - -“None shall stay? Twenty thousand men of war in Babylon, and Belshazzar -be snared as a bird in his own palace?” The king drew his sword, flinging -far the scabbard. - -“Up, princes of the Chaldees, up!” he trumpeted, above the shriekings all -around. “All is not lost! We will still prove the Jew the liar! Whosoever -dares, follow me! All Babylon is not turned traitor. We will make our -streets the Persian’s grave!” - -Yet while he cried it a second messenger panted into the great hall. - -“The outer defences of the palace are forced, O king! The foe are -everywhere!” - -But Belshazzar leaped down from the dais, and sped about one lightning -glance. - -“Here, Khatin, stand by these women and this Jew! See that they do not -flee. I will yet live to teach them fear.” - -A crash without made the casements shiver. Belshazzar sprang forward. “At -them, men of Babylon; all is not yet lost!” - -And, spurred by his example, the feasters rushed after. The cups lay on -the tables, the lamps flickered overhead, the storm wind was shaking the -broad canopy, but Atossa knew only one thing—the raging din that ever -swelled louder. Then a second crash, mightier than the first; and out of -it a shout in her own tongue of Iran. - -“For Ahura, for Atossa!” - -The battle-cry of the Persians—and Atossa knew that Darius, son of -Hystaspes, was not far away. - - - - -[Illustration: “BEL IS DEAD”] - -CHAPTER XXVII - - -Oh, the terror, the blind terror, which possessed the guilty, lustful -city that night! the stupid guards staggering from their wine-pots; the -priests, crazed with the lees, shrieking to Istar, to Bel, to Ramman, -their strengthless hands catching at useless weapons. What drunken -courage might do then was done. But of what avail? For treachery -was everywhere. The citadel was betrayed; Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel -betrayed. The giant-built walls frowned down, but the massy gates were -wide open,—and through them streamed the foe. Right down the length of -broad Nana Street, under the shadow of the _ziggurats_ and the great -warehouses, had charged the Persian cuirassiers, the finest cavalry in -all the East. Through the Gate of Istar poured Harpagus and the Median -chivalry; through the Gate of the Chaldees swept Hystaspes with the -“Immortals,” Cyrus’s own life-guard, the stoutest spearmen in wide Iran. -They met files of tipsy sword-hands, men who fought without order, -without commanders. The howls of the slaves and women were on every hand. -The light of burning houses brightened the invaders’ pathway; and so the -Aryan host fought onward, brushing resistance from its way as the torrent -sweeps on the pebbles, all ranks straining toward one point, the palace; -for the hour of reckoning had come to the “City of the Lie.” - - * * * * * - -Atossa sat upon the dais, looking upon the scene below. The great -hall was still around her,—still the pictured walls, with the shadows -darkening upon their enamels, as the lamps and torches burned lower. The -tables were there, and the remnants of the feast; the floor was strewn -with torn garlands and trampled roses,—but the company, the wanton -dancing women, the sleek eunuchs, the lordly priests, the yet more lordly -captains, where were they? Fled,—all save the last,—to the innermost -palace, there to moan, while the noise of the avenger was nearing. - -Atossa arose, shook herself, stared once more about the hall. At the -foot of the dais lay the dead charger. On a seat at her side sat Ruth, -her head bowed on her hands, her lithe form quivering with fear. Beside -his daughter was the old Hebrew, calm, steadfast, seemingly passionless, -looking straight before, as if his sight could pass through wall and -battlement, beholding the far-off peace of the upper heavens. But in the -outer palace what was not befalling? Never before had Atossa heard the -clangour of men at war; but she was a great king’s daughter. Should the -child of Cyrus fear when her own people knocked at the gate thus loudly? -The awful roar grew louder each instant. Louder the Aryan war-cry, “For -Ahura, for Atossa!” And still the despairing shout was answering, “Save, -O Marduk, save!” For the Babylonish lion, though at his death, must die -as a lion. - -As the din surged in and out like some raging sea, the princess heard her -own name alone shouted. Dared she believe she knew the voice? - -“Atossa? Atossa?” - -Then a new crash that drowned all else, and the whirl of a thousand feet. -Men and women, cursing, howling, were rushing back into the hall. In an -instant the empty scene became a chaos of forms, all the gibbering palace -folk fleeing thither. - -“Lost! The gate is carried! The palace is taken!” - -So cried those not frenzied past all speech. But Atossa heard with an -awful gladness. This was the hour of her triumph; the destroyers were the -servants of her father, their leader the man she loved. Let, then, the -Babylonian hounds whine and cringe at doom. What cared she? - -But the end had not yet come. Another voice was thundering in the -Chaldee, Belshazzar’s voice:— - -“Rally again! All is not yet lost. We will defend the palace room by -room!” - -“Forward, sons of Iran!” sped back the answer; and a shout followed it at -the very entrance of the hall. - -“For Ahura, for Atossa!” - -“Darius!” cried Atossa, “Darius! Here am I!” - -Her scream was drowned in the chaos of battle. And then for the first -time fear smote the princess. Outside those doors fought the son of -Hystaspes, perilling himself in the press,—and for her sake. She could -contain herself no more. - -“Darius,” she shrieked again, “I come! Save!” - -She leaped from the dais; in her madness she would have plunged into the -riot below, when a heavy hand fell on her; she struggled, was helpless. -Above her towered Khatin. - -“It is commanded, lady,” quoth the headsman, gruffly, “that you abide -here, till the king order otherwise.” - -“Fool!” she cried, shrinking at his impure touch, “do you seek death? A -moment more and your life is in my power. Release, and you shall live.” - -“Ah, my bright-eyed rabbit,” answered he, dryly, unmoved by all -the terrors about, “I have sent too many better men than I to the -‘world-mountain’ to dread myself the journey thither. All the Chaldees -have not turned traitor, nor have I. Wait.” - -He forced her back upon her seat, and stood guard beside her. Drunk or -sober, the nobles of Babylon proved their lordly birth that night. Twice -Atossa’s heart sank when a triumphant cry rang through the palace:— - -“Glory to Marduk! Drive them forth! Victory!” - -But each time the Persians swept back to the charge; and still the -clamour rose. Well that all the death was hid from Atossa, or, king’s -daughter though she was, her woman’s heart would have broken. How long -might this last? The swarm of frenzied palace folk was growing denser. -They sprang upon the dais, threatening Atossa, in their witless fear, but -gave back at sight of Khatin’s bared sword-blade. Then forth rushed a -single man, Avil-Marduk, his face blanched, his teeth a-chatter, and cast -himself at Daniel’s feet. - -“Save, generous lord! Save me from death! For you are merciful, and the -Persians will hear you! Beseech your Jehovah that He may not let me die!” - -Before the Jew could answer Khatin dragged the suppliant from his knees. -“Peace, babbler; if Marduk is a great god, let _him_ save; if not, die -like a man. But take not even life from one you have reviled, like the -God of Daniel!” - -“But I am sinful, unfit to stand before Ea and his awful throne. I shall -die in my iniquity!” - -“I only know you are no fitter to live than to die,” answered the -implacable headsman; and he cast the priest headlong from the dais. Ruth -had lifted her head, and stared about vacantly, till her gaze lit on the -Persian. Then she flung herself into the arms of Atossa. - -“Ah! lady,” she cried, the hot tears falling fast, “I see all as in a -frightful dream! When will this tumult end? I can bear no more!” - -But Atossa answered in her queenly pride:— - -“Peace, Jewess, be strong. For this is the hour for which we cried to -Ahura together. He is trampling down the ‘People of the Lie,’ and this -sound arises from the men we love.” - -But as she spoke the mob below swayed with new terror. For a third time -the great palace quaked. The door was again darkened by many men—and in -their midst they saw the king.... - -Belshazzar was covered with blood, whether his own or the foeman’s, who -might say? His mantle was in tatters, the tiara smitten from his head, on -his arm a shivered shield. The king staggered, then the sight of Atossa -upon the dais seemed to dart new power through his veins. He steadied, -swept his weapon around in command to the officers who pressed by. - -“Rally again!” cried the king; “we have still thousands around the walls -and throughout the city. Prolong the defence till dawn, and we may yet -conquer!” His majesty and presence stayed the panic-stricken captains, -who had been streaming past him into the wide hall. - -The king surveyed the room one instant. - -“We can defend this hall until the garrison may rally. There is still -hope; drive forth this rabble, and barricade the doors!” - -The guardsmen swept the eunuchs and women from the hall. They fled, the -thunders of the gale, now at its height, drowning their moanings. Ever -and anon the dying torches cast shadow while the lightnings glared. Then -came the crash of the hail and rain, beating down the canopy, quenching -half the lights, and adding gloom to terror. All this in less time than -the telling. Belshazzar himself aided in piling the tables and couches -in heaps against all the doors save one, through which the Chaldees were -sullenly retreating, marking their pathway by the Persian dead. Once -again Atossa leaped from her seat; despite her brave words to Ruth, more -of this chaos would strike her mad. She slipped from the grasp of Khatin, -and flew toward the entrance. For the instant all were too intent on -their fearful tasks to heed. - -“Darius! I come!” cried she, in her Persian, and a shout without was -answering, when a clutch, mighty as Khatin’s, halted her. She was in -Belshazzar’s own hands. - -“Back, girl! I am still the king, and I command!” - -But Atossa struggled desperately. “Away! Take me away!” rang her plea. -“Slay this instant if you will, but I can bear no more!” - -“Take her to the dais,” shouted the king to two guardsmen; “watch her -preciously; her life is dearer to us now than gold.” - -The two had need of their strength, but she was thrust again to her hated -station. This time cords were knotted around her arms, and she was held -fast. She looked to Daniel. There he sat, serene and silent, the only -calm object in that scene of furies. - -“Father,” she moaned, “pray to Khatin, to any, that they strike once, -and let me die! All the _dævas_ are loose and drive me mad!” - -“Peace, my child,” he spoke mildly, yet amid all that storm she heard -him; “we shall full soon know what is the will of God!” - -But she had started despite the bands. The last Babylonians had been -brushed from the portal, a rush of feet, a battle-cry the loudest of the -night; and right in the entrance, sword in hand and looking upon Atossa, -was the son of Hystaspes, at his side Isaiah, at his back the stoutest -veterans of Cyrus the conqueror. - -There was silence for an instant, while the foes glared on one another. -Then the Babylonish officers by sheer force drew their king behind them, -and formed in close array before the dais. The last stand! - -“Stand fast, Chaldees!” rang the voice of Igas-Ramman; “let them touch -the king only across our bodies. While he lives Babylon is not truly -lost.” - -The Persians were entering slowly, grimly. Their prey was in their -clutch; they were too old in war to let him slip by untimely triumph. The -rain beat down in one continuous roar, amid ceaseless peals of thunder. -Yet despite the elements they heard the clamour of distant conflict; at -the temple of Bel, at the palace of Nabupolassar, the fight was still -desperate. - -“While your Majesty lives,” muttered Igas in the royal ear, “there may be -yet rally and rescue. Let us fight to the end.” - -Darius had advanced from his company, halfway across the hall, as if he -alone would walk upon the swords of the Chaldees. He addressed the king. - -“Live forever, Lord of Babylon! Live forever. I have bayed a fairer game, -this night, than an aurochs or a lion; but I have brought him to the net -at last. Too noble, truly, to slay. Let him be wise; he will find my -master merciful.” - -“Yield to Cyrus? Let the dogs eat first our bodies!” so cried Igas, and -all the Babylonians yelled like answer. - -Darius did not retire. “We Persians honour kings, though once our foes. -Crœsus the Lydian is Cyrus’s friend. Be wise,—Bel your god may not save -you. Craft and strength alike have failed. Yield on fair quarter. Do not -sacrifice these gallant men—” - -But he ended swiftly, for the king had leaped upon the dais, and his -voice sounded amid the thunder. “Look! with all your eyes look, Persians! -Behold the daughter of Cyrus.” Atossa had been upborne upon his strong -arms and those of Khatin, and stood upon the royal couch before the gaze -of all. And at sight of her a tremor thrilled through the Persians. - -“The princess in Belshazzar’s clutch! Woe! Ahura deliver!” groaned many a -grizzled sword-hand, who had slain his man that night; but the king swept -on: “I say to you, that as the first arrow flies, or sword-stroke falls, -the blade enters the breast of the child of Cyrus. Get you gone, and -that instantly, if you would not see her die!” - -They saw the steel glancing in Khatin’s hand, no idle threat. And for -a moment longer, Persian and Chaldee looked on one another, while the -storm screamed its wild music. But now Atossa spoke, her voice clear as -Belshazzar’s:— - -“And I, daughter of your king, command that you hold back in nothing for -my sake. For to an Aryan maid of pure heart death is no great thing, when -she knows behind it speeds the vengeance.” - -“Not so! We may not!” moaned Persian to Persian; and Darius sprang back -among his men. - -“Lord,” cried a captain from the rear, “the garrison is rallying. A -little longer, and many companies come to Belshazzar’s aid. We may yet be -undone!” - -Darius had flung away his target; his hands had snatched something—a -quiver, a bow. He leaped before them all, while Belshazzar’s voice again -was rising:— - -“Back, Persians; or as Bel is god of Babylon, the maid dies, and you are -her murderers!” He sprang down from beside her, leaving Khatin standing. - -But the prince drew the shaft to the head, and sent his eye along the -arrow. Did he level at Atossa’s own breast? So thought she, with all the -others, and her cry rang shrilly:— - -“Shoot! In Ahura’s great name, shoot! Death at your hands is sweet!” - -They saw her close her eyes, and strong men turned away their faces. One -deed to slay a peer, in heat of battle; another, to see a lover strike -down his bride! But Belshazzar, looking on his foe, was startled,—_he had -seen him shoot before_. - -“Strike!” he commanded Khatin, “swiftly!” - -They saw the long blade move, and heard the whiz of the arrow. Right -through the headsman’s wrist sped the shaft, just as the stroke fell. -The sword turned in impotent fingers, and fell upon the floor. And still -Atossa stood. - -She trembled, moved, made to spring from her station: but Darius’s voice -in turn was thunder:— - -“Move not! There alone is safety, where I cover you! And now—on them, men -of Iran!” - -There, lifted up above them all, remained Atossa, the arrow of the “King -of the Bow” upon her, and no Chaldee so lustful after death as to leap -beside her, and to strike. - -The Persians had sprung upon their prey and never relaxed their death -grip; but the Babylonians ringed round their king with a living wall, and -fought in silence, for all was near the end. Then the rush of numbers -forced the defenders away from the dais. Atossa saw the arrow of Darius -sink, saw him bounding forward, but saw no more; for in mercy sense -forsook her,—she felt two strong arms, and then for long lay motionless -as the dead. - -The prince laid her upon the royal couch at the extremity of the dais; -beside her he set Ruth, who had long since ceased crying, through very -weight of fear. Back to the combat then, and the last agony of the -king, when from under the shivered tables crawled one who groaned, and -kissed his feet—Avil-Marduk. Darius spurned him; the next instant two -tall Medians were hauling the wretch away—a noble spectacle he would -be for triumphing Ecbatana, before they crucified. But a nobler spoil -remained. Darius flung himself upon the Chaldee nobles. Igas-Ramman was -down, and Khatin, whose left arm had smitten many a foe while his right -hung helpless. The king still fought, ten swords seeking his life, and -he parrying all,—none of his conqueror race more royal than he in this -his hour of doom. Suddenly the desperate defenders turned at bay, and -charged their foes with a mad fury that made even the stoutest Aryans -give ground. One final lull, in which they heard the beating of the rain. -Then right betwixt raging Persian and raging Chaldee sprang a figure,—an -old man in hoary majesty, Daniel the Jew. - -“Peace!” and for that instant every man hearkened. “Your god is helpless, -O Belshazzar, your idol mute. Your power is sped, but bow to the will of -the Most High. He will still pity the penitent. Do not cast your life -away.” - -But at the word the king lifted his last javelin. - -“Be this my answer to your god!” - -The missile brushed the white lock on the old man’s forehead, and fell -harmless. - -The Babylonians retreated sullenly to the wall, set their backs against -it. Then, with death in the face of each, with the shattered plaster -frowning down on them, those men who had fought so long and well to save -their king and city, raised their song,—the pæan of the vanquished, to -the god whose power that night had passed:— - - “Bel-Marduk, sovereign of archers, - Bel-Marduk, spoiler of cities, - Bel-Marduk, lord of all gods, - Bel-Marduk, who rulest forever, - Thee, thee we praise!” - -At the last note the Persians closed around them, and each Chaldee as he -stood fought to the end, selling his life full dear; but about the king -the strife raged fiercest, for Darius had commanded, “Slay not! Take -living!” Long after the last of his servants had sped from the fury of -man, Belshazzar beat back all who pressed him. The spirit of his fallen -god seemed to possess the king; he fought with Bel’s own power. But the -sword was beaten from his grasp. Twenty hands stretched out to seize him; -he buffeted all away, leaped to one side, and, before any could hinder, -drew the dagger from his girdle and sheathed it in his own breast. He -staggered. Isaiah upbore him. The king saw in whose arms he was, then his -eyes went up to the shivered plaster. The Hebrew felt a spasm of agony -pass through Belshazzar’s frame. - -“Bel is dead!” he cried, his voice never louder. - -“_Bel is dead! O God of the Jews, Thou hast conquered!_” - -Then came a dazzling bolt. The wide canopy fell. The rush of rain drowned -every torch, and all was blackness. - -Darius groped his way beside Belshazzar, and spread his mantle across the -king’s face to shield it from the rain. - -“Cruel and ‘Lover of the Lie,’” spoke the prince, “he was yet a brave man -and a king; therefore let us do the dead all honour!” - -Soon the great court was empty, the victors gone, the vanquished cold and -still. But till dawn the tempest held its carnival above the towers of -the palace. And the winds had one cry, the beat of the rain one burden, -to those who were wise to hear, a burden heavy with long years of wrong:— - -“Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, is fallen! The Lady of Kingdoms -is fallen, is fallen, is fallen! She will oppress the weak no more, will -slay the innocent no more, will blaspheme God no more! Fallen is Babylon, -the Chaldees’ crown and glory.” - - * * * * * - -In a greater Book than this is written how Cyrus the Persian made -good his vow to Isaiah, and restored the Hebrews to their own land, -raising Jerusalem out of her dust and ashes. Elsewhere also is told how -Darius and Atossa fared together onward until the son of Hystaspes sat -on Cyrus’s own throne and gave law to all the nations. And to Isaiah -Jehovah granted that he should become a mighty prophet among his people, -and see rapt visions of the “King-who-was-to-be.” But as for Babylon the -Great, the traveller who wanders through the desert beside the brimming -Euphrates looks upon the mounds of sand and of rubbish, then thinks on -the word of the Hebrew poet and prophet of long ago:— - - “And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, - Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. - It shall never be inhabited, - Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; - Neither shall shepherds make their fold there; - But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, - And owls shall dwell there, - And satyrs shall dance there, - And wild beasts of the islands - Shall cry in their desolate houses; - Her days shall not be prolonged.” - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] The chief god of Babylon, properly named Bel-Marduk, was often called -indifferently simply Bel or Marduk. - -[2] Twenty per cent annually. - -[3] Such copy-books have been actually preserved to us. - -[4] The _gur_ was about eight bushels. - -[5] The Babylonians observed a seventh day as sacred, much after the -Jewish fashion. It was likewise called “The Sabbath.” - -[6] Often, though incorrectly, written “Zoroaster.” - -[7] The Persian “hell,” conceived of as in the extreme north; a land of -pitiless cold. - -[8] Sirius. - -[9] Ten P.M. - -[10] Saturn. - -[11] About three bushel. - - - - -NOTE TO THE READER - - -The author has not been unmindful that certain record tablets give a -narrative of the capture of Babylon, in some points differing from the -Bible account in the Book of Daniel. The reasons for preferring the -latter to the profane narrative are too many to be discussed here; but it -is not improper to point out that the “Chronicle Tablets” were written -with a political end to serve,—to soothe the feelings of the conquered -Babylonians, by representing that Babylon surrendered voluntarily to -Cyrus. This is hardly likely; but it is very probable that the city was -taken by treachery among the priests and not by assault. - -I have ventured to give the name of Isaiah to the great “Prophet of the -Captivity,” whose writings are found in the last half of our present -“Book of Isaiah.” It has been well conjectured that his name was also -Isaiah, which resulted in the combining of the two independent prophecies -into one book. - - -VALUE OF MONEY - -(according to Sayce) - - Shekel $ 0.75 - Maneh 45.00 - Talent (silver) 2700.00 - -Gold was worth ten times as much as silver, weight for weight. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELSHAZZAR: A TALE OF THE FALL OF -BABYLON *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -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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