Arachne — Complete Read online

  Produced by David Widger

  ARACHNE

  By Georg Ebers

  Translated from the German by Mary J. Safford

  BOOK 1.

  CHAPTER I.

  Deep silence brooded over the water and the green islands which roselike oases from its glittering surface. The palms, silver poplars, andsycamores on the largest one were already casting longer shadows as theslanting rays of the sun touched their dark crowns, while its glowingball still poured a flood of golden radiance upon the bushes along theshore, and the light, feathery tufts at the tops of the papyrus reeds inthe brackish water.

  More than one flock of large and small waterfowl flew past beneath thesilvery cloudlets flecking the lofty azure vault of heaven; here andthere a pelican or a pair of wild ducks plunged, with short calls whichceased abruptly, into the lush green thicket, but their cackling andquacking belonged to the voices of Nature, and, when heard, soondied away in the heights of the tipper air, or in the darkness of theunderbrush that received the birds. Very few reached the little city ofTennis, which now, during the period of inundation in the year 274 B.C.,was completely encircled by water.

  From the small island, separated from it by a channel scarcely threearrow-shots wide, it seemed as though sleep or paralysis had fallen uponthe citizens of the busy little industrial town, for few people appearedin the streets, and the scanty number of porters and sailors who wereworking among the ships and boats in the little fleet performed theirtasks noiselessly, exhausted by the heat and labour of the day.

  Columns of light smoke rose from many of the buildings, but the sunbeamsprevented its ascent into the clear, still air, and forced it to spreadover the roofs as if it, too, needed rest.

  Silence also reigned in the little island diagonally opposite to theharbour. The Tennites called it the Owl's Nest, and, though for noespecial reason, neither they nor the magistrates of King Ptolemy IIever stepped upon its shores. Indeed, a short time before, the latterhad even been forbidden to concern themselves about the pursuits of itsinhabitants; since, though for centuries it had belonged to a familyof seafaring folk who were suspected of piracy, it had received, twogenerations ago, from Alexander the Great himself, the right of asylum,because its owner, in those days, had commanded a little fleet whichproved extremely useful to the conqueror of the world in the siegeof Gaza and during the expedition to Egypt. True, under the reign ofPtolemy I, the owners of the Owl's Nest were on the point of beingdeprived of this favour, because they were repeatedly accused of piracyin distant seas; but it had not been done. Yet for the past two yearsan investigation had threatened Satabus, the distinguished head of thefamily, and during this period he, with his ships and his sons, hadavoided Tennis and the Egyptian coast.

  The house occupied by the islanders stood on the shore facing the littlecity. It had once been a stately building, but now every part of itseemed to be going to ruin except the central portion, which presenteda less dilapidated appearance than the sorely damaged, utterly neglectedside wings.

  The roof of the whole long structure had originally consisted of palmbranches, upon which mud and turf had been piled; but this, too, was nowin repair only on the central building. On the right and left wings therain which often falls in the northeastern part of the Nile Delta, nearthe sea, had washed off the protecting earth, and the wind had borne itaway as dust.

  Once the house had been spacious enough to shelter a numerous family andto store a great quantity of goods and provisions, but it was now longsince the ruinous chambers had been occupied. Smoke rose only from theopening in the roof of the main building, but its slender column showedfrom what a very scanty fire it ascended.

  The purpose which this was to serve was readily discovered, for infront of the open door of the dwelling, that seemed far too large andon account of the pillars at the entrance, which supported a triangularpediment--also too stately for its sole occupant, sat an old woman,plucking three ducks.

  In front of her a girl, paying no heed to her companion, stood leaningagainst the trunk of the low, wide-branching sycamore tree near theshore. A narrow boat, now concealed from view by the dense growth ofrushes, had brought her to the spot.

  The beautiful, motherless young creature, needing counsel, had come toold Tabus to appeal to her art of prophecy and, if she wanted them,to render her any little services; for the old dame on the islandwas closely bound to Ledscha, the daughter of one of the principalship-owners in Tennis, and had once been even more closely united to thegirl.

  Now, as the sun was about to set, the latter gave herself up to a wildtumult of sweet memories, anxious fears, and yearning expectation.

  Not until a cool breath from the neighbouring sea fanned her brow didshe throw down the cord and implement with which she had been adding afew meshes to a net, and rising, gaze sometimes across the water at alarge white house in the northern part of the city, sometimes at thelittle harbour or the vessels on the horizon steering toward Tennis,among which her keen eyes discovered a magnificent ship with bright-huedsails.

  Drawing a long breath, she enjoyed the coolness which precedes thedeparture of the daystar.

  But the effect of this harbinger of night upon her surroundings waseven more powerful than upon herself, for the sun in the western horizonscarcely began to sink slowly behind the papyrus thicket on the shoreof the straight Tanite arm of the Nile, dug by human hands, than one newand strange phenomenon followed another.

  First a fan, composed of countless glowing rays which spread in dazzlingradiance over the west, rose from the vanishing orb and for severalminutes adorned the lofty dome of the deep-blue sky like the tail ofa gigantic peacock. Then the glitter of the shining plumes paled. Thelight-giving body from which they emanated disappeared and, in itsstead, a crimson mantle, with gold-bordered, crocus-yellow edges, spreaditself over the space it had left until the gleaming tints merged intothe deeper hues of the violet.

  But the girl paid no heed to this splendid spectacle. Perhaps shenoticed how the fading light diffused a delicate rose-hued veil overthe light-blue sails, embroidered with silver vines, of the approachingstate galley, making its gilded prow glitter more brightly, and saw onefishing boat after another move toward the harbour, but she gave thewhole scene only a few careless glances.

  Ledscha cared little for the poor fishermen of Tennis, and theglittering state galley could scarcely bring or bear away anything ofimportance to her.

  The epistrategus of the whole province was daily expected. But of whatconsequence to the young girl were the changes which it was rumouredhe intended to introduce into the government of the country, concerningwhich her father had expressed such bitter dissatisfaction before he setout on his last trip to Pontus?

  A very different matter occupied her thoughts, and as, pressing her handupon her heart, she gazed at the little city, gleaming with crimson huesin the reflection of the setting sun, a strange, restless stir pervadedthe former stillness of Nature. Pelicans and flamingoes, geese andducks, storks and herons, ibises and cranes, bitterns and lapwings,flew in dark flocks of manifold forms from all directions. Countlessmultitudes of waterfowl darkened the air as they alighted upon theuninhabited islands, and with ear-splitting croaking and cackling,whistling and chirping, clapping and twittering, dropped into the sedgesand bushes which concealed their nests, while in the city the doors ofthe houses opened, and men, women, and children, after toiling at theloom and in the workshop, came out to enjoy the coolness of the eveningin the open air.

  One fishing boat after another was already throwing a rope to the shore,as the ship with the gay sails approached the little roadstead.

  How large and magnificent it was!

  None of the king's officials had ever used such a galley, not even theepist
rategus of the Delta, who last year had given the banking and theoil trade to new lessees. Besides, the two transports that had followedthe magnificent vessel appeared to belong to it.

  Ledscha had watched the ships indifferently enough, but suddenly hergaze--and with it the austere beauty of her face--assumed a differentexpression.

  Her large black eyes dilated, and with passionate intentness she lookedfrom the gaily ornamented galley to the shore, which several men inGreek costume were approaching.

  The first two had come from the large white house whose door, sincesunset, had been the principal object of her attention.

  It was Hermon, the taller one, for whom she was waiting with old Tabus.He had promised to take her from the Owl's Nest, after nightfall, for alonely row upon the water.

  Now he was not coming alone, but with his fellow-artist, thesculptor Myrtilus, the nomarch and the notary--she recognised bothdistinctly--Gorgias, the rich owner of the second largest weavingestablishment in Tennis, and several slaves.

  What did it mean?

  A sudden flush crimsoned her face, now slightly tanned, to the brow, andher lips were compressed, giving her mouth an expression of repellent,almost cruel harshness.

  But the tension of her charming features, whose lines, though sharp,were delicately outlined, soon vanished. There was still plenty oftime before the darkness would permit Hermon to join her unnoticed. Areception, from which he could not be absent, was evidently about totake place.

  Yes, that was certainly the case; for now the magnificent galley hadapproached as near the land as the shallow water permitted, and thewhistle of the rowers' flute-player, shouts of command, and the barkingof dogs could be heard.

  Then a handkerchief waved a greeting from the vessel to the men onshore, but the hand that held it was a woman's. Ledscha would haverecognised it had the twilight been far deeper.

  The features of the new arrival could no longer be distinguished; butshe must be young. An elderly woman would not have sprung so nimbly intothe skiff that was to convey her to the land.

  The man who assisted her in doing so was the same sculptor, Hermon, forwhom she had watched with so much longing.

  Again the blood mounted into Ledscha's cheeks, and when she saw thestranger lay her hand upon the shoulder of the Alexandrian who, onlyyesterday, had assured the young girl of his love with ardent vows, andallow him to lift her out of the boat, she buried her little white teethdeeply in her lips.

  She had never seen Hermon in the society of a woman of his own class,and, full of jealous displeasure; perceived with what zealous assiduityhe who bowed before no one in Tennis, paid court to the stranger no lesseagerly than did his friend Myrtilus.

  The whole scene passed like a shadow in the dusk before Ledscha's eyes,half dimmed by uneasiness, perplexity, and suddenly inflamed jealousy.

  The Egyptian twilight is short, and when Hermon disappeared with thenew-comer it was no longer possible to recognise the man who entered thevery boat in which she was to have taken the nocturnal voyage with herlover, and which was now rowed toward the Owl's Nest.

  Surely it would bring her a message from Hermon; and as the stranger,who was now joined by a number of other women and two packs of barkingdogs, with their keepers, vanished in the darkness, the skiff alreadytouched the shore close at her side.