an extent that would be simply impossible to the fiercest kings!"

Thus meditating a few steps more brought him to the entrance of
Sah-luma's princely abode,--the gates stood wide open, and a
pleasant murmur of laughter and soft singing floated toward him
across the splendid court where the great fountains were tossing
up to the bright sky their straight, glistening columns of snowy
spray. He listened,--and his heart leaped with an intense relief
and joy,--Sah-luma, the beloved Sah-luma, was evidently at home
and as yet unharmed,--these mirthful sounds betokened that all was
well. The vague trouble and depression that had weighed upon his
soul for hours now vanished completely, and hastening along, he
sprang lightly up the marble stairs, and into the rainbow-colored,
spacious hall, where the first person he saw was Zabastes the
Critic.

"Ah, good Zabastes!" he cried gayly,--"Where is thy master Sah-
luma? Has he returned in safety?"

"In safety?" croaked Zabastes with an accent of ironic surprise..
"To be sure! ... Is he a baby in swaddling-clothes that he cannot
be trusted out alone to take care of himself? In safety?--aye! I
warrant you he is safe enough, and silly enough, and lazy enough
to please any one of his idiot flatterers, . . moreover my
'master!"--and he emphasized this word with indescribable
bitterness--"hath slept as soundly as a swine, and hath duly
bathed with the punctiliousness of a conceited swan, and being
suitably combed, perfumed, attired, and throned as becomes his
dainty puppetship, is now condescending to partake of vulgar food
in the seclusion of his own apartment. Go thither and you shall