Trembling with fear, she could only think of one unanswerable plea.
"I am his wife," she answered, blushing, with downcast eyes.
"His wife!" repeated the chief. "Who is he, then?"
Thoughts of ransom, flight, freedom, flitted through her brain, all to be accomplished with less difficulty by the prisoner of humble grade.
"I will speak truth to my lord," said she, "and so find favour in his sight. His servant is but a simple archer in the hosts of the king of Assyria."
"What are you doing here in the wilderness," was the next inquiry, "many days' journey from the walls of Babylon and the footstool of the Great King?"
"The servant of my lord has been a prisoner in the land of Egypt," replied Ishtar; "he was taken by the spearmen of Pharaoh. I followed him into captivity, and ministered unto him till we found a fitting time to escape."
"But the dromedary?" pursued her questioner.
"We stole it," she answered simply; and the son of Anak became less inclined to doubt the probability of her statement.
"An archer?" he repeated, pondering, as it seemed, with all his might. "But for the damsel herself, the tale seems likely enough; yet must the wives of his captains be marvellously fair, when a mere bowman in the Great King's host can come by so white a skin as that! Nevertheless," he added, turning to Ishtar, "if he be in truth an archer, and you his wife, no doubt he can bend a bow to some purpose, and you are not afraid to trust his skill. We shall prove you both on the spot."