ames of sire and dam. Take them, and note their age,
that thou mayst the more readily believe."

Some of the tablets were nearly worn away. All were yellow with
age.

"In the chest there, I can tell thee now, I have the perfect history;
perfect because certified as history seldom is--showing of what stock
all these are sprung--this one, and that now supplicating thy notice
and caress; and as they come to us here, their sires, even the
furthest removed in time, came to my sires, under a tent-roof like
this of mine, to eat their measure of barley from the open hand,
and be talked to as children; and as children kiss the thanks they
have not speech to express. And now, O son of Israel, thou mayst
believe my declaration--if I am a lord of the Desert, behold my
ministers! Take them from me, and I become as a sick man left
by the caravan to die. Thanks to them, age hath not diminished
the terror of me on the highways between cities; and it will not
while I have strength to go with them. Ha, ha, ha! I could tell
thee marvels done by their ancestors. In a favoring time I may
do so; for the present, enough that they were never overtaken
in retreat; nor, by the sword of Solomon, did they ever fail in
pursuit! That, mark you, on the sands and under saddle; but now--I
do not know--I am afraid, for they are under yoke the first time,
and the conditions of success are so many. They have the pride and
the speed and the endurance. If I find them a master, they will win.
Son of Israel! so thou art the man, I swear it shall be a happy day
that brought thee thither. Of thyself now speak."

"I know now," said Ben-Hur, "why it is that in the love of an Arab
his horse is next to his children; and I know, also, why the Arab
horses are the best in the world; but, good sheik, I would not have
you judge me by words alone; for, as you know, all promises of men
sometimes fail. Give me the trial first on some plain hereabout,
and put the four in my hand to-morrow."

Ilderim's face beamed again, and he would have spoken.

"A moment, good sheik, a moment!" said Ben-Hur. "Let me say further.
From the masters in Rome I learned many lessons, little thinking they
would serve me in a time like this. I tell thee these thy sons of
the Desert, though they have separately the speed of eagles and
the endurance of lions, will fail if they are not trained to run
together under the yoke. For bethink thee, sheik, in every four
there is one the slowest and o