"Mayhap," the Syrian laughed, "it were wiser that I held my tongue, yet ye who love me will ever be discreet. When we journeyed from Azapah to the court of Ninus, I bore a store of jewels in a leathern sack; and, knowing not if the King would smile or frown, I buried it on the river's further bank against a time of need. Ah, Sozana, thou who loveth gems, shouldst look upon this store! There are pearls from India, rubies from beyond the Sea of the Setting Sun, blue girasols and the opals of the Nile, zircons gleaming as the eyes of Bêlit shine, amethysts, and corals carven in the forms of birds and beasts. Tyre, Sidon, and the far off Heliopolis have helped to heap this hoard. With half a kingdom might be bought, yet now it lyeth hidden in a bed of river mud."
The Princess sighed, and Semiramis pinched her dusky cheek, promising to keep the choicest gem of all as a wedding gift for the little daughter of Assyria.
"Nay," Sozana smiled, "'tis not for the gems I sigh, but because of a loved one who would depart from me. Why, sweet, wouldst thou do this thing?"
Semiramis looked thoughtfully upon the earth and stirred a lizard with her sandaled foot.
"Dost remember the merchant of Phoenicia who was here three days agone? He told me of my home in Ascalon. Since then I yearn for the smell of my dew-moist hills, for the reach of the valleys, and my sweet, cool lake which sparkleth in its bed of rocks. The water, Sozana!--and here I look upon a tepid spring--a fountain fed by cisterns on the palace roof. Downward this water floweth, to trickle weakly from the earth, while eunuchs gather it in skins and bear it back upon the roof again. Dear Ishtar, what a flout to Nature's pride!"
For a space the three sat silent, then the Egyptian hostage asked:
"And if thou wouldst fly with Menon unto Ascalon, what then would chance to Kishra when the master cometh from his wars?"
"Poor Kishra! In truth he sleepeth on the hornéd cap of Bel. The master knoweth much concerning his servant's treachery, and hath sworn to hang him from the highest tower in Nineveh."
There were ripples in the fish pond, but the plotters gave no heed.
"It cometh to me," Semiramis laughed again, "that this eunuch will gather up such treasure-store as may be wrung from those who serve him, and fly to some distant land ere Ninus nail him to the city gate. A villain is he, yet none may say that Kishra be a fool."