cheeks as he turned and kissed Iskender. "The
saint will be pleased, in sh' Allah! To-night it shall honour my
house. To-morrow we will carry it in procession seven times round the
church before we enter. It is all arranged. Khalil will be there with
his music, which is lawful anywhere except in church. In sh' Allah, we
will have a ceremony such as has not been seen in this place for many a
year. I have spoken to the caimmacam and to the learned at the Mosque
about it; and they say we may do what we like among ourselves, but must
desist if any Muslim passing by should make objection. To-morrow is
high festival with us!"

Accordingly, next morning, there was concourse at the house of the
Orthodox priest. Within, upon a kind of altar, the picture was
displayed with tapers burning. Each new arrival paid respect to it.
Abdullah, who had strayed in aimless with the crowd, stood fixed before
it as if petrified, in horror of the dragon's hideous face. Then, with
a fervent "God protect us all!" the spell was broken and he hurried out.

"A miracle!" cried Mitri joyously. "Our picture has already scared a
sinner."

Some one in the room inquired tremulously whether dragons such as that
portrayed were still to be found in the world?

"No, praise be to Allah!" replied Mitri. All laughed at the simplicity
of the questioner, except Elias, who solemnly averred that such
existed, that he himself had seen one crunching a poor one-eyed black
man in its cruel jaws.

"He has seen a crocodile, perhaps, in Masr," Yuhanna laughingly
suggested, with a hand on the shoulder of the visionary. But Elias
protested vehemently, swearing by Allah that he knew a crocodile when
he saw one. The monster in dispute had been no crocodile, as witness
its possession of two wings, like the wings of a bat, only fifty times
larger, and a voice which could be heard for many miles. There was one
blessing, however, about all such creatures; that they had power only
over unbaptized people. This last touch pleased the majority of his
audience, causing them to praise Allah, and inclining them to accept
the truth of the whole story on religious grounds. Elias was preparing
to support it with some cognate marvel, when Mitri announced that the
procession was being formed. At the same moment, a few prelusory notes
of the concertina were heard without. The house soon emptied.

Out in the heavy sunlight, hens fled clucking from the sudden tumult,
p