384

THE CAT OF BUBASTES.

CHAPTER I.

THE KING OF THE REBU.

The sun was blazing down upon a city on the western shore of the
Caspian. It was a primitive city, and yet its size and population
rendered it worthy of the term. It consisted of a vast aggregation of
buildings, which were for the most part mere huts. Among them rose,
however, a few of more solid build and of higher pretensions. These
were the abodes of the chiefs and great men, the temples, and places
of assembly. But although larger and more solidly built, these
buildings could lay no claim to architectural beauty of any kind, but
were little more than magnified huts, and even the king's palace was
but a collection of such buildings closely adjoining each other.

The town was surrounded by a lofty wall with battlements and
loopholes, and a similar but higher wall girt in the dwellings of the
king and of his principal captains. The streets were alive with the
busy multitude; and it was evident that although in the arts of peace
the nation had made but little progress, they had in every thing
appertaining to war made great advances. Most of the men wore helmets
closely fitting to the head and surmounted by a spike. These were
for the most part composed of hammered brass, although some of the
headpieces were made of tough hide studded with knobs of metal. All
carried round shields--those of the soldiers, of leather stiffened
with metal; those of the captains, of brass, worked with considerable
elaboration.

In their belts all wore daggers, while at their backs were slung
quivers of iron; painted bows hung over one shoulder, and some had at
their waist a pouch of smooth flat stones and leather slings. Their
chief garment was a sort of kilt falling to the knee. Above the waist
some wore only a thin vest of white linen, others a garment not unlike
the nightgown of modern times, but with short sleeves. The kilt was
worn over this. Some had breastpieces of thick leather confined by
straps behind; while in the case of the officers the leather was
covered with small pieces of metal, forming a cuirass.

All carried two or three javelins in the left hand and a spear some
ten feet long in the right. Horsemen galloped about at full speed
to and from the royal palace, while occasionally chariots, drawn
sometimes by one, sometimes by two horses, dashed along. These
chariots were small, the wheels not exceeding three feet in height.
Between