" she went on with a smile,
"seeing that I have already sent my answer, also by arrow. See, here is
a copy of it," and she read--

"To my rebellious People of the Abati:

"Surrender to me Joshua, my uncle, and the members of the Council who
have lifted sword against me, to be dealt with according to the ancient
law, and the rest of you shall go unharmed. Refuse, and I swear to you
that before the night of the new moon has passed there shall be such woe
in Mur as fell upon the city of David when the barbarian standards were
set upon her walls. Such is the counsel that has come to me, the Child
of Solomon, in the watches of the night, and I tell you that it is true.
Do what you will, people of the Abati, or what you must, since your fate
and ours are written. But be sure that in me and the Western lords lies
your only hope.

"Walda Nagasta."

"What do you mean, O Maqueda," I asked, "about the counsel that came to
you in the watches of the night?"

"What I say, O Adams," she answered calmly. "After we parted at dawn I
slept heavily, and in my sleep a dark and royal woman stood before
me whom I knew to be my great ancestress, the beloved of Solomon. She
looked on me sadly, yet as I thought with love. Then she drew back, as
it were, a curtain of thick cloud that hid the future and revealed to me
the young moon riding the sky and beneath it Mur, a blackened ruin, her
streets filled with dead. Yes, and she showed to me other things, though
I may not tell them, which also shall come to pass, then held her hands
over me as if in blessing, and was gone."

"Old Hebrew prophet business! Very interesting," I heard Higgs mutter
below his breath, while in my own heart I set the dream down to
excitement and want of food. In fact, only two of us were impressed, my
son very much, and Oliver a little, perhaps because everything Maqueda
said was gospel to him.

"Doubtless all will come to pass as you say, Walda Nagasta," said
Roderick with conviction. "The day of the Abati is finished."

"Why do you say that, Son?" I asked.

"Because, Father, among the Fung people from a child I have two offices,
that of Singer to the God and that of Reader of Dreams. Oh! do not
laugh. I can tell you many that have come true as I read them; thus the
dream of Barung which I read to mean that the head of Harmac would come
to Mur, and see, there it sit," and turning, he pointed through the
doorway of the tower to the grim lion-head of the idol cr