Part 30 (1/2)
Then, while the archers in attendance seized on their late commander to fulfil the awful sentence, Ninyas turned with a calm brow and sweet smile to a stately official standing near, and said,
”Those fugitives from Egypt--I can attend to their matters now. Bring them into my presence.”
The official seemed greatly troubled.
”Let not my lord consume me utterly in his displeasure,” said he. ”One of them hath escaped in the night, and there is but one left.”
It was in vain to calculate the Prince's changing moods. He laughed aloud.
”The more fool he to stay in the town since the gate stood open,” was his reply. ”Put him in the fortress-dungeon, and keep him there on bitter waters and bread of affliction till I send to bring him out. Now lead the horses round, and unhood the hawks. I have done enough justice for one sitting. Let us ride forth into the wilderness to take a prey!”
CHAPTER x.x.xII
BREAD AND SALT
The dromedary travelled fast; but its pace, rough and fatiguing even to Sarchedon's athletic frame, was especially trying to his companion.
Anxiety and agitation had done their usual work; so that when Ishtar recovered from her swoon, refreshment and a short interval of repose seemed absolutely necessary, if she was to continue her journey through the night. Towards noon, therefore, her companion thought it wise to halt at a convenient resting-place, where a clump of palms flung their slender shadows over a desert spring; and while the dromedary, after drinking its fill, browsed on the few dried shoots afforded by the scanty vegetation of the wilderness, Sarchedon did all that a lover's care and a traveller's experience could suggest for her comfort who was thus confided to his affection.
”You were wise,” said he, forcing on her a share of their provision, ”to carry off this morsel of food from Agron's table. I know the stations well at which we can halt to drink, and that good beast yonder, though he will grow leaner and leaner, can journey on with unfailing strength till the sun has risen twice again. Eat, then, and spare not; for on the edge of the desert, when we have pa.s.sed the bitter sea of the plain, there are cities of refuge, where we can obtain such food as we require for man and beast, ere we go on our way rejoicing to the country between the rivers and the cool mountains of the North.”
”Your path is mine,” answered Ishtar, with a fond smile; ”I am not so faint and weak of heart now, but I am very weary, and would fain sleep.”
He disposed his mantle so as to shade her yet more securely from the pitiless sun, pillowed her head on his own broad breast, and watched her slumbers with feelings pure and holy as his whose loving eyes are resting on the face of the dead.
Presently he became himself heavy with sleep, and strove in vain to keep his faculties on the alert. He could not move a limb without disturbing his charge, and it was not long ere his sight grew dim, his head began to droop: with keen searching glances he swept the horizon round, and then gave way, dropping at once into a deep and dreamless sleep.
The sun was low when he woke with a start that roused his companion also. The snorts and restless motions of the dromedary, straining at its tether, denoted danger. The sleepers sprang to their feet, and looked in each other's faces with anxious eyes.
That danger was indeed very near. A cloud of dust had approached within a furlong. Through its dusky veil could be heard and seen the tramp of horses, the glitter of spears.
”They must be Philistines!” ”It is Ninyas!” were the exclamations that rose to their respective lips; while Sarchedon, s.n.a.t.c.hing the broken loaf and few remaining dates from off the sand, released the dromedary, lifted Ishtar hastily to her seat, and took his own place before her on the animal's back.
Urging it to the utmost, he was painfully conscious that although swifter and more enduring for a long journey, it was not so nimble as a horse in an effort of a few furlongs. Ere it had attained its full speed, the enemy were within bowshot. Already an archer had halted and was taking aim.
Stung with the knowledge that, from their relative positions, he was s.h.i.+elded by the body of Ishtar, Sarchedon pursued his flight in an oblique direction, guiding the dromedary now to the right, now to the left, in such alternate curves and bends as he thought might baffle the hostile marksman. An injury to the beast on which their safety depended would, he knew, be only less fatal than the wounding of Ishtar herself.
The Philistine dismounted to draw his bow with exceeding care and precision. Sarchedon felt the dromedary wince beneath him. In a few more paces the animal's speed sensibly slackened; and, looking back, it sickened him to see certain red drops soaking in on its track through the sand. The successful archer had remounted to follow his companions, who were rapidly nearing the fugitives.
”It is hard,” muttered Sarchedon, grinding his teeth in rage and despair. ”But ten out of all the hors.e.m.e.n of a.s.syria would suffice to bring us through, and for the want of them we must perish. We are forgotten of Nisroch, and are doomed!”
Ishtar's face turned very pale, while she pressed her lips on his shoulder, and murmured:
”Better even here, my beloved, than in Ascalon! Behold, the time is come, and in death we shall not be divided!”
Their pace was now reduced to a walk: the arrow had sped deeply home, and the dromedary, pierced through its loins, tottered at every step.
The Philistines gathered round, calling on their prey to halt.
Sarchedon glanced at his own weapons--a bow, some half-score shafts, and a short straight sword. Then he measured the strength of his opponents--fifty hors.e.m.e.n at least; champions of exceeding stature, fierce and terrible; children of Anak; objects of dread even to the warlike sons of Ashur--in arms against all men, holding their tenure of the wilderness by right of bow and spear.
The dromedary stopped, drooping its head, groaning and s.h.i.+vering in sore fear and pain. Sarchedon made signs of surrender by unstringing his bow and casting it on the sand. The tallest of the Anakim threw up the spear he had levelled, and reined his horse along-side of the dromedary; his tribe gathering round, hemmed in their captives with an armed circle.