hereby show the impotence of their false gods to protect them."

The Rajput drew himself up proudly, and a flush of resentment stole over
his face. But the Moslem fanatic, unconscious now of anything but his
reminiscences of the past, went on unheeding and unabashed:

"It was toward the hour of sunset when a body of our soldiery broke into
a temple devoted to the worship of Siva the Destroyer. We had battered
in the heavy wooden doors that protected the inner court, and within the
threshold a score or more of priests fell to our swords, and a dozen
dancing girls as well, attendants on the idols--self-slain these women,
for when they saw that there was no quarter for the men they rushed on
us like female panthers and flung themselves on our dripping blades."

The Hindu listeners were visibly disturbed and affected by this cold
recital of bloody deeds. The hands of the Rajput clenched and unclenched
themselves nervously, and the merchant gave a deep, guttural groan of
horror as he flung the end of his robe over his face as if to shut out a
vision of sacrilege and shame.

"It was written in the beginning, nay before creation it was written,"
murmured the Moslem astrologer, quoting, in courteous sympathy, the
familiar formula of his faith. "And as your priests themselves say," he
added, addressing himself more particularly to the Rajput, "'The destiny
of each man is irrevocably inscribed on his forehead by the hand of
Brahma himself.'"

The Rajput bowed his head in acquiescent silence, and as the fakir
proceeded with his story the trader also regained his composure and
withdrew the covering from his face.

"When the shadows of night fell, the temple made a bonfire that
illuminated the scenes of pillage going on all around. The big idols of
loathly aspect had been thrown down, broken to pieces, and despoiled of
their jewels and the heavy plates of gold that encumbered them. Our
soldiers had swarmed out of the building, past a tank to the houses of
some priests beyond. Not one single custodian of the temple survived,
and I stood alone in the outer courtyard, watching in idle fashion the
tongues of flame licking the beams and rafters and paint-bedaubed walls
of the wrecked edifice.

"Then did my eyes chance to light on a small idol in the passage-way
between the two courtyards of the temple, set in a deep niche, on which
account it had escaped the notice of the despoilers. It was the familiar
elephant-headed idol of the