e open windows, and
made the hot air drugged and heavy. Ulamhala slowly and noiseless as a
cat stepped to the window, and, leaning out over the marble railing,
looked up into the violet-black heavens. There was no moon, but a
trembling flame on one of the candelabras threw a dull, ruddy glow
over his white dress and snowy turban. His face was hid in the gloom,
but the others knew, though they could hardly see, that he was
pointing upward with his right hand.

"Behold," began the astrologer, "three thousand seven hundred and
fifty years since the days of the great Sargon of Agade have we of the
race of the Chaldeans studied the stars. One generation of watchers
succeeded another, scanning the heavens nightly from our
_ziggurats_,[90] and we have learned the laws of the constellations;
the laws of Sin the moon, the laws of Samas the sun, the laws of the
planets, the laws of the fixed stars. Their motions and their
influence on the affairs of men our fathers discovered, and have
handed their wisdom down to us."

[90] Babylonian temple towers.

"But the word of the stars to _us_?" broke in Pompeius, in extreme
disquietude, and trying to shake off the spell that held him in
mastery.

"Know, lord, that thy slave has not been disobedient unto thy
commandment. Look, yonder burneth a bright red planet, called by us
Nergal, which ye Westerns call by the name of Mars. Who denieth that
when Mars shines in the heavens, war will break forth among men? Know
that I have carefully compared the settings, risings, and movements of
the planets at this season with their settings, risings, and movements
at the time when my lord was born; and also at the time of the birth
of his great enemy. I have made use of the tables which my wise
predecessors among the Chaldees have prepared; and which I myself, thy
slave, copied from those at the Temple of Bel, in Babylon."

"And they say?" breathlessly interrupted Lentulus.

"This is the message from the planets," and Ulamhala's form grew
higher, his voice firmer; he raised his long bony arms above his head,
and stood in the dull light like a skeleton arisen in all its white
grave clothes to convey a warning to the living. "To the Lord
Pompeius, this is the warning, and to his enemy,

"'_He that is highest shall rise yet higher;
He that is second shall utterly fall!_'

I have said."

And before the noble Romans could command the free play of their
senses, the vision at the window had