Sentence was pronounced, and as the Vekeel Obada passed close to Orion--
who was led back to his cell pale and hardly master of himself--he said,
mocking him in broken Greek: "It will be your turn to-morrow, Son of the
Mukaukas!"

Orion's lips framed the retort: "And yours, too, some day, Son of a
Slave!"--but Paula was standing opposite, and to avoid infuriating her
foe he was able to do what he never could have done else: to let the
Vekeel and Horapollo pass on without a word in reply.

As soon as the door was closed on this couple, Othman nodded approvingly
at Orion and said:

"Rightly and wisely done, my friend! The eagle should never forget that
he must not use his pinions in a cage as he does between the desert and
the sky."

He signed to the guards to lead him away, and stood apart while the young
man looked and waived an adieu to his betrothed.

Finally the Kadi went up to Paula, whose heroic composure as she heard
the sentence of death had filled him with admiration.

"The court has decided against you, noble maiden," he said. "But its
verdict can he overruled by the clemency of our Sovereign Lord the
Khaliff and the mercy of God the compassionate. Do you pray to Him--
I and a few friends will appeal to the Khaliff."

He disclaimed her gratitude, and when she, too, had been led away he
added, in the figurative language of his nation, to the friends who were