The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 46

"I must. At last I shall learn of them why the pharaohs are growing poorer. Well, I shall sleep."

CHAPTER XXV

That same day, in Memphis, Dagon the Phnician, the viceroy's worthy banker, lay on a couch under the veranda of his mansion. Around him were fragrant potted bushes with needle-like leaves. Two black slaves cooled the rich man with fans, and he, while playing with a young ape, was listening to accounts read by his scribe to him.

At that moment a slave with a sword, helmet, dart, and s.h.i.+eld (the banker loved military dress), announced the worthy Rabsun, a Phnician merchant then settled in Memphis.

The guest entered, bowed profoundly, and dropped his eyelids in such fas.h.i.+on that Dagon commanded the scribe and the slaves to withdraw from the veranda. Then, as a man of foresight, he surveyed every corner, and said to the visitor,--

"We may talk."

Rabsun began without prelude,--

"Dost thou know, worthiness, that Prince Hiram has come from Tyre?"

Dagon sprang up from the couch.

"May the leprosy seize him and his princes.h.i.+p!" shouted the banker.

"He has just reminded me," continued the guest, calmly, "that there is a misunderstanding between him and thee."

"What misunderstanding?" cried Dagon. "That thief has robbed, destroyed, ruined me. When I sent my s.h.i.+ps after other Tyrian vessels to the west for silver, the helmsmen of that thief Hiram cast fire on them, tried to push them into a shallow. Well, my s.h.i.+ps came back empty, burnt, and shattered. May the fire of heaven burn him!"

concluded the raging banker.

"But if Hiram has for thee a profitable business?" inquired the guest, stolidly.

The storm raging in Dagon's breast ceased on a sudden.

"What business can he offer me?" asked the banker, with a voice now calmed completely.

"He will tell this himself, but first he must see thee."

"Well, let him come to me."

"He thinks that thou shouldst go to him. He, as is known to thee, is a member of the chief council of Tyre."

"He will perish before I go to him," cried the banker, enraged a second time.

The guest drew an armchair to the couch, and slapped Dagon's thigh.

"Dagon," said he, "have sense."

"Why have I not sense, and why dost thou, Rabsun, not say to me worthiness?"

"Dagon, be not foolis.h.!.+" answered the guest. "If thou wilt not go to him and he will not come to thee, how will ye do business?"

"Thou art foolish, Rabsun!" burst out Dagon again. "Before I go to Hiram let my hand wither; with that politeness I should lose half the profit."

The guest thought awhile.

"Now thou hast uttered a wise word," said he; "so I will tell thee something. Come to me and Hiram will come also; ye can talk of that business in my house."

Dagon bent his head, and half closing his eyes, inquired roguishly,--

"Ei, Rabsun!--Tell, outright how much did he give thee?"

"For what?"

"For this, that I should come to thy house and transact business with him, the mangy scoundrel."

"This business interests all Phnicia, so I need no profit on it,"

replied the indignant Rabsun.

"That is as true as that all thy debtors will pay thee."

"May they fail to pay me if I make anything in this! Only let not Phnicia lose!" cried Rabsun, in anger.

They took farewell of each other.

Toward evening the worthy Dagon seated himself in a litter carried by six slaves. He was preceded by two outrunners with staffs, and two with torches; behind the litter went four men armed from head to foot.

Not for security, but because for a certain time Dagon loved to surround himself with armed men, like a n.o.ble.

He came out of the litter with great importance, supported by two men; a third carried a parasol over him. He entered Rabsun's house.

"Where is that--Hiram?" inquired he, haughtily.

"He is not here."

"How is this? Must I wait for him, then?"

"He is not in this room, but he is in the third one talking with my wife," answered the host. "He is making a visit to my wife."

"I will not go there!" said the banker, sitting down on a couch.

"Thou wilt go to the next chamber, and he will enter it at the same time with thee."

After a short resistance Dagon yielded, and a moment later, at a sign from the master of the house, he entered the second chamber. At the same time from distant apartments appeared a man, not of tall stature, with gray beard, dressed in a gold-embroidered toga, and with a gold band on his head.

"This is," said the host, standing in the middle of the room, "his grace Prince Hiram, a member of the supreme council of Tyre.--This is the worthy Dagon, banker of the heir to the throne and viceroy of Lower Egypt."

The two dignitaries bowed, each with his hand on his breast, and both sat down on stools in the middle of the chamber. Hiram pushed aside his toga somewhat in order to show the great gold medal on his breast; in answer to this Dagon began to toy with a large gold chain which he had received from Prince Rameses.

"I, Hiram," said the old man, "congratulate thee, Lord Dagon. I wish thee much property, and success in thy business."