e he swung
the axe with his own hand; now, mounted on horseback, he rode down the
line where the dry grass was to be torn up by the roots and soaked with
water; now, on foot, he directed the scanty jet from the pipes or, with
Herculean strength, flung back into the flames a beam which had fallen
beyond the limits he had set. His shrill voice sounded, as his huge
height towered, above all others; every eye was fixed on his black face
and flashing eyes and teeth, while his example carried away all his
followers to imitate it. His shouts of command made the scene of the fire
like a battle-field; the Moslems, so ably led, regardless of life as they
were and ready to strain and exert their strength to the utmost, wrought
wonders in the name of their God and His Prophet.

The Egyptians, too, did their best; but they felt themselves impotent by
comparison with what these Arabs did, and they hardly felt anything but
the disgrace of being over-mastered by them.

The light shone far across the country; even he whose splendid
inheritance was feeding the flames perceived, between midnight and dawn,
a glow on the distant western horizon which he was unable to account for.

He had been riding towards it for about half an hour when the caravan
halted at the last station but one, on the high road between Kolzum and
Babylon.

[Suez, and the Greek citadel near which Amru founded Fostat and
Cairo subsequently grew up.]

A considerable troop of horse soldiers dismounted at the same time, but
Orion had not summoned these to protect him; on the contrary, he was in
their charge and they were taking him, a prisoner, to Fostat. He had
quitted the chariot in which he had set out and had been made to mount a
dromedary; two horsemen armed to the teeth rode constantly at his side.
His fellow-travellers were allowed to remain in their chariot.

At the inn which they had now reached Justinus got out and desired his
companion, a pale-faced man who sat sunk into a heap, to do the same; but
with a weary shake of the head he declined to move.

"Are you in pain, Narses?" asked Justinus affectionately, and Narses
briefly replied in a husky voice: "All over," and settled himself against
the cushion at the back of the chariot. He even refused the refreshments
brought out to him by the Senator's servant and interpreter. He seemed
sunk in apathy and to crave nothing but peace.

This was the senator's nephew.

With Orion's help, and armed with l