s,
you know that since the sun set I have not been away from you. Give your
testimony, that in this case an evil Div must have made sport of our
friend and his companions."

"I swear to you, father," cried Gyges, "that Bartja has not left this
garden for some hours."

"And we confirm the same," added Araspes, Zopyrus and Darius with one
voice.

"You want to deceive me?" said Croesus getting very angry, and looking
at each of them reproachfully: "Do you fancy that I am blind or mad?
Do you think that your witness will outweigh the words of such men as
Hystaspes, Gobryas, Artaphernes and the high priest, Oropastes? In spite
of all your false testimony, which no amount of friendship can justify,
Bartja will have to die unless he flies at once."

"May Angramainjus destroy me," said Araspes interrupting the old man,
"if Bartja was in the hanging-gardens two hours ago!" and Gyges added:

"Don't call me your son any longer, if we have given false testimony."

Darius was beginning to appeal to the eternal stars, but Bartja put an
end to this confusion of voices by saying in a decided tone: "A division
of the bodyguard is coming into the garden. I am to be arrested; I
cannot escape because I am innocent, and to fly would lay me open to
suspicion. By the soul of my father, the blind eyes of my mother, and
the pure light of the sun, Croesus, I swear that I am not lying."

"Am I to believe you, in spite of my own eyes which have never yet
deceived me? But I will, boy, for I love you. I do not and I will not
know whether you are innocent or guilty, but this I do know, you must
fly, and fly at once. You know Cambyses. My carriage is waiting at the
gate. Don't spare the horses, save yourself even if you drive them to
death. The Soldiers seem to know what they have been sent to do; there
can be no question that they delay so long only in order to give their
favorite time to escape. Fly, fly, or it is all over with you."

Darius, too, pushed his friend forward, exclaiming: "Fly, Bartja, and
remember the warning that the heavens themselves wrote in the stars for
you."

Bartja, however, stood silent, shook his handsome head, waved his
friends back, and answered: "I never ran away yet, and I mean to hold my
ground to-day. Cowardice is worse than death in my opinion, and I would
rather suffer wrong at the hands of others than disgrace myself. There
are the soldiers! Well met, Bischen. You've come to arrest me, haven't
you? Wait o