silently forward.

"Quick! The horses! What are they? Bring me word," he said.

The slave vanished. For a moment there was silence. The eyes of the two
men met. In the minds of both was the same thing.

"Kaid! The Nubians!" Harrik said, at last. David made no response.

The slave returned, and his voice murmured softly, as though the matter
were of no concern: "The Nubians--from the Palace." In an instant he was
gone again.

"Kaid had not faith in thee," Harrik said grimly. "But see, infidel
though thou art, thou trustest me, and thou shalt go thy way. Take them
with thee, yonder jackals of the desert. I will not go with them. I did
not choose to live; others chose for me; but I will die after my own
choice. Thou hast heard a voice, even as I. It is too late to flee to
the desert. Fate tricks me. 'The lions are loosed on thee'--so the
voice said to me in the night. Hark! dost thou not hear them--the lions,
Harrik's lions, got out of the uttermost desert?"

David could hear the distant roar, for the menagerie was even part of
the palace itself.

"Go in peace," continued Harrik soberly and with dignity, "and when
Egypt is given to the infidel and Muslims are their slaves, remember
that Harrik would have saved it for his Lord Mahomet, the Prophet of
God."

He clapped his hands, and fifty slaves slid from behind the velvet
curtains.

"I have thy word by the tomb of thy mother that thou wilt take the
Nubians hence, and leave me in peace?" he asked.

David raised a hand above his head. "As I have trusted thee, trust thou
me, Harrik, son of Mahomet." Harrik made a gesture of dismissal, and
David salaamed and turned to go. As the curtains parted for his exit, he
faced Harrik again. "Peace be to thee," he said.

But, seated in his cushions, the haggard, fanatical face of Harrik was
turned from him, the black, flaring eyes fixed on vacancy. The curtain
dropped behind David, and through the dim rooms and corridors he passed,
the slaves gliding beside him, before him, and behind him, until they
reached the great doors. As they swung open and the cool night breeze
blew in his face, a great suspiration of relief passed from him. What
he had set out to do would be accomplished in all. Harrik would keep his
word. It was the only way.

As he emerged from the doorway some one fell at his feet, caught his
sleeve and kissed it. It was Mahommed Hassan. Behind Mahommed was a
little group of officers and a hundred stalwart Nubi