no more by night. But yet a few days now, and she shall triumph even
over him, and, entering on his glowing disc, she shall be seen at
mid-day, obscuring his light and travelling as a spot across his glory."

The old men wagged their beards as the boy translated, but he sprang to
his feet with no little excitement, and exclaimed,--

"Meanest thou that blue star with its attendant speck of white, which
but a little while ago shone with great brightness as a Twilight Star?"

"That is the Earth, O Zaphnath, the world from whence we came," I
exclaimed; and the youth again threw off his wig and beard, and rushing
toward me, pressed first his right cheek and then his left cheek against
mine, and then against the doctor's.

"Then ye are most welcome to the land of Kem, and we shall be friends
for ever. For ye should know that my mother was barren all the years of
her life until this same Blue Star came to shine wondrously, even in the
presence of the Day-Giver, before his setting. It was then, under the
beneficent influence of this star, that she gave birth to me. And when
the star paled and wandered again I tarried not in the land of my
father, but came strangely hither, to be ruler in a great land which my
people had never known."

When he had resumed his seat again, I said, "All that I have told thee
shalt thou see come to pass, and through this Larger Eye, which we have
made to pierce the deep of space, thou shalt see more clearly that the
Blue Star is indeed a great orb, where many men may dwell, and after she
hath passed the Day-Giver, she will appear as a bright morning star
again to announce his coming."

"Why now, if this be true, then every one of these old men must die. For
Pharaoh's laws provide that whatsoever wise man faileth to predict such
an appearance, or predicteth one which doth not occur, must lose his
life. These grey-beards, always jealous of me, have said that the Blue
Star, which beareth my destiny, hath disappeared, never to be seen
again. Now, when they are slain, Pharaoh shall appoint you to sit in
their places. Ye shall reign jointly with Zaphnath if it pleaseth you,
and ye may choose what seemeth good to you of everything that is in the
land of Kem and in all the countries which pay tribute unto Pharaoh. And
he will give you as wives all the women ye saw in Long Breath Park, and
an equal part of all the slaves and women taken in war will he give you
also. For hath he not bidden me treat gener