ion, he enquired as to the movements of the
enemy.

'I have crossed the desert on a swift dromedary[54] lent to me by
Shelomi of the Gate, whose heart is with our cause. I have not tarried,
neither have I slept. Ere to-morrow's sunset the Philistines will be
here, led by Hassan Subah himself. The Lord of Hosts be with us! Since
we conquered Canaan, Israel hath not struggled with such a power!'

A murmur ran through the assembly. Men exchanged enquiring glances, and
involuntarily pressed each other's arms.

'The trial has come,' said a middle-aged Hebrew, who had fought twenty
years ago with Jabaster.

'Let me die for the Ark!' said a young enthusiast of the band of Abner.

'I thought we should get into a scrape,' whispered Kisloch the Kourd to
Calidas the Indian. 'What could have ever induced us to give up robbing
in a quiet manner?'

'And turn Jews!' said the Guebre, with a sneer.

'Look at Scherirah,' said the Negro, grinning. 'If he is not kissing the
sceptre of Solomon!'

'I wish to heaven he had only hung Alroy the first time he met him,'
said Calidas.

'Sons of the Covenant!' exclaimed Alroy, 'the Lord hath delivered them
into our hands. To-morrow eve we march to Hamadan!'

A cheer followed this exclamation.

'It is written,' said Jabaster, opening a volume, '"Lo! I will defend
this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's
sake."

'"And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out,
and smote in the camp of the Assyrians, an hundred four score and five
thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold! they were
all dead corpses."

'Now, as I was gazing upon the stars this morn, and reading the
celestial alphabet known to the true Cabalist,[55] behold! the star of
the house of David and seven other stars moved, and met together, and
formed into a circle. And the word they formed was a mystery to me; but
lo! I have opened the book, and each star is the initial letter of each
line of the Targum that I have now read to you. Therefore the fate of
Sennacherib is the fate of Hassan Subah!'

'_"Trust in him at all times, ye people; pour out your heart before him."
god is a refuge for us. Selah!_'

At this moment a female form appeared on the very top of the
amphitheatre, upon the slight remains of the upper most tier of which
a solitary arch alone was left. The chorus instantly died away, every
tongue was silent, every eye fixed. Hushed, mute, and immov