every lover of horses--the owner of the finest stable in
Alexandria, and was quite willing to allow Gorgo and Apuleius to
remain with their patient; at the same time he warned them that a great
catastrophe was imminent. Gorgo, however, persisted in her wish to be by
her father's side, so he left her a guard to protect them.

The soldiers were too busy to linger; instead of replacing the door they
had torn down, they pushed it out of their way; and Gorgo, seeing that
her father remained in precisely the same condition, drew back the
curtain which was all that now divided them from the hypostyle, and
looked out over the heads of a double row of soldiers. They were posted
close round the lower step of the platform that raised the hypostyle
above the nave and the colonnades on each side of it.

In the distance Gorgo could see a vast body of men slowly approaching
in detachments, and with long pauses at intervals. They stopped for
some time in the outer hall, and before they entered the basilica twenty
Christian priests came in with strange gestures and a still stranger
chant; these were exorcists, come to bann the evil spirits and daemons
that must surely haunt this high place of idolatry and abominations.
They carried crosses which they flourished like weapons against an
unseen foe, and touched the columns with them, the pavement and the
few remaining statues; they fell on their knees, making the sign of
the cross with the left hand; and, finally, they ranged themselves like
soldiers in three ranks in front of the niche containing the statue,
pointed their crosses at the god, and recited in loud, angry, and
commanding tones the potent anathemas and mysterious formulas which they
thought calculated to expel the most reprobate and obdurate of all the
heathen devils. A host of acolytes, following at their heels, swung
their censers about the plague-spot--the shrine of the king of idols;
while the exorcists dipped wands into a cauldron carried by their
attendants, and sprinkled the mystical figures on the hanging and on the
mosaic pavement.

All this occupied several minutes. Then--and Gorgo's heart beat
high--then Constantine came in, armed and equipped, and behind him an
Ala of picked men, the elite of his troop; bearded men with tanned
and scarred faces. Instead of swords they carried axes, and they were
followed by sappers bearing tall ladders which, by Constantine's
orders, they leaned up against the niche. The infantry