“Many things, my lord,—revolt, mutiny in the army; but nothing shall leak. In a year you will be firmly set upon the throne and can mock at all rumours. Only I fear the two men we have looked askance at for so long, Imbi-Ilu and Daniel.” “Daniel!” exclaimed the king, as if struck by a sudden suggestion. “I had forgotten about his wench. She is at the harem, of course, Mermaza,—you shall bring her to me in the morning.” There was a long and very awkward interval before the eunuch found courage to stammer:— “Pardon, River of Compassion,—I, the least of your slaves—” “She _is not_ at the harem?” demanded the king, threateningly. What followed, Darius did not well comprehend, thanks to the darkness, and the mingling of Mermaza’s snifflings with Belshazzar’s curses and oaths. The Persian imagined the eunuch had fallen upon his knees, and was almost pleading for his head. It sufficed that substantially the full story of the fruitless pursuit of the Jewess, and the defiance of Imbi-Ilu, was gasped out at last. When it was finished, Belshazzar swore madly. “Now as Marduk lives, I will have the life of Daniel by another day, and pluck his daughter—” “Peace, your Majesty,” interposed Avil, abruptly. “Will you raise all Babylon in an uproar? Believe me, Daniel is a power, even as against you, my king. Men may think him old, honest, unsuspecting; but I know better. He is rich, like all his accursed race. The city folk worship him. Imbi-Ilu can rally half the priesthoods, as many as are jealous of Bel-Marduk, in his behalf. And again beware; for raise a wind that will blow into the Persian envoy’s ears that you are seeking the maid, and when will he trust oath of yours again? I pray all the gods he hear nothing of Mermaza’s rash blunder this day.” “The envoy!” grunted Belshazzar. “What does he see and know while in Babylon? No bat is blinder to all save his sport.” “The king is mistaken,” admonished Avil, smoothly, “if he thinks Darius utterly witless. I have watched him, and I boast to be a judge of men. When not in liquor, he is deep and crafty beyond appearance. Do nothing to offend him till the proper time; and as for the Jew’s daughter, let the king wait. Mermaza can find many another as likely maid, sold in the market for twenty shekels.” “No, by Samas!” asserted Belshazzar, testily. “I wish for no fowls out of that flock. Whatsoever I once set my heart on, that will I possess, though all the plague-demon’s sprites rage round me. I have sworn to gain the girl, and were she ten times less comely than she is, no power of man shall say to the king of Babylon ‘nay.’” Avil coughed, it seemed derisively, and spoke in an authoritative tone wondrously disrespectful to a crowned monarch:—