THE SECRET MESSENGER.
Lysias, the Greek, stood reverently before the Roman ruler of
Jerusalem, and the dark, piercing eyes of Pontius were watching his
face intently.
"O most noble Pontius," said Lysias, "I have done as thou didst order.
All these were the words of Ben Ezra, nor have I failed to tell thee
every saying of Abbas and of him who was with him. The messenger from
Machærus goeth swiftly to Joppa and the galley of Herod waiteth for
him."
They were standing in the small chamber near the banquet hall, and
the voice of Lysias was hushed and tremulous, for the brows of the
procurator were knitting and the veins in his temples were swelling.
"Well for thee, O Greek," he muttered, hoarsely. "But now it is as if
Herod himself were to be with Cæsar, bringing gifts. The very gods are
against me!"
"O most noble Pontius," said Lysias, raising his head courageously,
"bid me depart and it may be that neither galley nor messenger shall
cross the sea to Rome."
"I may not hinder a royal messenger," said Pontius, gloomily. "To do so
were sure destruction. Thou canst do nothing."
"But if," whispered Lysias--"if Herod, the tetrarch, might know that
his galley had departed, and if afterward no man came to tell him of
her voyage?"
"A man may hear good tidings," said the procurator, with a dark smile
dawning in his face. "But be not thou at any time the bringer of news
concerning this galley. Thou hast a letter to bear for me to Cornelius
at Cæsarea. I bid thee to go by way of Joppa and to return. I now write
the parchment. Ride thou thy own swift beast. Whoever may be traveling
upon their own errands at this time, I meddle not with their affairs."
"Thanks, noble Pontius," said Lysias, "but I will give thee a token. A
man will come to thee in haste shortly from the keeper of the circus.
He will know nothing of the galley of Herod, but he will tell thee of
her departure from Joppa and of her crew. So shalt thou be sure that I
know not aught except my errand to Cornelius."
Hasty was now the going and the returning of the procurator, but Lysias
had now a small tablet and not a parchment to put into his pouch,
neither looked he upon the writing on the tablet.
"Go!" said Pontius. "I will wait for thy man from the circus. Tell me
no more!"
Then passed Lysias out into the corridor and the eyes of Pontius
followed him.
"Subtle are the Greeks," he muttered. "Already yonder youth knoweth
enough to kindle a fire that would burn to Tartarus. Let him do this
one thing and I will give him a gift which he hath never yet received."
Not far had Lysias gone along the corridor when a hand withheld him and
there was a whisper.
"Lysias! Love! Whither goest thou?"
"Sapphira! O beautiful one! I may not linger. I ride swiftly to
Cæsarea. I will return to thee. Wait thou for me!"
"O Lysias! Favored of Aphrodite! Go and return to me. I shall then have
many things to tell thee. Then shalt thou know I have loved thee."
Her arms were around him, her kiss was upon his lips, and she was gone.
He, too, went on in haste, leaving the palace, but she had retreated
into an inner chamber, luxuriously furnished, wherein a lamp was
burning.
"I will wait here for my mistress," she said. "A strange thing is love,
for it may be lighted like this lamp. It may go out and it may burn
again if one willeth. I think I must put out this love of mine for
Lysias lest it should burn me. Alas for him or for any who may be made
the bearer of secret messages! And I? O Lysias! Well for thee that thou
knowest not this change which is in store for me. And thou, O beautiful
Aphrodite, be not angry with me that I am to become also a Jewish
proselyte and offer sacrifices to the God of the Jews. My mistress hath
bidden me to become free and to wed Ananias. It is better so than to be
a slave, or to throw myself away upon a Greek youth who must shortly
disappear. I love not ruin. I am to be rich and I shall be the favorite
of more gods than one."
She spoke with a triumph upon her face and with exultation in her
voice. Then she reclined upon a couch, with the light of the lamp
shining brilliantly upon her goodly raiment and her beauty, and so she
awaited the coming of the wife of the procurator.
Through the Damascus gate passed Lysias, and not long afterward an ass
halted near the amphitheater, further down the valley. A slave came out
to attend to the ass, and was followed by the master of the games.
"Who art thou?" he demanded, surlily.
"See that thou hinder me not," said Lysias. "Look well upon this
signet."
"I obey the procurator," said the master of the games. "Do thou his
bidding. But I will see nothing that thou hast in thy hand by any
commandment from him. Hold thou thy peace, O messenger. I meddle not."
Lysias had dismounted and, without more words, he passed on into the
quarters of the Saxons. Excepting themselves, no others were present to
observe or to hear, but he did not find men who were taking rest. Some
were making up packages for carrying, some were examining carefully
their arms and armor as if about to go into battle, but they greeted
the Greek heartily. He looked around him for a moment, not without an
understanding of this which they were doing.
"I am in season, O Tostig the Red," he said altogether as if he had
been expected to come. "But put ye on Roman helmets, every man. Ye are
to ride fast to Joppa this night. Right glad am I to be your guide, for
the roads might prove misleading."
"Hael to thee, O Greek!" exclaimed Tostig. "Even now are the horses
nearly prepared. We will mount at thy bidding. But hast thou at all
seen the jarl?"
"By the will of the gods, and not by his own, he may not now come,"
said Lysias. "Were he here, he would say that ye go forth at once and
that ye ride well. Mark this saying, however, that there will be one
at the shore who must by all means enter the galley, but who must not
travel far in her."
"It is but a spear thrust," said Knud the Bear. "We will attend to his
case."
Silently all, but openly and boldly as by men who obeyed a high
command, were the horses led out and mounted. There were also led
horses for the packages and for changes, and there was no Roman officer
of rank at hand to call this doing in question.
"Ride!" said Tostig. "Odin! It will not be well for any who shall cross
our path!"
None was likely to do so. The Romans held Judea by garrisons in forts
and camps, and not greatly by moving forces. The highway to Joppa would
be deserted after nightfall. Who should rashly interfere with mounted
spearmen, whose very helmets were as a sharp warning to the imprudent?
"Swiftly! Swiftly!" exclaimed Lysias, before long. "We now pass the
hill of Golgotha. On that mount have many been crucified. Make thee
sure that ye get well away with this galley of Herod and that no man
may find you upon it in after time. I tell you truly that if ye are now
taken prisoners ye would but climb yonder Hill of Skulls."
Silent were the Saxons at that hard saying, but the horses under them
appeared to spring forward as if with one accord.
It was at the foot of a steep declivity that the galloping ceased for a
brief resting of the horses, and Tostig exclaimed:
"O Knud the Bear, this is well. We have gone far. But I like not this
manner of departing from our jarl. I think I should have seen his face
and heard his commandment. Were he to need my sword on the morrow, I
would be at his side."
"I also," responded Knud. "We are his own men and he is ours. It is in
his heart that we may return to the Middle Sea with a hundred keels.
What, then, would we care for Roman triremes? We could slay all the
legionaries in Judea."
"If we might indeed land here again," said Wulf the Skater, doubtfully.
"At all events we have no more upon our hands this night than to take
the keel which is prepared for us and to put to sea."
So said they all, and again they pushed forward, but after a while the
road by which they traveled was no longer so rugged and so hilly.
"We shall kill the horses," they said, "but we may reach the sea before
the dawn."
So did it prove, for more than one horse gave out and his rider mounted
another from those which were led without any heavy burden. It was yet
dark, at the last, when Tostig exclaimed:
"O Greek, I hear the sound of waves upon a beach. Are we now near
Joppa?"
"Too near," replied Lysias, "for into the town itself we may not safely
go. We will turn here by this road at the right. If we encounter guards
or a patrol, let there be no report made of our passing."
"Halt!" rang out in the road a little ahead of them. "The password! Who
are ye?"
It was a legionary at his post, a sentry on guard, and to him rode Knud
the Bear.
"I am this," he said. "Take thou my token!"
Down fell the soldier, speared through the face, so that he spoke not
again, and on rode the Saxons toward the sea.
"We have now only starlight," said Lysias, "but yonder at anchor
floateth the galley of Herod, the tetrarch. This is according to the
saying of the procurator. All is well, for he who cometh hath not
arrived. There are boats; take them. But here do I leave you, for I
have a further errand. Fare thee well."
"Success to thee, O Lysias," said Tostig. "We are thy friends
henceforth. Haste thee about thy business. We can care for ourselves
now that we see keels and waves."
Many voices bade him good speed, and the strong ass appeared but little
wearied as he sprang away northward along the beach.
"Glad am I not to be in Joppa this day," said Lysias. "If I am heard
from next at the house of Cornelius at Cæsarea, no man will accuse me
of having too much acquaintance with the doings of the gladiators of
Caius. I did but bring to them an order whereof I knew not the meaning.
I am but a messenger, carrying letters to and fro."
Nevertheless, his heart was full of great anxiety and he remembered how
dark had been the hard face of the procurator.
The fishing boats were many, but only two large ones were taken. Into
these the Saxons put their baggage of all kinds, but they drove away
their horses to a good distance down the beach. Then they took the oars
and in a short rowing they were near the galley.
Over the bulwark leaned an armed man as the boats touched the side.
"Whence come ye?" he demanded, but he spoke as to friends, for he was
at that hour expecting such an arrival and he saw the Roman helmets.
For a moment no voice replied to him, but the Saxons went quickly over
the bulwark.
"Slay now, but cast none overboard!" commanded Tostig. "Here are
soldiers sleeping."
These who slept were not many of them Romans, but more were soldiers
of Herod, Jews and Arabians and Edomites. They died speedily under the
swift thrusting of the Saxon spears, but the watchman had fallen first.
"Spare the rowers in their places," said Wulf the Skater. "We will use
them."
But these rowers were all slaves, in chains, and they looked upon the
slaughter in silence, as if it were no affair of their own.
"Be ready, all!" suddenly commanded Tostig. "Utter no sound! A boat
cometh from the shore, as Lysias gave us to expect. Not from this
beach, but from a pier in the harbor. In it are but few men. In the
prow is some great one, but he weareth no helmet. Let them come on
board with all safety, but none in that boat may return to Joppa."
For a cause known to themselves not one of them had any purpose of at
once returning. They came swiftly to the galley and all climbed eagerly
on board, casting adrift their boat to float where it would.
"Away!" shouted he who seemed their leader, as if speaking to sailors
who were under his own direction. "Row out of the harbor quickly.
Speed, or a scourge for every back!"
Saxon hands were already raising the anchor and the rowers put out
their oars as they were bidden.
"O all ye gods!" suddenly cried out the great man, stumbling over a
fallen soldier. "What is this? O my destruction! The hand of Pontius
the Spearman is here! I perish!"
Then fell his head upon the deck at the stroke of Knud the Bear, and
shortly all his companions went down in like manner, for they were
astonished and they did no fighting.
Being in fear of death, the rowers rowed with great vigor and Tostig
was at the helm.
"She is swift!" he exclaimed. "She is a good keel and she rideth well
the waves. We are upon the sea! Hael to the Northland!"
Loudly shouted all the vikings, clashing their shields, for it was a
joy to feel the lifting of the long billows and once more to wipe the
salt spray from their faces. They rapidly examined the ship from stem
to stern, but there was much which required more thorough searching.
"O that the jarl were here with us!" groaned Tostig. "The day is here.
We, his friends, have escaped from the Romans and from the circus, but
our jarl is on the land. It is evil! How shall I answer concerning him
when I am inquired of at his own house? Will not some men say that I am
nidering?"
Long leagues were rowed and then, for the wind was now right, the sail
was lifted.
"We will cast overboard these who were slain," said Knud. "We will
weight them, that they may sink. So shall none tell a tale of us to any
who may follow. We do as the jarl would have bidden."
"Thou art prudent," said Tostig. "So much for the secret messengers of
Herod. We have shed blood upon this ship and the gods of the North are
with us. Only let us with care avoid all triremes, for we do not need
to be inquired of by a stronger force."
"This is now the spring," said Lars, the son of Beolf. "If we pause
not needlessly, we shall soon reach the fiords, but there will be no
ice in them."
"It is a good cruise," said another. "We may take much plunder by the
way. Let us now search again the cabins of this galley."
Much that astonished them had been found with those who came on board
in the boat that they might be slain. More was now discovered in secret
places.
"Odin!" exclaimed Knud, examining these matters. "Here are many coins
of silver and of gold and a number of bright stones. I think these may
have been gifts from Herod, the king, to Cæsar at Rome, but he will not
soon see them."
"There are also fine weapons and garments," said Wulf. "It is a very
rich galley."
The sun was unclouded, the wind blew fairly from the east, the galley
sped forward gallantly, and the rowers rested upon their seats, but now
Tostig the Red stood upon the after deck with all the Saxons around him.
"I have heard ye all," he said, for they had been speaking many things.
"We are of one mind. But if it be your will that I shall now take upon
me the command of this keel, put ye your hands in mine and give me your
oath to this saying, that we will be satisfied with this great plunder
which we have already taken; that we will keep the open sea, not
landing save for food or water; that we will care to take no other keel
but this; and that we will sail on until we see the house of Brander
the Brave upon the shore of the Northland. After that we will come back
to the Middle Sea with many swords and we will seek for Ulric, our
jarl, until we find him."
"So will we do!" shouted Knud the Bear.
One by one did the Saxons then step forward and put their hands between
the hands of Tostig, and the oath was an oath.
Nevertheless, they were as men who had sailed away forever, unless the
gods should see fit to accomplish this their purpose of coming again
with a fleet, and with a host to follow Ulric the Jarl and his captain
into the great battle in Esdraelon.
Well was it for them that they had thus escaped the sure perils of
the circus if they might also escape the many perils of the sea. They
might indeed avoid the triremes of Rome, and little cared hardy vikings
for rough weather, but the voyage would be long and they were not
many spearmen. The slave rowers, however, were sturdy fellows, well
selected, and these were likely to be better contented with masters who
flogged them not unduly and who thought it a shame that even a beast,
being their own, should not be well fed and cared for.
As for Tostig the Red, he had become stern and moody, smiling not
at all, and he told the rest of the vikings that Ulric, the son of
Brander, was still his jarl, and that as Ulric, to his thinking, would
have directed in any case, so would he order.
"That will be well for us," they said.
"I have been troubled in my mind," he told them. "I think that I may
yet slay many Romans at the side of the son of Odin. I myself saw that
Jewish god of his that healed him of his hurts. I heard his words and
they were good to hear, although I understood him not very well. If he
is to be the captain of the host, over the jarl, I am contented. But
never yet did I see a better sword than is our jarl."
"Nor did we," they answered him. "We will surely return with thee to
the Middle Sea, and our treasure shall go with thine to the making of
many great keels and the gathering of the swordsmen of the North."
All things seemed going well with them, but there was, nevertheless, a
shadow upon the ship, and when the sun was setting Tostig the Red sat
upon the after deck sharpening his seax upon a stone and now and then
gazing backward toward the east.
"Would I were with him this hour," he said in a low, sad voice. "How
shall the years go by with me henceforth if I am never again to see the
face of my jarl?"