"

"I was privy to it, else would he not have dared this."

"And to what end, good master?"

"That we may have an answer propitious to our suit."

"What! are ye about to sacrifice me to your infernal deities?" cried
the captive, almost frantic with the anticipation.

"My friend, thou art bound for another purpose--to wit, that through
thy instrumentality we may discover the divining cup the emperor hath
lost. Knowest thou aught of this precious crystal?" inquired the
Chaldean, with a searching look.

But it were vain to describe the astonishment of the victim. He looked
almost in doubt of his own identity, or as if he were trying to shake
off the impression of some hideous dream. At length he replied--

"'Tis some device surely that ye may slay me!"

He wept; and the tears trickling down his cheek were indeed piteous to
behold. "I know not," said he, "your meaning. Let me depart."

"Nay, said the soothsayer, "thou mayest content thyself as thou list,
but the cup shall be found, and that by thy ministry. The emperor hath
offered rewards nigh to the value of three silver talents for the
recovery, and assuredly thou shalt be held in durance until it be
regained."

"And by whose authority?" inquired the Briton.

"Why, truly, it becometh thee to ask, seeing thou art a party
interested in the matter. The emperor in whose care the jewel was
left, hath sworn by the river Styx that unless the cup be brought back
to the palace ere to-morrow's dawn, he will punish the innocent with
the guilty, and that with no sparing hand. He hath already laid hands
on some of the more wealthy citizens, and amerced them in divers sums;
others are detained as hostages for suspected persons who are absent
from the city. The loss of this cup being connected with a daring
attempt on the emperor's life by some unknown hand, he doth suspect
that the very palace wants purging from treason; yet where to begin,
or on whom to fasten suspicion, he knoweth not. Mine art has hitherto
failed me in the matter. The tools they work with baffle my skill,
save that the oracle I consult commanded that I should lay hold on the
first male person that came hither to-day, and by his ministry the
lost treasure should be restored. Shouldst thou refuse, thou art lost;
for assuredly the emperor will not be slow to punish thy contumacy."

The miserable captive fell into great perplexity at this discourse. He
vowed he knew no more of the lost cup than the very s