to him:

"And dare an outcast speak thus to his brethren? Will the champion of
Satan give orders to the soldiers of the Lord? It would indeed be a joy
to you if by your strong arm you could win back the good name that your
soul, crippled by sin and guilt, has flung away. Come on, my friends!
the Lord is with us and will help us."

Paulus had let the bishop's words pass over him in silence, and raised
his hands like the other anchorites when Agapitus stepped into their
midst, and uttered a short and urgent prayer.

After the "Amen" the bishop pointed out, like a general, to each man,
even to the feeble and aged, his place by the wall or behind the stones
for throwing, and then cried out with a clear ringing voice that sounded
above all other noise, "Show to-day that you are indeed soldiers of the
Most High."

Not one rebelled, and when man by man each had placed himself at his
post, he went to the precipice and looked attentively down at the fight
that was raging below.

The Pharanites were now opposing the attack of the Blemmyes with success,
for Phoebicius, rushing forward with his men from their ambush, had
fallen upon the compact mass of the sons of the desert in flank and,
spreading death and ruin, had divided them into two bodies. The well-
trained and well-armed Romans seemed to have an easy task with their
naked opponents, who, in a hand to hand fight, could not avail themselves
of either their arrows or their spears. But the Blemmyes had learned to
use their strength in frequent battles with the imperial troops, and so