"What does your Highness mean?" he asked. "Doubtless you speak in jest."
"I sent for you because I am in need of your advice," the prince continued gravely. "You are both men of the world and fitted to aid me with your counsel; but what I am about to tell you must not be repeated, even to yourselves. Do you swear to keep the secret, no matter what my decision may be?"
"We swear it," Ariston replied.
"And you?" the prince said to Esmun.
"By the head of Baal!" the priest declared.
"Azemilcus has resolved to deliver the city," the prince said, bending forward and speaking in a tone scarcely above a whisper.
For an instant both his hearers were silent. Ariston comprehended in a flash that surrender would mean his ruin, since it would involve the loss of his property. Esmun was too astonished to think.
"What will the king receive in return?" the Athenian inquired.
"His life," Hur replied. "He knows well that the city must be destroyed, and that his people will be sold into slavery."
Esmun groaned. He saw himself torn from his life of ease, Baal-Moloch's temple in ruins, and nothing left for him but years of servitude.