The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 35

A second confidential servant went at a certain distance behind Phut; in the narrower streets he hid among the houses, on the broader ones he feigned drunkenness.

The streets were empty; carriers and hucksters were sleeping. There was light only in the houses of artisans who were at work, or in those of rich people who were feasting on the terraces. In various houses were heard the sounds of harps and flutes, songs, laughter, the blows of hammers, the sound of saws in the hands of cabinet makers; at times the cry of a drunken man, or a call for a.s.sistance.

The streets along which Phut and the slave pa.s.sed were narrow for the greater part, crooked and full of holes. As they approached the end of the journey, the stone houses were lower and lower, those of one story more frequent, and there were more gardens, or rather palms, fig-trees, and stunted acacias, which, inclining out from between the walls, seemed to have the intention to escape from their places. On the Street of Tombs the view changed on a sudden. In place of stone buildings there were broad gardens, and in the middle of them splendid villas. The negro stopped before one of the gates and quenched his torch.

"Here is the 'Green Star,'" said he, and, making a low bow to Phut, he turned homeward.

The man of Harran knocked at the gate. After a while the gatekeeper appeared. He looked attentively at the stranger, and muttered,--

"Anael, Sachiel."

"Amabiel, Abalidot," answered Phut.

"Be greeted," said the gatekeeper; and he opened quickly to the visitor.

When he had pa.s.sed some tens of steps between trees, Phut found himself in the antechamber of the villa, where the priestess whom he knew greeted him. Farther in stood some man with black beard and hair; so much like the man of Harran was he, that Phut could not hide his astonishment.

"He will take thy place in the eyes of those who are spying thee,"

said the priestess, smiling.

The man who was disguised as Phut put a garland of roses on his head, and in company with the priestess went to the first story, where the sound of flutes and the clatter of goblets were heard soon after.

Meanwhile two inferior priests conducted Phut to a bath in the garden.

After the bath they curled his hair and put white robes on him.

From the bath all three went out again among the trees, pa.s.sed a number of gardens, and found themselves in an empty s.p.a.ce finally.

"There," said one of the priests, "are the ancient tombs; on that side is the city, and here the temple. Go whithersoever thou wishest. May wisdom point out the road to thee, and sacred words guard thee from perils."

The two priests went back to the garden, and Phut was in solitude. The moonless night was rather clear. From afar, covered with mist, glittered the Nile; higher up gleamed the seven stars of the Great Bear. Over the head of the stranger was Orion, and above the dark pylons flamed the star Sirius.

"The stars shine in our land more brightly," thought Phut.

He began to whisper prayers in an unknown tongue, and turned toward the temple.

When he had gone a number of steps, from one of the gardens a man pushed out and followed him. But almost at that very moment such a thick fog fell on the place that it was quite impossible to see aught save the roofs of the temple.

After a certain time the man of Harran came to a high wall. He looked up at the sky and began to go westward. From moment to moment night birds and great bats flew above him. The mist had become so dense that he was forced to touch the wall so as not to lose it. The journey had lasted rather long when all at once Phut found himself before a low door with a mult.i.tude of bronze nail heads. He fell to counting these from the left side on the top; at the same time he pressed some of them powerfully, others he turned.

When he had pressed the last nail at the bottom, the door opened. The man of Harran advanced a few steps, and found himself in a narrow niche where there was utter darkness.

He tried the ground carefully with his foot till he struck upon something like the brink of a well from which issued coolness. He sat down then and slipped fearlessly into the abyss, though he found himself in that place and in Egypt for the first time.

The opening was not deep. Phut stood erect on a sloping pavement, and began to descend along a narrow corridor with as much confidence as if he had known the pa.s.sage for a lifetime.

At the end of the corridor was a door. By groping the stranger found a knocker, and struck three times with it. In answer came a voice, it was unknown from what direction.

"Hast thou, who art disturbing in a night hour the peace of a holy place, the right to enter?"

"I have done no wrong to man, child, or woman. Blood has not stained my hands. I have eaten no unclean food. I have not taken another's property. I have not lied. I have not betrayed the great secret,"

answered the man of Harran, calmly.

"Art thou he for whom we are waiting, or he who in public thou declarest thyself to be?" inquired the voice, after a while.

"I am he who was to come from brethren in the East; but that other name is mine also, and in the northern city I possess a house and land, as I have told other persons."

The door opened, and Phut walked into a s.p.a.cious cellar which was lighted by a lamp burning on a small table before a purple curtain. On the curtain was embroidered in gold a winged globe with two serpents.

At one side stood an Egyptian priest in a white robe.

"Dost thou who hast entered," asked the priest, pointing at Phut, "know what this sign on the curtain signifies?"

"The globe," answered the stranger, "is an image of the world on which we live; the wings indicate that it is borne through s.p.a.ce like an eagle."

"And the serpents?" asked the priest.

"The two serpents remind him who is wise that whoso betrays the great secret will die a double death,--he will die soul and body."

After a moment of silence the priest continued,--

"If thou art in real fact Beroes" (here he inclined his head), "the great prophet of Chaldea" (he inclined his head a second time), "for whom there is no secret in heaven or on earth, be pleased to inform thy servant which star is the most wonderful."

"Wonderful is Hor-set,[7] which encircles heaven in the course of twelve years; for four smaller stars go around it. But the most wonderful is Horka,[8] which encircles heaven in thirty years; for it has subject to it not only stars, but a great ring which vanishes sometimes."

[7] Jupiter.

[8] Saturn.

On hearing this, the Egyptian priest prostrated himself before the Chaldean. Then he gave him a purple scarf and a muslin veil, indicated where the incense was, and left the cave with low obeisances.

The Chaldean remained alone. He put the scarf on his right shoulder, covered his face with the veil, and, taking a golden spoon sprinkled into it incense, which he lighted at the lamp before the curtain.

Whispering, he turned three times in a circle, and the smoke of the incense surrounded him with a triple ring, as it were.

During this time a wonderful disturbance prevailed in the cave. It seemed as if the top were rising and the sides spreading out. The purple curtain at the altar quivered, as if moved by hidden fingers.

The air began to move in waves, as if flocks of unseen birds were flying through it.

The Chaldean opened the robe on his bosom, and drew forth a gold medal covered with mysterious characters. The cave trembled, the sacred curtain moved with violence, and little flames appeared in s.p.a.ce at various points.

Then the seer raised his hands and began,--

"O Heavenly Father, gracious and merciful, purify my spirit. Send down on Thy unworthy servant a blessing, and extend Thy almighty arm against rebellious spirits, so that I may manifest Thy power.

"Here is the sign which I touch in thy presence. Here I am--I, leaning on the a.s.sistance of that G.o.d, the foreseeing and the fearless. I am mighty, and summon and conjure thee. Come hither with obedience,--in the name of Aye, Saraye, Aye, Saraye!"

At that moment from various sides were heard voices as of distant trumpets. Near the lamp some bird flew past, then a robe of ruddy color, afterward a man with a tail, finally a crowned c.o.c.k which stood on the table before the curtain.

The Chaldean spoke again,--

"In the name of the Almighty and Eternal--Amorul, Taneha, Rabur, Latisten."