Now it chanced, that among the dwellers at Azapah, there were those who starved, alike on the bread of flattery and the little left them by the grasp of tax; so they met in a secret place and contrived a plot to destroy the Governor's house with fire, while those who slept therein should come not forth alive. With the army close at hand they dare not move; yet when Kedah led his force away to fall upon a certain band of malcontents, the plotters over-powered the guards who were left behind, slew them, then came to make their evil works complete.
At the hour of midnight Semiramis sat by Menon's couch, albeit the fever now had passed and his body was on the mend; yet it joyed her thus to mother him and to watch him while he slept. Habal lay yawning at her feet, but of a sudden the bristles rose upon his back and a rasping mutter trembled in his throat.
"Peace, Habal, peace!" his mistress urged, fearful lest the growls disturb her lord; yet the dog would not be stilled. Crouched at the stout-barred door, he growled afresh, and Semiramis knew full well that Habal snuffed a trouble in the air; so, calling Hazim, she mounted to the roof.
To the left she saw the tents of her guard in flames, while through the night came a close-packed throng, their ugly visages alight in the glare of many a torch. A hideous crew they were, the scum and evildoers of the plains, half clothed, and armed with staves and stones. At the sight, the heart of Semiramis grew cold within her breast—not for her own alarm, but for him who slept below, and, shrinking with Huzim behind a parapet, she waited, pondering hard and fast.
On came the crowd, full twenty score, who, if they would, might override the Governor's feeble strength in the twinkling of an eye, dash down the doors and drag the inmates forth to butchery. Yet ere a torch could be set against the walls, the plotters saw a woman leap upon the parapet above, to smile upon them and raise her hands in glad surprise, as though they bore her precious wedding gifts.
"Greeting!" she cried. "What seek ye of Shammuramat?"
Now a murderer's liver is a cousin to his slinking mind, and these who came were murderers. Of a certainty, had they reached the house by stealth, they would have burned it to the earth, showing no mercy to the Governor or his wife. Yet when this vision stood upon the housetop, not as one who pleads for life, but as a master knowing them for the cattle which they were, then the plotters faltered in their course and paused. A silence fell, and for a moment no man found his tongue.
"What seek ye of Shammuramat?"
"The Governor!" cried a voice amongst the throng. "The Governor! Give him into our hands!"
"Ah!" said the lady upon the roof, as she nodded pleasantly. "Ah, I see! Right gladly would my lord come out to you, but my lord is not within." She raised her hand to check a murmur of dissent, and smiled. "If friends would speak with him, I pray them wait for a little space, for even now he returneth with his men-at-arms. Harken!" She placed a hand behind her ear and gazed toward the north, whence Kedah and his force would come at dawn. "Harken to the clatter of his cavalry and the beat of hoofs upon the plain. Patience, good friends—he cometh!"