--" but he did not finish his speech; he struck his brow and exclaimed,
"You are going, by the desire of the Princess Bent-Anat, to the child of
the paraschites that was run over. I guessed as much. The food must have
an excellent after-taste, if a gentleman rises so early to eat it. How is
the poor child doing?"

There was so much warmth in these last words that Nebsecht, who had
thought the dwarf's reproach uncalled for, answered in a friendly tone:

"Not so badly; she may be saved."

"The Gods be praised!" exclaimed Nemu, while the priest passed on.

Nebsecht went up and down the hillside at a redoubled pace, and had long
taken his place by the couch of the wounded Uarda in the hovel of the
paraschites, when Nemu drew near to the abode of his Mother Hekt, from
whom Paaker had received the philter.

The old woman sat before the door of her cave. Near her lay a board,
fitted with cross pieces, between which a little boy was stretched in
such a way that they touched his head and his feet.

Hekt understood the art of making dwarfs; playthings in human form were
well paid for, and the child on the rack, with his pretty little face,
promised to be a valuable article.

As soon as the sorceress saw some one approaching, she stooped over the
child, took him up board and all in her arms, and carried him into the
cave. Then she said sternly:

"If you move, little one, I will flog you. Now let me tie you."

"Don't tie me," said the child, "I will be good and lie still."

"Stretch yourself out," ordered the old woman, and tied the child with a
rope to the board. "If you are quiet, I'll give you a honey-cake
by-and-bye, and let you play with the young chickens."

The child was quiet, and a soft smile of delight and hope sparkled in his
pretty eyes. His little hand caught the dress of the old woman, and with
the sweetest coaxing tone, which God bestows on the innocent voices of
children, he said:

"I will be as still as a mouse, and no one shall know that I am here; but
if you give me the honeycake you will untie me for a little, and let me
go to Uarda."

"She is ill!--what do you want there?"

"I would take her the cake," said the child, and his eyes glistened with
tears.

The old woman touched the child's chin with her finger, and some
mysterious power prompted her to bend over him to kiss him. But before
her lips had touched his face she turned away, and said, in a hard tone:

"Lie still! by and bye we will se