hands, when once, in order to save my life, he forced me to change
clothes with him."

"A Lydian can outwit a fox, and a Syrian a Lydian, but an Ionian is a
match for both," muttered the king, smiling for the first time; "Croesus
told me this story--poor Croesus!" and then the old gloomy expression
came over his face and he passed his hand across his forehead, as if
trying to smooth the lines of care away. The Athenian went on: "I met
with no hindrances on my journey till this morning at the first hour
after midnight, when I was detained by a strange occurrence."

The king began to listen more attentively, and reminded the Athenian, who
spoke Persian with difficulty, that there was no time to lose.

"We had reached the last station but one," continued he, "and hoped to be
in Babylon by sunrise. I was thinking over my past stirring life, and
was so haunted by the remembrance of evil deeds unrevenged that I could
not sleep; the old Egyptian at my side, however, slept and dreamt
peacefully enough, lulled by the monotonous tones of the harness bells,
the sound of the horses' hoofs and the murmur of the Euphrates. It was a
wonderfully still, beautiful night; the moon and stars were so brilliant,
that our road and the landscape were lighted up almost with the
brightness of day. For the last hour we had not seen a single vehicle,
foot-passenger, or horseman; we had heard that all the neighboring
population had assembled in Babylon to celebrate your birthday, gaze with
wonder at the splendor of your court, and enjoy your liberality. At last
the irregular beat of horses' hoofs, and the sound of bells struck my
ear, and a few minutes later I distinctly heard cries of distress. My
resolve was taken at once; I made my Persian servant dismount, sprang
into his saddle, told the driver of the cart in which my slaves were