The victor’s sword flashes,

Her sons are in chains,

And her temples in ashes!

Who will assume the bays

That the hero wore?

Wreaths on the Tomb of Days

Gone evermore!”

Upon his companions the song of the past of Ethiopia had a strange effect. Soothing at times, at times exciting, with the last notes from the instruments the company sprang to their feet; with flashing dark eyes, faces reflecting inward passions, they drew their short, sabrelike arms and circled about Reuel’s throne with the shout, “Ergamenes! Ergamenes!”

22 Also from Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost” (1667).

23 This is an adaptation of a poem that appears (without reference to Ergamenes) in Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Last Days of Pompeii (1834).

24 Also from Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Last Days of Pompeii (1834).

CHAPTER XVI

ONCE more Reuel found himself alone with Ai. It was far into the night, but he felt sleepless and restless. At last Ai broke a long silence:

“Tell me of the country from which you come, Ergamenes. Is it true that the Ethiopian there is counted less than other mortals?”

“It is true, Ai,” replied Reuel. “There, the dark hue of your skin, your waving hair with its trace of crispness, would degrade you below the estate of any man of fair hue and straight locks, belonging to any race outside the Ethiopian, for it is a deep disgrace to have within the veins even one drop of the blood you seem so proud of possessing.”

“That explains your isolation from our race, then?”

Reuel bowed his head in assent, while over his face passed a flush of shame. He felt keenly now the fact that he had played the coward’s part in hiding his origin. What though obstacles were many, some way would have been shown him to surmount the difficulties of caste prejudice.

“And yet, from Ethiopia came all the arts and cunning inventions that make your modern glory. At our feet the mightiest nations have worshipped, paying homage to our kings, and all nations have sought the honor of alliance with our royal families because of our strength, grandeur, riches and wisdom. Tell me of all the degradation that has befallen the unfortunate sons of Ham.”

Then in the deep, mysterious silence of the night, Reuel gave in minutest detail the story of the Negro, reciting with dramatic effect the history of the wrongs endured by the modern Ethiopian.

To his queries as to the history of these mountain-dwelling Ethiopians, Ai gave the following reply:

“We are a singular people, governed by a female monarch, all having the same name, Candace, and a Council of twenty-five Sages, who are educated for periodical visits to the outer world. Queen Candace is a virgin queen who waits the coming of Ergamenes to inaugurate a dynasty of kings. Our virgins live within the inner city, and from among them Candace chooses her successor at intervals of fifteen years.