Pharaoh's Broker

  CHAPTER XII

  The Doctor Disappears

  Hotep saw that he was ruined, and he went to fall down before Pharaohand beg for mercy. The monarch, not having the courage of his ownhard-heartedness, answered him,--

  "I desire not to deal harshly with thee, O Hotep; for thou haststruggled desperately against an unwilling soil and unpropitiousseasons. But thou knowest all my affairs are in the hands of Zaphnath,without whom I do nothing. Therefore go thou before him and do even ashe telleth thee."

  And Hotep, having made an invoice of all his money, and slaves, andmules, and cattle, took it before Zaphnath, saying,--

  "Behold, O most merciful ruler of Kem, I have threescore-and-ten of thegreat golden discs, and seven hundredweight of the coins of Kemwherewith to repay the Pharaoh for the seed which the seasons havestolen from me. But I have neither food for all the men, and mules, andcattle which are the Pharaoh's, nor yet for mine own; wherefore I begof thee to take back his slaves and animals, and release me from feedingthem; and I will forfeit unto the Pharaoh all my working slaves, whichare thirty score, and all my mules, which are a thousand and one, andall my cattle, which are an hundred score, and they shall be his forever."

  "Methinks thou borrowest with a large hand and repayest like a verymiser," answered Zaphnath. "All the money thou namest will not buy athousand cargoes of grain, for behold, is not wheat worth iron money,weight for weight? And to reimburse the Pharaoh for feeding all his menand animals through the famine, which may continue, it is a rarekindness in thee to desire to give him also all of thine to be fed andnourished! What wilt thou do with all thy land when thou hast no men orbeasts to till it? And how wilt thou maintain thy proud palace, withthree hundred women, when thou hast no revenues left?"

  "'Tis true, O Zaphnath; and if the Pharaoh covet them, take themall--the palace, the women, the rich clothing and rare jewels, and eventhe endless fields which have cursed me! For the days of Hotep's richesare ended. Let him be acquit, and go from thee in peace!"

  "Even with them all, thou knowest he is but poorly paid; yet it is I whohave prevailed upon him not to be harsh with thee. But if the faminecontinue, what thinkest thou of doing to gain a living?"

  "By my beard! Doth the Pharaoh wish to make a slave of me also?"

  "Nay, Hotep; not a common slave. But hast thou a mind to starve? I havebesought him to give thee an honourable and luxuriant service, befittingthy tastes and habits. He will make thee chamberlain of his palace."

  "Is there no other thing thou canst think of or invent, O most mercifulZaphnath? Lands, slaves, animals, money, women, jewels, palace, and evenmy life and body for the gracious Pharaoh's service! Is that all? If so,I beg thee declare the bargain made and all my undertakings fullyacquit."

  Hotep came to me the following day, with his beard shaven and thePharaoh's bird-wing on his brow. He wore the dress of the Pharaoh'schamberlain, and he told me how it had all happened. He also told methat the Pharaoh had now thrown wide open the doors of slavery, andoffered to feed all who surrendered themselves to his service for life.And Zaphnath never ceased to itch for all the lands, and cattle, andslaves of every one in Kem and her tributary countries, either inexchange for the bare needs of life, or as pledges for seed which heknew would only rot and ruin the borrower.

  I went about my affairs on the plateau that day, wondering how long Ishould continue there, or whether my threat had been effective insilencing the enmity of the rulers. When I returned that evening, I didnot find the doctor at the house. My servant said that a messenger fromthe chamberlain had summoned him on important business, soon after thenoon-day meal. I waited a little longer, and then I began to fear thatthe chamberlain had been used to decoy the doctor into some trap. If hewas staying away of his own account, why did he not send me some word?Messengers were plenty. At last I sent the servant to the palace toinquire and search for him. After a long stay he returned, saying thedoctor was nowhere to be found. No one had seen or heard of him therethat day.

  "And the chamberlain?" I demanded.

  "He was not to be found in his rooms, and no one had seen him sincenoon-day."

  "Didst thou make inquiry for the messenger who summoned the doctor?" Iasked.

  He had not thought of it; so I started to the palace myself. I had gonebut a few steps when it occurred to me to act with a little morecaution, and be prepared for some plot against myself. I turned back tothe house, and had the servant remove the heap of pillows where I slept.Underneath was a loosened stone of the floor, and below it we kept therifles, revolvers, and ammunition hidden. I carefully loaded all ofthem, and put all the remaining cartridges into our two old belts. Ithought of strapping one of these about me, but reflected that thiswould have a hostile and treasonable appearance, so I contented myselfwith concealing one revolver in my coat, and then I carefully covered upall the rest, and had the servant pile the pillows over the stone slabagain.

  Then I went out and walked to the palace. Leaping the wall, I questionedevery one I saw about the doctor, the chamberlain, and his messenger. Noone had seen anything of them. The messenger was absent from hislodging, as well as the chamberlain. Either they were all gone somewheresecretly together, or they had all suffered a common mysterious fate.Unable to do anything more, I returned home full of apprehension.

  I slept fitfully a few hours, and then I had a most realistic dream,which began among my old surroundings on Earth: the wheat pit, theclosing of a turbulent session, the drive through the parks till I camesuddenly in sight of the great spherical cactus design of the World inWashington Park. As I approached this, it seemed to leave its pedestaland move freely through space toward me. I seized one of its meridians,and, clinging tightly, was carried off over the park, over the lake,over seas of ice, through an ocean of sparkling light, faster andfarther every moment, until presently my little globe refused to hold melonger, and repelled me through a long, giddy, awful fall which filledme with terror. But I landed in the dark chamber of a Gnomon, waist-deepin loose wheat. It seemed gradually to grow deeper about me, rose to myshoulders, to my chin; and as I looked up I saw Slater pouring in wheatin a steady stream. He meant to smother and choke me with it. Ah, if Ionly had a thousand, aye, ten thousand mouths to eat it, he could neverdo it. I could keep even with him. But it gradually rose past my mouth,past my nose; it covered my head and was smothering me. What an awfulthing was too much food, after all! And then I wakened to find my headcovered with pillows until I was half-choked for breath.

  It was all so vivid I could not rid my mind of it. It seemed really tohave happened but a moment ago. My mind was palpitating afresh withthose Earthly scenes which had for years been fading out of it. Whatcould it all mean? Then I thought of the doctor. Perhaps they weresmothering him in one of the Gnomons. It seemed hardly probable, but theidea took a strange hold on me. The chambers were all full and sealed,but one; it had been opened, and wheat was daily being used out of it;none was at hand to be poured in. It was foolish to do so, but I couldnot rest until I had gone to the Gnomons to see. Of course I would findnothing there, but I should not be content till I had tried. At least,the night air and the gently falling feathers of darkness would restoremy calmness again.

  I had the precaution to take my revolver again, and after a very shortwalk I stood face to face with the great stone gate, barred and lockedto confine all others within the city. The fact that it was fastened onthe inside proved that the doctor's captors were not outside, or, atleast, did not expect to return till after daylight. With a brisk jump Icleared the wall easily, and walked rapidly to the plateau. There was nosign of life there. I mounted the only unsealed Gnomon and shouted downinto its cavernous depths. Of course there was no answer. I was now sowide awake it seemed to me quite silly to follow the promptings of adream, so I began to return in a leisurely walk.

  The night scene all about me, how different it was from those to which Ihad been accustomed on Earth! Out of a pink sky flakes of frozen dewwere gently falling, starching the arid, verdureless
soil with aglistening coat of evanescent white. Along the river bank, tall,slender, lightly-rooted trees reached far up into the breathless air,but there was never the movement of a bough or the rustle of a leaf,except from the flutter of birds. Jungles of spindling reeds alsotowered from waste marshes, in testimony to the easy struggle whichvegetable sap had been able to accomplish over a weak gravity.Everything was eloquent with the reminder that I was on a differentworld; but yet, when I looked up at the starry heavens, they were thesame. All the familiar constellations, changing their positions throughthe night with the same stately dignity, were there. The Pleiades,Orion, the Great Bear, with his nose constantly pointed at the PoleStar, made me feel that, at least in the heavens, I was at home! Onlythe colour of the night, the two little moons, and the planets lookeddifferent. Great Jupiter, king of the Martian night, whose brilliancy,if not his size, outrivalled the pale moons; Saturn, with his tiltedring, was visible to the naked eye; and yon pearly blue star, justrising to announce the morning, was Earth. Earth, which I had sounwillingly left, would I ever see her again as anything but aSun-attending star? Would I ever walk her familiar paths, and know mybrother creatures there again?

  With this thought came over me an unspeakable sense of loneliness, adepressing home-sickness, an aching yearning for that life, tempestuousas it had been. And how I despised the monotony and lowness of theMartian life; how I loathed the spreading misery of the famine, and thevile and dreadful pestilences which it was begetting! How could I everendure the four more slow years of it which I confidently expected toensue? What would I not give to leave it all and return!

  I had retraced my steps, leapt the wall again, and as I approached ourhouse was surprised to see, in the dim light of the coming morning, afigure standing guard at the doorway. He was a soldier, and on closerapproach I saw that he wore a beard, which showed him to be a captain.But what surprised me far more was that he held awkwardly in his armsone of our loaded rifles. Here was certain treachery. Since he stoodguard, he doubtless had soldiers within; and if they had found onefirearm they must have found the others also. But how had they succeededin finding them? A mere search never would have revealed their secretplace. Some one who knew of their location must have disclosed it. Couldit have been the doctor? Had they brought him back, and forced him toproduce the arms?

  In that case, now was my chance to liberate him. Fortunately they didnot know how to use the arms they had captured, and I had one revolverwith five good loads in it. With five telling shots I ought to be ableto create panic enough to enable the doctor to get possession of anothergun and help me rout them.

  All this flashed through my mind in a twinkling, and just as I drew outmy revolver the captain caught sight of me. He quickly shifted the riflein his hands and tugged at the hammer. He knew nothing of the necessityof taking aim, or of the use of the trigger. It would only be by themerest chance if he hit me. I had half drawn the trigger, and was justcorrecting my aim, when a long flash of flame from the rifle startledme, and unconsciously I fired wild. By lifting the hammer of the rifleand letting it snap back, the captain had exploded one cartridge atrandom. But my careful aiming had now taught him a trick; I saw himattempting the same arm's-length aim with the rifle. He did it awkwardlyenough, and pulled up the hammer with the other hand. It fell with asnap on the discharged cartridge. He could be relied on never to learnthe trick of ejecting them and reloading with the sixteen that lay readyup the length of the barrel. Therefore, instead of firing again, Irushed at him to capture the rifle. But he was too quick for me, forthrusting it inside the house with a quick command, the other was handedout to him. I was now at such extremely close range that his awkward aimcovered me; but I was quicker on the trigger than he was on the hammer,and with a cry the first Martian to suffer by gunpowder fell to theground. I sprang for his rifle just as some one from inside snatched itaway and pointed it at me again. Whoever had it, stood half behind thedoor and out of range. But I aimed at his fingers on the rifle barrel,and by a lucky chance I hit them, for the rifle dropped and the bodystaggered into full view. Another quick shot sent this fellow to theground, but as I reached for his rifle, it was snatched away again.

  Now I saw the absolute necessity of possessing myself of anotherfirearm, for I had but one load left in the revolver. I felt little fearof their awkward aim, therefore I made bold to rush inside on the chanceof seizing the first gun I could lay my hands on. At the same time Iwould be able to see the position of the doctor. He must be gagged, forhe had made no answer to my frequent cries to him in English. Onceinside, I saw that the room was full of soldiers--twenty at least. Theyhad a prisoner, true enough, but not the doctor. It was my servant, whomthey had forced to disclose the location of the arms.

  The soldiers quickly blocked the door and began closing in on me. Oneseized me by each arm, but with a quick shake I threw them off. Then athird fellow clutched my left arm so tightly I could not loosen him. HadI taken my eyes or my revolver off the crowd in front, they would havebeen upon me in a body; yet with my left arm I was able slowly to turnthe clinging soldier around in front of me and to bring him graduallywithin close range of my revolver. When he saw its gleaming muzzle, hebroke from me and fled to the others.

  Little did they know that I could not afford to sacrifice my remainingload to kill a single man. I must use it to capture the other revolver,for rifles were of no use at such short range. I man[oe]uvred cautiouslyto keep most of the soldiers in front of me, and stealthily backedtoward the door, where a soldier stood guard with the other weapon. Iwas reckoning on the cowardice of most of those in front of me, but Ihad failed to count on the men I had shot. As I now backed quicklytowards the door, I suddenly felt the arms of the fallen man about mylegs, and I stumbled backwards over him. In a twinkling the whole crowdwas upon me, my revolver was seized, my arms were pinned to the ground,and the dying soldier clutched my legs in his last frenzy. I expected nobetter than to be shot immediately by a rifle held against my head, buttheir orders were evidently different. My arms were securely bound withrough fibrous thongs, and then they marched me to the palace just as thesun was rising.