on the clamour died away, and although no command was given, the
caravan started on at speed. All weariness faded from the faces of the
wayworn travellers, even the very camels and asses, shrunk, as most of
them were, to mere skeletons, seemed to understand that labour and blows
were done with, and forgetting their loads, shambled unurged down the
stony path. One man lingered, however. Clearly he was a person of rank,
for eight or ten attendants surrounded him.

"Go," said he, "I wish to be alone, and will follow presently." So they
bowed to the earth, and went.

The man was young, perhaps six or eight and twenty years of age. His
dark skin, burnt almost to blackness by the heat of the sun, together
with the fashion of his short, square-cut beard and of his garments,
proclaimed him of Jewish or Egyptian blood, while the gold collar about
his neck and the gold graven ring upon his hand showed that his rank
was high. Indeed this wanderer was none other than the prince Aziel,
nick-named the Ever-living, because of a curious mole upon his shoulder
bearing a resemblance to the _crux ansata_, the symbol of life eternal
among the Egyptians. By blood he was a grandson of Solomon, the mighty
king of Israel, and born of a royal mother, a princess of Egypt.

In stature Aziel was tall, but somewhat slimly made, having small bones.
His face was oval in shape, the features, especially the mouth, being
fine and sensitive; the eyes were large, dark, and full of thought--the
eyes of a man with a destiny. For the most part, indeed, they were
sombre and over-full of thought, but at times they could light up with a
strange fire.

Aziel the prince placed his hand against his forehead in such fashion as
to shade his face from the rays of the setting sun, and from beneath its
shadow gazed long and earnestly at the city of the hill.

"At length I behold thee, thanks be to God," he murmured, for he was a
worshipper of Jehovah, and not of his mother's deities, "and it is
time, since, to speak the truth, I am weary of this travelling. Now
what fortune shall I find within thy walls, O City of Gold and
devil-servers?"

"Who can tell?" said a quiet voice at his elbow. "Perhaps, Prince, you
will find a wife, or a throne, or--a grave."

Aziel started, and turned to see a man standing at his side, clothed in
robes that had been rich, but were now torn and stained with travel,
and wearing on his head a black cap in shape not unlike the fez that