The Temple of the Sphinx
For day after day the ship of Tau journeyed on down Nile. At night,
or when the wind would not serve, it was tied up to the bank, always
in as uninhabited a place as might be but never near a town. Twice
this happened in the neighbourhood of great temples that had been
wrecked by the Shepherds in the first fury of their invasion and not
as yet repaired. Yet after it was dark, out of these desolated fanes
or of the sepulchres around them issued men who brought food and other
things to sell, but who from the signs that they made, Kemmah, being
initiated, well knew to be priests, though of what faith she did not
know. These men would talk with Tau apart, showing him much reverence,
then on this pretext or on that he would bring them into the cabin
where the infant princess lay asleep, whom they would look upon
fearfully, and even adore upon their bended knees as though she were
divine; then rising, depart blessing her in the name of the gods they
worshipped. Moreover, never did they seem to take payment for the food
they brought.
All of these things Kemmah noted, as did Ru, although he appeared so
simple, but of them Rima the Queen took but little heed. Ever since
her lord the Pharaoh Kheperra had been slain in the battle, her spirit
had left her, and the discovery of the treason of the lords who had
been his counsellors and generals, whereof Ru had slain six and Kemmah
one in the fight upon the stairs of the Theban palace, seemed to have
crushed her very soul so that now she cared for nothing save to nurse
her child.
When she woke from her swoon to find herself upon the ship she asked
few questions and from Ru she shrank, although she loved him well,
saying that he smelt of blood. Nor would she speak much to Tau
because, as she declared, she trusted no man any more. To Kemmah only
did she talk freely at times, and then mostly as to how she might
escape out of this accursed Egypt with her child, back to her royal
father, the King of Babylon.
“So far the gods of Egypt have not served you so ill, Queen,” said the
Lady Kemmah, “seeing that they brought you and that Royal One”--and
she waved her hand toward the babe--“out of the net of traitors, and
when escape seemed impossible, safe on to this ship, doing this after
you had declared that you had no faith in them.”
“Mayhap, Kemmah. Yet those gods decreed that my royal husband should
be killed and that those whom he and I trusted should prove themselves
the foulest of all men who sought to betray his wife and child into
the hands of enemies, whence we were saved only by your wit and the
strength and courage of an Ethiopian. Also it is not for me, a
stranger, that they work, but for Egypt’s royal seed that was born of
my body. Nor is this to be wondered at, seeing, although as Pharaoh’s
wife I made offerings upon their altars, they are no gods of mine. I
tell you that I would get me back to Babylon and ere I die bow my knee
again in the temples of my forefathers. Take me back to Babylon,
Kemmah, where men are not traitors to the bread they eat and do not
strive to sell the seed of those who died for them into captivity or
death.”
“This I will do if I may,” answered Kemmah, “but alas! Babylon is far
off and all the lands between are ablaze with war. Therefore take
heart, Queen, and wait with patience.”
“I have no heart left,” answered Rima, “who desire but one thing--to
find my lord again whether he sits at the table of your Osiris, or
rides the clouds with Bel, or sleeps in the deep darkness. Where he
is, there would I be and nowhere else, and least of all in this
accursed Egypt. Give me my child to nurse, that I may hold her while I
may. We love that most that we must leave the soonest, Kemmah.”
Then Kemmah gave her the babe and turned away to hide her tears, since
she was sure that sorrow was eating out the life of this bereaved
widow and daughter of kings.
Once when they were off Memphis which they strove to pass at early
dawn before men were abroad, there was danger. Officers came to their
ship from a boat, bidding it lie to, a command that Tau thought it
best to obey.
“Now play your parts well,” he said to Kemmah, “remembering that you
are my sister and that the Queen is my wife who lies sick. Go tell her
to forget her woes and be as crafty as a serpent. As for you, Ru, hide
that great axe of yours, though where you can find it easily,
remembering that you are a slave whom I bought for a great sum in
Thebes that I may make money by showing off your strength in
market-places, and that you can talk little or no Egyptian.”
The boat came alongside. In it were two officers, young men who seemed
to be sleepy, for they yawned, and a common fellow who rowed it. The
two officers climbed to the deck and asked for the captain. Tau
appeared, very roughly clad, and in a coarse voice inquired of their
business.
“It is your business that we want to know, Sailor,” said one of the
officers.
“That is easy to tell, sir. I am a trader who take corn up Nile and
bring cattle down. There are a number of calves forward there, bred by
the best southern bulls. Are you perchance buyers? If so, you might
like to look at them. There is one that has the ‘apis’ marks upon it,
or something of the kind.”
“Do we look like cattle dealers?” asked the officer haughtily. “Show
me your writings.”
“Here they are, sir,” and Tau produced a papyrus sealed by the trade
masters at Memphis and other cities.
“A wife and child, a sister--which means another wife grown old--and
so many crew. Well, we seek two women and a child, so perhaps we had
better see them.”
“Is it necessary?” asked the other. “This does not look like a queen’s
warship such as we were told to search for, and the stench of those
calves is horrible after a night of feasting.”
“Warship, sir? Did you talk of a warship? Well, there is one following
us down the river. We saw her once, but being of such deep draught,
she got stuck on a sand bank so that I do not know when she will reach
Memphis. She seemed to be a very fine ship with a multitude of armed
men on board of her. But it was said that she was going to stop at
Siout, the frontier city of the South, or what used to be its frontier
city before we beat those proud-stomached Southerns. But come and look
at the women, if you will; come and look at them.”
This information about the warship seemed to interest the two officers
so much that they followed Tau thinking little of the two women. He
took a lantern and thrust it through the curtains into the cabin,
saying;
“May an evil spirit take this thing! How badly it burns.”
“An evil stink has taken it already,” answered one of the officers,
pinching his nostrils between his finger and thumb as he peered
between the curtains. In the low light the place was very dark and all
that the officers could see was Kemmah in dirty garments seated on a
sack--little did they know that this sack contained the ancient and
priceless royal ornaments of Upper Egypt--and engaged in mixing milk
and water in a gourd, while beyond on a couch lay a woman with
dishevelled hair and holding a bundle to her breast.
Just then the lantern went out and Tau began to talk of finding oil to
relight it.
“It is needless, Friend,” said the chief officer, “I think that we
have seen enough. Pursue your voyage in peace and sell the calves at
the best price you can get.”
Then he turned to the deck where, as ill luck would have it, he caught
sight of Ru squatted on the boards and trying to look as small as he
could.
“That is a big black man,” he said. “Now did not some spy send a
message about a Negro who killed many of our friends up yonder? Stand
up, fellow.”
Tau translated, or seemed to do so, and Ru stood up, rolling his big
eyes till the white showed and grinning all over a silly face.
“Ah!” said the officer, “a very big man. By the gods! what a chest and
arms. Now, Captain, who is this giant and what are you doing with him
on board your trading boat?”
“Lords,” answered Tau, “he is a venture of mine in which I have put
most of my savings. He is mighty and performs feats of strength, for
the sight of which I hope to get much money down in Tanis.”
“Does he?” said the officer, much interested but with suspicion.
“Well, fellow, perform a feat of strength.”
Ru shook his head vaguely.
“He does not understand your tongue, sir, who is an Ethiopian. Stay, I
will tell him.”
Then he began to address Ru in unknown words. Ru woke up and nodded,
grinning. Next instant he sprang at the two officers, seized one of
them with either hand by the neckbands of their garments and lifted
them from the deck as though they had been infants. Next, roaring with
laughter, he stepped to the side of the ship and held them out over
the Nile as though he were about to drop them into the water. The
officers shouted, Tau swore and tried to drag him back, yelling orders
into his ear. Ru turned round astonished, still holding the two men in
the air before him and looking at the belly of the ship as though he
meant to throw them into it.
At length he seemed to understand and dropped them to the deck, on
which they fell flat.
“That is one of his favourite tricks, sirs,” said Tau as he helped
them to their feet. “He is so strong that he can carry a third man in
his teeth.”
“Is it?” said an officer. “Well, we have had enough of your savage and
his tricks, who, I think, will land you in prison before you have done
with him. Keep him off now while we get into the boat.”
Thus was the ship of Tau searched by the officers of Apepi.
When the boat had gone and once more the ship was slipping past the
quays of Memphis unobserved in the mists drawn by the rising sun from
the river, Ru came near to the tiller and said:
“I think, Lord Tau, for a lord or count I hold you to be, although it
pleases you to pass as the owner of a small trading boat, that you
would have done well to let me drop those two fine fellows into the
Nile that tells no stories of those it buries. By and by it will be
found that there is no warship such as you talked of so wonderfully,
and then----?”
“And then, Breaker of Bones, it may go hard with those officers who
chattered of such a ship like finches in the reeds and while they did
so let the real prize slip through their fingers. For this, indeed, I
am sorry, since those young men were not bad fellows in their way. As
for dropping them into the Nile, it might have been well enough,
though cruel, had there not been a witness. What would that boatman
who rowed them to the ship have reported when he found that they
returned from it no more?”
“You are clever,” said Ru admiringly. “I never thought of that.”
“No, Ru. If my brain were added to your brute strength and
uninstructed honesty, why, you would rule the world of brutes. But
they are not, and therefore you must be content to serve in the yoke,
like a bull, which is as strong as you are, or stronger.”
“If it is brains that make the difference, why do you not rule, Lord
Tau, who are also a likely man though not so big as I am? Why are you
carrying fugitives upon a dirty little merchant ship instead of
sitting upon a Pharaoh’s throne? Tell me, who am but a simple black
man bred to war and honesty.”
Tau with much skill steered his ship through a fleet of barges poling
up Nile laden with fodder. Then calling to a sailor to take his place,
for now the river was open with no craft in sight, he sat himself down
on the low bulwark, and answered:
“Because mayhap, friend Ru, I also choose to serve. Being stupid, like
most honest men, especially if they are strong and one of a simple
race that understands nothing except love from which is born mankind,
and war that keeps down its numbers, you may not believe me when I
tell you that the only true joy in life lies in service of this sort
or of that. Pharaohs are served, which is why they are often so blind
and so satisfied and being but vain bubbles blown along by a wind they
cannot see, springing, although they know it not, from the poisoned
breath of multitudes; for the most part they do more harm than good
and are themselves the slaves of slaves. With him who serves it is
otherwise, for, setting aside self-seekings and ambitions, he works
humbly for that which is good and in this work finds his reward.”
Ru rubbed his brow, then asked:
“But whom does such an one serve, Lord?”
“He serves God, Ru.”
“God? There are many gods that I have heard of in Ethiopia, in Egypt,
and in other lands. What god does he serve and where does he find that
god?”
“He finds him in his own heart, Ru, but what his name may be I cannot
tell you. Some call it Justice, some call it Freedom, some call it
Hope, some call it Spirit.”
“And what do those call it who serve only themselves and their own
lusts, careless of all those fine things, Lord?”
“I do not know, Ru, and yet I know that name. It is Death.”
“Yet they live as long as other men, Lord, and often reap a finer
harvest.”
“Aye, Ru, but very soon their day is done and then, if they have not
repented, their souls die.”
“So you believe that souls can live on, as the priests seem to teach.”
“Yes, Ru, I believe that they can live longer than Ra the sun himself,
longer than the stars, and from age to age reap the fruits of honest
service. Yet of these matters do not ask me but ask one whom you will
soon meet and whose disciple I am.”
“I don’t wish to, Lord, seeing that my brain swims already, but tell
me, if it please you, to what end is all this service of yours that
causes you to sail up Nile and at great risk to rescue certain ladies
and a certain babe?”
“I am not sure, for true service is its own end. Moreover, it is not
for me to ask of ends, who am sworn to obey without doubt or
question.”
“So you also have a master, Lord. Who is he?”
“That you will learn ere long, Ru. Yet do not think to look upon some
king or enthroned high priest surrounded with pomps and ceremonies.
Ru, I will instruct you, who are so ignorant. Doubtless you believe
that Egypt and the world are ruled by the strength you see, by
Pharaohs, by armies, and by wealth. Yet it is not so. There is another
strength you do not see which is its guide and conqueror, and its name
is Spirit. The priests teach that to every man there is given a _Ka_
or a double, an invisible something that is stronger, purer, more
enduring than he is. Something that perhaps from time to time looks
upon the face of God and whispers of God’s will. Now if this be a
parable, yet in a sense it is true since always such a spirit is at
the elbow of everyone who lives. Or rather there are two spirits, one
of good and one of evil; one that leads upwards and one that leads
downwards.”
“I say again that you make my head swim, Lord. But tell me, where and
to what is your spirit leading you?”
“Towards the gates of peace, Ru; peace for myself and peace for Egypt;
towards a land where you would find little occupation for in it there
is no war. Look, yonder are the Great Pyramids, the homes of the dead,
and mayhap of their souls which do not die. Come, help me lower the
sail since we must drift past them slowly, to return when night has
fallen and land certain passengers. There, perhaps, Ru, you will learn
more of the meaning of all this talk of mine.”
Night had come. At its approach he who was called Tau had rowed his
ship back to a certain landing place which now, at the time of the
rising Nile, was not so very far away from the Great Pyramids and the
Sphinx that sits near to them staring eternally into nothingness. Here
they disembarked, all of them, under shelter of the darkness and of a
bed of reeds.
Scarcely were they on shore when they saw boats, which great lanterns
hung at their prow and stern showed to be full of armed men, rowing
down Nile. Tau watched them go by and said:
“I think some messenger has told those officers at Memphis that there
was no warship following us from Thebes and that now they search for a
certain trading boat on which travelled two women and a babe. Well,
let them search, for the birds are out of their hands and where they
nest no Shepherd will dare to come.”
Then, having given directions to the mate of the boat, a very quiet,
secret-faced man, as were all those on board of her, he took Rima the
Queen by the hand and led her into the darkness, being followed by
Kemmah, who bore the child, and by Ru the Ethiopian, who carried upon
his shoulder the sack that contained the jewels of the Pharaohs of
Upper Egypt.
For a long while they trudged forward, first between groves of palm
trees and then over desert sands, till at length the waning moon rose
and they saw a wondrous sight. In front of them appeared the enormous
shape of a lion cut from the living rock whose face was not that of a
beast but of a man, wearing the headdress of a god or king, and
staring towards the east with solemn, terrifying eyes.
“What is that?” asked Rima faintly. “Have we reached the Underworld
and is this its god? For surely yonder dreadful smiling countenance
must be that of a god.”
“Nay, Lady,” answered Tau, “it is but the symbol of a god, the Sphinx
which has sat here for countless ages. Look! Behind it stand the
pyramids outlined against the sky, and beneath it are safety and rest
for you and for your child.”
“Safety for the child, perhaps,” she said, “and for me, as I think,
the longest rest of all. For know, O Tau, that Death looks at me out
of those solemn smiling eyes.”
Tau made no answer; indeed, even his calm spirit seemed to be
frightened at those words of evil omen, as was Kemmah, who muttered:
“We go to dwell among sepulchres and it is as well, for I think that
soon they will be needed.”
Even Ru was frightened, though more by the gigantic figure of the
Sphinx towering above him than by the Queen’s words, which he scarcely
seemed to understand.
“Here is that which turns my heart to water and loosens my knees,” he
said in his savage imagery. “Here is that with which no man, not even
I, can fight, and therefore for the first time I am afraid. Here is
Fate itself, and what can man do in the face of Fate?”
“Obey its decrees, as all must,” answered Tau solemnly. “Forward now,
for the temple of this god is open, and leave the rest--to Fate.”
They came to some steps about fifty paces from the outstretched paws
of this mighty monument, and descending them, found themselves facing
what seemed to be a huge granite block in a wall. Taking a stone which
lay at hand, Tau knocked upon this block in a peculiar fashion. Thrice
did he repeat this rhythmic series of blows, each time with some
difference. Then he waited, and behold, presently in a silent fashion
the great stone turned, leaving a narrow opening through which he
beckoned them to follow him. They entered to find themselves in dense
darkness and to hear sounds as of passwords being given and received.
Next lamps appeared floating towards them through the darkness and
they perceived that these were borne by men clothed as white-robed
priests who yet carried swords like soldiers and wore knives thrust
through their girdles. There were six of these priests and a seventh
who appeared to be a leader of them, for he walked ahead. To this man
Tau spoke, saying:
“I bring you that I went forth to seek,” and he pointed to the royal
child sleeping in the arms of Kemmah and to the Queen and behind her,
to the gigantic Ru on whom the priests looked doubtfully.
Tau began to tell them who he was, but the leader of the priests said:
“It is needless. The Holy Prophet has spoken to me of him. Yet let him
understand that he who reveals the secrets of this place dies
terribly.”
“Is it so?” said Ru. “Well, already I feel as though I were dead and
buried.”
Then one by one the priests made obeisance to the babe, and this done,
motioned to them to follow.
On they went, down a long passage that seemed to be built of blocks of
alabaster, till they came to a great hall, of which the roof was
supported by huge columns of granite, in which hall sat solemn statues
of gods or kings. Crossing it, they reached a gallery, out of which
opened chambers that served as dwelling rooms, for in them were
window-places, which chambers, it seemed, had been made ready for
them, since they were furnished with beds and all things necessary,
even to clothing such as women wear. Moreover, in one of them a table
was set with good food and wine.
“Eat now and sleep,” said Tau. “I go to make report to the Prophet.
To-morrow he will speak with you.”