cred to Fakredeen, as they were
sitting some months afterwards in the castle of the young emir of
Lebanon, where all the princes of Syria had assembled to discuss the
foundation of the new empire. "If your friends will only work together
as they promise, Syria is ours."

"Even Lebanon," said Fakredeen, "can send forth more than fifty thousand
well-armed footmen, and Amalek is gathering all the horsemen of the
desert, from Petraea to Yemen, under our banner. If we can only win over
the Ansarey," he continued, "we shall have all Syria and Arabia as a
base for our operations."

"The Ansarey?" exclaimed Tancred. "They hold the mountains around
Antioch, which are the key of Palestine, don't they? What is their
religion? Do you think that the doctrine of theocratic equality would
appeal to them as it did to the Arabians?"

"I don't know," said the emir. "They never allow strangers to enter
their country. They are a very ancient people, and they fight so well in
their mountains that even the Turks have not been able to conquer them."

"But can't we make overtures?" said Tancred.

"That is what I have done," said Fakredeen. "The Queen of the Ansarey
has heard about you, and I have arranged that we should go and see her
as soon as the Syrian assembly was over. Everything is ready for our
journey, so, if you like, we will start at once."

It was a difficult expedition, as the Queen of the Ansarey was then
waging war on the Turkish pasha of Aleppo. Happily, the travellers came
upon a band of Ansareys who were raiding the Turkish province, and were
led by them through their black ravines to the fortress palace of the
queen.

She received them, sitting on her divan, clothed in a purple robe, and
shrouded in a long veil. This she took off when Tancred came towards
her, and he marvelled at the strangeness of her beauty. There was
nothing oriental about her. She was a Greek girl of the ancient type,
with violet eyes, fair cheeks, and dark hair.

"Prince," she said, "we are a people who wish neither to see nor to be
seen. We do not care what goes on in the world around. Our mountains are
wild and barren, but while Apollo dwells among us, we do not care for
gold, or silk, or jewels."

"Apollo!" cried Tancred. "Are the gods of Olympus still worshipped on
earth?"

"Yes, Apollo still lives among us, and another greater than Apollo,"
said the young queen, looking at Tancred long and earnestly. "Follow me,
and you shall now behol