A Victor of Salamis Part 15

"Two seated Sphynxes and a winged cherub flying above,-the seal of the royal Achaemenians of Persia! You are sent by Xerxes himself. You are-"

The Prince raised a warning finger. "Hush, Athenian. Think what you will, but do not name me, though soon my name shall fly through all the world."

"So be it," rejoined Democrates, his hands clutching the broken coin as at a last reprieve from death. "But be warned, even though I bear you no good-will. Themistocles is suspicious. Sicinnus his agent, a sly cat, is searching for you. The other day Themistocles, in the boat at Peiraeus, was fain to have you questioned. If detected, I cannot save you."

The Prince shrugged his shoulders.

"Good Democrates, I come of a race that trusts in the omnipotence of G.o.d and does the right. Duty requires me in Athens. What Ahura-Mazda and Mithra his glorious vicegerent will, that shall befall me, be I in h.e.l.las or in safe Ecbatana. The decree of the Most High, written among the stars, is good. I do not shun it."

The words were spoken candidly, reverently. Democrates drew toward the door, and the others did not strive to detain him.

"As you will," spoke the Athenian; "I have warned you. Trust then your G.o.d. I have sold myself this once, but do not call me friend. Necessity is a sharp goad. May our paths never cross again!"

"Until you again have need," said the Prince, not seeking to wring from the other any promise.

Democrates muttered a sullen farewell and went down the dark stairs. The light in Phormio's house was out. No one seemed to be watching. On the way homeward Democrates comforted himself with the reflection that although the memoranda he sold were genuine, Themistocles often changed his plans, and he could see to it this scheme for arraying the war fleet was speedily altered. No real harm then would come to h.e.l.las. And in his hand was the broken shekel,-the talisman to save him from destruction. Only when Democrates thought of Glaucon and Hermione he was fain to grit his teeth, while many times it returned to him, "They think it was _Glaucon_ who has been twice now to visit the Babylonish carpet-seller."

As the door had closed behind the orator, the Prince had strode across the rugs to the window-and spat forth furiously as in extreme disgust.

"Fool, knave, villain! I foul my lips by speaking to his accursed ears!"

The tongue in which he uttered this was the purest "Royal Persian," such as one might hear in the king's court. The beautiful "mute," mute no longer, glided across the chamber and laid both hands upon his shoulder with a gracious caress.

"And yet you bear with these treacherous creatures, you speak them fair?"

was the remark in the same musical tongue.

"Yes, because there is sore need. Because, with all their faithlessness, covetousness, and guile, these h.e.l.lenes are the keenest, subtlest race beneath Mithra's glorious light. And we Persians must play with them, master them, and use them to make us lords of all the world."

Hiram had disappeared behind a curtain. The Prince lifted her silver embroidered red cap. Over the graceful shoulders fell a ma.s.s of clear gold hair, so golden one might have hidden s.h.i.+ning darics within it. The s.h.i.+ning head pressed against the Persian's breast. In this att.i.tude, with the loose dress parting to show the tender lines, there could be no doubt of the other's s.e.x. The Prince laid his hand upon her neck and drew her bright face nearer.

"This is a mad adventure on which we two have come," he spoke; "how nearly you were betrayed at the Isthmus, when the Athenian saved you! A blunder by Hiram, an ill-turn of Fate, will ruin us yet. It is far, Rose of Eran, from Athens to the pleasant groves of Susa and the sparkling Choaspes."

"But the adventure is ending," answered she, with smiling confidence; "Mazda has guarded us. As you have said-we are in his hand, alike here and in my brother's palace. And we have seen Greece and Athens-the country and city which you will conquer, which you will rule."

"Yes," he said, letting his eyes pa.s.s from her face to the vista of the Acropolis, which lay in fair view under the moonlight. "How n.o.ble a city this! Xerxes has promised that I shall be satrap of h.e.l.las, Athens shall be my capital, and you, O best beloved, you shall be mistress of Athens."

"I shall be mistress of Athens," echoed she, "but you, husband and lord, would that men might give you a higher name than satrap, chief of the Great King's slaves!"

"Xerxes is king," he answered her.

"My brother wears the purple cap. He sits on the throne of Cyrus the Great and Darius the Dauntless. I would be a loyal Aryan, the king is indeed in Susa or Babylon. But for me the true king of Media and Persia-is here."

And she lifted proud eyes to her husband.

"You are bold, Rose of Eran," he smiled, not angry at her implication; "more cautious words than these have brought many in peril of the bow-string. But, by Mithra the Fiend-Smiter, why were you not made a man?

Then truly would your mother Atossa have given Darius an heir right worthy the twenty kingdoms!"

She gave a gentle laugh.

"The Most High ordains the best. Have I not the n.o.blest kingdom? Am I not your wife?"

His laugh answered her.

"Then I am greater than Xerxes. I love my empire the best!"

He leaned again from the lattice, "O, fairest of cities, and we shall win it! See how the tawny rock turns to silver beneath the moonbeams! How clearly burn the stars over the plain and the mountain! And these Greeks, clever, wise, beautiful, when we have mastered them, have taught them our Aryan obedience and love of truth, what servants will they not become! For we are ordained to conquer. Mazda has given us empire without limit, from the Indus to the Great Ocean of the West,-all shall be ours; for we are Persians, the race to rule forever."

"We will conquer," she said dreamily, as enchanted as was he by the beauties of the night.

"From the day Cyrus your grandfather flung down Cambyses the Mede, the High G.o.d has been with us. Egypt, a.s.syria, Babylon-have all bowed under our yoke. The Lydian at golden Sardis, the Tartar on the arid steppes, the Hindoo by his sacred river, all send tribute to our king, and h.e.l.las-" he held out his arms confidently-"shall be the brightest star in the Persian tiara. When Darius your father lay dying, I swore to him, 'Master, fear not; I will avenge you on Athens and on all the Greeks.' And in one brief year, O _fravas.h.i.+_, soul of the great departed, I may make good the vow. I will make these untamed h.e.l.lenes bow their proud necks to a king."

Her own eyes brightened, looking on him, as he spoke in pride and power.

"And yet," she could not keep back the question, "as we have moved through this h.e.l.las, and seen its people, living without princes, or with princes of little power, sometimes a strange thought comes. These perverse, un.o.bedient folk, false as they are, and ununited, have yet a strength to do great things, a strength which even we Aryans lack."

He shook his head.

"It cannot be. Mazda ordained a king to rule, the rest to obey. And all the wits of h.e.l.las have no strength until they learn that lesson well. But I will teach it them."

"For some day you will be their king?" spoke the woman. He did not reprove, but stood beside her, gazing forth upon the night. In the moonlight the columns and sculptures of the great temple on the Acropolis stood out in minute tracery They could see all the caverns and jagged ledges on the ma.s.sy Rock. The flat roofs of the sleeping city lay like a dark and peaceful ocean. The mountains spread around in shadow-wrapped hush. Far away the dark stretch of the sea sent back a silver s.h.i.+mmering in answer to the moon. A landscape only possible at Athens! The two sensitive Orientals' souls were deeply touched. For long they were silent, then the husband spoke.

"Twenty days more; we are safe in Sardis, the adventure ended. The war only remains, and the glory, the conquest,-and thou. O Ahura-Mazda," he spoke upward to the stars, "give to thy Persians this land. For when Thou hast given this, Thou wilt keep back nothing of all the world."

CHAPTER X

DEMOCRATES RESOLVES

Democrates surpa.s.sed himself when arraigning the knavish contractor.

"Nestor and Odysseus both speak to us," shouted Polus in glee, flinging his black bean in the urn. "What eloquence, what righteous fury when he painted the man's infamy to pillage the city in a crisis like this!"

So the criminal was sent to death and Democrates was showered with congratulations. Only one person seemed hardly satisfied with all the young orator did,-Themistocles. The latter told his lieutenant candidly he feared all was not being done to apprehend the Persian emissary.

Themistocles even took it upon himself to send Sicinnus to run down several suspects, and just on the morning of the day preceding the Panathenaea-the great summer festival-Democrates received a hint which sent him home very thoughtful. He had met his chief in the Agora as he was leaving the Government-House, and Themistocles had again asked if he had smelt aught of the Persian agent. He had not.

"Then you would well devote more time to finding his scent, and less to convicting a pitiful embezzler. You know the Alopece suburb?"

"Certainly."

"And the house of Phormio the fishmonger?" to which Democrates nodded.

"Well, Sicinnus has been watching the quarter. A Babylonish carpet-seller has rooms opposite Phormio. The man is suspicious, does no trading, and Phormio's wife told Sicinnus an odd tale."

"What tale?" Democrates glanced at a pa.s.sing chariot, avoiding Themistocles's gaze.