"Haggard, H Rider- Elissa" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haggard H. Rider)

them were, to mere skeletons, seemed to understand that labour and
blows were done with, and forgetting their loads, shambled unurged
down the stony path. One man lingered, however. Clearly he was a
person of rank, for eight or ten attendants surrounded him.

"Go," said he, "I wish to be alone, and will follow presently." So
they bowed to the earth, and went.

The man was young, perhaps six or eight and twenty years of age. His
dark skin, burnt almost to blackness by the heat of the sun, together
with the fashion of his short, square-cut beard and of his garments,
proclaimed him of Jewish or Egyptian blood, while the gold collar
about his neck and the gold graven ring upon his hand showed that his
rank was high. Indeed this wanderer was none other than the prince
Aziel, nick-named the Ever-living, because of a curious mole upon his
shoulder bearing a resemblance to the /crux ansata/, the symbol of
life eternal among the Egyptians. By blood he was a grandson of
Solomon, the mighty king of Israel, and born of a royal mother, a
princess of Egypt.

In stature Aziel was tall, but somewhat slimly made, having small
bones. His face was oval in shape, the features, especially the mouth,
being fine and sensitive; the eyes were large, dark, and full of
thought--the eyes of a man with a destiny. For the most part, indeed,
they were sombre and over-full of thought, but at times they could
light up with a strange fire.

Aziel the prince placed his hand against his forehead in such fashion
as to shade his face from the rays of the setting sun, and from
beneath its shadow gazed long and earnestly at the city of the hill.

"At length I behold thee, thanks be to God," he murmured, for he was a
worshipper of Jehovah, and not of his mother's deities, "and it is
time, since, to speak the truth, I am weary of this travelling. Now
what fortune shall I find within thy walls, O City of Gold and devil-
servers?"

"Who can tell?" said a quiet voice at his elbow. "Perhaps, Prince, you
will find a wife, or a throne, or--a grave."

Aziel started, and turned to see a man standing at his side, clothed
in robes that had been rich, but were now torn and stained with
travel, and wearing on his head a black cap in shape not unlike the
fez that is common in the East to-day. The man was past middle age,
having a grizzled beard, sharp, hard features and quick eyes, which
withal were not unkindly. He was a PhЬnician merchant, much trusted by
Hiram, the King of Tyre, who had made him captain of the merchandise
of this expedition.

"Ah! is it you, Metem?" said Aziel. "Why do you leave your charge to