"May I be able to give you the like," cried the ambassador. "Be seated, holy and worthy fathers. And though I have reddened eyes, speak to me as if I were in perfect soberness; for when I am drunk my mind is improved even. Is this not true, Istubar?" "Speak on," said the Chaldean. "To-day," began Mentezufis, "I have received a letter from the most worthy minister Herhor. He writes that his holiness--may he live through eternity!--awaits thy embassy at Memphis in his wonderful palace, and that his holiness--may he live through eternity!--is well disposed to make a treaty with Assyria." Sargon tottered on his feet, but his eyes showed clear mental action. "I will go," said he, "to his holiness the pharaoh,--may he live through eternity! In the name of my lord I will put my seal on the treaty, if it be written on bricks in cuneiform letters, for I do not understand your writing. I will lie even all day on my belly before his holiness, and will sign the treaty. But how will ye carry it out,--ha! ha! ha! that I know not," concluded he, with rude laughter. "How darest thou, O servant of the great Assar, doubt the good-will and faith of our ruler?" inquired Mentezufis. Sargon grew a little sobered. "I do not speak of his holiness," replied he, "but of the heir to the throne of Egypt." "He is a young man full of wisdom, who will carry out the will of his father and the supreme council without hesitation," answered Mefres. "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the drunken barbarian again. "Your prince-- O gods, put my joints out if I speak an untruth, when I say that I should wish Assyria to have such an heir as he is. Our Assyrian heir is a sage, a priest. He, before going to war, looks first at the stars in the sky; afterward he looks under hens' tails. But yours would examine to see how many troops he had; he would learn where the enemy was camping, and fall on him as an eagle on a lamb. He is a leader, he is a king! He is not of those who obey priestly counsels. He will take counsel with his own sword, and ye will have to carry out what he orders. Therefore, though I sign a treaty, I shall tell my lord that behind the sick pharaoh and the wise priests there is in Egypt a young heir to the throne who is a lion and a bull in one person,--a man on whose lips there is honey, but in whose heart lies a thunderbolt." "And thou wilt tell an untruth," interrupted Mentezufis. "For our prince, though impulsive and riotous somewhat, as is usual with young people, knows how to respect both the counsel of sages and the highest institutions of the country."