"Yes, we must raise our priestly order, and do thou, holy
Beroes, assist us."

"There is need, above all, to assuage the suffering of the people." put
in Pentuer.

"The priests! the people!" said Herhor, as if to himself. "Above all,
it is needful in this case to restrain those who wish war. It is true
that his holiness the pharaoh is with me, and I think I have gained
influence over the heir, may he live through eternity! But Nitager, to
whom war is as water to a fish; but the leaders of our mercenary
forces, who only in war have significance; but our aristocracy, who
think that war will pay Phoenician debts and give them property."

"Meanwhile earth-tillers are fainting beneath an avalanche of labor,
and public workmen are revolting against demands of overseers," added
Pentuer.

"He is always expressing his thought!" said Herhor, in meditation.
"Think thou, Pentuer, of earth-tillers and laborers; thou, Mefres, of
the priests. I know not what ye will effect, but I swear that if my own
son favored war I would bind and destroy him."

"Act in this way," said Beroes, "let him carry on war who wishes, but
not in those regions where he can meet Assyria."

With this the session ended. The Chaldean put his scarf on his shoulder
and the veil on his face; Mefres and Herhor, one on each side of him,
and behind him Pentuer, all turned toward the altar.

When Beroes had crossed his hands on his breast, he whispered, and
again subterranean disturbance set in, and they heard as it were a
distant uproar, which astonished the assistants.

"Baralanensis, Baldachiensis, Paumachiae," said the seer, aloud, "I
summon thee to witness our stipulations and support our wishes."

The sound of trumpets was heard so distinctly that Mefres bowed to the
earth, Herhor looked around in astonishment, while Pentuer knelt, fell
to trembling, and covered his ears.

The purple curtain at the altar shook, and its folds took such a form
as if a man were behind who wished to pass through it.

"Be witnesses," cried the Chaldean, in a changed voice, "ye powers
above and ye powers beneath! And cursed be he who observes not this
treaty or betrays its secret."

"Cursed!" repeated some voice.

"And destroyed!"

"And destroyed."

"In this visible and in that invisible life. By the ineffable name of
Jehovah, at the sound of which the earth trembles, the sea draws back,
fire quenches, and the elements of nature become evident."

A real tempest ro