CHAPTER XXVII
A PATH WHICH LED TO ITS STARTING POINT
King Ninus now rested from his war and disposed of the affairs of state. He sealed a treaty with Oxyartes whereby all Bactria lay subject to Assyria's rule, each city paying yearly tribute to the King. King Oxyartes he took unto himself as a brother-chief, and in Zariaspa set up as Governor of Tax a man whose name was Tiglath-Shul, a chieftain who would likewise hold a force of warriors in command of the city wall.
When this was accomplished, Ninus brought before him the eunuchs Neb and Ura, and charged them to guard the prison door of Menon, suffering none to enter or learn the name of him who lay therein. Likewise he whispered in the ear of Tiglath-Shul, saying that a Bactrian hostage was being held in the keep below, and the head of a certain Governor would, mayhap, be forfeit for those who meddled in the King's affairs. Therefore the Governor took council with himself, refrained from prying, and set a blight on all who were overcurious. Then Ninus, when other weighty matters had been put in order, commanded that the armies of Assyria depart on the homeward way.
Once more the marching host like a monster serpent crawling through the dust, crept upward among the hills, through the Pass of the Wedge now strewn with whitening bones, and down the rugged slopes beyond; through forest-lands and the countries of those who dwelt among the rocks, through Media ripening for a conquest by the King; scaling the Zagros mountains, and coming at last unto Arbela where the army sat down in weariness.
Throughout the journey Semiramis lay within her litter, holding speech with none save Huzim who ever sat on guard, while the King, albeit he yearned for a sight of her, restrained his ardor till her term of mourning passed and her grief had spent itself.
"Because," he mused, "a fruit hath life so long as it hangeth on its mother-branch. But once may this fruit be plucked—no more; take, therefore, heed lest in plucking we find it green."
So the lion persevered in the wisdom of the fox and broke not upon the seclusion of Semiramis; then, after a rest of twenty days, the army left Arbela, marched northward across the river Zab and thence to the eastern gate of Nineveh; and at their coming the people flocked to the city walls, with songs of rejoicing for the conquerors, with love-lit eyes for those who returned to waiting homes, with hunted eyes that watched in vain for others who slept in the vales of Hindu-Kush. Thus it came to pass that Nineveh was rent with joy and tears; for where the thousands wept into the ashes of their hearths, the tens of thousands steeped their hearts in wine, and laughed. Laughter and tears, entwined in a close embrace, for the joy of a man is ever his neighbor's woe.
In the palace of the King there was likewise joy, much feasting and the dance of timbril-girls; then Ninus, in the gardens, came upon Sozana and Memetis who together had dwelt in happiness since the eunuch Kishra ran afoul of fate. An infant had been born to them, so Ninus tore his beard in wrath and gave his daughter in wedlock to the man; albeit he would have surely slain the Egyptian had Semiramis not pleaded mightily.
"Heed," said she, "what profit in this deed of blood? What promise in a babe left fatherless? See what a sturdy little warrior, who, as Asshur liveth, hath the eye of Ninus and his very nose!"