gical glory transmuted the fields,
the stream, and the palm-groves, the roofs of the city, and even the
barren desert-range and the Pyramids to burning gold. It was fast going
to rest behind the Libyan chain. The bare, colorless limestone sparkled
like translucent crystal; the glowing sphere looked as though it were
melting into the very heart of the mountains behind which it was
vanishing, while its rays, shooting upwards like millions of gold
threads, bound his native valley to heaven--the dwelling of the Divine
Power who had blessed it above all other lands.

To free this beautiful spot of earth and its children from their
oppressors--to restore to them the might and greatness which had once
been theirs--to snatch down the crescent from the tents and buildings
which lay below him and plant the cross which from his infancy he had
held sacred--to lead enthusiastic troops of Egyptians against the
Moslems--to quell their arrogance and drive them back to the East like
Sesostris, the hero of history and legend--this was a task worthy of the
grandson of Menas, of the son of George the great and just Mukaukas.

Paula would not oppose such an enterprise; his excited imagination
pictured her indeed as a second Zenobia by his side, ready for any great
achievement, fit to aid him and to rule.

Fully possessed by this dream of the future, he had long ceased to gaze
at the glories of the sunset and was sitting with eyes fixed on the
ground. Suddenly his soaring visions were interrupted by men's voices
coming up from the street just below the terrace. He looked over and
perceived at its foot about a score of Egyptian laborers; free men, with
no degrading tokens of slavery, making their way along, evidently against
their will and yet in sullen obedience, with no thought of resistance or
evasion, though only a single Arab held them under control.

The sight fell on his excited mood like rain on a smouldering fire, like
hail on sprouting seed. His eye, which a moment ago had sparkled with
enthusiasm, looked down with contempt and disappointment on the miserable
creatures of whose race he came. A line of bitter scorn curled his lip,
for this troop of voluntary slaves were beneath his anger--all the more
so as he more vividly pictured to himself what his people had once been
and what they were now. He did not think of all this precisely, but as
dusk fell, one scene after another from his own experience rose before
his mind's eye--occ