The man hired to kill him could be hired to strike back.
It was in his power to offer higher wages.
The temptation was strong; and, half yielding, he chanced to look down at his late antagonist lying still, with white upturned face, so like himself.
A light came to him, and he asked,
“Thord, what was Messala to give you for killing me?”
“A thousand sestertii.”
“You shall have them yet; and so you do now what I tell you, I will add three thousand more to the sum.”
The giant reflected aloud,
“I won five thousand yesterday; from the Roman one— six.
Give me four, good Arrius— four more— and I will stand firm for you, though old Thor, my namesake, strike me with his hammer.
Make it four, and I will kill the lying patrician, if you say so.
I have only to cover his mouth with my hand— thus.”
He illustrated the process by clapping his hand over his own mouth.
“I see,” said Ben-Hur; “ten thousand sestertii is a fortune. It will enable you to return to Rome, and open a wine-shop near the Great Circus, and live as becomes the first of the lanistae.”
The very scars on the giant’s face glowed afresh with the pleasure the picture gave him.
“I will make it four thousand,” Ben-Hur continued; “and in what you shall do for the money there will be no blood on your hands, Thord.
Hear me now.
Did not your friend here look like me?”
“I would have said he was an apple from the same tree.”
“Well, if I put on his tunic, and dress him in these clothes of mine, and you and I go away together, leaving him here, can you not get your sestertii from Messala all the same?
You have only to make him believe it me that is dead.”
Thord laughed till the tears ran into his mouth.
“Ha, ha, ha!
Ten thousand sestertii were never won so easily.
And a wine-shop by the Great Circus!— all for a lie without blood in it!
Ha, ha, ha!
Give me thy hand, O son of Arrius.
Get on now, and— ha, ha, ha!— if ever you come to Rome, fail not to ask for the wine-shop of Thord the Northman.
By the beard of Irmin, I will give you the best, though I borrow it from C?sar!”
They shook hands again; after which the exchange of clothes was effected.
It was arranged then that a messenger should go at night to Thord’s lodging-place with the four thousand sestertii.
When they were done, the giant knocked at the front door; it opened to him; and, passing out of the atrium, he led Ben-Hur into a room adjoining, where the latter completed his attire from the coarse garments of the dead pugilist.
They separated directly in the Omphalus.
“Fail not, O son of Arrius, fail not the wine-shop near the Great Circus!
Ha, ha, ha!
By the beard of Irmin, there was never fortune gained so cheap.
The gods keep you!”
Upon leaving the atrium, Ben-Hur gave a last look at the myrmidon as he lay in the Jewish vestments, and was satisfied.
The likeness was striking.
If Thord kept faith, the cheat was a secret to endure forever. * * * * * *
At night, in the house of Simonides, Ben-Hur told the good man all that had taken place in the palace of Idernee; and it was agreed that, after a few days, public inquiry should be set afloat for the discovery of the whereabouts of the son of Arrius.
Eventually the matter was to be carried boldly to Maxentius; then, if the mystery came not out, it was concluded that Messala and Gratus would be at rest and happy, and Ben-Hur free to betake himself to Jerusalem, to make search for his lost people.
At the leave-taking, Simonides sat in his chair out on the terrace overlooking the river, and gave his farewell and the peace of the Lord with the impressment of a father.
Esther went with the young man to the head of the steps.
“If I find my mother, Esther, thou shalt go to her at Jerusalem, and be a sister to Tirzah.”
And with the words he kissed her.
Was it only a kiss of peace?
He crossed the river next to the late quarters of Ilderim, where he found the Arab who was to serve him as guide.
The horses were brought out.
“This one is thine,” said the Arab.