gone again.

"Kaid had not faith in thee," Harrik said grimly. "But see, infidel
though thou art, thou trustest me, and thou shalt go thy way. Take them
with thee, yonder jackals of the desert. I will not go with them. I did
not choose to live; others chose for me; but I will die after my own
choice. Thou hast heard a voice, even as I. It is too late to flee to
the desert. Fate tricks me. 'The lions are loosed on thee'--so the
voice said to me in the night. Hark! dost thou not hear them--the
lions, Harrik's lions, got out of the uttermost desert?"

David could hear the distant roar, for the menagerie was even part of the
palace itself.

"Go in peace," continued Harrik soberly and with dignity, "and when Egypt
is given to the infidel and Muslims are their slaves, remember that
Harrik would have saved it for his Lord Mahomet, the Prophet of God."

He clapped his hands, and fifty slaves slid from behind the velvet
curtains.

"I have thy word by the tomb of thy mother that thou wilt take the
Nubians hence, and leave me in peace?" he asked.

David raised a hand above his head. "As I have trusted thee, trust thou
me, Harrik, son of Mahomet." Harrik made a gesture of dismissal, and
David salaamed and turned to go. As the curtains parted for his exit,
he faced Harrik again. "Peace be to thee," he said.

But, seated in his cushions, the haggard, fanatical face of Harrik was