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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5508.txt b/5508.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c15c25 --- /dev/null +++ b/5508.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1775 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Arachne, by Georg Ebers, Volume 1. +#69 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Arachne, Volume 1. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5508] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARACHNE, BY GEORG EBERS, V1 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +ARACHNE + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 1. + + +Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Deep silence brooded over the water and the green islands which rose like +oases from its glittering surface. The palms, silver poplars, and +sycamores on the largest one were already casting longer shadows as the +slanting rays of the sun touched their dark crowns, while its glowing +ball still poured a flood of golden radiance upon the bushes along the +shore, and the light, feathery tufts at the tops of the papyrus reeds in +the brackish water. + +More than one flock of large and small waterfowl flew past beneath the +silvery cloudlets flecking the lofty azure vault of heaven; here and +there a pelican or a pair of wild ducks plunged, with short calls which +ceased abruptly, into the lush green thicket, but their cackling and +quacking belonged to the voices of Nature, and, when heard, soon died +away in the heights of the tipper air, or in the darkness of the +underbrush that received the birds. Very few reached the little city of +Tennis, which now, during the period of inundation in the year 274 B.C., +was completely encircled by water. + +From the small island, separated from it by a channel scarcely three +arrow-shots wide, it seemed as though sleep or paralysis had fallen upon +the citizens of the busy little industrial town, for few people appeared +in the streets, and the scanty number of porters and sailors who were +working among the ships and boats in the little fleet performed their +tasks noiselessly, exhausted by the heat and labour of the day. + +Columns of light smoke rose from many of the buildings, but the sunbeams +prevented its ascent into the clear, still air, and forced it to spread +over the roofs as if it, too, needed rest. + +Silence also reigned in the little island diagonally opposite to the +harbour. The Tennites called it the Owl's Nest, and, though for no +especial reason, neither they nor the magistrates of King Ptolemy II ever +stepped upon its shores. Indeed, a short time before, the latter had +even been forbidden to concern themselves about the pursuits of its +inhabitants; since, though for centuries it had belonged to a family of +seafaring folk who were suspected of piracy, it had received, two +generations ago, from Alexander the Great himself, the right of asylum, +because its owner, in those days, had commanded a little fleet which +proved extremely useful to the conqueror of the world in the siege of +Gaza and during the expedition to Egypt. True, under the reign of +Ptolemy I, the owners of the Owl's Nest were on the point of being +deprived of this favour, because they were repeatedly accused of piracy +in distant seas; but it had not been done. Yet for the past two years an +investigation had threatened Satabus, the distinguished head of the +family, and during this period he, with his ships and his sons, had +avoided Tennis and the Egyptian coast. + +The house occupied by the islanders stood on the shore facing the little +city. It had once been a stately building, but now every part of it +seemed to be going to ruin except the central portion, which presented a +less dilapidated appearance than the sorely damaged, utterly neglected +side wings. + +The roof of the whole long structure had originally consisted of palm +branches, upon which mud and turf had been piled; but this, too, was now +in repair only on the central building. On the right and left wings the +rain which often falls in the northeastern part of the Nile Delta, near +the sea, had washed off the protecting earth, and the wind had borne it +away as dust. + +Once the house had been spacious enough to shelter a numerous family and +to store a great quantity of goods and provisions, but it was now long +since the ruinous chambers had been occupied. Smoke rose only from the +opening in the roof of the main building, but its slender column showed +from what a very scanty fire it ascended. + +The purpose which this was to serve was readily discovered, for in front +of the open door of the dwelling, that seemed far too large and on +account of the pillars at the entrance, which supported a triangular +pediment--also too stately for its sole occupant, sat an old woman, +plucking three ducks. + +In front of her a girl, paying no heed to her companion, stood leaning +against the trunk of the low, wide-branching sycamore tree near the +shore. A narrow boat, now concealed from view by the dense growth of +rushes, had brought her to the spot. + +The beautiful, motherless young creature, needing counsel, had come to +old Tabus to appeal to her art of prophecy and, if she wanted them, to +render her any little services; for the old dame on the island was +closely bound to Ledscha, the daughter of one of the principal ship- +owners in Tennis, and had once been even more closely united to the girl. + +Now, as the sun was about to set, the latter gave herself up to a wild +tumult of sweet memories, anxious fears, and yearning expectation. + +Not until a cool breath from the neighbouring sea fanned her brow did she +throw down the cord and implement with which she had been adding a few +meshes to a net, and rising, gaze sometimes across the water at a large +white house in the northern part of the city, sometimes at the little +harbour or the vessels on the horizon steering toward Tennis, among which +her keen eyes discovered a magnificent ship with bright-hued sails. + +Drawing a long breath, she enjoyed the coolness which precedes the +departure of the daystar. + +But the effect of this harbinger of night upon her surroundings was even +more powerful than upon herself, for the sun in the western horizon +scarcely began to sink slowly behind the papyrus thicket on the shore of +the straight Tanite arm of the Nile, dug by human hands, than one new and +strange phenomenon followed another. + +First a fan, composed of countless glowing rays which spread in dazzling +radiance over the west, rose from the vanishing orb and for several +minutes adorned the lofty dome of the deep-blue sky like the tail of a +gigantic peacock. Then the glitter of the shining plumes paled. The +light-giving body from which they emanated disappeared and, in its stead, +a crimson mantle, with gold-bordered, crocus-yellow edges, spread itself +over the space it had left until the gleaming tints merged into the +deeper hues of the violet. + +But the girl paid no heed to this splendid spectacle. Perhaps she +noticed how the fading light diffused a delicate rose-hued veil over the +light-blue sails, embroidered with silver vines, of the approaching state +galley, making its gilded prow glitter more brightly, and saw one fishing +boat after another move toward the harbour, but she gave the whole scene +only a few careless glances. + +Ledscha cared little for the poor fishermen of Tennis, and the glittering +state galley could scarcely bring or bear away anything of importance to +her. + +The epistrategus of the whole province was daily expected. But of what +consequence to the young girl were the changes which it was rumoured he +intended to introduce into the government of the country, concerning +which her father had expressed such bitter dissatisfaction before he set +out on his last trip to Pontus? + +A very different matter occupied her thoughts, and as, pressing her hand +upon her heart, she gazed at the little city, gleaming with crimson hues +in the reflection of the setting sun, a strange, restless stir pervaded +the former stillness of Nature. Pelicans and flamingoes, geese and +ducks, storks and herons, ibises and cranes, bitterns and lapwings, flew +in dark flocks of manifold forms from all directions. Countless +multitudes of waterfowl darkened the air as they alighted upon the +uninhabited islands, and with ear-splitting croaking and cackling, +whistling and chirping, clapping and twittering, dropped into the sedges +and bushes which concealed their nests, while in the city the doors of +the houses opened, and men, women, and children, after toiling at the +loom and in the workshop, came out to enjoy the coolness of the evening +in the open air. + +One fishing boat after another was already throwing a rope to the shore, +as the ship with the gay sails approached the little roadstead. + +How large and magnificent it was! + +None of the king's officials had ever used such a galley, not even the +epistrategus of the Delta, who last year had given the banking and the +oil trade to new lessees. Besides, the two transports that had followed +the magnificent vessel appeared to belong to it. + +Ledscha had watched the ships indifferently enough, but suddenly her +gaze--and with it the austere beauty of her face--assumed a different +expression. + +Her large black eyes dilated, and with passionate intentness she looked +from the gaily ornamented galley to the shore, which several men in Greek +costume were approaching. + +The first two had come from the large white house whose door, since +sunset, had been the principal object of her attention. + +It was Hermon, the taller one, for whom she was waiting with old Tabus. +He had promised to take her from the Owl's Nest, after nightfall, for a +lonely row upon the water. + +Now he was not coming alone, but with his fellow-artist, the sculptor +Myrtilus, the nomarch and the notary--she recognised both distinctly-- +Gorgias, the rich owner of the second largest weaving establishment in +Tennis, and several slaves. + +What did it mean? + +A sudden flush crimsoned her face, now slightly tanned, to the brow, and +her lips were compressed, giving her mouth an expression of repellent, +almost cruel harshness. + +But the tension of her charming features, whose lines, though sharp, were +delicately outlined, soon vanished. There was still plenty of time +before the darkness would permit Hermon to join her unnoticed. A +reception, from which he could not be absent, was evidently about to take +place. + +Yes, that was certainly the case; for now the magnificent galley had +approached as near the land as the shallow water permitted, and the +whistle of the rowers' flute-player, shouts of command, and the barking +of dogs could be heard. + +Then a handkerchief waved a greeting from the vessel to the men on shore, +but the hand that held it was a woman's. Ledscha would have recognised +it had the twilight been far deeper. + +The features of the new arrival could no longer be distinguished; but she +must be young. An elderly woman would not have sprung so nimbly into the +skiff that was to convey her to the land. + +The man who assisted her in doing so was the same sculptor, Hermon, for +whom she had watched with so much longing. + +Again the blood mounted into Ledscha's cheeks, and when she saw the +stranger lay her hand upon the shoulder of the Alexandrian who, only +yesterday, had assured the young girl of his love with ardent vows, and +allow him to lift her out of the boat, she buried her little white teeth +deeply in her lips. + +She had never seen Hermon in the society of a woman of his own class, +and, full of jealous displeasure; perceived with what zealous assiduity +he who bowed before no one in Tennis, paid court to the stranger no less +eagerly than did his friend Myrtilus. + +The whole scene passed like a shadow in the dusk before Ledscha's eyes, +half dimmed by uneasiness, perplexity, and suddenly inflamed jealousy. + +The Egyptian twilight is short, and when Hermon disappeared with the new- +comer it was no longer possible to recognise the man who entered the very +boat in which she was to have taken the nocturnal voyage with her lover, +and which was now rowed toward the Owl's Nest. + +Surely it would bring her a message from Hermon; and as the stranger, who +was now joined by a number of other women and two packs of barking dogs, +with their keepers, vanished in the darkness, the skiff already touched +the shore close at her side. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +In spite of the surrounding gloom, Ledscha recognised the man who left +the boat. + +The greeting he shouted told her that it was Hermon's slave, Pias, a +Biamite, whom she had met in the house of some neighbours who were his +relatives and had sharply rebuffed when he ventured to accost her more +familiarly than was seemly for one in bondage. + +True, in his childhood this man had lived near Tennis as the son of a +free papyrus raiser, but when still a lad was sold into slavery in +Alexandria with his father, who had been seized for taking part in an +insurrection against the last king. + +In the service of Areluas, his present master's uncle, who had given him +to his nephew, and as the slave of the impetuous yet anything but cruel +sculptor, Hermon, he had become accustomed to bondage, but was still far +more strongly attached to his Biamite race than to the Greek, to whom, +it is true, his master belonged, but who had robbed him and his family of +freedom. + +The man of forty did not lack mother wit, and as his hard fate rendered +him thoughtful and often led him to use figurative turns of speech, which +were by no means intended as jests, he had been called by his first +master "Bias" for the sage of Priene. + +In the house of Hermon, who associated with the best artists in +Alexandria, he had picked up all sorts of knowledge and gladly welcomed +instruction. His highest desire was to win esteem, and he often did so. + +Hermon prized the useful fellow highly. He had no secrets from him, and +was sure of his silence and good will. + +Bias had managed to lure many a young beauty in Alexandria, in whom the +sculptor had seen a desirable model, to his studio, even under the most +difficult circumstances; but he was vexed to find that his master had +cast his eye upon the daughter of one of the most distinguished families +among his own people. He knew, too, that the Biamites jealously guarded +the honour of their women, and had represented to Hermon what a dangerous +game he was playing when he began to offer vows of love to Ledscha. + +So it was an extremely welcome task to be permitted to inform her that +she was awaiting his master in vain. + +In reply to her inquiry whether it was the aristocrat who had just +arrived who kept Hermon from her, he admitted that she was right, but +added that the gods were above even kings, and his master was obliged to +yield to the Alexandrian's will. + +Ledscha laughed incredulously: "He--obey a woman!" + +"He certainly would not submit to a man," replied the slave. "Artists, +you must know, would rather oppose ten of the most powerful men than one +weak woman, if she is only beautiful. As for the daughter of Archias-- +thereby hangs a tale." + +"Archias?" interrupted the girl. "The rich Alexandrian who owns the +great weaving house?" + +"The very man." + +"So it is his daughter who is keeping Hermon? And you say he is obliged +to serve her?" + +"As men serve the Deity, to the utmost, or truth," replied the slave +importantly. "Archias, the father, it is true, imposed upon us the debt +which is most tardily paid, and which people, even in this country, call +'gratitude.' We are under obligations to the old man--there's no denying +it--and therefore also to his only child." + +"For what?" Ledscha indignantly exclaimed, and the dark eyebrows which +met above her delicate nose contracted suspiciously. "I must know!" + +"Must!" repeated the slave. "That word is a ploughshare which suits +only loose soil, and mine, now that my master is waiting for me, can not +be tilled even by the sharpest. Another time! But if, meanwhile, you +have any message for Hermon----" + +"Nothing," she replied defiantly; but Bias, in a tone of the most eager +assent, exclaimed: "One friendly word, girl. You are the fairest among +the daughters of the highest Biamite families, and probably the richest +also, and therefore a thousand times too good to yield what adorns you +to the Greek, that it may tickle the curiosity of the Alexandrian apes. +There are more than enough women in the capital to serve that purpose. +Trust the experience of a man not wholly devoid of wisdom, my girl. He +will throw you aside like an empty wine bottle when he has used you for +a model." + +"Used?" interrupted Ledscha disdainfully; but he repeated with firm +decision: "Yes, used! What could you learn of life, of art and artists, +here in the weaver's nest in the midst of the waves? I know them. A +sculptor needs beautiful women as a cobbler wants leather, and the charms +he seeks in you he does not conceal from his friend Myrtilus, at least. +They are your large almond-shaped eyes and your arms. They make him +fairly wild with delight by their curves when, in drawing water, you hold +the jug balanced on your head. Your slender arched foot, too, is a +welcome morsel to him." + +The darkness prevented Bias from seeing Ledscha's features, but it +was easy to perceive what was passing in her mind as, hoarse with +indignation, she gasped: "How can I know the object of your accusations? +but fie upon the servant who would alienate from his own kind master what +his soul desires!" + +Then Bias changed not only his tone of voice, but his language, and, +deeply offended, poured forth a torrent of wrath in the dialect of his +people: "If to guard you, and my master with you, from harm, my words had +the power to put between you and Hermon the distance which separates +yonder rising moon from Tennis, I would make them sound as loud as the +lion's roar. Yet perhaps you would not understand them, for you go +through life as though you were deaf and blind. Did you ever even ask +yourself whether the Greek is not differently constituted from the sons +of the Biamite sailors and fishermen, with whom you grew up, and to whom +he is an abomination? Yet he is no more like them than poppy juice is +like pure water. He and his companions turn life upside down. There is +no more distinction between right and wrong in Alexandria than we here in +the dark can make between blue and green. To me, the slave, who is +already growing old, Hermon is a kind master. I know without your aid +what I owe him, and serve him as loyally as any one; but where he +threatens to lead to ruin the innocent daughter of the race whose blood +flows in my veins as well as yours, and in doing so perhaps finally +destroy himself too, conscience commands me to raise my voice as loud as +the sentinel crane when danger threatens the flock. Beware, girl, I +repeat! Keep your beauty, which is now to be degraded to feast the eyes +of gaping Greeks, for the worthiest husband among our people. Though +Hermon has vowed, I know not what, your love-dallying will very soon be +over; we shall leave Tennis within the next few days. When he has gone +there will be one more deceived Biamite who will call down the curse of +the gods upon the head of a Greek. You are not the only one who will +execrate the destiny that brought us here. Others have been caught in +his net too." + +"Here?" asked Ledscha in a hollow tone; and the slave eagerly answered: +"Where else? And that you may know the truth--among those who visited +Hermon in his studio is your own young sister." + +"Our Taus? That child?" exclaimed the girl, stretching her hands +toward the slave in horror, as if to ward off some impending disaster. + +"That child, who, I think, has grown into a very charming girl--and, +before her, pretty Gula, the wife of Paseth, who, like your father, is +away on his ship." + +Here, in a tone of triumphant confidence, the answer rang from the +Biamite's lips: "There the slanderer stands revealed! Now you are +detected, now I perceive the meaning of your threat. Because, miserable +slave, you cherish the mad hope of beguiling me yourself, you do your +utmost to estrange me from your master. Gula, you say, visited Hermon in +his studio, and it may be true. But though I have been at home only a +short time, Tennis is too full of the praises of the heroic Greek who, +at the risk of his own life, rescued a child from Paseth's burning house, +for the tale not to reach my ears from ten or a dozen different quarters. +Gula is the mother of the little girl whose life was saved by Hermon's +bold deed, and perhaps the young mother only knocked at her benefactor's +door to thank him; but you, base defamer--" + +"I," Bias continued, maintaining his composure with difficulty, "I saw +Gula secretly glide into our rooms again and again to permit her child's +preserver to imitate in clay what he considered beautiful. To seek your +love, as you know, the slave forbade himself, although a man no more +loses tender desires with his freedom than the tree which is encircled by +a fence ceases to put forth buds and blossoms. Eros chooses the slave's +heart also as the target for his arrows; but his aim at yours was better +than at mine. Now I know how deeply he wounds, and so, as soon as yonder +ship in the harbour bears our visitor away again, I shall see you, +Schalit's daughter, Ledscha, standing before Hermon's modelling table and +behold him scan your beauty to determine what seems worth copying." + +The Biamite, panting for breath, had listened to the end. Then, raising +her little clinched hand menacingly, she muttered through her set teeth: +"Let him try even to touch my veil with his fingers! If I had not been +obliged to go away, this would not have happened to my Taus and luckless +Gula." + +"Scarcely," replied Bias calmly. "If the chicken runs into the water, +the hen can not save it. For the rest--I grew up as a boy in freedom +with the husband of your sister, who summoned you to her aid. His +father's brick-kiln was next to our papyrus plantation. Then we fared +like so many others--the great devour the small, the just cause is the +lost one, and the gods are like men. My father, who drew the sword +against oppression and violence, was robbed of liberty, and your brother- +in-law, in payment for his honest courage, met an early death. Is the +story which is told of you here true? I heard that soon after the poor +fellow's burial the slaves in the brick-kiln refused to obey his widow. +There were a dozen rebellious brick-moulders, and you--one can forgive +you much for it--you, the weak girl----" + +"I am not weak," interrupted Ledscha proudly. "I could have taught three +times twelve of the scoundrels who was master. Now they obey my sister, +and yet I wish I had stayed in Tennis. Our Taus," she continued in a +more gentle tone, "is still so young, and our mother died when she was a +little child; but I, fool, who should have warned her, left her alone, +and if she yielded to Hermon's temptations the fault is mine, wholly +mine." + +During this outburst the light of the fire, which old Tabus had fed with +fresh straw and dry rushes, fell upon the face of the agitated girl. It +revealed her thoughts plainly enough, and, pleased with the success of +his warning, Bias exclaimed: "And Ledscha, you, too, will not grant him +that from which you would so gladly have withheld your sister. So I will +go and tell my master that you refuse to give him another appointment." + +He had confidently expected an assent, and therefore started indignantly +at her exclamation: "I intend to do just the contrary." Yet she eagerly +added, as if in explanation: "He must give me an account of himself, no +matter where, and, since it can not be to-day, to-morrow at latest." + +The slave, disappointed and anxious, now tried to make her understand how +foolish and hard to accomplish her wish was, but she obstinately insisted +upon having her own way. + +Bias angrily turned his back upon her and, in the early light of the +moon, walked toward the shore, but she hastened after him, seized his arm +and, with imperious firmness, commanded: "You will stay! I must first +know whether Hermon really means to leave Tennis so soon." + +"That was his intention early this morning," replied the other, releasing +himself from her grasp. "What are we to do here longer, now that his +work is as good as finished?" + +"But when is he going?" she urged with increased eagerness. + +"Day after to-morrow," was the reply, "in five, or perhaps even in six +days, just as it suits him. Usually we do not even know to-day what is +to be done to-morrow. So long as the Alexandrian remains, he will +scarcely leave her, or Myrtilus either. Probably she will take both +hunting with her, for, though a kind, fair-minded woman, she loves the +chase, and as both have finished their work, they probably will not be +reluctant to go with Daphne." + +He stepped into the boat as he spoke, but Ledscha again detained him, +asking impatiently: "And 'the work,' as you call it? It was covered +with a cloth when I visited the studio, but Hermon himself termed it the +statue of a goddess. Yet what it represents--Does it look like my sister +Taus--enough like her, I mean, to be recognised?" + +A half-compassionate, half-mocking smile flitted over the Biamite's +copper-coloured visage, and in a tone of patronizing instruction assumed +by the better informed, he began: "You are thinking of the face? Why no, +child! What that requires can be found in the countenance of no Biamite, +hardly even in yours, the fairest of all." + +"And the goddess's figure?" asked Ledscha eagerly. + +"For that he first used as a model the fair-haired Heliodora, whom he +summoned from Alexandria, and as the wild cat could endure the loneliness +only a fortnight, the sisters Nico and Pagis came together. But Tennis +was too quiet for them too. The rabble can only be contented among those +of their own sort in the capital. But the great preliminary work was +already finished before we left Alexandria." + +"And Gula--my sister?" + +"They were not used for the Demeter," said the slave, smiling. "Just +think, that slender scarcely grown creature, Taus, and the matronly +patroness of marriage. And Gula? True, her little round face is fresh +and not ill-looking--but the model of a goddess requires something more. +That can only be obtained in Alexandria. What do not the women there do +for the care of the body! They learn it in the Aphrodision, as the boys +study reading and writing. But you! What do you here know even about +colouring the eyelids and the lips, curling the hair, and treating the +nails on the hands and feet? And the clothes! You let them hang just as +you put them on, and my master's work is full of folds and little lines +in the robe and the peplos--But I have staid too long already. Do you +really insist upon meeting Hermon again? + +"I will and must see him," she eagerly declared. + +"Well, then," he answered harshly. "But if you cast my warning to the +winds, pity will also fly away with it." + +"I do not need it," the girl retorted in a contemptuous tone. + +"Then let Fate take its course," said the slave, shrugging his shoulders +regretfully. "My master shall learn what you wish. I shall remain at +home until the market is empty. There are plenty of servants at your +farm. Your messenger shall bring you Hermon's answer." + +"I will come myself and wait for it under the acacia," she cried hastily, +and went toward the house, but this time it was Bias who called her back. + +Ledscha reluctantly fulfilled his wish, but she soon regretted it, for +though what he had to say was doubtless kindly meant, it contained a +fresh and severe offence: the slave represented to her the possibilitv +that, so long as the daughter of Archias remained his guest, Hermon might +rebuff her like a troublesome beggar. + +Then, as if sure of her cause, she indignantly cut short his words: "You +measure him according to your own standard, and do not know what depends +upon it for us. Remind him of the full moon on the coming night and, +though ten Alexandrians detained him, he would escape from them to hear +what I bring him." + +With these words Ledscha again turned her back upon him, but Bias, with a +low imprecation, pushed the boat from the shore and rowed toward the +city. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +When Ledscha heard the strokes of the oars she stopped again and, with +glowing cheeks, gazed after the boat and the glimmering silver furrow +which it left upon the calm surface of the moonlit water. + +Her heart was heavy. The doubts of her lover's sincerity which the slave +had awakened tortured her proud soul. + +Was Hermon really only trifling mischievously with her affection? + +Surely it was impossible. + +She would rather endure everything, everything, than this torturing +uncertainty. + +Yet she was here on the Owl's Nest to seek the aid of old Tabus's magic +arts. If any one could give her satisfaction, it was she and the demons +who obeyed her will, and the old woman was glad to oblige Ledscha; she +was bound to her by closer ties than most people in Tennis knew. + +Ledscha had no cause to be ashamed of her frequent visits to the Owl's +Nest, for old Tabus had no equal as a leech and a prophetess, and the +corsair family, of which she was the female head, stood in high repute +among the Biamites. People bore them no ill-will because they practised +piracy; many of their race pursued the same calling, and the sailors made +common cause with them. + +Ledscha's father, too, was on good terms with the pirates, and when Abus, +a handsome fellow who commanded his father's second ship and had won a +certain degree of renown by many a bold deed, sought the hand of his +oldest daughter, he did not refuse him, and only imposed the condition +that when he had gained riches enough and made Ledscha his wife, he would +cease his piratical pursuits and, in partnership with him, take goods and +slaves from Pontus to the Syrian and Egyptian harbours, and grain and +textiles from the Nile to the coasts of the Black Sea. + +Young Abus had yielded to this demand, since his grandmother on the Owl's +Nest thought it wise to delay for a time the girl's marriage to him, the +best beloved of her grandsons; she was then scarcely beyond childhood. + +Yet Ledscha had felt a strong affection for the young pirate, in whom she +saw the embodiment of heroic manhood. She accompanied him in imagination +through all his perilous expeditions; but she had been permitted to enjoy +his society only after long intervals for a few days. + +Once he remained absent longer than usual, and this very voyage was to +have been his last on a pirate craft--the peaceful seafaring life was to +begin, after his landing, with the marriage. + +Ledscha had expected her lover's return with eager longing, but week +after week elapsed, yet nothing was seen or heard of the ships owned by +the Owl's Nest family; then a rumour spread that this time the corsairs +were defeated in a battle with the Syrian war-galleys. + +The first person who received sure tidings was old Tabus. Her grandson +Hanno, who escaped with his life, at the bidding of his father Satabus, +who revered his mother, had made his way to her amid great perils to +convey the sorrowful news. Two of the best ships in the family had been +sunk, and on one the brave Abus, Ledscha's betrothed husband, who +commanded it, had lost his life; on the other the aged dame's oldest son +and three of her grandchildren. + +Tabus fell as if struck by lightning when she heard the tidings, and +since that time her tongue had lost its power of fluent speech, her ear +its sharpness; but Ledscha did not leave her side, and saved her life by +tireless, faithful nursing. + +Neither Satabus, the old woman's second son, who now commanded the little +pirate fleet, nor his sons, Hanno and Labaja, had been seen in the +neighbourhood of Tennis since the disaster, but after Tabus had recovered +sufficiently to provide for herself, Ledscha returned to Tennis to manage +her father's great household and supply the mother's place to her younger +sister, Taus. + +She had not recovered the careless cheerfulness of earlier years, but, +graver than the companions of her own age, she absented herself from the +gaieties of the Biamite maidens. Meanwhile her beauty had increased +wonderfully, and, attracting attention far and wide, drew many suitors +from neighbouring towns to Tennis. Only a few, however, had made offers +of marriage to her father; the beautiful girl's cold, repellent manner +disheartened them. She herself desired nothing better; yet it secretly +incensed her and pierced her soul with pain to see herself at twenty +unwedded, while far less attractive companions of her own age had long +been wives and mothers. + +The arduous task which she had performed a short time before for her +widowed sister had increased the seriousness of her disposition to sullen +moroseness. + +After her return home she often rowed to the Owl's Nest, for Ledscha felt +bound to old Tabus, and, so far as lay in her power, under obligation to +atone for the injury which the horror of her lover's sudden death had +inflicted upon his grandmother. + +Now she had at last been subjugated by a new passion--love for the Greek +sculptor Hermon, who did his best to win the heart of the Biamite girl, +whose austere, extremely singular beauty attracted his artist eyes. + +To-day Ledscha had come to the sorceress to learn from her what awaited +her and her love. She had landed on the island, sure of favourable +predictions, but now her hopes lay as if crushed by hailstones. + +If Bias, who was superior to an ordinary slave, was right, she was to be +degraded to a toy and useful tool by the man who had already proved his +pernicious power over other women of her race, even her own young sister, +whom she had hitherto guarded with faithful care. It had by no means +escaped her notice that the girl was concealing something from her, +though she did not perceive the true cause of the change. + +The bright moonbeams, which now wove a silvery web over every surrounding +object, seemed like a mockery of her darkened soul. + +If the demons of the heights and depths had been subject to her, as to +the aged enchantress she would have commanded them to cover the heavens +with black clouds. Now they must show her what she had to hope or to +fear. + +She shook her head slightly, as if she no longer believed in a favourable +turn of affairs, pushed the little curls which had escaped from the +wealth of her black hair back from her forehead with her slender hand, +and walked firmly to the house. + +The old dame was crouching beside the hearth in the middle room, turning +the metal spit, on which she had put the ducks, over the freshly kindled +fire. + +The smoke hurt her eyes, which were slightly inflamed, yet they seemed to +serve their purpose better than her half-dulled ear, for, after a swift +glance at Ledscha, she stammered in her faltering speech: "What has +happened? Nothing good, certainly. It is written on your face." + +The girl nodded assent, pointed with a significant gesture to her eyes +and the open air, and went down to the shore again to convince herself +that no other vessel was approaching. + +What she had to confide to Tabus was intended for her alone, and +experience taught how far spoken words could be heard at night over the +water. + +When she had returned to the hut, she bent down to the old woman's ear +and, holding her curved hand to her lips, cried, "He is not coming!" + +Tabus shrugged her shoulders, and the smile of satisfaction which flitted +over her brown, wrinkled face showed that the news was welcome. + +For her murdered grandson's sake the girl's confession that she had given +her heart to a Greek affected her painfully; but Tabus also had something +else on her mind for her beautiful darling. + +Now she only intimated by a silent nod that she understood Ledscha, and +her head remained constantly in motion as the latter continued: "True, I +shall see him again to-morrow, but when we part, it will hardly be in +love. At any rate--do you hear, grandmother?--to-morrow must decide +everything. Therefore--do you understand me?--you must question the +cords now, to-night, for to-morrow evening what they advised might be +too late." + +"Now?" repeated Tabus in surprise, letting her gaze rest inquiringly upon +the girl. Then she took the spit from the fire, exclaiming angrily: +"Directly, do you mean? As if that could be! As if the stars obeyed us +mortals like maids or men servants! The moon must be at the full to +learn the truth from the cords. Wait, child! What is life but waiting? +Only have patience, girl! True, few know how to practise this art at +your age, and it is alien to many all their lives. But the stars! From +them, the least and the greatest, man can learn to go his way patiently, +year by year. Always the same course and the same pace. No deviation +even one hair's breadth, no swifter or slower movement for the unresting +wanderers. No sudden wrath, no ardent desire, no weariness or aversion +urges or delays them. How I love and honour them! They willingly submit +to the great law until the end of all things. What they appoint for this +hour is for it alone, not for the next one. Everything in the vast +universe is connected with them. Whoever should delay their course a +moment would make the earth reel. Night would become day, the rivers +would return to their sources. People would walk on their heads instead +of their feet, joy would be transformed to sorrow and power to servitude. +Therefore, child, the full moon has a different effect from the waxing or +waning one during the other twenty-nine nights of the month. To ask of +one what belongs to another is to expect an answer from the foreigner who +does not understand your language. How young you are, child, and how +foolish! To question the cords for you in the moonlight now is to expect +to gather grapes from thorns. Take my word for that!" + +Here she interrupted the words uttered with so much difficulty, and with +her blackish-blue cotton dress wiped her perspiring face, strangely +flushed by the exertion and the firelight. + +Ledscha had listened with increasing disappointment. + +The wise old dame was doubtless right, yet before she ventured to the +sculptor's workshop the next day she must know at every cost how matters +stood, what she had to fear or to hope from him; so after a brief silence +she ventured to ask the question, "But are there only the stars and the +cords which predict what fate holds in store for one who is so nearly +allied to you?" + +"No, child, no," was the reply. "But nothing can be clone about looking +into the future now. It requires rigid fasting from early dawn, and I +ate the dates you brought me. I inhaled the odor of the roasting ducks, +too, and then--it must be done at midnight; and at midnight your people +will be anxious if you are not at home by that time, or perhaps send a +slave to seek you here at my house, and that--that must not be done--I +must prevent it." + +"So you are expecting some one," Ledscha eagerly replied. "And I know +who it is. Your son Satabus, or one of your grandsons. Else why are the +ducks cooked? And for what is the wine jar which I just took from its +hiding place?" + +A vehement gesture of denial from Tabus contradicted the girl's +conjecture; but directly after she scanned her with a keen, searching +glance, and said: "No, no. We have nothing to fear from you, surely. +Poor Abus! Through him you will always belong to us. In spite of the +Greek, ours you are and ours you will remain. The stars confirm it, and +you have always been faithful to the old woman. You are shrewd and +steadfast. You would have been the right mate for him who was also wise +and firm. Poor, dear, brave boy! But why pity him? Because the salt +waves now flow over him? Fools that we are! There is nothing better +than death, for it is peace. And almost all of them have found it. Of +nine sons and twenty grandsons, only three are left. The others are all +calm after so much conflict and danger. How long ago it is since seven +perished at once! The last three their turn will come too. How I envy +them that best of blessings, only may they not also go before me!" + +Here she lowered her voice, and in a scarcely audible whisper murmured: +"You shall know it. My son Satabus, with his brave boys Hanno and +Labaja, are coming later in the evening. About midnight--if ye protect +them, ye powers above--they will be with me. And you, child, I know your +soul to its inmost depths. Before you would betray the last of Abus's +kindred--" + +"My hand and tongue should wither!" Ledscha passionately interrupted, and +then, with zealous feminine solicitude, she asked whether the three ducks +would suffice to satisfy the hunger of these strong men. + +The old woman smiled and pointed to a pile of fresh leaves heaped one +above another, beneath which lay several fine shad. They were not to be +cooked until the expected visitors arrived, and she had plenty of bread +besides. + +In the presence of these proofs of maternal solicitude the morose, +wrinkled countenance of the old sorceress wore a kind, almost tender +expression, and the light of joyous anticipation beamed upon her young +guest from her redrimmed eyes. + +"I am to see them once more!" cried Tabus in an agitated tone. "The +last--and all three, all! If they-- But no; they will not set to work +so near Pelusium. No, no! They will not, lest they should spoil the +meeting with the old woman. Oh, they are kind; no one knows how kind my +rough Satabus can be. He would be your father now, girl, if we could +have kept our Abus--he was the best of all--longer. It is fortunate that +you are here, for they must see you, and it would have been hard for me +to fetch the other things: the salt, the Indian pepper, and the jug of +Pelusinian zythus, which Satabus is always so fond of drinking." + +Then Ledscha went into the ruinous left wing of the house, where she took +from a covered hole in the floor what the old woman had kept for the last +of her race, and she performed her task gladly and with rare skill. + +Next she prepared the fish and the pan, and while her hands were moving +busily she earnestly entreated the old woman to gratify her wish and look +into the future for her. + +Tabus, however, persisted in her refusal, until Ledscha again called her +"grandmother," and entreated her, by the heads of the three beloved ones +whom she expected, to fulfil her desire. + +Then the old dame rose, and while the girl, panting for breath, took the +roasted ducks from the spit, the former, with her own trembling hands, +drew from the little chest which she kept concealed behind a heap of dry +reeds, branches, and straw, a shining copper dish, tossed the gold coins +which had been in it back into the box, and moistened the bottom with the +blackish-red juice of the grape from the wine jar. + +After carefully making these preparations she called Ledscha and repeated +that the cords possessed the power of prophecy only on nights when the +moon was full, and that she would use another means of looking into the +future. + +Then she commanded the girl to let her hands rest now and to think of +nothing except the questions whose answer she had at heart. Lastly, she +muttered into the vessel a series of incantations, which Ledscha repeated +after her, and gazed as if spellbound at the dark liquid which covered +the bottom. + +The girl, panting for breath, watched every movement of the sorceress, +but some time elapsed ere the latter suddenly exclaimed, "There he is!" +and then, without removing her eyes from the bottom of the vessel, she +went on, with faltering accents, as though she was describing a scene +close before her eyes. "Two young men-both Greeks, if the dress does not +deceive--one is at your right hand, the other at your left. The former +is fair-haired; the glance of his eyes is deep and constant. It is he, I +think--But no! His image is fading, and you are turning your back upon +him. You do it intentionally. No, no, you two are not destined for each +other. You think of the one with the waving black hair and beard--of him +alone. He is growing more and more distinct--a handsome man, and how his +brow shines! Yet his glance--it sees more than that of many others, but, +like the rest of his nature, it lacks steadfastness." + +Here she paused, raised her shaking head, looked at Ledscha's flushed +face, and in a grave, warning tone, said: "Many signs of happiness, but +also many dark shadows and black spots. If he is the one, child, you +must be on your guard." + +"He is," murmured the girl softly, as if speaking to herself. + +But the deaf old crone had read the words from her lips, and while gazing +intently at the wine, went on impatiently: "If the picture would only +grow more distinct! As it was, so it has remained. And now! The image +of the fair man with the deep-blue eyes melts away entirely, and a gray +cloud flutters between you and the other one with the black beard. If it +would only scatter! But we shall never make any progress in this way. +Now pay attention, girl." + +The words had an imperious tone, and with outstretched head and throbbing +heart Ledscha awaited the old woman's further commands. + +They came at once and ordered her to confess, as freely and openly as +though she was talking to herself, where she had met the man whom she +loved, how he had succeeded in snaring her heart, and how he repaid her +for the passion which he had awakened. + +These commands were so confused and mingled in utterance that any one +less familiar with the speaker would scarcely have comprehended what they +required of her, but Ledscha understood and was ready to obey. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +This reserved, thoroughly self-reliant creature would never have betrayed +to any human being what moved her soul and filled it some times with +inspiring hope, sometimes with a consuming desire for vengeance; but +Ledscha did not shrink from confiding it to the demons who were to help +her to regain her composure. + +So, obeying a swift impulse, she threw herself on her knees by the old +woman's side. Then, supporting her head with her hands, she gazed at the +still glimmering fire, and, as if one memory after another received new +life from it, she began the difficult confession: + +"I returned from my sister's brick-kiln a fortnight ago," she commenced, +while the sorceress leaned her deaf ear nearer to her lips. + +"During my absence something--I know not what it was--had saddened the +cheerful spirits of my young sister Taus. At the recent festival of +Astarte she regained them, and obtained some beautiful bright flowers to +make wreaths for herself and me. So we joined the procession of the +Tennis maidens and, as the fairest, they placed us directly behind the +daughters of Hiram. + +"When we were about to go home after the sacrifice, two young Greeks +approached us and greeted Hiram's daughters and my sister also. + +"One was a quiet young man, with narrow shoulders and light, curling +hair; the other towered above him in stature. His powerful figure was +magnificently formed, and he carried his head with its splendid black +beard proudly. + +"Since the gods snatched Abus from me, though so many men had wooed me, +I had cared for no one; but the fair-haired Greek with the sparkling +light in his blue eyes and the faint flush on his cheeks pleased me, and +his name, 'Myrtilus,' fell upon my ear like music. I was glad when he +joined me and asked, as simply as though he were merely inquiring the +way, why he had never seen me, the loveliest among the beauties in the +temple, in Tennis. + +"I scarcely noticed the other. Besides, he seemed to have eyes only for +Taus and the daughters of Hiram. He played all sorts of pranks with +them, and they laughed so heartily that, fearing the strangers, of whom +there was no lack, might class them with the Hieroduli who followed the +sailors and young men in the temple grottoes, I motioned to Taus to +restrain herself. + +"Hermon--this was the name of the tall, bearded man--noticed it and +turned toward me. In doing so his eyes met mine, and it seemed as though +sweet wine flowed through my veins, for I perceived that my appearance +paralyzed his reckless tongue. Yet he did not accost me; but Myrtilus, +the fair one, entreated me not to lessen for the beautiful children the +pleasure to which we are all born. + +"I thought this remark foolish--how much sorrow and how little pleasure +I had experienced from childhood!--so I only shrugged my shoulders +disdainfully. + +"Then the black-bearded man asked if, young and beautiful as I was, +I had forgotten to believe in mirth and joy. My reply was intended to +tell him that, though this was not the case, I did not belong to those +who spent their lives in loud laughing and extravagant jests. + +"The answer was aimed at the black-bearded man's reckless conduct; but +the fair-haired one parried the attack in his stead, and retorted that +I seemed to misunderstand his friend. Pleasure belonged to a festival, +as light belonged to the sun; but usually Hermon laboured earnestly, and +only a short time before he had saved the little daughter of Gula, the +sailor's wife, from a burning house. + +"The other did not let Myrtilus finish, but exclaimed that this would +only confirm my opinion of him, for this very leap into the flames had +afforded him the utmost joy. + +"The words fell from his bearded lips as if the affair was very simple, a +mere matter of course, yet I knew that the bold deed had nearly cost him +his life--I said to myself that no one but our Abus would have done it, +and then I may have looked at him more kindly, for he cried out that I, +too, understood how to smile, and would never cease doing so if I knew +how it became me. + +"As he spoke he turned away from the girls to my side, while Myrtilus +joined them. Hermon's handsome face had become grave and thoughtful, and +when our eyes met I could have wished that they would never part again. +But on account of the others I soon looked down at the ground and we +walked on in this way, side by side, for some distance; but as he did not +address a word to me, only sometimes gazed into my face as if seeking or +examining, I grew vexed and asked him why he, who had just entertained +the others gaily enough, had suddenly become so silent. + +"He shook his head and answered--every word impressed itself firmly upon +my memory: 'Because speech fails even the eloquent when confronted with a +miracle.' + +"What, except me and my beauty, could be meant by that? But he probably +perceived how strangely his words confused me, for he suddenly seized my +hand, pressing it so firmly that it hurt me, and while I tried to +withdraw it he whispered, 'How the immortals must love you, that they +lend you so large a share of their own divine beauty!'" + +"Greek honey," interposed the sorceress, "but strong enough to turn +such a poor young head. And what more happened? The demons desire to +hear all--all--down to the least detail--all!" + +"The least detail?" repeated Ledscha reluctantly, gazing into vacancy as +if seeking aid. Then, pressing her hand on her brow, she indignantly +exclaimed: "Ah, if I only knew myself how it conquered me so quickly! +If I could understand and put it into intelligible words, I should need +no stranger's counsel to regain my peace of mind. But as it is! I was +driven by my anxiety from temple to temple, and now to you and your +demons. I went from hour to hour as though in a burning fever. If I +left the house firmly resolved to bethink myself and, as I had bidden my +sister, avoid danger and the gossip of the people, my feet still led me +only where he desired to meet me. Oh, and how well he understood how to +flatter, to describe my beauty! Surely it was impossible not to believe +in it and trust its power!" + +Here she hesitated, and while gazing silently into vacancy a sunny light +flitted over her grave face, and, drawing a long breath, she began again: +"I could curse those days of weakness and ecstasy which now--at least I +hope so--are over. Yet they were wonderfuly beautiful, and never can I +forget them!" + +Here she again bowed her head silently, but the old dame nodded +encouragingly, saying eagerly; "Well, well! I understand all that, and +I shall learn what more is coming, for whatever appears in the mirror of +the wine is infallible--but it must become still more distinct. Let me-- +first conjure up the seventy-seven great and the seven hundred and +seventy-seven little demons. They will do their duty, if you open your +heart to us without reserve." + +This demand sounded urgent enough, and Ledscha pressed her head against +the old woman's shoulder as if seeking assistance, exclaiming: "I can +not--no, I can not! As if the spirits who obey you did not know already +what had happened and will happen in the future! Let them search the +depths of my soul. There they will see, with their own eyes, what I +should never, never succeed in describing. I could not tell even you, +grandmother, for who among the Biamites ever found such lofty, heart- +bewitching words as Hermon? And what looks, what language he had at +command, when he desired to put an end to my jealous complaints! Could I +still be angry with him, when he confessed that there were other beauties +here whom he admired, and then gazed deep into my eyes and said that when +I appeared they all vanished like the stars at sunrise? Then every +reproach was forgotten, and resentment was transformed into doubly ardent +longing. This, however, by no means escaped his keen glance, which +detects everything, and so he urged me with touching, ardent entreaties +to go with him to his studio, though but for one poor, brief hour." + +"And you granted his wish?" Tabus anxiously interrupted. + +"Yes," she answered frankly, "but it was the evening of the day before +yesterday--that was the only time. Secrecy--nothing, Grand mother, was +more hateful to me from childhood." + +"But he," the old woman again interrupted, "he--I know it--he praised it +to you as the noblest virtue." + +A silent nod from Ledscha confirmed this conjecture, and she added +hesitatingly: "'Only far from the haunts of men,' he said, 'when the +light had vanished, did we hear the nightingale trill in the dark +thickets. Those are his own words, and though it angers you, +Grandmother, they are true." + +"Until the secrecy is over, and the sun shines upon misery," the +sorceress answered in her faltering speech, with menacing severity. + +"And beneath the tempter's roof you enjoyed the lauded secret love until +the cock roused you?" + +"No," replied Ledscha firmly. "Did I ever tell you a lie, that you look +at me so incredulously?" + +"Incredulously?" replied the old woman in protest. "I only trembled at +the danger into which you plunged." + +"There could be no greater peril," the girl admitted. "I foresaw it +clearly enough, and yet--this is the most terrible part of it--yet my +feet moved as if obeying a will of their own, instead of mine, and when I +crossed his threshold, resistance was silenced, for I was received like a +princess. The lofty, spacious apartment was brilliantly illuminated, and +the door was garlanded with flowers. + +"It was magnificent! Then, in a manner as respectful as if welcoming an +illustrious guest, he invited me to take my place opposite to him, that +he might form a goddess after my model. This was the highest flattery of +all, and I willingly assumed the position he directed, but he looked at +me from every side, with sparkling eyes, and asked me to let down my hair +and remove the veil from the back of my head. Then--need I assure you +of it?--my blood boiled with righteous indignation; but instead of being +ashamed of the outrage, he raised his hand to my head and pulled the +veil. Resentment and wrath suddenly flamed in my soul, and before he +could detain me I had left the room. In spite of his representations and +entreaties, I did not enter it again." + +"Yet," asked the sorceress in perplexity, "you once more obeyed his +summons?" + +"Yesterday also I could not help it," Ledscha answered softly. + +"Fool!" cried Tabus indignantly, but the girl exclaimed, in a tone of +sincere shame: "You do well to call me that. Perhaps I deserve still +harsher names, for, in spite of the sternness with which I forbade him +ever to remind me of the studio by even a single word, I soon listened to +him willingly when he besought me, if I really loved him, not to refuse +what would make him happy. If I allowed him to model my figure, his +renown and greatness would be secured. And how clearly he made me +understand this! I could not help believing it, and at last promised +that, in spite of my father and the women of Tennis, I would grant all, +all, and accompany him again to the work room if he would have patience +until the night of the next day but one, when the moon would be at the +full." + +"And he?" asked Tabus anxiously. + +"He called the brief hours which I required him to wait an eternity," +replied the girl, "and they seemed no less long to me--but neither +entreaties nor urgency availed; what you predicted for me from the +cords last year strengthened my courage. I should wantonly throw away-- +I constantly reminded myself--whatever great good fortune Fate destined +for me if I yielded to my longing and took prematurely what was already +so close at hand; for--do you remember?--at that time it was promised +that on a night when the moon was at the full a new period of the utmost +happiness would begin for me. And now--unless everything deceives me-- +now it awaits me. Whether it will come with the full moon of to-morrow +night, or the next, or the following one, your spirits alone can know; +but yesterday was surely too soon to expect the new happiness." + +"And he?" asked the old dame. + +"He certainly did not make it easy for me," was the reply, "but as I +remained firm, he was obliged to yield. I granted only his earnest +desire to see me again this evening. I fancy I can still hear him +exclaim, with loving impetuosity, that he hated every day and every night +which kept him from me. And now? Now? For another's sake he lets me +wait for him in vain, and if his slave does not lie, this is only the +beginning of his infamous, treacherous game." + +She had uttered the last words in a hoarse cry, but Tabus answered +soothingly: "Hush, child, hush! The first thing is to see clearly, if I +am to interpret correctly what is shown me here. The demons are to be +fully informed they have required it. But you? Did you come to hear +whether the spirits still intend to keep the promise they made then?" + +Ledscha eagerly assented to this question, and the old woman continued +urgently: "Then tell me first what suddenly incenses you so violently +against the man whom you have so highly praised?" + +The girl related what had formerly been rumoured in Tennis, and which she +had just heard from the slave. + +He had lured other women--even her innocent young sister--to his studio. +Now he wanted to induce Ledscha to go there, not from love, but merely to +model her limbs so far as he considered them useful for his work. He was +in haste to do so because he intended to return to the capital +immediately. Whether he meant to leave her in the lurch after using her +for his selfish purposes, she also desired to learn from the sorceress. +But she would ask him that question herself to-morrow. Woe betide him if +the spirits recognised in him the deceiver she now believed him. + +Hitherto Tabus had listened quietly, but when she closed her passionate +threats with the exclamation that he also deserved punishment for +alienating Gula, the sailor's wife, from her absent husband, the +enchantress also lost her composure and cried out angrily: "If that is +true, if the Greek really committed that crime--then certainly. The +foreigners destroy, with their laughing levity, much that is good among +us. We must endure it; but whoever broke the Biamite's marriage bond, +from the earliest times, forfeited his life, and so, the gods be +thanked, it has remained. This very last year the fisherman Phabis +killed with a hammer the Alexandrian clerk who had stolen into his house, +and drowned his faithless wife. But your lover--though you should weep +for sorrow till your eyes are red--" + +"I would denounce the traitor, if he made himself worthy of death," +Ledscha passionately interrupted, with flashing eyes. "What portion of +the slave's charge is true will appear at once--and if it proves correct, +to morrow's full moon shall indeed bring me the greatest bliss; for +though, when I was younger and happier, I contradicted Abus when he +declared that one thing surpassed even the raptures of love--satisfied +vengeance--now I would agree with him." + +A loud cry of "Right! right!" from the old crone's lips expressed the +gray-haired Biamite's pleasure in this worthy daughter of her race. + +Then she again gazed at the wine in the vessel, and this time she did so +silently, as if spellbound by the mirror on its bottom. + +At last, raising her aged head, she said in a tone of the most sincere +compassion: "Poor child! Yes, you would be cruelly and shamefully +deceived. Tear your love for this man from your heart, like poisonous +hemlock. But the full moon which is to bring you great happiness is +scarcely the next, perhaps not even the one which follows it, but surely +and certainly a later one will rise, by whose light the utmost bliss +awaits you. True, I see it come from another man than the Greek." + +The girl had listened with panting breath. She believed as firmly in the +infallibility of the knowledge which the witch received from the demons +who obeyed her as she did in her own existence. + +All her happiness, all that had filled her joyous soul with freshly +awakened hopes, now lay shattered at her feet, and sobbing aloud she +threw herself down beside the old woman and buried her beautiful face in +her lap. + +Completely overwhelmed by the great misfortune which had come upon her, +without thinking of the vengeance which had just made her hold her head +so proudly erect, or the rare delight which a later full moon was to +bring, she remained motionless, while the old woman, who loved her and +who remembered an hour in the distant past when she herself had been +dissolved in tears at the prediction of another prophetess, laid her +trembling hand upon her head. + +Let the child weep her fill. + +Time, perhaps vengeance also, cured many a heartache, and when they had +accomplished this office upon the girl who had once been betrothed to her +grandson, perhaps the full moon bringing happiness, whose appearance +first the cords, then the wine mirror in the bottom of the vessel had +predicted, would come to Ledscha, and she believed she knew at whose side +the girl could regain what she had twice lost--satisfaction for the young +heart that yearned for love. + +"Only wait, wait," she cried at last, repeating the consoling words again +and again, till Ledscha raised her tear-stained face. + +Impulse urged her to kiss the sufferer, but as she bent over the mourner +the copper dish slipped from her knees and fell rattling on the floor. + +Ledscha started up in terror, and at the same moment the Alexandrian's +packs of hounds on the shore opposite to the Owl's Nest began to bark so +loudly that the deaf old woman heard the baying as if it came from a +great distance; but the girl ran out into the open air and, returning at +the end of a few minutes, called joyously to the sorceress from the +threshold, "They are coming!" + +"They, they," faltered Tabus, hurriedly pushing her disordered gray hair +under the veil on the back of her head, while exclaiming, scarcely able +to use her voice in her joyous excitement: "I knew it. He keeps his word. +My Satabus is coming. The ducks, the bread, the fish, girl! Good, loyal +heart." + +Then a wide, long shadow fell across the dimly lighted room, and from the +darkened threshold a strangely deep, gasping peal of laughter rang from a +man's broad breast. + +"Satabus! My boy!" the witch's shriek rose above the peculiar sound. + +"Mother!" answered the gray-bearded lips of the pirate. + +For one short moment he remained standing at the door with outstretched +arms. Then he took a step toward the beloved being from whom he had been +separated more than two years, and suddenly throwing himself down before +her, while his huge lower limbs covered part of the floor, he stretched +his hands toward the little crooked old woman, who had not strength to +rise from her crouching posture, and seizing her with loving impetuosity, +lifted her as if she were a child, and placing her on his knees, drew her +into a close embrace. + +Tabus willingly submitted to this act of violence, and passing her thin +left arm around her son's bull neck with her free hand, patted his +bearded cheeks, wrinkled brow, and bushy, almost white hair. + +No intelligible words passed the lips of either the mother or the son at +this meeting; nothing but a confused medley of tender and uncouth natural +sounds, which no language knows. + +Yet they understood each other, and Ledscha, who had moved silently +aside, also comprehended that these low laughs, moans, cries, and +stammers were the expressions of love of two deeply agitated hearts, +and for a moment an emotion of envy seized her. + +The gods had early bereft her of her mother, while this savage fighter +against the might of the waves, justice, law, and their pitiless, too +powerful defenders, this man, already on the verge of age, still +possessed his, and sunned his rude heart in her love. + +It was some time before the old pirate had satisfied his yearning for +affection and placed his light burden down beside the fire. + +Tabus now regained the power to utter distinct words, and, difficult as +it was for her half paralyzed tongue to speak, she poured a flood of +tender pet names and affectionate thanks upon the head of her rude son, +the last one left, who had grown gray in bloody warfare; but with the +eyes of her soul she again saw in him the little boy whom, with warm +maternal love, she had once pressed to her breast and cradled in her +arms. + +When, in his rough fashion, he warmly returned her professions of +tenderness, her eyes grew wet with tears, and at the question what he +could still find in her, a withered, good-for-nothing little creature who +just dragged along from one day to another, an object of pity to herself, +he again burst into his mighty laugh, and his deep voice shouted: "Do you +want to know that? But where would be the lime that holds us on the +ships if you were no longer here? The best capture wouldn't be worth a +drachm if we could not say, 'Hurrah! how pleased the old mother will be +when she hears it!' And when things go badly, when men have been wounded +or perished in the sea, we should despair of our lives if we did not know +that whatever troubles our hearts the old mother feels, too, and we shall +always get from her the kind words needed to press on again. And then, +when the strait is sore and life is at stake, whence would come the +courage to cast the die if we did not know that you are with us day and +night, and will send your spirits to help us if the need is great? +Hundreds of times they rushed to our aid just at the right time, and +assisted us to hew off the hand of the foe which was already choking us. +But that is only something extra, which we could do without, if +necessary. That you are here, that a man still has his dear mother, +whose heart wishes us everything good and our foes death and destruction, +whose aged eyes will weep if anything harms us, that, mother dear, that +is the main thing!" + +He bent his clumsy figure over her as he spoke, and cautiously, as if he +were afraid of doing her some injury, kissed her head with tender care. + +Then, rising, he turned to Ledscha, whom he always regarded as his dead +son's betrothed bride, and greeted her with sincere kindness. + +Her great beauty strengthened his plan of uniting her to his oldest son, +and when the latter entered the house he cast a searching glance at him. + +The result was favourable, for a smile of satisfaction flitted over his +scarred features. + +The young pirate's stately figure was not inferior in height to the old +one's, but his shoulders were narrower, his features less broad and full, +and his hair and beard had the glossy raven hue of the blackbird's +plumage. + +The young man paused on the threshold in embarrassment, and gazed at +Ledscha with pleased surprise. When he saw her last his grandmother had +not been stricken by paralysis, and the girl was the promised wife of his +older brother, to whom custom forbade him to raise his eyes. + +He had thought of her numberless times as the most desirable of women. +Now nothing prevented his wooing her, and finding her far more beautiful +than memory had showed her, strengthened his intention of winning her. + +This purpose had matured in the utmost secrecy. He had concealed it even +from his father and his brother Labaja, who was still keeping watch on +the ships, for he had a reserved disposition, and though obliged to obey +his father, wherever it was possible he pursued his own way. + +Though Satabus shared Hanno's wish, it vexed him that at this meeting, +after so long a separation, his son should neglect his beloved and +honoured mother for the sake of a beautiful girl. So, turning his back +on Ledscha, he seized the young giant's shoulder with a powerful grip to +drag him toward the old woman; but Hanno perceived his error, and now, in +brief but affectionate words, showed his grandmother that he, too, +rejoiced at seeing her again. + +The sorceress gazed at her grandson's stalwart figure with a pleasant +smile, and, after welcoming him, exclaimed to Ledscha: "It seems as if +Abus had risen from the grave." + +The girl vouchsafed her dead lover's brother a brief glance, and, while +pouring oil upon the fish in the pan, answered carelessly: "He is a +little like him." + +"Not only in person," remarked the old pirate, with fatherly pride, and +pointing to the broad scar across the young man's forehead, visible even +in the dim light, he added by way of explanation: "When we took vengeance +for Abus, he bore away that decoration of honour. The blow nearly made +him follow his brother, but the youth first sent the souls of half a +dozen enemies to greet him in the nether world." + +Then Ledscha held out her hand to Hanno, and permitted him to detain it +till an ardent glance from his black eyes met hers, and she withdrew it +blushing. As she did so she said to Tabus: "You can put them on the +fire, and there stands whatever else you need. I must go home now." + +In taking leave of the men she asked if she could hope to find them here +again the next day. "The full moon will make it damnably light," replied +the father, "but they will scarcely venture to assail the right of +asylum, and the ships anchored according to regulation at Tanis, with a +cargo of wood from Sinope. Besides, for two years people have believed +that we have abandoned these waters, and the guards think that if we +should return, the last time to choose would be these bright nights. +Still, I should not like to decide anything positively about the morrow +until news came from Labaja." + +"You will find me, whatever happens," Hanno declared after his father had +ceased speaking. Old Tabus exchanged a swift glance with her son, and +Satabus said: "He is his own master. If I am obliged to go--which may +happen--then, my girl, you must be content with the youth. Besides, you +are better suited to him than to the graybeard." + +He shook hands with Ledscha as he spoke, and Hanno accompanied her to her +boat. + +At first he was silent, but as she was stepping into the skiff he +repeated his promise of meeting her here the following night. + +"Very well," she answered quickly. "Perhaps I may have a commission to +give you." + +"I will fulfil it," he answered firmly. + +"To-morrow, then," she called, "unless something unexpected +prevents." + +But when seated on the thwart she again turned to him, and asked: "Does +it need a long time to bring your ship, with brave men on board, to this +place?" + +"We can be here in four hours, and with favourable winds still sooner," +was the reply. + +"Even if it displeases your father?" + +"Even then, and though the gods, many as there are, should forbid--if +only your gratitude will be gained." + +"It will," she answered firmly, and the water plashed lightly under the +strokes of her oars. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Cast my warning to the winds, pity will also fly away with it +Must--that word is a ploughshare which suits only loose soil +Tender and uncouth natural sounds, which no language knows +There is nothing better than death, for it is peace +Tone of patronizing instruction assumed by the better informed +Wait, child! What is life but waiting? + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARACHNE, BY GEORG EBERS, V1 *** + +******** This file should be named 5508.txt or 5508.zip ******** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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