* * * * *The Princess slept. Semiramis arose and moved in stealth toward the door; yet she paused on the threshold, for her dog came creeping at her heels."Down, Habal, down!" she whispered, struggling with her tears, and the dog obeyed, though he whined because of impending evil—a sense which is keen in the hearts of beasts, and is passing strange.In the garden all was still. Semiramis crept to the appointed place where the eunuch waited, eager to begone. She smeared her hands and face with pigment, donned a slave's simar, and hid her flame-hued hair beneath a ragged hood; yet, when all was ready, she hung back, trembling, till Kishra's patience broke, and he longed to urge her on by blows.The door of bronze, which pierced the garden wall, was opened by a sentry who saw but the eunuch and a kitchen wench with a basket upon her head. Oft had he seen the like before when Kishra went forth in search of dainties for his pampered appetite; so when the door clanged sharply at their backs, the sentry once more nodded at his post.As the street was reached Semiramis well-nigh swooned for joy, and vowed a gift to Ishtar should the city gates be passed. In silence they began to walk, when of a sudden each started at the sound as of a body falling from the palace mound. They paused, but naught was heard or seen, so the two set out again.Westward their course was laid, past many a booth where women laughed, and crafty hucksters lured them on to buy; past a teeming market-place, for Kishra went boldly in accustomed paths, lest marauders spring upon him from some darkened alley-way. The place was a place of noises, lights and evil smells, of leering, besotted crowds who knew the eunuch and gibed him because of the woman at his side. The Syrian's blood burned hotly in her veins, till she yearned to tear the jesters with her nails; yet wisdom whispered, so she laughed in the manner of an easy-virtued kitchen wench, and went her way.And now the booths were passed, and they came at length to the city wall with its mighty gates of brass. Here fortune once more favored them, for a band of belated horsemen came clattering in, the riders nodding on their weary steeds; so Kishra whispered with the captain of the gate, slyly pressing a coin into his palm; then, as the keeper turned his back, the two slipped by and went unnoticed out of Nineveh.In silence the treasure-seekers crossed the plain till they came to the river bank. Here a boat was found in charge of an under-keeper's boy who stretched out his hand for pay, then straightway disappeared. Kishra produced a digging tool from beneath his cloak, laid it beside him on the beach, and began to unloose the boat; and while he was thus employed, Semiramis cast a lingering glance at the city wall that loomed against the sky, so black, so stern, with its monster towers which seemed to stand on guard like giant wardens of the night.As she gazed, her heart grew sad again—sad for the little Princess dreaming on her couch, and because of Habal, watching for the mistress who would come not back to him.She sighed and turned; yet, turning, felt a cold nose thrust into her hand; then with a cry of joy Semiramis fell upon her knees, her arms clasped tight about the neck of the faithful dog. She remembered the sound of a body falling from the palace mound; 'twas Habal that had leaped to the street below, where he lay for a space with the breath dashed out of him, then hobbled along her trail with a broken paw. At the city gate he had darted between the legs of the horses filing in, and now crouched, panting, at the Syrian's side, to receive caresses, or reproof because of his disobedient love.Now the coming of Habal proved a check to Kishra's plan of murdering the woman when her treasure was in his hands; so, cursing, he snatched up his digging tool wherewith to slay the beast; but Semiramis sprang between them, furious as a mother who defends her child, while the dog rose, snarling, eager for Kishra's blood."Lay but a finger tip upon him," the mistress cried, "and you hunt alone on the further shore! Have done! The dog is wounded, and with us he shall go!"Kishra paused. Full well he knew the risk of trifling with a woman's whims. It were better to humor her in this little thing than to hazard all ere the gems were in his clutch; so, grumbling, he cast his digging tool into the boat and made ready to depart. The craft was small, and rude of shape, yet would serve to bear them safely to the other side; and when Semiramis and Habal had settled in the bow, Kishra with his paddle pushed out into the stream."Whither, mistress?" he asked in a muffled tone, as though he feared some lurker on the bank might hear."To the lily beds in line with the city gate," the Syrian whispered, with a hidden smile, while she tore a strip from her nether garment and bound it on Habal's broken paw.For a space they were silent, and, as the boat slipped forward in the gloom, dim voices of the night came floating to their ears—to the woman, sweeter than a zittern's softest strain. She listened to the river's droning hymn as it worshipped on its way to the Sea-god's shrine, and the deep-toned song of frogs from a reedy marsh. She heard the lisp of the paddle in the yellow tide, a heron's echoed cry, and the far, faint call of sentries from the battlements of Nineveh.On the heart of Kishra these voices cast a spell of fear, chilling the fever of his greed which till now had urged him on. Why should the Syrian be overjoyed to greet her dog if she thought to return ere the dawn had come? Perchance she laid some snare to trip his feet, and would fly to Ascalon, cheating him of his wealth so coveted. The treasure! Mayhap no gems were hidden there at all, and hers was but a trick to lure him to his death.A thousand terrors trickled from out the gloom; they swam through the waters, climbed into the boat, and lay upon him heavily. Of a sudden the traitor paused, with his paddle across his knees."Mistress," he asked, "what proof have I that no enemy lurketh beside the lily beds, to fall upon me when we reach the shore?""None," replied Semiramis. "He who would dig for leathern sacks, must dare such dangers as the night-gods send. Yet, if yours be a coward's heart, turn back, for it cometh to me that a tenth is usury." She smiled again, and bent to her restless dog: "Down, Habal, down! What troubleth thee?"The boat now floated in the middle of the stream, and ere Kishra began his paddling once again, his fears were confirmed by the actions of the dog. Habal had risen, sniffing at the air. On the western breeze he caught a scent, and his bark rang out till the echoes rolled from shore to shore. A friend was near at hand, and the dog gave joyous tongue.For a moment Kishra sat staring at Semiramis, while through his evil brain shot the knowledge of his own credulity. From the first she had gulled him, luring him to lie in a muddy fish pond, harkening unto whisperings. No runner waited for her fish of malachite. Her tremblings and her tears were but a mask. Even in her well-feigned fury she had fed him with designs for his own undoing, and he, in his gross cupidity, had eaten of the fruit of fools. No treasure lay hidden on the river shore, but enemies who smiled and waited for their own.Mad with terror, Kishra spun the boat about, but, in his over-strength of fear, the paddle snapped, and Semiramis laughed aloud. Helpless he sat, a victim to this gloating witch who befooled him with her guile—he—Kishra, warden of the King, who dared not return again to his post of ease. Then fury took him utterly. He seized on the digging tool, arose, and swung it high above his head in the thought to brain her at a blow."Devil," he snarled, "thou hast tricked me with a lie!"Down came the implement, but not upon the Syrian, for Habal had leaped at Kishra's throat, and Semiramis overturned the tossing craft.For an instant all was darkness, fraught with fear; then the man rose, gasping, clutching at the boat. A spear's length away he spied a foaming swirl, where Semiramis flung high her arms and disappeared.Then the river again took up its droning hymn; the sentries called from the distant battlements; a dog's head rode the waves as it pointed to the westward shore, and a boat went spinning down the Tigris, while Kishra clung in terror to its slippery keel.CHAPTER XXTHE FLIGHT"Ho, Huzim!" called Semiramis, as she gained a footing on the river mud and splashed through the shallows where the lilies grew; and Huzim, with a cry of greeting, stretched forth his hands to draw her up upon the bank."Art safe?" he asked. "No hurt hath come to thee? Of a truth I rejoiced at the voice of Habal, yet close upon it came a sound of tumult, and my strength forsook me utterly. See, mistress, I tremble still, for the night hath brought a terror to my heart."In his joy the faithful servant, who would have dared the anger of the gods themselves to shield Semiramis, sank down and clasped her knees, to weep as a child might weep."Nay," laughed the woman, with a gentle hand upon his straight black locks, "'twas naught indeed save a plunge and a joyous swim, for the waters thronged about me with the kisses of old, remembered friends. Up, Huzim! Bear Habal in your arms, for his leg hath received a hurt, poor beast. And hasten! Yon apish eunuch whirling down the stream may arise an outcry, bringing a troop of horse upon our trail."The Indian arose, and raising Habal as his mistress bade him, strode forward through the darkness, while she, in the joy of freedom, walked happily at his side, wringing the water from her wet simar and whispering of all which had come to pass. For a league they journeyed westward till they came to a hillock crowned by trees, and here the Indian bade his mistress wait, while he, himself, went onward to secure their steeds which waited in a secret place in the wooded lands beyond."Keep watch," he urged, then filled his lungs with a hopeful breath and vanished in the gloom.Alone, the Syrian raised her eyes toward the sky and once more listened to the voices of the night. The river's hymn was hushed; no sentry's call rang out from distant Nineveh, and across the plains came only a foolish wind that murmured among the trees. Yet other voices rose in the heart of Semiramis, to cry aloud with every quickened beat. Menon! Menon! they shouted, till the echo mounted to the burning stars, to catch their flame and tumble back to the heart which sent it forth. Thus cried Derketo, that mother whose passion stirred in the daughter's blood, till her eyes grew dim in yearning tenderness. As a song it sounded in her ears—a song of fire and love; yet with it rose a strain more harsh, the voice of her unknown sire—perchance a war-god from the Southern Seas. It rose in a stern command and was taken up on the tongues of marching multitudes, in the snarl of the battle-horn, and the rumble of charging chariots.To the south lay far Arabia, whence peace might follow in the thread of love; yet Semiramis stretched her arms toward the east where Zariaspa sat, unconquered, on the plains.From the darkness came Huzim on the back of a goodly steed, leading another by its bridle rein. To the saddle-skin of each was bound a food-sack, arms, and a woolen cloak to shield the body from the chill of night. Likewise, for Semiramis, he had brought a brave attire, for henceforth she must travel, not as a woman, but as a man; so, from a screen of the hillock's trees, she discarded her wet simar and soon stepped forth in the guise of a youthful warrior. From her shoulders hung a linen tunic, belted and falling to the knee, while her limbs were encased in heavier cloth, bound round with thongs. Her arms were bare, and on her head sat a brazen helm, of a pattern worn by fighting chiefs on the Syrian coast, its stiff rim lined with a veil of many folds.With a laugh Semiramis leaped astride her steed, causing her dog to be set before her on the saddle-skin, for their pace would be swift, and Habal might not follow with his broken foot."See, mistress," whispered Huzim, coming to her side and stretching forth his arm toward the south; "there lieth our road which leadeth by devious ways to the desert home of Prince Boabdul, whence we journey at my lord's command.""Aye," the Syrian nodded, "'twas even so two moons agone, yet now the world hath somehow gone awry, till Arabia no longer lieth in the south. Come, hasten! that we catch this wandering land ere it shift again."With another laugh she wheeled her steed and raced toward the north, while for an instant Huzim gazed after her, his jaws agape in wonderment; then he cursed, and spurred upon her track. For a space she held the lead, till the Indian cut it down and at last stretched forth his hand which closed on her bridle-rein."How now," he cried, when the steeds had come to a fretful stand, "what madness wouldst thou do? Come, turn southward, for to Arabia we journey, else Huzim must first be slain."For the first time since the battle with the Kurds she marked a frown of anger upon the servant's brow, yet little she reckoned of the wrath of any man."Huzim," she answered, and her teeth shone white in the light of a riding moon, "I know not what path is best for fools to take, nor if you would hide in idleness beneath the desert's sands; but as for me, as Ishtar hears my oath, I go to Bactria.""But why?" he demanded, in a tone of keen despair. "Why tempt the gods when wisdom pointeth out the way?"Once more Semiramis raised her arms toward the stars, and her fists were clenched."To join my lord and share the perils which are his; to wrest a loved one from the toils which hedge him round about, or drive my hunting spear through the body of Assyria's King!"In vain the Indian pleaded; in vain he besought her with prayers and tears to discard a plan so mad, but she paid no heed."What!" she demanded, "am I born of coward's blood? Nay; what man may do, that also will I, a woman, compass; and, failing, the fault is mine alone. Think," she argued, "if hiding seemeth good to you, then will we lie concealed among the crags which overtop the plains of Bactria, whence you, good Huzim, may creep by night into Menon's camp and guide him safely to my side. Once joined with him, we journey where he wills, though it be to Gibil or to Ramân's thunder-halls."Thus in the end the reluctant Indian gave in, and they rode toward the north, though for a space he lagged behind in troubled silence, his chin upon his breast. As he rode it came to him that his mistress had never held a thought of flying to Arabia, but had curbed her tongue lest wisdom move him to prevent escape from Nineveh. It was now too late to husband wine when the skin was rent, so Huzim shook the anger from him, and, with one last sigh of doubt, came up to the side of Semiramis.For a league they held to the river bank, then forded at a shallow point and travelled eastward swiftly till the night was gone. And thus they fared for many days, boldly by night, and resting throughout the day in close retreats, for they knew not if Kishra had perchance survived to send out hunters on their trail. Poor Habal's paw healed quickly, and soon he rode no more on the saddle-skin, albeit a moon went by ere he ran upon four sound legs again; yet, even with a bandaged limb, the dog served faithfully, and many a lurking danger came to naught by reason of his warning growls.And now they came into Media, and the fear of pursuit was lost; so onward they pushed, avoiding the open roads. They passed through trackless forest-lands, through verdant valleys and up again to the crests of wooded hills, where at their feet the lands of foreign peoples stretched far and wide, their dwelling places marked by coils of smoke. Anon they skirted woodland villages, and, peering through a screen of leaves, saw naked children sporting in the sun, their naked mothers pounding grain with stones, while uncouth warriors drowsed at ease beneath the shade. Once, on a hillside, they came full face upon a hunter, bearing a forest pig upon his back, in his hand a spear. For a space the man stared stupidly, then dropped his burden, cast his spear at Huzim, and went shrieking down the slope. From stone to stone he leaped, as leaps a mountain goat, the while he cried out shrilly to his friends beneath; yet in his final plunge he bore no message save a shaft between his shoulder blades."Of a truth," sighed Huzim, "'twas pity to slay the fool, yet wise, perchance, for his tribesmen know not if we be an army or a single man. Come, hasten, mistress, lest his friends be cursed with curious minds."They hastened on, and for a space no other mischief came to trouble them, though many evils stalked abroad by night and day; yet these were passed because of Huzim's cunning woodcraft, and Habal's wit in scenting peril from afar. Then, when the skin of Semiramis was tanned to a ruddy brown, and the steeds were lean and weary from their toil, the travellers neared the foothills of Hindu-Kush, to fall upon a grave mischance. They had come to a forest's edge, where a sloping plain of a league in width stretched out before them, ascending to the mountain steeps beyond; and here the Indian counseled that they lie concealed till the shades of night should fall, but Semiramis would have none of it."Nay," she urged; "I burn to reach the mountain top for a peep into the land of Bactria, and to know, perchance, if my lord still battleth there. Come, Huzim, lest I leave a faithful friend behind."The servant shook his head and galloped after her, yet his hope came back again when the middle of the plain was reached and naught was seen save a watchful kite that swung in the blue above. Then Habal wheeled on the backward trail, and barked. From the forest left behind came a score of riders who spread to right and left, then lashed their mounts and advanced in a ragged line."'Tis even as I feared," growled Huzim beneath his breath. "Speed thee, mistress! We yet may win to the hills in time."But ere they had ridden twenty paces he was fain to draw his rein, for out from a fringe of woods ahead another band appeared, to spread as the first had spread, with an aim of closing in upon the fugitives. The Indian unslung his bow, casting about him for a spot wherein to halt and hold his foes at bay, but Semiramis smiled upon him and took command."Be not a child," she whispered. "Your shafts are useless, for these our enemies outnumber us, and our steeds are spent. Obey me and speak no word."She drew her bridle, shielded her eyes from the sunlight's glare, then waved her hand and dashed full speed toward the Bactrian troop."In the name of the gods—!" gasped Huzim, spurring after her; but she laughed and, once more waved her hand.Now the horsemen, marveling at the strangeness of this move, drew rein upon the slope and waited till their quarry came to them. Outposts they were whom Oxyartes set beyond the mountains, to watch all roads, to cut off messengers, and to bring report of armies or of food-trains coming out from Nineveh."Ho, friends!" laughed Semiramis, pausing in their midst and speaking in the Bactrian tongue, a deal of which she had learned from Menon while in Syria. "For the moment I feared ye were a herd of Assyrian swine. Who leadeth here?"A Bactrian youth dismounted and stepped before her, his fellows gathering in a close-packed ring."How art thou called?" she questioned, looking straight into his eye."Dagas," he answered, with a bow and a smile of merriment.The woman was fair to look upon and easy in her speech, yet spies were ever prone to claim a friendship with their foes in a hope of deceiving them; so the Bactrian smiled, and was not to be deceived."Ah!" sighed Semiramis, stretching her hand to him. "Then bear me wine, good Dagas—the best—for to-day I have journeyed far and am athirst. See, likewise, to our steeds and to my servant here, who—"She paused, for now the chieftain laughed aloud because of her impudence, while those about him joined in a roar of mirth; yet mirth was turned to wonderment, when a gust of fury lit her eyes, and she struck at the head of Dagas with a haft of her hunting spear."Fool!" she stormed, "is the sister of Oxyartes to be mocked by a brainless dog?"The shaft went home. The laughter died upon their lips; yet, ere their startled senses woke again, Semiramis swept on:"What! Know ye not that Babylon is in revolt? That Tyre and Sidon fling aside the yoke? That Syria flies to arms and sends her armies forth to crush King Ninus as a grain of corn? Does Bactria sleep, as sleeps Assyria's lord, when Nineveh hath tumbled to the earth—a blotch of mud upon the plains? Does Dagas know not that the hosts advance, with horsemen countless as the forest leaves, with slingers, axemen, hordes of Hittite charioteers, and a swarm of riders from the desert lands?" She flung back her head and laughed. "O worms of ignorance! O sons of fishes, knowing naught beyond their slimy pool! Go out and guard each road—each mountain pass—lest fugitives slip by and cry disaster to the King!"She paused for lack of breath, and a buzz of confusion rose among the men-at-arms; then, at their chieftain's questioning glance, Semiramis spoke again:"Five days must pass ere the vanguard cometh, yet I and my servant hasten on to warn the King of Zariaspa; for when our warriors pour down the mountain sides, then must Oxyartes sally forth and take King Ninus in his rear."Dagas knit his brows in troubled thought, then raised his eyes and asked:"What surety have I that thy words are the words of truth—that thy tidings be not a trick to befool mine ears?""None," she answered, in majestic pride. "None save my word alone. If thou doubtest, then hold me prisoner." Again she paused, to look upon the youth in scorn. "Yet I warn thee, Dagas, that should a mischief come of it, or I suffer by delay—by every god in heaven, thy flesh shall puff in one great blister from the lash!"Once more the Bactrian pondered, torn 'twixt duty and a fear of some bold deceit, then he asked, as a final test:"And how wilt thou reach the city when Ninus encompasseth it about in a deep, unbroken ring? How scale the walls and bear thy message in?"It was now the Syrian's turn to ponder, for on her wit hung fortune, good and evil, balanced to a hair. To blunder meant captivity, death perchance; to answer rightly was beyond her power; yet she faltered not, and staked her all upon a single cast. She smiled upon Dagas, leaned down, and whispered into his ear:"Why scale a wall when a message may go to Zariaspa by the secret way?"The Bactrian started, glanced swiftly toward the north, and back to her dancing eyes."What meanest thou?" he asked, and hung upon her words as one who waits on death.Once more Semiramis smiled upon him, stooping till her breath played warm upon his cheek."Thou comely child," she murmured into his blood-flushed ear, "where stores of food are sent for my brother's needs, there, also, may a message find its way, though it float or fly."This she delivered boldly, on the hazard of a guess, and Dagas fell upon his knee and made obeisance, begging that she hold no evil memory against him, in that he had harbored doubt."Nay," she answered him, "of all which hath come to pass I will make report to Oxyartes;" then, as the Bactrian's cheeks went white, she added, meaningly: "The King would know when his chiefs mix caution with their zeal, else how shall he make a just reward?"Dagas rose up in a flush of pride, and of vanity which ever follows certain men of war."Command me," he cried, "and thy lightest wish shall be mine own desire."Semiramis paused, to look upon the earth in thought; then from her finger she drew a jewel, placing it within his hand."Dagas," she enjoined, "when the conquering host hath come from out the west, seek thou the King of Tyre, saying that she of the flame-hued locks hath come in safety unto Hindu-Kush. In proof of thy words, display this bauble before his eyes—then keep it for thine own." With a radiant smile she checked his thanks and spoke again: "Ride southward with all thy men-at-arms to guard the roads, lest Assyrian runners pass. Nay, I need no guide to the Secret Place, for the way is known to me. Now set us wine and meat, and then—farewell!"The young chief hastened to do her bidding eagerly, in hope of the rich reward from Oxyartes, though to his racing heart it seemed that in life he could ask no higher gift than to bask in this woman's smile. So he set them a feast, which being done, his guests arose. Henceforth they must go on foot, for the mountain paths were such that horses might not climb, so the steeds were left with Dagas and his followers. At parting the Bactrian lingered, gazing with awe into the Syrian's eyes."Princess," he faltered, "in days to come I pray thee to hold my memory, for the sword of an humble man is thine, be it drawn against enemy or friend."Thus Dagas spoke, yet little did he dream that in after years this love of his would part a nation and its king.Semiramis yearned to question him concerning many things, but her tongue gave thanks alone, as her hand dropped into his and pressed it. So she fared to the north, with Huzim and Habal following her lead, while Dagas stood watching till they passed from sight; then he turned and sighed.For a space the travellers journeyed swiftly, the woman smiling to herself, while Huzim pondered and spoke no word; yet, presently, he laid his hand upon her arm."Mistress," said he, "our path is upward among the crags, and as we journey now, we risk the peril of unknown ways and wander from our course.""Nay," Semiramis denied, "our quest is in the north, for there a weighty secret lieth. Listen; to Zariaspa cometh a strange supply of food, vexing Ninus, in that he may not cut it off and starve his enemies; therefore in the north I seek its source, though I hunt the hills for the space of a double moon."The Indian frowned and slowly shook his head. One hour agone she had burned to reach the mountain top, and now would hunt behind it for the space of a double moon. Of a surety the ways of women were a trouble unto Huzim's mind."And how," he asked, "may we know that this secret place be hidden in the north?"Again the Syrian laughed, and the laughter pleased her to the finger tips."Good Dagas betrayed it by a fleeting glance, and knew not that he gave his master into my hand. What manner of place it is, or where it lieth, the spirits of the mountains only know; yet, mayhap, these spirits may be taught to wag their tongues."Once more the patient Huzim shook his head, following on in silent thought, and for a space they bent their steps on a gently ascending path, till they came to a rocky spur which overlooked the plains."See!" cried Semiramis, pointing with her spear, while her merriment was loosed, to echo back from stone to stone. "Yon troop of Bactrians rideth toward the south, to cry alarm, to guard all roads, and to wait a phantom host which cometh to Zariaspa's aid."Huzim gazed out and saw that her words were true, though he joined not in her merriment."Nay, mistress," he murmured, "this Dagas is but a fool; yet deeply was I troubled for thy fate, till streams of sweat poured out upon my skin. Thou didst say that Syria had risen in revolt—that Hittite chariots advanced—that Nineveh was but a blotch of mud upon the plain. 'Twas witful craft, I grant, though hazardous, for truth was twisted inside out, even as women wring their garments at a washing time.""Aye," sighed Semiramis, dreamily, as she rested on her hunting spear and watched the riders vanish in a cloud of dust, "aye, good Huzim, in song and legend this truth of which thou speakest is a wondrous thing, yet oft must the god of wisdom robe himself in the splendor of a lie."CHAPTER XXITHE RIDDLE OF THE SECRET WAYThe day waxed old. The sun plunged down into a fiery death, as though a Moloch swallowed it, to breathe back flames from his brazen throat; then the crimson glow grew faint and faded from the west; the twilight deepened, while a purple haze stole up on the mountain slopes, to wrap the loftiest crags in gloom, till the moon rode forth and set them free.Semiramis and Huzim now paused for rest and food, for the way grew more precipitous, and naught might be accomplished while the darkness held; so when the Indian had eaten he stretched himself in sleep, but for the Syrian there was none. She sat with her chin upon her hand, gazing in thought upon the mountain stream which tumbled noisily beside the resting place, while through her brain a question rioted and gave no peace—a question which mocked, yet lured her on through swamps of deep perplexity. Whence came these stores of food to Zariaspa? and why in the name of Nebo should the Bactrians set the place on the further side of a mountain range? To cross the ridge was but to meet with Ninus and his ring of warriors. How pass them and win to the city walls?"Ah, little stream," she murmured, with a heavy sigh, "what secrets of the hills thy hundred tongues could tell did I but understand thy strange, wise songs!"The stream sang on, a roar of dull monotony that lulled her senses into drowsiness, and again the Syrian sighed as she stretched her limbs for sleep; yet slumber hid itself away as hid the answer to her quest, and suddenly a silence fell—a silence so deep that the wind-gods seemed to hold their breath as for a coming storm, while through the hush ran a whispered chant of insects of the night—that murmurous hum from the tongues of tiny, things.The Syrian started, sat upright on the earth, and stared at the stream in wide-eyed unbelief. Where, before, a torrent rushed along its way, leaping the stones with a foaming, boisterous swirl, now ran a trickling rivulet. Its song was stilled; black rocks protruded from its bed, and a stranded fish flapped clumsily upon the sand. For a moment longer stared Semiramis, then leaped to her feet and shook the sleeping Indian."Awake!" she cried. "As Ishtar liveth, I have spoken with the stream—and the stream hath answered me!"For a space she whispered eagerly, pointing to the north, till Huzim rose and brushed the slumber from his eyes. They bound the jaws of Habal with a leathern thong, lest the dog give tongue and sound alarm; then they crept in silence up the water-course. Northward it ran, yet suddenly it sheared away toward the east where the hills bent inward, forming a mighty pocket in the mountainside, and here the hunters paused, for faintly down the wind came the calls of men, the bellow of a burden-beast, and the sound of many hammer-strokes."Ah," breathed Semiramis, "'tis there the riddle hath its root, hanging like grapes till we come to strip the vine."They left the stream and clambered upward, with an aim of spying from above, the Indian creeping on ahead, while Semiramis came after him, her dog in leash. The steeps grew difficult, but the seekers spared their strength, mounting slowly till they came upon a sentry seated in a narrow pass and singing softly to himself."How white is his throat," smiled Huzim, as he notched a shaft and knelt among the rocks; but Semiramis laid a restraining hand upon his arm."Nay, spare him; for see, he looketh upon the stars, and, all unknowing, giveth praise to Ishtar. To slay him were to bring us evil. Come!"To the right they crept, in a circuit which brought them far above the watcher's post, then turned and bent upon their course again; and thus they journeyed stealthily, as in days of old they had stalked their game in Syria, coming at last to the lip of a precipice. Prostrate they lay and peeped below, yet naught could be seen because of gloom, and the trailing mists which eddied to and fro at the chase of a fickle breeze. Strange sounds came floating up to them, an oath, a sharp command, the crack of a lash, and the jumbled echoes of haste and toil; and now the moon slid out from behind a crag, bathing the slopes in a wave of light, while the call of sentries echoed far and wide, and the din in the valley ceased.The watchers crept into the shadow of an over-hanging rock, continuing to peer into the depths beneath; and, as they looked, they caught the gleam of water, whereon a clumsy barge was pushed by men who waded to their waists."See!" gasped Huzim, pointing to the loaded barge. "It floateth toward the cliff! What manner of mystery is this?"It was even as he said. Another barge came out, and still another, till seven in all were counted, each pushed by waders toward the cliff, each disappearing suddenly as if it sank into some yawning well. On the water's edge swarmed scores of men, each busied with his appointed task; then after a space a gang came forth to labor at a wooden gate which slid between jaws of masonry. By means of a prizing-beam this gate was raised, when the dammed-up water once more rushed into the bed of the mountain stream, and the earth was seen where a lake had rested in a basin among the hills.Now all these things were strange to Huzim and as marvels beyond his grasp, but Semiramis smiled and thus reproached herself:"In truth have I been but a suckling babe concerning wit and the wiles of men; yet beyond the mountains lie twice a million other babes, with Ninus who croweth mightily and sitteth enthroned—the master-babe of all!" She turned to the Indian, thoughtfully: "Tell me, didst say that Menon dug his wells to the east of Zariaspa and found sweet water there?""Aye," said Huzim; "but what hath this to do with barges on a mountainside?""Much," the Syrian laughed, "for these boats go down through a cavernous passage-way, beneath the mountain, beneath the earth where Ninus is encamped, and beneath the city's walls. There the Bactrians receive their stores of food and burn these barges which may not travel back again. The water they gather up in cisterns for the city's needs, or loose it at will, whence it floweth away, to sink in the thirsty sands beyond. Thus Menon hath digged his wells, and marveleth at what is found."The Indian listened with an open mouth, grunting his wonder, but offering no reply, and Semiramis spoke again:"By Ishtar, 'tis a cunning wile, yet craft may match it unto Bactria's woe. Menon is mine at last!" she cried exultantly. "The King is mine! And Zariaspa lieth in the hollow of my hand! Up, Huzim, for we climb to the mountain top ere dawn hath come!"Once more they journeyed, with care at first because of sentinels who watched the hillsides as a mother eagle guards her young; but at length the danger line was passed and they mounted with quickened pace. Up, up they climbed till the moon went down, and the chill of the lofty altitude came searching beneath their cloaks; then for an hour they rested, and the ascent was begun again. By the gleam of the stars alone they toiled, till a sickly glow came stealing from out the east; and then, as the sun came up, they stood at last on the mountain's spine, poor Habal dropping at their feet with heaving flanks and a lolling tongue.Semiramis heaved a sigh. Beneath her lay the land of Bactria, yet hidden now by a ghostly sea of mist—a mist that writhed and heaved, revealing giant peaks that seemed to peep out timidly, to turn and flee as though pursued by spirits of the under-world; then the peaks, emboldened as the sunrays drank the vapors down, rushed back again, while scurrying clouds dissolved like rabble before a war-king's chariot.Lower and lower sank the mist, till the battlements of Zariaspa pierced the veil, and on the walls long lines of white-robed priests came forth in worship of the sun, while warriors dipped their banners, knelt, and raised their gleaming arms aloft.As Semiramis watched, the scene unrolled as to one who looks into a witch's caldron when the reek is blown away. She saw the valleyed foothills, and the tawny plain that stretched beyond till lost in an ochre haze. She saw the city, grim, defiant in its might, and the vast brown monster coiled around its outer shell, hungry, baffled, weary of its fruitless grip. From north to south long ridges seamed the earth where trenches had been dug to hold the slain and the offal of the camps, the whole heaped o'er with sand lest pestilence arise, while scattered far and wide lay blackened skeletons of scaling-towers, engines of assault, and abandoned catapults, which the enemy had wrecked or burned with fire.And now the army wakened, not as warriors eager for the siege, but as sluggards who find it easier far to hurl a drowsy curse than to labor like men in a cause of little hope."See!" cried Semiramis, pointing with a trembling arm, while her great eyes blazed in scorn. "King Ninus lieth down in sloth, and a million warriors rot in idleness! By Ishtar, with such a force I'd overthrow yon town as a woodsman felleth a sapless tree!" She paused to sigh, then turned to Huzim with a smile: "Among the stars above strange happenings are ordained, yet perchance unto Ninus I may whisper soon, in that he rouseth from his lethargy."The Indian regarded her both earnestly and long."Mistress," he answered, grimly, in the manner of one who is charged with truth, "if thou wouldst whisper in the ear of Assyria's King, first make its opening larger with the barb of thy hunting spear.""Nay," laughed Semiramis; "a woman's wit may sink far deeper and will leave no scar. Now point me out where my good lord Menon hath set his camp."The Indian's finger swept the line of the city's eastern wall, to a mound beyond, to a dull brown horde of idle warriors—as idle as the warriors of the King."Ah!" sighed the yearning wife, and walked apart to gaze across the walls of Zariaspa, in hope that her heart might lead her eyes unto one she sought among a myriad of midges on the distant field."Menon," she whispered, her arms outstretched, her sensuous soul outflung, "were Shammuramat in truth a dove, how swiftly would she wing her way to thee!"* * * * *As the sun slid down and the shadows of the hills crept out across the plains, King Ninus sat within his tent, while about him stood a score of his under-chiefs. Warriors they were of many lands which made Assyria's kingdom one, stern men of copper hue, half naked in the summer heat, gaunt of feature, lean and sinewy of limb. On the faces of many was stamped a look of weariness; on others anger, while the monarch wore his darkest scowl; for a council was being held, wherein rebellion against the King had risen to a fever-pitch, and fierce internal strife was like to rend the army from end to end."Heed me!" cried Asharal, the Babylonian Prince whose hatred of the conqueror led him ever to dispute. "What need to starve in Bactria when plenty lieth along the Tigris and the Euphrates? Why break our teeth against a wall of stone when naught may come of it save a bleeding mouth? We storm a city, fling away a nation's wealth as though its coffers served a catapult! Our soldiers sicken at the lack of food and because of the bitterness of long defeat! If Ninus be in truth a god, then let him give this city into our hands; if not, he will lead his wearied servants home!"For answer the King rose up and smote Prince Asharal full upon the mouth, in that he fell upon the earth with twitching limbs and eyes that rolled in vacancy."So," growled Ninus, nursing the knuckles of his great brown fist, "the dog, at last, hath a mouth that bleeds." He turned to the Babylonian's friends and spoke again, calmly, but as a master speaks: "Because he is born a fool, I spare him—the next of his like shall hang!"A silence fell within the council tent, save for the shifting of uneasy feet, and the creak of harness as the fallen man breathed fast and hard; then, in the hush, a sentry entered, bowing low before the King."Lord," said he, "a messenger is without, demanding an audience of Ninus and of his chiefs."The lips of the monarch parted for an oath, and yet no sound came forth; instead his mouth stretched wider still in wonderment, for before him stepped a woman warrior, the like of whom his eyes had never lit upon. Her shapely limbs were encased in linen, bound with thongs, as were the leathern sandals on her feet; she wore her tunic, washed white in a mountain stream, and across her breast was flung a leopard's skin, caught with a clasp behind and forming a quiver for her shafts. She carried a bow and hunting spear, and on her shoulders, brown and bare, her red locks rippled from a brazen helm.The chieftains stared; and yet it was not the splendor of her raiment which held them in amaze, but her beauty, strange and devilish—her eyes, deep pools of ever changing light wherein the sons of men grew foolish and were consumed."Shammuramat!" breathed the King. "Whence comest thou?""Shammuramat no more," the Syrian answered, "but a merchant from the west with wares for sale.""By Bêlit," grunted Gazil, a hairy chieftain from the uplands of the river Hit, "did the merchant sell herself, I'd buy, though the bargain stripped me to the bone.""Hush!" a nudging neighbor whispered. "Be sparing of thy tongue, lest Ninus serve thee as he served yon Babylonian fool."So Gazil held his peace, and Ninus looked in silence on Semiramis. In the mind of the King two spirits warred for mastery; the one in anger at this prisoner who escaped from Nineveh to defy his will, the other unwilling admiration of her recklessness."And why," he asked, as he combed his beard, "doth the merchant risk her head in a journey unto Zariaspa?"Semiramis regarded him with a look of childish wonder wherein was mingled trust untouched by fear."Right well the lord of Assyria knoweth that I come at his own command."Now the King bad commanded no such thing, yet, recalling how the Syrian's wits had befooled him in the halls at Nineveh, he took council with himself lest it chance again."Speak," he urged, with a cautious mien, "that these my chiefs and friends may hear."Semiramis bowed before him humbly and turned to the listening men."My lords," she began, and looked on each in turn, "far better than I might Ninus speak, for the glory of this deed is his." She paused an instant, then spoke once more, her rich tones falling strangely on the ears of those who heard. "In a vision came the King unto my side—a spirit in the godly robes of Asshur and the hornéd cap of Bel. 'Arise, Shammuramat,' he commanded, in a voice that rolled as from afar; 'arise and seek through the hills of Hindu-Kush for a wondrous secret hidden there—a secret through which all Zariaspa feasteth long, while Assyria must prowl, a hungry wolf outside its walls.'""Ah!" cried Ninus, leaping to his feet, "thou knowest, then, whence cometh Zariaspa's store of food?""Aye," she answered, "but the spirit of the King said more." The monarch sank into his seat, and she turned to the gaping chiefs: "'My spirit,' spoke the spirit of the King, 'is heaven-born, yet my flesh is mortal as all men know full well; so follow thou where my spirit leadeth and sell this secret to my mortal flesh for such a price as justice may demand.'"The King looked up, a light of anger in his eyes; but he curbed his speech, for he knew not what was yet to come, and half a god was better far than being proven not a god at all."Say on," he muttered, and Semiramis said on. She wove a wondrous tale of magic and of myth, of how the spirit led her through the gates of Nineveh unseen; of how a steed awaited beyond the walls to bear her on her way; of the arms and raiment found upon its back, and its speed in passing through the lands of enemies.Now in these days the sons of Assyria were as children whose minds were swayed by superstitious fears; in demons they believed who thronged the earth and air, the waters and the sky; so the words of Semiramis were the words of truth to all save two, who listened and were not deceived. The one was the King; the other Nakir-Kish, High Priest of the Magi, a man of wisdom who stood apart with folded arms, and smiled. The Syrian marked his look of ill-veiled jealousy, for she trod too close upon his own dark rites to pass unchallenged; therefore she sought to disarm an enemy ere the weapon of his speech was raised."My lords," said she to the wondering chiefs, "the tale is done. As the spirit of Ninus led my steps, so followed I and found; yet if there be one to doubt my words, then let him ask of Nakir-Kish, by whose high arts was the spirit of the King unleashed and sent to me at Nineveh."All eyes were turned upon Nakir-Kish who flushed as the Syrian's shaft went home, for of a certainty he stood in a grievous pass. To deny would strip him of a boasted power and cheat his magic of a splendid deed; to confirm her words was but to mark him as the ally of a liar; so the High Priest pondered for a space and held his tongue. Yet the chieftains waited, so at last he strode to the center of their ring and raised his arms."'Tis even as she telleth," he cried aloud, and Semiramis smiled, with the air of one who conquers Kings; then Ninus arose and spoke:"Peace, Nakir-Kish! It is not meet that our works be heralded abroad. Let the woman tell of the Bactrians' store-house hidden from our mortal eyes."The Syrian shook her head."My lord," she made reply, "'tis true the merchant selleth wares, yet the merchant hath a price.""Name it," growled the King. "If thy words be true, I give a chariot's weight in gold; if false—beware!""Nay, radiant one," she smiled, "is Shammuramat a thief? One chariot I ask—of wood and brass—with a man to drive me whither and when I will.""Granted," agreed the King. "Choose chariot, steeds, and charioteer, but in the name of Nebo tell us quickly of what we yearn to know.""Wait!" said Semiramis. "My bargain must first be sealed. As to steeds, I care not, so be they sound in wind and limb; yet as to him who driveth, is of greater moment to my sale."She turned to the listening warriors, then paused to laugh again, for half a score of men stepped forward, eager to drive her, though the road be laid through Gibil's smoking gates.It is ill to tweak a King's impatient mood, yet this the Syrian dared to do, knowing right well the price Assyria would pay to call proud Bactria slave; therefore she paid no heed to Ninus, but wrought with his chieftains, smiling, conscious of her power."Nay, friends, 'tis I whose pride is roused at thought of riding forth with valiant men of war. Each—all—I love ye, for your strength, your loyalty to him who leadeth, who by his wisdom conquereth the world; yet one alone may drive my chariot, and he—""Prince Menon!" cried Nakir-Kish, seeking to win a friend where he dare not make an enemy, and Semiramis turned and bowed before the King.The monarch frowned, and for a space he pondered, weighing the value of the Syrian's knowledge against the measure of his royal pride; yet it came to him that her arts had left him but a single path, for in her secret lay the nation's welfare and the King's. His chieftains plotted treason, while the army trembled between revolt and loyalty, wavering, waiting for a leader's cry to plunge them headlong into open war—a war at which the Bactrians would laugh aloud in very joy. Peace, then, the Syrian offered—peace and victory—her price the forgiveness of a single man. Forgiveness! It was galling to the King, yet, where a King drinks gall, it were well that he drain his goblet with a smile, as though the draught lay sweet upon his tongue; therefore Ninus smiled, rising to speak in a voice which all might hear:"Listen, my children. Long have I yearned to take Prince Menon to my heart; yet, because of stubbornness, he sitteth upon his mound, devoured by spleen. If now he would once more call himself my son, a father will bid him welcome, even as he welcometh a daughter in Shammuramat."At this a mighty shout went up, and the Syrian's great eyes filled with tears. She fell upon her knees and would have pressed her lips to the monarch's hand, but Ninus raised her and kissed her upon the mouth.Then before them all Semiramis told her tale of the water-way beneath the hills; of the cleft in the cliffs on the further side where the Bactrians damned a mountain stream, raising the waters to the height desired. She told of the outposts guarding this secret round about, while through the fertile lands an army of hunters combed the forests and the fields for game; this game to be borne to the hidden cleft and loaded on barges, whence it floated through the bowels of the earth unto waiting Zariaspa."And thus," cried Semiramis, "cometh food to our hated enemies—stores and a flow of sweet, cool water, when Assyria must sit outside the walls, unconquering, hungered and athirst."She ceased, and silence lay within the royal tent, silence save for the sound of heavy breathing and, anon, a gasp of wonderment; yet, presently, the High Priest Nakir-Kish strode forth, with the aim of sharing in the Syrian's fame. He raised his naked arms, a light of battle in his eyes, his voice a tempest charged with the fires of prophecy:"Glory to Asshur, lord of all the lords! for on the spirit-tongue of Ninus is chanted Zariaspa's song of death! Harken, ye chiefs of proud Assyria, and ye who follow at their heels! This day your King will lead ye o'er the peaks of Hindu-Kush, to crush the foeman's strength, to destroy his store-house in the mountain side, and fill the tunnel's mouth with stones! Up, Gazil! Sound thy battle horn! Collect thy swordsmen from the hills of Naïri and thy slingers from the north! Up, men of Babylon and Nineveh, to follow where your King may lead, and let your war-cry be—Shammuramat!"The Syrian bowed low, yet even as the chieftains rose with her name in war-cry on their lips, she stayed them with a lifted hand."Nay, lords," she laughed, "your mighty priest hath offered but a jest, to test the temper of his dogs in leash. Bark not so loud, brave dogs, for none will climb the mountain side this day."At her daring speech, the High Priest Nakir-Kish grew pale in wrath, and Ninus watched in silence, knowing there was somewhat yet to come, while the men-at-arms drew closer, in a circle of wonder and of awe."What need to climb," the woman asked, "when the master hath a fairer plan?""Say on," commanded Ninus, cautiously, and Semiramis turned her back upon Nakir-Kish."My lord," she spoke, "'tis not in thy mind to cross the mountain range and tumble stones into the tunnel's throat, for thereby this great supply of food will cease. Rather would the King go forth and dig till he find this sunken river-bed; and then, when the laden boats come down, their stores shall fill the stomach of Assyria, while Zariaspa looketh on with curses at our feast. This, then, is the thought in the mind of Ninus, for the mind of the King is wise."She ceased, and once more silence fell. The chieftains cast their eyes upon the earth, nudging one another slyly, while the High Priest glowered and spoke no word. King Ninus was likewise silent for a space, yet presently his great beard trembled beneath his fingers, as he gazed at the woman leaning on her spear; then he burst into a roar of laughter, taking her hand as he might the hand of a brother and a King.
* * * * *
The Princess slept. Semiramis arose and moved in stealth toward the door; yet she paused on the threshold, for her dog came creeping at her heels.
"Down, Habal, down!" she whispered, struggling with her tears, and the dog obeyed, though he whined because of impending evil—a sense which is keen in the hearts of beasts, and is passing strange.
In the garden all was still. Semiramis crept to the appointed place where the eunuch waited, eager to begone. She smeared her hands and face with pigment, donned a slave's simar, and hid her flame-hued hair beneath a ragged hood; yet, when all was ready, she hung back, trembling, till Kishra's patience broke, and he longed to urge her on by blows.
The door of bronze, which pierced the garden wall, was opened by a sentry who saw but the eunuch and a kitchen wench with a basket upon her head. Oft had he seen the like before when Kishra went forth in search of dainties for his pampered appetite; so when the door clanged sharply at their backs, the sentry once more nodded at his post.
As the street was reached Semiramis well-nigh swooned for joy, and vowed a gift to Ishtar should the city gates be passed. In silence they began to walk, when of a sudden each started at the sound as of a body falling from the palace mound. They paused, but naught was heard or seen, so the two set out again.
Westward their course was laid, past many a booth where women laughed, and crafty hucksters lured them on to buy; past a teeming market-place, for Kishra went boldly in accustomed paths, lest marauders spring upon him from some darkened alley-way. The place was a place of noises, lights and evil smells, of leering, besotted crowds who knew the eunuch and gibed him because of the woman at his side. The Syrian's blood burned hotly in her veins, till she yearned to tear the jesters with her nails; yet wisdom whispered, so she laughed in the manner of an easy-virtued kitchen wench, and went her way.
And now the booths were passed, and they came at length to the city wall with its mighty gates of brass. Here fortune once more favored them, for a band of belated horsemen came clattering in, the riders nodding on their weary steeds; so Kishra whispered with the captain of the gate, slyly pressing a coin into his palm; then, as the keeper turned his back, the two slipped by and went unnoticed out of Nineveh.
In silence the treasure-seekers crossed the plain till they came to the river bank. Here a boat was found in charge of an under-keeper's boy who stretched out his hand for pay, then straightway disappeared. Kishra produced a digging tool from beneath his cloak, laid it beside him on the beach, and began to unloose the boat; and while he was thus employed, Semiramis cast a lingering glance at the city wall that loomed against the sky, so black, so stern, with its monster towers which seemed to stand on guard like giant wardens of the night.
As she gazed, her heart grew sad again—sad for the little Princess dreaming on her couch, and because of Habal, watching for the mistress who would come not back to him.
She sighed and turned; yet, turning, felt a cold nose thrust into her hand; then with a cry of joy Semiramis fell upon her knees, her arms clasped tight about the neck of the faithful dog. She remembered the sound of a body falling from the palace mound; 'twas Habal that had leaped to the street below, where he lay for a space with the breath dashed out of him, then hobbled along her trail with a broken paw. At the city gate he had darted between the legs of the horses filing in, and now crouched, panting, at the Syrian's side, to receive caresses, or reproof because of his disobedient love.
Now the coming of Habal proved a check to Kishra's plan of murdering the woman when her treasure was in his hands; so, cursing, he snatched up his digging tool wherewith to slay the beast; but Semiramis sprang between them, furious as a mother who defends her child, while the dog rose, snarling, eager for Kishra's blood.
"Lay but a finger tip upon him," the mistress cried, "and you hunt alone on the further shore! Have done! The dog is wounded, and with us he shall go!"
Kishra paused. Full well he knew the risk of trifling with a woman's whims. It were better to humor her in this little thing than to hazard all ere the gems were in his clutch; so, grumbling, he cast his digging tool into the boat and made ready to depart. The craft was small, and rude of shape, yet would serve to bear them safely to the other side; and when Semiramis and Habal had settled in the bow, Kishra with his paddle pushed out into the stream.
"Whither, mistress?" he asked in a muffled tone, as though he feared some lurker on the bank might hear.
"To the lily beds in line with the city gate," the Syrian whispered, with a hidden smile, while she tore a strip from her nether garment and bound it on Habal's broken paw.
For a space they were silent, and, as the boat slipped forward in the gloom, dim voices of the night came floating to their ears—to the woman, sweeter than a zittern's softest strain. She listened to the river's droning hymn as it worshipped on its way to the Sea-god's shrine, and the deep-toned song of frogs from a reedy marsh. She heard the lisp of the paddle in the yellow tide, a heron's echoed cry, and the far, faint call of sentries from the battlements of Nineveh.
On the heart of Kishra these voices cast a spell of fear, chilling the fever of his greed which till now had urged him on. Why should the Syrian be overjoyed to greet her dog if she thought to return ere the dawn had come? Perchance she laid some snare to trip his feet, and would fly to Ascalon, cheating him of his wealth so coveted. The treasure! Mayhap no gems were hidden there at all, and hers was but a trick to lure him to his death.
A thousand terrors trickled from out the gloom; they swam through the waters, climbed into the boat, and lay upon him heavily. Of a sudden the traitor paused, with his paddle across his knees.
"Mistress," he asked, "what proof have I that no enemy lurketh beside the lily beds, to fall upon me when we reach the shore?"
"None," replied Semiramis. "He who would dig for leathern sacks, must dare such dangers as the night-gods send. Yet, if yours be a coward's heart, turn back, for it cometh to me that a tenth is usury." She smiled again, and bent to her restless dog: "Down, Habal, down! What troubleth thee?"
The boat now floated in the middle of the stream, and ere Kishra began his paddling once again, his fears were confirmed by the actions of the dog. Habal had risen, sniffing at the air. On the western breeze he caught a scent, and his bark rang out till the echoes rolled from shore to shore. A friend was near at hand, and the dog gave joyous tongue.
For a moment Kishra sat staring at Semiramis, while through his evil brain shot the knowledge of his own credulity. From the first she had gulled him, luring him to lie in a muddy fish pond, harkening unto whisperings. No runner waited for her fish of malachite. Her tremblings and her tears were but a mask. Even in her well-feigned fury she had fed him with designs for his own undoing, and he, in his gross cupidity, had eaten of the fruit of fools. No treasure lay hidden on the river shore, but enemies who smiled and waited for their own.
Mad with terror, Kishra spun the boat about, but, in his over-strength of fear, the paddle snapped, and Semiramis laughed aloud. Helpless he sat, a victim to this gloating witch who befooled him with her guile—he—Kishra, warden of the King, who dared not return again to his post of ease. Then fury took him utterly. He seized on the digging tool, arose, and swung it high above his head in the thought to brain her at a blow.
"Devil," he snarled, "thou hast tricked me with a lie!"
Down came the implement, but not upon the Syrian, for Habal had leaped at Kishra's throat, and Semiramis overturned the tossing craft.
For an instant all was darkness, fraught with fear; then the man rose, gasping, clutching at the boat. A spear's length away he spied a foaming swirl, where Semiramis flung high her arms and disappeared.
Then the river again took up its droning hymn; the sentries called from the distant battlements; a dog's head rode the waves as it pointed to the westward shore, and a boat went spinning down the Tigris, while Kishra clung in terror to its slippery keel.
CHAPTER XX
THE FLIGHT
"Ho, Huzim!" called Semiramis, as she gained a footing on the river mud and splashed through the shallows where the lilies grew; and Huzim, with a cry of greeting, stretched forth his hands to draw her up upon the bank.
"Art safe?" he asked. "No hurt hath come to thee? Of a truth I rejoiced at the voice of Habal, yet close upon it came a sound of tumult, and my strength forsook me utterly. See, mistress, I tremble still, for the night hath brought a terror to my heart."
In his joy the faithful servant, who would have dared the anger of the gods themselves to shield Semiramis, sank down and clasped her knees, to weep as a child might weep.
"Nay," laughed the woman, with a gentle hand upon his straight black locks, "'twas naught indeed save a plunge and a joyous swim, for the waters thronged about me with the kisses of old, remembered friends. Up, Huzim! Bear Habal in your arms, for his leg hath received a hurt, poor beast. And hasten! Yon apish eunuch whirling down the stream may arise an outcry, bringing a troop of horse upon our trail."
The Indian arose, and raising Habal as his mistress bade him, strode forward through the darkness, while she, in the joy of freedom, walked happily at his side, wringing the water from her wet simar and whispering of all which had come to pass. For a league they journeyed westward till they came to a hillock crowned by trees, and here the Indian bade his mistress wait, while he, himself, went onward to secure their steeds which waited in a secret place in the wooded lands beyond.
"Keep watch," he urged, then filled his lungs with a hopeful breath and vanished in the gloom.
Alone, the Syrian raised her eyes toward the sky and once more listened to the voices of the night. The river's hymn was hushed; no sentry's call rang out from distant Nineveh, and across the plains came only a foolish wind that murmured among the trees. Yet other voices rose in the heart of Semiramis, to cry aloud with every quickened beat. Menon! Menon! they shouted, till the echo mounted to the burning stars, to catch their flame and tumble back to the heart which sent it forth. Thus cried Derketo, that mother whose passion stirred in the daughter's blood, till her eyes grew dim in yearning tenderness. As a song it sounded in her ears—a song of fire and love; yet with it rose a strain more harsh, the voice of her unknown sire—perchance a war-god from the Southern Seas. It rose in a stern command and was taken up on the tongues of marching multitudes, in the snarl of the battle-horn, and the rumble of charging chariots.
To the south lay far Arabia, whence peace might follow in the thread of love; yet Semiramis stretched her arms toward the east where Zariaspa sat, unconquered, on the plains.
From the darkness came Huzim on the back of a goodly steed, leading another by its bridle rein. To the saddle-skin of each was bound a food-sack, arms, and a woolen cloak to shield the body from the chill of night. Likewise, for Semiramis, he had brought a brave attire, for henceforth she must travel, not as a woman, but as a man; so, from a screen of the hillock's trees, she discarded her wet simar and soon stepped forth in the guise of a youthful warrior. From her shoulders hung a linen tunic, belted and falling to the knee, while her limbs were encased in heavier cloth, bound round with thongs. Her arms were bare, and on her head sat a brazen helm, of a pattern worn by fighting chiefs on the Syrian coast, its stiff rim lined with a veil of many folds.
With a laugh Semiramis leaped astride her steed, causing her dog to be set before her on the saddle-skin, for their pace would be swift, and Habal might not follow with his broken foot.
"See, mistress," whispered Huzim, coming to her side and stretching forth his arm toward the south; "there lieth our road which leadeth by devious ways to the desert home of Prince Boabdul, whence we journey at my lord's command."
"Aye," the Syrian nodded, "'twas even so two moons agone, yet now the world hath somehow gone awry, till Arabia no longer lieth in the south. Come, hasten! that we catch this wandering land ere it shift again."
With another laugh she wheeled her steed and raced toward the north, while for an instant Huzim gazed after her, his jaws agape in wonderment; then he cursed, and spurred upon her track. For a space she held the lead, till the Indian cut it down and at last stretched forth his hand which closed on her bridle-rein.
"How now," he cried, when the steeds had come to a fretful stand, "what madness wouldst thou do? Come, turn southward, for to Arabia we journey, else Huzim must first be slain."
For the first time since the battle with the Kurds she marked a frown of anger upon the servant's brow, yet little she reckoned of the wrath of any man.
"Huzim," she answered, and her teeth shone white in the light of a riding moon, "I know not what path is best for fools to take, nor if you would hide in idleness beneath the desert's sands; but as for me, as Ishtar hears my oath, I go to Bactria."
"But why?" he demanded, in a tone of keen despair. "Why tempt the gods when wisdom pointeth out the way?"
Once more Semiramis raised her arms toward the stars, and her fists were clenched.
"To join my lord and share the perils which are his; to wrest a loved one from the toils which hedge him round about, or drive my hunting spear through the body of Assyria's King!"
In vain the Indian pleaded; in vain he besought her with prayers and tears to discard a plan so mad, but she paid no heed.
"What!" she demanded, "am I born of coward's blood? Nay; what man may do, that also will I, a woman, compass; and, failing, the fault is mine alone. Think," she argued, "if hiding seemeth good to you, then will we lie concealed among the crags which overtop the plains of Bactria, whence you, good Huzim, may creep by night into Menon's camp and guide him safely to my side. Once joined with him, we journey where he wills, though it be to Gibil or to Ramân's thunder-halls."
Thus in the end the reluctant Indian gave in, and they rode toward the north, though for a space he lagged behind in troubled silence, his chin upon his breast. As he rode it came to him that his mistress had never held a thought of flying to Arabia, but had curbed her tongue lest wisdom move him to prevent escape from Nineveh. It was now too late to husband wine when the skin was rent, so Huzim shook the anger from him, and, with one last sigh of doubt, came up to the side of Semiramis.
For a league they held to the river bank, then forded at a shallow point and travelled eastward swiftly till the night was gone. And thus they fared for many days, boldly by night, and resting throughout the day in close retreats, for they knew not if Kishra had perchance survived to send out hunters on their trail. Poor Habal's paw healed quickly, and soon he rode no more on the saddle-skin, albeit a moon went by ere he ran upon four sound legs again; yet, even with a bandaged limb, the dog served faithfully, and many a lurking danger came to naught by reason of his warning growls.
And now they came into Media, and the fear of pursuit was lost; so onward they pushed, avoiding the open roads. They passed through trackless forest-lands, through verdant valleys and up again to the crests of wooded hills, where at their feet the lands of foreign peoples stretched far and wide, their dwelling places marked by coils of smoke. Anon they skirted woodland villages, and, peering through a screen of leaves, saw naked children sporting in the sun, their naked mothers pounding grain with stones, while uncouth warriors drowsed at ease beneath the shade. Once, on a hillside, they came full face upon a hunter, bearing a forest pig upon his back, in his hand a spear. For a space the man stared stupidly, then dropped his burden, cast his spear at Huzim, and went shrieking down the slope. From stone to stone he leaped, as leaps a mountain goat, the while he cried out shrilly to his friends beneath; yet in his final plunge he bore no message save a shaft between his shoulder blades.
"Of a truth," sighed Huzim, "'twas pity to slay the fool, yet wise, perchance, for his tribesmen know not if we be an army or a single man. Come, hasten, mistress, lest his friends be cursed with curious minds."
They hastened on, and for a space no other mischief came to trouble them, though many evils stalked abroad by night and day; yet these were passed because of Huzim's cunning woodcraft, and Habal's wit in scenting peril from afar. Then, when the skin of Semiramis was tanned to a ruddy brown, and the steeds were lean and weary from their toil, the travellers neared the foothills of Hindu-Kush, to fall upon a grave mischance. They had come to a forest's edge, where a sloping plain of a league in width stretched out before them, ascending to the mountain steeps beyond; and here the Indian counseled that they lie concealed till the shades of night should fall, but Semiramis would have none of it.
"Nay," she urged; "I burn to reach the mountain top for a peep into the land of Bactria, and to know, perchance, if my lord still battleth there. Come, Huzim, lest I leave a faithful friend behind."
The servant shook his head and galloped after her, yet his hope came back again when the middle of the plain was reached and naught was seen save a watchful kite that swung in the blue above. Then Habal wheeled on the backward trail, and barked. From the forest left behind came a score of riders who spread to right and left, then lashed their mounts and advanced in a ragged line.
"'Tis even as I feared," growled Huzim beneath his breath. "Speed thee, mistress! We yet may win to the hills in time."
But ere they had ridden twenty paces he was fain to draw his rein, for out from a fringe of woods ahead another band appeared, to spread as the first had spread, with an aim of closing in upon the fugitives. The Indian unslung his bow, casting about him for a spot wherein to halt and hold his foes at bay, but Semiramis smiled upon him and took command.
"Be not a child," she whispered. "Your shafts are useless, for these our enemies outnumber us, and our steeds are spent. Obey me and speak no word."
She drew her bridle, shielded her eyes from the sunlight's glare, then waved her hand and dashed full speed toward the Bactrian troop.
"In the name of the gods—!" gasped Huzim, spurring after her; but she laughed and, once more waved her hand.
Now the horsemen, marveling at the strangeness of this move, drew rein upon the slope and waited till their quarry came to them. Outposts they were whom Oxyartes set beyond the mountains, to watch all roads, to cut off messengers, and to bring report of armies or of food-trains coming out from Nineveh.
"Ho, friends!" laughed Semiramis, pausing in their midst and speaking in the Bactrian tongue, a deal of which she had learned from Menon while in Syria. "For the moment I feared ye were a herd of Assyrian swine. Who leadeth here?"
A Bactrian youth dismounted and stepped before her, his fellows gathering in a close-packed ring.
"How art thou called?" she questioned, looking straight into his eye.
"Dagas," he answered, with a bow and a smile of merriment.
The woman was fair to look upon and easy in her speech, yet spies were ever prone to claim a friendship with their foes in a hope of deceiving them; so the Bactrian smiled, and was not to be deceived.
"Ah!" sighed Semiramis, stretching her hand to him. "Then bear me wine, good Dagas—the best—for to-day I have journeyed far and am athirst. See, likewise, to our steeds and to my servant here, who—"
She paused, for now the chieftain laughed aloud because of her impudence, while those about him joined in a roar of mirth; yet mirth was turned to wonderment, when a gust of fury lit her eyes, and she struck at the head of Dagas with a haft of her hunting spear.
"Fool!" she stormed, "is the sister of Oxyartes to be mocked by a brainless dog?"
The shaft went home. The laughter died upon their lips; yet, ere their startled senses woke again, Semiramis swept on:
"What! Know ye not that Babylon is in revolt? That Tyre and Sidon fling aside the yoke? That Syria flies to arms and sends her armies forth to crush King Ninus as a grain of corn? Does Bactria sleep, as sleeps Assyria's lord, when Nineveh hath tumbled to the earth—a blotch of mud upon the plains? Does Dagas know not that the hosts advance, with horsemen countless as the forest leaves, with slingers, axemen, hordes of Hittite charioteers, and a swarm of riders from the desert lands?" She flung back her head and laughed. "O worms of ignorance! O sons of fishes, knowing naught beyond their slimy pool! Go out and guard each road—each mountain pass—lest fugitives slip by and cry disaster to the King!"
She paused for lack of breath, and a buzz of confusion rose among the men-at-arms; then, at their chieftain's questioning glance, Semiramis spoke again:
"Five days must pass ere the vanguard cometh, yet I and my servant hasten on to warn the King of Zariaspa; for when our warriors pour down the mountain sides, then must Oxyartes sally forth and take King Ninus in his rear."
Dagas knit his brows in troubled thought, then raised his eyes and asked:
"What surety have I that thy words are the words of truth—that thy tidings be not a trick to befool mine ears?"
"None," she answered, in majestic pride. "None save my word alone. If thou doubtest, then hold me prisoner." Again she paused, to look upon the youth in scorn. "Yet I warn thee, Dagas, that should a mischief come of it, or I suffer by delay—by every god in heaven, thy flesh shall puff in one great blister from the lash!"
Once more the Bactrian pondered, torn 'twixt duty and a fear of some bold deceit, then he asked, as a final test:
"And how wilt thou reach the city when Ninus encompasseth it about in a deep, unbroken ring? How scale the walls and bear thy message in?"
It was now the Syrian's turn to ponder, for on her wit hung fortune, good and evil, balanced to a hair. To blunder meant captivity, death perchance; to answer rightly was beyond her power; yet she faltered not, and staked her all upon a single cast. She smiled upon Dagas, leaned down, and whispered into his ear:
"Why scale a wall when a message may go to Zariaspa by the secret way?"
The Bactrian started, glanced swiftly toward the north, and back to her dancing eyes.
"What meanest thou?" he asked, and hung upon her words as one who waits on death.
Once more Semiramis smiled upon him, stooping till her breath played warm upon his cheek.
"Thou comely child," she murmured into his blood-flushed ear, "where stores of food are sent for my brother's needs, there, also, may a message find its way, though it float or fly."
This she delivered boldly, on the hazard of a guess, and Dagas fell upon his knee and made obeisance, begging that she hold no evil memory against him, in that he had harbored doubt.
"Nay," she answered him, "of all which hath come to pass I will make report to Oxyartes;" then, as the Bactrian's cheeks went white, she added, meaningly: "The King would know when his chiefs mix caution with their zeal, else how shall he make a just reward?"
Dagas rose up in a flush of pride, and of vanity which ever follows certain men of war.
"Command me," he cried, "and thy lightest wish shall be mine own desire."
Semiramis paused, to look upon the earth in thought; then from her finger she drew a jewel, placing it within his hand.
"Dagas," she enjoined, "when the conquering host hath come from out the west, seek thou the King of Tyre, saying that she of the flame-hued locks hath come in safety unto Hindu-Kush. In proof of thy words, display this bauble before his eyes—then keep it for thine own." With a radiant smile she checked his thanks and spoke again: "Ride southward with all thy men-at-arms to guard the roads, lest Assyrian runners pass. Nay, I need no guide to the Secret Place, for the way is known to me. Now set us wine and meat, and then—farewell!"
The young chief hastened to do her bidding eagerly, in hope of the rich reward from Oxyartes, though to his racing heart it seemed that in life he could ask no higher gift than to bask in this woman's smile. So he set them a feast, which being done, his guests arose. Henceforth they must go on foot, for the mountain paths were such that horses might not climb, so the steeds were left with Dagas and his followers. At parting the Bactrian lingered, gazing with awe into the Syrian's eyes.
"Princess," he faltered, "in days to come I pray thee to hold my memory, for the sword of an humble man is thine, be it drawn against enemy or friend."
Thus Dagas spoke, yet little did he dream that in after years this love of his would part a nation and its king.
Semiramis yearned to question him concerning many things, but her tongue gave thanks alone, as her hand dropped into his and pressed it. So she fared to the north, with Huzim and Habal following her lead, while Dagas stood watching till they passed from sight; then he turned and sighed.
For a space the travellers journeyed swiftly, the woman smiling to herself, while Huzim pondered and spoke no word; yet, presently, he laid his hand upon her arm.
"Mistress," said he, "our path is upward among the crags, and as we journey now, we risk the peril of unknown ways and wander from our course."
"Nay," Semiramis denied, "our quest is in the north, for there a weighty secret lieth. Listen; to Zariaspa cometh a strange supply of food, vexing Ninus, in that he may not cut it off and starve his enemies; therefore in the north I seek its source, though I hunt the hills for the space of a double moon."
The Indian frowned and slowly shook his head. One hour agone she had burned to reach the mountain top, and now would hunt behind it for the space of a double moon. Of a surety the ways of women were a trouble unto Huzim's mind.
"And how," he asked, "may we know that this secret place be hidden in the north?"
Again the Syrian laughed, and the laughter pleased her to the finger tips.
"Good Dagas betrayed it by a fleeting glance, and knew not that he gave his master into my hand. What manner of place it is, or where it lieth, the spirits of the mountains only know; yet, mayhap, these spirits may be taught to wag their tongues."
Once more the patient Huzim shook his head, following on in silent thought, and for a space they bent their steps on a gently ascending path, till they came to a rocky spur which overlooked the plains.
"See!" cried Semiramis, pointing with her spear, while her merriment was loosed, to echo back from stone to stone. "Yon troop of Bactrians rideth toward the south, to cry alarm, to guard all roads, and to wait a phantom host which cometh to Zariaspa's aid."
Huzim gazed out and saw that her words were true, though he joined not in her merriment.
"Nay, mistress," he murmured, "this Dagas is but a fool; yet deeply was I troubled for thy fate, till streams of sweat poured out upon my skin. Thou didst say that Syria had risen in revolt—that Hittite chariots advanced—that Nineveh was but a blotch of mud upon the plain. 'Twas witful craft, I grant, though hazardous, for truth was twisted inside out, even as women wring their garments at a washing time."
"Aye," sighed Semiramis, dreamily, as she rested on her hunting spear and watched the riders vanish in a cloud of dust, "aye, good Huzim, in song and legend this truth of which thou speakest is a wondrous thing, yet oft must the god of wisdom robe himself in the splendor of a lie."
CHAPTER XXI
THE RIDDLE OF THE SECRET WAY
The day waxed old. The sun plunged down into a fiery death, as though a Moloch swallowed it, to breathe back flames from his brazen throat; then the crimson glow grew faint and faded from the west; the twilight deepened, while a purple haze stole up on the mountain slopes, to wrap the loftiest crags in gloom, till the moon rode forth and set them free.
Semiramis and Huzim now paused for rest and food, for the way grew more precipitous, and naught might be accomplished while the darkness held; so when the Indian had eaten he stretched himself in sleep, but for the Syrian there was none. She sat with her chin upon her hand, gazing in thought upon the mountain stream which tumbled noisily beside the resting place, while through her brain a question rioted and gave no peace—a question which mocked, yet lured her on through swamps of deep perplexity. Whence came these stores of food to Zariaspa? and why in the name of Nebo should the Bactrians set the place on the further side of a mountain range? To cross the ridge was but to meet with Ninus and his ring of warriors. How pass them and win to the city walls?
"Ah, little stream," she murmured, with a heavy sigh, "what secrets of the hills thy hundred tongues could tell did I but understand thy strange, wise songs!"
The stream sang on, a roar of dull monotony that lulled her senses into drowsiness, and again the Syrian sighed as she stretched her limbs for sleep; yet slumber hid itself away as hid the answer to her quest, and suddenly a silence fell—a silence so deep that the wind-gods seemed to hold their breath as for a coming storm, while through the hush ran a whispered chant of insects of the night—that murmurous hum from the tongues of tiny, things.
The Syrian started, sat upright on the earth, and stared at the stream in wide-eyed unbelief. Where, before, a torrent rushed along its way, leaping the stones with a foaming, boisterous swirl, now ran a trickling rivulet. Its song was stilled; black rocks protruded from its bed, and a stranded fish flapped clumsily upon the sand. For a moment longer stared Semiramis, then leaped to her feet and shook the sleeping Indian.
"Awake!" she cried. "As Ishtar liveth, I have spoken with the stream—and the stream hath answered me!"
For a space she whispered eagerly, pointing to the north, till Huzim rose and brushed the slumber from his eyes. They bound the jaws of Habal with a leathern thong, lest the dog give tongue and sound alarm; then they crept in silence up the water-course. Northward it ran, yet suddenly it sheared away toward the east where the hills bent inward, forming a mighty pocket in the mountainside, and here the hunters paused, for faintly down the wind came the calls of men, the bellow of a burden-beast, and the sound of many hammer-strokes.
"Ah," breathed Semiramis, "'tis there the riddle hath its root, hanging like grapes till we come to strip the vine."
They left the stream and clambered upward, with an aim of spying from above, the Indian creeping on ahead, while Semiramis came after him, her dog in leash. The steeps grew difficult, but the seekers spared their strength, mounting slowly till they came upon a sentry seated in a narrow pass and singing softly to himself.
"How white is his throat," smiled Huzim, as he notched a shaft and knelt among the rocks; but Semiramis laid a restraining hand upon his arm.
"Nay, spare him; for see, he looketh upon the stars, and, all unknowing, giveth praise to Ishtar. To slay him were to bring us evil. Come!"
To the right they crept, in a circuit which brought them far above the watcher's post, then turned and bent upon their course again; and thus they journeyed stealthily, as in days of old they had stalked their game in Syria, coming at last to the lip of a precipice. Prostrate they lay and peeped below, yet naught could be seen because of gloom, and the trailing mists which eddied to and fro at the chase of a fickle breeze. Strange sounds came floating up to them, an oath, a sharp command, the crack of a lash, and the jumbled echoes of haste and toil; and now the moon slid out from behind a crag, bathing the slopes in a wave of light, while the call of sentries echoed far and wide, and the din in the valley ceased.
The watchers crept into the shadow of an over-hanging rock, continuing to peer into the depths beneath; and, as they looked, they caught the gleam of water, whereon a clumsy barge was pushed by men who waded to their waists.
"See!" gasped Huzim, pointing to the loaded barge. "It floateth toward the cliff! What manner of mystery is this?"
It was even as he said. Another barge came out, and still another, till seven in all were counted, each pushed by waders toward the cliff, each disappearing suddenly as if it sank into some yawning well. On the water's edge swarmed scores of men, each busied with his appointed task; then after a space a gang came forth to labor at a wooden gate which slid between jaws of masonry. By means of a prizing-beam this gate was raised, when the dammed-up water once more rushed into the bed of the mountain stream, and the earth was seen where a lake had rested in a basin among the hills.
Now all these things were strange to Huzim and as marvels beyond his grasp, but Semiramis smiled and thus reproached herself:
"In truth have I been but a suckling babe concerning wit and the wiles of men; yet beyond the mountains lie twice a million other babes, with Ninus who croweth mightily and sitteth enthroned—the master-babe of all!" She turned to the Indian, thoughtfully: "Tell me, didst say that Menon dug his wells to the east of Zariaspa and found sweet water there?"
"Aye," said Huzim; "but what hath this to do with barges on a mountainside?"
"Much," the Syrian laughed, "for these boats go down through a cavernous passage-way, beneath the mountain, beneath the earth where Ninus is encamped, and beneath the city's walls. There the Bactrians receive their stores of food and burn these barges which may not travel back again. The water they gather up in cisterns for the city's needs, or loose it at will, whence it floweth away, to sink in the thirsty sands beyond. Thus Menon hath digged his wells, and marveleth at what is found."
The Indian listened with an open mouth, grunting his wonder, but offering no reply, and Semiramis spoke again:
"By Ishtar, 'tis a cunning wile, yet craft may match it unto Bactria's woe. Menon is mine at last!" she cried exultantly. "The King is mine! And Zariaspa lieth in the hollow of my hand! Up, Huzim, for we climb to the mountain top ere dawn hath come!"
Once more they journeyed, with care at first because of sentinels who watched the hillsides as a mother eagle guards her young; but at length the danger line was passed and they mounted with quickened pace. Up, up they climbed till the moon went down, and the chill of the lofty altitude came searching beneath their cloaks; then for an hour they rested, and the ascent was begun again. By the gleam of the stars alone they toiled, till a sickly glow came stealing from out the east; and then, as the sun came up, they stood at last on the mountain's spine, poor Habal dropping at their feet with heaving flanks and a lolling tongue.
Semiramis heaved a sigh. Beneath her lay the land of Bactria, yet hidden now by a ghostly sea of mist—a mist that writhed and heaved, revealing giant peaks that seemed to peep out timidly, to turn and flee as though pursued by spirits of the under-world; then the peaks, emboldened as the sunrays drank the vapors down, rushed back again, while scurrying clouds dissolved like rabble before a war-king's chariot.
Lower and lower sank the mist, till the battlements of Zariaspa pierced the veil, and on the walls long lines of white-robed priests came forth in worship of the sun, while warriors dipped their banners, knelt, and raised their gleaming arms aloft.
As Semiramis watched, the scene unrolled as to one who looks into a witch's caldron when the reek is blown away. She saw the valleyed foothills, and the tawny plain that stretched beyond till lost in an ochre haze. She saw the city, grim, defiant in its might, and the vast brown monster coiled around its outer shell, hungry, baffled, weary of its fruitless grip. From north to south long ridges seamed the earth where trenches had been dug to hold the slain and the offal of the camps, the whole heaped o'er with sand lest pestilence arise, while scattered far and wide lay blackened skeletons of scaling-towers, engines of assault, and abandoned catapults, which the enemy had wrecked or burned with fire.
And now the army wakened, not as warriors eager for the siege, but as sluggards who find it easier far to hurl a drowsy curse than to labor like men in a cause of little hope.
"See!" cried Semiramis, pointing with a trembling arm, while her great eyes blazed in scorn. "King Ninus lieth down in sloth, and a million warriors rot in idleness! By Ishtar, with such a force I'd overthrow yon town as a woodsman felleth a sapless tree!" She paused to sigh, then turned to Huzim with a smile: "Among the stars above strange happenings are ordained, yet perchance unto Ninus I may whisper soon, in that he rouseth from his lethargy."
The Indian regarded her both earnestly and long.
"Mistress," he answered, grimly, in the manner of one who is charged with truth, "if thou wouldst whisper in the ear of Assyria's King, first make its opening larger with the barb of thy hunting spear."
"Nay," laughed Semiramis; "a woman's wit may sink far deeper and will leave no scar. Now point me out where my good lord Menon hath set his camp."
The Indian's finger swept the line of the city's eastern wall, to a mound beyond, to a dull brown horde of idle warriors—as idle as the warriors of the King.
"Ah!" sighed the yearning wife, and walked apart to gaze across the walls of Zariaspa, in hope that her heart might lead her eyes unto one she sought among a myriad of midges on the distant field.
"Menon," she whispered, her arms outstretched, her sensuous soul outflung, "were Shammuramat in truth a dove, how swiftly would she wing her way to thee!"
* * * * *
As the sun slid down and the shadows of the hills crept out across the plains, King Ninus sat within his tent, while about him stood a score of his under-chiefs. Warriors they were of many lands which made Assyria's kingdom one, stern men of copper hue, half naked in the summer heat, gaunt of feature, lean and sinewy of limb. On the faces of many was stamped a look of weariness; on others anger, while the monarch wore his darkest scowl; for a council was being held, wherein rebellion against the King had risen to a fever-pitch, and fierce internal strife was like to rend the army from end to end.
"Heed me!" cried Asharal, the Babylonian Prince whose hatred of the conqueror led him ever to dispute. "What need to starve in Bactria when plenty lieth along the Tigris and the Euphrates? Why break our teeth against a wall of stone when naught may come of it save a bleeding mouth? We storm a city, fling away a nation's wealth as though its coffers served a catapult! Our soldiers sicken at the lack of food and because of the bitterness of long defeat! If Ninus be in truth a god, then let him give this city into our hands; if not, he will lead his wearied servants home!"
For answer the King rose up and smote Prince Asharal full upon the mouth, in that he fell upon the earth with twitching limbs and eyes that rolled in vacancy.
"So," growled Ninus, nursing the knuckles of his great brown fist, "the dog, at last, hath a mouth that bleeds." He turned to the Babylonian's friends and spoke again, calmly, but as a master speaks: "Because he is born a fool, I spare him—the next of his like shall hang!"
A silence fell within the council tent, save for the shifting of uneasy feet, and the creak of harness as the fallen man breathed fast and hard; then, in the hush, a sentry entered, bowing low before the King.
"Lord," said he, "a messenger is without, demanding an audience of Ninus and of his chiefs."
The lips of the monarch parted for an oath, and yet no sound came forth; instead his mouth stretched wider still in wonderment, for before him stepped a woman warrior, the like of whom his eyes had never lit upon. Her shapely limbs were encased in linen, bound with thongs, as were the leathern sandals on her feet; she wore her tunic, washed white in a mountain stream, and across her breast was flung a leopard's skin, caught with a clasp behind and forming a quiver for her shafts. She carried a bow and hunting spear, and on her shoulders, brown and bare, her red locks rippled from a brazen helm.
The chieftains stared; and yet it was not the splendor of her raiment which held them in amaze, but her beauty, strange and devilish—her eyes, deep pools of ever changing light wherein the sons of men grew foolish and were consumed.
"Shammuramat!" breathed the King. "Whence comest thou?"
"Shammuramat no more," the Syrian answered, "but a merchant from the west with wares for sale."
"By Bêlit," grunted Gazil, a hairy chieftain from the uplands of the river Hit, "did the merchant sell herself, I'd buy, though the bargain stripped me to the bone."
"Hush!" a nudging neighbor whispered. "Be sparing of thy tongue, lest Ninus serve thee as he served yon Babylonian fool."
So Gazil held his peace, and Ninus looked in silence on Semiramis. In the mind of the King two spirits warred for mastery; the one in anger at this prisoner who escaped from Nineveh to defy his will, the other unwilling admiration of her recklessness.
"And why," he asked, as he combed his beard, "doth the merchant risk her head in a journey unto Zariaspa?"
Semiramis regarded him with a look of childish wonder wherein was mingled trust untouched by fear.
"Right well the lord of Assyria knoweth that I come at his own command."
Now the King bad commanded no such thing, yet, recalling how the Syrian's wits had befooled him in the halls at Nineveh, he took council with himself lest it chance again.
"Speak," he urged, with a cautious mien, "that these my chiefs and friends may hear."
Semiramis bowed before him humbly and turned to the listening men.
"My lords," she began, and looked on each in turn, "far better than I might Ninus speak, for the glory of this deed is his." She paused an instant, then spoke once more, her rich tones falling strangely on the ears of those who heard. "In a vision came the King unto my side—a spirit in the godly robes of Asshur and the hornéd cap of Bel. 'Arise, Shammuramat,' he commanded, in a voice that rolled as from afar; 'arise and seek through the hills of Hindu-Kush for a wondrous secret hidden there—a secret through which all Zariaspa feasteth long, while Assyria must prowl, a hungry wolf outside its walls.'"
"Ah!" cried Ninus, leaping to his feet, "thou knowest, then, whence cometh Zariaspa's store of food?"
"Aye," she answered, "but the spirit of the King said more." The monarch sank into his seat, and she turned to the gaping chiefs: "'My spirit,' spoke the spirit of the King, 'is heaven-born, yet my flesh is mortal as all men know full well; so follow thou where my spirit leadeth and sell this secret to my mortal flesh for such a price as justice may demand.'"
The King looked up, a light of anger in his eyes; but he curbed his speech, for he knew not what was yet to come, and half a god was better far than being proven not a god at all.
"Say on," he muttered, and Semiramis said on. She wove a wondrous tale of magic and of myth, of how the spirit led her through the gates of Nineveh unseen; of how a steed awaited beyond the walls to bear her on her way; of the arms and raiment found upon its back, and its speed in passing through the lands of enemies.
Now in these days the sons of Assyria were as children whose minds were swayed by superstitious fears; in demons they believed who thronged the earth and air, the waters and the sky; so the words of Semiramis were the words of truth to all save two, who listened and were not deceived. The one was the King; the other Nakir-Kish, High Priest of the Magi, a man of wisdom who stood apart with folded arms, and smiled. The Syrian marked his look of ill-veiled jealousy, for she trod too close upon his own dark rites to pass unchallenged; therefore she sought to disarm an enemy ere the weapon of his speech was raised.
"My lords," said she to the wondering chiefs, "the tale is done. As the spirit of Ninus led my steps, so followed I and found; yet if there be one to doubt my words, then let him ask of Nakir-Kish, by whose high arts was the spirit of the King unleashed and sent to me at Nineveh."
All eyes were turned upon Nakir-Kish who flushed as the Syrian's shaft went home, for of a certainty he stood in a grievous pass. To deny would strip him of a boasted power and cheat his magic of a splendid deed; to confirm her words was but to mark him as the ally of a liar; so the High Priest pondered for a space and held his tongue. Yet the chieftains waited, so at last he strode to the center of their ring and raised his arms.
"'Tis even as she telleth," he cried aloud, and Semiramis smiled, with the air of one who conquers Kings; then Ninus arose and spoke:
"Peace, Nakir-Kish! It is not meet that our works be heralded abroad. Let the woman tell of the Bactrians' store-house hidden from our mortal eyes."
The Syrian shook her head.
"My lord," she made reply, "'tis true the merchant selleth wares, yet the merchant hath a price."
"Name it," growled the King. "If thy words be true, I give a chariot's weight in gold; if false—beware!"
"Nay, radiant one," she smiled, "is Shammuramat a thief? One chariot I ask—of wood and brass—with a man to drive me whither and when I will."
"Granted," agreed the King. "Choose chariot, steeds, and charioteer, but in the name of Nebo tell us quickly of what we yearn to know."
"Wait!" said Semiramis. "My bargain must first be sealed. As to steeds, I care not, so be they sound in wind and limb; yet as to him who driveth, is of greater moment to my sale."
She turned to the listening warriors, then paused to laugh again, for half a score of men stepped forward, eager to drive her, though the road be laid through Gibil's smoking gates.
It is ill to tweak a King's impatient mood, yet this the Syrian dared to do, knowing right well the price Assyria would pay to call proud Bactria slave; therefore she paid no heed to Ninus, but wrought with his chieftains, smiling, conscious of her power.
"Nay, friends, 'tis I whose pride is roused at thought of riding forth with valiant men of war. Each—all—I love ye, for your strength, your loyalty to him who leadeth, who by his wisdom conquereth the world; yet one alone may drive my chariot, and he—"
"Prince Menon!" cried Nakir-Kish, seeking to win a friend where he dare not make an enemy, and Semiramis turned and bowed before the King.
The monarch frowned, and for a space he pondered, weighing the value of the Syrian's knowledge against the measure of his royal pride; yet it came to him that her arts had left him but a single path, for in her secret lay the nation's welfare and the King's. His chieftains plotted treason, while the army trembled between revolt and loyalty, wavering, waiting for a leader's cry to plunge them headlong into open war—a war at which the Bactrians would laugh aloud in very joy. Peace, then, the Syrian offered—peace and victory—her price the forgiveness of a single man. Forgiveness! It was galling to the King, yet, where a King drinks gall, it were well that he drain his goblet with a smile, as though the draught lay sweet upon his tongue; therefore Ninus smiled, rising to speak in a voice which all might hear:
"Listen, my children. Long have I yearned to take Prince Menon to my heart; yet, because of stubbornness, he sitteth upon his mound, devoured by spleen. If now he would once more call himself my son, a father will bid him welcome, even as he welcometh a daughter in Shammuramat."
At this a mighty shout went up, and the Syrian's great eyes filled with tears. She fell upon her knees and would have pressed her lips to the monarch's hand, but Ninus raised her and kissed her upon the mouth.
Then before them all Semiramis told her tale of the water-way beneath the hills; of the cleft in the cliffs on the further side where the Bactrians damned a mountain stream, raising the waters to the height desired. She told of the outposts guarding this secret round about, while through the fertile lands an army of hunters combed the forests and the fields for game; this game to be borne to the hidden cleft and loaded on barges, whence it floated through the bowels of the earth unto waiting Zariaspa.
"And thus," cried Semiramis, "cometh food to our hated enemies—stores and a flow of sweet, cool water, when Assyria must sit outside the walls, unconquering, hungered and athirst."
She ceased, and silence lay within the royal tent, silence save for the sound of heavy breathing and, anon, a gasp of wonderment; yet, presently, the High Priest Nakir-Kish strode forth, with the aim of sharing in the Syrian's fame. He raised his naked arms, a light of battle in his eyes, his voice a tempest charged with the fires of prophecy:
"Glory to Asshur, lord of all the lords! for on the spirit-tongue of Ninus is chanted Zariaspa's song of death! Harken, ye chiefs of proud Assyria, and ye who follow at their heels! This day your King will lead ye o'er the peaks of Hindu-Kush, to crush the foeman's strength, to destroy his store-house in the mountain side, and fill the tunnel's mouth with stones! Up, Gazil! Sound thy battle horn! Collect thy swordsmen from the hills of Naïri and thy slingers from the north! Up, men of Babylon and Nineveh, to follow where your King may lead, and let your war-cry be—Shammuramat!"
The Syrian bowed low, yet even as the chieftains rose with her name in war-cry on their lips, she stayed them with a lifted hand.
"Nay, lords," she laughed, "your mighty priest hath offered but a jest, to test the temper of his dogs in leash. Bark not so loud, brave dogs, for none will climb the mountain side this day."
At her daring speech, the High Priest Nakir-Kish grew pale in wrath, and Ninus watched in silence, knowing there was somewhat yet to come, while the men-at-arms drew closer, in a circle of wonder and of awe.
"What need to climb," the woman asked, "when the master hath a fairer plan?"
"Say on," commanded Ninus, cautiously, and Semiramis turned her back upon Nakir-Kish.
"My lord," she spoke, "'tis not in thy mind to cross the mountain range and tumble stones into the tunnel's throat, for thereby this great supply of food will cease. Rather would the King go forth and dig till he find this sunken river-bed; and then, when the laden boats come down, their stores shall fill the stomach of Assyria, while Zariaspa looketh on with curses at our feast. This, then, is the thought in the mind of Ninus, for the mind of the King is wise."
She ceased, and once more silence fell. The chieftains cast their eyes upon the earth, nudging one another slyly, while the High Priest glowered and spoke no word. King Ninus was likewise silent for a space, yet presently his great beard trembled beneath his fingers, as he gazed at the woman leaning on her spear; then he burst into a roar of laughter, taking her hand as he might the hand of a brother and a King.