Part 33 (1/2)
Beladon coloured and looked vexed.
”The king had, indeed, loosed a shaft at the beast when first we roused him,” said he. ”Doubtless, the royal hand never misses its mark.”
”Had you come between Ninus and his prey in the olden time,” observed the other, ”not all the host of heaven could have turned aside his wrath. He would have impaled you before set of sun.”
”He loved the chase dearly,” answered Beladon, ”as did the Great Queen, and Ninyas too, till lately. What has come over him now? He leaps to the saddle at dawn--hasty, eager, excited, as though every beast of chase between the rivers must be swept away forthwith, slaying and sparing not--then, after one fierce dash at the wild-bull, one savage thrust at the lion, leaves his followers, as he left us even now, to ride slowly home, sad, moody, and alone. Always on the same steed too. It seems as though he cared for nothing under heaven but the white horse with the wild eyes.”
”'Tis a good beast,” answered the other, scrutinising the face of his follower, ”and worthy to bear the person of a king.”
”A good beast indeed,” said Beladon simply, ”and belonged once to as good a warrior as ever lifted spear or emptied wine-cup. It seems but yesterday that Sarchedon brought back the Great King's signet, and made his night's lodging with us in the temple of our G.o.d. What has become of him now? I would we knew!”
”I would we knew!” repeated a.s.sarac in a careless tone, as if he only echoed the other's sentiments, not as if he would have given wealth untold, deemed no waste of blood or treasure too lavish, for the information.
Reining their horses to a walk, the gaudy troop had already pa.s.sed through one of her gates, and entered the crowded streets of Babylon.
Thinking their king was amongst the party, his people gathered round in considerable numbers, and appeared disappointed to miss the beautiful face and form they so seldom looked on now. It was a common remark amongst all cla.s.ses, that the wild, free-living, free-spoken young prince had become strangely solemn and reserved since his accession to the throne. There was far less revelry in the palace than in the days of stern old Ninus. His son seldom rode abroad through the streets or showed himself to his people. The shadow of the priests of Baal seemed over the monarch, and it was known that a.s.sarac had great influence in the royal counsels. As is usual in such cases, the favourite came in for a larger share of obloquy than his lord.
Nevertheless, there is always enough popularity about a gay cavalcade to insure its welcome in a pleasure-loving city like Babylon. a.s.sarac could not but observe that, although there were dark frowns and angry glances in the outskirts of the crowd, the nearer spectators shouted their welcome cordially enough, pressing in to kiss the trappings of his horse, the hem of his garment, with all the transitory enthusiasm of their impressionable nature.
”Tis an easy people to rule!” whispered Beladon in the ear of his superior. ”Believers in Baal, and a thousand G.o.ds besides; mark the reverence they pay your sacred character. Surely the sons of Ashur love the linen vestment of the priest.”
”Were not their shouts yet louder, their welcome kinder, to the scarlet and steel of the Great King's hors.e.m.e.n, when he marched in from Egypt?”
returned a.s.sarac. ”Trust me, Beladon, they bend lowest when they carry the heaviest load. They love deepest where most they have to fear.”
”And they fear Baal,” said the other.
”Only because they know not Nisroch,” replied a.s.sarac. ”G.o.d or man can be great for this false fickle nation only until there cometh a greater than he. Do they not offer homage willingly to Abitur of the Mountains?
And why? Because they dread his power, not knowing its nature nor its extent. Their ruler should indeed be a G.o.d in all but benevolence. He must have no natural sympathies, no human weaknesses, no remorse, no pity, and, above all, no fear.”
”There is but one man in the land of s.h.i.+nar who is above and without these softer failings of his kind. May I sit on his right hand henceforward, as to-day!” was Beladon's insidious reply.
Though half despising the flattery of his follower, a.s.sarac smiled. Yet it did not escape the other's observation, ever on the alert, that in the eunuch's smile lurked an expression of weariness and sorrow almost amounting to pain.
”The king has faithful followers,” said he ”and wise counsellors--may he live for ever!”
The crowd hemmed them in very close; his last sentence, though uttered in a low voice, was caught up and repeated by a thousand tongues.
Through the noise and confusion that prevailed, only a.s.sarac could hear the whisper of his subordinate,
”Baal is great. What are kings and princes compared to the mighty a.s.syrian G.o.d? Let Baal rule alone in Babylon and through all the land of s.h.i.+nar; while a.s.sarac, the interpreter of his will to the people, twines the sacred lotus round the royal sceptre, he needs but stretch out his hand to take.”
”As the serpent of Ashtaroth twines round a man's heart!” answered the other. And Beladon, looking in his face, marvelled to see it drawn and white, as of one who strives with an agony of mortal pain.
CHAPTER x.x.xV
THE LION'S CUB
It was but according to an established principle of nature and general law of race, that the descendants of Nimrod should entertain a keen predilection for the chase. In this particular Ninyas, notwithstanding habits of luxury and effeminacy at home, formed no exception to the princes of his line. He was never so happy as when urging a good horse to speed after the scudding ostrich, loosing a grim leopard from its leash to spring on the fleet antelope, tracking with fierce and heavy hounds the footprints of some lordly lion on the desert sand, or watching with eager eyes his long-winged falcons wheeling and stooping in the desert sky. Skilled in bodily exercises, sitting his horse with the graceful ease of constant practice, flushed, panting, joyous, he rode to and fro, beautiful as a woman and radiant as a G.o.d.