The weird of the wanderer Being the papyrus records of some incidents in one of the previous lives of Mr. Nicholas Crabbe
passed majestically through the antechambers; and a fold of my robe
inshrouded my head, lest my silver hair and beard should bewray me
to the shaveling priests guarding every portal. But they, seeing me
emerging from the holy place with a holy and even mind and wearing
priestly habiliments, were unperturbed; and, beside, the sight of the
very beautiful instruments in my hands, and the _Word of Silence_ in
the ancient tongue of Khem which I gave them in my passage, prevented
any doubts of me from afflicting their ingenious minds. But also, of
course, I was receiving favour from the gods.
So, at last, I stepped up through the secret trap-door on to the sandy
plain under the full blaze of radiant Ra. And I at once perceived a
difference. For the plain, with its low pillar on the spit of pebbles,
was the same, but infinitely smaller; and, below me, where I had left
desolate ruins, was a city heaped with mighty fanes and splendid
palaces. I, Nicholas Crabbe, liegeman of Victory queen of the stalwart
stately Anglicans, gazed with my live well-seeing eyes, not a puny
Luxor, but on Thebes of the Hundred Gates, Menes’ Thebes, Thotmes’
Thebes, the capital of the Upper Land, the great metropolis of the
south, in glory inconceivable, and yet not yet in its greatest glory.
For a time, I stood, musing at the wonder to which my wiles had
brought me, and contriving many plans. For, it appeared to me, that
(though I had done very well as a priest of Isis in extricating myself
from the temple) the mind in my lordly breast was yearning for a
wider more-strenuous life, in which my wisdom and my power (but now
considerable) might be used and (if possible) augmented. And, for this
reason, it seemed well to seek yet another guise before entering the
city.
But a certain remembrance set me searching the rock-strewn plain;
and, by chance, about an hour before sunset, by favour of some god,
I came to the cavity under certain boulders, where I had seen fit to
hide a small teak-wood chest lined with aluminium, when I came to that
place with my familiar Amenemhat. Now I am ignorant of the reason why
I found it there, for the time when I hid it there is even now very
far in the future. But, as I had found my baggage in the secret hall,
with the food (which I brought from the era of Victory queen of the
stalwart stately Anglicans) still sweet and fresh more than nineteen
centuries before its actual confection, I was not then, and I am not
now, disposed to vibrate the air with explanations of what no one can
understand. It is enough that I found my teak-wood chest in the place
where some day I shall no doubt hide it, and that its contents provided
me with easy and beautiful garments wherewith I promptly indued myself,
namely, a pair of brown leather boots, with a flannel jacket and
trousers, and a silk shirt and socks, all of a very pale grey colour,
and a soft felt hat of the same hue but of the shape affected by
Hermes.[19] But when I had clothed myself in these well-cut garments,
I buckled my revolver-belt outside them, and hanged a leathern
satchel, containing my crystal orb and my divination-cup, over my wide
shoulders. But I kept the magic staff in my right hand to twirl and
flourish by the way; and, so, I set out for the city.
A well-carved open chariot passed by; and the slave, driving, gazed
curiously on my strange form. Around me, on both sides of the wide
white road, brick-red tillers of the soil toiled with bent backs amid
the emerald crops. Another chariot passed me; and halted a little
further on for the naked charioteer to gaze upon me with jaw-dropped
amazement. At the gate of the city, I saw fierce Makedonians on guard,
clothed (as was the fashion of their race) with copper armour blazing
like red gold, and kirtles of the well-cured skins of ponies, and great
crested helmets on their heads, and long spears of tough ashwood in
their hands, very brave to look upon. And, as I came near, one (the
most righteous of men) said to his fellows: “I say, here is well-hatted
Hermes!”
“Aye:” responded another: “and the godly youth goeth attired for this
hot land in grey cloud-garments, shielding his tender skin from Helios
his rays.”
“Ho, stranger!” cried a third. “Stand thou, and say whether thou art
god or man, and what contraband thou bearest in thy bag, and whether
thou art friendly to the Pharoah.”
Now while the usual dirty little boys and loafers and inquisitive
women were assembling, I realized that I had to do with Argyraspides,
seeing that the shields of the soldiers were laminated with silver;
and, moreover, I perceived that they were offering me the _Sign of the
Shield-rim_.[20] But I used wiles, answering: “First tell ye me who the
Pharoah is, and why ye Argives serve the lord of Khem.”
Thus I spoke: but deep-seated indignation swept from their hearts
across their faces, even as Sihor’s stream inundates the thirsty land
in flood-time. And anon one chirruped: “O thou silly fellow! The divine
Ayletes is the Pharoah whom we serve.”
“Ayletes?” I cried. “Is, then, Ptolemaios Dionysos the Piper lord of
sacred Khem? And are ye Makedonians minions of the Lagidai?”
“Aye, stranger:” the blameless guard responded: “Makedonians we
are, but no slaves of that Flute-player. Of our own will we serve
Ptolemaios, for pay and for promotion. But, who art thou?” he
continued. “Who art thou, who seemest first to know nothing and then to
know everything? And why art thou thus garbed? And what bearest thou
there?”
Then, indeed, I was wily: for I made them the _Countersign of the
Shieldnavel_;[21] and I said, in a parable which he who has a grain
of sense may read: “I am Karkinos Gampsonyx called Oypogonos, son of
Kallikhronos, born of Nomadikos, begotten by Eypator son of Eygenes
who sprang from the great race of the Selenidai. And I go thus garbed
because I have a lordly mind to go thus garbed. And, in my hand, I bear
that which is Life. And, on my thigh, I bear that which is death.”
Thus I spoke. But the sentinels cowered before me, muttering among
themselves: “He knoweth the great _Countersign_: Yet he is not of
us, neither of present-born men, victims not masters of life and of
death: but he is some god or hero out of the Netherworld.” But to me
they said: “Pass freely, O Karkinos Oypogonos of the multitudinous
paternity, who art lord of life and death. And the Piper may stop thee
if he will: but we will have nothing to do with it.”
But I went smoothly into the city. And men cast wondering looks at
me, because of my strange aspect; but, because I had been able to
cause the insolent soldiers of the corrupt Lagidai to shrink from me,
I was sufficiently admired. Now the sun was near his setting; and the
mind in my breast earnestly desired to seek a small place of my own,
near water, where I might rest awhile, watching for an opportunity of
mingling advantageously with mortal men. For, indeed, I have ever had a
natural longing to be near water, and useful to men. Wherefore, having
found my way to the river, I addressed myself to an Argive colonist,
and he was a master of barges, who (by chance) was seeing his barks
laid up for the night. And from him I demanded the hire of a convenient
barge, intending to sail downstream to the Delta, that (during the
voyage) I might tranquilly estimate the wisdom which I had, and perhaps
acquire more, and also take part in such adventures as the gods might
assign to my treatment.
But the bargeman answered me, saying: “No barges, O lord, can pass down
Sihor to the Delta, now. For the wild mercenaries of the Pharoah have
mutinied at Anteiopolis for an increase of wages.”
“I know,” I said, “that there are masterless hounds everywhere.”
“But these, lord, are not masterless: for they serve Pyrrhos, one of
themselves, a ruddy-locked barbarian, who has made Thebes (the sacred
city of the ram-headed god) a byword through the Upper Land and the
Lower, requiring of us (as tribute) whole meals of the milk of mice as
well as a ransom of much gold.”
“But the guards of the Lagidai--” I began.
He interrupted me: “Lord, they league with Pyrrhos; and a share of his
spoils keeps them in their quarters while he bites our necks.”
“But, why do not ye, Thebans, resist this freebooter?”
“There is no strength left to us, lord, since the dread Pharoah
Ptolemaios Lathyros sacked Thebes: whom may Set snatch, and his heart
be eaten alive by slow-worms, hornets, and interminably-tongued
chameleons----”
“Peace, fellow!” I snarled. “Nor soil thine Argive mouth with barbaric
imprecations. And know that I will sail for the Delta, though a myriad
of outlaws be between here and there.”
“Then, lord, thou wilt go alone: for no boatman will risk his life.”
“Not for gold?” I inquired, shewing a handful of coins.
Then, indeed, the man wavered, curiously examining the money. But he
said: “Oh, where were these well-minted pieces struck? For they are
over-round and too well-stamped to come from a barbaric mint. And, O
lord, who art thou?”
But, being aware that he was as much in my power as though the knuckles
of my first and second blooming fingers clutched the tender nose
of him, and being desirous at length to make an end of bargaining,
I answered him, saying: “Whom I am, thou shalt know on a fitting
occasion: but, that I am to be obeyed, thou shalt know now. Let
therefore thine eyes gaze in this direction.”
With which words, I stretched out my magic staff to the life-giving
river, whispering a certain _Spell of Summons_. And the sons of
slime surged up with great swirlings, the many-fanged far-sweeping
crocodiles, while I slowly swayed my staff in rhythm with the
inchantment which sang within me. But they came in cohorts from far and
near, with huge eddyings of the dark-brown water; and they lay winking
in close lines by the jetty, expecting orders from me their summoner.
But the heart of the bargeman became like dripping in a hot pan; and
he said: “Lord, I perceive that thou art the Divine Hermes at least,
with that wonderful wand: for none but thou, and only thou on a very
important message from All-father Zeys, could do this thing.”
To whom I gave a stern word, saying: “Be ware of opposing the
counsels of Zeys, or of hindering Hermes. For the minions of Pyrrhos
have no more power over me than had the Makedonians of the Lagidai.
But, even as I command these sons of slime, so am I superior to all
earth-stamping men.”
“Dreadful lord,” he answered at once, “take the best of my barges: for
Nesamun my brother-in-law, who has more skill in boatmanship than I,
shall indeed go with thee this minute in his own barge.”
Having succeeded in my wile, I dismissed the Argive to see to the
business. But I waited, watching the crocodiles having their teeth
cleaned and blinking luxuriously, till I was tired of their musky
exhalations. And, having given them leave, they returned to their
stations in the slime. And anon, seeing that the barge was being
prepared very speedily, I bade the bargeman that his brother-in-law
should visit me; and to him I gave order that he should take a stock of
provisions, buying also a slave-boy of lusty form and a mind incapable
of fear, with other things which were necessary. Furthermore, I said
that all was to be ready for sailing at dawn. And, having offered
two quarter-ounces of gold of Victory queen of the stalwart stately
Anglicans to the bargeman for his charges, he foolishly refused the
same, abasing himself to the earth as before a god. But I, having
ascended the gangway, entered my cabin, where I ate a melon and some
cheeses and pigeons; and betook myself to slumber.
These things I did in Thebes of the Hundred Gates.
FOOTNOTES:
[14] All these words are written in English. A. H.
[15] All these words are written in English. A. H.