"Whither bound?" I said. "You look as if you were setting forth on a treasure hunt."
"Not far wrong are you, my son. But the treasure I seek is the kind most men would cast away as rubbish."
"What is it, then?"
"Come and see, if you will," he said.
"You will see, forsooth," said Thraitaunas. "Were Beliddinos not one of my oldest friends, I would have him chained up as a dangerous madman."
"Hear the ignorant scoff! Well, my son, are you with me?"
Burning with curiosity, I walked with the Babylonian to one of the more ruinous parts of the city. We went into a lot encumbered with piles of broken brick that had once been a spacious temple. Beliddinos gave directions. The slaves began to dig in the places he pointed out with his stick.
Now and then they brought up a piece of brick, which they handed to Beliddinos. He studied it at arm's length (for age had made him farsighted) and cast it aside. Meseemed that, if Thraitaunas believed his friend a little mad, belike the Persian was not far wrong.
A few townsfolk gathered to watch, but with less interest than I should have expected. I said:
"O Beliddinos, were I to start digging in a vacant lot in Atrax, all the folk would think I dug for treasure and would come running with spades to forestall me. Why do the Sousians not do likewise?"
"They know me," he said. "Folk act as you describe in a town where for the first time I dig, but the Sousians have long since given me up as queer."
A slave handed Beliddinos a brick, which he stared at, turning it so that the light struck it slantwise and exclaiming softly in Syrian, the tongue spoken by most Babylonians.
"What is it?" I said.
"Look here." He held the brick so that I saw that the surface was covered with little marks. It was as if a flock of wee birdies had run back and forth across it whilst the clay was yet soft, until the face was wholly covered by their tracks.
"That is writing," said he. "Back to Babylon I must take it to be sure, but I think this is a foundation brick stamped with the inscription of King Tammaritos, who ruled Elamis before the coming of the Persians."
"A strange kind of writing," I said.
"Not at all. For thousands of years we used it in Babylonia. But alas! Yearly the number of those who can read this clay writing grows less. The day may come when the archives of our collected wisdom will lie mute for want of any who can decipher them."
"Then why collect more written bricks?" I said. "Are there men who will pay for them?"
"Nay, no such vulgar motive have I. The thoughts of past ages I seek, to keep the noble deeds of the men of yore from utterly perishing. When we get to Babylon, you must see my collection. Inscriptions of Saigon the Conqueror and Chammyrabis the Lawgiver have I."
I felt an awe of a man so deeply learned, but my own duties called. When the slaves had dug a while longer without finding anything worthy of note, I excused myself and went to the citadel.
The rest of the day I spent in caring for my hipparchia: checking and renewing equipment, touring the market place with Elisas to buy provisions, doctoring the sick, comforting the downcast, and calming the quarrelsome. The elephant was well tended in the royal pens along with the others, though the keepers complained that Aias ate as much as any two other elephants together.
Meanwhile, Vardanas swaggered about the town, calling upon his many friends. Once he passed me in the street, driving a two-horse chariot and waving gaily. I envied his looks and charm but consoled myself with the thought that Fate gives it to some to cut a dash and to others to do the world's serious work. As the fable says, no man can be first in everything.
As I walked about Sousa, I avoided dark corners and cast furtive glances over my shoulder, lest Aboulites' minions come upon me unawares. In the late afternoon I finished my tasks and hastened back to Thraitaunas' house, bringing Kanadas. My heart beat faster at the thought of conversing with a fair and well-bred lady, though I told myself I was being foolish. I had to speak sharply to myself to keep from breaking into an undignified run.
I found Thraitaunas in his garden, dictating in Persian to a slave who wrote the message in Syrian—something about selling a foal. It is curious that most Persians are unlettered in their own tongue, although some can write Greek or Syrian, and although there are systems of writing Persian.
I presented Kanadas and asked where everybody was, for the house seemed quieter than was its wont. Only Ariakas and another lad of eight were to be seen, building a kind of fort in one of the trees.
"The philosopher has taken Nirouphar to walk the dogs on the city wall," said Thraitaunas. "Kambouzias has gone with them to chaperon and interpret."
"Oh," said I, with so dour a visage that the old man gave me a look informed with suspicion.
"Know you whether they went north or south?" I asked. "No, but I daresay you can find them."
"With your leave, I will. I have a matter on which to speak to Pyrron."
"Indeed?" said Thraitaunas.
I left him talking with Kanadas and went out to the wall. Walking on the wall at sunset is a simple pleasure enjoyed, I suppose, by city dwellers of high and low degree the whole world over. Thence I could see across the low parts of the city, though the mounds cut off the view in other directions.
The sun was setting in purple and gold behind the mountains that part Sousiana from Babylonia. The sky was blotched and barred with clouds. A cool wind flapped my cloak. In the city, families were out weeding their roofs, for many Sousians raise flowers or vegetables on the earthen dressing atop their houses. Others pushed stone rollers over their roofs to flatten the earth.
Not knowing which way to turn, I went north, walking swiftly and looking sharply into the faces of strollers. When I had almost reached the northwest angle of the wall, I saw three crested Hellenic helmets. Two sat on the heads of Archelaos and Masdaros, the military commanders. I returned Archelaos' wave and Masdaros' bow. The former presented the third man, Zenophilos, who commanded the citadel.
The three officers were taking the air with their wives, who were veiled against the gaze of the curious. Archelaos cried: "Rejoice, O Leon! Are you being well treated?"
"Aye, General; none better."
He lowered his voice. "Have you had any trouble with Aboulites?"
"Not yet," I said, and told of Vaxathras' reception.
"You were wise not to move into the palace where those shameless ones could get their clutches on you. I should have warned you yesterday but did not think of it quickly enough. When I bethought me, I sent word to Aboulites that if he molested you I would hang him from his own gallows." He turned to the other two officers. "Leon and some of his Thessalians saved my life in a skirmish in Phrygia in the old days, and I am not one to forget it."
" 'Twas nought," I said.
"Still," he continued, "I would not advise you to stay here too long, lest you rouse Aboulites' greed. Despite my boastful threat, he wields great power."
"I'm off as soon as I can be," I said.
"Oh!" cried one of the ladies. "A storm is upon us!"
A great rain cloud had crept up from the southeast. The officers bade me good night and hurried away. I walked quickly back along the wall. Ere I reached the place where I had gained the top of the wall, the storm overtook me. First came a rattle of hail against the brick. A hailstone the size of a fist struck my head and dizzied me. Then rain drove down. By the time I reached the next watchtower, where a crowd of strollers huddled, I was soaked.
The rain being over, I took up my search again. A little south of the stair leading down to the street near Thraitaunas' house, I met Nirouphar, Pyrron, and Kambouzias. They were dry, having taken shelter in a tower before the rain began. The dogs climbed all over me, for they had taken a liking to my smell. Nirouphar said: