and obliged to leave
the Egyptian and the Hanging-gardens in the care of my colleague
Kandaules, who has paid for his negligence with his life. Finding myself
better towards evening, I went up to the hanging-gardens to see if
everything was in order there, and also to look at the rare flower which
was to blossom in the night. The king, (Auramazda grant him victory!) had
commanded that the Egyptian should be more strictly watched than usual,
because she had dared to send the noble Bartja . . ."

"Be silent," interrupted the king, "and keep to the matter in hand."

"Just as the Tistar-star was rising, I came into the garden, and staid
some time there with these noble Achaemenidae, the high-priest and the
king Croesus, looking at the blue lily, which was marvellously beautiful.
I then called my colleague Kandaules and asked him, in the presence of
these noble witnesses, if everything was in order. He affirmed that this
was the case and added, that he had just come from Nitetis, that she had
wept the whole day, and neither tasted food nor drink. Feeling anxious
lest my noble mistress should become worse, I commissioned Kandaules to
fetch a physician, and was just on the point of leaving the noble
Achaemenidae, in order in person to ascertain my mistress's state of
health, when I saw in the moon-light the figure of a man. I was so ill
and weak, that I could hardly stand and had no one near to help me,
except the gardener.

"My men were on guard at the different entrances, some distance from us.

"I clapped my hands to call some of them, but, as they did not come, I
went nearer to the house myself, under the protection of these
noblemen.--The man was standing by the window of the Egyptian Princess's
apartment, and uttered a low whistle when he heard us coming up. Another
figure appeared directly--clearly recognizable in the bright
moonlight--sprang out of the sleeping-room window and came towards us
with her companion.

"I could hardly believe my eyes on discovering that the intruder was no
other than the noble Bartja. A fig-tree concealed us from the fugitives,
but we could distinctly see them, as they passed us at a distance of not
more than four steps. While I was thinking whether I should be justified
in arresting a son of Cyrus, Croesus called to Bartja, and the two
figures suddenly disappeared behind a cypress. No one but your brother
himself can possibly explain the strange way in which he disappeared. I
went at o