things on board that delicate butterfly of a vessel, including the lovely
maiden in her rich robes, with her harp standing by her side, was that
of a pleasure party. No one looking from shore or passing vessel would
have thought that such a festival barge with its luxurious and dainty
furnishings and daintier mistress was heavily weighted with anxious
thoughts of peril and conflict.
To Rachel, her surroundings, from the cloudless sky and wooing breeze to
the costly and delicate sea-chariot on which she was borne, seemed almost
so many mockeries. Her real sky was full of clouds, her real wind was
the breath of storms, and the real galley on which her spirit was sailing
was a war ship full of swords and spears and faces threatening battle.
She found it very hard to cover her anxieties with the serene face and
manner which she felt the situation demanded. So she kept the servants as
far from her as possible, that their prying eyes and ears might not play
too successfully on herself and Seti.
They were hardly well afloat before Seti began to unfold his plan of
proceeding.
“It is very important,” said he, “that we implicate the Flacci, both
father and son, as little as possible in this affair. The father, bad as
he is, probably has nothing to do with the abduction; and so ought not to
suffer on account of it. The guilty party is Sextus; who, having access
to his father’s official seal and blank forms, forged the warrant for
the arrest, and then employed some dissolute companions of his among the
discharged Roman soldiers to execute the warrant. These having no duties
in the city have not yet returned, and so the watch of the students for
them has been in vain. Sextus is the great criminal in the case and
deserves exposure. But, if we so manage the matter as to expose him both
to his mortified father and the public, we shall be sure so to exasperate
both of them as to throw their whole influence, under one pretext or
another, against us in the impending suit against Malus. And that would
be a very serious matter. So we must try to rescue Aleph as quietly as
possible—in some way that does not direct public suspicion toward the
Flacci at all. If we should appear before the castle of the governor with
a sufficient force to back us, and demand the prisoner, the whole affair
would at once go abroad to the four winds, and cry FLACCUS in every ear
from Pharos to the Cataracts: besides, the garrison would probably deny
having the prisoner, and contrive some way of disposing of him before
we could effect an entrance. So the best way for us is to persuade the
custodes to give Aleph the means of making his own escape; and we can be
near to receive him and carry him quietly back to the city—saying nothing
as to where he was found and how rescued. If this plan fails we must, of
course, resort to rougher methods.”
“Do you think,” inquired the maiden, “that Aleph would have submitted
so quietly to the arrest had he not supposed it made by the proper
authorities?”
“Certainly not. He yielded to what he supposed to be the government of
the country in which for the time being he was living.”
“In that case, if he were assured that the arrest was pronounced
unwarranted by the governor, and that he was expressly allowed to free
himself by any means, would he not be likely to make great efforts to
free himself?”
“Doubtless, if opportunity could be found. But how is he to break down an
iron door with his hands, or, with his hands dig through massive stone
walls settled together and cemented by ages? I know that dungeon well.
It is the strongest in all Egypt. Supreme strength and courage must have
opportunity. Genius must have some capital of favorable circumstance on
which to work. Even heroes must have ground on which to stand, and scope
for their arms. No, I know the place too well to think that our young
friend, full of resources as he is, can do anything to help himself till
he is at least outside of the dungeon, or till some fitting tools have
been introduced into it.”
“I knew the castle belonged to your ancestors, and is rightfully yours;
but I did not suppose that you knew anything about the interior.”
“See here!” said the Egyptian, as he drew from the folds of his robe a
parchment discolored by age, and unrolled it before her. “Here is a plan
of the whole structure, cellars and dungeon included. This has come down
to me through many generations, together with a written description of
every part of the structure; and, though I have never set foot in it, I
think I could find my way about it without the least difficulty. There
has always lingered in the family a vague faith, be it superstition or
not, that this noblest of the ancient Egyptian palaces was destined to
come back to us some day; and so the eldest in our line has always made
it a point to know as much about the structure as if he were in actual
possession.”
“Explain the plan to me, my dear grandfather. It may somehow help us in
what we have to do. I, too, would like to be able to thread my way alone
over the whole.”
“Heaven (_your_ Heaven) forbid that you shall have need to do so. Still,
we have leisure for an explanation, at least in part; and it will be
in the way of our family custom. This line (pointing) represents the
high and massive stone wall that surrounds the whole palace, together
with extensive grounds in the rear. There are three gates to this all
surrounding wall—one in front, opening on a flight of steps to the river
by which the master and his friends come and go; the others far back on
the north and south sides and chiefly used by servants for communicating
with the little hamlets that lie, one above and the other below the
palace. On the river side of the inclosure rises the quadrangle of the
palace. The front and two connected sides contain the state and family
apartments: the rear is given up to servants and the various offices
belonging to them. Of course the soldiers are quartered in this last. We
will only study this part now. It is of only a single story above ground.
Right here in the middle is a large room where doubtless the soldiers eat
and drink: to the right and left of it are their lodging rooms and the
kitchens. Directly under this common and mess room is the single dungeon
of the castle, connected by a flight of steps with the mess room, and
also by another flight through a heavy iron door with the rear grounds of
the castle. One can reach the dungeon only through the iron door or by
descending from the common mess room. The wine and provision cellars are
to the right and left of the dungeon, and a narrow passage runs before
the whole.”
“Has the dungeon any light and ventilation?” inquired Rachel anxiously.
“Only through the narrow grated opening in the wall by which food can be
introduced without opening the door; and the narrow passage before all
the vaults is only dimly lighted by a barred opening near the ceiling at
either end.”
“Would Aleph have light enough to read a note or this plan of yours?”
“It may be. Such eyes as his can do what mine could not. I have sometimes
thought that they furnished their own light. But whoever could put a note
through that grate could introduce a narrow lamp or taper also.”
“If a pointed iron bar could be secretly introduced by the custodes
through the grate, would Aleph be able to pry open the door?”
“Impossible—at least without making so much noise as to rouse the
soldiers.”
“Perhaps they are revellers,” she said reflectively, “and, having free
access to the wine cellars, have frequent carousals and even stupid
drunkenness.”
“Very likely; almost certainly,” Seti exclaimed. “They are the boon
companions of Sextus; and, like him, will not miss an opportunity of
indulgence. If we can only gain over the custodes, we might so drug their
wine as to stupefy their drunkenness still more, so that loud noises
would not rouse them. This deserves to be thought of; and, fortunately,
I happen to have with me for another purpose a drug which I think will
answer. But we must not depend on this plan alone. If one expedient
should fail, we must have another to fall back upon.”
“And what is that?”
“We must persuade the custodes to get possession of the key of the
dungeon. This ought not to be impossible, if the soldiers have a drunken
carouse every night, as seems to me very likely. But we cannot be very
specific in our plans till we have seen the peddler and custodes, and
know exactly what the situation is.”
Rachel said nothing more, but pored over the plan of the palace. At
length she drew from a small ivory box by her side an ink horn and
papyrus, and proceeded to make a fair copy of the plan—adding some
jottings of explanation as Seti had given them. She then put both
original and copy in his hands. He compared the two, nodded, and looked
at her inquiringly.
“I mean, if it is possible, to get this to him with the iron bar.”
He silently returned the copy.
Meanwhile the pinnace had been steadily pressing on its way. It passed
through the canal, it turned up the Nile, it went sweeping by crocodile
and hippopotamus and ibis sporting in the water or sunning by the banks,
it met corn ship, and Roman galley, and Nubian dory, and skin-raft loaded
with brick and stone, and, occasionally, a pleasure barge freighted to
overflowing with the laughter and song of the young and gay. The peasants
on the banks for a moment stopped work at their trenching and water
wheels to gaze at the beautiful vessel, the Nautilus of the Nile, and
perchance to envy those who reclined under its snowy wings and silken
canopy. Ah, little did they know what anxieties were aching away at
the heart of all that beauty and costliness! The breeze toyed with the
sails, the waters rippled and gleamed and laughed away from the decorated
prow, the oars rose and sank in a water-song of their own that kept time
with the low chant of the rowers—there was music of all sorts filtering
through the dreamy air—but under that awning of silk and purple there was
only the music of prayer and, it may be, of some hope that the Most High
would not allow the wicked to triumph. But prayer was the chief thing.
Much silent planning and resolving was done during the latter part of the
voyage, but there was more silent praying than either.
“Grandfather, what a comfort and help it is to pray!” as she turned
toward Seti and laid her hand on his arm.
“I have found it out, my child, though not as soon as I could wish. But
the knowledge will remain. Straits crowd one toward the Unseen Helper.”
And now the castle was in full view. On a promontory that curved out
boldly into the river, skirted both above and below by a thick grove of
mingled mimosas, acacias, sycamores, and palms, each of which groves
screened a little bay and hamlet, stood a quadrangular fortress with its
defiant encompassing wall. Rachel drew her harp toward her and began to
play—at first softly and slowly, and then with a stronger and more rapid
hand. As the pinnace approached the castle she began to accompany the
instrument with her voice: and, when fully in front, the voice surged
up over the promontory in melodious billows and seemed to envelop it in
floods of exultant song, every word of which was rendered with wonderful
distinctness. It was a chant. It was a chant in the original tongue of
these words from the Book of Daniel. “Now when he came to the den he
cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said
to Daniel, ‘O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou
servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions?’”
Again and again the words rose and beat their delicious music against the
castle like an invading army. Seti narrowly watched the premises as the
pinnace glided by, but saw no sign of life. But as soon as they had gone
a little farther, rounded the promontory, and then silently veered into
the sheltered nook by the hamlet, they saw the peddler on the wharf with
his professional pack on his back.
When the vessel was fairly moored, the man begged to be allowed to come
on board and exhibit his goods, which he protested were the finest and
cheapest to be found outside of Alexandria. The beautiful lady would
certainly find something she would like among his various stores. In
short, his eloquence was so great that he was at length allowed to come
on board and ostentatiously spread out his wares about Rachel and Seti.
“Say that he is living,” she almost gasped, though scarcely above a
murmur.
“He is, my lady.”
“Say that food has been given him daily.”
“At least since I came.”
“Now tell us,” she said, with a firmer but still low voice, “while you
slowly display your goods, piece by piece, what you have done—in as few
words as possible.”
“Yes, my lady. I landed at this hamlet, and went up at once to the
south gate of the palace grounds. Here I found a soldier on guard; but,
on making him a small present, he allowed me to enter and seek my old
acquaintances, the custodes. Fortunately I found them by themselves in an
out-house—the old Egyptian and his much younger Jewish wife; the latter
much the leading partner, as I had long known. I warmly saluted them
as old friends, hoped they had not forgotten Ezra, assured them that I
had never been so well prepared to give them a good trade as now; and
proceeded to unpack and display my goods despite their protestations that
they did not want anything, could not afford to buy anything, and such
like nonsense. But I saw that their eyes followed me as I spread out
article after article, and that they listened well as I mentioned prices
absurdly low.
“‘You must have stolen these things,’ exclaimed the Jewess. ‘Alas, that a
son of Abraham should turn thief!’
“‘I hardly wonder,’ said I, ‘that you suspect my honesty; for, as you so
plainly see, these goods are worth many times what I ask for them. How
then does it happen that I can honestly offer them so low? I will tell
you. I have a very liberal friend—no less a person than the lady Rachel,
daughter of the great banker Alexander; and she pities me and other poor
children of our people; and it is she who makes it possible for me to let
you have the goods at so low a figure. Our father Abraham knows that I
could not do it otherwise.’
“As soon as I mentioned your name, I saw at once that I had touched the
right chord. I have since found that she came from Alexandria, where her
family in time of sickness and poverty had received much help from your
family. ‘The God of our fathers bless the pitiful and gracious lady,’ she
exclaimed. ‘Many a time has she helped me and mine.’
“‘And is she not the granddaughter of Seti—the high-priest and head of my
race?’ inquired the Egyptian husband.
“‘To be sure she is,’ I exclaimed, ‘the worthy child of both Egypt and
Israel—and I will tell you a secret (I sank my voice very low and looked
cautiously about). I can tell you of a way in which you can greatly
oblige these great friends of ours and get as many of these goods as you
would like for just nothing—absolutely nothing.’
“Their eyes opened wider and began to glisten. They drew themselves
closer to me.
“‘Look you,’ said I, ‘there has been in the dungeon of this castle
for the last few days a young man who is a special friend of Seti
and Alexander. He was arrested without right, and spirited away from
Alexandria in the night, and brought here by a company of men appearing
as Roman soldiers.’
“Thrown off her guard, the Jewess exclaimed, ‘How did you come to know
this?’
“‘No matter,’ said I, ‘it is enough that I _do_ know it; and know further
that if you would oblige Seti and Alexander, who have such claims on you,
as well as wonderfully advantage yourselves, you have now an opportunity.
If you will help them in this matter, they can and will do great things
for you. It is the opportunity of a life-time.’
“‘But what can we do?’ exclaimed both custodes at once.
“‘I will tell you. But first tell me whether you have seen that goodly
young man with your own eyes, and know him to have been safe and sound
when he was put into the dungeon.’
“‘So he seemed by the torch-light,’ said the Jewess. ‘A goodly young
man, you may well say. I never saw one half so goodly. He stood like a
king among his slaves, with his great staff for a sceptre. The soldiers
seemed almost as much afraid of his eye as of his staff, and plainly felt
relieved when the key was turned upon him.’
“‘Has he had food and drink since then?’ I asked.
“They hesitated; and the woman looked in a troubled way at her husband.
“‘Now, by all the patriarchs,’ cried I in great excitement, ‘have they
been starving this friend of Seti and Alexander all these days, and you
doing nothing to help him?’
“‘Not so,’ she hastened to exclaim. ‘We thought we could not let the
young man perish; and as soon as we found out that no food of any kind
was being given him we managed to introduce some secretly through a
grated opening in the wall originally made for that purpose. But it
has been at the risk of our lives. We cannot continue. If we should be
discovered he would kill us.’
“‘Whom do you mean by “he”?’ I asked.
“‘The leader among the soldiers.’
“‘What sort of a man is he?’
“‘A great, bull necked, big fisted man; with fierce and cruel and blood
shot eyes, and cheeks somewhat bruised and swollen. I have heard him
called Draco. This man carries the key of the dungeon at his girdle day
and night. He treats us like dogs, and would kill us outright in his
terrible passion should he find us out. No, we cannot afford to take such
a risk for a single day longer. We were worrying over the matter when you
came up.’
“‘Look here, woman!’ said I fiercely, ‘if you let this Hebrew (for he is
of our faith) perish, you will have to account for it to both man and
God; but, if you will give him ample food and drink daily and help us to
free him, the lady Rachel promises to reward you richly—beyond what you
could dream. If there is risk in the matter there is enough pay in it,
too, to make it well worth your while to take the risk. But I do not see
that you need to run any considerable risk. Where are these men in the
night?’
“‘They always pass the best part of the night in a drunken carouse. They
have found the wine cellar.’
“‘And, I dare say, by midnight they are lying about the floor of the mess
room dead drunk and stupid as logs.’
“‘It may be.’
“‘And what is to hinder you from taking that time for putting food, and
whatever else his friends may wish (this note for example), within reach
of the prisoner? The risk must be very small. Indeed I am not sure but
that you might safely steal in among the besotted and snoring brutes, cut
off the key from Draco’s belt, and open the door of the dungeon. The lady
Rachel would enrich you for life.’
“The woman threw up her hands in dismay. ‘I _could_ not do it. The very
idea of such a thing almost frightens me to death. Besides, how do I know
that the daughter of Alexander will fulfill all your fine promises. You
always did talk larger than the truth. You never spare fine talking in
the way of business.’
“I confess this awfully embarrassed me. My habit in dealing with my
customers _has_ been somewhat of the ornamental and poetical sort. And
now at last it had brought me into difficulty. What should I do? I
silently promised myself that I would mend my ways. I protested to the
woman by all things sacred that I did not misrepresent you. The miserable
woman declared she would not believe me. Nothing short of your own lips
should satisfy her. If you would come and with your own mouth repeat my
promises they would try to do what they could. But she shook like one in
a palsy when she said it.
“Seeing that my reputation was too much for me, sinner that I am; and
that nothing better could be done, I said, ‘You are unreasonable; but
it shall be as you say. The lady will come and confirm all I have said.
But meanwhile (here I drew out my bag of gold pieces) this is what she
has given me to reward those who take risks in her service; and if you
will daily put into the grated opening plenty of food and drink, together
with whatever else I may give you, and will daily come to me in the upper
hamlet where you are in the habit of going for provisions, and will swear
that you have done so by the beards of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, I will, each time, give you two gold pieces. And I will begin now;
for I want you to put this note into the dungeon this very day. Swear to
me that you will do it.’ And I held up two shining pieces in the sun.
“Her eyes snapped. So did mine—the gold looked so dazzling and lovely
in the golden sun. As for the husband, he sat with amazed eyes and open
mouth, but said nothing. Neither of them had seen such gold before.
“The woman stretched out her hand. I made her swear, gave her the note
you gave me, and then gave her the two coins.
“Just then a man shouted to them from the castle in a threatening tone;
and they hurried away in a fright, while I gathered up my wares as fast
as I could and went back to the hamlet. Here I scrawled a note to you,
gave it to my son whom I had taken the precaution to take with me, and
put him on board of a vessel for Alexandria just then passing. Since
then the custode has been to me daily, made oath that she has fed the
prisoner, and received her gold pieces. She reports that Draco has gone
back to the city for a day or two; but that he has left a substitute who
wears the key of the dungeon at his belt, and leads off every night in
the drunken debauch. I expect her every moment. It is about time for her
to make her daily visit.... There she is with her provision basket! I
will go and bring her on board.”
Rachel was struck with the air of the humbly dressed and somewhat bent
woman whom the peddler soon brought up to her. She looked the picture of
timidity and uncertainty—as if drawn in opposite directions by powerful
forces, and almost torn in pieces in the struggle between them. Her
nerves were all on the wing. One could warrant that no sound sleep had
come to her for many a night. She staggered rather than walked up to
where Rachel was sitting.
Rachel saluted her warmly; with her own hands placed a cushion for her
near herself; asked her name; by degrees drew her out to tell of her
former life in Alexandria and of her bits of contact with the family
of Alexander. How long had she lived here? Were there others of “our
faith and race” in this neighborhood? Was she holding fast to the God of
Israel? And did she hear and understand the chant from the prophet Daniel?
Seti sat silently by and listened to the gentle, soothing tones in which,
without any airs of condescension and patronage, but simply as woman with
woman and believer with believer, the princess talked with the peasant,
till he saw the discomposure of the poor woman slowly give way to the
winsome ways of one speaking to her as from her own level. And yet what a
contrast! The fresh, glorious beauty and grace, fittingly arrayed, of the
one over against the faded features and crooked form and rough garments
of the other! Could it be that the two were of the same race? No one who
saw Rachel that day could doubt that she at least thought so, and knew
how to make her lowly sister feel the same. Said Seti to himself, “The
last few days have ripened her like tropical suns.” There are ways in
which the great may put themselves in sympathy and fellowship with the
lowly without putting on their dress, eating their food, living in their
cabins, and using their language.
“And this is my grandfather, Deborah,” at length said Rachel, looking
toward Seti, “who, though he is high priest of Egypt, honors the God of
our fathers and loves our people. He shall be witness to what I will now
say to you. Our merchant friend here has told you how much interested
we are to rescue the young man of our faith who is now in the castle
dungeon. But Ezra was not able to tell you, as I do now, that the young
man was not imprisoned by the government, but by a band of ruffians on
their own private feud; and that we have in our hands a warrant from the
governor to deliver him from his enemies as best we can. But there are
reasons why we wish to do it as quietly as possible. Here you can help
us. You have already helped us by keeping our friend from starvation. Now
we want you to help us still further—in fact, to help us free him this
very night. If there is any risk to you in what we shall now propose,
we will reward you accordingly. We will do for you all that our agent
the merchant has promised. We will make it unnecessary for you to be a
servant any more. If you choose you shall go with us to Alexandria, and
live at your ease for the rest of your life. You know that we are able
to do as much as we say. Now, grandfather, will you tell Deborah what we
want her to do?”
“Do you and your husband draw and carry the wine every night to the
soldiers?” inquired Seti.
The woman answered in the affirmative.