“But your lordship recalls a small matter,” sniffed Gudea, as unable as Binit to forget the money-bags,—“a promise, of two talents; merely of two talents. A trifle amongst friends—”
“And I will pay them,” swore Avil, “when Allat has requited you in the ‘House of Torment.’ Therefore, get you gone!”
When Gudea returned to his home that night, he had occasion to meditate long on the ingratitude of the mighty.
CHAPTER XI
If Gudea’s heart was sorrowful that night, so were those of greater men than he. Avil had never before found Belshazzar so irascible, as when they conferred in a quiet chamber of the palace, about sundown.
“The Jew is obstinate as an old camel!” cursed the king. “He knows no more fear than a mad auroch. I can do nothing with him!”
“And the king threatened?” insinuated Avil.
“Torture, impaling, flaying alive, hot furnaces,—and all else; yet he will not give me an order on Imbi-Ilu for his daughter.”