.

"And his holiness has twenty thousand cities, towns, and villages."

"Your worthinesses are destroying this business and all Phoenicia,"
said Rabsun, with a voice which was loud now.

Hiram balled his fists, but was silent.

"Thou must confess, worthiness," said he, after a while, "that of those
twenty thousand towns his holiness owns few in reality."

"Thou wishest to say, grace," answered Dagon, "that seven thousand
belong to the temples, and seven thousand to great lords. Still six
thousand belong clearly to his holiness."

"Not altogether! For when Thou takest, worthiness, about three thousand
which are mortgaged to the priests, and two thousand which are rented
to our Phoenicians."

"Thou speakest the truth, grace," said Dagon. "But there remain always
to his holiness about two thousand very rich cities."

"Has Typhon possessed thee?" roared Rabsun, in his turn. "Wilt Thou go
now to counting the cities of the pharaoh, may he."

"Pst!" whispered Dagon, springing up.

"When misfortune is hanging over Phoenicia" finished Rabsun.

"Let me but know what the misfortune is," interrupted Dagon.

"Then let Hiram speak and Thou wilt know."

"Let him speak."

"Dost Thou know, worthiness, what happened in the inn 'Under the Ship'
to our brother Asarhadon?" began Hiram.

"I have no brothers among innkeepers," interrupted Dagon, sneeringly.

"Be silent!" screamed Rabsun, in anger; and he grasped the hilt of his
dagger. "Thou art as dull as a dog barking in sleep."

"Why is he angry, that that dealer in bones?" inquired Dagon; and he
reached for his knife also.

"Quiet! Concord!" said the gray-headed prince; and he dropped his lean
hand to his girdle.

For a while the nostrils of all three men were quivering and their eyes
flashing. At last Hiram, who calmed himself first, began again, as if
nothing had happened.

"A couple of months ago, in Asarhadon's inn, lodged a certain Phut from
the city of Harran."

"He had to receive five talents from some priest," interrupted Dagon.

"What further?" asked Hiram.

"Nothing. He found favor with a certain priestess, and at her advice
went to seek his debtor in Thebes."

"Thou hast the mind of a child and the talkativeness of a woman," said
Hiram. "This Harran man is not from Harran at all. He is a Chaldean,
and his name is not Phut, but Beroes."

"Beroes? Beroes?" repeated Dagon, trying to remember. "I have heard
that name in some place."

"Thou hast hea