next time you meet him subdue your pride and make as though
you had never seen him before."

He looked sadly at Orion, as though the sight of him revived some loved
image in his mind, kissed his brow, and as soon as the youth had left
the anteroom he hastily drew open the curtain that hung across the door
into the dining-room.--A few steps behind it stood the Vekeel, who was
arranging the straps of his sword-belt.

"Listener!" exclaimed the Arab with intense scorn, "you, a man of gifts,
a man of deeds! A hero in battle and in council; lion, serpent, and toad
in one! When will you cast out of your soul all that is contemptible
and base? Be what you have made yourself, not what you were; do not
constantly remind the man who helped you to rise that you were born of a
slave!"

"My Lord!" began the Moor, and the whites of his rolling eyes were
ominously conspicuous in his black face. But Amru took the words out of
his mouth and went on in stern and determined reproof:

"You behaved to that noble youth like an idiot, like a buffoon at a
fair, like a madman."

"To Hell with him!" cried Obada, "I hate the gilded upstart."

"Envious wretch! Do not provoke him! Times change, and the day may come
when you will have reason to fear him."

"Him?" shrieked the other. "I could crush the puppet like a fly! And he
shall live to know it."

"Your turn first and then his!" said Amru. "To us he is the more
important of the two--yes, he, the up start, the puppet. Do you hear? Do
you understand? If you touch a hair of his head, it will cost you your
nose and ears! Never for an hour forget that you live--and ought not to
live--only so long as two pairs of lips are sealed. You know whose. That
clever head remains on your shoulders only as long as they choose. Cling
to it, man; you have only one to lose! It was necessary, my lord Vekeel,
to remind you of that once more!"

The Negro groaned like a wounded beast and sullenly panted out: "This
is the reward of past services; these are the thanks of Moslem to
Moslem!--And all for the sake of a Christian dog."

"You have had thanks, and more than are your due," replied Amru more
calmly. "You know what you pledged yourself to before I raised you to be
my Vekeel for the sake of your brains and your sword, and what I had to
overlook before I did so--not on your behalf, but for the great cause
of Islam. And, if you wish to remain where you are, you will do well to
sacrifice your wild ambition