The official seemed greatly troubled.
"Let not my lord consume me utterly in his displeasure," said he. "One of them hath escaped in the night, and there is but one left."
It was in vain to calculate the Prince's changing moods. He laughed aloud.
"The more fool he to stay in the town since the gate stood open," was his reply. "Put him in the fortress-dungeon, and keep him there on bitter waters and bread of affliction till I send to bring him out. Now lead the horses round, and unhood the hawks. I have done enough justice for one sitting. Let us ride forth into the wilderness to take a prey!"
CHAPTER XXXII
BREAD AND SALT
The dromedary travelled fast; but its pace, rough and fatiguing even to Sarchedon's athletic frame, was especially trying to his companion. Anxiety and agitation had done their usual work; so that when Ishtar recovered from her swoon, refreshment and a short interval of repose seemed absolutely necessary, if she was to continue her journey through the night. Towards noon, therefore, her companion thought it wise to halt at a convenient resting-place, where a clump of palms flung their slender shadows over a desert spring; and while the dromedary, after drinking its fill, browsed on the few dried shoots afforded by the scanty vegetation of the wilderness, Sarchedon did all that a lover's care and a traveller's experience could suggest for her comfort who was thus confided to his affection.
"You were wise," said he, forcing on her a share of their provision, "to carry off this morsel of food from Agron's table. I know the stations well at which we can halt to drink, and that good beast yonder, though he will grow leaner and leaner, can journey on with unfailing strength till the sun has risen twice again. Eat, then, and spare not; for on the edge of the desert, when we have passed the bitter sea of the plain, there are cities of refuge, where we can obtain such food as we require for man and beast, ere we go on our way rejoicing to the country between the rivers and the cool mountains of the North."
"Your path is mine," answered Ishtar, with a fond smile; "I am not so faint and weak of heart now, but I am very weary, and would fain sleep."