“Hear my judgment. Daniel is a Jew, and the law does not cover him. His guilt is sufficiently proved. Advance, Khatin; seize the prisoner!”
But it was not merely shoutings now that drowned the king’s voice. Right before the monarch sprang Sirusur, “Master of the Host.”
“Lord,” cried he, hotly, “if your Majesty desires to put crown ministers to death on the word of such as Tabni, let the king find another general!” And he cast his baton of office at the royal feet; so did the justiciar, so the “Master of the Granaries,” the “Master of the Treasury,” and a dozen great officials more. Khatin, the boldest of the bold, had shrunk from fulfilling the kingly order. But while Belshazzar sat lowering and unbending in the face of every protest, Mermaza had thrust his way through the angry officers, and salaamed before his master.
“Your Majesty,” spoke he, and his ever present smile had become dimmed in truth, “I am commanded by the queen-mother, Tavat-Hasina, to say that she has heard with no pleasure of the accusation against that dear servant of her father Nebuchadnezzar, the civil-minister Daniel; that she entreats the king her son to listen to no perjured evidence, and she warns the minister’s accusers of her most high displeasure.” The colour was leaving Avil’s cheek, for Tavat was still a power to be reckoned with. “And I am also commanded,” went on Mermaza, more haltingly, “to say in behalf of the worshipful Persian envoy, the Prince Darius, that Daniel the Jew has become most dear to him, and he trusts the king will do nothing hastily, if he desires to retain the ambassador’s good will.”
They saw Belshazzar’s face grow even darker, saw him lift the gold-tipped sceptre, as if to dash it in the eunuch’s face. But fewer saw Avil’s signal to his lord, as the priest stood close beside the dais, and the muttered whisper, “Yield for the moment.” The staff-bearers enforced silence at last. In profound stillness the king announced his decision:—
“In mine own eyes the guilt of Daniel is clear as the moon on a cloudless night; but I perceive that many faithful servants are minded otherwise, and that a question has arisen as to the veracity of the witness Tabni. Let therefore the accused be remanded to prison until his case can be more carefully examined into. And since nothing else is brought to my judgment seat, let the hall be cleared.”
The assemblage dispersed. Daniel was led to the palace prison. The king vanished in the harem. Khatin stole away to Nur-Samas’s beer-house with very dejected countenance,—he had not taken Daniel’s head. Only Avil and Gudea conversed together, but not amiably.
“Scorpion,” raged the priest, “what mean you by playing with me thus? To pin half your tale on a creature like Tabni, and then to have the other witness fail!”
“Compassion! my lord,” whined Gudea. “Hardly a man would do an ill turn by Daniel, he is so beloved. Even Tabni and Shaphat set their prices high.”
“And Shaphat has vanished, after having made sport of me before all Babylon!” fumed Avil. “Better to have Daniel at large, than in prison with so many revilings flung after me as there were to-day! You have failed me utterly, you and your cursed wife. May you never darken my sight again!”