: a
young woman, nimble and deft; give the old woman to the cooks for
scullery drudge."

"A woman here, Sultana?"

"Here! What bee buzzes in thy great head now?" The giant again looked
grave; the girl's impatience surged anew.

"Sultana, don't forget that, save thee and me, servant of the great
chamber, none may enter here and go alive?"

"Now by the fiend, enough!" blazed the girl. "Again, I am the law! Wilt
have it imprinted on thy great body with my whip?"

Milo made a low obeisance, departed without further speech, and in a few
moments ushered in from the bacchanalian revels a maid for his
mistress.

"Pascherette will serve thee well, Sultana," he said, leading the girl
forward. He saw approval in Dolores's face and departed, his luminous
black eyes unwontedly soft and limpid.

CHAPTER V.

MILO SIGHTS A SAIL.

Day broke through a silver haze, and as the blue sea unrolled to view,
far down to the southeast, flashed a pearly sliver of sail lazily
drawing in to the coast. It was the merest streak of white against the
sky, and none but Milo's sharp eyes could have seen it. Even at that
distance, and indistinct though it was in the mist, the giant detected
the three masts crossed with yards that proclaimed the vessel a
full-rigged ship. He gazed long and earnestly, to assure himself of the
ship's progress, then hurried along the mountain toward the village.

He strode with the free stride of a perfect creature, swinging from the
hip and covering the ground at a common man's running pace. His vast
chest heaved and fell easily and rhythmically, the golden-hued skin
rippling and flashing in the rising sunlight; every line of limbs and
torso was the outward and visible sign of abounding health; the straight
black hair falling to his shoulders framed a keen, powerful face of
Semitic mold, in which the high brow and calm, fearless eyes belonged
rather to one of the blood-royal than to a slave. And rightly, too, for
Milo, the giant, was of princely line in his own land, and his present
servitude was an accident that had yet failed to rob him of his
birthright of dignity.

He came abreast of and above the haven where lay the stout sloop and
boats of the community, and the sounds of noisy industry about the craft
brought a frown and a sneer to his face. It reminded him too vividly of
his actual station, and violently dragged him back from the realm of
visions he had allowed himself to indulge in. The pirate