The Cat of Bubastes Part 21

"There is no fear of his giving the alarm," Jethro said grimly, and set off in a run in the direction of the city at a pace that taxed the powers of Chebron to keep up with. Once or twice as he ran the boy gasped out a question as to his father's safety, but Jethro did not appear to hear him, but kept on at a steady pace.

Presently he stopped suddenly and listened. A vague, confused sound was heard in front of them, and Jethro quitted the road and took his course over the fields. Amuba heard the sound increase, and was presently conscious that a crowd of people were pa.s.sing along the road.

"It is well I managed to get through," Jethro said. "They would have made short work of you both had they arrived at the farm and found you unprepared."

Jethro did not return to the road, but kept on in an oblique line toward the foot of the hills near the city.

"Where are you going, Jethro?" Amuba asked at last.

"I am going to Chigron, the embalmer. Ameres has arranged with him to hide you there for the present."

The boys knew the place, for they had more than once been there to watch the process of embalming the bodies and preparing them for burial. It was an extensive establishment, for Chigron was one of the most celebrated embalmers of the day; and not only did he embalm, but he kept with him men who performed the further processes required, namely, the wrapping up in the mummy cloths, and the construction of the great cases and the placing the bodies in them ready to be handed over to their friends. These were usually distinct and separate trades, the embalmers generally returning the bodies to the friends after they had completed the process of embalming. Another set of men then prepared the corpse for burial, while the mummy-cases or sarcophagi were prepared by men of another trade. Of the three trades, that of the embalmers was held in by far the highest respect, the work being considered as sacred and the embalmers ranking and a.s.sociating with the priests.

In Chigron's establishment the men of the three trades worked apart and separate from each other; and although Chigron was in fact at the head of all, he personally superintended only the embalming, the men of the other trades being directed by their own masters, and it was as if the three establishments had been placed near each other simply for the purpose of convenience.

When they reached the house of Chigron Jethro went forward alone and knocked at the door. An attendant presented himself. "Give this ring to Chigron," Jethro said, "and say that the bearer of it would fain speak to him here."

In two or three minutes Chigron himself came out.

"I have brought the lads. .h.i.ther in obedience to the order of Ameres,"

Jethro said. "He told me that he had arranged the matter with you."

"And Ameres himself?" Chigron asked.

"He is no more," Jethro said. "The villains who sought his ruin have triumphed, and a furious mob this afternoon broke into his house and murdered him. Chebron does not know it yet, though he cannot but suspect that something terrible has happened, as I would not answer his questions, fearing that he might break down when his strength was most needed."

The Egyptian uttered an exclamation of sorrow.

"Fools and madmen!" he exclaimed; "in all the land none were more worthy of honor than Ameres. He was just and generous, ever ready to befriend those who needed his aid, calm in judgment, and powerful in council. Surely the G.o.ds must be angry with Egypt when they suffered such a one to fall a victim to the pa.s.sions of the mob. But where are the lads? I myself will conduct them to the place I have already prepared. The workers have all left, so there is no fear in pa.s.sing through the house."

At Jethro's call the lads came up.

"Follow me, my lord," Chigron said to Chebron. "I have had everything in readiness for your reception for some days. Would that your visit had been made on some more cheerful occasion."

The embalmer led the way through the portion of the house occupied by himself, then he entered a large apartment whose floor was covered with sawdust.

Here on slabs of stone lay a number of bodies of those in the first state of preparation, while in a still larger apartment behind were a number of stone baths each long enough to contain a body. These were occupied by the corpses which had undergone their first state of preparation, and which were now lying covered with a strong solution of salt and water. Beyond again were other chambers for the reception of bodies embalmed by other processes than that of salt.

Pa.s.sing through a door at the rear the lads found themselves in the open air again. Above them the hill rose in a precipitous rock.

Chigron led the way along the foot of this for some little distance, and then stopped at a portal hewn in the rock itself. All this time he had carried a lighted lamp, although the chambers in which the dead were lying were illuminated with lamps hanging from the ceiling. Upon entering the portal and closing the door behind him he produced from a niche in the wall several other lamps, lighted them, and gave one to each of his companions.

"This," he said, "was cut by a wealthy inhabitant of Thebes centuries ago as a tomb for himself and his family. What happened to him I know not, but the place was never used beyond this chamber, which has been utilized for mummies of sacred animals. Beyond in the main chamber everything is as it was left by those who formed it. There I have during the last ten days privately stored up such articles as would be necessary for you, and I trust that you will not find yourself uncomfortable."

Upon entering the apartment, which was some twenty feet square, they found that the embalmer had not exaggerated what he had done. A table with several settles stood in the middle; three couches piled with rushes were placed against the wall. Mats had been laid down to cover the floor and give warmth to the feet, and lamps ready for burning stood upon the table. In a corner stood two jars of wine, with drinking vessels.

"All is here except food," Chigron said. "That I could not prepare until I knew you were coming; but be a.s.sured that you shall be served regularly. There is no fear of intrusion from any employed in the establishment. They have no occasion to come out to the back of the house, and probably few know of the existence of this tomb. Should I have any ground for believing that there is danger, I will take other measures for your concealment. Should you need anything, do not hesitate to say so. I owe my position to the patronage of my lord Ameres, and there is nothing I would not do to insure the safety of his son. And now, my lord, I will retire, and will presently send you by a trusty servant the food of which I have no doubt that you stand in need."

Chebron said a few words in thanks, but he was too anxious and full of grief to say more. Directly Chigron had left he turned to Jethro.

"Now, Jethro, tell me all; I am prepared for the worst. My dear father is no more. Is it not so?"

"It is too true, Chebron," Jethro replied. "Your n.o.ble father has been killed by a base and cowardly mob urged on by some villains of the priesthood."

Chebron threw himself down on one of the couches and wept bitterly, while Amuba was almost as deeply affected, for Ameres had behaved to him with the kindness of a father. It was not until the following morning that Chebron was sufficiently recovered to ask Jethro to relate to him the details of his father's death.

"I was in the garden," Jethro began. "Mysa and Ruth were in a boat on the pond, and I was towing them when I heard a tumult at the gate. I pulled the boat ash.o.r.e, and hurried them up to the house and told Mysa to retire to her apartment, and that she was not to leave it whatever noise she might hear, that being her father's command. Then I went out to the gate. Just as I got there it fell in, and a crowd of people rushed through. As there were only myself and two or three of the gardeners who had run up we could do nothing to stop them. Just as they reached the house your father came out into the portico and said, 'Good people, what will you have?'

"Those in front of him were silent a moment, abashed by his presence and the calm manner in which he spoke, but others behind set up the cry 'Where is the sacred cat? We will find it!' while others again shouted out 'Down with the impious priest!' Ameres replied, 'You can search the place if you will; though, indeed, it seems that you need not my permission, seeing that you have taken the matter into your own hands. Only I pray you enter not the house. There are the ladies of my family and other women there, and I swear to you that neither alive nor dead is the cat to be found there.'

"The cry was raised, 'Let us search the garden!' In all this it struck me that there were two parties among the mob, the one ignorant and bigoted, believing really that an offense had been committed against their G.o.ds; the other, men who kept in the background, but who were the moving spirits. I was not pleased when I saw the crowd so readily abandon the idea of searching the house and scatter themselves over the garden, for it seemed to me that from one of the gardeners or others they might have obtained some sort of clew that might put them on the road to discovery. I saw that several among the crowd had with them dogs trained for the chase, and this made me more uneasy. I told one of the men to run at once and summon the troops, and then followed the crowd.

"I was the more uneasy to see that without wasting time in searching elsewhere they made straight to the inclosure where the animals were kept. No sooner did they get there than they began to search, urging on the dogs to a.s.sist them. Suddenly I started, for there was a touch upon my shoulder, and looking round I saw Ameres. 'Remember my instructions, Jethro,' he said in a quiet voice; 'I commit Chebron to your charge.'

"'Oh, my lord!' I exclaimed, 'why are you here? The troops are but a short distance away. Why do you not place yourself under their protection?'

"'Because I have done no wrong, Jethro,' he replied calmly. 'I have not offended the G.o.ds, nor have I ever wronged one of my countrymen.

Why should I fly?'

"At this moment there was a yell of rage among the crowd, and I knew that one of those accursed hounds must have smelled the dead cat and scratched the earth from over it. Then I heard a voice cry above the rest, 'See! even now the wounds are manifest; it has been pierced by an arrow, even as I told you. The sacred cat has been slain!' Then the crowd turned. 'Fly, Jethro,' Ameres said. 'It is my last command.'

"But even then I could not obey him. There was death in the eyes of those who were rushing toward him shouting 'Down with the despiser of the G.o.ds! Down with the slayer of the sacred cat!' and seeing that, I rushed at them. After that all was confusion. I had caught up a staff from the portico as I pa.s.sed, and with it I struck right and left.

Many fell, I know, before they closed with me. Blows were showered upon me, and the staff then fell from my hands, but I fought with my naked fists. Several times I was beaten down, but each time I rose again. Then, as in a dream, I seemed to hear your father's command, 'I commit Chebron to your care,' and I burst my way through them and threw myself upon a group standing further on, but I saw as I broke through them that I could do nothing there.

"Your father lay on the ground looking as calm and peaceful as when he had spoken to me but five minutes before; but his white garments were stained with blood, and the half of a dagger stood up just over his heart. There was no time to see more. His last command was to be obeyed, and shaking off those who tried to hold me, and evading the blows aimed at me with their knives, I fled. As I rushed out through the gate I saw the troops I had sent for coming toward the house. But they were too late now; besides, some of my pursuers were close behind me, and so without a pause I took the road to the farm. I think that is all I have to tell you."

Chebron was weeping bitterly, and Amuba, who was himself deeply affected, went over to him.

"Console yourself, Chebron. I know what you are feeling now, but do not blame yourself too greatly for this calamity. You know what your father said--that it was but an accident, and that it was doubtless the will of the great G.o.d that your arrow should fly as it did; and he himself declared that he believed that all this was but the result of conspiracy, and that, as we heard in the temple, there were men determined to take his life."

A few minutes later the embalmer entered bringing them food. He saw at once that Chebron had been informed of the fate that had befallen his father.

"Have you heard aught of what is pa.s.sing in the city?" Amuba asked him.

"Yes," Chigron answered; "naught else is talked about. Many of those concerned in the deed escaped either by the entrance before the soldiers arrived there, or over the walls; but many were seized, and are now in prison for their sacrilegious deed in raising their hand against the person of the high priest of Osiris. There were tumults in the city during the night, many maintaining that the deed was well done, others the contrary.

"Those who had been taken all declared that they had been informed by one who said he knew it for certain that the cat was buried in the inclosure, and that it had been slain by you and my young lord here, as you had been seen going with your bows and arrows to the inclosure and were there for some time, after which the cat was never seen again. The general opinion is that though the prisoners taken will be punished--some with flogging, some with death--your lives are also a.s.suredly forfeited, and that even the friendship of the king for your father would not avail to protect you, for that he, like others, must obey the law, and that the law of Egypt is that whomsoever shall take the life of a cat shall be slain."

"I am perfectly willing to die," Chebron said; "and my greatest regret now is that I did not follow my first impulse and denounce myself as the accidental killer of the cat. No blame could have then been attached to my father or to any but myself."

"The disgrace would have fallen upon your whole family," the embalmer said; "for those nearly related to one who performed an impious action must needs suffer with him. Not that I blame you, Chebron; for I know that your father did not do so. He told me when he arranged that I should, if needs be, furnish you with a hiding-place, that although you might need a refuge it would be for no fault of your own. I do not understand how he could have said so, seeing the terrible guilt of even accidentally taking the life of a cat, and specially of this cat, which was sacred above all others in the land. Still I know your father's wisdom equaled his goodness; and although I own that I cannot understand his saying, I am content to accept it, and will do all in my power to save you. Doubtless the search after you will be a hot one, but we must hope for the best."

"I will go out and see what is doing," Jethro said. "It may be that it will be more safe to move away at once than to remain here."

"In that case," the embalmer said, "you will need to be disguised before you start. It is known that Ameres had two fair-skinned slaves, and that one of them was concerned with my young lord here in the matter; also that the other, after fighting furiously in the garden, and, as I heard, slaying several of his master's enemies, managed to make his escape. Fortunately I have the materials at hand. We use paints and stains in abundance for the sere clothes of the dead and the decorations of their coffins, and I can easily make you as dark as any of our people. That, with one of my wigs and Egyptian garments, will alter you so that, so long as you do not look any one fairly in the face, there will be no fear whatever of your discovery; but you must not look up, for even when I have blackened your lashes the lightness of your eyes would at once betray you."

In half an hour Jethro was transformed into a middle-cla.s.s citizen of Thebes, and started on his mission of inquiry. During the day some officials came to the establishment and made many inquiries after the missing lads. Not contented with denials, they went through the whole buildings, examining all the chambers closely.

"It is known," they said to Chigron, "that they several times came here, and that Ameres was a patron of yours. It is our duty to search any house where shelter might have been given them, though we can hardly believe that any one would hold communication, far less receive into this house, persons guilty of such an act of sacrilege as they have been. However, there is no chance of their escaping us. Messages have been sent all over Egypt. Moreover, as they had no horses they cannot have gone far. Yours is the first house we have searched, for the servants all say the same--that the son of Ameres was frequently here."