The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 18

"Finally, remember that man who hanged himself; thou wert sorry when an innocent man lost his life. But to-day is it possible that thou art willing thyself to slay innocent people?"

"Enough!" interrupted Rameses, in a deep voice. "My anger is like a water-jar. Woe to him on whom it falls! Let us enter."

The frightened Tutmosis drew back. The prince took Sarah by the hand and went to the terrace. He seated her near the table on which was the unfinished supper, and approaching the light drew the bandage from her forehead.

"Ah!" cried he, "this is not even a wound, it is only a blue spot."

He looked at Sarah attentively.

"I never thought," said he, "that thou wouldst have a blue spot. This changed thy face considerably."

"Then I please thee no longer?" whispered Sarah, raising on him great eyes full of fear.

"Oh, no! this will pa.s.s quickly."

Then he called Tutmosis and the black, and commanded to tell him what had happened that evening.

"He defended us," said Sarah. "He stood, with an axe, in the doorway."

"Didst thou do that?" asked the prince, looking quickly into the eyes of the Nubian.

"Was I to let strange people break into thy house, lord?"

Rameses patted him on the curly head.

"Thou hast acted," said he, "like a brave man. I give thee freedom.

To-morrow thou wilt receive a reward and mayst return to thy own people."

The black tottered and rubbed his eyes, the whites of which were shining. Suddenly he dropped on his knees, and cried as he struck the floor with his forehead,--

"Do not put me away, lord."

"Well," replied Rameses, "remain with me, but as a free warrior. I need just such men," said he, turning to Tutmosis. "He cannot talk like the overseer of the house of books, but he is ready for battle."

And again he inquired for details of the attack, when the Nubian told how a priest had approached, and when he related his miracles the prince seized his own head, exclaiming,--

"I am the most hapless man in all Egypt! Very soon I shall find a priest in my bed even. Whence did he come? Who was he?"

The black servitor could not explain this, but he said that the priest's action toward the prince and toward Sarah was very friendly; that the attack was directed not by Egyptians, but by people who, the priest said, were enemies of Egypt, and whom he challenged to step forward, but they would not.

"Wonders! wonders!" said Rameses, meditating, and throwing himself on a couch. "My black slave is a valiant warrior and a man full of judgment. A priest defends a Jewess, because she is mine. What a strange priest he is! The Egyptian people who kneel down before the pharaoh's dogs attack the house of the erpatr under direction of unknown enemies of Egypt. I myself must look into this."

CHAPTER XI

The month Thoth has ended and the month Paofi (the second half of July) has begun. The water of the Nile, from being greenish and then white, has become ruddy and is rising continually. The royal indicator in Memphis is filled to the height of two men almost, and the Nile rises two hands daily. The lowest land is inundated; from higher ground people are removing hastily flax, grapes, and cotton of a certain species. Over places which were dry in the early morning, waves plash as evening approaches. A mighty, unseen whirlwind seems to blow in the depth of the Nile. This wind ploughs up broad s.p.a.ces on the river, tills the furrows with foam, then smooths for a moment the surface, and after a time twists it into deep eddies. Again the hidden wind ploughs, again it smooths out, whirls, pushes forward new hills of water, new rows of foam, and raises the rustling river, wins without ceasing new platforms of land. Sometimes the water, after reaching a certain boundary, leaps across in a twinkle, pours into a low place, and makes a shining pond where a moment earlier withered gra.s.s was breaking up into dust heaps.

Though the rise of the river has reached barely one third of its height, the whole region near the banks is under water. Every hour some little height takes on the semblance of an island, divided from others by a narrow channel, which widens gradually and cuts off the house more and more from its neighbors. Very often he who walked out to work comes home in a boat from his labor.

Boats and rafts appear more and more frequently on the river. From some of them men are catching fish in nets; on others they bring the harvest to granaries, or bellowing cattle to their stables. With other boats visits are made to acquaintances to inform them amid shouts and laughter that the river is rising. Sometimes boats gather in one place, like a flock of daws, and then shoot apart on all sides before a broad raft bearing down from Upper Egypt immense blocks of stone hewn out in quarries near the river.

In the air, as far as the ear can hear, extend the roar of the rising water, the cries of frightened birds, and the gladsome songs of people. The Nile is rising, there will be bread in abundance.

During a whole month investigation continued in the affair of the attack on the house of Rameses. Each morning a boat with officials and warriors came to some small estate. People were s.n.a.t.c.hed from their labor, overwhelmed with treacherous questions, beaten with sticks.

Toward evening two boats returned to Memphis: one brought officials, the other brought prisoners.

In this way some hundreds of men were caught, of whom one half knew nothing, the other half were threatened by imprisonment or toil for a number of years in the quarries. But nothing was learned of those who led the attack, or of that priest who had persuaded the people to leave the place. Prince Rameses had qualities which were uncommonly contradictory. He was as impetuous as a lion and as stubborn as a bullock, but he had a keen understanding and a deep sense of justice.

Seeing that this investigation by officials gave no result whatever, he sailed on a certain day to Memphis and commanded to open the prison.

The prison was built on an eminence surrounded by a lofty wall, and was composed of a great number of stone, brick, and wooden buildings.

These buildings for the main part were merely the dwellings of overseers. Prisoners were placed in subterranean dens hewn out in a cliff of limestone.

When Prince Rameses pa.s.sed the gate, he saw a crowd of women washing and feeding some prisoner. This naked man, who resembled a skeleton, was sitting on the ground, having his hands and feet in four openings of a square plank which took the place of fetters.

"Has this man suffered long in this way?" asked Rameses.

"Two months," said the overseer.

"And must he sit here much longer?"

"A month."

"What did he do?"

"He was insolent to a tax gatherer."

The prince turned and saw another crowd, composed of women and children. Among them was an old man.

"Are these prisoners?"

"No, most worthy lord. That is a family waiting for the body of a criminal who is to be strangled--oh, they are taking him already to the chamber," said the overseer.

Then, turning to the crowd, he said,--

"Be patient a short time, dear people. Ye will get the body soon."

"We thank thee greatly, worthy lord," answered an old man, doubtless the father of the delinquent. "We left home yesterday evening, our flax is in the field, and the river is rising."

The prince grew pale, and halted.

"Dost thou know," asked he of the overseer, "that I have the right of pardon?"

"Erpatr, thou hast that right," answered the overseer, bowing; and then he added: "The law declares, O child of the sun, that in memory of thy presence men condemned for offences against the state and religion, but who conduct themselves properly, should receive some abatement. A list of such persons will be placed at thy feet within a month."

"But he who is to be strangled this moment, has he not the right to my grace?"