cy! Oh, my brother, what can these foul tyrants know
of either! Already he has perhaps doomed you to some refined and
procrastinated torture, already---- Ah! what unutterable woe is mine!
fly, my brother, fly!'

'Fly, fly, fly!'

'There is no fear, my Miriam; would all his accursed race could trouble
us as little as their sometime ruler. See, he sleeps soundly. But his
carcass shall not defile our fresh fountain and our fragrant flowers.
I'll stow it in the woods, and stroll here at night to listen to the
jackals at their banquet.'

'You speak wildly, David. What! No! It is impossible! He is not dead!
You have not slain him!

He sleeps, he is afraid. He mimics death that we may leave his side,
and he may rise again in safety. Girls, look to him. David, you do not
answer. Brother, dear brother, surely he has swooned! I thought he had
fled. Bear water, maidens, to that terrible man. I dare not look upon
him.'

'Away! I'll look on him, and I'll triumph. Dead! Alschiroch dead! Why,
but a moment since, this clotted carcass was a prince, my tyrant! So we
can rid ourselves of them, eh? If the prince fall, why not the people?
Dead, absolutely dead, and I his slayer! Hah! at length I am a man.
This, this indeed is life. Let me live slaying!'

'Woe! woe, our house is fallen! The wildness of his gestures frightens
me. David, David, I pray thee cease. He hears me not; my voice,
perchance, is thin. I am very faint. Maidens, kneel to your Prince, and
soothe the madness of his passion.'

'_SWEET IS THE VOICE OF A SISTER IN THE SEASON OF SORROW, AND WISE IS
THE COUNSEL OF THOSE WHO LOVE US_.'

'Why, this is my Goliath! a pebble or a stick, it is the same. The Lord
of Hosts is with us. Rightly am I called David.'

'_DELIVER US FROM OUR ENEMIES, O LORD! FROM THOSE WHO RISE UP AGAINST
US, AND THOSE WHO LIE IN WAIT FOR US_.'

[Illustration: page020]

'Were but this blow multiplied, were but the servants of my uncle's
house to do the same, why, we should see again the days of Elah! The
Philistine, the foul, lascivious, damnable Philistine! and he must touch
my sister! Oh! that all his tribe were here, all, all! I'd tie such
firebrands to their foxes' tails, the blaze should light to freedom!'

While he spoke, a maiden, who had not yet rejoined the company, came
running towards them swiftly with an agitated countenance.

'Fly,' she exclaimed, 'they come, they come!'

Miriam was reclining in an attendant's arms, feeble and f