The prince appeared after a time, and was not even angry.

"What is this?" asked he of the priest. "Are we at war, that thou takest the trouble to visit me at an hour like the present?"

Mentezufis looked diligently at the prince, and sighed deeply.

"Has the prince not gone out all the evening?" inquired he.

"Not a step."

"Can I give a priest's word for this?"

The heir was astonished.

"It seems to me," answered he, haughtily, "that thy word is not needed, since I have given mine. What does this mean?"

They withdrew to a special chamber.

"Dost thou know, lord," asked the excited priest, "what has happened, perhaps an hour since? Some young men attacked the worthy Sargon and clubbed him."

"Who were they? Where did this happen?"

"At the villa of a Phnician priestess named Kama," answered Mentezufis, watching the face of the heir sharply.

"Daring fellows," said the prince, shrugging his shoulders, "to attack such a stalwart man! I suppose that more than one bone was broken in that struggle."

"But to attack an amba.s.sador! Consider, worthy lord,--an amba.s.sador protected by the majesty of a.s.syria and Egypt," said the priest.

"Ho! ho!" laughed the prince. "Then King a.s.sar sends amba.s.sadors even to Phnician dancers?"

Mentezufis was confused. All at once he tapped his forehead, and cried out also, with laughter,--

"See, prince, what a simple man I am, unfamiliar with ceremonies. I forgot that Sargon, strolling about in the night near the house of a suspected woman, is not an amba.s.sador, but an ordinary person."

After a while he added,--

"In every case something evil has happened. Sargon may conceive a dislike for us."

"Priest! O priest!" cried Rameses, shaking his head. "Thou hast forgotten this,--a thing of much more importance,--that Egypt has no need to fear or even care for the good or bad feeling toward her, not merely of Sargon, but King a.s.sar."

Mentezufis was so confused by the appositeness of the remark, that, instead of an answer, he bowed, muttering,--

"Prince, the G.o.ds have given thee the wisdom of high priests,--may their names be blessed! I wanted to issue an order to search for these insolents, but now I prefer to follow thy advice, for thou art a sage above sages. Tell me, therefore, lord, what I am to do with Sargon and those turbulent young people."

"First of all, wait till morning. As a priest, thou knowest best that divine sleep often brings good counsel."

"But if before morning I think out nothing?"

"I will visit Sargon in every case, and try to efface that little accident from his memory."

The priest took farewell of Rameses with marks of respect. On the way home, he pondered.

"I will let the heart be torn out of my breast," thought he, "if the prince had to do with that business. He neither beat Sargon, nor persuaded another to beat him; he did not even know of the incident.

Whoso judges an affair with such coolness and so pointedly cannot be a confederate. In that case I can begin an investigation, and if we do not mollify the s.h.a.ggy barbarian I will deliver the disturbers to justice. Beautiful treaty of friendship between two states, which begins by insulting the amba.s.sador!"

Next morning the lordly Sargon lay on his felt couch till midday. He lay thus rather frequently, however, that is, after each drinking-feast. Near him, on a low divan, sat the devout Istubar, with eyes fixed on the ceiling, while muttering a prayer.

"Istubar," sighed the dignitary, "art thou sure that no man of our court knows of my misfortune?"

"Who could know, if thou hast seen no one?"

"But the Egyptians!" groaned Sargon.

"Of the Egyptians Mentezufis and the prince know, yes, and those madmen who surely will remember thy fists for a long time."

"They may--they may; but it seems to me that the heir was among them, and that his nose is crushed, if not broken."

"The heir has a sound nose, and he was not there, I a.s.sure thee."

"In that case," sighed Sargon, "the prince should impale a good number of those rioters on stakes. I am an amba.s.sador; my person is sacred."

"But I tell thee," counselled Istubar, "to cast anger from thy heart, and not to complain even; for if those rioters are arraigned before a court, the whole world will learn that the amba.s.sador of the most worthy King a.s.sar goes about among Phnicians, and, what is worse, visits them alone during night hours. What wilt thou answer if thy mortal enemy, the chancellor Lik-Bagus, asks thee, 'Sargon, what Phnicians didst thou see, and of what was thy discourse with them at night, outside their temple?'"

Sargon sighed, if sounds like the growling of a lion are to be called sighs.

That moment one of the a.s.syrian officers rushed in. He knelt down, struck the pavement with his forehead, and said to Sargon,--

"Light of our lord's eyes! There is a crowd of magnates and dignitaries of Egypt before the entrance, and at the head of them the heir himself, with the evident intention of giving thee homage."

But before Sargon could utter a command, the prince was in the door of the chamber. He pushed the gigantic watch aside, and approached the felts quickly, while the confused amba.s.sador, with widely opened eyes, knew not what to do,--to flee naked to another chamber, or hide beneath the covers.

On the threshold stood a number of a.s.syrian officers, astonished at the invasion of the heir in opposition to every etiquette. But Istubar made a sign to them, and they vanished.

The prince was alone; he had left his suite in the courtyard.

"Be greeted, O amba.s.sador of a great king, and guest of the pharaoh. I have come to visit thee and inquire if thou hast need of anything, also to learn if time and desire will permit thee to ride in my company on a horse from my father's stables, surrounded by our suites in a manner becoming an amba.s.sador of the mighty a.s.sar,--may he live through eternity!"

Sargon listened as he lay there, without understanding a syllable. But when Istubar interpreted the words of the Egyptian viceroy, the amba.s.sador felt such delight that he beat his head against the couch, repeating the names Rameses and a.s.sar.

When he had calmed himself, and made excuses for the wretched state in which so worthy and famous a guest had found him, he added,--

"Do not take it ill, O lord, that an earthworm and a support of the throne, as I am, show delight in a manner so unusual. But I am doubly pleased at thy coming; first, because such a superterrestrial honor has come to me; second, because in my dull and worthless heart I thought that thou, O lord, wert the author of my misfortune. It seemed to me that among the sticks which fell on my shoulders I felt thine, which struck, indeed, vigorously."

The calm Istubar interpreted phrase after phrase to the prince. To this the heir, with genuine kingly dignity, answered,--

"Thou wert mistaken, O Sargon. If thou thyself hadst not confessed the error, I should command to count out fifty blows of a stick to thee, so that thou shouldst remember that persons like me do not attack one man with a crowd, or in the night-time."

Before the serene Istubar could finish the interpretation of this speech, Sargon had crawled up to the prince and embraced his legs earnestly.

"A great lord! a great king!" cried he. "Glory to Egypt, that has such a ruler."