"I was not dreaming of any," answered he. "You know how fond I am of watching the stars, and the Tistar-star rose so splendidly to-night, that I left the wine to watch it. The nightingales were singing so loudly to one another, that if I had not wished to hear them I must have stopped my ears." "You kept them wide open, however," said Araspes laughing. "Your enraptured exclamation proved that." "Enough of this," cried Darius, to whom these jokes were getting wearisome. "I really must beg you to leave off making allusions to matters, which I do not care to hear spoken of." "Imprudent fellow!" whispered the older man; "now you really have betrayed yourself. If you were not in love, you would have laughed instead of getting angry. Still I won't go on provoking you--tell me what you have just been reading in the stars." At these words Darius looked up again into the starry sky and fixed his eyes on a bright constellation hanging over the horizon. Zopyrus watched him and called out to his friends, "Something important must be happening up there. Darius, tell us what's going on in the heavens just now." "Nothing good," answered the other. "Bartja, I have something to say to you alone." "Why to me alone? Araspes always keeps his own counsel, and from the rest of you I never have any secrets." "Still--" "Speak out." "No, I wish you would come into the garden with me." Bartja nodded to the others, who were still sitting over their wine, laid his hand on Darius' shoulder and went out with him into the bright moonlight. As soon as they were alone, Darius seized both his friend's hands, and said: "To-day is the third time that things have happened in the heavens, which bode no good for you. Your evil star has approached your favorable constellation so nearly, that a mere novice in astrology could see some serious danger was at hand. Be on your guard, Bartja, and start for Egypt to-day; the stars tell me that the danger is here on the Euphrates, not abroad." "Do you believe implicitly in the stars?" "Implicitly. They never lie." "Then it would be folly to try and avoid what they have foretold." "Yes, no man can run away from his destiny; but that very destiny is like a fencing-master--his favorite pupils are those who have the courage and skill to parry his own blows. Start for Egypt to-day, Bartja." "I cannot--I haven't taken leave of my mother and Atossa." "Send them a farewell message, and tell Croesus to explain the reason of your starting so quickly." "They would call me a coward." "It is cowardly to yield to any mortal, but to go out of the way of one's fate is wisdom." "You contradict yourself, Darius. What would the fencing-master say to a runaway-pupil?" "He would rejoice in the stratagem, by which an isolated individual tried to escape a superior force."