Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/359

Rh And Messala read :

There was no noise, no motion. Each person seemed held in the pose the reading found him. Messala stared at the memorandum, while the eyes which had him in view opened wide, and stared at him. He felt the gaze, and thought rapidly. So lately he stood in the same place, and in the same way hectored the countrymen around him. They would remember it. If he refused to sign, his heroship was lost. And sign he could not; he was not worth one hundred talents, nor the fifth part of the sum. Suddenly his mind became a blank; he stood speechless; the color fled his face. An idea at last came to his relief.

&quot;Thou Jew!&quot; he said, &quot;Where hast thou twenty talents? Show me.&quot;

Sanballat’s provoking smile deepened.

&quot;There,&quot; he replied, offering Messala a paper.

&quot;Read, read!&quot; arose all around.

Again Messala read:

&quot;Fifty talents, fifty talents!&quot; echoed the throng, in amazement.

Then Drusus came to the rescue.

&quot;By Hercules!&quot; he shouted, &quot; the paper lies, and the Jew is a liar. Who but Cæsar hath fifty talents at order? Down with the insolent white!&quot;

The cry was angry, and it was angrily repeated; yet Sanballat kept his seat, and his smile grew more exasperating the longer he waited. At length Messala spoke.

&quot;Hush! One to one, my countrymen—one to one, for love of our ancient Roman name.&quot;

The timely action recovered him his ascendency.

&quot;O thou circumcised dog!&quot; he continued, to Sanballat, &quot;I gave thee six to one, did I not?&quot;