CHAPTER VII.
Nevertheless, much depends on a man’s horoscope. One is born in the desert, and becomes a brigand; another is reared in the great city, and publishes books. It is Kismet.—Ben Haround.
A splendid retinue attended the virtuous Kayenna, the highborn Prince Muley, and the Sage Shacabac, as they set out at sunrise of the next day, from the gates of Ubikwi, on the long and toilsome journey to Nhulpar. Muley Mustapha watched them with tearful eyes, not knowing when, if ever, they might return, nor what might be the event of their enterprise; still less—and this concerned him most sorely—what would become of him in their absence. Nor were his forebodings lightened when he beheld the astrologer Badeg grinning malevolently at the departing caravan. He would have been even more disturbed in mind, had he seen the latter, as the cavalcade was setting forth, pluck the sleeve of Shacabac, and heard him whisper the fateful words: “You asked me what omen was more malign than any of those you named. I will tell you. It is to cheat a mighty Sultan and try to cheat a mightier King by palming off a Princess for a Prince!”
Ben Zoin
Pale with mingled anger and astonishment, Shacabac rode his camel beside that of Kayenna, and, begging a private interview, hastily confided to her the malignant words of the astrologer. The brow of the fair lady darkened as much as a brow so fair could lose its alabaster hue. Then, summoning her chief of staff, she said to him, “Hark ye, Ben Zoin, trusty servant of my royal father, take at once twenty of your best lances, and, when we shall have reached the well of Al-kohol, and the caravan is in bivouac, steal forth with them, letting no man know it but yourselves, and ride as for your lives to the capital of Kopaul. Demand immediate audience of the Sultan,—this signet ring will admit you at any hour,—tell him that there is treason in Ubikwi. Bid him summon his forces, and march at once to the relief of my husband. Should he find the rebels contumacious and able to withstand him, let him say to them that Kayenna of Ubikwi, with her son, the Heir Apparent of Nhulpar, and an hundred thousand spears, will be at the gates ere the waning of another moon. Go, and be silent; for traitors may be in this caravan also.”
The bearded, black-browed Ben Zoin bowed as he took the sacred signet, and promised to be at the capital of Kopaul as speedily as camel might carry him.
“Thou didst well to tell me of that caitiff’s words, good Shacabac,” said Kayenna, graciously; “and, though thou art not over-clever in all things, yet I believe thee honest in most. For this act thou mayst find thyself one day Grand Vizier of three realms, an thou diest not of thy weight of wisdom in the mean time.”
Laughing gayly as the caravan presently came in sight of the oasis of Al-kohol, she gave the order to camp for the night. But ere the second hour of encampment had passed, Ben Zoin and a score of the best lances in the cavalcade had stolen noiselessly out of the enclosure; and none were missed until the morning’s muster.
“Where is my trusty Ben Zoin?” asked Kayenna, when the caravan was forming in order of march. Shacabac was so surprised at the question, knowing what he knew, that he was on the point of explaining to her, when a look from her keen eyes closed his lips.
“God is great,” he muttered to himself. “Of a verity, I am becoming an imbecile; or, mayhap, I have been one all my life without knowing it. If so, Allah be praised! there is yet some hope for me; for he who beginneth to understand himself hath at least reached the outer portals of Knowledge. But what an actress she is!”
Nobody seemed able to answer the question propounded so simply. The captains of the guard, all old soldiers and comrades of the missing warrior, said that they knew not how to explain his absence.
“He may have gone reconnoitring,” said one.
“Some mischance hath surely befallen him in the night,” said another.
“An evil genie may have spirited away him and his companions,” said a third, who was brave, but imaginative, and suspected of composing poetry in his hours off duty.
“Most likely he hath proven traitor, and deserted,” said the voice of another, who was not of the old guard.
“Ha! what sayest thou?” cried Kayenna. “Come hither. Thy words are ominous. Come to my tent at noonday, and we will inquire further. This disappearance must be explained.”
Nothing more was heard of the missing soldier and his fellows; and the caravan, much disturbed in mind, halted at noon by the oasis of Rhi, near to the wells of Bûrbon, famed for the exhilarating quality of their waters.
“And so thou hast reason to apprehend that Ben Zoin and his men have deserted the caravan of the Pasha’s wife, being traitors or cowards?” queried Kayenna of the man who had suggested that explanation at the morning muster.
“No,” stammered the man: “I have no reason, only that it stands to reason that they could not have gone away save of their free will; and what else could they be but traitors if they”—
“Strange,” mused Kayenna, “that an honest man never suspects his neighbor of being a knave, while a rascal is ever distrustful. But suspicion is like a plague. Once started, it attacks all. I even have caught the infection, and cannot withhold my suspicions of this worthy fellow. Let him be searched forthwith, so that my unjust thoughts of him may be forever dispelled.”
So, in despite of his protestations and even vigorous resistance, he was promptly stripped; and, lo! within the lining of his caftan was found a scroll of parchment addressed to his Majesty, the King of Nhulpar.
“I did not know,” said Kayenna, “that we had in our retinue a bearer of dispatches to the sovereign whom we are about to visit. From our worthy lord, mayhap?”
The poor wretch only shook his head.
“Not, perchance, from our royal father, of Kopaul?”
The captive groaned.
“Then, as it does not appear to be a privileged communication, I will take the liberty of inspecting its contents. Meanwhile, Shacabac, you will bear witness that I have the messenger’s permission to examine the document.”
As a matter of fact, she had not that permission; but the last man on earth to challenge the statement at that moment was the poor wretch pinioned by two stout guards and overshadowed by the giant form of Al Choppah, who, without understanding a word that was said, grinned anticipatively, as a conscientious sinecure might, at the thought of doing something, however trifling, in the line of duty.
“To his Most Puissant Majesty, the Mighty King of Nhulpar,” read Kayenna, as she unrolled the scroll, “from Badeg, Astrologer-in-chief to the Court of Ubikwi, in prospective to the Court of Kopaul, and in humble hope to the Royal Court of Nhulpar, these:
“I take this opportunity to inform your most gracious Majesty that the caravan which sets forth this day for your royal court goes upon a wicked and deceitful errand; namely, to impose upon your Majesty.”
“That is enough,” said Kayenna, refolding the scroll. “I see that thy master has been good enough to cast the horoscope of the King of Nhulpar; and a very pretty one it is. Pray tell me, has he cast thine, also? No! Well, let me do it for thee. It is not a very bright one; but it hath this advantage over even more auspicious predictions, that it is absolutely and irrevocably true. I do not need to know under what planet or conjunction of the stars thou wast born, nor in what ‘house’ a single sign of the zodiac was domiciled on that unlucky day. Thy fortune began with the moment when thou didst accept the commission of that villain Badeg to play the spy and traitor on this caravan, and it will end ere the sun set on another day. Hast ever heard of the two-headed Snake of Rhi, the horrible monster with a venomous mouth at either end of his body, wherewith he devours his prey? What? Badeg forgot to mention that trifling wonder to thee? What a dull knave he is to set himself up for an astrologer! In a little while thou shalt know more than he has learned in all his life; but the knowledge will not abide with thee so long, perchance. Ho there, Al Choppah, put up thy scimitar! There is rarer sport here. To-morrow there shall be a treat for the caravan and the two-headed Snake of Rhi.
“This two-headed serpent,” explained Kayenna, carelessly, to Shacabac, “is a rare monster which delighteth in flinging himself bodily on his prey, striking it with the middle of his length, then tightening himself, fold on fold, around the victim, until, life being all but crushed out, he feasts with his double heads on the dying body. I care little for such spectacles myself, for I think they savor of the grotesque; but it will amuse our caravan, and make a weary hour pass pleasantly.”