Part 24 (1/2)
”A line of waving gold within the crystal,” said he; ”no more.”
”Such is the blindness of him whose sight has not been sharpened by learning,” replied the magician. ”You are as the rower labouring at the oar, who can but see the ripple he leaves behind, and the banks on the river-side that he has pa.s.sed. I am the steersman who scans the coming rapids, the rocks in mid-stream, the calm and comely reach of smooth water that sleeps beyond. I look into the crystal, and I behold a youth stretching his arms in freedom, rubbing, with unfettered hands, his eyes dazzled by the light of day. I follow him into the presence of Pharaoh.
I behold him on the king's right hand, clad in a dress of honour, drinking costly wine of the South from a cup of gold. He mounts a goodly steed, he talks joyfully with one of dress and bearing like his own, a troop of the sons of Ashur close round him, he rides away into the desert, and I see him no more. That youth bears a strange resemblance to him who stands before me now, with clasped hands and wondering eyes, a captive in the strongest dungeon ever built at the command of Pharaoh by a nation of slaves.”
Sarchedon again prostrated himself at his visitor's feet.
”If you tell me true,” he exclaimed, ”I am the faithful servant of my lord for ever more.”
”You will remember me when you are in Babylon,” returned the other. ”You will recall the wisdom and power of the Egyptians. You will tell your countrymen the wonders that I, the least and lowest amongst their wise and great, have shown you without an effort, and you will not forget that I have been your friend, even in your extreme need. Farewell! He who sent me summons me back to his presence, and we shall not meet again!”
Even while he spoke, a thick cloud of aromatic vapour filled the dungeon as before; when it cleared away the visitor was gone, and Sarchedon, looking blankly about him, began to think he had been the sport of his own fancy, beguiled by the illusions of a dream.
CHAPTER XXVI
DELIVERANCE
Had his bodily powers been weakened by starvation, his mind, enfeebled in proportion, might, he thought, have played him false. But no; food and wine had been supplied with constant regularity; and testing his faculties in every way he could think of, he found them equal to any effort of observation or reflection he desired to make. Once more he tried the walls of his dungeon, and failed to discover the slightest symptoms of an opening through which the visitor could have pa.s.sed. This seemed less surprising, as the blossoming of the ebony rod and sudden growth of the lotus in flower denoted supernatural powers, which might well penetrate a cubit of brickwork and a fathom or two of solid earth.
These wonders he accepted without question as worked by the spells of that magic lore which could compel the G.o.ds themselves to do its bidding; nor did he see reason to doubt, in his simple credulity, those glimpses of the future which, though sealed to his own eyes, seemed clear as day to his companion.
And that companion--who and what could he be? Sarchedon, whose ideas of a magician were of the vaguest, had yet some indistinct persuasion that such a professor must be old and stately, with long gray beard and thoughtful wrinkled brow. His late visitor, however, could scarcely yet have reached middle life, and on his countenance, so far as he had observed it, was stamped the wary vigilance, the keen foresight, of the man of action, rather than the serene and saddened wisdom that denotes the man of thought. Those eyes, too, haunted him strangely. Where had he seen the piercing gaze, half pitiful, half mocking, that seemed to master a man's inmost feelings, and scorn them while it read? He grew very restless and uneasy now. He paced to and fro in his dungeon, clenching his hands, grinding his teeth, longing with wild feverish desire to breathe the desert air, and strike a blow for liberty in the light of day once more.
He had been calm, quiet, almost resigned when captivity seemed inevitable, and death near at hand.
The time dragged on so, that again he slept, despairing, exhausted, heart-sick with hope deferred. As usual in calamity, the darkest hour was that which brought the dawn.
He was woke by the measured tramp of marching men. The door of his cell opened, and a strong light streamed in, showing the pa.s.sage outside filled with archers. He drew himself together, like a wolf amongst the hounds, resolved on fighting to the death; but the captain had fallen at his feet, and was pressing the hem of Sarchedon's garment to his lips.
”Let my lord look favourably on his servant,” said the archer, ”whose happy lot it is to conduct him into the presence of Pharaoh, there to be clothed in a dress of honour, and to stand at the right hand of my lord the king.”
Confused, bewildered, all the more that he recalled the magician's words, Sarchedon followed his conductor from the dungeon, gazing about him amongst the guard like a man in a dream. Pa.s.sing down their ranks, he recognised him who had bestowed on the prisoner his own scanty meal at the cell-door. The a.s.syrian wrenched from his tunic a golden clasp in the form of a serpent--the only ornament save his mysterious amulet left on his person--and thrust it in the bowman's hand as he went by. The latter kissed it reverently, while he whispered in the next man's ear,
”A good deed is like a handful of millet cast into the Nile. After many days, lo, the river goes back to its bed, and leaves you a harvest!”
”True enough,” replied his comrade. ”As our proverb runs, 'When the waters wane, then sprouts the grain.' But the harvest of thy good deeds, my friend, would be reaped but once in seven years at best.”
”Silence!” interrupted his captain; and the archers closing in the rear, escorted Sarchedon ceremoniously to the palace.
Here he was received by sundry officials gorgeously attired, and obviously belonging to the royal household, who vied with each other in rendering him every service that could be offered by inferiors to their lord. They ushered him into a cool and s.p.a.cious chamber, rich in fantastic decorations, and ornamented with coloured figures of beast, bird, and reptile. Here they stripped and rubbed him with fragrant ointments; conducting him thence to the bath, from which two active Ethiopians extricated him, grinning from ear to ear as they dried his stalwart frame with the finest cloths, kneading and chafing limbs and joints till his whole person glowed and tingled from the friction. Then they brought him such a dress of honour as might become the favourite of a king; and placing before him roast kid, parched locusts, milk, spices, honey, wine, and fruit from Pharaoh's own table, left him to be served by half a score of such Egyptian officials as waited on the king himself.
Presently the same captain of archers who had brought him from the dungeon appeared at the door of his chamber, prostrating himself with extreme humility ere he ventured to advance.
”When my lord has eaten and drank,” said he, ”and comforted his heart, I am sent to conduct him into the presence of Pharaoh. Thy servant is the bearer of good tidings. Let him find favour in the sight of my lord.”
”There needs not so much ceremony,” answered Sarchedon. ”Are we not warriors both?--enemies yesterday, perhaps enemies to-morrow, in the mean time friends and comrades to-day?”
”My lord speaks good words to the lowest of his servants, out of the fulness of his own heart. How shall I answer him whom the king delighteth to honour according to his greatness? What am I but dust beneath the feet of my lord?”
While he spoke thus humbly, it was evident to the a.s.syrian that his conductor did but veil under this affectation of extreme deference a strong professional jealousy and an intense hatred of race. He recognised in the Egyptian warrior's dress and harness the distinctive marks of a certain company, celebrated in Pharaoh's armies for their warlike prowess--a company that the Great King, with a handful of his body-guard, had driven to the very gates of Memphis, during his last campaign. Its captain would fain have been bending a bow to-day against the a.s.syrian's breast, rather than thus humbling himself at every step before a national enemy; but his first duty was to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh had commanded that the prisoner should be brought to him with all the honours of a prince.