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I cannot say, but doubtless there is a road. When I discovered this I began to
speak with him apart and learnedmany things.
Therefore he too remained at peace
in thecity.
Yet it is so, for swift posts have brought the news.
Yet all the
while I knew that he was hiding his true reason. Now I was quite alone andsave
my servants and sometimes the prophet, I saw no man.
Yea, I thank God, for
thereby I learn that you are safe and well. Moreover it is too late for himto
change who is past his fiftieth year.
Mayhap this evilhas protected us from
greater that we do not see. Could not your spells have protected us for
onehour, Belus? Then I heard something else, namely, the sound of a horse
galloping.
Presently I found myself by the side of a figureclad in white which
jostled against me.
Indeed I was as a little child and didwhat Belus bade me,
asking no questions.
When I die my household is dissolved, at leastafter a
time, and I shall die soon.
I have told our servants where they may find
us.
How long will the gods bearwith such a man? When I die my household is
dissolved, at leastafter a time, and I shall die soon.
The prophet knows all,
for God tells him. Now I was quite alone andsave my servants and sometimes the
prophet, I saw no man. Yet if we do not act upon it, which waycan we turn? If
so, our case would be even worse than it was before.
My horse was thrust back
againstthe bars of the gate, plunging and kicking. I would have risen to bow to
him, but he stayed mewith his hand. Why did you not go with him, seeing that it
was Belus who hired youand not I?
Is this all that your friends sister told
you, Obil? What He reveals to me I know, toall else my ears are shut. Aye, he
answered smiling, so long as it is not in another Babylonbeyond the Gates of
Darkness.
My horse was thrust back againstthe bars of the gate, plunging and
kicking.
But should Nabonidus die soon,Belshazzar is not in Babylon.
That is
sad for me and my wife, I said sighing.
I have told our servants where they may
find us.
Then this he will surely do as soon as the king is dead, Belus. Then
he set his hand upon his heart, fell down, groaned once, anddied.
The tale is
not yet finished, he answered quietly.
We go to that house whence once you
lookedupon a garden.
I hear she swears it also, but in suchmatters none can
believe what comes out of a womans mouth.
The lightning showed them clearly,
also many menin flight. He answered somewhat sternly,Did I not tell you,
Ramose, that here and nowhere else you are safe. To-night our troubles may be
over and our longseparation ended. Still we must be prepared to act at any
moment.
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