The hours passed gaily with the drinkers, then they grew more and more
sleepy.
Ere the moon was high in the heavens, while they were all sleeping,
with the exception of Kaschta and Pentaur, the soldier rose softly.
He listened to the breathing of his companions, then he approached the
poet, unfastened the ring which fettered his ankle to that of Nebsecht,
and endeavored to wake the physician, but in vain.
“Follow me!” cried he to the poet; he took Nebsecht on his shoulders,
and went towards the spot near the stream which Uarda had indicated.
Three times he called his daughter’s name, the young Amalekite appeared,
and the soldier said decidedly: “Follow this man, I will take care of
Nebsecht.”
“I will not leave him,” said Pentaur. “Perhaps water will wake him.”
They plunged him in the brook, which half woke him, and by the help of
his companions, who now pushed and now dragged him, he staggered and
stumbled up the rugged mountain path, and before midnight they reached
their destination, the hut of the Amalekite.
The old hunter was asleep, but his son aroused him, and told him what
Uarda had ordered and promised.
But no promises were needed to incite the worthy mountaineer to
hospitality. He received the poet with genuine friendliness, laid the
sleeping leech on a mat, prepared a couch for Pentaur of leaves and
skins, called his daughter to wash his feet, and offered him his own
holiday garment in the place of the rags that covered his body.
Pentaur stretched himself out on the humble couch, which to him seemed
softer than the silken bed of a queen, but on which nevertheless he
could not sleep, for the thoughts and fancies that filled his heart were
too overpowering and bewildering.
The stars still sparkled in the heavens when he sprang from his bed of
skins, lifted Nebsecht on to it, and rushed out into the open air. A
fresh mountain spring flowed close to the hunter’s hut. He went to it,
and bathed his face in the ice-cold water, and let it flow over his body
and limbs. He felt as if he must cleanse himself to his very soul,
not only from the dust of many weeks, but from the rebellion and
despondency, the ignominy and bitterness, and the contact with vice and
degradation. When at last he left the spring, and returned to the little
house, he felt clean and fresh as on the morning of a feast-day at
the temple of Seti, when he had bathed and dressed himself in robes of
snow-white linen. He took the hunter’s holiday dress, put it on, and
went out of doors again.
The enormous masses of rock lay dimly before him, like storm-clouds, and
over his head spread the blue heavens with their thousand stars.
The soothing sense of freedom and purity raised his soul, and the air
that he breathed was so fresh and light, that he sprang up the path
to the summit of the peak as if he were borne on wings or carried by
invisible hands.
A mountain goat which met him, turned from him, and fled bleating, with
his mate, to a steep peak of rock, but Pentaur said to the frightened
beasts:
“I shall do nothing to you--not I!”
He paused on a little plateau at the foot of the jagged granite peak
of the mountain. Here again he heard the murmur of a spring, the grass
under his feet was damp, and covered with a film of ice, in which were
mirrored the stars, now gradually fading. He looked up at the lights in
the sky, those never-tarrying, and yet motionless wanderers-away, to
the mountain heights around him-down, into the gorge below--and far off,
into the distance.
The dusk slowly grew into light, the mysterious forms of the
mountain-chain took shape and stood up with their shining points, the
light clouds were swept away like smoke. Thin vapors rose from the oasis
and the other valleys at his feet, at first in heavy masses, then they
parted and were wafted, as if in sport, above and beyond him to the
sky. Far below him soared a large eagle, the only living creature far or
near.
A solemn and utter silence surrounded him, and when the eagle swooped
down and vanished from his sight, and the mist rolled lower into the
valley, he felt that here, alone, he was high above all other living
beings, and standing nearer to the Divinity.
He drew his breath fully and deeply, he felt as he had felt in the first
hours after his initiation, when for the first time he was admitted to
the holy of holies--and yet quite different.
Instead of the atmosphere loaded with incense, he breathed a light pure
air; and the deep stillness of the mountain solitude possessed his soul
more strongly than the chant of the priests.
Here, it seemed to him, that the Divine being would hear the lightest
murmur of his lips, though indeed his heart was so full of gratitude and
devotion that his impulse was to give expression to his mighty flow of
feelings in jubilant song. But his tongue seemed tied; he knelt down in
silence, to pray and to praise.
Then he looked at the panorama round him. Where was the east which in
Egypt was clearly defined by the long Nile range? Down there where it
was beginning to be light over the oasis. To his right hand lay the
south, the sacred birth-place of the Nile, the home of the Gods of
the Cataracts; but here flowed no mighty stream, and where was there a
shrine for the visible manifestation of Osiris and Isis; of Horns, born
of a lotus flower in a thicket of papyrus; of Rennut, the Goddess of
blessings, and of Zeta? To which of them could he here lift his hands in
prayer?
A faint breeze swept by, the mist vanished like a restless shade at the
word of the exorcist, the many-pointed crown of Sinai stood out in
sharp relief, and below them the winding valleys, and the dark colored
rippling surface of the lake, became distinctly visible.
All was silent, all untouched by the hand of man yet harmonized to
one great and glorious whole, subject to all the laws of the universe,
pervaded and filled by the Divinity.
He would fain have raised his hand in thanksgiving to Apheru, “the Guide
on the way;” but he dared not; and how infinitely small did the Gods
now seem to him, the Gods he had so often glorified to the multitude
in inspired words, the Gods that had no meaning, no dwelling-place, no
dominion but by the Nile.
“To ye,” he murmured, “I cannot pray! Here where my eye can pierce the
distance, as if I myself were a god-here I feel the presence of the One,
here He is near me and with me--I will call upon Him and praise him!”
And throwing up his arms he cried aloud: “Thou only One! Thou only One!
Thou only One!” He said no more; but a tide of song welled up in his
breast as he spoke--a flood of thankfulness and praise.
When he rose from his knees, a man was standing by him; his eyes were
piercing and his tall figure had the dignity of a king, in spite of his
herdsman’s dress.
“It is well for you!” said the stranger in deep slow accents. “You seek
the true God.”
Pentaur looked steadily into the face of the bearded man before him.
“I know you now,” he said. “You are Mesu.--[Moses]--I was but a boy when
you left the temple of Seti, but your features are stamped on my soul.
Ameni initiated me, as well as you, into the knowledge of the One God.”
“He knows Him not,” answered the other, looking thoughtfully to the
eastern horizon, which every moment grew brighter.
The heavens glowed with purple, and the granite peaks, each sheathed
in a film of ice, sparkled and shone like dark diamonds that had been
dipped in light.
The day-star rose, and Pentaur turned to it, and prostrated himself as
his custom was. When he rose, Mesu also was kneeling on the earth, but
his back was turned to the sun.
When he had ended his prayer, Pentaur said, “Why do you turn your back
on the manifestation of the Sun-god? We were taught to look towards him
when he approaches.”
“Because I,” said his grave companion, “pray to another God than
yours. The sun and stars are but as toys in his hand, the earth is his
foot-stool, the storm is his breath, and the sea is in his sight as the
drops on the grass.”
“Teach me to know the Mighty One whom you worship!” exclaimed Pentaur.
“Seek him,” said Mesu, “and you will find him; for you have passed
through misery and suffering, and on this spot on such a morning as this
was He revealed to me.”
The stranger turned away, and disappeared behind a rock from the
enquiring gaze of Pentaur, who fixed his eyes on the distance.
Then he thoughtfully descended the valley, and went towards the hut
of the hunter. He stayed his steps when he heard men’s voices, but the
rocks hid the speakers from his sight.
Presently he saw the party approaching; the son of his host, a man
in Egyptian dress, a lady of tall stature, near whom a girl tripped
lightly, and another carried in a litter by slaves.
Pentaur’s heart beat wildly, for he recognized Bent-Anat and her
companions. They disappeared by the hunter’s cottage, but he stood
still, breathing painfully, spell-bound to the cliff by which he
stood--a long, long time--and did not stir.
He did not hear a light step, that came near to him, and died away
again, he did not feel that the sun began to cast fierce beams on him,
and on the porphyry cliff behind him, he did not see a woman now coming
quickly towards him; but, like a deaf man who has suddenly acquired the
sense of hearing, he started when he heard his name spoken--by whose
lips?
“Pentaur!” she said again; the poet opened his arms, and Bent-Anat fell
upon his breast; and he held her to him, clasped, as though he must hold
her there and never part from her all his life long.
Meanwhile the princess’s companions were resting by the hunter’s little
house.
“She flew into his arms--I saw it,” said Uarda. “Never shall I forget
it. It was as if the bright lake there had risen up to embrace the
mountain.”
“Where do you find such fancies, child?” cried Nefert.
“In my heart, deep in my heart!” cried Uarda. “I am so unspeakably
happy.”
“You saved him and rewarded him for his goodness; you may well be
happy.”
“It is not only that,” said Uarda. “I was in despair, and now I see that
the Gods are righteous and loving.”
Mena’s wife nodded to her, and said with a sigh:
“They are both happy!”
“And they deserve to be!” exclaimed Uarda. “I fancy the Goddess of Truth
is like Bent-Anat, and there is not another man in Egypt like Pentaur.”
Nefert was silent for awhile; then she asked softly: “Did you ever see
Mena?”
“How should I?” replied the girl. “Wait a little while, and your
turn will come. I believe that to-day I can read the future like a
prophetess. But let us see if Nebsecht lies there, and is still asleep.
The draught I put into the wine must have been strong.”
“It was,” answered Nefert, following her into the hut.
The physician was still lying on the bed, and sleeping with his mouth
wide open. Uarda knelt down by his side, looked in his face, and said:
“He is clever and knows everything, but how silly he looks now! I will
wake him.”
She pulled a blade of grass out of the heap on which he was lying, and
saucily tickled his nose.
Nebsecht raised himself, sneezed, but fell back asleep again; Uarda
laughed out with her clear silvery tones. Then she blushed--“That is not
right,” she said, “for he is good and generous.”
She took the sleeper’s hand, pressed it to her lips, and wiped the drops
from his brow. Then he awoke, opened his eyes, and muttered half in a
dream still:
“Uarda--sweet Uarda.”
The girl started up and fled, and Nefert followed her.
When Nebsecht at last got upon his feet and looked round him, he found
himself alone in a strange house. He went out of doors, where he found
Bent-Anat’s little train anxiously discussing things past and to come.