They took farewell of each other.
Toward evening the worthy Dagon seated himself in a litter carried by six slaves. He was preceded by two outrunners with staffs, and two with torches; behind the litter went four men armed from head to foot. Not for security, but because for a certain time Dagon loved to surround himself with armed men, like a noble.
He came out of the litter with great importance, supported by two men; a third carried a parasol over him. He entered Rabsun's house.
"Where is that Hiram?" inquired he, haughtily.
"He is not here?"
"How is this? Must I wait for him, then?"
"He is not in this room, but he is in the third one talking with my wife," answered the host. "He is making a visit to my wife."
"I will not go there!" said the banker, sitting down on a couch.
"Thou wilt go to the next chamber, and he will enter it at the same time with thee."
After a short resistance Dagon yielded, and a moment later, at a sign from the master of the house, he entered the second chamber. At the same time from distant apartments appeared a man, not of tall stature, with gray beard, dressed in a gold-embroidered toga, and with a gold band on his head.