e, and offered me a piece of gold if I would
deliver a letter into the hand of the prince Aziel. The gold tempted
me, for I had need of it, and I consented; but of who wrote the letter I
know nothing, nor have I ever seen the woman before."

"You have done wrong, girl," said Elissa, "but I believe your tale. Now
go."

When she had gone, Elissa stood for a while thinking; and, as she
thought, Metem saw a look of fear gather on her face.

"Say," she asked him, "is there anything strange about the tree of which
the scroll tells?"

"Its size is strange," he answered, "and it has five roots that stand
above the ground."

As he spoke Elissa uttered a little cry.

"Ah!" she said, "it is the tree of my dream. Now--now I understand.
Swift, oh! come with me swiftly, for see, the moon rises," and she
sprang to the door followed by the amazed Metem.

Another minute, and they were speeding down the narrow street so fast
that those who loitered there turned their heads and laughed, for they
thought that a jealous husband pursued his wife. As Elissa fumbled at
the hasp of the door of the garden, Metem overtook her.

"What means this hunt?" he gasped.

"That they have decoyed the prince here to murder him," she answered,
and sped through the gateway.

"Therefore we must be murdered also. A woman's logic," the Phoenician
reflected to himself as he panted after her.

Swiftly as Elissa had run down the street, here she redoubled her speed,
flitting through the glades like some white spirit, and so rapidly that
her companion found it difficult to keep her in view. At length they
came to a large open space of ground where played the level beams of the
rising moon, striking upon the dense green foliage of an immense tree
that grew there. Round this tree Elissa ran, glancing about her wildly,
so that for a few seconds Metem lost sight of her, for its mass was
between them. When he saw her again she was speeding towards the figure
of a man who stood in the open, about ten paces from the outer boughs
of the tree. To this she pointed as she came, crying out aloud, "Beware!
Beware!"

Another moment and she had almost reached the man, and still pointing
began to gasp some broken words. Then, suddenly in the bright moonlight,
Metem saw a shining point of light flash towards the pair from the
darkness of the tree. It would seem that Elissa saw it also; at least,
she leapt from the ground, her arm lifted above her head as though to
ca