CHAPTER XXVII
NATHAN KEEPS HIS WORD
Clearchus and Chares shivered in the chill of the dungeon. By theglimmer of light that entered through a narrow opening above theirheads, they saw that the place was quite bare. There was nothing butthe stone floor under their feet and the four stone walls that shutthem in.
"What think you, Chares?" Clearchus said, with the shadow of a smile."Nathan will never be able to rescue us from here."
"It does not look hopeful," the Theban replied, "but let us see."
He made a careful examination of the walls, finding everywhere thesolid stone unbroken. The only openings in the cell were the tinywindow and the door. The window was out of reach and so narrow thatnot even a cat could have squeezed through. Chares halted at the doorand examined the bars. They were of hammered iron, as thick as theshaft of a lance, and rendered stronger by two cross-bars, welded fromside to side. The Theban tested them gently with his hands and shookhis head.
"The blacksmith who forged them was a good workman," he said.
At that moment they heard the step of the sentry outside in thepassageway. The man carried at his girdle a bunch of great keys thatrattled as he walked. He was armed with a short spear with a long,keen blade. He halted at the door of the cell.
"What are you doing there?" he said gruffly to Chares. "Get back!"
"No need to be angry, my friend," Chares returned good-naturedly,falling back from the door. "What are you going to do to us?"
The jailer's brutish face assumed an expression of pleasure that wasevidently unfeigned.
"You know you are to be tortured to-morrow," he said, "and we do thosethings thoroughly here. I shall help. They could not get alongwithout me."
"I suppose you are used to it," Chares ventured.
"My father taught me," the man replied proudly. "There is none in theempire better with the rack than I. And he showed me how to draw theband about a man's forehead until his eyes stick out of his head andhis skull cracks like an egg, and all without killing him. Very fewknow the secret."
"And when you are through with the torture, what then?" asked Chares.
"Why, then you will die by the boat," the jailer replied.
"Do you mean we shall be drowned?" Chares inquired.
The jailer laughed harshly. "That would be too easy," he said. "Deathby the boat has nothing to do with the water, as you will find. Theywill place you in the shallop with your head, arms, and feet outside.Then they will cover you with honey and place another boat upside downover you. This will leave your head and hands free through the holes.The ants and the flies are fond of honey. I have known men to live aweek in their snug wooden jackets; but they usually go crazy after afew days, when the ants begin to eat them."
"That is very interesting," Chares remarked. "When will they begin thetorture?"
"To-morrow morning," the man replied, "and I advise you to get a soundsleep; you will be able to stand the pain better."
He passed on down the corridor, humming to himself as though his mindwere filled with pleasant thoughts.
"That is a nice prospect," Chares said, turning away from the grating."I wonder what Nathan intends to do?"
"We can only wait," Clearchus replied. "I think we had better pretendthat we are asleep, so that your friend the sentinel will at least letus alone."
They stretched themselves upon the stone floor and waited, talking inwhispers. With nightfall, the prison grew utterly dark, excepting inthe corridor, where the surly guard lighted oil lamps, set at intervalsin niches in the wall. These made brief spaces of light in the gloomypassageway, through which the man went and came with monotonous tread.There was silence in that part of the prison where they were,indicating that the other condemned cells were vacant. For a time thesound of voices reached them faintly through the slit in the wall, butthese gradually ceased as the night advanced.
One of the lamps had been set directly opposite their cell, but itsfeeble glimmer hardly extended to the bars of their cage, although itrendered objects in the corridor dimly distinct.
Hour followed hour, and each seemed like a week to the young Athenian.Chares, overcome by drowsiness, had fallen asleep at his side.Clearchus wondered at the careless nature of his friend that permittedhim to close his eyes in the face of so horrible a death. He had nodoubt that Nathan would seek to rescue them, but he knew not when norhow. Perhaps he would attempt intercession with Darius. Perhaps hewould defer the trial until the morning. What if he should fail?Clearchus was far from being a coward, but his nerves shrank from thethought of the torture and the lingering agony that would follow beforedeath came to set them free. The very idea of death, since now he knewthat Artemisia was living and in need of him, filled his heart withanguish.
As he lay gazing into the corridor, with his head upon his hand, herecalled her face as it had appeared to him in the happy garden inAcademe, with the sunlight on her hair and the color of the wild rosein her cheeks. He remembered how her blue eyes had looked into hiswith sweet wistfulness and how the tears dimmed them when she told himof the fears that had beset her. The tears rose to his own eyes at theremembrance, and he ground his teeth as he thought of his helplessness.Why had he not trusted the prevision of her finer perceptions, halfethereal as they were? Why had he not remained to defend her and toprevent the train of misfortunes which had followed?
The sentinel paused at the door of the cell for a moment in passing.He noted the deep breathing of Chares and resumed his march with ayawn. Clearchus listened, mechanically counting his steps until heshould reach the spot where they were to turn. Suddenly a sound cameto his ears that caused him to sit up and listen intently. There wereother footfalls in the corridor. They were advancing in the track ofthe sentinel from the direction of the entrance.
The Athenian's pulses bounded. Help had come. He stretched out hishand to rouse Chares, but in an instant he reflected that there wasevidently no effort at concealment on the part of the newcomer. Thesteps were careless and deliberate. Probably they were made by anotherguard, who had come to relieve the bloodthirsty wretch outside. Hishope sank as suddenly as it had arisen and he let his hand fall.
"Why should I awaken him?" he thought. "Let him sleep."
Slowly the steps advanced. Clearchus crept to the door of the cell andpeered out through the grating. A man's figure was approaching alongthe passage. It was Nathan. Clearchus rose quickly to his feet andshook Chares by the shoulder.
"Silence!" he whispered.
The Theban rubbed his eyes and stretched his great limbs.
"Where am I?" he muttered. "Oh, yes, I remember. What has happened?"
"Nathan is here," Clearchus said.
Chares was on his feet with a bound, and both stood listeningbreathlessly.
Nathan had reached the dim circle of light before their cell. His keenblack eyes were glancing to the right and left at the dark gratings.
"We are here!" Clearchus whispered through the bars.
The Israelite turned his face toward them and smiled, trying todistinguish them in the darkness. In his hand he carried a roll ofpapyrus.
"Be ready!" he said, in a scarcely audible tone.
"Who are you?" the sentinel demanded, catching sight of Nathan for thefirst time.
Nathan halted close to the bars of the cell and awaited his approachwithout reply.
"What are you doing here?" the man asked gruffly as he approached.
"I have an order for you," Nathan replied coolly, unrolling the papyrusas he spoke. "Read it."
The man took the papyrus in his hand and looked at it. Then he glancedcunningly at Nathan.
"What does it mean?" he growled, handing it back. "I cannot read."
This was evidently a contingency that had not entered into Nathan'scalculations.
"It is signed by Boupares--here, do you see!" he said, holding thewriting under the jailer's nose.
"Well, what then?" the man asked suspiciou
sly.
"It is an order," Nathan continued. "You are to deliver the Greekprisoners to me immediately."
"What are you going to do with them?" the jailer asked.
"Boupares desires to talk with them before they are examined," Nathanexplained.
"I shall not give them up," the jailer replied, with the air of a manwho has made up his mind. "If Boupares wishes to see them, let himcome here. They were sent to me under the seal of the king himself,and this order of yours has no seal. Do you think I want to be boiledalive as my comrade was last month? I can hear his yells yet, for Ihelped to do it. You can tell Boupares what I have said, and now beoff."
Like most ignorant men when they think, or pretend to think, that theyare being imposed upon, the jailer raised his voice to a bullyingshout. Nathan looked apprehensively over his shoulder toward theentrance of the prison. The harsh tone echoed between the narrow wallsand might be easily heard at the gate, where several men were stationed.
"Give me your keys," he said quietly. "You know the penalty fordisobeying an order."
The jailer stepped to the door of the cell and stood defiantly, withhis back against the bars.
"I will not give them!" he said.
From within the cell the man's figure was outlined against the light ofthe lamp. Chares moved forward in the darkness behind him withnoiseless tread, and his fingers closed suddenly around the jailer'sthroat. The wretch gasped once and threw up his chin, strugglingconvulsively to free himself from the iron clutch that encircled hisneck. His struggles were in vain. The Theban drew him silently backagainst the bars. His feet scuffled on the stone floor, and his shortspear clattered from his hand.
"Take the keys," Clearchus whispered.
Nathan quickly detached the keys from the jailer's belt and unlockedthe door of the cell. Clearchus slipped through the open door, pickingup the jailer's spear as he went. Chares relaxed his hold, and theman's body slipped in a huddled heap to the floor.
"Come," said the Israelite. "We have no time to lose."
What he said was true. From the direction of the entrance came thesound of voices and the flickering of a torch danced upon the walls.
"Neshak! Ho, Neshak, where are you?" called a voice.
"They are seeking the jailer," Nathan whispered. "Come!"
He darted down the corridor into the darkness, with the two Greeks athis heels. At the end of a dozen yards they turned quickly to theleft, up a flight of stairs, and then through other passageways, untilthey reached a second short stairway and emerged upon the roof.
They stood panting and listening beside the head of the stair. Abovethem the wide arch of the sky was sown with stars. From the blackopening at their feet came a confused sound of cries and shouting.
"They have found the jailer's body," Nathan said. "I fear we are lost.It shall be as Jehovah wills!"
He drew a short sword from its sheath at his side.
"Is there no other way to the roof?" Clearchus asked.
"No other way," Nathan replied; "but how can we hope to hold thisagainst them?"
The Athenian looked about him. The roof was built of huge slabs ofstone, fitted together without mortar, and there was nothing that mightserve as even a temporary barricade.
"If we could only raise one of these," he said, stooping over one ofthe slabs.
"Not ten men could do it," Nathan replied, shaking his head.
"Let us see," said Chares.
He thrust his fingers under the stone and set his feet wide apart. Themuscles of his back and arms rose in ridges. The veins of his neckswelled like knotted cords. The great stone stirred in its bed.
Clearchus and Nathan dropped their weapons and bent eagerly to assisthim. The ponderous mass heaved slowly upward, tilting toward theopening that led to the stairway. From the sound of the voices withinthey knew that their pursuers were close at hand.
"Life or death!" groaned Chares, the sweat streaming from his body likerain. "Now!"
The mighty stone rose inch by inch upon its edge, standing higher thanthe heads of the three men, who were now behind and beneath it. Theirpursuers had evidently halted on the stairs, expecting the opening tothe roof to be defended. Puzzled by the silence, they seemed to beconcerting a plan of attack. Suddenly they sprang upward with a shout,thrusting forward their spears and crowding for the aperture.
The great slab stood upright, balancing on its lower end. While a manmight draw breath, it hung motionless, and then it toppled over uponthe opening from the stairs.
The foremost of the pursuers saw it and with inarticulate cries soughtto retreat. They were too late. The heavy mass crashed down upontheir heads and covered the opening. Nathan and Clearchus fell forwardwith it and lay gasping. Chares swayed upon his feet and his headreeled. The blood dripped from the ends of his fingers, where it hadburst from beneath his nails. Faintly from under the stone issuedcries of agony, as though some of the guard had been caught there andheld fast by mangled limbs.
Nathan staggered to his feet and groped for his sword. "Now for thewall," he cried. "We may yet escape!"