sing the skin of the huge paw, sometimes the tuft of hair
at the end of the tail. Fantastic shadows fell on the light sandy soil;
for though the moon was not in the sky, the stars shone bright. A deep,
solemn stillness reigned. Every living creature seemed buried in sleep.
Four huge fires, one at each of the four points of the compass, were
blazing, a bow-shot from the tents, to frighten the wild beasts from
the flocks; from them arose at long intervals the only sound that broke
the stillness; namely, the cry of some shepherd who thus kept himself
awake and warned his companions to be watchful. This solemn silence
continued for a long, long time.

At last a couple of stallions neighed, a weapon clanked outside from
the direction of the fires, and directly thereafter a light, almost
inaudible footstep came toward the centre of the camp,--toward the
"Lion Tent." Suddenly it paused; a slender young man stooped to the
ground before the entrance.

"What? Are you lying in front of the tent, grandfather?" he asked in
astonishment. "Are you asleep?"

"I was watching," a low voice answered.

"I should have ventured to rouse you. There is a fateful star in the
heavens. I saw it appear when I was keeping the eastern fire-watch. As
soon as I was relieved, I hastened to you. The gods are sending a
warning! But youth does not understand their signs; you do, wise
ancestor. Look yonder, to the right--the right of the last palm. Don't
you see it?"

"I saw it long ago. I have expected the sign for many nights, ay, for
years."

Awe and a slight sense of fear thrilled the youth. "For years? You knew
what would happen in the heavens? You are very wise, O Cabaon."

"Not I. My grandfather told my father, and he repeated the marvel to
me. It was more than a hundred years ago. The fair-faced strangers came
from the North across the sea in many ships, led by that King of
terrors with whose name our women still silence unruly children."

"Genseric!" said the youth, softly; his tone expressed both hate and
horror.

"At that time, from the same direction as the ships, a terrible star
mounted into the heavens--blood-red, like a flaming scourge with many
hundred thongs; it swung menacingly over our country and people. And my
grandfather, after he had seen the terrible war-king in the harbor of
Tsocium, said to my father and to our tribe: 'Unfasten the camels!
Bridle the noble racers, and set forth. Go southward, into the
scorching bosom o