same city with every contumely which the base spirit of our
race could cast upon its victim. 'Twas a great lesson.'

'I feel it so.'

'And teaches us how vile and valueless is the opinion of our
fellow-men.'

'Alas! 'tis true.'

'I am glad to see thee in this wholesome temper. 'Tis full of wisdom.'

'The miserable are often wise.'

'But to believe is nothing unless we act. Speculation should only
sharpen practice. The time hath come to prove thy lusty faith in this
philosophy. I told thee we could make terms. I have made them. To-morrow
it was doomed Alroy should die--and what a death! A death of infinite
torture! Hast ever seen a man impaled?'[81]

'Hah!'

'To view it is alone a doom.'

'God of Heaven!'

'It is so horrible, that 'tis ever marked, that when this direful
ceremony occurs, the average deaths in cities greatly increase. 'Tis
from the turning of the blood in the spectators, who yet from some
ungovernable madness cannot refrain from hurrying to the scene. I speak
with some authority. I speak as a physician.'

'Speak no more, I cannot endure it.'

'To-morrow this doom awaited thee. As for Schirene----'

'Not for her, oh! surely not for her?'

'No, they were merciful. She is a Caliph's daughter. 'Tis not forgotten.
The axe would close her life. Her fair neck would give slight trouble to
the headsman's art. But for thy sister, but for Miriam, she is a witch,
a Jewish witch! They would have burnt her alive!'

'I'll not believe it, no, no, I'll not believe it: damnable, bloody
demons! When I had power I spared all, all but----ah, me! ah, me! why
did I live?'

'Thou dost forget thyself; I speak of that which was to have been,
not of that which is to be. I have stepped in and communed with the
conqueror. I have made terms.'

'What are they, what can they be?'

'Easy. To a philosopher like Alroy an idle ceremony.'

'Be brief, be brief.'

'Thou seest thy career is a great scandal to the Moslemin. I mark their
weakness, and I have worked upon it. Thy mere defeat or death will not
blot out the stain upon their standard and their faith. The public mind
is wild with fantasies since Alroy rose. Men's opinions flit to and fro
with that fearful change that bodes no stable settlement of states.
None know what to cling to, or where to place their trust. Creeds are
doubted, authority disputed. They would gladly account for thy success
by other than human means, yet must deny thy mission. There also is