“Speak no more,” said Ben Ezra, “but obey him and march on. Our quarters are in the lower town, near the circus. He giveth orders to the guards at the gate.”
Forward strode Ulric, followed by his men, and Julius glanced after them. “Caius hath beaten me,” he muttered. “I have none to contend with these. They must be destroyed by tigers and lions. I will not waste an elephant upon them.”
Once they were within the wall they could obtain from that height a fair view of the city, and they halted as one man.
“O Jew,” said Tostig the Red, “is thy Jerusalem larger and better than this?”
“An hundredfold!” exclaimed Ben Ezra. “This abomination of the heathen is but as a handful compared with Zion, the city of Jehovah, God of Hosts.”
“Then, O jarl,” said Tostig, “I will not get myself killed until I have seen Jerusalem. Manage thou with care, for I think thou wouldst like to see it thyself.”
“So will I,” replied Ulric. “But I think we shall suffer no harm in this place. I have not seen any strong men yet except some of these Jews, who do not carry arms. They would make good fighting men.”
For he had looked at all whom he met with the eye of a captain, and the rabble of that land did not please him.
“Thou art right,” said Ben Ezra. “Thou hast seen men of the tribe of Zebulun and of the tribe of Naphtali and some of Ephraim and Manasseh. They are swordsmen if they had a king. Ere long our king cometh. But these heathen of Tiberias are fit only to be crushed under the foot like vipers.”
“Speak not so loudly,” said Abbas at his side. “Remember that thou art a Jew, and they hate thee.”
“O thou of a weak heart!” exclaimed Ben Ezra. “When shall a money-lender be fit to wear a sword! Knowest thou not that I can lead these Saxons through a host of these dogs of the gentiles? The Romans are warriors, but the rabble of Tiberias are scorned even by the lepers. Let us go on.”
Fierce was the countenance of the Jew as they went down the long street, for it was broad and on either side of it were temples and shrines.
“Pollution! Abomination!” he exclaimed. “O jarl of the Saxons, these gods of Tiberias are but of wood and stone, the work of men’s hands. This place is cursed because of them.”
“I will inquire shortly of what sort they may be,” said Ulric. “I grow curious concerning gods. What need of so many? They would all go down before the hammer of Thor. Where is thy god that he permitteth them to be here?”
“This was never a city of my people,” said Ben Ezra. “It is a work of the Greeks and the Romans. In Jerusalem thou wilt see only the temple of the living god, and of him thou wilt find no image in stone or wood or metal. No man hath ever seen his face.”
“I like that,” said Ulric, striding onward. “There would be harm if the gods were seen too often. I will yet look again into the face of one, but I am of their kindred and Odin is my father. Thy god seemeth a good one.”
All the while the other Saxons gazed as they went, saying not much, but wondering, and all who met them stepped aside, for their stature was great and their arms were splendid. The jarl had bidden them prepare for this on the previous day, and Julius and the gate guards had seen Northmen appareled and armored as if they were now marching to a feast of swords.
Behind them now came on their baggage chariot, and shortly it was joined by horsemen, servants of Caius, sent by him to care for the guidance and welfare of his gladiators.
Before a palace in the main street of the city, well down toward the sea, sat upon their horses two horsemen from whom others reined aside respectfully. These were face to face and they had greeted one another with all ceremony.
“Thy northern wolves have arrived, O Caius,” said one. “But thou art short of a tall fighter.”
“So art thou robbed of thy robbers, O Julius,” replied the friend of Ulric. “Thy tower was a subtle trap, but it hath not profited thee greatly.”
“Ha!” responded Julius, mockingly. “Thou hast lost thy best sword. A thousand sesterces that my Numidian lion slayeth thy Saxon chief.”
“Wagered!” exclaimed Caius. “And a thousand sesterces more that thy Hyrcanian tiger shall also be slain by the man I will name against him.”
“I have thee!” shouted Julius. “We will write these wagers with care and let thy words be recorded with exactness. If either the lion or the tiger shall be slain by a Saxon, I lose that wager, but if a Saxon be overcome by the tiger or the lion, thou losest.”
“Thou hast some cunning of thine own in this,” laughed Caius, “but thy sesterces and mine will be in the keeping of Sempronius, the judge of the games. I will trust him.”
Each of these carried a tablet of wax and a pointed stylus of steel wherewith they wrote, and the words were compared with care, that they might then be written upon parchments, to be held by the judge of the games.
“What meaneth he?” thought Caius as he rode away from the gate. “I will see the Jew, Ben Ezra, as to this matter. There is a trap. I have not yet seen the laws of this circus, and Julius knoweth them well.”
Like an inn, large and well appointed, was the house to which the Saxons were guided, near the circus, and they entered it gladly, for they were as men who were walking on into a new world.
“O Abbas,” said Ben Ezra, “come with me to the amphitheater. I would inquire there concerning many things.”
“Not so,” replied Abbas. “Go thou. I have a friend to commune with and I go to meet him.”
“O jarl of the Saxons,” said Ben Ezra, as Abbas departed, “it is well that he goeth not with us. Come! Trust him not. He is overfond of money. Thou art a soldier. Thou must see thine enemy. Speak not to any man, but hear well. Who here knoweth thy gift of tongues? I am thine interpreter, and be thou as if thou wert deaf.”
Ulric did but bow his head in answer to Ben Ezra, but the other Saxons knew the errand of their jarl and approved of his going.
A high arch of marble was the gate of the amphitheater, and on one side of it, upon the wall, was a broad tablet of wood. Upon this were inscribed many things, and both Ben Ezra and the jarl read them.
“Speak not,” said the Jew. “One cometh to lead us to the dens.”
Through the portal they went, guided by a soldier of Julius, and he seemed pleased to show them all things. First went they across the arena, and this was a broad place, egg-shaped, with vast tiers of seats arising upon all sides. Under these tiers were the keeping places, and from some of these came cries and roarings of wild beasts and the shouts of men.
“Here are the prisons of criminals and of captured rebels,” said the soldier as the guard before a door opened it to let them in, “but thou hast little to do with these. They are to slay each other or to be torn by beasts. There are trained swordsmen for thee and thine.”
Nevertheless, he and the jarl and the Jew went into more than one of these prisons, looking well at what they found there.
“Wretches!” murmured Ulric. “Some of them hardly seem like men and women. It is well for such as they are to be slain quickly. The gods care not for these people, and so they are given to the Romans.”
Not so thought Ben Ezra, for he beat his breast more than once and he whispered to himself in Hebrew:
“O God of Israel!” he gasped. “Here are of thine own chosen people, also, many scores, taken in the snares of the heathen. Where art thou, O Jehovah, that thou hearest not? Canst thou not see this city of pollution, wherein thy name hath not been written? Unclean! Unclean! Woe is me that I am here! It is as Sodom and Gomorrah, and thy fire lingereth!”
What he meant Ulric understood only in part, but he saw that many of these who were doomed were Jews.
“They are not warriors,” he thought, “except that some of them are tall and strong. They must all die and get out of these prisons, but they go not to Valhalla, and I know not where they go. I care not to slay such persons.”
Now the guard led him and his interpreter to the dens of the animals and Ulr
ic was displeased that his men were not with him to see.
“The wolves,” he said in Saxon, “are like those of the North. I think not much of the hyenas, nor of the small leopards. The great leopards are fierce beasts and so are the bears, but I could meet one of them.”
There were four elephants in one den, and he walked around among them, wondering at their size and at their peacefulness, while Ben Ezra told him of their intelligence and of their manner of fighting.
The jarl did but study them thoughtfully, and now a keeper said to Ben Ezra:
“It is known by us that this Saxon is to fight the great lion. Come.”
The den was near and in it the lion was pacing to and fro.
“He is almost as large in body as was the ice bear,” thought Ulric. “He standeth higher and his head is vast. He is a springing beast. He is stronger than the one we saw in Africa. I think he would fail if his heart were cloven. Now I will see the tiger.”
Near was his den also, and he, too, walked to and fro, snarling fiercely, for he was hungry.
“O Abbas,” said the keeper of the beasts to Ben Ezra, mistaking him, “thou art for Julius in this matter. What thinkest thou of thy Saxon? If he can meet a lion, can he fight, also, the tiger? How will he not be rent quickly when both are let loose upon him!”
“Silence, thou unwise one!” said Ben Ezra. “Is it for thee to let out this tiger?”
“That is my care,” said the keeper. “I stand in this small box to throw open the door, and the tiger will be famished on the day of the games.”
“Mark thou this thine instruction!” said Ben Ezra. “Wait thou not! Send out thy tiger when thou hearest the trumpet call for the lion. So shall Julius win two thousand sesterces. Hold not thy door till the lion be slain, lest thou be smitten with a sword. Thy life for it! The beasts go out together.”
Ulric heard and he understood, for a fire flashed in his eyes, but he held his tongue. “I am to be torn without hope!” he thought. “I am betrayed by Abbas, but I know the thing in the mind of Ben Ezra. He doeth cunningly.”
So they walked on across the arena, and as they went Ben Ezra stood still.
“Here,” he said in Saxon, “wilt thou halt if thou art wise. Thou wilt have thy mail on, but only thy sword and thy shield.”
“I will wear no armor!” said Ulric. “I will bear no weights. What were mail and shield against these monsters? I will bring with me the long sword of Annibaal. Odin be with me! He who fighteth a lion must spring as lightly as doth a lion. He who faceth a tiger must move as the lightning or he is lost.”
“Thou art wise!” exclaimed the Jew. “I have seen no warrior like thee. Verily I am true to thee. Sharpen thy sword and let thy hand and thy heart be strong. I would that Jehovah of Hosts might fight for thee, but thou art a heathen and thou must look to thine own gods, if so be they can do anything in such a case.”
Dark was the face of the Jew, but he said no more, and they went back to the house of the gladiators.
Eager were all the Saxons to hear the account of their jarl, and he told them many things, but in the gloom of the evening Caius came and he spoke to Tostig the Red.
“Thou art to meet a black giant with a net and a trident against thy sword and shield,” he said. “What thinkest thou, O Saxon? Am I safe to wager upon thy success?”
It was Abbas who interpreted, but the men had already heard much of these nets and tridents and Tostig stood still for a moment.
“I have not seen this giant, O Roman captain,” he said. “May I be guided by my own jarl?”
“Verily!” exclaimed Caius. “Do thou as he will tell thee, and I know not what it is. O jarl, can he win?”
“I saw thy giant,” said Ulric. “Tostig the Red will slay him for thee. Make thy wagers. I would talk with Abbas.”
“So do!” said Caius, for Ben Ezra had beckoned him and he stepped away a little.
“What is it?” asked Abbas of the jarl.
“Only this,” said Ulric. “I have seen the lion of Julius. He is a great one. Hath he slain many?”
“That I know not,” said Abbas. “Why askest thou? What matters it to thee?”
“Little,” said Ulric, “but I was curious,” and he asked him other questions, keeping him while Ben Ezra talked with Caius, getting full permission that the jarl should wear arms of his own choosing and not the armor of a Roman soldier.
Caius rode away and many great ones came and went, as they had been doing; for they who were to make wagers willed to see these pirates of Caius, as they called them. Not any, it seemed, went away believing that the jarl could face the Numidian, and they declared that Julius would win his wager.
Then the night passed and in the early dawn Ulric, the son of Brander, sat apart by himself sharpening the long, beautiful sword on the stone which Wulf the Skater had brought to him from the North Cape, at the end of the world. To him came then Ben Ezra, looking like one whose soul is burdened within him.
“O jarl,” he said, “the great games are set down for the third day hence. Wilt thou then be rested after thy journeying?”
“Were I to meet the lion this day,” replied Ulric, “I am not weary. I care more for the training of Tostig the Red in the matter of this black giant. I pray thee procure for me a net and trident that the thing he is to do may not be altogether new to him.”
“That will I do,” said Ben Ezra, “but thou canst not instruct thyself concerning lions.”
Before the close of that day the jarl and Tostig were in a room by themselves, but they told not to any man what they did with these strange weapons whereby so many good swordsmen had been destroyed. That day, moreover, and the next day and the next the Saxons wandered much around the city of Tiberias, for they were permitted to do so freely, and all the people wondered at their stature and their armor.
“What thinkest thou of all these temples?” asked Wulf the Skater of Ulric. “Would it not be well for thee and Tostig to offer sacrifices to some of these gods?”
“What good?” said the jarl. “I know them not and they know not me. I would sacrifice to Jehovah if he had an altar here, because he is the god of all this land. I heard Jesus of Nazareth praying to him and calling him his father. If Jesus were here I would ask him that Jehovah might be to me instead of Odin, for I think the North gods are far away. Caius may sacrifice to his Roman gods if he will, but thou and I have no business with them.”
“Thou art wise, O jarl,” said Wulf. “I will waste none of my coins upon these priests and temples.”
* * *
CHAPTER XXVII. The Lion and the Tiger.
SPLENDID WAS THE APPEARANCE of the Saxons on the morning of the great day of the games at Tiberias, when they marched around the arena with the jarl at their head, for their arms and armor were bright and their bearing was that of warriors accustomed to conquer. They themselves gazed, wondering, as they went, at the throngs which crowded the rising tiers of seats. Among these were many in gorgeous apparel, and the rich women had vied with each other in the colors and shapes of their garments and in the gold and jewels of their tiaras and other ornaments. There was a place on a lower tier for all the free gladiators, and to this the Saxons went after their marching. In it was a covered stairway going down to the door by which any among them might enter a room adjoining the arena to wait for his summons to combat. Each company of the trained ones was by itself and they were not too near each other.
Julius and Caius and other great men, with their glittering women, had a place which was as if it were full of thrones, but in the center of this was one splendid chair in which only a Cæsar or a proconsul might at any time presume to sit. It was this day unoccupied, but against it leaned the eagle standard of a legion and before it were scattered flowers.
The games began with races, both of footmen and chariots, and in these the multitude were interested greatly, but only they who had wagers cared much who might win.
When these were over it was time for the shedding of blood, and
a band of captives were driven in, knowing that their fate had come.
“I see no swordsmen,” was in the mind of Ulric. “Each of these hath a dart, but he is naked and so are the women and children.”
Then uttered he a loud exclamation, for a door under the tiers of seats swung open widely and the den behind it vomited wolves famished with hunger and thirst.
“So many!” said Ulric. “Where got they so many? This is the cruelty of the Romans. I see no sport in this thing. It is but tearing and shrieking, for the small darts avail not.”
Nevertheless, many wolves were slain before all the captives were torn down. Men in full armor went out to drive the rest of the beasts back to their den, but it was not difficult, for hunger was satiated and a wolf might carry with him a torn limb or a fragment of raw flesh.
Swiftly a crowd of bondservants cleansed the arena, and the feast of the wolves had not been long in duration.
“There cometh now thy giant with the net and trident,” said Ulric to Tostig. “He is very black. He is from Africa. Watch him well, for this thing of his is but a trick of skill. Thou couldst parry that three-pronged spear?”
“That can I,” said Tostig. “But the net? Let us see what he doeth with that short-legged brown swordsman in mail and helmet.”
Brave seemed to be the brown warrior, but the net flew over him and the negro stepped backward, dragging. Then it was but as a flash and the trident was driven deeply through mail and breast.
Loud were the plaudits of the multitude, for the pitiless black had seemed to show both skill and strength.
The next comer was a large man, and Ben Ezra, sitting near Ulric, ground his teeth.
“A warrior of Israel, from the Lebanon!” he exclaimed. “He will but be netted!”
“Watch!” whispered Ulric to Tostig. “Thy turn cometh next. Mark how he faileth and remember what I taught thee.”
Ulric the Jarl Page 24