Part 8 (1/2)
”I am my master's slave and dare I refuse to accos kills his slaves It is better to die with honour by the teeth of a lion, than with dishonour beneath the whip of a master So at least we think in Ethiopia”
”Well spoken, dwarf Bes!” exclaihout the East Let the words of this Ethiop be written down and copies of them sent to the satraps of all the provinces that theyhave decreed it”
CHAPTER V THE WAGER
While the scribes were at their work I bowed before the King and prayed his leave and I and the dwarf Bes et to ours
”Go,” he said, ”and return here within an hour If you do not return tidings of your death shall be sent to the satrap of Egypt to be told to your wives”
”I thank the King, but it is needless, for I have no wives, which are ill coe,” he said, ”since lad to na us Easterns”
Walking backwards and bowing as ent, Bes and I returned to our chariot There we stripped off our outer garments till Bes was naked save for his waistcloth and I was clad only in a jerkin Then I took my bow, ht for throwing and the other short, broad and heavy for stabbing Thus armed we passed back before the Easterns who stared at us, and advanced to the edge of the thicket of tall reeds that was full of lions
Here Bes took dust and threw it into the air that we ht wind blew
”We will go against the breeze, Lord,” he said, ”that I may smell the lions before they smell us”
I nodded, and answered,
”Hearken, Bes Well may it be that we kill no lions in this place where it is hard to shoot Yet I would not return to be thrown to wild beasts by yonder evil king Therefore if we fail in this or in any other way, do you kill rinned
”Not so, Master Then in through the reeds and lie hid in their edge till darkness comes, for in them those half-men will never dare to seek for us Afterwards ill swilers and try to reach the coast, and so back to Egypt, having learned much Never stretch out your hand to Death till he stretches out his to you, which he will do soon enough, Master”
Again I nodded and said,
”And if a lion should kill me, Bes, what then?”
”Then, Master, I will kill that lion if I can and go report the ”
”And if he should wish to throw you to the beasts, Bes, what then?”
”Then, first I will drag hireatest of all beasts, he aits to devour evil-doers in the Under-world, be they kings or slaves,”
and he stretched out his long ar a man by the throat ”Oh! have no fear, Master, I can break him like a stick, and afterwards ill talk the ue and die also It is a good trick, Master, which I wish you would learn”
Then he took my hand and kissed it and we entered the reeds, I, as a hunter, feeling more happy than I had done since we set foot in the East
Yet the quest was desperate for the reeds were tall and often I could not see th in front of a up to sleep, and followed it, I with an arrow on ht hand and the stabbing spear in his left, half a pace ahead of reat nostrils as a hound ht do, till suddenly he stopped and sniffed towards the north
”I s the reed steain, and pointed, but I could see nothing save the stems of the reeds
”Rouse him,” I whispered back, ”and I will shoot as he bounds”
Then Bes poised the spear, shook it till it quivered, and threw There was a roar and a lioness appeared with the spear fast in her flank I loosed the arrow but it cut into the thick reeds and stuck there