The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 62

The prince fell to thinking; suddenly he embraced Hiram, and said with emotion,--

"Ye are much better than those who tell tales of you. I am greatly rejoiced at this."

"Among us, too, there is no little evil," answered Hiram; "but we are all ready to be thy faithful servants shouldst thou call us."

"Is this true?" asked the prince, looking him in the eyes.

The old man put his hand on his heart.

"I swear to thee, O heir to the throne of Egypt and future pharaoh, that if thou begin at any time a struggle with our common enemy, Phnicia will hasten as one man to a.s.sist thee.--But receive this as a reminder of our conversation."

He drew from beneath his robe a gold medal covered with mysterious characters, and, muttering a prayer, hung it on the neck of Prince Rameses.

"With this amulet," continued Hiram, "thou mayst travel the whole world through, and if thou meet a Phnician he will serve thee with advice, with gold, with his sword even. But now let us go."

Some hours had pa.s.sed since sunset, but the night was clear, for the moon had risen. The terrible heat of the day had yielded to coolness.

In the pure air was floating no longer that gray dust which bit the eyes and poisoned respiration. In the blue sky here and there twinkled stars which were lost in the deluge of moonbeams.

Movement had stopped on the streets, but the roofs of all the houses were filled with people occupied in amus.e.m.e.nt. Pi-Bast seemed from edge to edge to be one hall filled with music, singing, laughter, and the sound of goblets.

The prince and the Phnician went speedily to the suburbs, choosing the less lighted sides of the streets. Still, people feasting on terraces saw them at intervals, and invited them up, or cast flowers down on their heads.

"Hei, ye strollers!" cried they, from the roofs. "If ye are not thieves called out by the night to s.n.a.t.c.h booty, come hither, come up to us. We have good wine and gladsome women."

The two wanderers made no answer to those hospitable invitations; they hurried on in their own way. At last they came to a quarter where the houses were fewer, the gardens more frequent, the trees, thanks to damp sea-breezes, more luxuriant and higher than in the southern provinces of Egypt.

"It is not far now," said Hiram.

The prince raised his eyes, and over the dense green of trees he saw a square tower of blue color; on it a more slender tower, which was white. This was the temple of Astaroth. Soon they entered the garden, whence they could take in at a glance the whole building.

It was composed of a number of stories. The top of the lowest was a square platform with sides four hundred yards long; its walls were a few metres high, and all of black color. At the eastern side was a projection to which came two wide stairways. Along the other three sides of this first story were small towers, ten on each side; between each pair of towers were five windows.

More or less in the centre of this lowest platform rose a quadrangular building with sides two hundred yards long. This had a single stairway, towers at the corners, and was purple. On the top of this building was another of golden color, and above it, one upon the other, two towers--one blue, the other white.

The whole building looked as if some power had placed on the earth one enormous black dice, on it a smaller one of purple, on that a golden one, on that a blue, and, highest of all, a silver dice. To each of these elevations stairs led, either double flights along the sides or single front stairs, always on the eastern walls.

At the sides of the stairs and doors stood, alternately, great Egyptian sphinxes, or winged a.s.syrian human-headed bulls.

The viceroy looked with delight at this edifice, which in the moonlight and against the background of rich vegetation had an aspect of marvellous beauty. It was built in Chaldean style, and differed essentially from the temples of Egypt, first, by the system of stories, second, by the perpendicular walls. Among the Egyptians every great building had sloping sides receding inward as they rose.

The garden was not empty. At various points small villas and houses were visible, lights were flas.h.i.+ng, songs and music were heard. From time to time among trees appeared shadows of loving couples.

All at once an old priest approached them, exchanged a few words with Hiram, and said to the prince with a low obeisance,--

"Be pleased, lord, to come with me."

"And may the G.o.ds watch over thee, worthiness," added Hiram, as he left him.

Rameses followed the priest. Somewhat aside from the temple, in the thickest of the grove, was a stone bench, and perhaps a hundred rods from it a villa of no great size at which was heard singing.

"Are people praying there?" asked the prince.

"No," answered the priest, without concealing his dislike; "at that house a.s.semble the wors.h.i.+ppers of Kama, our priestess who guards the fire before the altar of Astaroth."

"Whom does she receive to-day?"

"No one at any time," answered the guide, offended. "Were the priestess of the fire not to observe her vow of chast.i.ty she would have to die."

"A cruel law," observed Rameses.

"Be pleased, lord, to wait at this bench," said the Phnician priest, coldly; "but on hearing three blows against the bronze plate, go to the temple, ascend to the first platform, and thence to the purple story."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

The prince sat down on the bench, in the shadow of an olive-tree, and heard the laughter of women in the villa.

"Kama," thought he, "is a pretty name. She must be young, and perhaps beautiful, and those dull Phnicians threaten her with death. Do they wish in this way to a.s.sure themselves even a few virgins in the whole country?"

He laughed, but was sad. It was uncertain why he pitied that unknown woman for whom love would be a pa.s.sage to the grave.

"I can imagine to myself Tutmosis if he were appointed priestess of Astaroth," thought Rameses. "He would have to die, poor fellow, before he could light one lamp before the face of the G.o.ddess."

At that moment; a flute was heard in the villa, and some one played a plaintive air, which was accompanied by female singers, "aha-a!

aha-a!" as in the lullaby of infants.

The flute stopped, the women were silent, and a splendid male voice was heard, in the Greek language:--

"When thy robe gleams on the terrace, the stars pale and the nightingales cease to sing, but in my heart there is stillness like that which is on earth when the clear dawn salutes it--"

"aha-a! aha-a!" continued the women. The flute played again.

"When thou goest to the temple, violets surround thee in a cloud of fragrance, b.u.t.terflies circle near thy lips, palms bend their heads to thy beauty."

"aha-a! aha-a!--"

"When thou art not before me, I look to the skies to recall the sweet calm of thy features. Vain labor! The heavens have no calm like thine, and their heat is cold when compared with the flame which is turning my heart into ashes."

"aha-a! aha-a!--"

"One day I stood among roses, which the gleam of thy glances clothe in white, gold, and scarlet. Each leaf of them reminded me of one hour, each blossom of one month pa.s.sed at thy feet. The drops of dew are my tears, which are drunk by the merciless wind of the desert.

"Give a sign; I will seize thee, I will bear thee away to my birthplace, beloved. The sea will divide us from pursuers, myrtle groves will conceal our fondling, and G.o.ds, more compa.s.sionate toward lovers, will watch over our happiness."

"aha-a! aha-a!--"

The prince dropped his eyelids and imagined. Through his drooping lashes he could not see the garden, he saw only the flood of moonlight in which were mingled shadows and the song of the unknown man to the unknown woman. At instants that song seized him to such a degree, and forced itself into his spirit so deeply, that Rameses wished to ask: "Am I not the singer myself? nay, am I not that love song?"