The curtain of the altar rose almost horizontally, and behind it, amid glittering lightning, appeared wonderful creatures, half human, half plant and animal, crowded and mingled together.
Suddenly all was silent, and Beroes rose slowly in the air, higher than the heads of the priests there attending.
At eight o'clock next morning Phut of Harran returned to the Phoenician inn "Under the Ship" to which his bags and casket stolen by thieves had been returned safely. A few minutes later came Asarhadon's confidential servant, whom the innkeeper took to the cellar and examined briefly,
"Well?"
"I was all night on the square where the temple of Set is," answered the servant. "At ten in the evening out of the garden which lies about four places farther than the house of the 'Green Star,' came three priests. One of them, with black beard and hair, turned his steps through the square toward the temple of Set. I ran after him, but mist fell, and he vanished from my eyes. Whether he returned to the 'Green Star' or when, I know not."
The innkeeper, when he had heard this account, struck his forehead and muttered to himself,
"So my man from Harran, if he dresses as a priest and goes to a temple, must be a priest; and if he wears beard and hair, he must be a Chaldean priest. But if he meets priests here in secret, there must be some rogue's tricks. I will not tell the police, for I might be caught. But I will inform some great man from Sidon, for there may be profit in this, if not for me, for our people."
Soon the other messenger returned. Asarhadon went down to the cellar with this one also, and heard the following narrative,
"I stood all night in front of the 'Green Star.' The man of Harran was there; he got drunk and raised such shouts that the policeman warned the doorkeeper."
"Did he?" inquired the innkeeper. "The man of Harran was at the 'Green
Star' all night, and Thou didst see him?"