“Away!” gasped the king, all the while shaking as with ague; “away, lest the god pursue us! Back to Babylon with all haste!” He was running down the _ziggurat_ with leaps and bounds, Khatin after him. “Your Majesty leaves his sandals,” Imbi shouted, but Belshazzar never so much as heard. When he reached the courtyard, Belshazzar stumbled. The chariot servants saw that his face was ghastly white, and, fearing leprosy, dreaded at first to help him into the car. With no explanation to any, Belshazzar ordered that they drive at headlong speed to the palace. It was three days before the king showed himself again in public, and even then all saw that his features were haggard. Khatin had recovered more swiftly. Amongst his cronies, and when well in liquor, he was wont to boast that _he_ had been all courage, only the king commanded him to retire just as he was dragging Ruth from behind the image. Be that as it may, on the evening following the attempted sacrilege, Imbi privately commended his faithful Hasba for having done his duty so manfully in the sanctuary during the morning. [Illustration: THE WISE GUDEA PROSPERS] CHAPTER XII Now after the king for the third time had refused the prayer of all the great merchants of Babylon, to accept their security and release Daniel from his prison, Ruth the Jewess declined more and more. Zabini, the motherly wife of Imbi-Ilu, went one day to her husband with no little concern, and told him how the girl was daily becoming pale and languid, her appetite was failing, she took no interest in the songs and dances of the temple women, and how every time a mule-cart rumbled in the streets outside the gates, she would start and shiver, fearing lest it was a new visit from the king to drag her from sanctuary. Imbi was a kind-hearted man. He directed Bel-Nuri, the oldest and wisest of the temple doctors, to examine the Jewess, and prescribe. The physician did his duty carefully, and announced that the girl suffered from “the wasting sickness,” perhaps aggravated by an attack of formidable demons. Ruth accordingly was duly medicined with a paste of “white dogs’ brains,” supplemented by a most powerful spell, which was chanted over her one whole afternoon by Zabini and six other priests’ wives. Privately, however, Bel-Nuri had a long conference with Imbi-Ilu.