Thereon four priests seized Elissa by the wrists and ankles. Carrying
her to the edge of the precipice, they thrust her back till she hung
over it, her long hair streaming downwards, and the red light of the
sunset shining upon her upturned ghastly face. Then they paused, waiting
for the signal to let her go. The Shadid raised his wand and said:--

"Is it your pleasure that this woman should die or live, prince Aziel?
Decide swiftly, for my arm is weak, and when the wand falls opportunity
for choice will have passed from you."

Now all eyes were fixed upon the wand, and the intense silence was only
broken by Sakon's cry of despair. Metem wrung his hands in grief; even
Issachar veiled his eyes with his robe, to shut out the sight of dread,
and the priest, who bore the bowl of incense, thrust it towards Aziel
imploringly.

For some seconds, three perhaps, though to him they seemed an age, the
heart of Aziel was racked and torn in this terrific contest. Then he
glanced at the agonized face of the doomed woman, and just as the wand
began to bend, his human love and pity conquered.

"May He Whom I blaspheme forgive me," he murmured, adding aloud, "I will
do sacrifice." Taking the incense in his hand now he cast it into the
flames upon the altar, repeating mechanically after the Shadid: "By this
sacrifice and homage, body and soul I give myself to you and worship
you, El and Baaltis, the only true gods."

*****

The echo of Aziel's voice died away, and the fumes of the incense rose
in a straight dense column upon that quiet air. To his tormented mind,
it seemed as though its smoke took the form of an avenging angel,
holding in the hand a sword of flame, wherewith to drive away his
perjured soul from Heaven, as our first forefathers were driven from
the shining gates of paradise. Yes, and they were not human, those
spectators who, in the intense glow of the sunset, stood in their still
ranks and stared at him with wide and eager eyes. Surely they were
fiends red with the blood of men, fiends gathered from the Pit to bear
everlasting witness to the unpardonable sin of his apostasy.

CHAPTER XIV

THE MARTYRDOM OF ISSACHAR

It was done, and from the mouths of the circle of priests and
priestesses leapt a shrill and sudden cry of triumph. For had not their
gods conquered? Had not this high-placed servant of the hated Lord of
Israel been caught by the bait of a priestess of Baaltis, and seduced by
her distress to de