scourge had overtaken Aquila.

All night the camels fled east, all night the soft footfall of the
woman's beast pursued them; all night the wind freshened until
Laodice's bared face stiffened with the cold and the breath of the
mute that sat upon her camel's neck steamed in the moonlight. Up and
up, by steep and winding wadies they mounted; under overhanging cliffs
and past bald towers of hill-rock staring white in the moon, along
black passes between brooding eminences of solid night, crowned with
ghost-light; over high plateaus darkened with groves, down dales with
singing, invisible streams running seaward and up again and on until
the hills engulfed them wholly and those before were higher than any
they had seen. Then their flying beasts, leaving the Roman road over
which they had sped for some distance, followed a sheep-path and burst
into an open immersed in moonlight. Below in the distance was a
cluster of huts, white and lifeless. But abroad, over the crisp grass
and misty white on all the exposed slopes, sparkled the deep hoar
frost!

Chapter III

THE SHEPHERD OF PELLA

Momus drew up his camel. The woman who had followed halted. Except for
the hurried breathing of their beasts, a critical silence brooded over
the moon-silvered wilderness. The moment was tense with the agony of
human bitterness against the immitigable despatch of death. There
could be no thanksgiving for their own safety from those who were not
glad to be given life. Laodice resented her preservation; old Momus,
aside from the wound of personal loss sore in his heart, was stricken
with the realization of the grief of his young mistress, which he
could not help. He did not raise his eyes to her face when he turned
toward her; there was no speech. In the young woman's heart the pain
was too great for her to venture expression safely. The silence was
poignant with unnatural restraint.

Presently Momus inquired of her by signs if she wished to go on to the
lifeless village below the camp. She did not observe his gestures, and
Momus decided for her. He drove on and the woman, who had wrapped her
cloak about her as the biting wind of the hills heightened through the
narrow defiles to the north, followed.

But almost the next instant Momus drew up his mount so suddenly that
Laodice was roused. He turned and began to make rapid signs. Laodice
half rose as she read them and pressed her hands together.

"Seven days!" she exclaimed in dis