CHAPTER XIII
THE RED NILE
On the morrow of this night I found the Prince alone for a little while,and put him in mind of certain ancient manuscripts that he wished toread, which could only be consulted at Thebes where I might copy them;also of others that were said to be for sale there. He answered thatthey could wait, but I replied that the latter might find some otherpurchaser if I did not go at once.
"You are over fond of long journeys upon my business, Ana," he said.Then he considered me curiously for a while, and since he could read mymind, as indeed I could his, saw that I knew all, and added in a gentlevoice:
"You should have done as I told you, and spoken first. If so, whoknows----"
"You do, Prince," I answered, "you and another."
"Go, and the gods be with you, friend, but stay not too long copyingthose rolls, which any scribe can do. I think there is trouble at handin Egypt, and I shall need you at my side. Another who holds you dearwill need you also."
"I thank my lord and that other," I said, bowing, and went.
Moreover, while I was making some humble provision for my journey, Ifound that this was needless, since a slave came to tell me that thePrince's barge was waiting to sail with the wind. So in that barge Itravelled to Thebes like a great noble, or a royal mummy being borneto burial. Only instead of wailing priests, until I sent them back toMemphis, musicians sat upon the prow, and when I willed, dancing girlscame to amuse my leisure and, veiled in golden nets, to serve at mytable.
So I journeyed as though I were the Prince himself, and as one who wasknown to have his ear was made much of by the governors of the Nomes,the chief men of the towns, and the high priests of the temples at everycity where we moored. For, as I have said, although Amenmeses satupon the throne, Seti still ruled in the hearts of the folk of Egypt.Moreover, as I sailed further up the Nile to districts where littlewas known of the Israelites, and the troubles they were bringing on theland, I found this to be so more and more. Why is it, the Great Oneswould whisper in my ear, that his Highness the Prince Seti does nothold his father's place? Then I would tell them of the Hebrews, and theywould laugh and say:
"Let the Prince unfurl his royal banner here, and we will show him whatwe think of the question of these Israelitish slaves. May not the Heirof Egypt form his own judgment on such a matter as to whether theyshould abide there in the north, or go away into that wilderness whichthey desire?"
To all of which, and much like it, I would only answer that their wordsshould be reported. More I did not, and indeed did not dare to say,since everywhere I found that I was being followed and watched by thespies of Pharaoh.
At length I came to Thebes and took up my abode in a fine house that wasthe property of the Prince, which I found that a messenger had commandedshould be made ready for me. It stood near by the entrance to the Avenueof Sphinxes, which leads to the greatest of all the Theban temples,where is that mighty columned hall built by the first Seti and his son,Rameses II, the Prince's grandfather.
Here, having entrance to the place, I would often wander at night,and in my spirit draw as near to heaven as ever it has been my lot totravel. Also, crossing the Nile to the western bank, I visited thatdesolate valley where the rulers of Egypt lie at rest. The tomb ofPharaoh Meneptah was still unsealed, and accompanied by a singlepriest with torches, I crept down its painted halls and looked upon thesarcophagus of him whom so lately I had seen seated in glory upon thethrone, wondering, as I looked, how much or how little he knew of allthat passed in Egypt to-day.
Moreover, I copied the papyri that I had come to seek, in which therewas nothing worth preserving, and some of real value that I discoveredin the ancient libraries of the temples, and purchased others. One ofthese indeed told a very strange tale that has given me much cause forthought, especially of late years now when all my friends are dead.
Thus I spent two months, and should have stayed longer had notmessengers reached me from the Prince saying that he desired my return.Of these, one followed within three days of the other, and his wordswere:
"Think you, Scribe Ana, that because I am no more Prince of Egypt I amno longer to be obeyed? If so, bear in mind that the gods may decreethat one day I shall grow taller than ever I was before, and then besure that I will remember your disobedience, and make you shorter by ahead. Come swiftly, my friend, for I grow lonely, and need a man to talkwith."
To which I replied, that I returned as fast as the barge would carryme, being so heavily laden with the manuscripts that I had copied andpurchased.
So I started, being, to tell truth, glad to get away, for this reason.Two nights before, when I was walking alone from the great temple of thehouse, a woman dressed in many colours appeared and accosted me as suchlost ones do. I tried to shake her off, but she clung to me, and I sawthat she had drunk more than enough of wine. Presently she asked, in avoice that I thought familiar, if I knew who was the officer thathad come to Thebes on the business of some Royal One and abode in thedwelling that was known as House of the Prince. I answered that his namewas Ana.
"Once I knew an Ana very well," she said, "but I left him."
"Why?" I asked, turning cold in my limbs, for although I could not seeher face because of a hood she wore, now I began to be afraid.
"Because he was a poor fool," she answered, "no man at all, but one whowas always thinking about writings and making them, and another came myway whom I liked better until he deserted me."
"And what happened to this Ana?" I asked.
"I do not know. I suppose he went on dreaming, or perhaps he tookanother wife; if so, I am sorry for her. Only, if by chance it is thesame that has come to Thebes, he must be wealthy now, and I shall go andclaim him and make him keep me well."
"Had you any children?" I asked.
"Only one, thank the gods, and that died--thank the gods again, forotherwise it might have lived to be such as I am," and she sobbed oncein a hard fashion and then fell to her vile endearments.
As she did so, the hood slipped from her head and I saw that the facewas that of my wife, still beauteous in a bold fashion, but growndreadful with drink and sin. I trembled from head to foot, then said inthe disguised voice that I had used to her.
"Woman, I know this Ana. He is dead and you were his ruin. Still,because I was his friend, take this and go reform your ways," and I drewfrom my robe and gave to her a bag containing no mean weight of gold.
She snatched it as a hawk snatches, and seeing its contents by thestarlight, thanked me, saying:
"Surely Ana dead is worth more than Ana alive. Also it is well that heis dead, for he is gone where the child went, which he loved more thanlife, neglecting me for its sake and thereby making me what I am. Had helived, too, being as I have said a fool, he would have had more ill-luckwith women, whom he never understood. Farewell, friend of Ana, whohave given me that which will enable me to find another husband," andlaughing wildly she reeled off behind a sphinx and vanished into thedarkness.
For this reason, then, I was glad to escape from Thebes. Moreover, thatmiserable one had hurt me sorely, making me sure of what I had onlyguessed, namely, that with women I was but a fool, so great a fool thatthen and there I swore by my guardian god that never would I look withlove on one of them again, an oath which I have kept well whateverothers I may have broken. Again she stabbed me through with the talk ofour dead child, for it is true that when that sweet one took flight toOsiris my heart broke and in a fashion has never mended itself again.Lastly, I feared lest it might also be true that I had neglected themother for the sake of this child which was the jewel of my worship,yes, and is, and thereby helped her on to shame. So much did thisthought torment me that through an agent whom I trusted, who believedthat I was but providing for one whom I had wronged, I caused enough tobe paid to her to keep her in comfort.
She did marry again, a merchant about whom she had cast her toils, andin due course spent his wealth and brought him to ruin, after which heran away from her. As for her, she d
ied of her evil habits in the thirdyear of the reign of Seti II. But, the gods be thanked she never knewthat the private scribe of Pharaoh's chamber was that Ana who had beenher husband. Here I will end her story.
Now as I was passing down the Nile with a heart more heavy than thegreat stone that served as anchor on the barge, we moored at dusk onthe third night by the side of a vessel that was sailing up Nile witha strong northerly wind. On board this boat was an officer whom I hadknown at the Court of Pharaoh Meneptah, travelling to Thebes on duty.This man seemed so much afraid that I asked him if anything weighed uponhis mind. Then he took me aside into a palm grove upon the bank, andseating himself on the pole whereby oxen turned a waterwheel, told methat strange things were passing at Tanis.
It seemed that the Hebrew prophets had once more appeared beforePharaoh, who since his accession had left the Israelites in peace,not attacking them with the sword as Meneptah had wished to do, it wasthought through fear lest if he did so he should die as Meneptah died.As before, they had put up their prayer that the people of the Hebrewsshould be suffered to go to worship in the wilderness, and Pharaoh hadrefused them. Then when he went down to sail upon the river early inthe morning of another day, they had met him and one of them struck thewater with his rod, and it had turned to blood. Whereon Ki and Kherheband his company also struck the water with their rods, and it turned toblood. That was six days ago, and now this officer swore to me that theblood was creeping up the Nile, a tale at which I laughed.
"Come then and see," he said, and led me back to his boat, where all thecrew seemed as fearful as he was himself.
He took me forward to a great water jar that stood upon the prow and,behold! it seemed to be full of blood, and in it was a fish dead,and--stinking.
"This water," said he, "I drew from the Nile with my own hands, notfive hours sail to the north. But now we have outsped the blood, whichfollows after us," and taking a lamp he held it over the prow of theboat and I saw that all its planks were splashed as though with blood.
"Be advised by me, learned scribe," he added, "and fill every jar andskin that you can gather with sweet water, lest to-morrow you and yourcompany should go thirsty," and he laughed a very dreary laugh.
Then we parted without more words, for neither of us knew what to say,and about midnight he sailed on with the wind, taking his chance ofgrounding on the sandbanks in the darkness.
For my part I did as he bade me, though my rowers who had not spokenwith his men, thought that I was mad to load up the barge with so muchwater.
At the first break of day I gave the order to start. Looking over theside of the barge it seemed to me as though the lights of dawnhad fallen from the sky into the Nile whereof the water had becomepink-hued. Moreover, this hue, which grew ever deeper, was travelling upstream, not down, against the course of nature, and could not thereforehave been caused by red soil washed from the southern lands. Thebargemen stared and muttered together. Then one of them, leaning overthe side, scooped up water in the hollow of his hand and drew some intohis mouth, only to spit it out again with a cry of fear.
"'Tis blood," he cried. "Blood! Osiris has been slain afresh, and hisholy blood fills the banks of Nile."
So much were they afraid, indeed, that had I not forced them to hold totheir course they would have turned and rowed up stream, or beachedthe boat and fled into the desert. But I cried to them to steer onnorthwards, for thus perhaps we should sooner be done with this horror,and they obeyed me. Ever as we went the hue of the water grew more red,almost to blackness, till at last it seemed as though we were travellingthrough a sea of gore in which dead fish floated by the thousand, orstruggled dying on the surface. Also the stench was so dreadful that wemust bind linen about our nostrils to strain the foetid air.
We came abreast of a town, and from its streets one great wail of terrorrose to heaven. Men stood staring as though they were drunken, lookingat their red arms which they had dipped in the stream, and women ran toand fro upon the bank, tearing their hair and robes, and crying out suchwords as--
"Wizard's work! Bewitched! Accursed! The gods have slain each other, andmen too must die!" and so forth.
Also we saw peasants digging holes at a distance from the shore to seeperchance if they might come to water that was sweet and wholesome. Allday long we travelled thus through this horrible flood, while the spraydriven by the strong north wind spotted our flesh and garments, till wewere like butchers reeking from the shambles. Nor could we eat any foodbecause of the stench from this spray, which made it to taste salt asdoes fresh blood, only we drank of the water which I had provided, andthe rowers who had held me to be mad now named me the wisest of men; onewho knew what would befall in the future.
At length towards evening we noted that the water was growing much lessred with every hour that passed, which was another marvel, seeing thatabove us, upstream, it was the colour of jasper, whereon we paused fromour rowing and, all defiled as we were, sang a hymn and gave thanks toHapi, god of Nile, the Great, the Secret, the Hidden. Before sunset,indeed, the river was clean again, save that on the bank where we madefast for the night the stones and rushes were all stained, and the deadfish lay in thousands polluting the air. To escape the stench we climbeda cliff that here rose quite close to Nile, in which we saw the mouthsof ancient tombs that long ago had been robbed and left empty, purposingto sleep in one of them.
A path worn by the feet of men ran to the largest of these tombs,whence, as we drew near, we heard the sound of wailing. Looking in, Isaw a woman and some children crouched upon the floor of the tomb, theirheads covered with dust who, when they perceived us, cried more loudlythan before, though with harsh dry voices, thinking no doubt that wewere robbers or perhaps ghosts because of our bloodstained garments.Also there was another child, a little one, that did not cry, becauseit was dead. I asked the woman what passed, but even when she understoodthat we were only men who meant her no harm, she could not speak or domore than gasp "Water! Water!" We gave her and the children to drinkfrom the jars which we had brought with us, which they did greedily,after which I drew her story from her.
She was the wife of a fisherman who made his home in this cave, and saidthat seven days before the Nile had turned to blood, so that they couldnot drink of it, and had no water save a little in a pot. Nor couldthey dig to find it, since here the ground was all rock. Nor could theyescape, since when he saw the marvel, her husband in his fear had leaptfrom his boat and waded to land and the boat had floated away.
I asked where was her husband, and she pointed behind her. I went tolook, and there found a man hanging by his neck from a rope that wasfixed to the capital of a pillar in the tomb, quite dead and cold.Returning sick at heart, I inquired of her how this had come about. Sheanswered that when he saw that all the fish had perished, taking awayhis living, and that thirst had killed his youngest child, he went mad,and creeping to the back of the tomb, without her knowledge hung himselfwith a net rope. It was a dreadful story.
Having given the widow of our food, we went to sleep in another tomb,not liking the company of those dead ones. Next morning at the dawn wetook the woman and her children on board the barge, and rowed them threehours' journey to a town where she had a sister, whom she found. Thedead man and the child we left there in the tomb, since my men would notdefile themselves by touching them.
So, seeing much terror and misery on our journey, at last we came safeto Memphis. Leaving the boatmen to draw up the barge, I went to thepalace, speaking with none, and was led at once to the Prince. I foundhim in a shaded chamber seated side by side with the lady Merapi, andholding her hand in such a fashion that they remind me of the life-sizedKa statues of a man and his wife, such as I have seen in the ancienttombs, cut when the sculptors knew how to fashion the perfect likenessesof men and women. This they no longer do to-day, I think because thepriests have taught them that it is not lawful. He was talking to herin a low voice, while she listened, smiling sweetly as she ever did,but with eyes, fixed straight before her
that were, as it seemed to me,filled with fear. I thought that she looked very beautiful with herhair outspread over her white robe, and held back from her temples by alittle fillet of god. But as I looked, I rejoiced to find that my heartno longer yearned for her as it had upon that night when I had seen herseated beneath the trees without the pleasure-house. Now she was itsfriend, no more, and so she remained until all was finished, as both thePrince and she knew well enough.
When he saw me Seti sprang from his seat and came to greet me, as a mandoes the friend whom he loves. I kissed his hand, and going to Merapi,kissed hers also noting that on it now shone that ring which once shehad rejected as too large.
"Tell me, Ana, all that has befallen you," he said in his pleasant,eager voice.
"Many things, Prince; one of them very strange and terrible," Ianswered.
"Strange and terrible things have happened here also," broke in Merapi,"and, alas! this is but the beginning of woes."
So saying, she rose, as though she could trust herself to speak no more,bowed first to her lord and then to me, and left the chamber.
I looked at the Prince and he answered the question in my eyes.
"Jabez has been here," he said, "and filled her heart with forebodings.If Pharaoh will not let the Israelites go, by Amon I wish he would letJabez go to some place whence he never could return. But tell me, haveyou also met blood travelling against the stream of Nile? It would seemso," and he glanced at the rusty stains that no washing would removefrom my garments.
I nodded and we talked together long and earnestly, but in the end wereno wiser for all our talking. For neither of us knew how it came aboutthat men by striking water with a rod could turn it into what seemed tobe blood, as the Hebrew prophet and Ki both had done, or how that bloodcould travel up the Nile against the stream and everywhere endure for aspace of seven days; yes, and spread too to all the canals in Egypt, sothat men must dig holes for water and dig them fresh each day becausethe blood crept in and poisoned them. But both of us thought that thiswas the work of the gods, and most of all of that god whom the Hebrewsworship.
"You remember, Ana," said the Prince, "the message which you brought tome from Jabez, namely that no harm should come to me because of theseIsraelites and their curses. Well, no harm as come as yet, except theharm of Jabez, for he came. On the day before the news of this bloodplague reached us, Jabez appeared disguised as a merchant of Syrianstuffs, all of which he sold to me at three times their value. Heobtained admission to the chambers of Merapi, where she is accustomed tosee whom she wills, and under pretence of showing her his stuffs, spokewith her and, as I fear, told her what you and I were so careful tohide, that she would bring trouble on me. At the least she has neverbeen quite the same since, and I have thought it wise to make her swearby an oath, which I know she will never break, that now we are one shewill not attempt to separate herself from me while we both have life."
"Did he wish her to go away with him, Prince?"
"I do not know. She never told me so. Still I am sure that had he comewith his evil talk before that day when you returned from Tanis, shewould have gone. Now I hope that there are reasons that will keep herwhere she is."
"What then did he say, Prince?"
"Little beyond what he had already said to you, that great troubles wereabout to fall on Egypt. He added that he was sent to save me and minefrom these troubles because I had been a friend to the Hebrews in so faras that was possible. Then he walked through this house and all roundits gardens, as he went reciting something that was written on aroll, of which I could not understand the meaning, and now and againprostrating himself to pray to his god. Thus, where the canal enters thegarden and where it leaves the garden he stayed to pray, as he did atthe well whence drinking water is drawn. Moreover, led by Merapi, hevisited all my cornlands and those where my cattle are herded, recitingand praying until the servants thought that he was mad. After this hereturned with her and, as it chanced, I overheard their parting. Shesaid to him:
"'The house you have blessed and it is safe; the fields you have blessedand they are safe; will you not bless me also, O my Uncle, and any thatare born of me?'
"He answered, shaking his head, 'I have no command, my Niece, either tobless or to curse you, as did that fool whom the Prince slew. You havechosen your own path apart from your people. It may be well, or itmay be ill, or perhaps both, and henceforth you must walk it alone towherever it may lead. Farewell, for perhaps we shall meet no more.'
"Thus speaking they passed out of earshot, but I could see that stillshe pleaded and still he shook his head. In the end, however, she gavehim an offering, of all that she had I think, though whether this wentto the temple of the Hebrews or into his own pouch I know not. At leastit seemed to soften him, for he kissed her on the brow tenderly enoughand departed with the air of a happy merchant who has sold his wares.But of all that passed between them Merapi would tell me nothing. Nordid I tell her of what I had overheard."
"And then?"
"And then, Ana, came the story of the Hebrew prophet who made the waterinto blood, and of Ki and his disciples who did likewise. The latterI did not believe, because I said it would be more reasonable had Kiturned the blood back into water, instead of making more blood of whichthere was enough already."
"I think that magicians have no reason."
"Or can do mischief only, Ana. At any rate after the story came theblood itself and stayed with us seven whole days, leaving much sicknessbehind it because of the stench of the rotting fish. Now for themarvel--here about my house there was no blood, though above and belowthe canal was full of it. The water remained as it has always been andthe fish swam in it as they have always done; also that of the wellkept sweet and pure. When this came to be known thousands crowded to theplace, clamouring for water; that is until they found that outside thegates it grew red in their vessels, after which, although some stillcame, they drank the water where they stood, which they must doquickly."
"And what tale do they tell of this in Memphis, Prince?" I askedastonished.
"Certain of them say that not Ki but I am the greatest magician inEgypt--never, Ana, was fame more lightly earned. And certain say thatMerapi, of whose doings in the temple at Tanis some tale has reachedthem, is the real magician, she being an Israelite of the tribe of theHebrew prophets. Hush! She returns."