ng. It was a voice
without a shape.

"Speak to me!" cried the old man, in a voice that never quavered.
"Dost thou know my fate?"

"I know it," answered the invisible voice; "thou art a poor man who
hast lost what thou hadst, and what thou now hast is not thine."

"Thou art a senseless spirit," growled the stranger. "Go back to thy
tomb and slumber; I will inquire nothing more of thee. Thou dost not
even know my present fate; how canst thou know my future? Go back to
thy hole, I say, and sleep in peace."

"I know thee," continued the voice, "and I have spoken the truth. Do
not they call thee Ali Tepelenti?"

The stranger was amazed. "That is indeed my name," he answered.

"Wert thou not a fugitive yesterday, and wilt thou not be dust and
ashes to-morrow?"

"True; but that yesterday was eighty years ago; and who shall say when
to-morrow will be?"

"Thou knowest that here there is neither morning nor evening,"
answered the voice. "To me yesterday was when I last saw the sun, and
to-morrow will be when I see it again. Ali Tepelenti, Lord of Janina,
thou art poorer than the lowliest Mussulman who girds himself with a
girdle of hair, for thou hast lost everything which thou didst account
precious. Thy kinsmen, who were for thy defence, thou hast slain; thy
mother, who loved thee, thou hast strangled; thy right hand has pulled
down the house which thou didst build up; thy glory, in which thou
didst exalt thyself, has become a curse to thee; and thou hast made
bitter haters of those who loved thee best."

"So it is. I know what I have done. I repent me of nothing. The hare
nibbles the flower, the vulture seizes the hare, the hunter slays the
vulture, the lion fells the hunter, the worm devours the lion. All of
us turn to earth. Allah is mighty, and He orders it so. What am I?
Only a bigger worm than the rest. Who shall strive with God? What is
my fate in the future?"

"But yesterday thou wert younger than thy newborn son, to-morrow thou
shalt die older than thy oldest ancestors."

"Speak more plainly. I perceive the meaning of thy words as little as
I perceive thyself."

"'He who sins with the sword shall perish with the sword,' saith
Allah. He who sins with love, shall perish by love. Thou hast two
hands, the right and the left; thou hast two swords, one covered with
gold and one with silver; thou hast three hundred wives in thy harem,
but only one in thy heart; thou hast twelve sons, but only one whom
thou lo