here are your litters and
carriages waiting for you. It was a beautiful trip. Farewell, my dear
ones; come to Naukratis soon, I shall return at once with Theopompus and
Syloson. Give little Parmys a thousand kisses from me, and tell Melitta
never to take her out at noon. It is dangerous for the eyes. Good-night,
Croesus; good-night, friends, farewell my dear son."

The Persians left the vessel with many a nod and farewell word, and
Bartja, looking round once more, missed his footing and fell on the
landing-pier.

He sprang up in a moment without Zopyrus' help, who came running back,
calling out, "Take care, Bartja! It's unlucky to fall in stepping ashore.
I did the very same thing, when we left the ship that time at Naukratis."

CHAPTER XIV.

While our friends were enjoying their row on the Nile, Cambyses' envoy,
Prexaspes, had returned from a mission to the long-lived Ethiopians. He
praised their strength and stature, described the way to their country as
almost inaccessible to a large army, and had plenty of marvellous tales
to tell. How, for instance; they always chose the strongest and
handsomest man in their nation for their king, and obeyed him
unconditionally: how many of them reached the age of 120 years, and some
even passed it: how they ate nothing but boiled flesh, drank new milk and
washed in a spring the waters of which had the scent of violets, gave a
remarkable lustre to their skins, and were so light that wood could not
swim in them: how their captives wore golden fetters, because other
metals were rare and dear in their country; and lastly, how they covered
the bodies of the dead with plaster or stucco, over which a coating of
some glass-like material was poured, and kept the pillars thus formed one
year in their houses, during which time sacrifices were offered them, and
at the year's end they were placed in rows around the town.

The king of this strange people had accepted Cambyses' presents, saying,
in a scornful tone, that he new well his friendship was of no importance
to the Persians, and Prexaspes had only been sent to spy out the land. If
the prince of Asia were a just man, he would be contented with his own
immense empire and not try to subjugate a people who had done him no
wrong. "Take your king this bow," he said, "and advise him not to begin
the war with us, until the Persians are able to bend such weapons as
easily as we do. Cambyses may thank the gods, that the Ethiopians have