CHAPTER VI
The intercepted letter was conclusive upon a number of points ofgreat interest to Ben-Hur. It had all the effect of a confessionthat the writer was a party to the putting-away of the familywith murderous intent; that he had sanctioned the plan adopted forthe purpose; that he had received a portion of the proceeds of theconfiscation, and was yet in enjoyment of his part; that he dreadedthe unexpected appearance of what he was pleased to call the chiefmalefactor, and accepted it as a menace; that he contemplated suchfurther action as would secure him in the future, and was ready todo whatever his accomplice in Caesarea might advise.
And, now that the letter had reached the hand of him really itssubject, it was notice of danger to come, as well as a confessionof guilt. So when Ilderim left the tent, Ben-Hur had much to thinkabout, requiring immediate action. His enemies were as adroit andpowerful as any in the East. If they were afraid of him, he had greaterreason to be afraid of them. He strove earnestly to reflect uponthe situation, but could not; his feelings constantly overwhelmedhim. There was a certain qualified pleasure in the assurance thathis mother and sister were alive; and it mattered little that thefoundation of the assurance was a mere inference. That there wasone person who could tell him where they were seemed to his hopeso long deferred as if discovery were now close at hand. These weremere causes of feeling; underlying them, it must be confessed hehad a superstitious fancy that God was about to make ordinationin his behalf, in which event faith whispered him to stand still.
Occasionally, referring to the words of Ilderim, he wondered whencethe Arab derived his information about him; not from Malluch certainly;nor from Simonides, whose interests, all adverse, would hold him dumb.Could Messala have been the informant? No, no: disclosure might bedangerous in that quarter. Conjecture was vain; at the same time,often as Ben-Hur was beaten back from the solution, he was consoledwith the thought that whoever the person with the knowledge mightbe, he was a friend, and, being such, would reveal himself in goodtime. A little more waiting--a little more patience. Possibly theerrand of the sheik was to see the worthy; possibly the lettermight precipitate a full disclosure.
And patient he would have been if only he could have believedTirzah and his mother were waiting for him under circumstancespermitting hope on their part strong as his; if, in other words,conscience had not stung him with accusations respecting them.
To escape such accusations, he wandered far through the Orchard,pausing now where the date-gatherers were busy, yet not too busyto offer him of their fruit and talk with him; then, under thegreat trees, to watch the nesting birds, or hear the bees swarmingabout the berries bursting with honeyed sweetness, and filling allthe green and golden spaces with the music of their beating wings.
By the lake, however, he lingered longest. He might not look uponthe water and its sparkling ripples, so like sensuous life,without thinking of the Egyptian and her marvellous beauty,and of floating with her here and there through the night,made brilliant by her songs and stories; he might not forget thecharm of her manner, the lightness of her laugh, the flattery ofher attention, the warmth of her little hand under his uponthe tiller of the boat. From her it was for his thought buta short way to Balthasar, and the strange things of which hehad been witness, unaccountable by any law of nature; and fromhim, again, to the King of the Jews, whom the good man, with suchpathos of patience, was holding in holy promise, the distance waseven nearer. And there his mind stayed, finding in the mysteriesof that personage a satisfaction answering well for the rest hewas seeking. Because, it may have been, nothing is so easy asdenial of an idea not agreeable to our wishes, he rejected thedefinition given by Balthasar of the kingdom the king was coming toestablish. A kingdom of souls, if not intolerable to his Sadduceanfaith, seemed to him but an abstraction drawn from the depths ofa devotion too fond and dreamy. A kingdom of Judea, on the otherhand, was more than comprehensible: such had been, and, if onlyfor that reason, might be again. And it suited his pride to thinkof a new kingdom broader of domain, richer in power, and of a moreunapproachable splendor than the old one; of a new king wiser andmightier than Solomon--a new king under whom, especially, he couldfind both service and revenge. In that mood he resumed to the dowar.
The mid-day meal disposed of, still further to occupy himself,Ben-Hur had the chariot rolled out into the sunlight for inspection.The word but poorly conveys the careful study the vehicle underwent.No point or part of it escaped him. With a pleasure which will bebetter understood hereafter, he saw the pattern was Greek, in hisjudgment preferable to the Roman in many respects; it was widerbetween the wheels, and lower and stronger, and the disadvantageof greater weight would be more than compensated by the greaterendurance of his Arabs. Speaking generally, the carriage-makersof Rome built for the games almost solely, sacrificing safety tobeauty, and durability to grace; while the chariots of Achillesand "the king of men," designed for war and all its extreme tests,still ruled the tastes of those who met and struggled for the crownsIsthmian and Olympic.
Next he brought the horses, and, hitching them to the chariot,drove to the field of exercise, where, hour after hour, he practisedthem in movement under the yoke. When he came away in the evening,it was with restored spirit, and a fixed purpose to defer actionin the matter of Messala until the race was won or lost. He couldnot forego the pleasure of meeting his adversary under the eyes ofthe East; that there might be other competitors seemed not to enterhis thought. His confidence in the result was absolute; no doubt ofhis own skill; and as to the four, they were his full partners inthe glorious game.
"Let him look to it, let him look to it! Ha, Antares--Aldebaran!Shall he not, O honest Rigel? and thou, Atair, king among coursers,shall he not beware of us? Ha, ha! good hearts!"
So in rests he passed from horse to horse, speaking, not as amaster, but the senior of as many brethren.
After nightfall, Ben-Hur sat by the door of the tent waiting forIlderim, not yet returned from the city. He was not impatient,or vexed, or doubtful. The sheik would be heard from, at least.Indeed, whether it was from satisfaction with the performance ofthe four, or the refreshment there is in cold water succeedingbodily exercise, or supper partaken with royal appetite, or thereaction which, as a kindly provision of nature, always followsdepression, the young man was in good-humor verging upon elation.He felt himself in the hands of Providence no longer his enemy. Atlast there was a sound of horse's feet coming rapidly, and Malluchrode up.
"Son of Arrius," he said, cheerily, after salutation, "I saluteyou for Sheik Ilderim, who requests you to mount and go to thecity. He is waiting for you."
Ben-Hur asked no questions, but went in where the horses werefeeding. Aldebaran came to him, as if offering his service.He played with him lovingly, but passed on, and chose another,not of the four--they were sacred to the race. Very shortly thetwo were on the road, going swiftly and in silence.
Some distance below the Seleucian Bridge, they crossed the riverby a ferry, and, riding far round on the right bank, and recrossingby another ferry, entered the city from the west. The detour waslong, but Ben-Hur accepted it as a precaution for which there wasgood reason.
Down to Simonides' landing they rode, and in front of the greatwarehouse, under the bridge, Malluch drew rein.
"We are come," he said. "Dismount."
Ben-Hur recognized the place.
"Where is the sheik?" he asked.
"Come with me. I will show you."
A watchman took the horses, and almost before he realized it Ben-Hurstood once more at the door of the house up on the greater one,listening to the response from within--"In God's name, enter."