richer purple than any worn by
the ordinary nobles, sitting like a rock upon a great white horse. As he
came up, Zoroaster and his fourscore men threw up their hands.

"Hail, king of kings! Hail, and live for ever!" they cried, and as one
man, they prostrated themselves upon their faces on the grass by the
roadside.

Darius drew rein suddenly, bringing his steed from his full gallop to
his haunches in an instant. After him the rushing riders threw up their
right hands as a signal to those behind; and with a deafening
concussion, as of the ocean breaking at once against a wall of rock,
those matchless Persian horsemen halted in a body in the space of a few
yards, their steeds plunging wildly, rearing to their height and
struggling on the curb; but helpless to advance against the strong hands
that held them. The blossom and flower of all the Persian nobles rode
there,--their purple mantles flying with the wild motion, their bronze
cuirasses black in the gathering twilight, their bearded faces dark and
square beneath their gilded helmets.

"I am Darius, the king of kings, on whom ye call," cried the king, whose
steed now stood like a marble statue, immovable in the middle of the
road. "Rise, speak and fear nothing,--unless ye speak lies."

Zoroaster rose to his feet, then bent low, and taking a few grains of
dust from the roadside, touched his mouth with his hand and let the dust
fall upon his forehead.

"Hail, and live for ever! I am thy servant, Zoroaster, who was captain
over the fortress and treasury of Ecbatana. According to thy word I have
brought the kinsfolk of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,--chief of whom is
Nehushta, the princess. I heard that thou wast absent from Shushan, and
here I have waited for thy coming. I also sent thee messengers to
announce that Daniel, surnamed Belteshazzar, who was Satrap of Media
from the time of Cambyses, is dead; and I have buried him fittingly in a
new tomb in the garden of the palace of Ecbatana."

Darius, quick and impulsive in every thought and action, sprang to the
ground as Zoroaster finished speaking, and coming to him, took both his
hands and kissed him on both cheeks.

"What thou hast done is well done,--I know thee of old. Auramazda is
with thee. He is also with me. By his grace I have slain the rebels at
Babylon. They spoke lies, so I slew them. Show me Nehushta, the daughter
of the kings of Judah."

"I am thy servant. The princess is at hand," answered Zoroaster;