t notice of this pass will be given to your generals
and that it shall be respected to the letter. Do you consent to these
terms?"

"I consent," said the king presently.

*****

That evening Metem returned to the city of Zimboe, but those who led
his two camels little guessed that now they were laden, not with
merchandise, but with treasure.

CHAPTER IX

GREETING TO THE BAALTIS

When Metem accepted bribes from Issachar and from Ithobal, in
consideration of his finding means to make the union of Aziel and Elissa
impossible, he had already thought out his scheme. It was one which,
while promoting, as he considered, the true welfare of the lovers, if
successful would separate them effectually and for ever.

It will be remembered that Elissa had explained to the prince how, on
the death of the lady Baaltis, another woman was elected by the colleges
of the priests and priestesses to fill her place. This lady could marry,
indeed she was expected to do so, but her husband must take the title
of Shadid, and for her lifetime act as high-priest of El. Therefore,
thought Metem, if it could be brought about that Elissa should be chosen
as the new Baaltis, it was obvious that there would be an end of the
possibility of her marriage to Aziel. Then, in order to wed her, he must
renounce his own religion--a thing which no Jew would do--and pose as
the earthly incarnation of one whom he considered a false divinity or a
devil.

Indeed, not only marriage, but any further intimacy between the pair
would be rendered impracticable, for upon this point the religious law,
lax enough in many particulars, was very strict. In fact, so strict was
it that for the lady Baaltis of the day to be found alone with any man
meant death to her and him. The reason of this severity was that she was
supposed to represent the goddess; and her husband, the Shadid, a god,
so that any questionable behaviour on her part became an insult to the
most powerful divinities of Heaven, which could only be atoned by the
death of their unworthy incarnations. That these laws were actual and
not formal only was proved by the instance that within the hundred years
before the birth of Elissa, a lady Baaltis had been executed for some
such offence, having been hurled indeed from the topmost pinnacle of the
fortress above the temple to the foot of the precipice beneath.

All these sacerdotal customs were familiar to Metem, who argued from
them that to procure the