After a short resistance Dagon yielded, and a moment later, at a sign from the master of the house, he entered the second chamber. At the same time from distant apartments appeared a man, not of tall stature, with gray beard, dressed in a gold-embroidered toga, and with a gold band on his head. "This is," said the host, standing in the middle of the room, "his grace Prince Hiram, a member of the supreme council of Tyre.--This is the worthy Dagon, banker of the heir to the throne and viceroy of Lower Egypt." The two dignitaries bowed, each with his hand on his breast, and both sat down on stools in the middle of the chamber. Hiram pushed aside his toga somewhat in order to show the great gold medal on his breast; in answer to this Dagon began to toy with a large gold chain which he had received from Prince Rameses. "I, Hiram," said the old man, "congratulate thee, Lord Dagon. I wish thee much property, and success in thy business." "I, Dagon, congratulate thee, Lord Hiram, and I wish thee the same as thou wishest me--" "Dost thou desire to dispute?" interrupted Hiram, irritated. "How dispute? Rabsun, say if I am disputing." "Better talk of business, your worthinesses," replied the host. After a moment of thought Hiram proceeded,-- "Thy friends in Tyre congratulate thee greatly through me." "Is that all they have sent me?" asked Dagon, in reviling accents. "What didst thou wish?" inquired Hiram, raising his voice. "Quiet! Concord!" put in the host. Hiram sighed a number of times deeply, and said,-- "It is true that we need concord. Evil times are approaching Phœnicia." "Has the sea flooded Tyre and Sidon?" asked Dagon, smiling. Hiram spat, and inquired,-- "Why art thou so ill-tempered to-day?" "I am always ill-tempered when men do not call me worthiness." "But why dost thou not say grace to me? I am a prince." "Perhaps in Phœnicia. But in Assyria thou wouldst wait three days in the forecourt of any satrap for an audience, and when he deigned to receive thee thou wouldst be lying on thy belly, like any Phœnician merchant." "But what couldst thou do in presence of a wild man who would perhaps impale thee on a stake?" inquired Hiram. "What I would do, I know not. But in Egypt I sit on one sofa with the heir to the throne, who to-day is viceroy." "Concord, worthiness! Concord, grace!" said the host. "Concord!--concord, because this man is a common Phœnician merchant, and is unwilling to render me respect," cried out Dagon. "I have a hundred ships!" shouted Hiram. "And his holiness has twenty thousand cities, towns, and villages." "Your worthinesses are destroying this business and all Phœnicia," said Rabsun, with a voice which was loud now. Hiram balled his fists, but was silent. "Thou must confess, worthiness," said he, after a while, "that of those twenty thousand towns his holiness owns few in reality."