thousand."

"Thy stay in Babylon must be of short duration. Thou art soon off to the
wars. I also must soon return to Media; therefore, this appointing of the
presidents must be attended to without delay. On thee, I pray, let this
business rest; and whomsoever, in thy wisdom, thou shalt appoint, be
assured the appointment will receive my cordial approbation."

"In this I will strive to do the will of my kind uncle. I will call
together my council, and the thing shall soon be accomplished."

· · · · · · ·

In the mansion of one of the presidents, in a delightful part of the city
of Babylon, sat together two men in deep and earnest conversation. One of
these, whose name was Kinggron, was the owner of the superb mansion. The
other, whose name was Fraggood, was his fellow president, under Daniel.
On some point of great moment they appeared to be well agreed; while
envy, mingled with anger, rested on each countenance.

"The king will soon be again in Babylon," said Kinggron, "and there is no
time to be lost. Whatever measure we resort to in order to replace this
old Hebrew, whose eye is upon us continually, must be attended to without
delay, for the king's stay among us will be of short duration."

"As soon as our companions come, I trust we shall be able to contrive
some measure that will remove this ever-watchful old Israelite far out of
our way. Does it not ill become the wisdom of Cyrus the Persian to place
over our heads this exacting old stranger, who is neither a Persian,
Mede, nor even a Chaldean, but a Hebrew, brought to the country as a