The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 17

But the people became silent all at once, for from the depth of the garden came a man with shaven head; from this man's shoulders depended a panther skin.

"A prophet! A holy father!" murmured some in the crowd. Those sitting on the wall began now to spring down from it.

"People of Egypt," said the priest, calmly, "with what right do ye raise hands on the property of the erpatr?"

"The unclean Jewess dwells here, who stops the rise of the Nile. Woe to us! misery and famine are hanging over Lower Egypt."

"People of weak mind or of evil faith," said the priest, "where have ye heard that one woman could stop the will of the G.o.ds? Every year in the month Thoth the Nile begins to increase and rises till the month Choeak. Has it ever happened otherwise, though our land has been full at all times of strangers, sometimes foreign priests and princes, who groaning in captivity and grievous labor might utter the most dreadful curses through sorrow and anger? They would have brought on our heads all kinds of misfortune, and more than one of them would have given their lives if only the sun would not rise over Egypt in the morning, or if the Nile would not rise when the year began. And what came of their prayers? Either they were not heard in the heavens, or foreign G.o.ds had no power in presence of the G.o.ds of Egypt. How then is a woman who lives pleasantly among us to cause a misfortune which is beyond the power of our mightiest enemies?"

"The holy father speaks truth. Wise are the words of the prophet!"

said people among the mult.i.tude.

"But Messu (Moses), the Jewish leader, brought darkness and death into Egypt!" said one voice.

"Let the man who said that step forth," cried the priest. "I challenge him, let him come forward, unless he is an enemy of the Egyptian people."

The crowd murmured like a wind from afar blowing between trees, but no man came forward.

"I speak truth," continued the priest; "evil men are moving among you like hyenas in a sheepfold. They have no pity on your misery, they urged you to destroy the house of the heir and to rebel against the pharaoh. If their vile plan had succeeded and blood had begun to flow from your bosoms, they would have hidden before spears as they hide now before my challenge."

"Listen to the prophet! Praise to thee, man of G.o.d!" cried the people, inclining their foreheads.

The most pious fell to the earth.

"Hear me, Egyptian people. In return for your faith in the words of a priest, for your obedience to the pharaoh and the heir, for the honor which ye give to a servant of the G.o.d, a favor will be shown you. Go to your houses in peace, and even before ye have left this hill the Nile will be rising."

"Oh, may it rise!"

"Go! The greater your faith and piety the more quickly will ye see the sign of favor."

"Let us go! Let us go! Be blessed, O prophet, thou son of prophets!"

They began to separate, kissing the robe of the priest. With that some one shouted,--

"The miracle, the miracle is accomplished."

On the tower in Memphis a light flamed up.

"The Nile is rising! See, more and more lights! Indeed a mighty saint spoke to us. May he live through eternity!"

They turned toward the priest, but he had vanished among shadows.

The throng raging a little while earlier, amazed and filled now with grat.i.tude, forgot both its anger and the wonder-working priest. It was mastered by a wild delight; men rushed to the bank of the river, on which many lights were burning and where a great hymn was rising from the a.s.sembled people,--

"Be greeted, O Nile, sacred river, which appearest on this country!

Thou comest in peace, to give life to Egypt. O hidden deity who scatterest darkness, who moistenest the fields, to bring food to dumb animals, O thou the precious one, descending from heaven to give drink to the earth, O friend of bread, thou who gladdenest our cottages!

Thou art the master of fishes; when thou art in our fields no bird dares touch the harvest. Thou art the creator of grain and the parent of barley; thou givest rest to the hands of millions of the unfortunate and for ages thou securest the sanctuary."[5]

[5] Authentic.

At this time the illuminated boat of Rameses sailed from the sh.o.r.e opposite amid songs and outcries. Those very persons who half an hour earlier wished to burst into his villa were falling now on their faces before him, or hurling themselves into the water to kiss the oars and the sides of the boat which was bearing the son of their ruler.

Gladsome, surrounded by torches, Rameses, in company with Tutmosis, approached Sarah's dwelling. At sight of him Gideon said to Tafet,--

"Great is my alarm for my daughter, but still greater my wish to avoid Prince Rameses."

He sprang over the wall, and amid darkness through gardens and fields he held on in the direction of Memphis.

"Be greeted. O beauteous Sarah!" cried Tutmosis in the courtyard. "I hope that thou wilt receive us well for the music which I sent to thee."

Sarah appeared, with bandaged head on the threshold, leaning on the black slave and her female attendant.

"What is the meaning of this?" cried the astonished Rameses.

"Terrible things!" called out Tafet. "Unbelievers attacked thy house; one hurled a stone and struck Sarah."

"What unbelievers?"

"But those--the Egyptians!" explained Tafet.

The prince cast a contemptuous glance at her, but rage mastered him straightway.

"Who struck Sarah? Who threw the stone?" shouted he, seizing the arm of the black man.

"Those from beyond the river," answered the slave.

"Hei, watchman!" cried the prince, foaming at the mouth, "arm all the men in this place for me and follow that rabble!"

The black slave seized his axe again, the overseers fell to summoning workmen from the buildings, some soldiers of the prince's suite grasped their sword-hilts mechanically.

"By the mercy of Jehovah, what art thou doing?" whispered Sarah, as she hung on the neck of Rameses.

"I wish to avenge thee," answered he; "whoso strikes at that which is mine strikes at me."

Tutmosis grew pale, and shook his head.

"Hear me, lord," said he; "wilt thou discover in the night and in a mult.i.tude the men who committed the crime?"

"All one to me. The rabble did it, and the rabble must give answer."

"No judge will say that," reflected Tutmosis. "But thou art to be the highest judge."

The prince became thoughtful. Tutmosis continued,--

"Stop! what would the pharaoh our lord say to-morrow? And what delight would reign among our foes in the east and the west, if they heard that the heir to the throne, almost at the royal palace, was attacked in the night by his own people?"

"Oh, if my father would give me even half the army, our enemies on all sides of the world would be silent forever!" said the prince, stamping on the pavement.