ornament would but mar the grand outlines of such a history,"
he murmured to himself; "who would carve flowers upon the pyramids, or
crown with daisies an obelisk pointing to the skies!"

Gradually sleep stole over the young Greek, his head drooped upon his
arm, his eyelids closed, and he slumbered long and deeply.

Lycidas was awakened by sounds near him, low and subdued, the cautious
tread of many feet, the smothered whisper, and the faint rustle of
garments. The Athenian opened his eyes, and gazed from his place of
concealment behind the thick branching stem of the olive on a strange
and striking scene.

The moon, full and round, had just risen, but the foliage of the trees
as yet obscured most of her light, as her silver lamp hung near the
horizon, casting long black shadows over the earth. Several forms were
moving about in the faint gleam, apparently engaged in some work which
needed concealment, for none of them carried a torch. Lycidas, himself
silent as the grave, watched the movements of those before him with a
curiosity which for a time so engrossed his mind as to take away all
sense of personal danger, though he soon became aware that the
intrusion of a stranger on these mysterious midnight proceedings would
not only be unwelcome, but might to himself be perilous.

The group of men assembled in that retired spot were evidently Hebrews,
and as the eyes of Lycidas became accustomed to the gloom, and the
ascending moon had more power to disperse it, he intuitively singled
out one from amongst them as the leader and chief of the rest. Not
that his tunic and mantle were of richer materials than those of his
comrades; plain and dusty with travel were the sandals upon his feet,
and he wore the simple white turban which a field-labourer might have
worn. But never had turban been folded around a more majestic brow,
and the form wrapped in the mantle had the unconscious dignity which
marks those born to command. The very tread of his sandalled feet
reminded the Athenian of that of the desert lion, and from the dark
deep-set eye glanced the calm soul of a hero.

"Here be the place," said the chief, if such he were, pointing to the
earth under the branches of the very tree against the trunk of which,
on the further side, the temple of Lycidas was pressed, as he bent
eagerly forward to watch and to listen.

Not a word was uttered in reply; but the men around, after laying aside
their upper garments, set to w