ot possibly have been right?"

"Do you suppose my father invited the Arabs?" interrupted the young man.

"No, Child," replied the patriarch, "the enemy came of his own free
will."

"And you," Orion went on, "after the Greeks had driven you into exile,
prophesied from the desert that they would come and overthrow the
Melchites, the Greek enemies of our faith, drive them out of the
country."

"It was revealed to me by the Lord!" replied the old man, bowing his head
reverently. "And yet other things were shown to me while I dwelt a devout
ascetic, mortifying my flesh under the scorching sun of the desert.
Beware my son, beware! Heed my warning, lest it should be fulfilled and
the house of Menas vanish like clouds swept before the wind.--Your
father, I know, regarded my prophecy as advice given by me to receive the
infidels as the instrument of the Almighty and to support them in driving
the Melchite oppressors out of the land."

"Your prophecy," replied Orion, "had, no doubt, a marked effect on my
father; and when the cause of the emperor and the Greeks was lost, your
opinion that the Melchites were unbelievers as much as the sons of Islam,
was of infinite comfort to him. For he, if any one--as you know--had good
reason to hate the sectarians who killed his two sons in their prime.
What followed, he did to rescue his and your unfortunate brethren and
dependants from destruction. Here, here in this desk, lies his answer to
the emperor's accusations, as given to the Greek deputation who had
speech of him in this very room. He wrote it down as soon as they had
left him. Will you hear it?"

"I can guess its purport."

"No, no!" cried the excited youth; he hastily opened his father's desk,
laid his hand at once on the wax tablet, and exclaimed: "This was his
reply!" And he proceeded to read:

"These Arabs, few as they are, are stronger and more powerful than we
with all our numbers. One man of them is equal to a hundred of us, for
they rush on death and love it better than life. Each of them presses to
the front in battle, and they have no longing to return home and to their
families. For every Christian they kill they look for a great reward in
Heaven, and they say that the gates of Paradise open at once for those
who fall in the fight. They have not a wish in this world beyond the
satisfaction of their barest need of food and clothing. We, on the
contrary, love life and dread death;--how can we stand against them? I