. He was rich
and powerful, and unboundedly vain--he could easily be prevailed upon to
accept the principality of Media as a reward for helping to destroy the
Persian kingdom; and indeed the matter had been discussed between him
and the queen long ago.

Atossa revolved her scheme in her mind most carefully for two whole
months, and at last she resolved to act. Eluding all vigilance of the
king, and laughing to herself at the folly of Darius and Zoroaster in
allowing her such liberty, she succeeded without much trouble in
despatching a letter to Phraortes, inquiring whether her affairs were
now in such a prosperous condition as to admit of their being extended.

On the other hand, she sent a black slave she owned, with gifts, into
the country of the barbarian tribes beyond the hills, to discover
whether they could be easily tempted. This man she bribed with the
promise of freedom and rich possessions, to undertake the dangerous
mission. She knew him to be faithful, and able to perform the part he
was to play.

In less than two months Phraortes sent a reply, wherein he stated that
the queen's affairs were so prosperous that they might with safety be
extended as she desired, and that he was ready to undertake any
improvements provided she sent him the necessary directions and
instructions.

The slave returned from the land of the dwellers in tents, with the
information that they were numerous as the sands of the sea, riding like
the whirlwinds across the desert, keen as a race of eagles for prey,
devouring as locusts spreading over a field of corn, and greedy as
jackals upon the track of a wounded antelope. Nothing but the terror of
the Great King's name restrained them within their boundaries; which
they would leave at a moment's notice, as allies of any one who would
pay them. They dwelt mostly beyond the desert to eastward in the low
hill country; and they shaved their beards and slept with their horses
in their tents. They were more horrible to look upon than the devils of
the mountains, and fiercer than wolves upon the mountain paths.

Allowing for the imagery of her slave's account, Atossa comprehended
that the people described could be easily excited to make a hostile
descent upon the southern part of the kingdom, and notably upon the
unprotected region about Stakhar, where the fortress could afford
shelter to a handful of troops and fugitives, but could in no wise
defend the whole of the fertile district from