f, while behind
her came Mesa and other priestesses bearing in bowls of alabaster the
offerings to the dead, food and wine, and lamps of oil, and vases filled
with perfumes. Behind these again marched the mourners, women who sang
a funeral dirge and from time to time broke into a wail of simulated
grief. Nor, indeed, was their woe as hollow as might be thought, since
from that mountain path they could see the outposts of the army of
Ithobal upon the plain, and note with a shudder of fear the spear-heads
of his countless thousands shining in the gorges of the opposing
heights. It was not for the dead Baaltis that they mourned this day, but
for the fate which overshadowed them and their city of gold.

"May the curse of all the gods fall on her," muttered one of the
priestesses as she toiled forward beneath her load of offerings;
"because she is beautiful and pettish, we must be put to the spear, or
become the wives of savages," and she pointed with her chin to Elissa,
who walked in front, lost in her own thoughts.

"Have patience," answered Mesa at her side, "you know the plan--to-night
that proud girl and false priestess shall sleep in the camp of Ithobal."

"Will he be satisfied with that," asked the woman, "and leave the city
in peace?"

"They say so," answered Mesa with a laugh, "though it is strange that
a king should exchange spoil and glory for one round-eyed, thin-limbed
girl who loves his rival. Well, let us thank the gods that made men
foolish, and gave us women wit to profit by their folly. If he wants
her, let him take her, for few will be poorer by her loss."

"You at least will be richer," said the other woman, "and by the crown
of Baaltis. Well, I do not grudge it you, and as for the daughter of
Sakon, she shall be Ithobal's if I take her to him limb by limb."

"Nay, sister, that is not the bargain; remember she must be delivered to
him without hurt or blemish; otherwise we shall do sacrilege in vain. Be
silent, here is the cave."

Reaching the platform in front of the tomb, the procession of mourners
ranged themselves about it in a semi-circle. They stood with their backs
to the edge of a cliff that rose sheer for sixty feet or more from the
plain beneath, across which, but at a little distance from the foot
of the precipice ran the road followed by the caravans of merchants
in their journeys to and from the coast. Then, a hymn having been sung
invoking the blessing of the gods on the dead priestess