Part 40 (1/2)

”Bid me only to speak. Grant me the favor. Let me tell the dream, and restrain thy tears till its truth be known.”

At these last words Belitsum nervously clasped and unclasped her hands.

”Speak!” she said, quickly. ”Tell thy dream! Speak!”

”In the evening of yesterday I lay down and slept. And in my sleep the Lord appeared to me in a vision, saying: 'Go thou down to the temple of strange G.o.ds by the side of the river, and there shalt thou find him who was king in Babylon.' And thereat, in my dream, I arose and went down through the city to the river-bank and the deserted temple thereon. And there I beheld Nabu-Nahid, the king, in mortal combat with two men that sought to kill him. And in my sleep I was withheld from giving him aid.

I saw him fall by the blow from a golden dagger, and when he was dead the a.s.sa.s.sins, whose faces remained black to me, lifted him in their arms and cast him into the river, and he sank from my sight. Then said the Lord unto me again: 'Having beheld this thing, hasten to her who was the wife of him that is dead and relate it to her.' And behold, when I awoke I obeyed the word of the Lord; and, obeying, I now go forth from thy presence.” Whereupon Daniel, with a delightfully dramatic effect, turned short on his heel, leaving the shrine, and in three minutes was outside the palace gates.

Through his recital Belitsum and her eunuchs had remained open-mouthed, rooted where they stood. It was not till the Jew had actually disappeared from her sight that the queen's amazement was overcome by her dismay, and, with a long-drawn, preliminary howl, she fell flat upon the floor in an agony of despair. Nabonidus, her husband, was dead.

Never for one instant did her devout soul doubt the word of the prophet.

Nabonidus was dead, and she was a widow. The shrine echoed to the sounds of shrieks, of groans, of wailing, finally of hysterical laughter. Now and then an attendant, drawn thither by the sounds of woe, appeared in the door-way, looked at her, at the bewildered eunuchs behind her, and scurried away again in empty-headed wonder. Finally one, wiser than the rest, went to the room where Belshazzar sat in council, and informed him that his step-mother was dying in the harem shrine. The prince was forced to believe the frightened and excited manner of the slave, and, hastily excusing himself to his lords, he strode through the palace to the shrine. In the door-way he halted. Belitsum was kneeling on the floor, beating her breast and wailing out prayers for the dead. She did not even notice the appearance of the prince.

”Belitsum--lady--what is thy grief?” he asked, gently.

No response. e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns and redoubled wails.

Then Belshazzar, perceiving that she was bordering on frenzy, went forward and took her by the shoulders. ”Art thou stricken with a sickness?” he demanded, loudly.

”Thy father--Nabu-Nahid--the king!” was all the answer he could get.

Belshazzar grew a shade paler. ”My father!” He looked about him, and caught the eye of one of the eunuchs in the corner. This man he addressed. ”What is the cause of this weeping? Knowest thou wherefore she cries?”

The man nodded solemnly.

”Speak, then!”

Forthwith the slave began an intelligent recital of the occurrences of the last half-hour, including a repet.i.tion of the dream in Daniel's own words. Belitsum quieted enough during this speech to listen again to the dream; but, after it was finished, the look on Belshazzar's face somehow withheld her from recommencing her lamentations.

”Who was this man? Didst thou know him?” demanded the prince of the slave.

”O prince, live forever! He was a strange prophet. Never before have mine eyes beheld him.”

Belshazzar bit his lip. His face was very grave. After a short pause he took Belitsum by the arm and lifted her up. Then, turning again to the eunuch, he said, quietly:

”Go thou and command my chariot to be brought, and let the driver be alone in it.”

Then, having almost tenderly returned Belitsum to the harem, and bidding her restrain her weeping till his return, Belshazzar went forth to dismiss his council for the morning, retaining Ribata alone out of all the councillors. Fifteen minutes later he and Bit-Shumukin together mounted the chariot and set forth for the little temple of strange G.o.ds on the bank of the Euphrates. During the drive Belshazzar related to Ribata the substance of what he knew; and, like himself, Ribata's first question was as to the ident.i.ty of the prophet.

”There is one whom it might be,” suggested the n.o.bleman, when Belshazzar had confessed himself at fault. ”It may, perhaps, be Daniel the Jew.”

”So at first I thought. Yet when has any man ever beheld Daniel in such raiment as this prophet wore? The Jew is poor.”

Ribata demurred a little, yet could not but admit that Belshazzar had all the evidence on his side. Then, as they neared the temple, silence fell between them.

The little building stood before them utterly deserted. Not a human being was in sight. It was a lonely spot--too far south of the bridge and too far north of the ferry to be frequented by any one. The prince dismounted from the chariot first, but in the curtained door-way of the temple he paused.

”Ribata,” said he, softly, ”I am afraid.”