ok the oath of truth by touching the altar with
her fingers, and began:--

"From the time that she was appointed I have been suspicious of the lady
Baaltis."

"Why were you suspicious?" asked the Shadid.

The witness let her eyes wander towards Metem, then hesitated. Evidently
for some reason of her own she did not wish to implicate him.

"I was suspicious," she answered, "because of certain words that came
from the lips of the Baaltis, when she had been thrown into the holy
trance before the fire of sacrifice. As is my accustomed part, I bent
over her to hear and to announce the message of the gods, but in place
of the hallowed words there issued babblings about this Hebrew stranger
and of a meeting to be held with him at one hour before moonrise by
the pillar of El in the courtyard of the temple. Thereafter for several
nights as was my duty I hid myself in the pit of offerings in the
courtyard and watched. Last night at an hour before the moonrise the
Lady Baaltis came disguised by the secret way and waited at the pillar,
where presently she was joined by the Jew Aziel and the Levite, who
spoke with her.

"What they said I could not hear, because they were too far from me, but
at length they left the temple and I traced them to the chambers of the
Jew Aziel, in the palace of Sakon. Then, Shadid, I warned you, and the
priests and you accompanied me and took them. Now, as Mother of the
priestesses, I demand that justice be done upon these wicked ones,
according to the ancient custom, lest the curse of Baaltis should fall
upon this city."

When she had finished her evidence, with a cold stare of triumphant hate
at her rival, Mesa stepped to one side.

"You have heard," said the Shadid addressing his fellow-judges. "Do you
need further testimony? If so, it must be brief, for the sun sinks."

"Nay," answered the spokesman, "for with you we took the three of them
together in the chamber of the prince Aziel. Set out the law of this
matter, O Judge, and let justice be done according to the strict letter
of the law--justice without fear or favour."

"Hearken," said the Shadid. "Last night this woman Elissa, the daughter
of Sakon, being the lady Baaltis duly elected, met men secretly in
the courts of the temple and accompanied them, or one of them, to the
chamber of Aziel, a prince of Israel, the guest of Sakon. Whether or no
she was about to fly with him from the city which he should have left
last night, we cannot