was drowned by the noise in the courtyard,
but as the party rode towards the gate Intaphernes looked back: "Yes,
take the daggers, it can do no harm. Keep with Candaules."

The old slave, a gray-haired, but muscular man, with several other
attendants, joined the lads, and the long train passed out into the
street and toward the city gates. Otanes hastily whispered to his
brother: "Keep close by me, Smerdis; if only we catch sight of a lion,
we'll show what we can do with bows and arrows."

The sun was now several hours high, and the streets, lined with tall
brick houses, were crowded with people--artisans, slaves, soldiers,
nobles and citizens, the latter clad in white linen shirts, gay
woollen tunics and short cloaks. Two-wheeled wooden vehicles, drawn by
horses decked with bells and tassels, litters containing veiled women
borne by slaves, and now and then, the superb gilded carriage, hung
with silk curtains, of some royal princess passed along. Here and
there a heavily laden camel moved slowly by, and the next instant a
soldier of the king's bodyguard dashed past in his superb uniform--a
gold cuirass, purple surcoat, and high Persian cap, the gold scabbard
of his sword and the gold apple on his lance-tip flashing in the sun.

[Illustration: THE HUNTING PARTY WERE NEARLY READY TO START.]

High above the topmost roofs of even the lofty towers on the walls
rose the great sanctuary of the Magi,[1] the immense Temple of Bel,
visible in all quarters of the city, and seen for miles from every
part of the flat plain on which Babylon stood. The huge staircase
wound like a serpent round and round the outside of the building to
the highest story, which contained the sanctuary itself and also the
observatory whence the priests studied the stars.

[Footnote 1: The Magi were the Persian priests.]

Otanes and Smerdis, chatting eagerly together, rode on as fast as
the crowd would permit, and soon reached one of the gates in the huge
walls that defended the city. These walls, seventy-five feet high, and
wide enough to allow two chariots to drive abreast, were strengthened
by two hundred and fifty towers, except on one side, where deep
marshes extended to their base. Beyond these marshes lay the
hunting-grounds, and the party, turning to the left, rode for a time
over a smooth highway, between broad tracts of land sown with wheat,
barley and sesame. Slender palm-trees covered with clusters of golden
dates were seen in every dire