tedly and sternly
silencing the Vekeel when he sought to argue in favor of the sentence of
death; and the humane persuasiveness of the lenient judge won the hearts
of most of the Moslems.

Paula's appearance had a powerful effect, too, and not less the
circumstance that their noblest and bravest foe had been the father of
the accused.

When at length it was put to the vote the extraordinary result was that
all her fellow Christians--the Jacobites--without exception demanded
her death, while of the infidels on the judges' bench only one supported
this severe meed of punishment.

Sentence was pronounced, and as the Vekeel Obada passed close
to Orion--who was led back to his cell pale and hardly master of
himself--he said, mocking him in broken Greek: "It will be your turn
to-morrow, Son of the Mukaukas!"

Orion's lips framed the retort: "And yours, too, some day, Son of a
Slave!"--but Paula was standing opposite, and to avoid infuriating her
foe he was able to do what he never could have done else: to let the
Vekeel and Horapollo pass on without a word in reply.

As soon as the door was closed on this couple, Othman nodded approvingly
at Orion and said:

"Rightly and wisely done, my friend! The eagle should never forget that
he must not use his pinions in a cage as he does between the desert and
the sky."

He signed to the guards to lead him away, and stood apart while the
young man looked and waived an adieu to his betrothed.

Finally the Kadi went up to Paula, whose heroic composure as she heard
the sentence of death had filled him with admiration.

"The court has decided against you, noble maiden," he said. "But its
verdict can he overruled by the clemency of our Sovereign Lord the
Khaliff and the mercy of God the compassionate. Do you pray to Him--I
and a few friends will appeal to the Khaliff."

He disclaimed her gratitude, and when she, too, had been led away he
added, in the figurative language of his nation, to the friends who were
waiting for him:

"My heart aches! To have to pronounce such a verdict oppressed me like
a load; but to have an Obada for a fellow Moslem and be bound to obey
him--there is no heavier lot on earth!"

CHAPTER XVIII.

The mysterious old sage had no sooner left the judgment-hall with the
Vekeel than he begged for a private interview. Obada did not hesitate
to turn the keeper of the prison, with his wife and infant, out of his
room, and there he listened while Horapo