part, and looked at
Nehushta who leaned back against the tent-pole in violent agitation; her
hands wringing each other beneath her long sleeves, and her eyes turning
from the king to Zoroaster, and back again to the king, in evident
distress and fear.

"Thou hast a mighty arm, Zoroaster," cried Darius, as his laughter
subsided, "and thou hadst well-nigh made an end of the Great King and of
Persia, Media, Babylon and Egypt in thy grip."

"Let the king pardon his servant," answered Zoroaster, "if his knee was
heavy and his hand strong. Had not the king slipped upon the spilt wine,
his servant would have been thrown down."

"And thou wouldst have been crucified at dawn," added Darius, laughing
again. "It is well for thee that I am Darius and not Cambyses, or thou
wouldst not be standing there before me while my guards are gossiping
idly in the road. Give me a cup of wine since thou hast spared my life!"
Again the king laughed as though his sides would break. Zoroaster
hastily filled another goblet and offered it, kneeling before the
monarch. Darius paused before he took the cup, and looked at the
kneeling warrior's pale proud face. Then he spoke and his voice dropped
to a less mirthful key, as he laid his hand on Zoroaster's shoulder.

"I love thee, prince," he said, "because thou art stronger than I; and
as brave and more merciful. Therefore shalt thou stand ever at my right
hand and I will trust thee with my life in thy hand. And in pledge
hereunto I put my own chain of gold about thy neck, and I drink this cup
to thee; and whosoever shall harm a hair of thine head shall perish in
torments."

The king drank; and Zoroaster, overcome with genuine admiration of the
great soul that could so easily forgive so dire an offence, bent and
embraced the king's knees in token of adherence, and as a seal of that
friendship which was never to be broken until death parted the two men
asunder.

Then they arose, and at Zoroaster's order, the princess's litter was
brought, and leaving the encampment to follow after them, they went up
to the palace. Nehushta was borne between the litters of her women and
her slaves on foot, but Zoroaster mounted his horse and rode slowly and
in silence by the right side of the Great King.

CHAPTER VI.

Athwart the gleaming colonnades of the eastern balcony, the early
morning sun shone brightly, and all the shadows of the white marble
cornices and capitals and jutting frieze work were blue