d
barred herself within the tomb, Ithobal attacked the native town.
Uttering their wild battle-cries, tens of thousands of his savage
warriors, armed with great spears and shields of ox-hide, and wearing
crests of plumes upon their heads, charged down upon the outer wall.
Twice they were driven back, but the work was in bad repair and too long
to defend, so that at the third rush they flowed over it like lines of
marching ants, driving its defenders before them to the inner gates.
In this battle some were killed, but the most of the slaves threw down
their arms and went over to Ithobal, who spared them, together with
their wives and children.

Through all the night that followed, the generals of Zimboe made ready
for the onslaught which must come. Everywhere within the circuit of the
inner wall troops were stationed, while the double southern gateway,
where prince Aziel was the captain in command, was built up with loose
blocks of stone.

A while before the dawn, just as the eastern sky grew grey, Aziel,
watching from his post above the gate of the wall, heard the fierce
war-song of the Tribes swell suddenly from fifty thousand throats and
the measured tramp of their innumerable feet. Then the day broke, and he
saw them advancing in three armies towards the three points chosen for
attack, the largest of the armies, headed by Ithobal the king, directing
its march upon the walled gate of which he was in command.

It was a wondrous and a fearful sight, that of these hordes of plumed
warriors, their broad spears flashing in the sunrise, and their fierce
faces alight with hereditary hate and the lust of slaughter. Never had
Aziel seen such a spectacle, nor could he look upon it without dreading
the issue of the war, for if they were savages, these foes were brave as
the lions of their own plains, and had sworn by the head of their king
to drag down the sheltering walls of Zimboe with their naked hands, or
die to the last man.

Turning his head with a sigh of doubt, Aziel found Metem standing at his
side.

"Have you seen her?" he asked eagerly.

"No, Prince. How could I see her at night when she sits in a tomb like a
fox in his burrow? But I have heard her."

"What did she say? Quick man, tell me."

"But little, Prince, for the tomb is watched and I dared not stay there
long. She sent you her greetings and would have you know that her heart
will be with you in the battle, and her prayers beseech the throne of
Heave