e aged
Neithotep and invited to follow him on to the temple-roof. Darius, ever
eager to acquire knowledge, did not wait to be asked twice, and was
to be found there every night in earnest attention to the old priest's
lessons.

On one occasion Psamtik met him thus with his master, and asked the
latter what could have induced him to initiate a Persian in the Egyptian
mysteries.

"I am only teaching him," answered the high-priest, "what is as well
known to every learned Chaldee in Babylon as to ourselves, and am
thereby gaining the friendship of a man, whose stars as far outshine
those of Cambyses as the sun outshines the moon. This Darius, I tell
thee, will be a mighty ruler. I have even seen the beams of his planet
shining over Egypt. The truly wise man extends his gaze into the future,
regards the objects lying on either side of his road, as well as the
road itself. Thou canst not know in which of the many houses by which
thou passest daily, a future benefactor may not have been reared for
thee. Leave nought unnoticed that lies in thy path, but above all direct
thy gaze upward to the stars. As the faithful dog lies in wait night
after night for thieves, so have I watched these pilgrims of the heavens
fifty years long--these foretellers of the fates of men, burning in
ethereal space, and announcing, not only the return of summer and
winter, but the arrival of good and bad fortune, honor and disgrace.
These are the unerring guides, who have pointed out to me in Darius a
plant, that will one day wax into a mighty tree."

To Bartja, Darius' nightly studies were especially welcome; they
necessitated more sleep in the morning, and so rendered Bartja's stolen
early rides to Naukratis, (on which Zopyrus, to whom he had confided
his secret, accompanied him), easier of accomplishment. During the
interviews with Sappho, Zopyrus and the attendants used all their
endeavors to kill a few snipes, jackals or jerboas. They could then,
on their return, maintain to their Mentor Croesus, that they had been
pursuing fieldsports, the favorite occupation of the Persian nobility.

The change which the power of a first love had wrought in the innermost
character of Bartja, passed unnoticed by all but Tachot, the daughter
of Amasis. From the first day on which they had spoken together she had
loved him, and her quick feelings told her at once that something had
happened to estrange him from herself. Formerly his behavior had been
that of a