hen I die, I die, and there is an end. But the
blessing of Heaven, ah! that can be bought, as I have proved once and
again, if not with gold, then otherwise. Did I not in bygone years pass
the first son of my manhood through the fire to Baal-Sidon? Nay, shrink
not from me; it cost me dear, but my fortune was at stake, and better
that the boy should die than that all of us should live on in penury and
bonds. Know you not, Prince, that the gods must have the gifts of the
best, gifts of blood and virtue, or they will curse us and torment us?"

"I do not know it, Metem, for such gods are no gods, but devils,
children of Beelzebub, who has no power over the righteous. Truly I
would have none of your two gods, Phoenician; upon earth the god of gold,
and in heaven the devil of slaughter."

"Speak no ill of him, Prince," answered Metem solemnly, "for here you
are not in the courts of Jehovah, but in his land, and he may chance
to prove his power on you. For the rest, I had sooner follow after gold
than the folly of a drunken spirit which you name Love, seeing that it
works its votary less mischief. Say now, it was a woman and her love
that drove you hither to this wild land, was it not, Prince? Well, be
careful lest a woman and her love should keep you here."

"The sun sets," said Aziel coldly; "let us go forward."

With a bow and a murmured salute, for his quick courtier instinct told
him that he had spoken too freely, Metem took the bridle of the prince's
mule, holding the stirrup while he mounted. Then he turned to seek his
own, but the animal had wandered, and a full half hour went by before it
could be captured.

By now the sun had set, and as there is little or no twilight in
Southern Africa it became difficult for the two travellers to find their
way down the rough hill path. Still they stumbled on, till presently
the long dead grass brushing against their knees told them that they
had lost the road, although they knew that they were riding in the right
direction, for the watch-fires burning on the city walls were a guide
to them. Soon, however, they lost sight of these fires, the boughs of
a grove of thickly-leaved trees hiding them from view, and in trying to
push their way through the wood Metem's mule stumbled against a root and
fell.

"Now there is but one thing to be done," said the Phoenician, as he
dragged the animal from the ground, "and it is to stay here till the
moon rises, which should be within an hou