<h2><SPAN name="chap09"></SPAN>CHAPTER IX.<br/>THE MESSENGERS</h2>
<p>We descended at the great gate of the palace and were led through empty halls
that were no longer used now when there was no king in Egypt, to the wing of
the building in which dwelt the Prince Peroa. Here we were received by a
chamberlain, for the Prince of Egypt still kept some state although it was but
small, and had about him men who bore the old, high-sounding titles of the
“Officers of Pharaoh.”</p>
<p>The chamberlain led me and Bes to an ante-chamber of the banqueting hall and
left us, saying that he would summon the Prince who wished to see me before he
ate. This, however, was not necessary since while he spoke Peroa, who as I
guessed had been waiting for me, entered by another door. He was a
majestic-looking man of middle age, for grey showed in his hair and beard, clad
in white garments with a purple hem and wearing on his brow a golden circlet,
from the front of which rose the <i>uræus</i> in the shape of a hooded snake
that might be worn by those of royal blood alone. His face was full of thought
and his black and piercing eyes looked heavy as though with sleeplessness.
Indeed I could see that he was troubled. His gaze fell upon us and his features
changed to a pleasant smile.</p>
<p>“Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,” he said. “I am glad that you have
returned safe from the East, and burn to hear your tidings. I pray that they
may be good, for never was good news more needed in Egypt.”</p>
<p>“Greeting, Prince,” I answered, bowing my knee. “I and my
servant here are returned safe, but as for our tidings, well, judge of them for
yourself,” and drawing the letter of the Great King from my robe, I
touched my forehead with the roll and handed it to him.</p>
<p>“I see that you have acquired the Eastern customs, Shabaka,” he
said as he took it. “But here in my own house which once was the palace
of our forefathers, the Pharaohs of Egypt, by your leave I will omit them. Amen
be my witness,” he added bitterly, “I cannot bear to lay the letter
of a foreign king against my brow in token of my country’s
vassalage.”</p>
<p>Then he broke the silk of the seals and read, and as he read his face grew
black with rage.</p>
<p>“What!” he cried, casting down the roll and stamping on it.
“What! Does this dog of an Eastern king bid me send my niece, by birth
the Royal Princess of Egypt, to be his toy until he wearies of her? First I
will choke her with my own hands. How comes it, Shabaka, that you care to bring
me such a message? Were I Pharaoh now I think your life would pay the
price.”</p>
<p>“As it would certainly have paid the price, had I not done so. Prince, I
brought the letter because I must. Also a copy of it has gone, I believe, to
Idernes the Satrap at Sais. It is better to face the truth, Prince, and I think
that I may be of more service to you alive than dead. If you do not wish to
send the lady Amada to the King, marry her to someone else, after which he will
seek her no more.”</p>
<p>He looked at me shrewdly and said,</p>
<p>“To whom then? I cannot marry her, being her uncle and already married.
Do you mean to yourself, Shabaka?”</p>
<p>“I have loved the lady Amada from a child, Prince,” I answered
boldly. “Also I have high blood in me and having brought much gold from
the East, am rich again and one accustomed to war.”</p>
<p>“So you have brought gold from the East! How? Well, you can tell me
afterwards. But you fly high. You, a Count of Egypt, wish to marry the Royal
Lady of Egypt, for such she is by birth and rank, which, if ever Egypt were
free again, would give you a title to the throne.”</p>
<p>“I ask no throne, Prince. If there were one to fill I should be content
to leave that to you and your heirs.”</p>
<p>“So you say, no doubt honestly. But would the children of Amada say the
same? Would you even say it if you were her husband, and would she say it?
Moreover she is a priestess, sworn not to wed, though perhaps that trouble
might be overcome, if she wishes to wed, which I doubt. Mayhap you might
discover. Well, you are hungry and worn with long travelling. Come, let us eat,
and afterwards you can tell your story. Amada and the others will be glad to
hear it, as I shall. Follow me, Count Shabaka.”</p>
<p>So we went to the lesser banqueting-hall, I filled with joy because I should
see Amada, and yet, much afraid because of that story which I must tell.
Gathered there, waiting for the Prince, we found the Princess his wife, a large
and kindly woman, also his two eldest daughters and his young son, a lad of
about sixteen. Moreover, there were certain officers, while at the tables of
the lower hall sat others of the household, men of smaller rank, and their
wives, since Peroa still maintained some kind of a shadow of the Court of old
Egypt.</p>
<p>The Princess and the others greeted me, and Bes also who had always been a
favourite with them, before he went to take his seat at the lowest table, and I
greeted them, looking all the while for Amada whom I did not see. Presently,
however, as we took our places on the couches, she entered dressed, not as a
priestess, but in the beautiful robes of a great lady of Egypt and wearing on
her head the <i>uræus</i> circlet that signified her royal blood. As it chanced
the only seat left vacant was that next to myself, which she took before she
recognized me, for she was engaged in asking pardon for her lateness of the
Prince and Princess, saying that she had been detained by the ceremonies at the
temple. Seeing suddenly that I was her neighbour, she made as though she would
change her place, then altered her mind and stayed where she was.</p>
<p>“Greeting, Cousin Shabaka,” she said, “though not for the
first time to-day. Oh! my heart was glad when looking up, outside the temple, I
caught sight of you clad in that strange Eastern armour, and knew that you had
returned safe from your long wanderings. Yet afterwards I must do penance for
it by saying two added prayers, since at such a time my thoughts should have
been with the goddess only.”</p>
<p>“Greeting, Cousin Amada,” I answered, “but she must be a
jealous goddess who grudges a thought to a relative—and friend—at
such a time.”</p>
<p>“She is jealous, Shabaka, as being the Queen of women she must be who
demands to reign alone in the hearts of her votaries. But tell me of your
travels in the East and how you came by that rope of wondrous pearls, if indeed
there can be pearls so large and beautiful.”</p>
<p>This at the time I had little chance of doing, however, since the young
Princess on the other side of her began to talk to Amada about some forthcoming
festival, and the Prince’s son next to me who was fond of hunting, to
question me about sport in the East and when, unhappily, I said that I had shot
lions there, gave me no peace for the rest of that feast. Also the Princess
opposite was anxious to learn what food noble people ate in the East, and how
it was cooked and how they sat at table, and what was the furniture of their
rooms and did women attend feasts as in Egypt, and so forth. So it came about
that what between these things and eating and drinking, which, being well-nigh
starved, I was obliged to do, for, save a cup of wine, I had taken nothing in
my mother’s house, I found little chance of talking with the lovely
Amada, although I knew that all the while she was studying me out of the
corners of her large eyes. Or perhaps it was the rose-hued pearls she studied,
I was not sure.</p>
<p>Only one thing did she say to me when there was a little pause while the cup
went round, and she pledged me according to custom and passed it on. It was,</p>
<p>“You look well, Shabaka, though somewhat tired, but sadder than you used,
I think.”</p>
<p>“Perhaps because I have seen things to sadden me, Amada. But you too look
well but somewhat lovelier than you used, I think, if that be possible.”</p>
<p>She smiled and blushed as she replied,</p>
<p>“The Eastern ladies have taught you how to say pretty things. But you
should not waste them upon me who have done with women’s vanities and
have given myself to learning and—religion.”</p>
<p>“Have learning and religion no vanities of their own?” I began,
when suddenly the Prince gave a signal to end the feast.</p>
<p>Thereon all the lower part of the hall went away and the little tables at which
we ate were removed by servants, leaving us only wine-cups in our hands which a
butler filled from time to time, mixing the wine with water. This reminded me
of something, and having asked leave, I beckoned to Bes, who still lingered
near the door, and took from him that splendid, golden goblet which the Great
King had given me, that by my command he had brought wrapped up in linen and
hidden beneath his robe. Having undone the wrappings I bowed and offered it to
the Prince Peroa.</p>
<p>“What is this wondrous thing?” asked the Prince, when all had
finished admiring its workmanship. “Is it a gift that you bring me from
the King of the East, Shabaka?”</p>
<p>“It is a gift from myself, O Prince, if you will be pleased to accept
it,” I answered, adding, “Yet it is true that it comes from the
King of the East, since it was his own drinking-cup that he gave me in exchange
for a certain bow, though not the one he sought, after he had pledged
me.”</p>
<p>“You seem to have found much favour in the eyes of this king, Shabaka,
which is more than most of us Egyptians do,” he exclaimed, then went on
hastily, “Still, I thank you for your splendid gift, and however you came
by it, shall value it much.”</p>
<p>“Perhaps my cousin Shabaka will tell us his story,” broke in Amada,
her eyes still fixed upon the rose-hued pearls, “and of how he came to
win all the beauteous things that dazzle our eyes to-night.”</p>
<p>Now I thought of offering her the pearls, but remembering my mother’s
words, also that the Princess might not like to see another woman bear off such
a prize, did not do so. So I began to tell my story instead, Bes seated on the
ground near to me by the Prince’s wish, that he might tell his.</p>
<p>The tale was long for in it was much that went before the day when I saw myself
in the chariot hunting lions with the King of kings, which I, the modern man
who set down all this vision, now learned for the first time. It told of the
details of my journey to the East, of my coming to the royal city and the rest,
all of which it is needless to repeat. Then I came to the lion hunt, to my
winning of the wager, and all that happened to me; of my being condemned to
death, of the weighing of Bes against the gold, and of how I was laid in the
boat of torment, a story at which I noticed Amada turn pale and tremble.</p>
<p>Here I ceased, saying that Bes knew better than I what had chanced at the Court
while I was pinned in the boat, whereon all present cried out to Bes to take up
the tale. This he did, and much better than I could have done, bringing out
many little things which made the scene appear before them, as Ethiopians have
the art of doing. At last he came to the place in his story where the king
asked him if he had ever seen a woman fairer than the dancers, and went on
thus:</p>
<p>“O Prince, I told the Great King that I had; that there dwelt in Egypt a
lady of royal blood with eyes like stars, with hair like silk and long as an
unbridled horse’s tail, with a shape like to that of a goddess, with
breath like flowers, with skin like milk, with a voice like honey, with
learning like to that of the god Thoth, with wit like a razor’s edge,
with teeth like pearls, with majesty of bearing like to that of the king
himself, with fingers like rosebuds set in pink seashells, with motion like
that of an antelope, with grace like that of a swan floating upon water,
and—I don’t remember the rest, O Prince.”</p>
<p>“Perhaps it is as well,” exclaimed Peroa. “But what did the
King say then?”</p>
<p>“He asked her name, O Prince.”</p>
<p>“And what name did you give to this wondrous lady who surpasses all the
goddesses in loveliness and charm, O dwarf Bes?” inquired Amada much
amused.</p>
<p>“What name, O High-born One? Is it needful to ask? Why, what name could I
give but your own, for is there any other in the world of whom a man whose
heart is filled with truth could speak such things?”</p>
<p>Now hearing this I gasped, but before I could speak Amada leapt up, crying,</p>
<p>“Wretch! You dared to speak my name to this king! Surely you should be
scourged till your bones are bare.”</p>
<p>“And why not, Lady? Would you have had me sit still and hear those fat
trollops of the East exalted above you? Would you have had me so disloyal to
your royal loveliness?”</p>
<p>“You should be scourged,” repeated Amada stamping her foot.
“My Uncle, I pray you cause this knave to be scourged.”</p>
<p>“Nay, nay,” said Peroa moodily. “Poor simple man, he knew no
better and thought only to sing your praises in a far land. Be not angry with
the dwarf, Niece. Had it been Shabaka who gave your name, the thing would be
different. What happened next, Bes?”</p>
<p>“Only this, Prince,” said Bes, looking upwards and rolling his
eyes, as was his fashion when unloading some great lie from his heart.
“The King sent his servants to bring my master from the boat, that he
might inquire of him whether he had always found me truthful. For, Prince,
those Easterns set much store by truth which here in Egypt is worshipped as a
goddess. There they do not worship her because she lives in the heart of every
man, and some women.”</p>
<p>Now all stared at Bes who continued to stare at the ceiling, and I rose to say
something, I know not what, when suddenly the doors opened and through them
appeared heralds, crying,</p>
<p>“Hearken, Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the Great King. A message
from the Great King. Read and obey, O Peroa, Prince of Egypt by grace of the
Great King!”</p>
<p>As they cried thus from between them emerged a man whose long Eastern robes
were stained with the dust of travel. Advancing without salute he drew out a
roll, touched his forehead with it, bowing deeply, and handed it to the prince,
saying,</p>
<p>“Kiss the Word. Read the Word. Obey the Word, O servant of our Master,
the King of kings, beneath whose feet we are all but dust.”</p>
<p>Peroa took the roll, made a semblance of lifting it to his forehead, opened and
read it. As he did so I saw the veins swell upon his neck and his eyes flash,
but he only said,</p>
<p>“O Messenger, to-night I feast, to-morrow an answer shall be given to you
to convey to the Satrap Idernes. My servants will find you food and lodging.
You are dismissed.”</p>
<p>“Let the answer be given early lest you also should be dismissed, O
Peroa,” said the man with insolence.</p>
<p>Then he turned his back upon the prince, as one does on an inferior, and walked
away, accompanied by the herald.</p>
<p>When they were gone and the doors had been shut, Peroa spoke in a voice that
was thick with fury, saying,</p>
<p>“Hearken, all of you, to the words of the writing.”</p>
<p>Then he read it.</p>
<p class="letter">
“From the King of kings, the Ruler of all the earth, to Peroa, one of his
servants in the Satrapy of Egypt,<br/>
“Deliver over to my servant Idernes without delay, the person of
Amada, a lady of the blood of the old Pharaohs of Egypt, who is your relative
and in your guardianship, that she may be numbered among the women of my
house.”</p>
<p>Now all present looked at each other, while Amada stood as though she had been
frozen into stone. Before she could speak, Peroa went on,</p>
<p>“See how the King seeks a quarrel against me that he may destroy me and
bray Egypt in his mortar, and tan it like a hide to wrap about his feet. Nay,
hold your peace, Amada. Have no fear. You shall not be sent to the East; first
will I kill you with my own hands. But what answer shall we give, for the
matter is urgent and on it hang all our lives? Bethink you, Idernes has a great
force yonder at Sais, and if I refuse outright, he will attack us, which indeed
is what the King means him to do before we can make preparation. Say then,
shall we fight, or shall we fly to Upper Egypt, abandoning Memphis, and there
make our stand?”</p>
<p>Now the Councillors present seemed to find no answer, for they did not know
what to say. But Bes whispered in my ear,</p>
<p>“Remember, Master, that you hold the King’s seal. Let an answer be
sent to Idernes under the White Seal, bidding him wait on you.”</p>
<p>Then I rose and spoke.</p>
<p>“O Peroa,” I said, “as it chances I am the bearer of the
private signet of the Great King, which all men must obey in the north and in
the south, in the east and in the west, wherever the sun shines over the
dominions of the King. Look on it,” and taking the ancient White Seal
from about my neck, I handed it to him.</p>
<p>He looked and the Councillors looked. Then they said almost with one voice,</p>
<p>“It is the White Seal, the very signet of the Great Kings of the
East,” and they bowed before the dreadful thing.</p>
<p>“How you came by this we do not know, Shabaka,” said Peroa.
“That can be inquired of afterwards. Yet in truth it seems to be the old
Signet of signets, that which has come down from father to son for countless
generations, that which the King of kings carries on his person and affixes to
his private orders and to the greatest documents of State, which afterwards can
never be recalled, that of which a copy is emblazoned on his banner.”</p>
<p>“It is,” I answered, “and from the King’s person it
came to me for a while. If any doubt, let the impress be brought, that is
furnished to all the officers throughout the Empire, and let the seal be set in
the impress.”</p>
<p>Now one of the officers rose and went to bring the impress which was in his
keeping, but Peroa continued,</p>
<p>“If this be the true seal, how would you use it, Shabaka, to help us in
our present trouble?”</p>
<p>“Thus, Prince,” I answered. “I would send a command under the
seal to Idernes to wait upon the holder of the seal here in Memphis. He will
suspect a trap and will not come until he has gathered a great army. Then he
will come, but meanwhile, you, Prince, can also collect an army.”</p>
<p>“That needs gold, Shabaka, and I have little. The King of kings takes all
in tribute.”</p>
<p>“I have some, Prince, to the weight of a heavy man, and it is at the
service of Egypt.”</p>
<p>“I thank you, Shabaka. Believe me, such generosity shall not go
unrewarded,” and he glanced at Amada who dropped her eyes. “But if
we can collect the army, what then?”</p>
<p>“Then you can put Memphis into a state of defence. Then too when Idernes
comes I will meet him and, as the bearer of the seal, command him under the
seal to retreat and disperse his army.”</p>
<p>“But if he does, Shabaka, it will only be until he has received fresh
orders from the Great King, whereon he will advance again.”</p>
<p>“No, Prince, <i>he</i> will not advance, or that army either. For when
they are in retreat we will fall on them and destroy them, and declare you, O
Prince, Pharaoh of Egypt, though what will happen afterwards I do not
know.”</p>
<p>When they heard this all gasped. Only Amada whispered,</p>
<p>“Well said!” and Bes clapped his big hands softly in the Ethiopian
fashion.</p>
<p>“A bold counsel,” said Peroa, “and one on which I must have
the night to think. Return here, Shabaka, an hour after sunrise to-morrow, by
which time I can gather all the wisest men in Memphis, and we will discuss this
matter. Ah! here is the impress. Now let the seal be tried.”</p>
<p>A box was brought and opened. In it was a slab of wood on which was an impress
of the King’s seal in wax, surrounded by those of other seals certifying
that it was genuine. Also there was a writing describing the appearance of the
seal. I handed the signet to Peroa who, having compared it with the description
in the writing, fitted it to the impress on the wax.</p>
<p>“It is the same,” he said. “See, all of you.”</p>
<p>They looked and nodded. Then he would have given it back to me but I refused to
take it, saying,</p>
<p>“It is not well that this mighty symbol should hang about the neck of a
private man whence it might be stolen or lost.”</p>
<p>“Or who might be murdered for its sake,” interrupted Peroa.</p>
<p>“Yes, Prince. Therefore take it and hide it in the safest and most secret
place in the palace, and with it these pearls that are too priceless to be
flaunted about the streets of Memphis at night, unless
indeed——” and I turned to look for Amada, but she was gone.</p>
<p>So the seal and the pearls were taken and locked in the box with the impress
and borne away. Nor was I sorry to see the last of them, wisely as it happened.
Then I bade the Prince and his company good night, and presently was driving
homeward with Bes in the chariot.</p>
<p>Our way led us past some large houses once occupied by officers of the Court of
Pharaoh, but now that there was no Court, fallen into ruins. Suddenly from out
of these houses sprang a band of men disguised as common robbers, whose faces
were hidden by cloths with eye-holes cut in them. They seized the horses by the
bridles, and before we could do anything, leapt upon us and held us fast. Then
a tall man speaking with a foreign accent, said,</p>
<p>“Search that officer and the dwarf. Take from them the seal upon a gold
chain and a rope of rose-hued pearls which they have stolen. But do them no
harm.”</p>
<p>So they searched us, the tall man himself helping and, aided by others, holding
Bes who struggled with them, and searched the chariot also, by the light of the
moon, but found nothing. The tall man muttered that I must be the wrong
officer, and at a sign they left us and ran away.</p>
<p>“That was a wise thought of mine, Bes, which caused me to leave certain
ornaments in the palace,” I said. “As it is they have taken
nothing.”</p>
<p>“Yes, Master,” he answered, “though I have taken something
from them,” a saying that I did not understand at the time. “Those
Easterns whom we met by the canal told Idernes about the seal, and he ordered
this to be done. That tall man was one of the messengers who came to-night to
the palace.”</p>
<p>“Then why did they not kill us, Bes?”</p>
<p>“Because murder, especially of one who holds the seal, is an ugly
business, that is easily tracked down, whereas thieves are many in Memphis and
who troubles about them when they have failed? Oh! the Grasshopper, or Amen, or
both, have been with us to-night.”</p>
<p>So I thought although I said nothing, for since we had come off scatheless,
what did it matter? Well, this. It showed me that the signet of the Great King
was indeed to be dreaded and coveted, even here in Egypt. If Idernes could get
it into his possession, what might he not do with it? Cause himself to be
proclaimed Pharaoh perhaps and become the forefather of an independent dynasty.
Why not, when the Empire of the East was taxed with a great war elsewhere? And
if this was so why should not Peroa do the same, he who had behind him all Old
Egypt, maddened with its wrongs and foreign rule?</p>
<p>That same night before I slept, but after Bes and I had hidden away the bags of
gold by burying them beneath the clay floor, I laid the whole matter before my
mother who was a very wise woman. She heard me out, answering little, then
said,</p>
<p>“The business is very dangerous, and of its end I will not speak until I
have heard the counsel of your great-uncle, the holy Tanofir. Still, things
having gone so far, it seems to me that boldness may be the best course, since
the great King has his Grecian wars to deal with, and whatever he may say,
cannot attack Egypt yet awhile. Therefore if Peroa is able to overcome Idernes
and his army he may cause himself to be proclaimed Pharaoh and make Egypt free
if only for a time.”</p>
<p>“Such is my mind, Mother.”</p>
<p>“Not all your mind, Son, I think,” she answered smiling, “for
you think more of the lovely Amada than of these high policies, at any rate
to-night. Well, marry your Amada if you can, though I misdoubt me somewhat of a
woman who is so lost in learning and thinks so much about her soul. At least if
you marry her and Egypt should become free, as it was for thousands of years,
you will be the next heir to the throne as husband of the Great Royal
Lady.”</p>
<p>“How can that be, Mother, seeing that Peroa has a son?”</p>
<p>“A vain youth with no more in him than a child’s rattle. If once
Amada ceases to think about her soul she will begin to think about her throne,
especially if she has children. But all this is far away and for the present I
am glad that neither she nor the thieves have got those pearls, though perhaps
they might be safer here than where they are. And now, my son, go rest for you
need it, and dream of nothing, not even Amada, who for her part will dream of
Isis, if at all. I will wake you before the dawn.”</p>
<p>So I went, being too tired to talk more, and slept like a crocodile in the sun,
till, as it seemed to me, but a few minutes later I saw my mother standing over
me with a lamp, saying that it was time to rise. I rose, unwillingly enough,
but refreshed, washed and dressed myself, by which time the sun had begun to
appear. Then I ate some food and, calling Bes, made ready to start for the
palace.</p>
<p>“My son,” said my mother, the lady Tiu, before we parted,
“while you have been sleeping I have been thinking, as is the way of the
old. Peroa, your cousin, will be glad enough to make use of you, but he does
not love you over much because he is jealous of you and fears lest you should
become his rival in the future. Still he is an honest man and will keep a
bargain which he once has made. Now it seems that above everything on earth you
desire Amada on whom you have set your heart since boyhood, but who has always
played with you and spoken to you with her arm stretched out. Also life is
short and may come to an end any day, as you should know better than most men
who have lived among dangers, and therefore it is well that a man should take
what he desires, even if he finds afterwards that the rose he crushes to his
breast has thorns. For then at least he will have smelt the rose, not only have
looked on and longed to smell it. Therefore, before you hand over your gold,
and place your wit and strength at the service of Peroa, make your bargain with
him; namely, that if thereby you save Amada from the King’s House of
Women and help to set Peroa on the throne, he shall promise her to you free of
any priestly curse, you giving her as dowry the priceless rose-hued pearls that
are worth a kingdom. So you will get your rose till it withers, and if the
thorns prick, do not blame me, and one day you may become a king—or a
slave, Amen knows which.”</p>
<p>Now I laughed and said that I would take her counsel who desired Amada and
nothing else. As for all her talk about thorns, I paid no heed to it, knowing
that she loved me very much and was jealous of Amada who she thought would take
her place with me.</p>
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