hat Thou wouldst
flee to Greece with me, and now Thou art falling on the neck of
another. Are the gods dead? Has justice deserted them?"

"Thou art mad with thy jealousy," interrupted the priestess; "Thou wilt
kill me."

"It is sure that I, and not thy stone goddess, will kill thee. With
these two hands," cried he, stretching out his fingers, like talons, "I
will choke thee if Thou hast become the mistress."

"Of whom?"

"Do I know? Of course, of both, of that old Assyrian and this
princeling, whose head I will split with a stone should he prowl about
this place any longer. The prince! he has all the women of Egypt, and
still he wants foreign priestesses. The priestesses are for priests,
not for foreigners."

Kama recovered her coolness.

"But for us art Thou not a foreigner?" asked she, haughtily.

"Reptile!" burst out the Greek, a second time. "I cannot be a foreigner
for you Asiatics, since that gift of voice with which the gods have
endowed me is turned to the use of your divinities. But how often, by
means of my figure, have ye deceived dull Asiatics by telling them that
the heir to the throne of Egypt belongs to your faith in secret?"

"Silence! silence!" hissed the priestess, closing his mouth with her
hand.

There must have been something enchanting in her touch, for the Greek
grew calm, and spoke lower.

"Hear me, Kama. Soon to the bay of Sebenico will come a Greek ship,
commanded by my brother. Make the high priest send thee to Pi-Uto; we
shall flee thence to northern Greece, to a place which has never yet
seen a Phoenician."

"It will see them if I hide there," interrupted the priestess.

"Should a hair fall from thy head," whispered the raging Greek, "I
swear that Dagon, that all the Phoenicians here will lose their heads,
or die in the stone quarries. They will learn what a Greek can do."

"But I say to thee," answered Kama, in the same tone, "that until I
collect twenty talents I will not leave here. I have now only eight."

"Where wilt Thou get the other twelve?"

"Sargon and the viceroy will give them."

"I will let Sargon give, but not the prince."

"Foolish Lykon, dost thou not know why that stripling pleases me a
little? He reminds me of thee."

The Greek was perfectly quieted.

"Well, well," muttered he, "I understand that when a woman has the
choice between the heir to the throne and a man with my voice I have no
need to tremble. But I am jealous and violent, so I beg thee t