The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 94

"But this is the Lady Kama!" cried the nomarch.

It was indeed Kama, sick and changed very greatly. When she rose at sight of the dignitaries, and appeared in the light, those present saw that her face had bronze-colored spots on it. Her eyes seemed wandering.

"Kama," said the chief, "the G.o.ddess Astaroth has touched thee with leprosy."

"It was not the G.o.ddess!" said she, with a changed voice. "It was the low Asiatics, who threw in a tainted veil to me. Oh, I am unfortunate!"

"Kama," continued the chief, "our most famous high priests, Sem and Mefres, have taken compa.s.sion on thee. If thou wilt tell the truth, they will pray for thee, and perhaps the all-mighty Osiris will turn from thee misfortune. There is still time, the disease is only beginning, and our G.o.ds have great power."

The sick woman fell on her knees, and pressing her face against the grating, said in a broken voice,--

"Have compa.s.sion on me! I have renounced Phnician G.o.ds, and to the end of life will serve the G.o.ds of Egypt. Only avert from me--"

"Answer, but answer truly," said the chief, "and the G.o.ds will not refuse thee their favor. Who killed the child of the Jewess Sarah?"

"The traitor, Lykon, the Greek. He was a singer in our temple, and said that he loved me. But he has rejected me, the infamous traitor, and seized my jewels."

"Why did Lykon kill the child?"

"He wanted to kill the prince, but not finding him in the palace, he ran to Sarah's villa."

"How did the criminal enter a house that was guarded?"

"Dost thou not know that Lykon resembles the prince? They are as much alike as two leaves of one palm-tree."

"How was Lykon dressed that night?"

"He wore a jacket in yellow and black stripes, a cap of the same material, and a red and blue ap.r.o.n. Do not torment me; return me my health! Be compa.s.sionate! I will be faithful to your G.o.ds! Are ye going already? Oh, hard-hearted!"

"Poor woman," said the high priest Sem, "I will send to thee a mighty worker of miracles; he may--"

"May ye be blessed by Astaroth! No, may your almighty and compa.s.sionate G.o.ds bless you," whispered Kama, in dreadful weariness.

The dignitaries left the prison and returned to the upper hall. The nomarch, seeing that the high priest Mefres kept his eyes cast down and his lips fixed, asked him,--

"Art thou not rejoiced, holy man, at these wonderful discoveries made by our chief?"

"I have no reason to rejoice," answered Mefres, dryly. "The case, instead of being simplified, has grown difficult. Sarah a.s.serts that she killed the child, while the Phnician woman answers as if some one had taught her--"

"Then dost thou not believe, worthiness?" interrupted the chief.

"No, for I have never seen two men so much alike that one could be mistaken for the other. Still more, I have never heard that there exists in Pi-Bast a man who could counterfeit our viceroy,--may he live through eternity!"

"That man," said the chief, "was in Pi-Bast, at the temple of Astaroth. The Tyrian Prince Hiram knew him, and our viceroy has seen him with his own eyes. More than that, not long ago, he commanded me to seize him, and even offered a large reward."

"Ho! ho!" cried Mefres, "I see, worthy chief,--I see that the highest secrets of the state are concentrating about thee. But permit me not to believe in that Lykon till I see him."

And he left the hall in anger, and after him Sem, shrugging his shoulders. But when their steps had ceased to sound in the corridor, the nomarch, looking quickly at the chief, asked,--

"What dost thou think?"

"Indeed," said the chief, "the holy prophets are beginning to interfere in things which have never been under their jurisdiction."

"And we must endure this!" whispered the nomarch.

"For a time only," sighed the chief. "In so far as I know men's hearts, all the military, all the officials of his holiness, in fine, all the aristocracy, are indignant at this priestly tyranny.

Everything must have its limit."

"Thou hast uttered great words," said the nomarch, pressing the chief's hand, "and some internal voice tells me that I shall see thee as supreme chief of police at the side of his holiness."

A couple of days pa.s.sed. During this time the dissectors had secured from corruption the remains of the viceroy's son; but Sarah continued in prison, awaiting her trial, certain that she would be condemned.

Kama was sitting, also, confined in her cage; people feared her, for she was infected with leprosy. It is true that a miracle-working physician visited her, repeated prayers before her, gave her everything to drink, and gave her healing water. Still, fever did not leave the woman, and the bronze-colored spots on her cheeks and brows grew more definite. Therefore an order came from the nomarch to take her out to the eastern desert, where, separated from mankind, dwelt a colony of lepers.

On a certain evening the chief appeared at the temple of Ptah, saying that he wished to speak with the high priest. The chief had with him two agents, and a man covered from head to foot in a bag.

After a while an answer was sent to the chief that the high priests were awaiting him in the sacred chamber of the statue of their divinity.

The chief left the agents before the gate, took by the arm the man dressed in the bag, and, conducted by a priest, went to the sacred chamber. When he entered, he found Mefres and Sem arrayed as high priests, with silver plates on their bosoms.

He fell before them on the pavement, and said,--

"In accordance with your commands, I bring to you, holy fathers, the criminal Lykon. Do ye wish to see his face?"

When they a.s.sented, the chief rose, and pulled the bag from the man standing near him.

Both high priests cried out with astonishment. The Greek was really so like Rameses that it was impossible to resist the deception.

"Thou art Lykon, the singer from the temple of Astaroth?" asked the holy Sem of the bound Greek.

Lykon smiled contemptuously.

"And didst thou kill the child of the prince?" added Mefres.

The Greek grew blue from rage, and strove to tear off his bonds.

"Yes!" cried he, "I killed the whelp, for I could not find the wolf, his father,--may heaven's blazes burn him!"

"In what has the prince offended thee, criminal?" asked the indignant Sem.

"In what? He seized from me Kama, and plunged her into a disease for which there is no remedy. I was free, I might have fled with life and property, but I resolved to avenge myself, and now ye have me. It was his luck that your G.o.ds are mightier than my hatred. Now ye may kill me; the sooner ye do so, the better."

"This is a great criminal," said Sem.

Mefres was silent and gazed into the Greek's eyes, which were burning with rage. He admired his courage, and fell to thinking. All at once he said to the chief,--

"Worthy sir, thou mayst go, this man belongs to us."