at
his chained hands, took advantage of the silence to say, making at the
same time a deep obeisance: "May I be allowed to speak a few words, my
King?"

"Speak!"

"From our father we learnt to strive after that which was pure and good
only; so up to this time my life has been unstained. If you have ever
known me take part in an evil deed, you have a right not to believe me,
but if you find no fault in me then trust to what I say, and remember
that a son of Cyrus would rather die than tell a lie. I confess that no
judge was ever placed in such a perplexing position. The best men in your
kingdom testify against one another, friend against friend, father
against son. But I tell you that were the entire Persian nation to rise
up against you, and swear that Cambyses had committed this or that evil
deed, and you were to say, 'I did not commit it,' I, Bartja, would give
all Persia the lie and exclaim, 'Ye are all false witnesses; sooner could
the sea cast up fire than a son of Cyrus allow his mouth to deal in
lies.' No, Cambyses, you and I are so high-born that no one but yourself
can bear evidence against me; and you can only be judged out of your own
mouth."

Cambyses' looks grew a little milder on hearing these words, and his
brother went on: "So I swear to you by Mithras, and by all pure spirits,
that I am innocent. May my life become extinct and my race perish from
off the earth, if I tell you a lie, when I say that I have not once set
foot in the hanging-gardens since my return!"

Bartja's voice was so firm and his tone so full of assurance, as he
uttered this oath that Cambyses ordered his chains to be loosened, and,
after a few moments' thought, said: "I should like to believe you, for I
cannot bear to imagine you the worst and most abandoned of men. To-morrow
we will summon the astrologers, soothsayers and priests. Perhaps they may
be able to discover the truth. Can you see any light in this darkness,
Oropastes?"

"Thy servant supposes, that a Div has taken upon him the form of Bartja,
in order to ruin the king's brother and stain thine own royal soul with
the blood of thy father's son."

Cambyses and every one present nodded their assent to this proposition,
and the king was just going to offer his hand to Bartja, when a
staff-bearer came in and gave the king a dagger. A eunuch had found it
under the windows of Nitetis' sleeping-apartment.

Cambyses examined the weapon carefully. Its costly hilt was thickly