"What is this cloud coming up from the desert now?" said the cup-bearer to the priest, as they met under shadow of the sacred building, and observed, by such of its graduated steps as were still exposed to the scorching glare, that not many hours had yet to pa.s.s before night. "The Great King covers his feet in his summer-chamber; the queen tans her fair face and heats her Southern blood hurrying to and fro, from palace to temple, from hall to gallery, from the prince's apartments to the royal judgment-seat. Kalmim keeps silence, which is in itself a marvel, shaking her head, as if she knew more than she would tell; while in the midst of these signs and wonders, Ninyas sends and bids me ride with him into the desert in this stifling heat, as a man would say to his friend, 'Brother, you are athirst and an hungered. Here is a melon and a water-jar. I pray you eat and drink.' What does it all mean, I say? The desert forsooth! By the light of Ashtaroth, I never wish to travel the desert again, after the toil and thirst and suffocation of that endless campaign!"

"The prince means to hunt the lion, no doubt," answered Beladon, "under the eyes of Ishtar, or to speak plain, in the light of the rising moon."

Sethos pondered.

"A lion at bay is no pleasant companion," said he, "by moonlight or daylight either. It is not the smile of a fair woman he puts on, I can tell you, when your horse comes up with him, and he begins to look you in the face."

"I know which is most dangerous," replied the priest; "but I doubt if Ninyas feels a wise man's fear for either one or other. Nevertheless, the hunter at night may be a prey before dawn; and the child that cries to its mother for the moon must be pacified ere it wake the household."

"You speak in parables," answered Sethos, yawning, "and during the heat of the day too! I cannot interpret parables, nor do I believe much in priests. Well, at least I am free of the palace for to-night, and have done with the Great King till to-morrow at dawn."

"Till to-morrow at dawn," repeated the other, adding, in a tone of light yet meaning banter: "When the lion turns to bay, Sethos, what is the hunter to do then?"

"He must drive an arrow through the wild beast's heart," was the reply, "unless he likes to sleep in the desert with nothing on but his bones.

There is no compromise with the lion; if you slay not _him_, he will surely slay _you_."

"He will surely slay _you_," repeated the other in the same tone. "It is a wise saying, though spoken by the king's cup-bearer. Nay, be not wroth with me, Sethos. I love you well, partly, I think, because you are not over-wise nor thoughtful, and a man may speak with _you_ freely, not stopping to pick his words as if the plain truth would burn his lips.

Take my advice: ride your best horse to-day, and water him freely before you mount. When Ninyas comes back from hunting, turn into the desert and gallop for your life."

"Where must I gallop?" asked Sethos, in some natural anxiety and alarm.

"Where?" repeated the priest. "Anywhere but back to Babylon. Ascalon,"

he added thoughtfully, "perhaps it would be the safest refuge, after all. If you go by the way of the Dark Valley and the Bitter Waters, you might reach it well enough."

"And the Great King's draught at sunrise?" said the cup-bearer, reverting to the first duty of his daily life.

"The Great King's draught is provided for," was the answer. "See, a.s.sarac ascends the steps of the temple. I must prate here no longer. Do as I warned you. Farewell, I am loath to part, for I think we shall never meet again."

Little rea.s.sured by so ominous a leave-taking, Sethos hastened to make ready for the expedition to which he had been summoned by the prince.

Though greatly perplexed and at a loss how to act, he decided so far to follow his friend's counsel as to select a true-bred steed of the plains on which to accompany Ninyas, permitting the good horse to drink its fill ere the bridle was put in its mouth. He slung also a little bag, containing a handful or two of dates, to his saddle-cloth, and might have completed farther preparations but that he was sent for to attend on his future monarch without delay.

Ninyas was already mounted and impatient to be off. His beautiful young face glowed with excitement, and a fever of longing shone in his eager eyes. Somewhat to the cup-bearer's dismay, he found that he alone was to accompany the prince, though the latter muttered a few indistinct sentences about attendants on foot and horseback, who had been directed to meet them outside the walls; but it struck Sethos, himself no inexperienced hunter, that for one who intended to make war on the king of beasts in his native fastnesses, it would have been well to carry a few more arrows in the quiver, a somewhat stiffer and heavier javelin in the hand.

With his unusual comeliness and graceful bearing, the person of Ninyas was as well known in the streets of Babylon as that of the mother to whom he bore so marvellous a likeness. Recognised and greeted with enthusiastic acclamations as he pa.s.sed on, his progress through the city was one continued ovation. And Sethos wondered more and more to observe that his young lord selected the most public thoroughfares for their ride, although the absence of his usual guards, the waiving of all state or ceremony, seemed to infer that he wished to depart unnoticed and unknown.

More thoughtful than he had ever been in his life, the cup-bearer followed close on the prince's heels, anxious, silent, and sadly embarra.s.sed by the warning he had lately received. Ninyas, on the contrary, laughed and jested with the crowd, breaking through the habitual reserve that existed between his father's subjects and the royal descendant of the G.o.ds with a joyous freedom that sat gracefully enough on one so young, so renowned, and, above all, so fair.

In an open s.p.a.ce not a furlong from the gate by which they were about to leave the city, the mult.i.tude seemed at its thickest. The prince's horse could scarcely move in a foot's pace, although those against whom it pressed prostrated themselves to the ground, kissing the body or trappings of the animal, and even the feet of its rider. Much excitement had been caused here by a huge altar of turf raised to Baal, gay in a profusion of flowers, girt with the usual trench, and surrounded by a numerous circle of priests, leaping, shouting, waving their arms in paroxysms of an excitement too unbridled to be wholly feigned. As Ninyas came to a halt almost in their midst, one of these, springing frantically in the air, caught hold of the prince's bridle, and brandishing a broad curved knife, laid his own breast open with a wild flourish that cut, however, little more than skin-deep.

It was a startling figure, standing there so tall and lean, naked to the waist, and bleeding freely from its tawny sinewy chest. The thick black hair and beard were matted together in foul disorder, the piercing eyes rolled and glittered with the light of madness, while a long-drawn howl of mingled agony and triumph denoted that the votary was under the inspiration of his G.o.d.

Sethos trembled, the horse of Ninyas pawed and snorted while his rider smiled in scorn; but the crowd, swaying to and fro, caught the excitement of the moment, and a whisper running from lip to lip like wildfire rose to a shout of "Prophesy, prophesy! He foams, he writhes!

Baal has come down on him! Prophesy, prophesy!"

Another gash, a hideous laugh, a long-drawn dismal wail, and that unearthly figure, towering above the rest, hovering as it were with arms extended towards the prince, took up its parable in raving incoherent utterances, while the gleaming teeth and restless features worked in frightful jerks, like the contortions of a man in a fit.

"I am Nerig! I am Zachiah! I am Abitur of the Mountains! I have fought with Merodach, and lain with Ashtaroth, and spoken with Baal face to face! Mine eyes are opened, and I, even I, behold the things of earth and heaven. I am no man, not I, to be born of woman, scorched with fire, slain with steel. I am three devils in one--Nerig, Zachiah, and Abitur of the Mountains--three devils, and yet I cannot lie, for it is not I who speak, but Baal! Baal has come down on me, and cast out the devils, and hereafter will I write them a bill of divorce, that they know me no more; and the voice of Baal cries, 'O king, live for ever!' and the finger of Baal points to this goodly youth, and bids him reach his hand to take the sceptre, draw his girdle to wear the sword; and the fire of Baal falls on my heart and consumes me, constraining me to cry without ceasing, 'To-morrow, and to-morrow, and yet to-morrow!' It is spoke below; it is writ above! O king, live for ever!"

Then the foam flew from his mouth, and he fell on his face, stark and senseless, under the very feet of the prince's horse. Swerving aside in terror, the animal's hoof struck sharp on his defenceless head, and he lay there to all appearance a dead man.

But neither amongst his comrades nor the bystanders was an eye turned on him in pity, nor an arm stretched to raise him from the earth. The looks of all were bent on their future monarch and favourite, now hastening to depart.

As Ninyas disappeared through the city gate, once more a shout went up into the sky; and like the countless birds of morning, with their various notes of welcome to the rising sun, all these voices had but one burden, one chorus, and thus it ran:

"The G.o.ds cannot lie! Baal hath spoken. O king, live for ever!"

CHAPTER XIX

THE FEAST OF BAAL

With the last rays of the sinking sun, as its crimson disk went down into the desert, there rose from the echoing temple such a clang of cymbals, such a bray of trumpets, such a wild burst of loud triumphant music, as caused to ring again her hundred brazen gates, and warned Great Babylon, through all her countless palaces, that the sacrifice by fire was now to be perfected before their G.o.d, and the sacred feast of Baal consummated with the close of day.

At this given signal, thousands of torches flared out on balcony and terrace, innumerable lamps gleamed and twinkled in bower, grove, and garden; while from the beacon-fire that crowned the tower of Belus a thin red flame shot up into the night, like the tongue of an angry serpent reared on end to strike. Far below, in street and square, were ma.s.sed the eager expectant mult.i.tude, their white garments and dark faces brought into strong relief under that fitful glare; while above them, in grand imposing perspective, loomed long avenues of the mighty bulls of granite, with wings unfurled and stately human mien, calm, stern, colossal, types of majesty and strength.

Not a warrior was to be seen; not a bow nor spear, nor so much as the glitter of a headpiece; but every tower at every gate, every stronghold and place of concealment within the walls, swarmed with armed men; while in the paradise that surrounded the palace of the Great Queen was arrayed such a force as would have sufficed to sack the whole city in an hour.

Semiramis, dressed in royal robes, with the royal tiara on her head, saw them served with food and wine ere she went down their ranks in person; while every captain of a thousand, for himself and his command, swore fidelity to the queen, to Ninus, to the dynasty of Nimrod, especially to the young prince, who was destined hereafter for the throne of the Great King.

In all her varying moods, the present seemed to suit her best; and many a fierce bowman remembered afterwards how lovely the queen had looked under the shade, as of coming sorrow, that clouded her gentle brow--with how tender a grace she seemed to take leave of each man individually, as if something warned her she was bidding them a last farewell. When she retired into her palace, not one but looked on its walls with something of that sweet sad longing which thrills a lover's heart who gazes on the dwelling of his mistress, on the casket that contains his priceless pearl.

But it was whispered in the rank that she had been seen afterwards in the direction of the temple, disguised and unattended, desirous perhaps of witnessing unrecognised the procession and ceremonies in which her s.e.x forbade her to take part.

The pageant began on the very threshold of the Great King's palace, from which Ninus emerged at sundown, arrayed in his royal robes, with the royal tiara round his brows, the royal parasol held above his head. He wore a long flowing garment of silk reaching to his ankles, embroidered in mystic characters, edged with fringes and ta.s.sels of gold. Over this a second robe or mantle, trailing behind him, of the sacred violet colour, open in front, and bordered, a palm's-breadth deep, with an edging of gold. His long gaunt arms were bare, save for the shining bracelets that twined like serpents round his mighty wrists. He wore his sword also and two daggers, being the only man armed in the whole procession, except his shield-hearer, who, on the present occasion, in right of his office, bore the state parasol even at night, and was bound to attend his king as far as the upper story of the temple, on which the Talar was reared, but not a step farther for his life.

Those of his friends who were near enough to observe Sargon's face hardly recognised him. Usually so swarthy, he had now turned deadly pale, and the strong warrior's limbs dragged under him, as if he too, like his worn old master, were closely approaching the end.

Though men cast down their eyes before his splendour, appearing only to study the hem of his garment, they yet knew that the Great King looked very sad and weary; that his feet bore with difficulty that towering frame, which was still so ma.s.sive a ruin; that the brave old face had grown wofully livid and sunken, the fierce eyes dull and tame and dim.

Even the martial spirit of his race seemed to have died within him.

But it blazed up yet once more ere it went out for ever. When a.s.sarac, at the head of twenty thousand priests, prostrated himself in the entrance of the temple, with a welcome, as it were, to his royal visitor, there pa.s.sed over the Great King's face a light of sudden wrath and scorn.

"To-morrow!" he muttered. "To-morrow! When a fire hath licked up the locusts, mine oxen shall tread out the corn!"

And a.s.sarac, bending low in deepest reverence, heard the implacable threat, accepting it calmly, without a quiver of pity, remorse, or fear.

Shouts louder than any that had preceded them rose from his people as the a.s.syrian king went up into the temple of his G.o.d. He never turned to mark it. The dull listless apathy had come over him again, as if some instinct told him that not thus, amongst odours of incense and oblation, sounds of harp and tabor, lute and viol, in the mellow l.u.s.tre of festive lamps, gaudy with blazing gems and robes of shining silk, bearing peaceful offerings, surrounded by white-robed priests, should a warrior-king look his last on the nation of warriors he had ruled!

At this point the cymbals clashed in a yet wilder burst of melody; a chant, sweet, measured, and monotonous, was taken up by a thousand practised voices; while in every part of Babylon, where shrine had been adorned or altar raised, torch was laid to f.a.got, steel to victim; streams of blood filled the new-cut trenches, fumes of sacrifice rose on the evening breeze, loud shrieks and yells went up from his maddened worshippers, while, leaping like demons in the fire and smoke, naked priests of Baal raved and writhed and cut themselves with knives in honour of their G.o.d.

One man alone stood looking on unmoved. He was dressed as if for a journey, with a long staff in his hand. His attendants, much interested in the proceedings, held a few a.s.ses, large powerful animals of their kind, at a short distance off. It was the Israelite out of the land of Egypt, whom a.s.sarac had released from his bonds, at liberty, and about to depart. He looked very sad and thoughtful; there was less of scorn and pity in his eye, though once, roused, as it appeared, by some unusually intemperate outbreak, a cloud of resentment pa.s.sed over his face, and he muttered--

"Infinite mercy! Infinite patience! How long, Lord, how long?"

Then he withdrew from the crowd to place himself in the centre of his little band, where, formally and solemnly, he shook the dust from off his feet ere he mounted an a.s.s; and so, followed by his handful of countrymen, proceeded gravely through the Southern Gate, outward to the desert.