CHAPTER X
OF THE TROUBLE OF CLEOPATRA; OF HER OATH TO HARMACHIS; AND OF THETELLING BY HARMACHIS TO CLEOPATRA OF THE SECRET OF THE TREASURE THAT LAYBENEATH THE MASS OF "HER"
That same night Cleopatra summoned me to her private chamber. I went,and found her much troubled in mind; never before had I seen her sodeeply moved. She was alone, and, like some trapped lioness, walked toand fro across the marble floor, while thought chased thought across hermind, each, as clouds scudding over the sea, for a moment casting itsshadow in her deep eyes.
"So thou art come, Harmachis," she said, resting for a while, as shetook my hand. "Counsel me, for never did I need counsel more. Oh, whatdays have the Gods measured out to me--days restless as the ocean! Ihave known no peace from childhood up, and it seems none shall I know.Scarce by a very little have I escaped thy dagger's point, Harmachis,when this new trouble, that, like a storm, has gathered beneath thehorizon's rim, suddenly bursts over me. Didst mark that tigerish fop?Well should I love to trap him! How soft he spoke! Ay, he purred likea cat, and all the time he stretched his claws. Didst hear the letter,too? it has an ugly sound. I know this Antony. When I was but a child,budding into womanhood, I saw him; but my eyes were ever quick, and Itook his measure. Half Hercules and half a fool, with a dash of geniusveining his folly through. Easily led by those who enter at the gates ofhis voluptuous sense; but if crossed, an iron foe. True to his friends,if, indeed, he loves them; and ofttimes false to his own interest.Generous, hardy, and in adversity a man of virtue; in prosperity a sotand a slave to woman. That is Antony. How deal with such a man,whom fate and opportunity, despite himself, have set on the crest offortune's wave? One day it will overwhelm him; but till that day hesweeps across the world and laughs at those who drown."
"Antony is but a man," I answered, "and a man with many foes; and, beingbut a man, he can be overthrown."
"Ay, he can be overthrown; but he is one of three, Harmachis. Now thatCassius hath gone where all fools go, Rome has thrown out a hydra head.Crush one, and another hisses in thy face. There's Lepidus, and withhim, that young Octavianus, whose cold eyes may yet with a smile oftriumph look on the murdered forms of empty, worthless Lepidus, ofAntony, and of Cleopatra. If I go not to Cilicia, mark thou! Antony willknit up a peace with these Parthians, and, taking the tales they tellof me for truth--and, indeed, there is truth in them--will fall with allhis force on Egypt. And how then?"
"How then? Why, then we'll drum him back to Rome."
"Ah, thou sayest so, and, perchance, Harmachis, had I not won that gamewe played together some twelve days gone, thou, being Pharaoh, mightestwell have done this thing, for round thy throne old Egypt would havegathered. But Egypt loves not me nor my Greek blood; and I have but nowscattered that great plot of thine, in which half the land was meshed.Will these men, then, arise to succour me? Were Egypt true to me, Icould, indeed, hold my own against all the force that Rome may bring;but Egypt hates me, and had as lief be ruled by the Roman as the Greek.Still I might make defence had I the gold, for with money soldierscan be bought to feed the maw of mercenary battle. But I have none; mytreasuries are dry, and though there is wealth in the land, yet debtsperplex me. These wars have brought me ruin, and I know not how tofind a talent. Perchance, Harmachis, thou who art, by hereditary right,Priest of the Pyramids," and she drew near and looked me in the eyes,"perchance, if long descended rumour does not lie, thou canst tell mewhere I can touch the gold to save thy land from ruin, and thy Love fromthe grasp of Antony? Say, is it so?"
I thought a while, and then I answered:
"And if such a tale were true, and if I could show thee treasure storedby the mighty Pharaohs of the most far-off age against the needs ofKhem, how can I know that thou wouldst indeed make use of that wealth tothose good ends?"
"Is there, then, a treasure?" she asked curiously. "Nay, fret me not,Harmachis; for of a truth the very name of gold at this time of want islike the sight of water in the desert."
"I believe," I said, "that there is such a treasure, though I myselfhave never seen it. But I know this, that if it still lie in the placewhere it was set, it is because so heavy a curse will rest upon him whoshall lay hands on it wickedly and for selfish ends, that none of thosePharaohs to whom it has been shown have dared to touch it, however soretheir need."
"So," she said, "they were cowardly aforetime, or else their need wasnot great. Wilt thou show me this treasure, then, Harmachis?"
"Perhaps," I answered, "I will show it to thee if it still be there,when thou hast sworn that thou wilt use it to defend Egypt from thisRoman Antony and for the welfare of her people."
"I swear it!" she said earnestly. "Oh, I swear by every God in Khemthat if thou showest me this great treasure, I will defy Antony and sendDellius back to Cilicia with sharper words than those he brought. Yes,I'll do more, Harmachis: so soon as may be, I will take thee to husbandbefore all the world, and thou thyself shalt carry out thy plans andbeat off the Roman eagles."
Thus she spoke, gazing at me with truthful, earnest eyes. I believedher, and for the first time since my fall was for a moment happy,thinking that all was not lost to me, and that with Cleopatra, whom Iloved thus madly, I might yet win my place and power back.
"Swear it, Cleopatra!" I said.
"I swear, beloved! and thus I seal my oath!" and she kissed me on theforehead. And I, too, kissed her; and we talked of what we would do whenwe were wed, and how we should overcome the Roman.
And thus I was again beguiled; though I believe that, had it not beenfor the jealous anger of Charmion--which, as shall be seen, was everurging her forward to fresh deeds of shame--Cleopatra would have weddedme and broken with the Roman. And, indeed, in the issue, it had beenbetter for her and Egypt.
We sat far into the night, and I revealed to her somewhat of thatancient secret of the mighty treasure hid beneath the mass of _Her_.Thither, it was agreed, we should go on the morrow, and the secondnight from now attempt its search. So, early on the next day, a boatwas secretly made ready, and Cleopatra entered it, veiled as an Egyptianlady about to make a pilgrimage to the Temple of Horemkhu. And I alsoentered, cloaked as a pilgrim, and with us ten of her most trustedservants disguised as sailors. But Charmion went not with us. We sailedwith a fair wind from the Canopic mouth of the Nile; and that night,pushing on with the moon, we reached Sais at midnight, and here restedfor a while. At dawn we once more loosed our craft, and all that daysailed swiftly, till, at last, at the third hour from the sunset, wecame in sight of the lights of that fortress which is called Babylon.Here, on the opposite bank of the river, we moored our ship safely in abed of reeds.
Then, on foot and secretly, we set out for the pyramids, which were ata distance of two leagues, Cleopatra, I and one trusted eunuch, forwe left the other servants with the boat. Only I caught an ass forCleopatra to ride that was wandering in a tilled field, and threw acloak upon it. She sat on it and I led the ass by paths I knew, theeunuch following us on foot. And, within little more than an hour,having gained the great causeway, we saw the mighty pyramids towering upthrough the moonlit air and aweing us to silence. We passed on in uttersilence, through the haunted city of the dead, for all around us stoodthe solemn tombs, till at length we climbed the rocky hill, and stood inthe deep shadow of Khufu Khut, the splendid Throne of Khufu.
"Of a truth," whispered Cleopatra, as she gazed up the dazzlingmarble slope above her, everywhere blazoned over with a million mysticcharacters--"of a truth, there were Gods ruling in Khem in those days,and not men. This place is sad as Death--ay, and as mighty and far fromman. Is it here that we must enter?"
"Nay," I answered, "it is not here. Pass on."
I led the way through a thousand ancient tombs, till we stood in theshadow of Ur the Great, and gazed at his red heaven-piercing mass.
"Is it here that we must enter?" she whispered once again.
"Nay," I answered, "it is not here. Pass on."
We passed on through many more tombs, till we stood in the shadow of_Her_,[*
] and Cleopatra gazed astonished at its polished beauty, whichfor thousands of years, night by night, had mirrored back the moon, andat the black girdle of Ethiopian stone that circled its base about. Forthis is the most beautiful of all pyramids.
[*] The "Upper," now known as the Third Pyramid.--Editor.
"Is it that we must enter?" she said.
I answered, "It is here."
We passed round between the Temple of the Worship of his Divine Majesty,Menkau-ra, the Osirian, and in the base of the pyramid till we cameto the north side. Here in the centre is graved the name of PharaohMenkau-ra, who built the pyramid to be his tomb, and stored his treasurein it against the need of Khem.
"If the treasure still remains," I said to Cleopatra, "as it remained inthe days of my great-great-grandfather, who was Priest of thisPyramid before me, it is hid deep in the womb of the mass before thee,Cleopatra; nor can it be come by without toil, danger, and terror ofmind. Art thou prepared to enter--for thou thyself must enter and mustjudge?"
"Canst thou not go in with the eunuch, Harmachis, and bring the treasureforth?" she said, for a little her courage began to fail her.
"Nay, Cleopatra," I answered, "not even for thee and for the weal ofEgypt can I do this thing, for of all sins it would be the greatestsin. But it is lawful for me to do this. I, as hereditary holder of thesecret, may, upon demand, show to the ruling monarch of Khem the placewhere the treasure lies, and show also the warning that is written. Andif on seeing and reading, the Pharaoh deems that the need of Khem is sosore and strait that it is lawful for him to brave the curse of the Deadand draw forth the treasure, it is well, for on his head must rest theweight of this dread deed. Three monarchs--so say the records that Ihave read--have thus dared to enter in the time of need. They were theDivine Queen Hatshepsu, that wonder known to the Gods alone; her Divinebrother Tahutimes Men-Kheper-ra; and the Divine Rameses Mi-amen. But ofthese three Majesties, not one when they saw dared to touch; for, thoughsharp their need, it was not great enough to consecrate the act.So, fearing lest the curse should fall upon them, they went hencesorrowing."
She thought a little, till at last her spirit overcame her fear.
"At the least I will see with mine own eyes," she said.
"It is well," I answered. Then, stones having been piled up by me andthe eunuch who was with us on a certain spot at the base of the pyramid,to somewhat more than the height of a man, I climbed on them andsearched for the secret mark, no larger than a leaf. I found it withsome trouble, for the weather and the rubbing of the wind-stirred sandhad worn even the Ethiopian stone. Having found it, I pressed on it withall my strength in a certain fashion. Even after the lapse of many yearsthe stone swung round, showing a little opening, through which a manmight scarcely creep. As it swung, a mighty bat, white in colour asthough with unreckoned age, and such as I had never seen before forbigness, for his measure was the measure of a hawk, flew forth and for amoment hovered over Cleopatra, then sailed slowly up and up in circles,till at last he was lost in the bright light of the moon.
But Cleopatra uttered a cry of terror, and the eunuch, who was watching,fell down in fear, believing it to be the guardian Spirit of thepyramid. And I, too, feared, though I said nothing. For even now Ibelieve that it was the Spirit of Menkau-ra, the Osirian, who, takingthe form of a bat, flew forth from his holy House in warning.
I waited a while, till the foul air should clear from the passage. ThenI drew out the lamps, kindled them, and passed them, to the numberof three, into the entrance of the passage. This done, I went to theeunuch, and, taking him aside, I swore him by the living spirit of Himwho sleeps at Abouthis that he should not reveal those things which hewas about to see.
This he swore, trembling sorely, for he was very much afraid. Nor,indeed, did he reveal them.
This done, I clambered through the opening, taking with me a coil ofrope, which I wound around my middle, and beckoned to Cleopatra to come.Making fast the skirt of her robe, she came, and I drew her through theopening, so that at length she stood behind me in the passage whichis lined with slabs of granite. After her came the eunuch, and he alsostood in the passage. Then, having taken counsel of the plan of thepassage that I had brought with me, and which, in signs that none butthe initiated can read, was copied from those ancient writings that hadcome down to me through one-and-forty generations of my predecessors,the Priests of this Pyramid of _Her_, and of the worship of the Templeof the Divine Menkau-ra, the Osirian, I led the way through thatdarksome place towards the utter silence of the tomb. Guided by thefeeble light of our lamps, we passed down the steep incline, gasping inthe heat and the thick, stagnated air. Presently we had left the regionof the masonry and were slipping down a gallery hewn in the living rock.For twenty paces or more it ran steeply. Then its slope lessened andshortly we found ourselves in a chamber painted white, so low that I,being tall, had scarcely room to stand; but in length four paces, andin breadth three, and cased throughout with sculptured panels. HereCleopatra sank upon the floor and rested awhile, overcome by the heatand the utter darkness.
"Rise!" I said. "We must not linger here, or we faint."
So she rose, and passing hand in hand through that chamber, we foundourselves face to face with a mighty door of granite, let down from theroof in grooves. Once more I took counsel of the plan, pressed with myfoot upon a certain stone, and waited. Then, suddenly and softly, I knownot by what means, the mass heaved itself from its bed of living rock.We passed beneath, and found ourselves face to face with a second doorof granite. Again I pressed on a certain spot, and this door swung wideof itself, and we went through, to find ourselves face to face with athird door, yet more mighty than the two through which we had won ourway. Following the secret plan, I struck this door with my foot upon acertain spot, and it sank slowly as though at a word of magic till itshead was level with the floor of rock. We crossed and gained anotherpassage which, descending gently for a length of fourteen paces, ledus into a great chamber, paved with black marble, more than nine cubitshigh, by nine cubits broad, and thirty cubits long. In this marble floorwas sunk a great sarcophagus of granite, and on its lid were graved thename and titles of the Queen of Menkau-ra. In this chamber, too, the airwas purer, though I know not by what means it came thither.
"Is the treasure here?" gasped Cleopatra.
"Nay," I answered; "follow me," and I led the way to a gallery, whichwe entered through an opening in the floor of the great chamber. It hadbeen closed by a trap-door of stone, but the door was open. Creepingalong this shaft, or passage, for some ten paces, we came at length to awell, seven cubits in depth. Making fast one end of the rope that Ihad brought about my body and the other to a ring in the rock, Iwas lowered, holding the lamp in my hand, till I stood in the lastresting-place of the Divine Menkau-ra. Then the rope was drawn up, andCleopatra, being made fast to it, was let down by the eunuch, and Ireceived her in my arms. But I bade the eunuch, sorely against his will,since he feared to be left alone, await our return at the mouth of theshaft. For it was not lawful that he should enter whither we went.