rink on, all of you, as long as
the night lasts. To-morrow, at the last crow of the sacred bird Parodar,
I shall expect you to meet me for the chase, at the gate of the temple
of Bel."

So saying, the king left the hall, followed by a thundering "Victory to
the king!" Boges had slipped out quietly before him. In the forecourt he
found one of the gardener's boys from the hanging-gardens.

"What do you want here?" asked Boges. "I have something for the prince
Bartja."

"For Bartja? Has he asked your master to send him some seeds or slips?"

The boy shook his sunburnt head and smiled roguishly.

"Some one else sent you then?" said Boges becoming more attentive.

"Yes, some one else."

"Ah! the Egyptian has sent a message to her brother-in-law?"

"Who told you that?"

"Nitetis spoke to me about it. Here, give me what you have; I will give
it to Bartja at once."

"I was not to give it to any one but the prince himself."

"Give it to me; it will be safer in my hands than in yours."

"I dare not."

"Obey me at once, or--"

At this moment the king came up. Boges thought a moment, and then called
in a loud voice to the whip-bearers on duty at the palace-gate, to take
the astonished boy up.

"What is the matter here?" asked Cambyses.

"This fellow," answered the eunuch, "has had the audacity to make his
way into the palace with a message from your consort Nitetis to Bartja."

At sight of the king, the boy had fallen on his knees, touching the
ground with his forehead.

Cambyses looked at him and turned deadly pale. Then, turning to
the eunuch, he asked: "What does the Egyptian Princess wish from my
brother?"

"The boy declares that he has orders to give up what has been entrusted
to him to no one but Bartja." On hearing this the boy looked imploringly
up at the king, and held out a little papyrus roll.

Cambyses snatched it out of his hand, but the next moment stamped
furiously on the ground at seeing that the letter was written in Greek,
which he could not read.

He collected himself, however, and, with an awful look, asked the
boy who had given him the letter. "The Egyptian lady's waiting-woman
Mandane," he answered; "the Magian's daughter."

"For my brother Bartja?"

"She said I was to give the letter to the handsome prince, before the
banquet, with a greeting from her mistress Nitetis, and I was to tell
him ..."

Here the king stamped so furiously, that the boy was frightened and
could only st