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

"What star?" asked Abi hoarsely, "Pharaoh's?"

"Nay, Prince, the star of Amen."

"Amen! What Amen?"

"Amen the god, Prince, the mighty father of the gods."

"Amen the god," repeated Abi in an awed voice. "How can a man fight
against a god?"

"Say rather against two gods, for with the star of Amen goes the star
of Hathor, Queen of Love. Not for many periods of thousands of years
have they been together, but now they draw near to each other, and so
will remain for all your life. Look," and Kaku pointed to the Eastern
horizon where a faint rosy glow still lingered reflected from the
western sky.

As they watched this glow melted, and there in the pure heavens, lying
just where it met the distant land, seeming to rest upon the land,
indeed, appeared a bright and beautiful star, and so close to it that,
to the eye, they almost touched, a twin star. For a few minutes only
were they seen; then they vanished beneath the line of the horizon.

"The morning star of Amen, and with it the star of Hathor," said the
astrologer.

"Well, Fool, what of it?" exclaimed Abi. "They are far enough from my
star; moreover, it is they that sink, not I, who ride higher every
moment."

"Aye, Prince, but in a year to come they will certainly eclipse that
star of yours. Prince, Amen and Hathor are against you. Look, I will
show you their journeyings on this scroll and you shall see where they
eat you up yonder, yes, yonder over the Valley of dead Kings, though
twenty years and more must go by ere then, and take this for your
comfort, during those years you shine alone," and he began to unfold a
papyrus roll.

Abi snatched it from him, crumpled it up and threw it in his face.

"You cheat!" he said. "Do you think to frighten me with this nonsense
about stars? Here is my star," and he drew the short sword at his side
and shook it over the head of the trembling Kaku. "This sharp bronze
is the star I follow, and be careful lest it should eclipse /you/, you
father of lies."

"I have told the truth as I see it," answered the poor astrologer with
some dignity, "but if you wish, O Prince, that in the future I should