med the horse of
some lately arrived officer or messenger, or hung about and basked in
the sun, with no clothing but their short-sleeved linen tunics and
breeches, discussing the affairs of the nation with the certainty of
decision peculiar to all soldiers, high and low. There was only room for
a squadron of horse in the palace; but though they were few, they were
the picked men of the guard, and every one of them felt himself as
justly entitled to an opinion concerning the position of the new king,
as though he were at least a general.

But Darius allowed no gossiping slaves nor wrangling soldiers in his own
dwelling. There all was silent and apparently deserted, and thither he
led Zoroaster again. The young warrior was astonished at the way in
which the king moved about unattended, as carelessly as though he were a
mere soldier himself; he was not yet accustomed to the restless
independence of character, to the unceasing activity and perfect
personal fearlessness of the young Darius. It was hard to realise that
this simple, hard-handed, outspoken man was the Great King, and occupied
the throne of the magnificent and stately Cyrus, who never stirred
abroad without the full state of the court about him; or that he reigned
in the stead of the luxurious Cambyses, who feared to tread upon
uncovered marble, or to expose himself to the draught of a staircase;
and who, after seven years of caring for his body, had destroyed himself
in a fit of impotent passion. Darius succeeded to the throne of Persia
as a lion coming into the place of jackals, as an eagle into a nest of
crows and carrion birds--untiring, violent, relentless and brave.

"Knowest thou one Phraortes, of Ecbatana?" the king asked suddenly when
he was alone with Zoroaster.

"I know him," answered the prince. "A man rich, and powerful, full of
vanity as a peacock, and of wiles like a serpent. Not noble. He is the
son of a fish-vendor, grown rich by selling salted sturgeons in the
market-place. He is also the overseer of the queen's farmlands in Media,
and of the Great King's horse-breeding stables."

"Go forth and bring him to me," said the king shortly. Without a word,
Zoroaster made a brief salute and turned upon his heel to go. But it was
as though a man had thrust him through with a knife. The king gazed
after him in admiration of his magnificent obedience.

"Stay!" he called out. "How long wilt thou be gone?"

Zoroaster turned sharply round in military