Queen Sheba's Ring

  That morning I was summoned to see the Prince Joshua and dress hiswounds, which, although not of a serious nature, were very painful. Themoment that I entered the man's presence I noticed a change in his face.Like the rest of us I had always set this fellow down as a mere poltroonand windbag, a blower of his own trumpet, as Oliver had called him. NowI got an insight into his real nature which showed me that althoughhe might be these things and worse, he was also a very determined anddangerous person, animated by ambitions which he meant to satisfy at allhazards.

  When I had done what I could for him and told him that in my opinion hehad no ill results to fear from his hurts, since the thick clothes hewas wearing at the time had probably cleaned the lion's paws of anypoison that might have been on them, he said,

  "Physician, I desire private words with you."

  I bowed, and he went on:

  "The Child of Kings, hereditary ruler of this land, somewhat against theadvice of her Council, has thought fit to employ you and your Gentilecompanions in order that by your skill and certain arts of which you aremasters you may damage its ancient enemies, the Fung, and in reward haspromised to pay you well should you succeed in your endeavours. Now, Iwish you to understand that though you think yourselves great men, andmay for aught I know be great in your own country, here you are butservants like any other mercenaries whom it may please us to hire."

  His tone was so offensive that, though it might have been wiser to keepsilent, I could not help interrupting him.

  "You use hard words, Prince," I said; "let me then explain what is thereal pay for which we work and undergo some risks. Mine is the hope ofrecovering a son who is the slave of your enemies. That of the CaptainOrme is the quest of adventure and war, since being a rich man in hisown country he needs no further wealth. That of him whom you call BlackWindows, but whose name is Higgs, is the pure love of learning. InEngland and throughout the West he is noted for his knowledge of deadpeoples, their languages, and customs, and it is to study these that hehas undertaken so terrible a journey. As for Quick, he is Orme's man,who has known him from childhood, an old soldier who has served with himin war and comes hither to be with the master whom he loves."

  "Ah!" said Joshua, "a servant, a person of no degree, who yet dares tothreaten me, the premier prince of the Abati, to my face."

  "In the presence of death all men are equal, Prince. You acted in afashion that might have brought his lord, who was daring a desperatedeed, to a hideous doom."

  "And what do I care about his lord's desperate deeds, Physician? I seethat you set store by such things, and think those who accomplish themgreat and wonderful. Well, we do not. There is no savage among thebarbarous Fung would not do all that your Orme does, and more, justbecause he is a savage. We who are civilized, we who are cultivated,we who are wise, know better. Our lives were given us to enjoy, not tothrow away or to lose at the sword's point, and, therefore, no doubt,you would call us cowards."

  "Yet, Prince, those who bear that title of coward which you hold one ofhonour, are apt to perish 'at the sword's point.' The Fung wait withoutyour gates, O Prince."

  "And therefore, O Gentile, we hire you to fight the Fung. Still, Ibear no grudge against your servant, Quick, who is himself but awhite-skinned Fung, for he acted according to his nature, and I forgivehim; only in the future let him beware! And now--for a greater matter.The Child of Kings is beautiful, she is young and high spirited; a newface from another land may perchance touch her fancy. But," he addedmeaningly, "let the owner of that face remember who she is and whathe is; let him remember that for any outside the circle of the ancientblood to lift his eyes to the daughter of Solomon is to earn death,death slow and cruel for himself and all who aid and abet him. Let himremember, lastly, that this high-born lady to whom he, an unknown andvagrant Gentile, dares to talk as equal to equal, has from childhoodbeen my affianced, who will shortly be my wife, although it may pleaseher to seem to flout me after the fashion of maidens, and that we Abatiare jealous of the honour of our women. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, Prince," I answered, for by now my temper was roused. "But I wouldhave you understand something also--that we are men of a high race whosearm stretches over half the world, and that we differ from the littletribe of the Abati, whose fame is not known to us, in this--that we arejealous of our own honour, and do not need to hire strangers to fightthe foes we fear to face. Next time I come to attend to your wounds,O Prince, I trust that they will be in front, and not behind. One wordmore, if you will be advised by me you will not threaten that Captainwhom you call a Gentile and a mercenary, lest you should learn that itis not always well to be a coward, of blood however ancient."

  Then, in a towering rage, I left him, feeling that I had made a thoroughfool of myself. But the truth was that I could not sit still and hearmen such as my companions, to say nothing of myself, spoken of thus bya bloated cur, who called himself a prince and boasted of his ownpoltroonery. He glowered at me as I went, and the men of his party whohung about the end of the great room and in his courts, glowered atme also. Clearly he was a very dangerous cur, and I almost wished thatinstead of threatening to slap his face down in the tunnel, Quick hadbroken his neck and made an end of him.

  So did the others when I told them the story, although I think it openedtheir eyes, and especially those of Oliver, to the grave and growingdangers of the situation. Afterward he informed me that he had spoken ofthe matter with Maqueda, and that she was much frightened for our sakes,and somewhat for her own. Joshua, she said, was a man capable of anycrime, who had at his back the great majority of the Abati; a jealous,mean and intolerant race who made up in cunning for what they lacked incourage.

  Yet, as I saw well, the peril of their situation did nothing to separatethis pair or to lessen their love. Indeed, rather did it seem to bindthem closer together, and to make them more completely one. In short,the tragedy took its appointed course, whilst we stood by and watched ithelplessly.

  On the afternoon of my angry interview with Joshua we were summoned toa meeting of the Council, whither we went, not without some trepidation,expecting trouble. Trouble there was, but of a different sort to thatwhich we feared. Scarcely had we entered the great room where the Childof Kings was seated in her chair of state surrounded by all the pomp andceremony of her mimic court, when the big doors at the end of it wereopened, and through them marched three gray-bearded men in white robeswhom we saw at once were heralds or ambassadors from the Fung. Thesemen bowed to the veiled Maqueda and, turning toward where we stood in alittle group apart, bowed to us also.

  But of Joshua, who was there supported by two servants, for he could notyet stand alone, and the other notables and priests of the Abati, theytook not the slightest heed.

  "Speak," said Maqueda.

  "Lady," answered the spokesman of the embassy, "we are sent by ourSultan, Barung, son of Barung, Ruler of the Fung nation. These are thewords of Barung: O Walda Nagasta! 'By the hands and the wit of the whitelords whom you have called to your aid, you have of late done much evilto the god Harmac and to me his servant. You have destroyed one of thegates of my city, and with it many of my people. You have rescued aprisoner out of my hands, robbing Harmac of his sacrifice and therebybringing his wrath upon us. You have slain sundry of the sacred beaststhat are the mouth of sacrifice, you have killed certain of the priestsand guards of Harmac in a hole of the rocks. Moreover my spies tell methat you plan further ills against the god and against me. Now I sendto tell you that for these and other offences I will make an end of thepeople of the Abati, whom hitherto I have spared. In a little while Imarry my daughter to the white man, that priest of Harmac who is calledSinger of Egypt, and who is said to be the son of the physician inyour service, but after I have celebrated this feast and my people havefinished the hoeing of their crops, I take up the sword in earnest, norwill I lay it down again until the Abati are no more.

  "'Learn that last night after the holy beasts had been slain andthe sacrifice snatched away, the god Harmac s
poke to his priests inprophecy. And this was his prophecy; that before the gathering in of theharvest his _head_ should sleep above the plain of Mur. We know not theinterpretation of the saying, but this I know, that before the gatheringof the harvest I, or those who rule after me, will lie down to sleepwithin my city of Mur.'

  "'Now, choose--surrender forthwith and, save for the dog, Joshua, whothe other day tried to entrap me against the custom of peoples, and tenothers whom I shall name, I will spare the lives of all of you, thoughJoshua and these ten I will hang, since they are not worthy to die bythe sword. Or resist, and by Harmac himself I swear that every man amongthe Abati shall die save the white lords whom I honour because they arebrave, and that servant of yours who stood with them last night in theden of lions, and that every woman shall be made a slave, save you, OWalda Nagasta, because of your great heart. Your answer, O Lady of theAbati!'"

  Now Maqueda looked around the faces of her Council, and saw fear writtenupon them all. Indeed, as we noted, many of them shook in their terror.

  "My answer will be short, ambassadors of Barung," she replied, "still, Iam but one woman, and it is fitting that those who represent the peopleshould speak for the people. My uncle, Joshua, you are the first of myCouncil, what have you to say? Are you willing to give up your life withten others whose names I do not know, that there may be peace between usand the Fung?"

  "What?" answered Joshua, with a splutter of rage, "do I live to hear aWalda Nagasta suggest that the first prince of the land, her uncle andaffianced husband, should be surrendered to our hereditary foes to behanged like a worn-out hound, and do you, O unknown ten, who doubtlessstand in this chamber, live to hear it also?"

  "My uncle, you do not. I asked if such was your wish, that is all."

  "Then I answer that it is not my wish, nor the wish of the ten, nor thewish of the Abati. Nay, we will fight the Fung and destroy them, andof their beast-headed idol Harmac we will make blocks to build oursynagogues and stones to pave our roads. Do you hear, savages of Fung?"and assisted by his two servants he hobbled towards them, grinning intheir faces.

  The envoys looked him up and down with their quiet eyes. "We hear and weare very glad to hear," their spokesman answered, "since we Fung loveto settle our quarrels with the sword and not by treaty. But to you,Joshua, we say: Make haste to die before we enter Mur, since the rope isnot the only means of death whereof we know."

  Very solemnly the three ambassadors saluted, first the Child of Kingsand next ourselves, then turned to go.

  "Kill them!" shouted Joshua, "they have threatened and insulted me, thePrince!"

  But no one lifted a hand against the men, who passed safely out of thepalace to the square, where an escort waited with their horses.