Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/468

Rh &quot;So,&quot; he said, &quot;I have you now. The satrapies and crowns are the things to which you would help me. I see, I see! And there never was such queen as you would be, so shrewd, so beautiful, so royal—never! But, alas, dear Egypt! by the vision as you show it me the prizes are all of war, and you are but a woman, though Isis did kiss you on the heart. And crowns are starry gifts beyond your power of help, unless, indeed, you have a way to them more certain than that of the sword. If so, O Egypt, Egypt, show it me, and I will walk in it, if only for your sake.&quot;

She removed his arm, and said, &quot;Spread your cloak upon the sand—here, so I can rest against the camel. I will sit, and tell you a story which came down the Nile to Alexandria, where I had it.&quot;

He did as she said, first planting the spear in the ground near by.

&quot;And what shall I do?&quot; he said, ruefully, when she was seated. &quot;In Alexandria is it customary for the listeners to sit or stand?&quot;

From the comfortable place against the old domestic she answered, laughing, &quot;The audiences of story-tellers are wilful, and sometimes they do as they please.&quot;

Without more ado he stretched himself upon the sand, and put her arm about his neck.

&quot;I am ready,&quot; he said.

And directly she began:

&quot;You must know, in the first place, that Isis was—and, for that matter, she may yet be—the most beautiful of deities; and Osiris, her husband, though wise and powerful, was sometimes stung with jealousy of her, for only in their loves are the gods like mortals.

&quot;The palace of the Divine Wife was of silver, crowning the tallest mountain in the moon, and thence she passed often to the sun, in the heart of which, a source of eternal light, Osiris kept his palace of gold too shining for men to look at.

&quot;One time—there are no days with the gods while she was full pleasantly with him on the roof of the golden palace, she chanced to look, and afar, just on the line of the universe, saw Indra passing with an army of simians, all borne upon the backs of flying eagles. He, the Friend of Living Things—so with much love is Indra called—was