“And you, where did you fight?” demanded the king.
“We made shift to defend an inner gate. Treachery is all about. We were attacked in the rear. I fled with the tidings. The Persians carry all before them,—hear!” and hear they did; “the foe will come and none to stay!”
“None shall stay? Twenty thousand men of war in Babylon, and Belshazzar be snared as a bird in his own palace?” The king drew his sword, flinging far the scabbard.
“Up, princes of the Chaldees, up!” he trumpeted, above the shriekings all around. “All is not lost! We will still prove the Jew the liar! Whosoever dares, follow me! All Babylon is not turned traitor. We will make our streets the Persian’s grave!”
Yet while he cried it a second messenger panted into the great hall.
“The outer defences of the palace are forced, O king! The foe are everywhere!”
But Belshazzar leaped down from the dais, and sped about one lightning glance.
“Here, Khatin, stand by these women and this Jew! See that they do not flee. I will yet live to teach them fear.”
A crash without made the casements shiver. Belshazzar sprang forward. “At them, men of Babylon; all is not yet lost!”