THE ANCIENT WORLD SERIES - Complete Haggard Edition. Henry Rider Haggard
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and none know where he is, and Jabez has only escaped much trouble as the uncle of a traitress by undertaking this mission."
"What is the mission?"
"To pray me, if I would save myself from death and the vengeance of God, to work upon the heart of his Highness, which I know not how to do——"
"Yet I think you might find means, Merapi."
"——save through you, his friend and counsellor," she went on, turning away her face. "Jabez has learned that it is in the mind of Pharaoh utterly to destroy the people of Israel."
"How does he know that, Merapi?"
"I cannot say, but I think all the Hebrews know. I knew it myself though none had told me. He has learned also that this cannot be done under the law of Egypt unless the Prince who is heir to the throne and of full age consents. Now I am come to pray you to pray the Prince not to consent."
"Why not pray to the Prince yourself, Merapi——" I began, when from the shadows behind me I heard the voice of Seti, who had entered by the private door bearing some writings in his hand, saying:
"And what prayer has the lady Merapi to make to me? Nay, rise and speak, Moon of Israel."
"O Prince," she pleaded, "my prayer is that you will save the Hebrews from death by the sword, as you alone have the power to do."
At this moment the doors opened and in swept the royal Userti.
"What does this woman here?" she asked.
"I think that she came to see Ana, wife, as I did, and as doubtless you do. Also being here she prays me to save her people from the sword."
"And I pray you, husband, to give her people to the sword, which they have earned, who would have murdered you."
"And been paid, everyone of them, Userti, unless some still linger beneath the rods," he added with a shudder. "The rest are innocent—why should they die?"
"Because your throne hangs upon it, Seti. I say that if you continue to thwart the will of Pharaoh, as by the law of Egypt you can do, he will disinherit you and set your cousin Amenmeses in your place, as by the law of Egypt he can do."
"I thought it, Userti. Yet why should I turn my back upon the right over a matter of my private fortunes? The question is—is it the right?"
She stared at him in amazement, she who never understood Seti and could not dream that he would throw away the greatest throne in all the world to save a subject people, merely because he thought that they should not die. Still, warned by some instinct, she left the first question unanswered, dealing only with the second.
"It is the right," she said, "for many reasons whereof I need give but one, for in it lie all the others. The gods of Egypt are the true gods whom we must serve and obey, or perish here and hereafter. The god of the Israelites is a false god and those who worship him are heretics and by their heresy under sentence of death. Therefore it is most right that those whom the true gods have condemned should die by the swords of their servants."
"That is well argued, Userti, and if it be so, mayhap my mind will become as yours in this matter, so that I shall no longer stand between Pharaoh and his desire. But is it so? There's the problem. I will not ask you why you say that the gods of the Egyptians are the true gods, because I know what you would answer, or rather that you could give no answer. But I will ask this lady whether her god is a false god, and if she replies that he is not, I will ask her to prove this to me if she can. If she is able to prove it, then I think that what I said to Pharaoh to-day I shall repeat three days hence. If she is not able to prove it, then I shall consider very earnestly of the matter. Answer now, Moon of Israel, remembering that many thousands of lives may hang on what you say."
"O your Highness," began Merapi. Then she paused, clasped her hands and looked upwards. I think that she was praying, for her lips moved. As she stood thus I saw, and I think Seti saw also, a very wonderful light grow on her face and gather in her eyes, a kind of divine fire of inspiration and resolve.
"How can I, a poor Hebrew maiden, prove to your Highness that my God is the true God and that the gods of Egypt are false gods? I know not, and yet, is there any one god among all the many whom you worship, whom you are prepared to set up against him?"
"Of a surety, Israelite," answered Userti. "There is Amon-Ra, Father of the gods, of whom all other gods have their being, and from whom they draw their strength. Yonder his statue sits in the sanctuary of his ancient temple. Let your god stir him from his place! But what will you bring forward against the majesty of Amon-Ra?"
"My God has no statues, Princess, and his place is in the hearts of men, or so I have been taught by his prophets. I have nothing to bring forward in this war save that which must be offered in all wars—my life."
"What do you mean?" asked Seti, astounded.
"I mean that I, unfriended and alone, will enter the presence of Amon-Ra in his chosen sanctuary, and in the name of my God will challenge him to kill me, if he can."
We stared at her, and Userti exclaimed:
"If he can! Hearken now to this blasphemer, and do you, Seti, accept her challenge as hereditary high-priest of the god Amon? Let her life pay forfeit for her sacrilege."
"And if the great god Amon cannot, or does not deign to kill you, Lady, how will that prove that your god is greater than he?" asked the Prince. "Perhaps he might smile and in his pity, let the insult pass, as your god did by me."
"Thus it shall be proved, your Highness. If naught happens to me, or if I am protected from anything that does happen, then I will dare to call upon my god to work a sign and a wonder, and to humble Amon-Ra before your eyes."
"And if your god should also smile and let the matter pass, Lady, as he did by me the other day when his priests called upon him, what shall we have learned as to his strength, or as to that of Amon-Ra?"
"O Prince, you will have learned nothing. Yet if I escape from the wrath of Amon and my God is deaf to my prayer, then I am ready to be delivered over into the hands of the priests of Amon that they may avenge my sacrilege upon me."
"There speaks a great heart," said Seti; "yet I am not minded that this lady should set her life upon such an issue. I do not believe that either the high-god of Egypt or the god of the Israelites will stir, but I am quite sure that the priests of Amon will avenge the sacrilege, and that cruelly enough. The dice are loaded against you, Lady. You shall not prove your faith with blood."
"Why not?" asked Userti. "What is this girl to you, Seti, that you should stand between her and the fruit of her wickedness, you who at least in name are the high-priest of the god whom she blasphemes and who wear his robes at temple feasts? She believes in her god, leave it to her god to help her as she has dared to say he will."
"You believe in Amon, Userti. Are you prepared to stake your life against hers in this contest?"
"I am not so mad and vain, Seti, as to believe that the god of all the world will descend from heaven to save me at my prayer, as this impious girl pretends that she believes."
"You refuse. Then, Ana, what say you, who are a loyal worshipper of Amon?"
"I say, O Prince, that it would be presumptuous of me to take precedence of his high-priest in such a matter."
Seti smiled and answered:
"And the high-priest says that it would be presumptuous of him to push so far the prerogative of a high office which he never sought."
"Your Highness," broke in Merapi in her honeyed, pleading voice, "I pray you to be gracious to me, and to suffer me to make this trial, which I have sought, I know not why. Words such as I have spoken cannot be recalled. Already they are registered in the books of Eternity, and soon or late, in this way or in that, must be fulfilled. My life is staked, and I desire to learn at once if it be forfeit."
Now even Userti looked on her with admiration, but answered only:
"Of a truth, Israelite, I trust that this courage will not forsake