As he rose to his feet to reply there was a look upon his face which neither Belur nor his own courtiers had expected to see. Before that look even Belur’s assumed effrontery slowly dissolved.
“Son of Rabatta, it is now less than a year since a Hittite embassy stood within this very hall! Like thee, it came freighted With the rarest and richest products of the Asiatics! If we remember rightly its offerings included one hundred logs of Lebanus cedar, five hundred pounds of Cilician silver, three hundred pounds of the true lapis-lazuli of Babylon, two hundred gold and electrum goblets, with choice silver vases of the workmanship of Zahi! In comparison with this, thy meager offerings seem to prove that Charchemish hath lost its hold upon the Lebanus, upon the Cilician mines, upon the princes of Zahi, of Kadesh and Megiddo? Or perhaps thy brother hath forgotten the circumstances which prompted his father’s princely gift! Not with gifts for favors to be received came Rabatta thy father! Nay, with _tribute_, with the tribute of a _vassal_ did he come! With tribute exacted through fear of Egypt’s might.
“Take back this message to Rimur thy brother! Thus saith Pharaoh of Egypt: ‘’Tis but a breath of time since Rabatta knelt at Pharaoh’s knee, swearing fealty! Wherefore hath Rimur, his son, failed to do the like?’
“As to thy insolent proposal, when hath a Daughter of the Sun left the land of Egypt at the beck and call of rebel princelings? ’Tis in our mind to hold thee hostage for thy brother’s quick return to reason. Yet, go! And with thee take thy gifts, fit only to dazzle some savage Amu!”
At Pharaoh’s words Belur the Hittite took a step nearer to the royal dais. A covert sneer played about his well-cut lips, though his eyes were hard, his cheek pale. Raising his hand with a gesture almost threatening once again he addressed the trembling monarch:
“Hear me, Pharaoh! One other word my august brother sends to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The Hittite army is to-day one hundred thousand strong. The princes of Zahi and Naharin, the kings of Kadesh, Gezer and Megiddo, have joined their forces unto his! Of thy Syrian vassals half have left thee! The Khabiri are up! Ribaddi alone stands true to thee and, even he by now doubtless has fed a vulture’s maw.