our brethren here, but a better time will come, a better time will
come.'

'I think so. This is your door?'

'An humble one. Jerusalem is not Bagdad, but you are welcome.'

'King Pirgandicus[37] entered them,' said Rabbi Maimon, 'but no one
since.'

'And when did he live?' inquired Alroy. 'His reign is recorded in the
Talmud,' answered Rabbi Zimri, 'but in the Talmud there are no dates.'
'A long while ago?' asked Alroy. 'Since the Captivity,' answered Rabbi
Maimon. 'I doubt that,' said Rabbi Zimri, 'or why should he be called
king?'

'Was he of the house of David?' said Alroy.

'Without doubt,' said Rabbi Maimon; 'he was one of our greatest kings,
and conquered Julius Caesar.'[38]

'His kingdom was in the northernmost parts of Africa,' said Rabbi Zimri,
'and exists to this day, if we could but find it.'

'Ay, truly,' added Rabbi Maimon, 'the sceptre has never departed out of
Judah; and he rode always upon a white elephant.'

'Covered with cloth of gold,' added Rabbi Zimri. 'And he visited the
Tombs of the Kings?'[39] inquired Alroy.

'Without doubt,' said Rabbi Maimon. 'The whole account is in the
Talmud.'

'And no one can now find them?' 'No one,' replied Rabbi Zimri: 'but,
according to that learned doctor, Moses Hallevy, they are in a valley in
the mountains of Lebanon, which was sealed up by the Archangel Michael.'

'The illustrious Doctor Abarbanel, of Babylon,' said Rabbi Maimon,
'gives one hundred and twenty reasons in his commentary on the Gemara to
prove that they sunk under the earth at the taking of the Temple.'

'No one reasons like Abarbanel of Babylon,' said Rabbi Zimri.

'The great Rabbi Akiba, of Pundebita, has answered them all,' said Rabbi
Maimon, 'and holds that they were taken up to heaven.'

'And which is right?' inquired Rabbi Zimri.

'Neither,' said Rabbi Maimon.

'One hundred and twenty reasons are strong proof,' said Rabbi Zimri.

'The most learned and illustrious Doctor Aaron Mendola, of Granada,'
said Rabbi Maimon, 'has shown that we must look for the Tombs of the
Kings in the south of Spain.'

'All that Mendola writes is worth attention,' said Rabbi Zimri.

'Rabbi Hillel,[40] of Samaria, is worth two Mendolas any day,' said
Rabbi Maimon.

''Tis a most learned doctor,' said Rabbi Zimri; 'and what thinks he?'

'Hillel proves that there are two Tombs of the Kings,' said Rabbi
Maimon, 'and that neither of them are the right ones.'

'What a learned doctor!' exclaimed Ra