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 THE SPELL 
 
 OF 
 
 ASHTAKOTH 
 
 BY 
 
 DUFFIELD OSBORNE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 1888 
 
 [Att rights resened]
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1888, BT 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 Press of J. J. Little & Co., 
 Astor Place, New York.
 
 TO 
 
 MY FRIEND, 
 BRITON HAVELOCK RICHARDSON.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE STANDAED OF THE LION 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE SEVENTH DAY 17 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 FIEE AND SWORD 37 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE ABODE OF ASHTAEOTH 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE ROSE OF JEEICHO 60 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 AMONG THE FLAMES 69 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE TENTS OF TRIUMPH 84
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE COUNCIL 95 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE SECOND NIGHT 103 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE SUMMONS TO BATTLE Ill 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 UNDER THE SPELL 121 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 EVIL TIDINGS 134 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 THE ANSWER 144 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH 152 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE.. , 170
 
 CONTENTS. ix 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE DRAWING OF THE LOT 185 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 UNDER GUARD 202 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR . . . 220
 
 THE 
 
 SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE STANDARD OF THE LION. 
 
 IGHT had closed in over the camp 
 of Israel. The sun had sunk to 
 rest behind the mountain chain that 
 lay to the west ; and the moon, a thin sil- 
 ver crescent emblematic of the promised 
 increase of the people of God, had risen lan- 
 guidly from behind the hilly ramparts of 
 Abarim and begun her journey through the 
 starry hordes that flashed and flickered in the 
 cloudless heaven. 
 
 An endless waste of dark tents, hundreds 
 upon hundreds, thousands upon thousands,
 
 2 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 bewildered the eye as they lay spread from 
 far down the eastern plain almost to the 
 fringes of the palms, from the midst of whose 
 leafy embrace rose the long sweep of em- 
 battled walls and the massive towers looming 
 heavenward until their watch-fires seemed to 
 mingle with the constellations of the western 
 horizon. 
 
 For ten days had that camp been set before 
 the City of Palms. Six times had the chosen 
 warriors marched grimly around the frowning 
 buttresses. Six times had the Kohathites 
 borne the Ark of God behind the men of 
 war, while the seven rams'-horns, the horns of 
 jubilee, had flung out their blasts of defiant 
 triumph, and the people had gazed and won- 
 dered ; for had not the Lord commanded, 
 " Ye shall not shout nor make any noise until 
 the day I bid ye shout " ? 
 
 And now Israel rested in their tents and 
 waited eagerly for the morrow, when their 
 God should deliver the city into their hands 
 according as He had declared.
 
 THE STANDARD OF THE LION. 3 
 
 At the extreme eastward of the long stretch 
 of rising ground on which the camp lay, and 
 near to one of the openings which seemed as 
 gates in the earthen rampart, the sole defen- 
 sive work, a large standard swung from a 
 heavy pole deep sunken in the ground. Now 
 it hung listlessly in the stilJ night air, and 
 now lazily unwrapped its folds as some tran- 
 sient breeze stooped from the mountains to 
 caress it. In the clear night of Palestine it 
 seemed of several colors, rich with embroid- 
 eries, and bearing in its midst the figure of a 
 lion, the well-known cognizance of the tribe 
 of Judah. Keen eyes, too, as the banner from 
 time to time floated out to its full length, 
 might have deciphered the motto, "Who 
 shall rouse him up ? " with its calm assurance 
 of power. 
 
 Leaning against the staff was the figure of 
 a man. He seemed at least fifty years of age. 
 His head was bare, and his hair and beard 
 flowed down over a mantle of some dark stuff 
 entirely devoid of ornament. His tunic of
 
 4 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 coarse linen, reaching to the knee, half indi- 
 cated, half exposed a figure tall, gaunt, and 
 sinewy. A long heavy spear was thrust into 
 the earth near him, and on it hung a shield of 
 oblong shape but broader and rounder at the 
 top. Its outer surface, the untanned hide of 
 a bullock, was fastened down over a wooden 
 frame strengthened at the top by a rim of 
 bronze. The hilt of a sword girt to his left 
 side peeped from under the robe which was 
 thrown backward over his shoulders. He 
 seemed a hardy veteran of the desert, scarred 
 by the sword of Midian and toughened by 
 march and countermarch in the trackless 
 wilderness a fitting type of the adventurous 
 race that slumbered around him. 
 
 His comrade was strikingly his opposite 
 a young man, scarcely over twenty, beardless, 
 and with a face at once beautiful, haughty, 
 and high-spirited. The eyes were large, dark, 
 and keen ; the black hair, flowing from un- 
 der a brass helmet of Moabitish pattern, fell 
 in heavy curls over his shoulders ; the nose
 
 THE STANDARD OF THE LION. 5 
 
 clean cut, broad at the nostrils, and slightly 
 aquiline ; the mouth firm and determined, and 
 the chin delicately rounded, perhaps too much 
 so to be in thorough keeping with what was 
 otherwise a strong face. His figure, tall, 
 straight, and muscular, though slender and 
 graceful, was clothed in the usual tunic reach- 
 ing to the knees, which in this instance was 
 made of the finest white linen, elaborately 
 embroidered and fringed. Over it was a 
 corselet of leather strengthened with bands of 
 copper riveted together, encircling the body 
 from the waist to the arm-pits, and joined by 
 pieces of similar metal passing over both 
 shoulders. A rich mantle, also heavily em- 
 broidered and fringed, was lying at his feet, 
 and his shield on the ground beside him was 
 similar in shape to that of his companion, 
 but the leather had been carefully tanned 
 and polished till it shone almost like metal. 
 A long spear pointed with the rough horn 
 of an oryx was in his hand, and the ordi- 
 nary short two-edged sword of the Jewish
 
 6 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 soldier hung iu a leathern scabbard at his 
 side. 
 
 He stood with his figure drawn up erect 
 and soldierly, in marked contrast to the easy, 
 lounging posture of him who joined him in 
 keeping guard over the gate and standard. 
 
 The older warrior eyed his companion for 
 a time, half in admiration and half with an 
 air of superior age and experience. Finally 
 he broke the silence : 
 
 " Boy ! I would advise thee to loosen that 
 corselet of thine, and, if thou wilt not rest 
 with me, yet stand not so rigid ; for, if the ru- 
 mors speak truth, to-morrow will need all the 
 strength and agility thou canst collect, and 
 it were not meet for thee to weary thyself 
 with needless toil. Thinkest thou the hea- 
 then meditate a night attack ? If the eyes 
 of Ozias be true, no war will come from Jeri- 
 cho to Israel. Didst thou not note how that 
 when six days ago we compassed their walls, 
 they laughed and jeered at us ; and how that 
 three days ago they cursed and shouted ?
 
 THE STANDARD OF THE LION. 7 
 
 But to-day a great hush fell upon them, and 
 I could well-nigh mark the spear tips trem- 
 ble on their towers. The Lord has smitten 
 their hearts with terror, and thou shouldst 
 keep thee fresh for the work of the morrow." 
 
 " Nay now, Ozias," answered the youth ; 
 " it were not well for me to recline or to lay 
 aside my arms when the Captain bade me 
 keep watch with thee over the degal" 
 
 "As thou' wishest, O Adriel," replied 
 Ozias, testily ; for there was implied reproach 
 in the words of his companion ; " but when 
 thou hast watched and fought for over thirty 
 years thou wilt look less to the manner of 
 thy service so thou servest well and faith- 
 fully." Adriel made no answer, but gazed 
 out over the plain, dotted here and there 
 with clumps of acacias and stretching down 
 to the Jordan. 
 
 At last he turned to Ozias, and, in a voice 
 half petulant and half evincing a desire to 
 mollify the veteran by an appeal to his mili- 
 tary opinion, asked :
 
 8 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 " What thinkest thou of the progress of the 
 siege ? " 
 
 " Wherefore askest thou ? " said Ozias ; 
 "wouldst thou improve on the plans of 
 Joshua the son of Nun ? " 
 
 " That I would ! " answered Adriel, stung 
 by the ironical tone of the other. "W^hat 
 honor is there in Israel marching endlessly 
 before these walls with trumpets, and priests, 
 and the Ark ? Pity that the Captain did not 
 add dancing-girls to the train, such as I have 
 heard they have in Egypt. Is it to make us 
 a laughing-stock and a reproach to the peo- 
 ple of the land ? Would to God I had the 
 command even for one day. I would show 
 Israel different work. Had we mounted up 
 and stormed their walls when we first came, 
 not a man had dared to lift sword or draw 
 bow against us ; and if he had, the greater 
 the honor to Israel and its God." 
 
 Ozias had endeavored to interrupt this fiery 
 outbreak, and now he spoke, not tauntingly 
 as before, but gravely and reproachfully.
 
 THE STANDARD OF THE LION. 9 
 
 "Dost thou not see, ray son, that it is not 
 Joshua whom thou conderanest, but God ? Is 
 it not well said that the earthly captain of 
 Israel doth but obey the commands of the 
 heavenly ? and wherefore shouldst thou, a 
 boy in war, cast reproach upon the Lord of 
 Hosts?" 
 
 But Adriel, unabashed, made answer boldly : 
 
 " Say what thou wilt, Ozias, it is a woman- 
 ish way of making war." 
 
 Ozias spoke more sternly. 
 
 " Have a care how others hear thee speak 
 as thou hast to-night. Thy words have a 
 dangerous ring, and blasphemy is no sportive 
 charge. Mark how thick the stones lie on 
 the plain, and be cautious." 
 
 Adriel would have answered again, but at 
 that moment a man, clothed only in a tunic, 
 was seen running toward them from the di- 
 rection of the centre of the camp. Both 
 guards turned, and the youth's fingers tight- 
 ened on the shaft of his spear, while he half 
 stooped to pick up the shield which lay at
 
 10 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 his feet. But the runner, not noticing the 
 motion, turned to the older man and said : 
 
 " The peace of Grod be upon thee ! Art 
 thou Ozias, the son of Zadok, of the tribe of 
 Judah?" 
 
 " I am he." 
 
 " Then listen ! Joshua, the son of Nun, 
 bids thee come to him before his tent, for 
 he would speak to thee of the morrow's 
 work." 
 
 Ozias wrapped his mantle around him, and, 
 waving his hand to Adriel, said : " Add my 
 spear and shield to thy charge, boy." Then 
 he hurried away with the messenger toward 
 the centre of the camp. 
 
 Adriel stood alone and gazed now at the 
 star-bespangled firmament, now at the slen- 
 der thread of the river that wound along the 
 eastern border of the plain. His mind wan- 
 dered slowly from his heat and passion of a 
 few moments ago, and from the rebuke of 
 Ozias, to the stirring rumors with which the 
 camp was rife, rumors of victory and con-
 
 THE STANDARD OF THE LION. 11 
 
 quest which the next day was to convert into 
 realities. The spirit of youth and adventure 
 rose high within him, and as he had chafed 
 at the slow methods of the siege, so he now 
 rejoiced at the prospect of action and prompt 
 reward. 
 
 As he stood with shadowy thoughts his 
 sole companions, he became conscious of the 
 approach of a more material presence. Ere 
 he could turn, a soft hand was laid upon his 
 shoulder and a soft voice uttered his name. 
 
 "Adriel!" 
 
 " Miriam, art thou here ? " 
 
 " I could not rest in the tent, Adriel, for I 
 thought of thee and my father watching by 
 the standard. I thought of the rumors that 
 are in the camp, that to-morrow will see 
 great deeds and mighty conquests ; and thou, 
 Adriel, art thou to be of those who will take 
 part in the attack ? " 
 
 " I trust so, Miriam," answered the young 
 soldier, looking down into the dark, mourn- 
 ful eyes raised beseechingly to his. " Thou
 
 12 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 wouldst not have me linger ill the camp when 
 the Lord is leading Israel to victory ? " 
 
 "Nay, I would not that and yet and 
 yet some of the people will fall, and thou 
 art rash and violent." 
 
 Adriel laughed. 
 
 " Why, Miriam," he said, " what is that to 
 thee ? But two days since when I asked thee 
 if my father might speak with thine that thou 
 shouldst be betrothed to me, thou didst only 
 laugh and run into thy tent. But to-morrow 
 thou shalt see me mount the wall first, and if 
 it please the Lord to guide an arrow or a 
 stone toward his servant, thou shalt see it 
 well received." 
 
 " Adriel ! " replied the girl reproachfully, 
 " thou knowest that I love thee. Whether I 
 loved thee two days ago or even yesterday, I 
 know not. But to-night ' 
 
 She was looking far away over the plain. 
 His manner changed from light banter to 
 seriousness and affection. He took her hand 
 in both of his and drew her toward him.
 
 THE STANDARD OF THE LION. 13 
 
 " Miriam, girl," he said tenderly, " forgive me 
 for trying to play on thy fears. Believe me, 
 there will be little danger to-morrow. Some 
 say that the city will be delivered into our 
 hands without a blow. What are the men of 
 Canaan that they should stand before our 
 God? And look ! Miriam, I am well defended. 
 The helmet I took for spoil when I slew the 
 Moabite in my first combat, and the corselet 
 which my father's grandfather brought with 
 him from the house of Memptah the Egyptian, 
 are a better fence against the arrows and 
 spears of Jericho than most of our people are 
 provided with. But tell me, Miriam, may 
 word go to thy father of the subject which is 
 nearest my heart nearer than Jericho and 
 the spoil of the heathen, nearer than the 
 land of promise, yea, nearer even than the 
 Tabernacle of God?" 
 
 "Hush. Adriel," interrupted the girl, 
 " Thou must not speak so, though doubtless 
 it be pleasant for me to hear." 
 
 He had drawn her still closer as she spoke.
 
 14 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 She did not resist ; but when, as he smoothed 
 the long black tresses that flowed loosely 
 over her shoulders, he bent down and kissed 
 her, she started, as though roused from some 
 dream, and withdrawing herself from his 
 arms, put up one finger with a warning ges- 
 ture, in which feigned indignation and sup- 
 pressed mirth struggled for the mastery. 
 He stepped toward her holding out his 
 arms. 
 
 "Then the word may be spoken, may it 
 not, Miriam ? " 
 
 But she evaded his advance, and answered: 
 " I must first learn how thou behavest to-mor- 
 row. Surely thou wouldst not have me be- 
 trothed to a rash boy who might leave me a 
 widow even before I became a wife ? " and 
 then, suddenly changing her tone : "A pretty 
 guard thou for the standard of Judah ! The 
 Canaanites might have carried it away in the 
 last half hour and thou never have been the 
 wiser, except they tried their spears on that 
 harness of which thou art so proud. Is it
 
 THE STANDARD OF THE LION. 15 
 
 thus every passing Jewish girl can draw thee 
 from thy charge ? " 
 
 " Nay, now, Miriam ! Thou knowest " 
 but the girl, laughing merrily at thus hav- 
 ing turned the tables on her lover, danced 
 away, only saying, as he seemed to hesitate 
 between following her and remaining in his 
 place : 
 
 " Verily, I believe this conscientious soldier 
 would even desert his post in all his glittering 
 harness could he catch me ; " and then more 
 soberly, as she disappeared into the night : 
 
 " Remember ! I shall hear of thee to-mor- 
 
 row." 
 
 She was gone, and Adriel again stood alone. 
 
 He had short time for solitary thought, and 
 perhaps it was well for him that it was so ; for 
 heart and brain were a chaos of conflicting 
 hopes and fears. It was now the beginning of 
 the middle watch, and he descried approach- 
 ing the two soldiers who should relieve him. 
 A hasty salutation passed between them, and, 
 catching up his own mantle together with
 
 16 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 the spear and shield of Ozias, he hurried off 
 in the direction taken by Miriam. 
 
 Any idea which he might have entertained 
 of overtaking the light-footed damsel was 
 illusory. As he passed by the tent of Ozias, 
 he lingered to thrust his spear into the ground 
 and to hang the shield upon it; but every- 
 thing was quiet in and around the dark 
 habitation, and, disappointed, he passed on 
 to the tent of his father, where neither the 
 excitement of approaching battle nor the sus- 
 pense of what he foolishly deemed a doubtful 
 suit could overcome youth and health in 
 their peaceful communion with the drowsy 
 god.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SEVENTH DAY. 
 
 NE by one the watches of the night 
 had glided away ; but before a 
 single star had deserted her sisters 
 in their calm vigil, all was astir in the Jew- 
 ish camp. Above the lowing of cattle, the 
 bleat of flocks, and the voices of men, rose 
 the shrill blasts of the silver trumpets sum- 
 moning the warriors to don their arms and 
 join their standards. 
 
 Adriel had arisen at the first summons, and, 
 as he sprang from the skins on which he 
 slept, a boy who had been standing at the 
 entrance of the tent stepped toward him. 
 His age could not have been over fourteen 
 years, and he seemed to regard the young
 
 18 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 soldier with a curious combination of envy, 
 admiration, and devotion. 
 
 "How fares it with thee this morning, 
 Abiathar ? Is thy father arming ? " asked 
 Adriel. 
 
 " He has been out the last hour. Thou 
 knowest that Ozias is high in the councils of 
 Joshua ; and now I have come to help thee 
 put on thy harness, for all say that to-day will 
 see the city in our hands." 
 
 " Even so, Abiathar. Wilt thou cleanse 
 that spot from my helmet ? Now bring me 
 the corselet. So lace it not too tight. How 
 is it with thy sister Miriam ? " 
 
 " She is well, and she bade me tell thee 
 that whilst thou didst thy duty thou shouldst 
 yet have a care, nor thrust thyself into need- 
 less danger. Girls know nothing of war. 
 They tremble when they hear of great deeds. 
 Didst thou mark how she turned pale when 
 two days ago thou toldest how thou slewest 
 the Moabite ? And yet it was not the first 
 time she had heard thee tell that tale. I
 
 THE SEVENTH DAT. 19 
 
 would I might have held the sword that 
 thou dravest under his ribs ! And now to- 
 day, I must stay in the camp with the women 
 and old men, while thou fightest, and thou 
 knowest, Adriel, I can sling as true and as 
 far as Zithri the Benjaminite. Ah! well, I 
 shall find some tall palm and watch the battle 
 from its branches, and tell Miriam what thou 
 art doing. I will tell her thou art fallen and 
 hear her cry out " 
 
 "If thou dost I will chastise thee soundly 
 when the day is over," interrupted Adriel 
 hotly. 
 
 " Truly I did but jest, to see thee flare up," 
 said Abiathar with a forced laugh. 
 
 "Nay, but it were like thee to do some 
 such thing not that Miriam would care, but 
 but I would not " 
 
 " Would not what ? " asked the boy, this 
 time with unaffected mirth. " Thou knowest 
 not, but I know ; it is vain for thee to feign 
 that thou thinkest Miriam proof against the 
 best soldier in the camp."
 
 20 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 Adriel looked somewhat confused. Then, 
 with an apparent effort, he shook the thoughts 
 from his mind and said : 
 
 "But I cannot speak with thee longer, 
 Abiathar. Look thou to Miriam. Hearest 
 thou the trumpets ? The people must be well 
 under arms ; " and, seizing spear and shield, 
 he hurried out and joined one of the many 
 groups of men hastening toward the western 
 confines of the camp. The broad disk of the 
 sun was only half displayed on the mountains 
 of Abarim when they passed through the 
 western gate and beyond the earthen ram- 
 parts. 
 
 Here the scene spread out before their 
 eyes was one of confusion, but the signal 
 blasts of the trumpet and the shouted words 
 of command were fast arraying the people, 
 rough though the array might be, and as 
 Adriel hurried along the fast-forming lines 
 to where he saw the standard of Judah en- 
 circled by dark masses of heavy-armed spear- 
 men, his quick eye ran over the arms and
 
 THE SEVENTH DAY. 21 
 
 accoutrements of the rugged tribes that were 
 to fight that day for their first foot-hold in 
 the land. 
 
 Drawn up all on foot, they differed yet 
 among themselves in appearance and bearing. 
 As he passed through the gate, the white 
 tunics of Benjamin appeared on his right. 
 Slings and bows were their weapons. Not a 
 shield appeared among them to darken the 
 fair array. Here and there a light leather 
 helmet without crest marked a prince of the 
 tribe. The rest were bareheaded, with locks 
 bound in by the encircling fillet. 
 
 Turning his back upon these light-armed 
 troops, Adriel hurried southward, through 
 the ranks of Gad, orderly and for the most 
 part well armed, through Simeon, through 
 Reuben, where the standard of the deer 
 waved defiantly, through Zebulon and Is- 
 sachar, dense masses of dark warriors armed 
 in diverse ways ; here broad Egyptian shields 
 covered with skins ; there round bucklers of 
 metal, heavy spears, battle-axes, swords, bows,
 
 22 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 and slings, and here and there even clubs 
 showed the poverty or shiftlessness of the 
 bearers ; on to where heavy-armed Judah 
 stood, dense, orderly, and in waiting behind 
 their broad shields, with the waving forest 
 of spears and the standard tossing in the 
 midst. 
 
 Scarcely had Adriel taken his place in the 
 first ranks of his tribe, when the swelling 
 notes of the silver trumpets and whispered 
 messages borne by swift runners, gave notice 
 of some movement of importance. The time 
 was come to advance, and the tribesmen 
 pressed forward toward the palm trees from 
 among which rose the beleaguered battle- 
 ments, becoming momentarily more distinct 
 in the gro wing light. 
 
 To northward and southward, for the 
 space of eight miles, stretched the belt of 
 sheltering palms into which the Jewish host 
 now plunged ; but the scattered trees rather 
 a huge, well-kept grove than a tangled for- 
 est offered no resistance to so loose an array
 
 THE SEVENTH DA T. 23 
 
 as swarmed forward through its spaces. 
 Here and there a house of boughs showed 
 some favored retreat from the noisy city; 
 here and there an altar and the image of a 
 minor deity caused the halt for an instant of 
 some zealot until altar and image were over- 
 thrown and shattered by sturdily wielded 
 axe or club. On and on, until the foremost 
 lines, emerging from the woody cover, came 
 full into view of the city walls, with but a 
 short quarter of a mile of open, intervening 
 space. 
 
 Far to northward and to southward 
 stretched the massive walls, frowning piles of 
 rough stone to the height of thirty feet, 
 thirty feet more of brick- work, hardly less 
 sturdy, while parapet and tower of wood 
 gave grace and finish to the harsh and nigged 
 strength that kept guard beneath. 
 
 Far up on the lofty rampart, shield and 
 helmet threw back the rays of the awakening 
 sun. Here and there banners danced in the 
 gentle breeze that descended over the hills,
 
 24 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH, 
 
 and displayed on their open folds, now the 
 figure, now the name, of some protecting 
 deity, and again monstrous shapes dragons, 
 serpents, and lions which should strike ter- 
 ror into the hearts of such as dared defy the 
 heavenly names and emblems. Mere pigmies 
 seemed these men to the eyes of the besieg- 
 ing hosts, mere needles the clumps of glitter- 
 ing spears that lined the parapets and clus- 
 tered on the towers. 
 
 Slowly the invaders emerged from the 
 groves, but before the last lines had de- 
 ployed into the plain, the silver trumpets 
 rang out their clear summons that Israel 
 should stand still ; and then, for a moment, 
 silence fell over the wide-spreading array. 
 Behind lay the palm belt, the camp, and the 
 Jordan ; before, trampled garden and fallen 
 grove; then impregnable walls, and, beyond 
 all, the land that had been promised them for 
 a heritage, and to which sword and spear 
 must now prove title. 
 
 Adriel looked northward, and as he looked
 
 THE SEVENTH DAT. 25 
 
 the centre of the host seemed to separate to 
 right and left. Out into the open plain 
 marched six priests, two and two. Before 
 them walked a man who seemed to have 
 completed a century of human life. His 
 figure, once tall and commanding, was bent 
 with age. A forehead lofty, but worn and 
 wrinkled, gave an appearance of thought- 
 fulness to a face placid and kindly. From 
 under the sacred tiara flowed hair whiter 
 than the snows of the north. Hardly in keep- 
 ing with the age of the wearer seemed the 
 rich and gorgeous garments that clothed his 
 form, or the glittering breast-plate that pro- 
 claimed his name and rank Eleazer, the son 
 of Aaron, high-priest of Jehovah. All un- 
 armed were the seven, but each bore in his 
 hand a trumpet not the straight silver clarion 
 that sounded the rally or the charge, but the 
 short curved horn of jubilee, shorn from the 
 head of some patriarch of the flock. * 
 
 But it was on what followed close behind 
 the sacred escort that every eye was fixed;
 
 26 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTIL 
 
 on which the hardiest veteran bent looks of 
 mingled fear and veneration. Yet it seemed 
 worthy of neither. 
 
 Borne on the shoulders of eight Kohath- 
 ites, whose flowing garments reached to their 
 feet, it seemed only a canopy of dark purple ; 
 but the host knew well the object which that 
 canopy shut out from the gaze of man. No 
 living human eye but that of him who wore 
 the jewelled breast-plate had ever looked 
 upon the uncovered outlines of the Ark of 
 God ; yet every detail of its material, its 
 workmanship, and its holy and awful con- 
 tents, was graven deep in the heart of the 
 humblest warrior in the ranks, and by look 
 and silence they did it reverence. 
 
 For a moment the bearers and those who 
 went before them paused, and then, turning 
 slowly southward, they traversed the entire 
 front of the left wing, and again halted be- 
 fore the men of Judah. 
 
 But now the escort was increased, for be- 
 hind the Ark came one hundred picked men
 
 THE SEVENTH DAT. 27 
 
 from the warriors of Gad, a chosen rearward. 
 Then the order canie to Judah that the fore- 
 most thousand of the tribe should march 
 before the high -priest; and man after man, 
 line after line, surged forward, eager to as- 
 sume the holy charge. 
 
 Ozias led these chosen troops, and close 
 behind him followed Adriel; but ere the 
 march commenced, Ozias turned and ad- 
 dressed them: 
 
 " Hear ye ! men of Judah. Joshua, the 
 son of Nun, hath commanded eveiy captain 
 in Israel that he speak to the people saying, 
 Seven times this day shall the walls of the 
 city be encompassed, and no man shall shout 
 or make any noise until the word goes forth. 
 Then shall ye shout and ascend straightway 
 against the city." 
 
 Ozias turned again and led the way, and 
 the men of Judah followed close behind him 
 with knitted brows and hands fast straining 
 spear and shield. Eleazer and the priests 
 marched next before the purple canopy, and
 
 28 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 the rearward of the men of Gad pressed on 
 behind the Ark. 
 
 Southward and westward passed the strange 
 pageant, while the armies of Israel rested upon 
 their spears and waited for the signal nearer 
 to the wall, and skirting its southern confines, 
 while the horns of the priests rang out clear 
 in the air of the early morning. 
 
 On the towers wonder and fear struggled 
 against ridicule and contempt. Curses and 
 scornful laughter, jeers and ribaldry were 
 hurled at the guard, at the priests, and even 
 at the Ark of God. Steadily they passed on 
 by frowning battlements, where engines of 
 war stood ready to second spear and sword 
 in stubborn defence. Huge stones hurtled 
 through the air and fell crashing upon the 
 trembling earth, but so skilfully did Ozias 
 choose his distance that rock and arrow fell as 
 far short and as harmless as curse and mock- 
 ery. Once the circuit was completed and the 
 Jewish lines reappeared against the back- 
 ground of the palms; again through ruined
 
 THE SEVENTH DAY. 29 
 
 grove and trampled garden, where every foot- 
 fall crushed out fragrance from the fallen 
 roses ; on while the mid-day sun rose to the 
 zenith and shot down its scorching rays, till 
 shield and helmet seemed to shrivel in its 
 fiery grasp, and sword and spear shot back 
 a reflected defiance. 
 
 And now the sun was hastening down to- 
 ward its bed behind the western horizon. For 
 the seventh time had Ozias and Eleazer led 
 their followers until the city walls had hidden 
 them from the straining eyes of the waiting 
 host. The moment was drawing near ; and, 
 as a lion crouching in his sheltering thicket 
 with glaring eyeballs, bristling mane, and 
 lashing tail, watches some tawny rival and 
 his fierce mistress, so Israel waited. Every 
 eye was fixed upon the northward point of the 
 beleaguered walls, until sight well-nigh failed 
 through the very intentness of the gaze. 
 Every hand strained tough spear-shaft or 
 leathern shield-thong until the weariness of 
 more than twenty combats fell upon cord and
 
 30 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 sinew; and silence such a silence over all 
 the vast array, that the very birds that had 
 retired trembling before the human wave that 
 surged through their domains, came forth 
 warbling their even-songs and the host 
 waited. 
 
 It was then that two captains strode out 
 before the long lines, and the eyes of men, re- 
 lieved, forsook for an instant the northern 
 buttresses of the city to look upon Joshua 
 the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Je- 
 phunneh. 
 
 Taller by a head than his comrade, Joshua 
 seemed a man who had completed a century 
 of life no life of ease, of pampered indul- 
 gence, of fondled luxury ; but of action, of 
 labor, of thought, of trouble, aye, and of suf- 
 fering. Yet the eye that shot its piercing 
 glances from under shaggy eyebrows showed 
 no signs of the rheum of age. The hand, 
 from which the flesh had shrunken away, 
 showed no relaxing of cord or muscle as 
 it rested on the hilt of the sword in its
 
 THE SEVENTH DA Y. 31 
 
 leathern scabbard. The frame, spare, but 
 large-boned and sinewy, stood as erect as 
 when its younger muscles had tugged and 
 strained in the earlier struggles of a chec- 
 quered and stormy life. The beard, long and 
 ungrizzled with the hue of youth, flowed 
 down over mail and belt. A coarse soldier's 
 mantle thrown back from the shoulders dis- 
 closed a corselet skilfully wrought of quilted 
 cloth strengthened with scales of brass over- 
 lapping each other and extending almost to 
 the knees. From under a plain brass helmet 
 stray locks of white hair crept out to fall upon 
 the sinewy neck or half hide the furrows 
 that thought and suffering had ploughed in 
 the lofty forehead. He bore neither shield 
 nor spear, only the short Jewish sword girded 
 at his side, and with his hand from time to 
 time he shaded his eyes that anxiously sought 
 to face the setting sun. 
 
 Caleb, although in age almost the equal of 
 his companion, yet seemed as though twenty 
 years might have elapsed between their births.
 
 32 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 Much shorter in stature, but broader and 
 thicker set, his muscular form presented a 
 marked contrast to that of the captain of 
 the host. In the face the contrast was yet 
 more marked. The beard and hair were short, 
 close-curled, and grizzled; and the eye and 
 mouth, while firm and strong, yet lacked the 
 fire of lofty purpose, the fierceness of intense 
 passion, and withal the kindliness and even 
 tenderness that at times shone forth in Joshua, 
 as though the God of Israel had breathed 
 upon his chosen warn or. The arms of the son 
 of Jephunneh were similar to but richer in 
 workmanship and finish than those of the 
 great leader. He wore no mantle, and the 
 flowing crest of his bronze helmet mingled 
 with the grizzled curls that here and there 
 escaped from its encircling rim. His eye 
 wandered from time to time from the point 
 on which Joshua's remained fixed, as though 
 looking were life and wavering death to the 
 lines of the waiting army; while his hand 
 toyed nervously, now with the leathern skirt
 
 THE SEVENTH DAY. 33 
 
 of his corselet, now with the hilt of his sword, 
 and yet again stroked his beard with hurried 
 and restless motion. 
 
 Evening was fast descending. 
 
 Suddenly Joshua stepped forward a pace 
 with head bent forward and hand still shad- 
 ing his eyes. Far toward the north and west 
 a small cloud of dust rose slowly, and then 
 the faint glitter of steel shot out from here 
 and there amid its sombre shadow. A low 
 hum went up from the waiting army. 
 
 Swiftly the old warrior faced them and 
 raised his hand in warning or in menace, and 
 the half -articulate murmur sunk away. 
 
 Again he turned toward the approaching 
 cloud, now closed no longer, but the thou- 
 sand of Judah pressing forward in full view, 
 with Ozias at the head ; weary and footsore 
 yet eager and expectant. With a hurried 
 word to his comrade Joshua strode forward 
 to meet the Ark and its escort, and, as Caleb 
 passed back to the host and gave the long- 
 wished-for word, the troops awoke to action.
 
 34 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 Iii dense masses, by household, by family, by 
 tribe, they pressed toward the walls. 
 
 The Ark had now reached the centre of the 
 plain, and for an instant the clangor of the 
 rams' horns sank into silence. Then a blast 
 so long, so concentrated, so shrill, rose from 
 the seven trumpets, that the startled listeners 
 stood trembling; and Joshua, the captain of 
 Israel, once more turned him toward the vast 
 multitude that surged and swayed under the 
 long-borne tension. His form seemed to gain 
 in stature. His face shone with awe and 
 grandeur. Even the armor he wore shot 
 brighter rays than the mid-day sun had 
 drawn from brass or bronze. He lifted his 
 arms high over his head, and, as the first long 
 blast died away, his voice rang clear across 
 the plain with the strength of a hundred 
 men, and sharp and distinct the accents 
 fell upon five hundred thousand listening 
 ears : 
 
 " Let Israel shout ! for the Lord hath de- 
 livered them into our hands ! "
 
 TEE SEVENTH DAT. 35 
 
 And then the very heavens seemed to 
 wave and shiver as a roar, long, loud, and 
 deep, rose in a steady swell drowning the 
 feeble trumpets in one tumultuous blast of 
 gathered voices. Zeal, worship, reverence, 
 the wrath of combat, and last of all triumph 
 were in that shout. The earth reeled and 
 shuddered beneath the awful acclamation, 
 and the voice of heaven was it the thunder 
 of God or an echo from the vaulted skies 
 themselves ? hurled back the soiind. 
 
 For an instant every man stood in his 
 place stupefied, spell-bound, with eyes that 
 gazed but saw nothing ; and then, with one 
 accord, they looked upon the city, but they 
 saw it not. 
 
 A huge cloud of dust, thick, ponderous, 
 impenetrable, hung over the spot; while 
 rumbling echoes and reverberations rolled 
 back from the hills echoes of other sounds 
 than those to which the heavens and the 
 host of Israel had given birth, the sounds 
 of crumbling walls, of falling masses of ma-
 
 36 
 
 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 sonry ; and voices, not the triumphant shout 
 of besiegers, but screams, shrill and pro- 
 longed, where intense terror strove with 
 mortal anguish until both seemed to con- 
 quer.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FIRE AND SWORD. 
 
 now the words of Joshua, the son 
 of Nun, rose above the dying clamor: 
 "Let Israel advance up into the 
 city, every man before him ! " 
 
 All day the crouching lion had lain in am- 
 bush. Then he had prowled forth from his 
 lair, with lashing tail and eager fangs. Now 
 he sprang ! With one mighty impulse the 
 surging mass swept forward into the murky 
 cloud that still enveloped the smitten foe. 
 
 And then the freshening breeze of evening 
 came down over the hills and drove before it 
 the last safeguard of a lost race, until, in the 
 yellow twilight, the people saw tower and 
 rampart lying in headlong ruin. Where but
 
 38 TUB SPELL OF ASHTAROTII. 
 
 a moment before lofty wall and buttress liad 
 reared their massive strength heavenward, 
 and had proudly bade the bearer of spear 
 and shield, " Be of good cheer ! How shall 
 harm come to ye unless the Gods of Israel 
 can give their warriors wings ? " there were 
 heaps of shattered debris, stone, brick, and 
 timber, and among them now and again spear 
 and shield aye, and grimmer witnesses of 
 destruction. Here an arm reached out from 
 beneath heaps of rubbish ; there a broken 
 helmet disclosed a face ghastly and blood- 
 stained ; for amid that smoking mass lay the 
 flower of the city's soldiery. Hands that a 
 moment before had strained the hilt of sword 
 or drawn bow-string, and lips that had scoffed 
 and mocked and cursed the armies of the in- 
 vader, now rested, nerveless and voiceless, 
 beneath the guard on which they had so 
 firmly relied, while over the still seething 
 ruins, over buried hand and silenced lip, 
 rolled the oncoming tide of relentless assault. 
 Down into the defenceless city, shorn of
 
 FIRE AND SWORD. 39 
 
 guard and garrison, poured swarms of dark- 
 faced warriors faces in which the fury of 
 combat mingled with the zeal of religious en- 
 thusiasm, and hearts relentless alike to man's 
 menaced defence, woman's vain entreaty, and 
 infancy's appealing helplessness ; on, through 
 narrow streets and spacious squares, into 
 humble hovels and glittering temples here 
 resisted by a handful of desperate men, there 
 meeting nothing but defenceless bosoms 
 bared to the deadly blow, and everywhere 
 blood blood in streams, defiling street, tem- 
 ple, and dwelling. 
 
 When the first rush of the assailants swept 
 over the fallen wall, it became at once ap- 
 parent that all organized or general resistance 
 was at an end, and that naught remained but 
 the work of destruction in dreadful detail. 
 Thus it happened that the victorious army, 
 partly through instinctive perception of the 
 exigencies of the case, partly from a necessity 
 arising from the nature of the surroundings, 
 rapidly broke up into small companies which
 
 40 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 hastened to spread fire and sword through the 
 helpless city. Adriel was borne madly for- 
 ward in the rush, and, once within the walls, 
 found himself, as it were, at the head of a 
 band of some two score of the youth of 
 Judah. Swiftly they pressed on down a nar- 
 row street, delayed for an instant by a dozen 
 old men and striplings who vainly strove to 
 bar the path only to fall before the odds that 
 overwhelmed them ; and then, with weap- 
 ons dripping blood, the Israelites made their 
 way into a wide thoroughfare along which 
 were buildings that showed conclusively the 
 wealth and consequence of their owners. 
 
 Another band had evidently been before 
 them, for gates battered down seemed to in- 
 dicate a close scrutiny of the interiors. Drops 
 of the hue of death were sprinkled round 
 about, as though they had dripped from over- 
 laden sword and spear, while here and there 
 a prostrate figure of man or woman bore 
 surer witness to the work of destruction. 
 
 Suddenly the band of young men halted in
 
 FIRE AND SWORD. 41 
 
 front of a building, the size and commanding 
 architecture of which declared it to be the 
 residence of some person of rank. Where 
 sun-dried bricks had furnished a satisfac- 
 tory material for other houses, in this one 
 blocks of rough stone, differing only in size 
 from those of the city wall, gave evidence of 
 massive strength strength in the composi- 
 tion of which the builder seemed to have 
 contemplated some such emergency as that 
 which now confronted his handiwork. On 
 every side it presented a solid wall twenty 
 feet high, with a row of small oblong win- 
 dows near the top. The only entrance was 
 by a broad arched gateway, fitted with pon- 
 derous doors of wood covered and strength- 
 ened with plates of bronze. 
 
 But it was neither the size and strength of 
 the building nor the indicated importance of 
 its owner that claimed the chief attention of 
 the young Jews and their chance-constituted 
 leader. It was the eight Israelite warriors 
 who lay dead or gasping their last before the
 
 42 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 archway, that told the story of assault ; and 
 it was the close-barred and fastened entrance, 
 with its battered but still solid gate, that told 
 the story of failure and repulse. 
 
 Even while the band clustered around 
 Adriel to hold a short consultation as to the 
 feasibility of an attack, an arrow whistled 
 from one of the small windows and a spear 
 rang clanging to the pavement, while its 
 bearer sunk down with the barbed shaft in 
 his throat. For an instant the Jews drew 
 back from so dangerous a position. Then one 
 of them, addressing Adriel, spoke : 
 
 " Dost thou not remember the heavy beam 
 lying by the side of the street through which 
 we have just come? Let four of thy serv- 
 ants hurry back now and we shall see wheth- 
 er yonder gateway can hold its own." 
 
 " Thou speakest wisely," said Adriel. 
 "Do thou take five men and go and bring 
 us the beam, and we will wait for thy re- 
 turn." 
 
 Eagerly they hurried away, while Adriel
 
 FIRE AND SWORD. 43 
 
 drew the rest of his companions behind the 
 sheltering angle of a neighboring house. 
 
 In the building, the object of their attack, 
 all was silent as the grave. It seemed as 
 though the arrow had been the sole tenant of 
 the gloomy walls and had flown forth charged 
 with the vengeance of a race, leaving a soli- 
 tude behind. 
 
 There was short time for surmise, for soon 
 the sandals of the returning men drew wel- 
 come music from the rough-paved street as 
 they came staggering under their burden, a 
 ponderous piece of timber. 
 
 " Is it a staff of one of the sons of Anak 
 that ye have brought us?" said Adriel. 
 " Yonder gate will be stubborn indeed if it 
 open not to the magic touch of so potent a 
 charm ; but come now ! do ye who bear bows 
 stand back and keep the heathen from wall 
 and window while we try the strength of 
 their plates and bolts." 
 
 As he spoke he stepped forward, and with 
 a dozen others raised the mass of cedar.
 
 44 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 With bent heads they pressed toward the 
 frowning archway. But they were observed 
 by watchful eyes. A dozen arrows flew 
 from the embrasures. A shaft quivered in 
 the breast of one assailant ; another pierced 
 the shoulder of a second. The answering 
 flight from the besieging party for the most 
 part dropped blunted and harmless from the 
 hard stone, and such as passed through the 
 windows bore back no message of work well 
 done to encourage those who had sent them 
 forth. Then the bearers of the improvised 
 battering-ram gained the shelter of the wall 
 and arch, and the beam was borne full against 
 the centre of the stout door. 
 
 It groaned under the stroke, but, though 
 smitten hard, still presented an unbroken 
 front to the assault. A few steps back, and 
 they crouched for another rush ; and then, 
 with all the nervous energy of youthful 
 strength, they hurled themselves again against 
 the stubborn barrier. 
 
 This time, half wrenched from its fasten-
 
 FIRE AND SWORD. 45 
 
 ings, it sprung and quivered, until a third 
 and shorter charge bore it headlong from 
 post and bolt, and the gaping entrance lay 
 open. Open, but threatening death from, its 
 gloomy portal to such as might dare to enter. 
 
 Scarcely had the door sunk when a third 
 flight of arrows sped from the darkness, 
 stretching two more of the band on the fast- 
 reddening stones. 
 
 They had stood gazing at the successful 
 termination of their first effort, but whist- 
 ling reed and feather soon aroused them to a 
 sense of present insecurity and further work 
 to be accomplished. 
 
 Adriel drew his short sword, and crouch- 
 ing behind his broad shield sprang forward 
 into the now open passage. His followers 
 hurried after, and the archers hastened from 
 their cover to support the attack. The next 
 moment they were among the weapons of the 
 garrison. 
 
 Fiercely the struggle surged and swayed in 
 the narrow pathway. Darkness pitchy, in-
 
 46 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 tense, covered alike friend and foe, while 
 blow and thrust, unaimed and unguarded, 
 soon strewed the pavement with the writh- 
 ing forms of assailant and defender. 
 
 The struggle in the darkness was of short 
 duration. By sheer weight and impetuosity 
 the men of Judah forced their opponents 
 back, back, and upward, for the passage in- 
 clined sharply from the gate, until its gloom 
 began to brighten, and then, gathering all 
 their strength, they hurled the shattered and 
 bleeding remnant into a small open court, 
 where, aided by the light of the now fast ris- 
 ing moon, the Jewish sword smote true and 
 deep until it poised, a sceptre, over subjects 
 who could never again dispute its reign. 
 
 Hastily ordering a few of his men to keep 
 together in the court as a precaution against 
 surprise, Adriel and the rest hurried on 
 through the building in search for hidden 
 foes ; for had not the God of Israel com- 
 manded through the mouth of Joshua, his 
 servant : " Ye shall leave no one alive within
 
 FIRE AND SWORD. 47 
 
 the city, saving only Rahab the harlot and 
 her household " ? 
 
 Passing through another archway, and still 
 upward, they found themselves in a second 
 court of spacious dimensions. Long rows of 
 columns, each the single trunk of the palm 
 tree elaborately carved with semblance of 
 god, man, and beast, were ranged on all sides 
 of the court, and supported a lofty roof 
 around the open space in the centre. Be- 
 tween the pillars hung rich curtains of heavy 
 stuff, brilliant with varied colors and woven 
 with threads of gold, shutting out all view 
 of what might lie beyond. The floor of the 
 court was paved with slabs of Ninevite ala- 
 baster, which glittered with a ghastly efful- 
 gence as the moonlight streamed down upon 
 their smooth expanse. In the centre, a foun- 
 tain of colored marble, carved in intricate 
 designs, sent up innumerable jets of crystal 
 water that fell again with a joyous yet sad 
 plash upon the rippling surface below. 
 
 Adriel stood still and looked around him.
 
 48 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 Was it the gorgeous magnificence of the 
 surroundings that dazzled his eyes ? Was it 
 the stillness, save for the plashing of the 
 fountain, that soothed his brain? Or was 
 it the cold, serene light pouring down from 
 above that hovered over the turbulent pas- 
 sions surging within his bosom, and shed 
 something of its own passionless calm over 
 that troubled sea ? Or was it merely inde- 
 cision as to a choice of one of the many 
 avenues of further search that made him 
 pause, leaning upon his shield, beside the 
 plashing fountain and gaze down into its 
 crystal depths ? 
 
 His comrades, heated with conflict and mad 
 with the first draught of Canaanitish blood, 
 had pressed on without noticing his delay, 
 and, broken up into groups of two or three, 
 had scattered in quest of more victims, leav- 
 ing no trace behind except, here and there, 
 where torn down and trampled hangings dis- 
 closed the dark passages into which they had 
 vanished.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ABODE OF ASHTAEOTH. 
 
 DRIEL started from his reverie and 
 glanced around. No one was in 
 sight. Half shaking off the thoughts 
 and feelings that had oppressed him, he 
 stepped slowly forward over the pavement 
 toward one of the exposed passages. But, 
 before he had passed into its shadows, his 
 eye was attracted by a curtain of peculiar 
 magnificence that hung between two neigh- 
 boring columns. 
 
 It was of the finest texture, dyed with the 
 most delicate shade of Phoenician purple, and 
 embroidered with intricate designs. At the 
 first glance they seemed to be a simple scroll- 
 work of waving and interlaced lines in threads
 
 50 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 of gold, but a closer inspection showed forms 
 of human beings and animals, predominant 
 among which was one which partook of the 
 characters of both the figure of a woman 
 with the head of an heifer. This shape 
 appeared in different positions ; now sur- 
 rounded by groups of kneeling maidens and 
 bearded priests, and again amid a ring of 
 merry dancers; but always the central idea 
 of the design. 
 
 Casting a hasty and half-scornful look upon 
 the cunning piece of handiwork, and mur- 
 muring to himself, " Of a truth the heathen 
 are clever with the needle," the young 
 Israelite thrust aside the curtain and saw 
 before him a long, broad avenue, a few feet 
 down which the moonbeams played with a 
 pale and sickly light. Beyond all was dark- 
 ness save for a dim effulgence that seemed to 
 come from no apparent source. 
 
 Adriel hesitated no longer, but, tearing 
 down the hanging so that the moonlight 
 might illumine the gloom as far as possible,
 
 THE ABODE OF ASHTAROTH. 51 
 
 he grasped his sword firmly and, with cautious 
 steps, commenced to thread the unknown 
 path. 
 
 Slowly the light of the Queen of Heaven 
 died out behind him, and yet Darkness seemed 
 to hesitate to close her grasp upon the bold 
 adventurer who thus dared to invade her 
 domain. A dull glow still shone around and 
 guided his advancing footsteps. 
 
 At first he pushed on with every sense 
 alert to catch the slightest sign of danger; 
 but soon his eye began to cease from strain- 
 ing for what might lie before, and to gaze 
 wonderingly upon the strange sights that 
 were spread around him. 
 
 The passage along which he was making 
 his way seemed about fifteen feet wide and 
 twenty in height, with a roof arched in the 
 most perfect symmetry. The walls and roof 
 were formed of translucent alabaster marvel- 
 lously veined, shaded with red and yellow, 
 and carved with figures, prominent among 
 which there still appeared the form, half
 
 52 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 woman, half beast, that had been emblazoned 
 upon the curtain. 
 
 As his tense nerves now somewhat relaxed 
 themselves and the blood flowed in a more 
 measured current through his veins, Adriel 
 began to wonder at the origin of the light 
 that shone around him. There were no 
 torches, no lamps, in the passage. The roof 
 was completely vaulted over. He was too 
 far from the entrance for the most persistent 
 moonbeam to have pursued him; and surely 
 the illumination did not proceed from what 
 might lay before, since, as he advanced, it 
 gained nothing in intensity, but shone with 
 the same steady glow, just enough to reveal 
 immediately surrounding objects. 
 
 A closer scrutiny at last disclosed that it 
 proceeded from the walls themselves, and 
 shone through the alabaster from some hidden 
 source beyond. This was evident from the 
 fact that the form and face of every sculp- 
 tured figure, even the delicately carved folds 
 of garment and drapery, seemed as distinct
 
 THE ABODE OF ASHTAROTH. 53 
 
 and clear as though the sun shone full upon 
 their graceful outlines, while the centre of 
 the passage remained almost in darkness. 
 
 But soon there came a change in the uni- 
 formity of the surroundings, for, as Adriel 
 continued his way now slowly and cautiously, 
 he saw before him a flight of low steps of 
 colored marbles extending across the full 
 breadth of the passage. A few paces back 
 from the top another curtain, of similar mate- 
 rial and workmanship to that which had con- 
 cealed the entrance, barred all further view. 
 
 But the look which Adriel bestowed upon 
 stairway and hanging was short and care- 
 less; for at top, and before the curtain, as 
 though guarding some last refuge, he saw a 
 warlike and threatening figure. A man clad 
 in a coat of mail of brass scale-work reaching 
 to his knees and elbows, and helmeted in a 
 close-fitting cap of bronze, with pieces at- 
 tached to protect the ears and back of the 
 neck. The face was exposed, and was that 
 of a youth younger even than Adriel, some.
 
 54 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 what darker in complexion, but with fine-cut 
 and delicate features, which, while giving, 
 perhaps, less indication of manly courage 
 and hardihood than the face of the young 
 Hebrew, yet showed a pride and haughti- 
 ness hardly in accord with the almost femi- 
 nine refinement of the outlines. On his left 
 arm he carried a small, round buckler of 
 polished brass, and in his right hand a sword 
 somewhat longer than the Jewish weapon, 
 but lighter and apparently of better work- 
 manship. 
 
 The Hebrew did not wait for a second 
 glance, but, half crouching behind his shield, 
 sprang up the marble steps, eager to sweep 
 this new obstacle from his path. The thrust 
 of the Jewish sword was received upon the 
 brazen buckler, and with a skilful motion 
 turned aside, while the weapon of the other 
 descended in full sway. Adriel had barely 
 time to interpose his shield in the path of the 
 blow ere the sharp edge shore clean through 
 the rim of metal and cut down almost to
 
 THE ABODE OF ASHTAROTH. 55 
 
 where his arm was braced in the holding 
 strap. A second blow, delivered as the Is- 
 raelite stepped back astonished at the 
 strength and skill of his opponent, fell full 
 upon the Moabitish helmet, and but for the 
 skill of the armorers of Moab had cloven the 
 wearer's head. As it was he reeled half- 
 stunned and dropped his broken shield. 
 
 With a cry of triumph, the first sound he 
 had uttered, the Canaanite rushed upon his 
 antagonist with weapon-point presented full 
 at his unprotected face. There was no time 
 to test the mail of Canaan with the Jewish 
 sword, even had its bearer been in condition 
 to ply the blow. Half reeling, he could only 
 swing his head from the path of the coming 
 thrust. It passed harmlessly over his shoul- 
 der, and the next instant he had closed with 
 his antagonist and locked him in a firm em- 
 brace. 
 
 Adriel felt his strength beginning to re- 
 turn, but before his sword could be short- 
 ened for use at such close quarters, his foe
 
 56 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 forced him backward with the intention of 
 hurling him down the stairs. This danger 
 was not perceived by the Hebrew until his 
 foot failed him, forced over the top step ; and 
 then, feeling himself falling, he tightened his 
 grasp on his enemy, and Hebrew and Canaan- 
 ite rolled headlong, locked in each other's 
 arms, down to the hallway below. 
 
 Both staggered to their feet bruised and 
 bleeding. Before the Canaanite could make 
 good his defence Adriel sprang upon him, 
 and, with one blow, drove his short sword 
 through the linked corselet, through, until 
 its point struck the plates of metal upon the 
 soldier's back. The proud face bent forward 
 upon the chest. The hands clasped and un- 
 clasped convulsively while the sword fell 
 clanging to the pavement ; and then its 
 owner sank down with the warm blood gush- 
 ing in streams from his mouth and breast. 
 One or two convulsive gasps, a haughty glare 
 of undying hostility, and the well-knit limbs 
 relaxed. The path was open and unguarded.
 
 THE ABODE OF A8HTAROTH. 57 
 
 Hastily disengaging his sword from the 
 body of his fallen foe, Adriel stood still a 
 moment to recover his breath and wipe the 
 blood from his face. Then, taking the buck- 
 ler of the Canaanite in place of his own 
 broken shield, he once more mounted the 
 stairs, this time unopposed, and striding to- 
 ward the curtain drew its folds aside and 
 stepped boldly through. 
 
 He found himself in a circular chamber, 
 at the farther end of which stood an altar 
 whence a lighted lamp shed a soft radiance 
 over the room, and brought into full view an 
 image placed upon a pedestal at the back of 
 the shrine. Carved in the most perfect sym- 
 metry, it appeared the figure of a woman 
 with the head of a heifer she whom he had 
 seen depicted upon curtain and wall. The 
 ceiling of the chamber was a lofty dome in 
 which were set hundreds of stars, while a 
 crescent moon shone directly above her of the 
 heifer head. 
 
 For a moment their brilliancy made Adriel
 
 58 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 imagine that the room was open to the sky, 
 but a second glance convinced him that they 
 were unreal, and that the same internal light 
 that had illumined the figures of the passage 
 gave radiance to the host of this mask of 
 night. The walls were hung with rich and 
 heavy curtains of dark silk, plain and un- 
 figured, as though the image behind the altar 
 might not brook to gaze upon meaner per- 
 sonifications. 
 
 As the eye of the intruder wandered from 
 one to the other of the wonders of the cham- 
 ber, he was suddenly startled by the con- 
 sciousness that he was not its only occupant ; 
 for, glancing at the foot of the altar, he saw 
 what seemed to be a slight girlish figure kneel- 
 ing, with her head buried in her hands as 
 though in prayer or sorrow perhaps both. 
 Her back was turned toward him. A long 
 white robe without trimming or ornament 
 and girded at the waist with a golden zone, 
 clung close to her form, revealing perfectly 
 rounded outlines of feminine beauty, while
 
 THE ABODE OF ASHTAROTH. 59 
 
 her arms, bare from the shoulder, seemed like 
 the master- work of some sculptor, save for the 
 tint of life. 
 
 A feeling of pity rose up in the heart of 
 the young soldier ; and then the command of 
 the God of Israel seemed to ring in his ears, 
 the command of destruction utter and indis- 
 criminating. That God was a Being who 
 more than a God had been an ever-present 
 king and captain to his people ; who had re- 
 vealed himself to them in his approbation 
 and in his wrath ; through miracles of pro- 
 tection and through miracles of punishment. 
 His orders possessed a sanction that made 
 their transgression seem an impossibility to 
 the mind of one born and trained in the 
 midst of such manifestations of divine exist- 
 ence and power. Adriel strained his sword 
 with a more convulsive grasp than had held 
 it when it sped through the Canaanite's mail, 
 and made one stride forward into the room.
 
 CHAPTEK V. 
 
 THE EOSE OF JERICHO. 
 
 S his footfall sounded upon the floor, 
 the girl seemed to become first aware 
 of his presence, and, rising from 
 her kneeling posture, turned and confronted 
 him. 
 
 He had listened to the story-tellers of his 
 tribe weaving their tales at the entrance of 
 camp and tent ; tales wherein the beauty of 
 the women of the past had been the theme 
 which awakened the highest power of the 
 narrator and the closest attention of the 
 listeners. He had gazed into Miriam's dark 
 eyes and played with the tresses of her raven 
 hair, and told her that the queens of the 
 story-tellers were as nothing to her. And
 
 THE ROSE OF JERICHO. 61 
 
 now Miriam seemed as far away as Rachel 
 and Rebecca and that daughter of Pharaoh 
 who had nurtured Moses ; while the beauty 
 of the being before him drove the thought of 
 all former perfection back back, until it 
 faded and was gone. 
 
 As she rose her hair had fallen and, flung 
 back by her hands, now hung in loose wavy 
 masses down her back, revealing a face 
 faultless in outline. The clear, dark complex- 
 ion, the low, broad forehead, the delicate nose 
 slightly aquiline, the perfect mouth and 
 rounded chin, and, reigning over all, the eyes 
 great, dark, sad eyes deep so deep that 
 they seemed to look out from another world 
 to bear messages of love and comfort to the 
 struggling creatures of this. 
 
 Adriel uttered an involuntary cry and 
 staggered back, his vision dazzled and his arm 
 unnerved by the beauty of the woman before 
 him. Was it a goddess of the heathen who 
 stood by the altar ? Was it that Ashtaroth 
 of whom he had heard strange tales by the
 
 62 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 Israelitish camp fires how that her power 
 reigned over the land, and her abominations 
 were spread through the cities which they 
 were come to possess ? Could it be that, 
 though unable to save her city, she could yet 
 overcome him, a soldier of the God of Israel ? 
 
 Swiftly the thoughts surged through his 
 mind, but almost as swiftly they were gone. 
 "Were this a goddess, would she not have 
 appeared in time to save her votary who had 
 stood in defence of her inner shrine? Or 
 would she not have been striving to avert the 
 doom now falling upon her people ? And 
 then, too, the face, though proud and self-con- 
 tained, had everything of the woman in its 
 delicate outlines. 
 
 While Adriel stood spell-bound in the en- 
 trance of the chamber, the girl, on the other 
 hand, advanced slowly toward him until, stand- 
 ing within arm's length, she threw open her 
 garment at the throat, and remained motion- 
 less as though awaiting the final stroke. 
 
 It came not. Had it been Miriam's self
 
 THE ROSE OF JERICHO. 63 
 
 who stood there, the sword of Adriel had not 
 been of less avail, while its owner could only 
 gaze marvelling upon the eyes and brow that 
 so fearlessly faced him. 
 
 The silence was at length broken by the 
 girl. 
 
 " Let the son of Israel hasten to finish that 
 for which he came." 
 
 The voice was soft and melodious, sweet as 
 in the ears of Israel was the murmur of the 
 water that fell from the rock by Moses smitten 
 in the desert years ago. There was a calm- 
 ness in the tone which, forced though it may 
 have been, contrasted strongly with the irres- 
 olution of the assailant. He did not seem to 
 hear her words and she spoke again. 
 
 " Why dost thou delay ? I know well the 
 custom of thy people, and it were better so 
 than to live the slave of some dark-browed 
 prince of the Hittites. See ! I do not wince 
 or shudder at thy sword." 
 
 His head seemed to swim, and a thousand 
 strange ideas like the phantasms of a dream
 
 64 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 whirled and eddied in his confused mind. 
 Joshua, the princes of Israel, and their stern 
 mandates of uncompromising destruction were 
 before his eyes, while above and through all 
 he could almost see the face of the grand and 
 mysterious Being who had spoken to his 
 fathers from cloud and fire. Then the image 
 of the girl still waiting before him chased 
 back the surging blood from brain to heart. 
 
 Raising his sword with both hands, Adriel 
 hurled it far from him against the figure of 
 the goddess at the other end of the apartment, 
 and, throwing himself upon his face before 
 the maiden, he burst forth : 
 
 " Nay ! now by the Ark of the Covenant, 
 thou shalt slay me ere I lift my hand against 
 thee to do thee harm ; or do thou rather let 
 me spend what strength and cunning I may 
 have in saving thee from those who seek thy 
 life. Then, when thou art safe again among 
 thy people, then thou shalt take my sword 
 and drive it to the hilt into my breast." 
 
 " My people ! " she murmured sadly, while
 
 THE ROSE OF JERICHO. 65 
 
 her eyes wandered over the room and the 
 prostrate form of her enemy ; " my people ! 
 And where are they ? My father went this 
 morning to the wall, and my brother Astary- 
 mus must have passed into the presence of the 
 Queen of Heaven, else hadst thou not entered 
 unto me. Nay," she continued, as she beheld 
 him still prone before her, "Nay, it were bet- 
 ter that thou shouldst complete what thou 
 hast begun. I do not fear the stroke. See ! 
 my neck is bare. Go thou and regain thy 
 sword." 
 
 Then it was that the last shadow of the re- 
 proachful faces of tribesmen and kindred van- 
 ished from his mind. He sprang to his feet. 
 The stern and determined look of the conflict 
 came again into his eyes. Taking one step 
 forward he seized her by the wrist, and, plac- 
 ing one hand on her shoulder, gazed full 
 into her eyes. For a moment it seemed as 
 though he would search for something in their 
 shadowy depths. Then he spoke in a voice 
 once more firm and impassioned. 
 
 5
 
 66 TEE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 " Hear me ! Thou shalt not die ! Yea, 
 though the Captain of Israel demand thy 
 death. Thou art the prisoner of my spear 
 and sword, and I will keep thy life, albeit 
 my own fail in the task. Listen, now ! Do 
 thou hasten and bend down behind the figure 
 of thy goddess, that she may at least have 
 power to hide thee. I will take measures 
 that no prying eyes shall seek thee there. Do 
 as I tell thee," he added, as the girl seemed to 
 hesitate between his will and her own indif- 
 ference. " Dost thou hear me ? Thou shalt 
 live." 
 
 He led her unresisting and passive toward 
 the statue, and, as she crouched behind it, he 
 tore down a portion of the dark hangings of 
 the room and threw them carelessly over her 
 figure. Then, resuming his sword, he took 
 his stand near the entrance and listened in- 
 tently for the footsteps of such of his com- 
 rades as should wander in that direction. 
 
 He had not long to wait, for soon hurried 
 steps and voices rang through the vaulted
 
 THE ROSE OF JERICHO. 67 
 
 passage. Then there were exclamations of 
 encouragement as they reached the foot of 
 the staircase and came upon the body of the 
 Canaanite. 
 
 "Did I not tell ye that he passed this way? 
 See now the mark of his handiwork ! " ex- 
 claimed one. 
 
 There was no time to be lost. The glare 
 of the torches shone upon the platform, and, 
 pushing aside the hangings, Adriel stepped 
 out into the light. A shout of exultation 
 greeted him. Hastily forestalling the ques- 
 tions that were on a dozen tongues, he asked : 
 
 " Have ye driven them from their holes ? " 
 
 " We have searched every nook and cranny 
 where a mouse could find refuge," replied one, 
 " and except it be in this hall, which we have 
 but just entered, there lives not one of the 
 accursed race." 
 
 " Then is our work here finished, praise be 
 to God ! " exclaimed Adriel : " for I myself 
 have but just returned, as ye now see, from 
 searching in this direction, nor found I aught
 
 68 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 except him at the foot of the staircase. Come 
 now," he continued, "do ye hasten hence, 
 while I remain to light the pile of stuffs which 
 I have gathered in yon room, that the bodies 
 of the heathen may be consumed in their dwell- 
 ing. I will join you in the street. Hold ! 
 leave me thy torch, Adoram." 
 
 Taking the lighted torch from one of the 
 soldiers, Adriel drew back and listened to 
 their receding footfalls and watched the dying 
 light of their flambeaux.- Then, as silence 
 again brooded over the hollow passage, he 
 hurried back to the statue and drew away 
 the coverings that concealed his captive.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AMONG THE FLAMES. 
 
 ISE up, maiden ! They are gone ; 
 and it is time that we should think 
 of escape." 
 
 Slowly she arose and stood before him with 
 the same calm look that had first disarmed 
 his hand. 
 
 "Dost thou know," he continued, "of any 
 avenue, save that through which I came, to 
 lead us from this chamber ? " 
 
 For a reply she said nothing, but, gliding 
 to the middle of the room, kneeled upon the 
 floor and appeared to strive with some hidden 
 mechanism. Before he could assist her she 
 had touched a spring, when, with a sharp 
 click, a portion of the flooring slid to one
 
 70 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 side, disclosing another flight of steps which 
 seemed to lead straight downward into the 
 very bowels of the earth. 
 
 She rose up and, turning to the astonished 
 Israelite, pointed into the pitchy darkness of 
 the chasm, saying, " Will that serve thy pur- 
 pose? 1 ' 
 
 Adriel peered intently into the gulf as 
 though he strove to pierce its mantle of 
 Egyptian gloom, and for a moment said noth- 
 ing. Despite his natural courage and the 
 hardihood of his race, it was with no thought 
 of satisfaction that he looked upon the way 
 of escape thus strangely laid open at his bid- 
 ding. He feared no man. The sword and 
 spear of the Canaanites had no terrors for 
 him; and yet what enchantments might lie 
 hidden in the cavern that spread below the 
 penetralia of a demon ! and could he now 
 depend upon the protecting arm of a God, 
 whose express command he was disobeying 
 every moment, to do battle for him against 
 the gathering powers of darkness ? His mis-
 
 AMONG THE FLAMES. 71 
 
 trust of the girl revived. Though she could 
 not be an incarnation of the goddess, and he 
 now smiled at his credulity in ever harboring 
 such a thought, yet was it not possible that 
 she should be some priestess sent to snare 
 him into the power of an offended deity ? 
 Turning again to the girl, he questioned her. 
 
 " Wherefore didst not thou and thy brother 
 seek refuge here when thou heardest our ap- 
 proach ? " 
 
 Meeting the suspicious gaze of her captor 
 without a tremor, she made answer. 
 
 " Truly we deemed not but that the power 
 of Ashtaroth availed to protect those who 
 sought her inner shrine, even against the en- 
 chantments of thy God. This secret passage," 
 she added, noticing his hesitancy and half in- 
 terpreting its import, " was built years ago, as 
 my father has told me, that treasure might be 
 placed there and rest under the protection of 
 the goddess." 
 
 " And its outer entrance ? " continued her 
 questioner.
 
 72 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 " Is in my father's chamber." 
 
 " Then, in the name of God, let us go ! " 
 exclaimed Adriel; "and let her of the heif- 
 er's head weave her enchantments as she 
 will." 
 
 Crushing down the remnants of distrust^ 
 and holding his torch so as to throw its light 
 before him, Adriel grasped his sword more 
 tightly and prepared to follow his companion, 
 who commenced the descent of the stairs, as 
 though well acquainted with the path. 
 
 He had counted twelve steps when he 
 found himself upon the floor of a small cir- 
 cular chamber with a low flat roof and about 
 fifteen feet in diameter. The light of the 
 torch sought out the darkest corners of the 
 room, and with its aid the eye of the young 
 Israelite ran over an array of metal vases and 
 baskets of wicker-work, evidently the recep- 
 tacles of treasures. At last he perceived, at 
 that point of the wall farthest from him, the 
 dark entrance of a low, narrow passage to- 
 ward which his companion bent her steps,
 
 AMONG THE FLAMES. 73 
 
 heedless of the wealth lying around, and, as 
 she did so, beckoned him to follow. 
 
 The stifling dampness of the air almost ex- 
 tinguished the torch, which now seemed the 
 only link binding them to the world of light, 
 and the wavering flame threw a flickering 
 and uncertain gleam, displaying the moist 
 walls of the dungeon in all their repulsive- 
 ness, and making his white-robed guide seem 
 like some ghostly phantom sent by the sub- 
 terranean gods to bring him, their enemy, 
 into their awful presence for judgment and 
 vengeance. The thought that the Jehovah 
 of his people had hidden his face in anger, 
 and had surrendered the body of his rebell- 
 ious servant into the hands of the malignant 
 demons of the conquered race again returned 
 upon him with all its force, and for a moment 
 he faltered and drew back; but pride soon 
 arose to do battle with the powers of terror, 
 and murmuring, as though to encourage him- 
 self, " Though thou leadest me before the 
 throne of Moloch, yet will I follow thee and
 
 74 THE SPELL OF ASUTAROTH. 
 
 defy him to his face ! " he bent his head and 
 entered the narrow passage. 
 
 Scarce five feet in height and two in 
 breadth, with a pointed roof and damp, slimy 
 sides formed of huge blocks of rough stone, 
 it continued on and on until the flickering 
 torch, no longer able to combat the moisture 
 that filled the air, at last gasped once or 
 twice and died out. As the darkness envel- 
 oped him he felt a soft hand seize his, now 
 well-nigh trembling under the prolonged 
 strain, and a voice whispered : 
 
 " Be of good heart ! I know the way. Only 
 be wary lest thy foot slip upon the wet stones." 
 
 A sharp twinge of shame that his com- 
 panion should have discovered his faint-heart- 
 edness drove the warm blood back into its 
 channels, and his voice became steady once 
 more, as he said : 
 
 "Lead on!" 
 
 " Have a care now, Hebrew ! See ! Here 
 is a step ! and another ! We have reached 
 the stair."
 
 AMONG THE FLAMES. 75 
 
 Slowly and cautiously they ascended the 
 narrow, winding steps ten, twenty, thirty. 
 Then they paused, and the girl again seemed 
 to be feeling for a hidden spring. Suddenly 
 a panel above them slid back, and they 
 ascended and stood in a spacious chamber. 
 
 It had apparently been used as a sleeping 
 apartment, and that, too, of a person of no 
 small wealth. Eich figured hangings of crim- 
 son silk covered the walls and formed a 
 canopy over the couch ; but desolation had 
 left its tracks in every direction. Curtains 
 torn down and trampled, the bed overturned, 
 and the soft cushions scattered in every direc- 
 tion, with here and there a stained rent where 
 a bloody sword had been driven through 
 arras or cushion in the vain search for a hid- 
 den foe all showed that the conquerors of 
 the city had not overlooked the spot. 
 
 Adriel stepped to a narrow window which 
 looked out upon the street, and gazed forth 
 over the city. Night had settled down, and, 
 though the flames were mounting up from
 
 76 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 many quarters, yet the comparative quiet told 
 him that the work of death had been well- 
 nigh finished, and that that of destruction, 
 although begun, had yet been partially de- 
 layed until the morning, while the armies of 
 Israel had for the most part retired to their 
 camp to rest, after the toil and slaughter of 
 the day. Then he turned again to the 
 maiden, who stood gazing mournfully at the 
 disorder around. 
 
 " Thy father evidently was not taken here, 
 else we had seen surer signs." 
 
 " He went forth into the city this morning, 
 as I told thee, and I have not seen him since," 
 she replied, sadly. 
 
 Adriel asked no more, for he knew that 
 but one fate could have befallen the owner of 
 the house at the hands of the victors; but, 
 turning the subject, he said : 
 
 " Canst thou get aught to support thy life 
 for a few days ? for it will be necessary for 
 thee to conceal thyself until the search be 
 over; and we must leave this place to de-
 
 AMONG THE FLAMES. 77 
 
 struction, that my followers may see that of a 
 truth I remained to do that which I said." 
 
 " Do thou wait, then, for me here ; I will 
 return quickly;" and before he could reply 
 she had glided from his presence. 
 
 Her absence seemed but for a few mo- 
 ments, to his mind struggling in vain to grasp 
 and understand the whirl of events that had 
 borne him along. After the excitement of 
 beholding the mighty manifestations of the 
 power of the God of Israel, and the grim 
 tension of the combat, or rather massacre, 
 that followed, he found himself, without 
 fairly comprehending how, under the spell of 
 a power more present than the command of 
 his God, more potent than the ties of race 
 and kindred, and under which he passively 
 resigned himself unto the bidding of a 
 woman of the doomed race, and devoted his 
 puny strength to thwarting, in her behalf, the 
 express will of Jehovah. 
 
 He passed his hand across his brow, as 
 though to sweep away the web that entan-
 
 78 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 gled his thoughts, and, as he looked forth 
 again, she stood before him, her form envel- 
 oped in a mantle of some dark stuff, and 
 bearing in her hand a small wicker basket. 
 
 " Come ! " she said ; " I am ready." 
 
 At the sound of the voice, Adriel started 
 from his reveries, but soon recovered himself, 
 and said : 
 
 "Go thou toward the gate; I will follow 
 thee quickly." 
 
 As she passed from the room, he seized a 
 small lamp that burned dimly on a tripod, 
 and pouring the oil over a pile of hangings 
 and cushions, touched them with the burning 
 wick. Then, as the flames started up, he 
 hurried out after the girl, and together they 
 sped through a narrow hall and down a flight 
 of marble steps to a small arched gateway, 
 which fell open at her touch ; and passing 
 through it, Adriel once more found himself 
 in the street ; not that from which he had 
 entered the building, but one much narrower, 
 and evidently on another side.
 
 AMONG THE FLAMES. 79 
 
 Here his captive again halted and, turning 
 to him, asked : 
 
 "Whither will my lord go ? " 
 
 Here was a grave question one not hith- 
 erto considered, and yet of the most immedi- 
 ate importance. Up to this point he had 
 been as in a dream, and had acted on a series 
 of impulses, without any consideration of 
 what was to follow after. First, his spirit 
 had revolted at the idea of putting to the 
 sword a being so beautiful. Then came the 
 impulse to save her even at the peril of join- 
 ing battle with Jehovah, but without any set- 
 tled idea of how the end was to be accom- 
 plished. After that came the doubts and 
 superstitious fears induced by his mysterious 
 surroundings ; and now he stood alone with 
 his charge in the streets of a half-ruined and 
 burning city, peopled only with the dead and 
 here and there a wandering band of zealots, 
 whose thirst for blood even darkness and 
 fatigue could not subdue. 
 
 His purpose with regard to the Canaanite
 
 80 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 did not waver, but he knew that the time 
 for impulses had passed and that his future 
 acts must be guided by a settled plan, and 
 that, too, a well-laid one. He congratulated 
 himself that he had at least exercised the 
 foresight to bid her make provision against 
 hunger, and, that danger removed, he soon 
 decided iipon the next step to be taken. He 
 must find some spot which would afford con- 
 cealment until the search for victims should 
 cease. This surely was an immediate neces- 
 sity. Beyond lay an unknown region cloaked 
 in cloud and mist, into which the eye strove 
 in vain to penetrate. 
 
 "In what direction lies the poorer part of 
 the city ? " he asked, suddenly. 
 
 For answer she pointed toward the west. 
 
 "Then it is thither we must go." And 
 taking her by the hand, he threaded his 
 cautious way up the narrow street, with eye 
 watchful to detect any sign of the presence 
 of lingering Israelites, an appearance more 
 fraught with danger to him now than an
 
 AMONG THE FLAMES. 81 
 
 array of the men of Canaan ; on, between 
 burning buildings and spots where a few 
 faint, dying embers, sparkling amid ruins and 
 ashes, alone marked where stately palaces 
 had but lately stood ; on, over heaps of rub- 
 bish and ghastly corpses, which his compan- 
 ion turned from with shuddering horror. 
 
 Adriel, as they passed along, had examined 
 several places which appeared to afford the 
 refuge for which he sought; but had left them 
 all as too exposed or too harsh for his pur- 
 pose, until at last his eye fell upon a little hut 
 standing back from the street, and half cov- 
 ered and concealed by the ruins of a large 
 edifice, evidently a temple, which had stood 
 close by it. Several pillars had fallen 
 directly across the roof, and would have 
 crushed it to the ground but for its small 
 dimensions and the solid character of its 
 masonry. As it was, it was hardly distin- 
 guishable from the destruction which lay 
 around. 
 
 Adriel entered through the low doorway,
 
 82 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 and, partly by touch, partly by the aid of 
 such moonlight as fell through the narrow 
 slits of windows, satisfied himself that there 
 were no inmates, living or dead, and that a 
 low couch was spread in one corner. The 
 walls were simply rough blocks of stone and 
 the roof a broad, flat monolith. Nothing 
 could have been simpler than its architecture. 
 
 Stepping to the door, he beckoned the girl 
 to enter, and, pointing to the couch, said : 
 
 " Here mayst thou rest, I trust, in safety. 
 Thou hast food, so that thou needst not ven- 
 ture forth, and I charge thee that thou seek 
 not light, which can do naught but guide 
 thine enemies to thee. Take this dagger,'' he 
 added, pressing the weapon into her hand, 
 "and, shouldst thou be discovered, thou 
 knowest how to put it to a use which thy 
 gods do not forbid. As for me, it is not safe 
 nor wise that I should remain. Perad venture 
 even now they will be searching for me, and 
 the chance of thy discovery will be the greater. 
 Trust me to devise means for thy final escape,
 
 AMONG THE FLAMES. 83 
 
 and to return to thee as soon as caution will 
 permit. Dost thou understand, maiden, and 
 wilt thou swear to me that thou wilt be 
 guided by what I have said and wilt wait my 
 coming again ? " 
 
 "I have heard thy words, son of Israel, I 
 understand them, and I will obey thy com- 
 mands." 
 
 She spoke in the same low, clear voice that 
 had thrilled him when she first bade him 
 strike. 
 
 Gazing fixedly upon the beautiful face, 
 over which a single ray of moonlight, stealing 
 through a narrow window, played furtively, 
 Adriel crushed down the fierce impulse that 
 swelled in his bosom an impulse which bade 
 him clasp her in his arms and, turning, 
 passed through the doorway and set his face 
 toward the camp of Israel.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE TENTS OF TRIUMPH. 
 
 Adriel drew near to the earthen 
 rampart, although it was nigh unto 
 the morning watch, a volume of 
 sound rolled toward him : the songs of 
 the women who danced in triumph, the call 
 of the trumpets summoning in the stragglers, 
 and the hoarse voices of the soldiers as they 
 recognized their companions or strove each 
 to relate his tale of dangers braved and de- 
 struction wrought upon the common foe. 
 
 Then he noticed a small party armed cap- 
 a-pie issuing out of the western gate of the 
 camp and bending their steps toward the city. 
 A shout told him he was recognized, and a 
 boy sprang out from the group and, rushing
 
 THE TENTS OF TRIUMPH. 85 
 
 forward, threw his arms about his neck with 
 mingled exclamations and sobs of joy. It 
 was Abiathar; and then came Achan, his 
 father, and Sethur, his brother, together with 
 Ozias, and behind them servants bearing 
 torches. 
 
 " Of a truth, boy," said Ozias, when the first 
 greetings were over, "we feared lest thou 
 hadst fallen in the ruins and might'st be in 
 need of aid or sepulture." 
 
 " Thou didst not well," spoke Achan, in a 
 voice of reproof ; " thou didst not well to 
 linger and fill us with, the dread that thou 
 hadst suffered death." 
 
 But Abiathar broke in upon reproof and 
 greeting with, " Come now, let me lead thee 
 to Miriam, for she does naught but weep 
 since the people began to return and thou 
 earnest not with them ; " and, dragging him 
 from the embraces and questions of the rest, 
 he led the way toward the tents. Adriel fol- 
 lowed passive, powerless to resist, but with a 
 strange feeling in his heart that leaped not
 
 86 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 at the thought of approaching his beloved, 
 and yet half wondered at its own sluggish- 
 ness. As they reached the entrance of the 
 tent, Abiathar shouted : 
 
 " Arouse thee, Miriam ! Behold, I bring 
 Adriel back to thee safe and sound." 
 
 Then, as a pale, tear-stained face appeared 
 at the aperture, Abiathar, with a quizzical 
 smile, added, "I will wait for thee in thy 
 tent, Adriel ; " and, turning on his heel, 
 danced away into the darkness, whence in a 
 moment shouts of laughter broke upon the 
 ears of the two thus unceremoniously de- 
 serted. 
 
 "Adriel, is it thou ? " 
 
 The girl spoke timidly, as she stepped out 
 from the shelter of the tent. " Truly I we 
 feared lest the evil spirits of the temples of 
 Canaan had seized thee for their own." 
 
 " Verily they have seized upon me," were 
 the words that passed through his thoughts, 
 but all he said was : 
 
 " Yea, Miriam, it is I."
 
 TEE TENTS OF TRIUMPH. 87 
 
 Where could be situation more to be de- 
 sired by ardent lover? They were alone. 
 The friendly spirits of the night had thrown 
 sheltering shadows over the scene, and the 
 stars alone beheld them, the stars whose 
 voices might in vain strive to pierce the veil 
 of distance and tell their story into the ears 
 of men. Moreover he stood there a professed 
 lover with his mistress before him, the shield 
 of maidenly reserve torn from before her 
 heart by the force of an emotion which she 
 vainly endeavored to conceal an emotion 
 stirred by fear for his safety. Could he 
 imagine for a moment that if he clasped her 
 in his arms she had then the power to re- 
 sist him ? Could he doubt that he would 
 obtain the truth from her lips, and that the 
 truth would promise him all that his soul had 
 ever aspired to ? And yet he stood and 
 gazed and spake not a word except ''Yea, 
 Miriam, it is I," while the precious moments 
 fled swiftly away, and maidenly self-control 
 regained the sceptre of the soul, strengthened
 
 88 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 by the remembrance of her past defenceless- 
 ness, and unconsciously aggrieved by the 
 sluggishness of the assailant. Thus the for- 
 tunate moments passed. Now they were 
 gone, and Miriam spoke again in a clear, 
 laughing voice : 
 
 " Ashtaroth did not make love to thee then, 
 and take thee away to be her high-priest in 
 some grove or temple on the hill-tops ? And 
 the maidens of Israel may once more adorn 
 themselves with ornaments of gold and silver 2 
 Verily, I have never seen such mourning 
 throughout the camp as upon this eve of tri- 
 umph when thou earnest not back among the 
 victors ! " 
 
 Her words grated harshly on his ears. He 
 recognized the opportunity that had passed. 
 He was conscious of and half regretted his 
 backwardness, and yet he felt that a recur- 
 rence of the situation would find him as help- 
 less as before. It was necessary to say 
 something, and, driven by this feeling, he 
 began :
 
 THE TENTS OF TRIUMPH. 89 
 
 " Of a truth, Miriam, I knew not that the 
 night had advanced so far and that our 
 people were returning. My pursuit had well- 
 nigh carried rne over the western wall of the 
 city, and there was much to be done that 
 Jehovah might have the greater glory. I am 
 sorry that thou hast feared for me." 
 
 "/feared for thee!" she replied; "nay, it 
 was for thine enemies that I shed tears. I 
 warrant me thou hast slain them all, else 
 would st thou now be climbing the western 
 heights in pursuit of some terror-stricken 
 fugitive. Nay, nay; I knew thy skill and 
 valor and the temper of the Moabite's helmet 
 too well to fear for thy safety." 
 
 " Thou art merry. I looked for a wanner 
 greeting from thee." 
 
 " And who knows but that thou mightest 
 have found it, hadst thou considered my fears 
 before thy desire to be foremost in the work 
 of death." 
 
 "But, Miriam, remember the command of 
 the Captain."
 
 90 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 " Did he command that thou shouldst let 
 the dreams of slaughter drive all other recol- 
 lections from thy mind, even after thou hadst 
 seen fit to return ? " 
 
 Stung by her implied reproach, and even 
 more by his own consciousness of its justice, 
 a justice of the extent of which the girl could 
 never dream, he tried to murmur a few phrases 
 of excuse, half unintelligible in his increasing 
 confusion. Then, breaking off in disgust with 
 himself, he said : 
 
 " I will return to thee again, Miriam, when 
 thou art more ready to welcome me," and, 
 turning, strode away, while the girl stood 
 gazing after him into the darkness, swayed 
 by contending tides of indignation and tears. 
 
 Adriel reached his tent, wretched amid the 
 rejoicing host around him. Moodily he threw 
 back the flap and entered within, where the 
 dim light of a small lamp showed him 
 Abiathar, the weight of sleep heavy upon 
 his eyelids, yet up and waiting for his 
 return.
 
 THE TENTS OF TRIUMPH. 91 
 
 With officious zeal the boy unlaced the 
 armor of the weary soldier, assailing him the 
 while with innumerable questions mingled 
 with sly innuendoes respecting the reasons for 
 his reticence. Adriel answered the questions 
 with sharp monosyllables, for the jests of his 
 admirer only added to his irritation, until, re- 
 leased at last from the confining bonds of brass 
 and iron, he threw himself upon his bed of 
 skins, with a gruff admonition to Abiathar 
 that he should not disturb him. 
 
 The boy, abashed at the rebuff, relapsed 
 into a grumbling silence and from that into 
 sleep ; but to Adriel, as he lay tossing from 
 side to side of his restless couch, sleep was a 
 boon for which he sought in vain. All the 
 events of the past day whirled around him 
 confused and distorted like the phantasmago- 
 ria of a dream. Could it be that he really 
 loved this woman of the accursed race, with 
 her calm, proud brow and deep, mysterious 
 eyes ; or had the false gods, into whose pene- 
 tralia he had forced his way, wound their spells
 
 92 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 around his soul and sent that lovely vision to 
 chase from his heart his God, his people, and 
 his former love ? He could not tell ; and yet 
 the reality of the Canaanite was firmly im- 
 pressed upon his mind, and, were she mortal 
 woman or creature of enchantment, hers was 
 the power and his the subjection. Then, 
 again, Miriam stood before him. The thought 
 of her beauty, and the professions he had 
 made to her, flooded his being and drove the 
 iron of dejection and self-condemnation deep 
 down into his spirit. Beyond a question, her 
 empire had withered beneath the blight of 
 the Canaanite's eyes. 
 
 But over and pervading all other thoughts 
 presided the consciousness of a sublime Pres- 
 ence, a mighty face darkened and turned 
 away from him in anger. In vain he buried 
 his tightly closed eyes in the coverings of his 
 couch. No material veil could shut out the 
 all-piercing essence of an incensed Jehovah, 
 and Adriel writhed in terror until the damp- 
 ness sprang forth upon his brow to relieve the
 
 THE TENTS OF TRIUMPH. 93 
 
 agony of his surcharged feelings. Soldier 
 though he was, and born and bred to the 
 dangers of the desert and the sword, yet be- 
 fore the vague and shadowy form of the 
 mysterious One whom his race worshipped, 
 a superstitious dread of aroused resentment 
 could not fail to overcome the most stubborn 
 human courage. More than once the man 
 wavered under the strong emotions that rent 
 him, and had half composed himself with 
 mind resolved to shake off the strange chains 
 and to strive to atone for his past offence by 
 a future of the fiercest and most unwavering 
 zeal. But still a subtle influence, which he 
 strove in vain to analyze, checked the falling 
 scale ere it reached the limit, and caused it 
 first to tremble in the balance and then to 
 mount again up, up, until his mind, soaring 
 far above consciousness of duty and fear of 
 divine vengeance, yielded itself completely 
 to its new bonds, soft and pleasing as roses, 
 and yet sturdier than brass. 
 
 So the night wore slowly along and deep
 
 94 
 
 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH, 
 
 strove in vain to sprinkle her balm of pop- 
 pies into his weary eyes, and the stars 
 faded one by one from the heavens, and the 
 moon descended behind the mountains of 
 Abarim.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE COUNCIL. 
 
 T was morning morning following a 
 night of triumphant horror. The 
 victorious invaders were scattered 
 throughout the camp or in their tents, resting 
 after the toilsome day, or mayhap giving heed 
 to such wounds as had fallen to their lot. A 
 few unwearied zealots had gone to the ruins 
 to complete the destruction of the remaining 
 temples and palaces. 
 
 In the open space before the Tabernacle, 
 which stood in the centre of the sea of tents, 
 was gathered a grave conclave of the princes 
 of Israel. 
 
 Joshua, stripped of his glittering arms and 
 clad in tunic and mantle, seemed like some
 
 96 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 sage counsellor rather than the fierce warrior 
 of the previous day. He reclined against his 
 shield, his head sunk upon his breast, as 
 though his mind strove to sound some deep 
 channel of troubled thought. 
 
 Beside him sat Eleazer, also silent and 
 thoughtful, and around them were gathered 
 the captains, who whispered one to another, 
 and waited until they should hear from the 
 lips of the son of Nun the reason of their 
 
 summomno;. 
 
 O 
 
 Some distance back, crowds of the people 
 stood in respectful silence, and gazed upon 
 the gathering of those whose judgment 
 decided the policy of the nation, and whose 
 swords were foremost against its enemies. 
 
 O 
 
 At length Joshua spoke : 
 
 " Princes of Israel ! Ye have been summoned 
 together that we might take counsel and de- 
 cide what step shall next be taken for the 
 conquest of the land marked out as an inher- 
 itance for our tribes. The past has been full 
 of glory, and our enemies tremble before the
 
 THE COUNCIL. 97 
 
 might of our God. Their cities are shaken to 
 the very foundations, and their carcasses shall 
 fatten the ground that our vines may bear 
 fruit the more abundantly. Let him now 
 who will speak, and may his words be words 
 of wisdom." 
 
 As he finished, he turned toward Eleazer, 
 to whom, both on account of his age and his 
 exalted position, belonged the precedence of 
 speech. 
 
 The high-priest rose and, stretching out his 
 hands, exclaimed : 
 
 "May the God of our fathers teach ye, 
 princes of Israel, the wisdom that shall give 
 us speedy victory. As for me, I deem it 
 matters not which course we take, saving 
 only that we act quickly and give God the 
 glory. Let the men of war devise their plans, 
 and doubt not that the choosing shall be 
 blessed." 
 
 He ceased, and Caleb rose, while the chief- 
 tains bent attentive ears that they should 
 hear the words of one who, in judgment and
 
 98 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 military skill, ranked only next to Joshua 
 himself. 
 
 " Let the men of Israel listen ! " he began. 
 " It is well said that whithersoever we go 
 there shall we conquer and sweep our enemies 
 from before us. Therefore, we should con- 
 sider the way that shall soonest end our 
 labors. Let us not spread ourselves over the 
 country to spoil it, like locusts ; for do we not 
 thereby make the heritage of less value when 
 it shall come into our hands ? but, swerving 
 neither to the right hand nor to the left, let 
 us make battle against and overthrow the 
 fenced cities, staying our hands only to de- 
 stroy such rash peoples as shall dare to come 
 against us in the field. Thus shall we gain 
 possession of the land, and the peoples thereof 
 shall not find where to hide them from the 
 wrath of our God. It has been said that half 
 a day's journey toward the north and west, 
 through passes of the mountains, lies a city 
 strong and warlike. This should we smite 
 next, and that we may not strike blindly,
 
 THE COUNCIL. 99 
 
 let it please my lord to send spies, that 
 they may look upon the city, and bring us 
 news of the strength of its walls and of the 
 number of fighting men who can take up 
 spear in its defence." 
 
 A loud shout of acclaim greeted him as he 
 resumed his place among the chiefs reclining 
 on the grass. 
 
 Joshua paused and, glancing his eye around 
 the bearded circle, asked : 
 
 "Do ye all think well of his words ?" 
 
 A murmur of assent went round. 
 
 " So be it, then ! " exclaimed the Captain, 
 " and do thou, Caleb, select two men swift of 
 foot and ready of speech, and instruct them 
 that they shall do even as thou spakest." 
 
 Joshua arose, as a signal that the council 
 was over, and passed to his tent, while the 
 captains went out into the camp or lingered 
 to speak of the years of warfare that lay be- 
 fore them. Caleb, however, turned to Ozias 
 and said : 
 
 "Go thou, Ozias, and fetch me two men
 
 100 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 such as the Captain spoke of, that I may speak 
 with them and send them forth." 
 
 " My lord," replied Ozias, " I will do as 
 thou commandest. I will bring to thee 
 Adriel, the son of Achan, of the tribe of 
 Judah, and Zithri, the Benjaminite." 
 
 Ozias strode swiftly away, while Caleb 
 stood awaiting his return. 
 
 The delay was short, for the chieftain soon 
 saw his captain returning with two com- 
 panions. The face of Ozias was troubled as 
 he drew near and he spoke hesitatingly. 
 
 " This, my lord," he said as he pointed to 
 a rugged soldier, " is that Zithri of whom I 
 spoke, and this is Sethur, the brother of 
 Adriel, who is sick with a fever in his tent 
 and is not tit to go forth upon so perilous a 
 mission. These two will do whatsoever thou 
 commandest them." 
 
 So saying, he withdrew; leaving Caleb to 
 instruct his messengers, and, with head upon 
 his breast, walked slowly toward the tents of 
 Judah.
 
 THE COUNCIL. 101 
 
 " Strange ! It is strange," he murmured to 
 himself as in deep thought, "that the boy 
 should object so strongly against such a ser- 
 vice. I know well that he has courage that 
 stops at nothing. The physician must look 
 to him, for I would not that evil should befall 
 him." 
 
 Thus communing with himself, he reached 
 his tent and entered; for the mid-day sun 
 was poised above the camp which the hot 
 rays seemed almost to devour. He called 
 Abiathar to him. 
 
 " Tell me, boy," he asked, " how fares it 
 with Adriel? If I mistake not thou wert 
 there when I spake to him but just now." 
 Abiathar hung his head and replied : 
 
 " Of a truth, my father, I cannot tell thee, 
 save that he tosses from side to side of his 
 couch and doth not sleep ; yet he ref useth to 
 come forth, and speaks harshly when I ven- 
 ture to disturb him with questions." Ozias 
 looked grave, but he only replied : 
 
 " It is well, boy. Do thou see that he lacks
 
 102 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 for nothing. His brother has gone forth 
 under the command of Caleb; and Achan 
 himself hath seemed to me of late to be 
 troubled and to give small heed to those 
 things which might well employ him." 
 
 Abiathar signified assent and glided out, 
 while old Ozias reclined upon his couch and 
 rested ; but his mind was troubled and filled 
 with forebodings of vague and formless peril.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SECOND NIGHT. 
 
 HEN the swiftly gathering darkness 
 of the night had spread itself 
 through the Hebrew camp, Adriel 
 arose and, wrapped in a rough mantle with 
 the end drawn over his head so as to shade 
 his face from the gaze of inquisitive friends, 
 stepped forth unobserved. He had dismissed 
 Abiathar early in the evening under the pre- 
 tence that his presence disturbed his rest, a 
 reason which, shallow as it might be, the boy 
 could not but regard ; and now, with no 
 weapon of offence or defence other than his 
 sword which, together with a bottle of wine 
 and some dates, lay concealed under his 
 cloak, Adriel threaded his cautious path until
 
 104 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 he reached the rampart, and, crossing it, 
 pursued his way over the plain toward the 
 ruins of the fallen city. 
 
 As he drew near he quickened his pace, for 
 the sounds he heard drove the blood back 
 upon his heart and well-nigh froze him with 
 horror. It was the howling of wolves and 
 dogs; wolves that had descended from the 
 mountains drawn by the scent of carrion, and 
 dogs which, with none to feed them, were 
 driven to dine off those who had been their 
 masters ; and now dog and wolf howled, 
 snarled, and fought over the dainty banquet 
 so richly spread for them. 
 
 Adriel was now running at full speed. He 
 had not thought of his captive being exposed 
 to such a danger, and the horror of it pierced 
 his very soul. 
 
 Climbing over the ruined wall, he sped up 
 one of the narrow streets, scattering wolf and 
 dog in his mad race, and, as he turned a sharp 
 corner, he suddenly burst upon a band of 
 robbers who had come down from the moun-
 
 THE SECOND NIGHT. 105 
 
 tains to seek such plunder as the invaders 
 might have left. They were sitting in a cir- 
 cle, evidently dividing their gains, when this 
 apparition bounded into the midst of them ; 
 but ere they had sprung to their feet and 
 grasped their weapons he was gone. 
 
 " It is a spirit of the dead ! " said their 
 leader in trembling tones, and, hastily gath- 
 ering up their booty, they made haste to 
 regain their fastnesses. 
 
 The thought that wolf and dog were aided 
 by such allies lent new wings to Adriel's speed 
 until, with redoubled exertion, he at last 
 reached the Imt, and, fainting and breathless 
 sought its entrance. 
 
 A door formed of a single slab of stone 
 working on pivots, and which he did not re- 
 member having noticed before, now closed the 
 aperture. Within all was stilL 
 
 Adriel's heart sank within him and for a 
 moment he scarce gathered courage to knock 
 or speak. At last he placed his shoulder to 
 the door, swung it back, and entered.
 
 106 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 Standing a moment until he became accus- 
 tomed to the darkness, he saw the girl lying 
 upon the couch and gazing at him with her 
 great sad eyes. Then she rose. 
 
 " Is it thou, my lord ? " she said. " I knew 
 not whether it might be one of thy people or 
 some robber from the west who sought for me." 
 
 Adriel shuddered. 
 
 " And what if it had been ? " he asked. 
 
 "I should have preferred the former. It 
 would have meant no more than death,' 1 she 
 answered simply, " and the wolves to either, 
 for the door is strong enough for them. Had 
 it been but one man," she resumed, with 
 slow decision, " perchance I could have struck 
 him down with the dagger ere his eyes had 
 seen me in the darkness, and had there been 
 more, it were but the work of an instant to 
 make their capture a vain one." 
 
 He looked at her in admiration for a mo- 
 ment, and then, throwing back his mantle, 
 drew forth the supplies he had brought with 
 him and set them before her, saying :
 
 THE SECOND NIGHT. 107 
 
 " See, I have stolen from the camp to bring 
 thee these, that thou mightest not want while 
 thou art forced to remain here." 
 
 " And for how long will that be ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " I know not," answered Adriel hurriedly. 
 " Perchance until they move the camp up 
 into the country, when thou mayest escape 
 with safety toward the south. Tell me," he 
 continued, as though to forestall her pressing 
 the inquiry on a subject which could not but 
 call to mind the difficulties of his enterprise 
 difficulties which he dreaded to contemplate 
 "tell me something of thyself and people. 
 There is short time when I can safely remain 
 here, and I would fain learn who thou art." 
 
 For a moment the girl was silent, and 
 seemed to struggle to keep down the tears 
 that threatened to appear. Then she turned 
 to Adriel. 
 
 " There is little for me to tell," she said. 
 "Doubtless thou hast heard of the mighty 
 Kara-in-das, the king who rules far away to
 
 108 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 the east in Babylon, a city to which my fa- 
 ther has told me that this Jericho was but a 
 hovel. Thence was it that my father came 
 hither years ago on a mission from our great 
 king, that he should send him word how that 
 matters went upon the coast, and should 
 attend that caravans from the East received 
 due hospitality. My brother was then very 
 young, and I first saw the light here. 
 
 " For many years Urukh, my father, kept 
 hoping that he would be recalled to Babylon, 
 the city he loved; but when the king sent 
 word that he should remain and build him a 
 palace suitable for the envoy of so great a 
 monarch, he composed himself to a life of 
 honored exile, and all he saw of home was 
 when he would tell me tales of the grandeur 
 of the great city; of her walls and palaces 
 and temples and hanging-gardens; of the 
 wealth and might of her kings ; of the num- 
 bers and valor of her warriors, and of their 
 coats of mail, and black, curled beards ; the 
 beauty of her women, the power of the gods
 
 THE SECOND NIGHT. 109 
 
 that kept guard over her safety, and how the 
 people worshipped them with great festivals 
 and sacrifices. Had I sacrificed to Ashtaroth 
 after the manner our maidens are compelled 
 to do in Babylon, perchance evil fortune had 
 not befallen us, and I should not now be the 
 captive of thy hand." 
 
 " Rather," replied Adriel quickly, " am I 
 thine. For do I not peril my life that thou 
 mayest escape ? " 
 
 " And I have told thee it were a foolish 
 act." 
 
 " Of that I must judge," said he proudly ; 
 and then, as though to change the trend of 
 her thoughts, " thou hast told me thy fa- 
 ther's name, maiden, but I know not yet what 
 is thine." 
 
 " I am called Elissa." 
 
 " It is a name we know not among my peo- 
 ple," he said absently, " but it soundeth mu- 
 sical in mine ear ; " and then he fell to mus- 
 ing, with eyes fast fixed on vacancy. 
 
 At length, arousing himself as though
 
 110 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 from a dream, and springing nastily up, he 
 said : 
 
 "I must leave thee now, else they may 
 miss me in the camp, and questions be asked 
 that it were difficult for me to reply to. Do 
 thou keep thy door fast shut as a guard 
 against beasts. Men, I am persuaded, thou 
 needest not fear. The robber would give 
 this hut no second glance ; only be thou 
 wary. I will return to thee again." 
 
 He was gone, and the girl, once more alone 
 with her thoughts in the midst of that ghast- 
 ly solitude, strove to kill the feeling of utter 
 despair that surged up in her heart and made 
 the events of the preceding days seem like 
 a huge dream that must melt away at the 
 rising of the morning sun.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE SUMMONS TO BATTLE. 
 
 ZIAS lay sleeping upon his couch as 
 the night wore on into the morning 
 watch. 
 
 Of a sudden he became conscious of men 
 entering his tent and standing beside him, and, 
 springing quickly up, he sought instinctively 
 for the sword that hung near his head. 
 . But a well-known voice exclaimed, " Peace 
 be with thee, Ozias ! " while another said : 
 
 "Hold, father; it is Achan, who would 
 fain speak with thee of Adriel," and Ozias, 
 half ashamed of his ready distrust, bade Achan 
 to be seated, and ordered Abiathar that he 
 should set bread before the visitor; but 
 Achan waved aside the proffered hospital-
 
 112 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 ity, and turning to Ozias, said in a troubled 
 voice : 
 
 " Ozias, I have sought thee that we might 
 speak together concerning my son. Well into 
 the beginning of the watches he drove this 
 boy of thine from his tent, and when the boy 
 returned later to see how Adriel slept, behold 
 he was gone. Then it was that Abiathar 
 sought me, and together we ranged through 
 the camp that peradventure we might find 
 him we sought, but without avail, and return- 
 ing at last to his tent, we waited. 
 
 " As the middle watch wore on we heard 
 footsteps approaching, and then the curtain of 
 the tent was thrown aside and Adriel entered. 
 You should have seen the wild look in his 
 eye, like to the eyes of one that walketh in 
 his sleep, and his garments and sandals were 
 clotted with the mire of the plain, his hair 
 bedraggled with the dew. He did not seem 
 to see us, but staggered toward the couch as a 
 man weary from hard travel, and throwing 
 himself upon it closed his eyes without a
 
 THE SUMMONS TO BATTLE. 113 
 
 word of greeting or explanation. Of a truth, 
 Ozias, I believe the young man to be possessed 
 of a devil that drives him forth on such mad 
 and meaningless journeyings." 
 
 The face of Ozias darkened, and, turning to 
 Abiathar, he asked : 
 
 " Hast thou watched him well of late, as I 
 bade thee?" 
 
 " Even so, father," replied the boy, " but he 
 has seemed to chafe at my presence, to speak 
 harshly, and, even as Achan has told, last night 
 the evil spirit within him compelled me to go 
 forth, peradventure that I might not know 
 whither it drove him." 
 
 " Wherefore didst thou not lie in wait and 
 follow his steps ? " 
 
 " Truly I feared to, for Adriel is quick of 
 eye and ear, and he looked so grim when he 
 sent me away that I doubt not the evil spirit 
 would have slain me had I dared to trace 
 him." 
 
 " Tush ! " said Ozias scornfully, " I thought 
 that thou didst deem thyself swift of foot ? " 
 
 8
 
 114 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 " Thou sayest truly, but thou knowest 
 Adriel. He would have been upon me ere I 
 had run a hundred paces." 
 
 " What thinkest thou, Ozias ? " asked Achan 
 impatiently. 
 
 " I know not what to think. Perad venture 
 some woman hath wound her snares around 
 his heart." 
 
 " Nay, that cannot be, for I have been 
 minded to speak to thee for many days how 
 that thou shouldst betroth to him thy daugh- 
 ter, Miriam. I know his heart goes out to 
 her alone of all maidens." 
 
 "And I had met thee with a prompt assent, 
 for I love the boy well ; and now we must 
 set a watch upon him, and then shall we see 
 whether or not there be reason for his mad- 
 ness." 
 
 As Ozias finished speaking there was heard 
 a trampling of feet without the tent, and a 
 voice called : 
 
 " Ozias, come forth ! I that speak to thee 
 am Caleb, the son of Jephunneh."
 
 THE SUMMONS TO BATTLE. H5 
 
 Ozias and Achan sprang to their feet and 
 issued out into the dim light of the early- 
 morning, while Abiathar sped back to keep 
 watch near the tent of Adriel. 
 
 "What wouldst thou with thy servant?" 
 asked Ozias, as he stood before the lieutenant 
 of Joshua. 
 
 " This : " was the prompt answer. " The 
 spies who went forth have but just returned 
 to me, and they have told their story to the 
 Captain, how that the hearts of the men of 
 Ai are fainting within their breasts at the 
 news of our entrance into the land. It were 
 a needless toil to lead the host up against 
 them, for they will fall of their own weakness 
 before the first blast of our trumpets. But 
 the Captain bids me tell thee that thou take 
 with thee three thousand men, a number equal 
 to the warriors that the city can muster. Se- 
 lect whom thou wilt, and go up through the 
 pass in the hills and smite them with the edge 
 of the sword, and leave not one stone upon 
 another. When wilt thou go forth ? "
 
 116 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 Ozias bent his head. "The words of my 
 lord shall be obeyed. In an hour from now 
 thy servant shall set out even to do thy bid- 
 ding." 
 
 " So be it," replied Caleb, and turning with 
 those that were with him he was soon lost 
 among the tents, while Ozias roused his 
 servants from their slumbers, and sent them 
 forth to pick three thousand of the men of 
 Judah, who should march with him against Ai. 
 
 Hardly had the word passed that an enter- 
 prise was on foot, and that Ozias had been 
 appointed to lead the detachment, than his 
 tent was besieged by many, eager to be in- 
 cluded in the chosen company. But, leaving 
 the selection to Sethur and Zithri, his chosen 
 lieutenants, Ozias set his face toward the tent 
 of Adriel, revolving in his mind how that such 
 an employment as he could offer could not 
 fail to be welcome to the spirit of the young 
 soldier, and would exert a powerful influence 
 toward shaking off the strange humor that had 
 seized upon him.
 
 THE SUMMONS TO BATTLE. H? 
 
 As he hurried along, he was surprised to 
 see the man he sought coming toward him. 
 
 " Adriel ! " he exclaimed. " It is well I 
 have met thee, for I was hastening to thy 
 tent to bid thee go up with me against Ai. 
 Peradventure a journey into the mountains 
 will bring back the bloom to thy cheek and 
 the fire to thine eye." 
 
 Adriel looked up as Ozias spoke, and the 
 old soldier almost started back in surprise 
 and grief at the change which three days had 
 produced. That haggard, weary face even 
 the news of action was powerless to lighten. 
 
 For a moment Adriel did not answer, but 
 stood silent and abstracted as he pondered 
 on what excuse he could offer to avoid the 
 service, a service which might last several 
 days, his absence during which could not fail 
 to be fraught with the gravest danger to the 
 maiden concealed among the ruins. At last, 
 seeing that Ozias eyed him with surprise not 
 unmingled with impatience, he said : 
 
 " Wouldst thou have a sick man with
 
 118 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 thee ? Perchance thou mayest need the full 
 strength of thy complement." 
 
 " Tush ! " answered Ozias testily. " Tis 
 but the languor of the camp. Trust me, it is 
 action and enterprise that will drive away the 
 sombre spirits that oppress thy mind." 
 
 " Ozias," said Adriel, " thou knowest that 
 I am not the man to shun either danger or 
 toil, and now I say unto thee that ere I 
 had journeyed with thee as far as the pass, my 
 head would swim and my foot fail me. It is 
 in vain thou urgest. I cannot go." 
 
 He spoke decidedly, and the keen old sol- 
 dier saw that argument was useless to press 
 his cause. He shrugged his shoulders and 
 saying, "Be it as thou wilt, but I thought 
 to do thee a service," turned back to where 
 his detachment was fast gathering for the 
 march. 
 
 " Strange, strange," he murmured. " It was 
 his nature to bound with joy at such a ser- 
 vice. Verily, he is possessed of a devil." 
 
 But the time for musing was short, for now
 
 THE SUMMONS TO BATTLE. 119 
 
 three thousand hardy warriors stood ready 
 under arms picked men all, and eager to be 
 led up against the people whose country they 
 now looked upon as, of a truth, their own. 
 The trumpets blared out their brazen sum- 
 mons. Ozias took his place at the head of 
 the detachment, and Joshua, standing on a 
 little rising ground amid a group of the 
 princes, stretched out his hands over them, 
 and with a few brief words bade them go 
 forth. 
 
 " See well, ye men of Israel, that ye smite 
 them with the edge of the sword and leave 
 not one man alive, even as ye smote the 
 men of Jericho; and may the Lord our God 
 attend ye and give ye victory over all your 
 enemies ! " 
 
 Again the trumpet sounded the long slow 
 blast of advance, and the invading party 
 moved forward amid the shouts of the sur- 
 rounding multitude, who envied them the re- 
 lief from the irksome tedium of a dull camp. 
 Clearly the now arisen sun, with neither cloud
 
 120 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 nor mist to dim its effulgence, shone down 
 upon their polished mail as the bearded ranks 
 swept by, through the western gate of the 
 rampart and off into the acacia-studded plain, 
 until the waving spear tips were lost amid 
 the thickening foliage of the distance.
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 UNDER THE SPELL. 
 
 ASS we by the day. Our business is 
 not with it; nor need we follow 
 that grim old soldier, Ozias, with 
 his desert-hardened followers, as they wind 
 up the tortuous pathways of the mountains, 
 thirsting for blood, confident of the slaking 
 of their thirst, yet watchful and wary lest jut- 
 ting cliff or dense ravine should give hiding 
 to snare or ambuscade. They are gone. 
 They have been gone now for many hours, 
 and the darkness is once again spread over 
 tent and ruin. 
 
 Adriel had been resting, as was his wont, 
 during the day, while his family and friends 
 whispered sorrowfully among themselves that
 
 122 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 the fit was upon him. They saw that their 
 presence served but to irritate his troubled 
 brain, and therefore they kept aloof. Even 
 Abiathar was roughly told to " take himself 
 hence," and the ill-concealed anxiety of 
 Miriam, which the boy incautiously revealed, 
 seemed but to throw the patient into a fit 
 gloomier even than those that had gone 
 before. 
 
 Abiathar, while, obedient to the wish of 
 Adriel, he withdrew himself from the tent, 
 yet, mindful of his father's bidding, lingered 
 around and kept a close watch that he whom 
 they deemed a sick man should not go forth 
 unattended. 
 
 At last the boy's watching bore fruit, for, 
 as the night wore into the middle watch, he 
 saw Adriel issue out, clad as before, in tunic 
 and mantle, and take his way toward the 
 western plain. Rising quickly from where he 
 lay upon the grass, Abiathar followed at such 
 a distance as to be unobserved. 
 
 He ran small risk, for the thoughts of
 
 UNDER THE SPELL. 123 
 
 Adriel were far away from the fear of being 
 spied upon. The events of the day had 
 shown conclusively that the game he was 
 playing could not be continued any length of 
 time. True, he had been saved much embar- 
 rassment by the mistake made as to the na- 
 ture of his ailment a mistake which he had 
 been careful to do nothing to correct ; yet 
 even this had its evil in the close watch to 
 which he was subjected. 
 
 By constant contemplation of his growing 
 passion (for it was vain now to deny to him- 
 self that it was such) the shadows of religious 
 fear and race attachments and antipathies 
 had grown fainter ; while Miriam, as a senti- 
 ment or even a reproach, had vanished utterly. 
 His whole mind was now firmly set on the 
 path marked out. Though he outraged every 
 feeling, religious and patriotic, though he 
 stripped every foredeerned virtue from his 
 heart, yet the mysterious eyes of the Chal- 
 dean, as he now knew her to be, sufficed for 
 all. Her image was seated on the thrones of
 
 lj>4 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 constancy, virtue, patriotism aye, and of 
 God and the former occupants might search 
 for other resting-places. 
 
 The questions that now absorbed him and 
 drew the haggard lines of trouble in his face 
 were practical, not moral. He had not as 
 yet spoken directly to Elissa of his passion, 
 though he felt she could hardly be ignorant 
 of the nature of his sentiments. Men do not 
 do such acts as his, so fraught with self-trans- 
 formation and frightful peril, without stronger 
 motives than mere pity or passing interest. 
 But, on the other hand, of her feelings toward 
 him he knew nothing, nor was he as yet fully 
 settled that, were they the most favorable 
 possible, he would do more than escort her to 
 a place of safety, and then return to take his 
 place in the ranks of his people. To take her 
 to a place of safety was his fixed determina- 
 tion in any event, so there was no need at 
 present to conjure up the grim questions of 
 desertion and apostasy. The time, also, for 
 the attempt was settled in his mind. It
 
 UNDER TEE SPELL. 125 
 
 would not be safe to move until the return 
 of Ozias and his followers, nor would it do to 
 delay flight one moment after the return. 
 
 So pondering, Adriel hurried on toward the 
 ruins, unconscious that keener eyes were 
 watching him and younger feet were tracking 
 his footsteps. Fortune, however, smiled on 
 his exploit where Caution had failed to do 
 her duty. 
 
 Though he had moved with rapid strides 
 across the plain, and though his form had 
 been often lost to his pursuer in the thick 
 shadows of the palms, yet, despite his fear of 
 discovery, the boy had, by an occasional short 
 run, managed to keep track of his quarry, 
 while his wonder and sorrow momentarily in- 
 creased at the, to him, evident signs of the 
 affliction they had all so feared. And now he 
 saw the form of Adriel swiftly mounting the 
 ruined wall and then plunging down into the 
 city. 
 
 Abiathar ran forward, but when he reach- 
 ed the summit of the fallen masonry he saw
 
 126 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 no sign of him he sought. Several streets 
 seemed to start from just beyond the point 
 where the man had entered, and there was 
 no sign to disclose which one he had 
 taken. In vain the boy forgot his caution, 
 and, mounting to the highest point of the 
 ruin, sought to gaze over the piles of debris 
 that were scattered beyond. Nothing was 
 visible save the moonlight playing on fallen 
 block and column, nothing audible save the 
 howling of wolf and the snarling of dog, as 
 they still struggled over their loathsome 
 repast. 
 
 Once Abiathar plunged down into the broad- 
 est street and ran at full speed some distance up 
 its encumbered roadway. Then the vainness 
 of his search came back upon him, added to 
 a superstitious dread of his surroundings and 
 a wholesome terror of the beasts of prey, and, 
 turning, he set his face again toward the 
 camp, with downcast eyes and sorrowing 
 heart. 
 
 Meanwhile Adriel, unconscious of the fact
 
 UNDER THE SPELL. 127 
 
 that he had shaken off his pursuer, as he was 
 unconscious that he had been pursued, moved 
 swiftly on until he reached his point of des- 
 tination. 
 
 Everything seemed as he had left it with 
 the hut and its occupant; the one was 
 apparently as impassive as the other to the 
 horror, danger, and solitude that surrounded 
 them. 
 
 Adriel entered and seated himself without 
 a word upon a low stone which had evidently 
 served the former owner as a stool. For 
 many moments the silence continued un- 
 broken. At last the girl spoke. 
 
 " My lord is weary ? Peradventure he 
 would rest? He is welcome to such couch 
 as his servant hath to offer him." 
 
 He started at the sound of her voice, and 
 then, coming close to her and taking her hand 
 in his, he said : 
 
 "Elissa, I have striven ere this to speak 
 to thee of what is in my heart, and there 
 has been that within me which fought it
 
 128 THE SPELL OF ASHTAEOTH. 
 
 back. Now the time has come and I can be 
 silent no longer. Thou must have known, 
 girl, that no common motive could have 
 driven one of my race into such a course as 
 I have followed. We are well spoken of as 
 pitiless to our enemies ; and now I am come 
 to say unto thee that I am here to go much 
 farther in the path I have chosen. I am here 
 to say that when the moment comes, as it 
 must ere long, I am fixed in mind to go forth 
 bearing thee with me, to leave my people, and 
 to defy my God ; nay, more, to draw sword 
 against them, if the worst may come. I 
 know well that the God of Israel has marked 
 out this whole land for an heritage to his 
 people, and has commanded them to sweep 
 its inhabitants from the face of the earth ; 
 but I know, too, that there are other lands 
 than this. There are cities by the great sea 
 of which I have heard cities the wealth 
 and power of which it is hard to conceive 
 and there is, too, that Babylon of which thou 
 hast spoken. Peradventure it will go hard
 
 UNDER THE SPELL. 129 
 
 with us if there be not some refuge where 
 the children of the desert shall not come. 
 Thither, then, dearest, shall we journey, and 
 live under the protection of thy gods, that 
 thy Ashtaroth may bless our loves and give 
 us protection against the Jehovah of Israel." 
 
 He finished, and, reaching out, strove gently 
 to draw her toward him ; but she held back. 
 Slipping her hands from his, she stood drawn 
 up to the height of her slender figure, and 
 made him answer: 
 
 " My lord does honor to his servant in that 
 he hath spoken to her as he hath. It is even 
 more than the benefits he hath heaped upon 
 her in the past ; for was she not the captive 
 of his sword and spear ? and did it not seem 
 to him that he might do with her as he 
 would ? That she had both power and will 
 to escape from such a fate, he knew not, 
 though it were true. Hear me then, son of 
 Israel ! It may not be that I should be thy 
 wife. The laws of my country and my gods 
 forbid it, even as do thine ; for has not my
 
 130 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 father fallen before thy people, and is not 
 thine own sword wet with the blood of my 
 brother, my kindred, and my servants ? 
 Grateful I may feel ; but to be thy wife ! 
 I see all the powers of heaven and earth 
 leagued to punish such an union. Nay, now, 
 have reason ! There may yet be time for 
 thee to make peace with thy God. Bury thy 
 sword in my bosom, as I bade thee once be- 
 fore, and risk no more in behalf of one who 
 cannot give thee the reward thou earnest." 
 
 " By my God and by thine ! By all the 
 powers of every heaven ! " Adriel cried out, 
 " I have sworn that thou shalt live, and thou 
 shalt, whether thou rewardest me or no." 
 
 There was that in his voice which admitted 
 of no argument, and she saw it and held her 
 peace ; but in the mind of Adriel was tumult 
 and confusion. Never for a moment had he 
 imagined that she who, by all the laws of 
 warfare, was his slave, would not bound with 
 joy at such an offer as he made. Young, 
 handsome, active, and courageous, he had
 
 UNDER THE SPELL. 131 
 
 known himself to be the petted favorite of 
 the maidens of Israel, until his affection for 
 Miriam had bade them despair; and now that 
 this girl, over whom he held the power of 
 life or death, for whom he ran such risks, 
 should gaze upon him calmly and deny his 
 impassioned appeal ! it dazed him. 
 
 When he had recovered from his surprise 
 and came to think over the reasons which 
 had guided her, his judgment could not but 
 acknowledge their strength according to 
 Eastern prejudice. 
 
 Reason as he might, however, two facts 
 shone clear and unmistakable before him : 
 first, that his suit, which he had considered 
 sure, if he had considered it at all, was, at the 
 best, but doubtful ; and second, that the un- 
 expected resistance he had experienced had 
 strengthened the already strong passion with- 
 in him, until now it dominated unchecked 
 over his whole being. The last vestiges of 
 restraint and remorse were gone. Even Con- 
 science stilled her voice in despair.
 
 132 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 Several times, as he gazed upon the girl, 
 he felt the fierce, warm blood of his race 
 surging up and bidding him exert the recog- 
 nized power of master over captive; but 
 there was too much reverence in his feeling 
 for her to allow such a purpose to gain foot- 
 hold, and then, too, he recalled what she had 
 said about her power to free herself from 
 such a danger, and he had seen too much 
 of her determination and coolness to doubt 
 that her deeds would fulfil the promise of 
 her words. 
 
 As he stood there, his purpose became 
 again fixed. 
 
 " Be it as thou sayest," he said, " and know 
 that I will show thee that my love is neither 
 faint nor selfish. Be thou ready, for I will 
 come to thee to-morrow, or the day after 
 at the latest, with beasts of burden, and will 
 bear thee hence ; and when thou art safe, 
 thou shalt then reward me or not, even as 
 thou wilt. Hast thou sufficient for thy 
 wants ? "
 
 UNDER THE SPELL. 133 
 
 She bowed her head, and he turned to 
 pass out, not daring to trust himself to 
 a longer interview. As he disappeared 
 through the narrow entrance, her voice rose 
 to call him back, but instinct and education 
 yet managed to hold their guard against 
 the half-formed impulse, and his tall form 
 soon vanished in the darkness.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 EVIL TIDINGS. 
 
 IGHT had again sped away on dusky 
 pinions, and Day had taken her ene- 
 my's place. Nay, more, the sun was 
 already high up in the heavens and shone with 
 a dull, lurid light that made the low plain 
 closer and more sultry even than was its 
 wont ; and there was a hush over all the 
 wide extent of the field of tents, deeper even 
 than the stillness of noonday. 
 
 In spite of the intense heat men forsook all 
 friendly shelter and stood in groups convers- 
 ing together in whispered tones, while at 
 the western gateway sat Joshua, amid the 
 council of the chiefs, watching and waiting 
 for the first tidings of those who had gone
 
 EVIL TIDINGS. 135 
 
 forth to do the will of God upon a doomed 
 city. 
 
 "Thou saidst that their fortifications were 
 as nothing to agile men, didst thou not ? " he 
 said to Caleb, who stood beside him. 
 
 " Yes, my lord," was the answer ; " but, ac- 
 cording to the report of those that went to 
 spy, our people could scarce have gone and 
 returned by this, had there been naught to 
 do upon the ground." 
 
 Eleazer spoke : " I know not why it is, but 
 my mind has been ill at ease even from before 
 sunrise until now. I would that more had 
 gone with Ozias. Perchance it were well that 
 scouts should go forth now to anticipate tid- 
 ings." 
 
 "Nay, Eleazer," said Caleb. "Dost thou 
 doubt that the God of Israel availeth to give 
 the city into the hands of three hundred, aye, 
 and of three men, were it his will ? " 
 
 "I have passed the age of doubt, Caleb," 
 answered the old man calmly, " and while the 
 spirit of prophecy has never come upon me,
 
 136 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 yet I feel this day as I have never felt when 
 Israel went forth to battle. Does it not seem 
 to thee that there is a strange silence among 
 the people, a something that even the hour 
 and the heat cannot account for ? " 
 
 Before Caleb could make the answer which 
 seemed to spring in a half-scornful fashion to 
 his lips, there was a commotion among those 
 on the western outskirt of the multitude, and 
 cries arose of, 
 
 " See ! A messenger from Ozias ! See ye 
 him now among the palm-trees ? Now he 
 comes forth into the plain ! " 
 
 All arose, and Joshua, from his higher posi- 
 tion, beheld a man running swiftly toward 
 them across the plain, while all around 
 thronged forward to meet him. 
 
 But as they came nearer, the first of the 
 crowd halted, and then seemed to draw back 
 and separate before the path of the messen- 
 ger, who, at the same time, slowed his head- 
 long gait to a walk and, without a word, 
 without a question asked, stalked on with
 
 EVIL TIDINGS. 137 
 
 downcast head between the ranks of awe- 
 struck men and women that closed again be- 
 hind him and thronged in his wake, until at 
 length he stood before the chiefs assembled 
 at the western rampart. 
 
 Not a word had yet been spoken. He stood 
 amid the crowd a young man, naked, as the 
 term goes : that is, clad only in his tunic, and 
 without arms or armor of any kind. As was 
 to be expected, he was weary and travel-stained 
 from the distance covered and the speed with 
 which he had come. It was his face and his 
 silence which told a story of which none durst 
 question him further. 
 
 Joshua himself at last broke the grim still- 
 ness. 
 
 " Speak ! What tidings dost thou bring to 
 the Princes of Israel ? Art thou from Ozias, 
 the son of Zadok ? " 
 
 " Ozias is not," replied the man in hollow 
 tones, while the multitude pressed close around 
 him with horror and dismay in every face. 
 
 " And his followers ? " asked Joshua, bend-
 
 138 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 ing eagerly forward to catch, as it were, the 
 very movements of the runner's lips ere yet the 
 words should leave them. 
 
 "Are fallen or scattered unto the four 
 winds;" was the gloomy answer. "Verily, 
 they smote us with the edge of the sword 
 even back unto the passes." 
 
 A long, low groan went up from those who 
 heard the words of the messenger, and then of 
 a sudden a wailing arose over the whole camp ; 
 so swiftly fled the news from mouth to mouth, 
 supplemented as it was by other and still 
 more certain intelligence ; for now the swift- 
 est or most timid of those who had gone forth 
 with Ozias began to straggle in with haggard, 
 weary faces and battered arms, or none at all ; 
 while here and there red, gaping gashes half 
 closed and choked with dust gave ghastlier 
 testimony to the story of defeat. Slowly and 
 from many tongues the tale at length took 
 shape. 
 
 They had marched confidently out. They 
 had threaded their difficult and wearisome
 
 EVIL TIDINGS. 139 
 
 way through the rugged passes of the moun- 
 tains, guided by the spies of the day before. 
 Safely and unattacked they had emerged from 
 the lower defiles, and had, without rest, pressed 
 on to where they saw rampart and roof that 
 awaited them for a prey. 
 
 Thus hastening forward eager and trium- 
 phant, they defiled upon a small, level table- 
 land, which trended gently up to the very 
 gates of the city ; where, of a sudden, they 
 beheld an army drawn up to dispute all 
 farther advance. There was no time for rest, 
 nor had the fierce warriors asked or desired 
 it ; but, confident in their line of unbroken 
 victories, they shouted with one voice to be 
 led against the foe, and rushed forward, a 
 tumultuous mass of waving spears, while the 
 men of Canaan, from their side, came on as 
 boldly. In front of the hostile line of battle, 
 twenty war-chariots of iron drove on to break 
 the Israelite ranks; on each wing overlapping 
 clouds of horsemen swept around the in- 
 vaders' flanks ; while in the centre the dense
 
 140 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 mass of spearmen pushed forward to take 
 advantage of, and render irremediable, such 
 confusion as chariot and horseman should 
 produce. 
 
 In an instant the ponderous iron wheels, 
 armed with their projecting knives, were 
 hurtling through the Israelitish ranks. The 
 horse closed in upon the wings, until the 
 shattered and disordered remnant offered but 
 a sorry front to the bristling lines that swept 
 down upon them in orderly array. 
 
 For a few brief moments the hand-to-hand 
 struggle continued, and then, seeing them- 
 selves steadily forced backward, a panic sud- 
 den and unreasoning came upon the invaders. 
 God had darkened his face! and, breaking 
 such semblance of order as yet remained, they 
 fled madly in all directions, pursued and cut 
 down, until they reached the sheltering ref- 
 uge of the mountain defiles. 
 
 Ozias had been seen at the last moment, 
 like a lion at bay in the midst of a closing 
 circle of Canaanitish spears, with his short
 
 EVIL TIDINGS. HI 
 
 sword hewing and hacking at the dense 
 forest around him. Now he went down on 
 one knee before a clever thrust; then, up 
 again, only to sink exhausted with wounds 
 and overpowered by numbers. The next in- 
 stant his head had appeared upon a spear- 
 point, and then the rout became general and 
 irretrievable. 
 
 Such was the sad story, and, amid the 
 voice of weeping and despair that filled the 
 camp, rose the sullen murmur against the 
 leaders, and even against the God who led 
 the people to destruction. As they had 
 deemed themselves irresistible, so the shock of 
 defeat fell upon them the more severely, and 
 more voices than one arose amid the general 
 clamor and exclaimed, " Let us see what God 
 presides over the safety of Ai, for he is 
 mightier than ours, and it were well to make 
 sacrifice unto him." 
 
 Joshua had first, like a wary captain, lis- 
 tened closely and with searching questions 
 to the tale of the fugitives, had learned that
 
 142 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 the pursuit had stopped at the mountain 
 passes, and had given orders that flying de- 
 tachments should go forth and scour the 
 country, to bring in the scattered remnant 
 and succor such as might have fainted from 
 their wounds among the mountains. 
 
 This done, he passed with downcast head 
 unto the great tabernacle, that stood central 
 amid the tents, and there, standing before 
 the gorgeous curtain, rich with embroidered 
 cherubim that curtain which shut out what 
 lay beyond, save to the naked feet of the 
 priests he tore open the garment over his 
 broad chest, and sprinkled dust upon his 
 forehead, and fell upon his face before the 
 entrance in an agony of grief and shame, in- 
 voking the God that pervaded heaven and 
 earth, and yet condescended to dwell among 
 them in the habitation they had built for 
 him even as he had commanded. 
 
 And Joshua cried out, " Alas ! O Lord 
 God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this 
 people over Jordan to deliver us into the
 
 EVIL TIDINGS. 143 
 
 hand of the Amorites, to destroy us ? Would 
 to God we had been content and dwelt on 
 the other side Jordan ! O Lord ! What shall 
 I say when Israel turn their backs before 
 their enemies ? For the Canaanites and all 
 the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, 
 and shall environ us round and cut off our 
 name from the earth, and what wilt thou do 
 unto thy great name ? "
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE ANSWER. 
 
 ALE and trembling, overcome with 
 sorrow, shame, and despair, yet si- 
 lent after the first great outbreak of 
 feeling, the people had followed Joshua up to 
 where he had entered into the enclosure of 
 the tabernacle, and now they waited in terror 
 and awe as the thunder rolled from out of 
 the darkened sky and seemed to find an echo 
 within the sombre coverings of azure-dyed 
 skins that hid the more delicate textures and 
 fine gold from profane eyes. 
 
 The enclosure itself, shut in by brazen pil- 
 lars with hangings of twined white linen yarn, 
 was thronged with priests and princes lying 
 prone upon the ground with rent robes and
 
 THE ANSWER. 145 
 
 dust sprinkled upon their temples ; while the 
 cherubim, embroidered in blue, purple, and 
 scarlet upon the linen curtain that hung over 
 the mysterious entrance, seemed to gaze with 
 sad and pitying eyes upon the sorrowing mul- 
 titude. 
 
 Hours had passed, and still they waited 
 until perchance some sign should be given; 
 until their eternal sentence should be pro- 
 nounced ; while from time to time the low, 
 rumbling voice of the thunder seemed to 
 carry menace in its hollow tones, and struck 
 the fangs of superstitious terror deep down 
 into their very souls. So the day wore on 
 until the going down of the sun, and then 
 the earth seemed to rock and shudder, while 
 the low, deep thunders gathered volume and 
 broke with terrific crashes upon the startled 
 ears of those who waited. The sacred tent 
 seemed to tremble as though a mighty wind 
 passed through it with a murmur like the 
 sound of voices in some language unknown 
 
 on earth. The tension of human nerves had 
 10
 
 146 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 been strained to its limit during the horrors 
 of the long afternoon, and now a panic of 
 wild, blind terror seized upon all, driving 
 them well nigh to madness in its furious 
 embrace. 
 
 It is impossible to say to what headlong 
 folly a few brief moments of ungoverned fear 
 misrht have driven the mass of human beings 
 
 o o 
 
 surging and swaying like an imprisoned and 
 stormy ocean which, when it finds an open- 
 ing in the barriers that oppose it, bursts forth 
 to desolate the land. 
 
 Those moments never came. The weak- 
 ened and fast-vanishing barriers of sslf-con- 
 trol found the needed support in a clear voice 
 that rose distinct above the tumult and bade 
 the loosened ocean of human passions back 
 into its channels. It was not the deep, mys- 
 terious, unknown voice that they had seemed 
 to hear, and which had now ceased. It was 
 the voice of Joshua, who stood erect and 
 faced them, and the words he spake were 
 these :
 
 THE ANSWER. 147 
 
 " Let the people be silent and listen ! " 
 
 The storm subsided more rapidly even than 
 it arose. He stood on the rising ground at 
 the entrance of the tabernacle, and his face 
 was pale, but he trod as though the fire of 
 heaven had been infused into his veins. 
 
 " Men of Israel ! " he began. " In times of 
 trouble it has been granted unto those whom 
 Jehovah hath chosen to lead his people, to 
 hear and understand that voice whereat the 
 mountains tremble and the heaven hides its 
 face. While I lay prostrate before the Ark, 
 I communed with the God of Israel, and he 
 hath spoken out to me from the great cur- 
 tains, from the holy of holies, yea, even from 
 the Ark of the covenant. Listen now, and 
 give heed to the words which Jehovah hath 
 said unto his servant in the voice ye heard, 
 but understood not. 
 
 " ' Get thee up ! ' it spake. ' Wherefore 
 liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath 
 sinned, and they have transgressed my cove- 
 nant which I commanded them ; for they have
 
 148 THE SPELL OF ASI1TAROTH. 
 
 taken of the accursed thing, and have stolen 
 and dissembled also, and they have put it 
 even among their own goods. Therefore the 
 children of Israel could not stand before their 
 enemies, but turned their backs before their 
 enemies because they were accursed ; neither 
 will I be with you any more, except ye de- 
 stroy the accursed from among you. Up! 
 and sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify 
 yourselves against to-morrow, for thus saith 
 the Lord God of Israel : 
 
 " ' There is an accursed thing in the midst 
 of thee, O Israel ! Thou canst not stand before 
 thine enemies until ye take away the accursed 
 thing from among you.' So spake the voice 
 of Jehovah. 
 
 "In the morning, therefore, ye shall be 
 brought according to your tribes, and it shall 
 be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall 
 come according to the families thereof ; and 
 the family which the Lord shall take, shall 
 come by households ; and the household 
 which the Lord shall take, shall come man by
 
 THE ANSWER. 149 
 
 man. And it shall be that he that is taken 
 with the accursed thing shall be burnt with 
 fire, he and all that he hath ; because he hath 
 transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and 
 because he hath wrought folly in Israel." 
 
 He ceased speaking, and a silence almost 
 audible in its intensity fell upon the hun- 
 dreds of thousands who thronged around, 
 even to the uttermost borders of the listening 
 multitude where human voice might strive 
 in vain to reach, and yet where every word 
 he had uttered was deep graven on their 
 hearts though their ears heard not. Men 
 looked into each other's faces pale with terror 
 a nameless, superstitious dread of some- 
 thing they knew not what. Some man of 
 Israel had sinned against the great Jehovah. 
 He had taken of the accursed thing. Their 
 God spoke in a language the meaning of 
 which their minds strove in vain to gather. 
 Only this was clear. That whatever the 
 mysterious nature of the act thus vaguely 
 shadowed forth, whoever the daring criminal
 
 150 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 who strove with impious presumption to 
 overreach Him whose seat was between the 
 cherubim, there was a judgment to come 
 a judgment in which the heavenly power 
 was to be once more manifested in all its 
 terrors saving only the last. The condemna- 
 tion came from the lips of God, but the pun- 
 ishment was left to men. The awful scene 
 when the rebellious sons of Aaron and their 
 company had disappeared into the gaping 
 earth that fearful day which many of them 
 remembered so well that day and scene 
 were not to be repeated. 
 
 When they raised their eyes and gazed 
 again upon the taberriacle, he who had 
 spoken to them stood no longer by its en- 
 trance. Unnoticed and unseen he had passed 
 down through the dense ranks of the people 
 and gone into his own tent. 
 
 Then slowly and still in silence, the great 
 crowd melted away until the broad space 
 that surrounded the sacred enclosure was 
 bare of the multitude that but a short time
 
 THE ANSWER. 151 
 
 before had made it rock and waver with 
 their trampling, and had joined their voices, 
 raised in terror, to the vengeful thunder of 
 the Almighty. Only the priests remained to 
 pray and offer sacrifice during the night that 
 Jehovah might take away the curse which lay 
 upon the people.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 
 
 tad been musing in his tent 
 during the long morning while Is- 
 rael had waited for the news of vic- 
 tory at Ai, and it was Abiathar who first 
 brought him the tidings of defeat, and of the 
 death of the man who had loved him as a 
 son the father of Miriam and of the boy 
 who stood before him, and who, the first 
 transports of grief now over, bore upon his 
 face a stern, vindictive look that augured ill 
 for his forbearance to such Canaanites as 
 might in after years cross his path. 
 
 Roused at the tidings, the old spirit of the 
 soldier for an instant flashed forth in the 
 bosom of Adriel, and his kindling eye sought
 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 153 
 
 where Ms arms had hung useless while their 
 master's mind was troubled about other 
 things. Abiathar marked the glance, and a 
 flash of joy passed over his features. 
 
 " Arouse thee, Adriel ! We two will go 
 forth with the people and take vengeance 
 on them that slew my father and Miriam's. 
 They shall muster me into the host though I 
 be not of the allotted age." 
 
 But even as the boy spoke, the forces of 
 which Abiathar knew not resumed their 
 momentarily relaxed control. Adriel threw 
 himself back upon his couch. The mission 
 which he had taken up forbade all thoughts 
 of waging war against Canaan, even though 
 every man of his family and tribe might have 
 fallen before the scythed chariots. 
 
 "What am I, Abiathar?" he said sadly. 
 "What am I, broken and shattered as thou 
 seest me, to take sword and shield against 
 the men of Canaan ? Trust that Joshua will 
 not rest until thy father and my friend is 
 well avenged."
 
 154 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 A deep shade of disappointment and sur- 
 prise spread itself over the boy's face, but, 
 before he gathered voice to answer or remon- 
 strate, the tumult without grew louder and 
 more confused, until, carried away in spite of 
 himself, Adriel sprang up, and throwing his 
 mantle over his shoulder, strode out followed 
 by his companion, and, mingling with the ex- 
 cited crowd, was borne swiftly toward the 
 centre of the camp, whither the Captain 
 seemed to have taken his way. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Through all the varied passions that had 
 inspired and swayed that vast multitude 
 while they waited through the long after- 
 noon, Adriel had remained stolid and pas- 
 sionless. His thoughts were far away from 
 what was passing around him. In the par- 
 oxysm of terror that at the last convulsed 
 the people, his feelings were scarcely moved 
 from the deep inward contemplation that ab- 
 sorbed them ; but when the Captain of Israel 
 had appeared once more and quieted the
 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 155 
 
 turmoil that had threatened to overturn all 
 order and government ; when his stern, clear 
 voice rose high and silenced the swelling 
 murmur of the on-coming wave, Adriel, im- 
 pelled by an irresistible impulse, bent his 
 ear and listened, spell-bound, to the words of 
 Jehovah as he spoke by the mouth of his 
 chosen leader. 
 
 Those words, which to the wondering mul- 
 titude seemed strange and enigmatical, to him 
 bore meaning fraught with all that was sug- 
 gestive and terrible. He saw, or fancied he 
 saw, the Being whose commands he had de- 
 fied bending from the very heavens to bring 
 punishment swift and awful upon the daring 
 offender, and smiting the whole nation that 
 they might be aroused to execute vengeance. 
 
 Not least among these agonized visions was 
 the thought of the sure destruction that must 
 await her for whose sake he had run the risk. 
 Even were her hiding-place not disclosed by 
 the same Power that condemned him, yet 
 what hope was there for her to escape with-
 
 156 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 out food and unprotected ? He saw her, on 
 the one hand, a helpless victim to the laws 
 of an outraged and maddened Israel ; on the 
 other, a sure prey to hunger or to the fierce 
 beasts and fiercer men who made their homes 
 in the mountains and descended but to slay 
 and plunder. 
 
 Aroused at length from the swarm of hide- 
 ous nightmares that floated across his vision, 
 he became conscious that he stood alone in 
 the broad plain, with the murmuring camp 
 around him and the monotonous voices of the 
 priests as they rose in a steady swell from 
 the holy ground before. 
 
 " God have mercy on thy chosen people ! " 
 they sang, or rather chanted. " God be mer- 
 ciful and disclose him who hath brought con- 
 fusion upon Israel ! May his blood wash 
 away our reproach in the eyes of the people 
 of the land, and may their blood be again as 
 water when they gaze upon our advancing 
 standards ! " 
 
 So the long chant arose together with the
 
 TEE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 157 
 
 smoke and odor of the sacrifices, until, unable 
 to listen to the rain of awful imprecations 
 that devoted him to a shameful death, he 
 turned and strode away into the darkness. 
 
 Scarce conscious of where he went, he 
 passed in among the tents, over the rampart, 
 and out into the acacia-studded plain, his head 
 sunk upon his breast, a victim to the dull 
 blight that had settled over him, until he 
 beheld the moon glittering upon the white 
 ruins of the fallen city. Then only did the 
 man gather himself together and become in- 
 spired with consciousness and feeling with 
 the knowledge of what and where he was. 
 He turned, with footsteps no longer wavering, 
 in that direction toward which he had set 
 his face on other nights, and soon reached 
 and entered the hut that sheltered her for 
 whose sake he saw himself as a doomed 
 man. 
 
 Without a word, without even an answer 
 to the girl's greeting, he sat down upon the 
 edge of the couch and buried his head in his
 
 158 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 hands, while his sinewy body swayed and 
 trembled under the excess of his emotion. 
 
 For a few moments she gazed upon him in 
 silence. Then she spoke. 
 
 " My lord vexes himself to-night. Let him 
 speak freely unto his servant, that she may 
 perchance bring him comfort." 
 
 Adriel shuddered at the sound of her even- 
 ly modulated voice, but he made no answer. 
 
 " Are the evil spirits heavy on my master's 
 heart ? Let him look up, and his servant will 
 charm them away. Thou knowest my peo- 
 ple are cunning with spells." 
 
 Then he arose and stood before her. " Dost 
 thou know, girl," he said, " that we are even 
 as the dead ? " 
 
 She laughed merrily. 
 
 "Is it that which maketh thee heavy of 
 heart? Nay, rather rejoice, for death is rest 
 from battles, and sorrows, and all labors." 
 
 " Thinkest thou," he asked bitterly, " that 
 the death Jehovah sendeth as a punishment 
 will be a thing of pleasure ? Know that de-
 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 159 
 
 feat has fallen upon our people at the hands 
 of the men of Ai. There is death and wail- 
 ing in our camp, and Jehovah hath thundered 
 forth from his most holy place that his peo- 
 ple are accursed because of the sin of one; 
 and he hath bidden them come forth upon 
 the morrow that he may deliver him that is 
 guilty into their hands that they may slay 
 him. But know that though death be bitter, 
 and though what cometh after worse, yet that 
 which I now suffer is less tolerable the 
 thought that thou must fall with me; for 
 thinkest thou that when our God shall pun- 
 ish my defiance, he will yet leave thee undis- 
 covered? It is that, Elissa, that rends my 
 spirit and makes me womanish at the sight of 
 death." 
 
 Once again the girl laughed. 
 
 " Listen ! " she said. " Why shouldst thou 
 mourn over me when I tell thee that death 
 cannot shake my spirit ? I shall take him in 
 my arms, and kiss his lips as a maiden kisseth 
 the bridegroom on her wedding night. Be-
 
 160 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 hold, now I will show thee a way, and all 
 shall yet be well. Take thy sword and slay 
 me as thy God wills it. Then wilt thou 
 send me whither I fear not to journey, and 
 the sacrifice shall win thee favor in the eyes 
 of thy God that he may not destroy thee." 
 
 Adriel flushed high at her words, and his 
 answer hissed fiercely from between teeth 
 tight clenched. 
 
 " Thou knowest that I sorrow but for thee, 
 and thinkest thou that I will slay thee now to 
 save to myself that which I value not, the 
 curse of life ? Thou wouldst not love me ; 
 but thou shalt see to-morrow that I will walk 
 to death as blithely for thy sake as though 
 thou hadst been to me all I craved ! " 
 
 As he spoke his voice had softened until 
 fierceness and bitterness were gone. Only 
 deep and overpowering affection was in its 
 tones. He threw himself down upon the 
 rude bench. His head bent forward upon his 
 breast, and for a space no word was heard. 
 Then she came softly to his side and, kneel-
 
 TEE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 161 
 
 ing down, took both his hands in hers and 
 said: 
 
 "If iny lord so loveth his handmaid that 
 he would die thus, such love as he hath given 
 shall he have in return." 
 
 At her words and touch the old life sprang 
 up within him. The blood again coursed 
 hotly through his veins, and, with arms wound 
 close around her slender form, he strained her 
 to his bosom and kissed fiercely again and 
 again the flower-like face turned unresistingly 
 toward him. Then, releasing her, he rose to 
 his full height, once more in the semblance of 
 the fierce soldier that had pressed on eagerly 
 in the fore-front of the battle ; once more that 
 Adriel who had mounted the breach sword in 
 hand against the spears of Canaan; but not 
 he who had spoken to Miriam of love where 
 the standard of Judah waved on that night 
 before the city fell. There only was the im- 
 age changed ; for the heart had gone into the 
 keeping of the daughter of Ashtaroth. 
 
 At last Adriel spoke again. 
 11
 
 162 THE SPELL OF ASUTAROTH. 
 
 " Now is my heart free to welcome death 
 and torment, and laugh with thee, my beloved? 
 at those who may seek to do us ill. We shall 
 die a merry death." 
 
 She seemed to ponder while her hand still 
 rested in his. Then she looked up again and 
 said : 
 
 " Wherefore, O Adriel, dost thou speak of 
 death? The morrow is not yet come, and 
 shall we stand and wait for it like sheep at the 
 shambles ? Let us rather hasten to the city 
 that has overthrown thy people's warriors in 
 battle, and peradventure we shall live and not 
 die." 
 
 Adriel shook his head mournfully while 
 he smiled on the girl who stood erect and 
 eager before him. 
 
 "Thinkest thou," he said, "to fly from Je- 
 hovah ? That the God of Israel is such a 
 feeble G-od that those whom he hath marked 
 out for destruction may say, ' I will arise and 
 journey ten miles, or I will journey twenty 
 miles, and this God shall not find me ' ? "
 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 163 
 
 " Nay, but, 7 ' she answered stoutly ; " shall 
 we therefore set ourselves down and say 
 that death is upon us because some God hath 
 frowned ? Are there not other gods beside 
 the Jehovah ? There are Ashtaroth, and Baal- 
 Moloch, and Baal-Melkarth, and Adonis, and 
 Ashera ; and there are all the mighty gods 
 of my father's people in the East. And I 
 have heard of the great things they have done 
 for those who worshipped them. Dost thou 
 think that thy God can slay thee if all these 
 bid him nay? Yet, know that thou must re- 
 gard thine own safety, that the gods may see 
 it is of value, for they bend not from the 
 heavens for little things." 
 
 As she spoke a dark perplexed cloud spread 
 itself over his face, and after a moment's 
 thought he answered : 
 
 " It is taught among my people that there 
 is no God but Jehovah ; that those whom 
 thou callest gods are but wood and stone, 
 and gold, and silver, and that they slay not, 
 neither save."
 
 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 Once more she laughed, this time low and 
 softly. 
 
 "Think not," she said, "that the stories of 
 old are false, and that thy God has but to 
 breathe upon all others that they sink away. 
 Is it for nothing that Ha has reigned for a 
 thousand years in Babylon, with Ana, and 
 Belus, and Hoa? that thy people, coming 
 naked out of the desert, should say that these 
 are not gods ? Arouse thee ! Shake thy su- 
 perstition from thy soul, and I will show thee 
 that there are mighty gods who know not 
 the God of Israel." 
 
 " Wherefore, then," asked Adriel, "did they 
 not save the city ? " 
 
 " The gods know all things," she answered, 
 solemnly. "They give life, and they take 
 it. Peradventure they smote the city that 
 it should be as a warning unto others to 
 neglect not their worship, for the men of 
 Jericho thought not of aught but feasting 
 and pleasure, until the word came that Israel 
 was come up against them. Then it was
 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 165 
 
 that they fell down and worshipped and made 
 sacrifice ; but the gods bend not to time- 
 servers, and they gave them unto thy people 
 for a prey. Markest thou that He smote not 
 the men of Ai, and they met ye man to man 
 in the open field ? " 
 
 Again Adriel's brow was drawn in 
 thought. Then he said: 
 
 " What wouldst thou, maiden, that I 
 should do?" 
 
 " Fly ! " she answered promptly, " and not 
 linger here to be stricken down like a slave 
 tinder the lash. It is not yet the middle 
 watch, and thou canst return to thy camp 
 and get beasts of burden that shall bear us 
 across the mountains even unto Ai, and 
 laugh at thy God ere he arise to slay thee in 
 the morning." 
 
 " It shall be as thou sayest," he answered. 
 " I will make the attempt, and do thou pray 
 unto thy gods that they bare their arms in 
 our defence, for I tell thee that the God of 
 Israel is mightier than thou dreamest. Come
 
 166 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 thou with me, and I will lead thee unto that 
 border of the city nearest the carnp, that thou 
 mayest await me there until I return with the 
 beasts, for of a truth no asses could pick their 
 way through the path by which I seek thee 
 here." 
 
 Taking her once more by the hand, he 
 led her out into the night, and they passed 
 again through the remains of narrow, crooked 
 streets, clogged and well nigh impassable 
 from the ruin that had fallen over them. 
 
 Suddenly, as they turned a corner, Adriel, 
 whose watchful eye had been ever active for 
 signs of danger, perceived three figures stand- 
 ing but a few paces ahead of them. 
 
 He sprang back behind the angle of a wall, 
 drawing Elissa with him. But it was too 
 late. He was seen by one of the men, who 
 called out : 
 
 " Ah, Badezor ! Thinkest thou to hide ? 
 I will bring thee forth " and his sandals 
 sounded on the stones as he sprang forward 
 to seek one whom he thought to be a com-
 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 167 
 
 rade minded to jest. But, as he turned the 
 corner, a different greeting was in store for 
 him. 
 
 Adriel stood close to the wall, with Elissa 
 crouching behind him, and the man started 
 back in astonishment as he found himself 
 face to face with one he had never seen. 
 The flash of a weapon in the moonlight 
 came before his eyes, and then he sank down 
 with the sword deep set in his throat. 
 
 A gasp a vain attempt to cry out ; and 
 then the gurgle of swift-rushing blood, and 
 all was still. 
 
 " Now let us fly swiftly," whispered Adriel, 
 " for his fellows will come soon to seek him, 
 and without armor I might fare badly at 
 their hands ; " and, half carrying his com- 
 panion in his arms, he ran with her until a 
 safe distance separated him from possible 
 pursuers. Then they resumed their inter- 
 rupted way toward the edge of the plain. 
 
 "Were they robbers?" asked the girl, as 
 she regained her breath after their rapid flight.
 
 168 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 " Yea, robbers," he replied, " or perad ven- 
 ture stragglers from Gilgal. It seemed to 
 my startled ears that he spake to me in He- 
 brew, yet the name he called is not one given 
 among my people. But what matters it ? Be 
 he Jew or Canaanite, soldier or robber, the 
 danger were equal and the escape welcome." 
 
 They now found themselves on the border 
 of the plain that extended down to the sur- 
 rounding belt of palm-trees, and a short 
 search disclosed a small hollow among the 
 ruins, a sort of artificial cave formed by 
 fallen timbers which rested upon blocks of 
 stone. It afforded a perfect concealment to 
 such as might need it, for the opening was 
 small and offered no temptation to an ex- 
 plorer. 
 
 Here then Adriel bade his companion re- 
 main hidden until he could cross to the camp 
 and return with -animals which should bear 
 them to a place of safety ; and, leaving his 
 mantle behind him that his speed might be 
 hindered the less, he ran swiftly across the
 
 THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. 169 
 
 plain and plunged into the shadow of the 
 palms. Without checking his speed, he 
 bounded on through the wide spaces of the 
 grove where the moon threw the shadows of 
 tall trees across his path, trees that swayed 
 with a graceful motion which seemed to give 
 life to the phantoms of their forms in the 
 eyes of an imagination excited and over- 
 wrought by contending tides of superstitious 
 dread. 
 
 Quickening his pace, he soon bounded clear 
 of the ghostly shapes of the forest and 
 reached the confines of the camp.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE. 
 
 T was no easy task for one bound on 
 a doubtful errand to penetrate un- 
 observed into that warlike camp, to 
 pass among the tents of thousands of men who 
 slept but to wake for war, and whom the 
 perils of battle and the desert had made 
 watchful and suspicious. Yet to-night the 
 attempt was fraught with uncommon danger. 
 
 Sleep even such as was accustomed to 
 hold sway was banished from every tent, 
 while on every side were prayers and sacri- 
 fices and ablutions to make ready for the 
 stern scenes upon which to-morrow's sun 
 should look down. 
 
 True, an Israelite could wander about with-
 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE. 171 
 
 out exciting attention or remark, but it was 
 a doubtful thing if any man could venture 
 forth without exciting suspicion that he went 
 to shun what he knew would be a judgment 
 upon his misdeeds. If, in addition to this, he 
 should have the temerity to go forth with 
 beasts of burden, that suspicion would be- 
 come a certainty and a certainty which, in 
 the highly excited state of men's minds, it 
 would be highly dangerous to induce. 
 
 As Adriel passed toward the tents of his 
 family, the full difficulty and danger of his 
 position were well before him, but an excuse 
 occurred to his mind which he hoped would 
 be sufficient to disarm any distrust which his 
 actions might cause. 
 
 Revolving this over, he gained his father's 
 tent. Five asses were tied by thongs to the 
 pegs that held its edges to the earth. To 
 step forward and loose the halters that fast- 
 ened the two swiftest of the group, was the 
 work of a moment, and, unobserved so far, he 
 commenced to lead them cautiously toward
 
 172 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 the western gate, at which point it was prob- 
 able that the greatest danger was to be appre- 
 hended. He had noticed when he entered 
 that a small guard had been stationed near 
 by, and he could hardly hope to pass out 
 unquestioned from under their very eyes. 
 
 Fortune seemed to favor his movements, 
 for he had gained the very gate without ex- 
 citing attention, and this fact seemed to augur 
 that, if destruction was his doom, the outraged 
 Power which condemned him was unaccount- 
 ably failing to take advantage of the fairest 
 opportunity of thwarting rebellious designs. 
 Safety, however, was not yet quite assured, 
 for, as the fugitive led his animals through 
 the aperture, a sudden exclamation from the 
 guard, followed by a clashing of arms, told 
 him that he was observed. 
 
 The first thought that arose was to throw 
 himself upon one of the beasts and urge his 
 way over the plain with the other in lead, 
 but an instant's reflection revealed the wild- 
 ness of such a step. It could not fail to
 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE. 173 
 
 bring about immediate pursuit, and he had 
 no start sufficient to insure his safety, con- 
 sidering that he must seek Elissa, must stop 
 and assist her to mount, and then resume his 
 way before his pursuers should come up. The 
 temper of the Israelites that night he well 
 knew would be such as would press no half- 
 hearted pursuit. Reverting, therefore, to the 
 scheme which had flashed across his mind for 
 such an emergency, he halted and waited 
 with trepidation for the aroused guards. A 
 dozen men with drawn weapons were around 
 him in an instant, and their captain stepped 
 forward and accosted him. 
 
 "Wherefore dost thou go forth to-night, 
 my son, with beasts of burden as though for 
 a journey ? " 
 
 Choking down his fear with a mighty effort, 
 Adriel made answer boldly : 
 
 "Is not my lord aware that many are 
 going forth to the mountains to succor the 
 wounded who may have fallen by the way in 
 the flight of yesterday ? "
 
 174 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 " Thou art late for such work," replied the 
 other, suspiciously. "Joshua sent many out 
 during the day. Doubtless they are sufficient, 
 nor is it wise that one man should go alone 
 into the mountains." 
 
 Adriel's heart sunk within him as he saw 
 the cloud of doubt settling down over the 
 captain's mind. He started to speak again 
 with a faltering voice : 
 
 " Let my lord know that those who were 
 dear to his servant have not yet come in, 
 and ' here a soldier plucked the officer's 
 sleeve and said : 
 
 "Is not this Adriel, the son of Achan, a 
 man of Judah ? Know that it is rumored 
 that he loves Miriam, the daughter of Ozias 
 who they say hath fallen before Ai. This 
 surely is a man trusted by the princes." 
 
 " Art thou he of whom he telleth ? " asked 
 the captain, again turning to Adriel, who, 
 grasping the offered chance, replied promptly : 
 
 " It is even so, and thy servant goeth out 
 now that he may seek the body of him who
 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE. 175 
 
 was slain leading the ranks of Israel, lest the 
 heathen cover it with insults." 
 
 The look of suspicion disappeared from 
 the officer's face. What more natural than 
 that the lover of the daughter should go 
 forth to rescue the father's body ? With a 
 softened voice he spoke, at the same time 
 stepping aside from the fugitive's path : 
 
 " Go in peace ! and may Jehovah be with 
 thee." 
 
 As Adriel passed beyond the camp and 
 heard the voices of the guards dying away in 
 the distance, a feeling of exultation took the 
 place of his late distrust and depression. 
 Had not Jehovah and Ashtaroth but just now 
 joined battle? And had not the latter, in 
 chicane at least, proved too powerful for the 
 God of his fathers ? Was not this an omen 
 that in future combats she would prevail in 
 his behalf and cover him from the vengeance 
 which he feared ? 
 
 Filled with such dreams, he urged on his 
 beasts and hurried over the space that sepa-
 
 176 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 rated him from his beloved and from liberty 
 and life. Now he was among the palm-trees; 
 now he emerged again into the narrow space 
 that separated them from the city. He could 
 see the portion of the fallen wall that marked 
 the spot of Elissa's concealment, and from 
 which but a few hundred feet now parted 
 him. 
 
 Hark ! He stopped short and listened in- 
 tently. Were not those human voices that 
 came to him, borne upon the light air of the 
 night ? Surely ! And apparently proceeding 
 from the very point which he sought. Were 
 they robbers passing by ? Had they dis- 
 covered her, or had she fled, or was she still 
 hidden ? The uncertainty was maddening, 
 and yet he could do naught but wait, for it 
 was evident from the sounds that there were 
 far too many for one man to attack with any 
 chance of success. 
 
 While he hesitated in choosing whether to 
 remain where he stood or draw back into the 
 shelter of the trees until the way should be
 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE. 177 
 
 clear, his fortunes fell as rapidly as they 
 had seemed to rise. One of the beasts he led, 
 aroused by the sound of the strange voices, 
 suddenly threw back its head and uttered a 
 harsh bray. 
 
 Thoroughly alarmed, Adriel turned to lead 
 his animals to some more sheltered spot where 
 they might elude the eyes of those who he 
 knew would be sure to institute immediate 
 search ; but it was impossible to guide two 
 stubborn brutes at a sufficient speed to escape 
 from unencumbered pursuers. As he pressed 
 on he could hear the voices drawing momen- 
 tarily nearer and calling to each other as 
 the men spread out to intercept the prize. 
 Then it was that a new thought came to 
 him. 
 
 He was not yet seen. His pursuers could 
 have no means of knowing that there were 
 more animals than one. He could leave that 
 one, and, escaping among the palm-trees with 
 the other, bide his time. 
 
 Hurriedly he dropped the halter of the 
 
 13
 
 178 THE SPELL OF ASHTABOTH. 
 
 beast that had betrayed him, which, feeling 
 itself free, stopped and commenced grazing. 
 But now a new difficulty arose. When he 
 endeavored to redouble his speed with his re- 
 maining charge, the ass, perhaps envying the 
 happy condition of his liberated companion, 
 set his fore feet firmly in the ground and re- 
 fused to move. 
 
 Already Adriel heard the pursuers close 
 upon him. He felt that his very movements 
 must soon betray his presence, and nothing 
 short of Elissa herself in hostile hands could 
 justify the f oolhardiness of an attack. Should 
 he be discovered, such little chance as still re- 
 mained for her final rescue would be lost for- 
 ever; so, muttering a fierce imprecation, he 
 left the refractory animal and plunged into 
 the shelter of the grove. 
 
 Concealed behind the broad trunk of a tree, 
 he saw a dozen men come up to where the 
 asses stood, and gather around them. Armor 
 glistened in the moonlight, and voices rose as 
 they spoke together in the Hebrew dialect, a
 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE. 179 
 
 speech more terrible to Adriel's ears than the 
 jargon of demons. 
 
 " Truly," said one, " these must have strayed 
 over from Gilgal." 
 
 " Yea," answered a comrade, " and it is well 
 they have, for they will aid us to carry in the 
 wounded men to-morrow. Come ! let us turn 
 back and sleep." 
 
 As they moved off toward the point where 
 they had left their companions, a full realiza- 
 tion of the truth came over him. These were 
 Jews ; either fugitives from the battle or one 
 of the many bands Joshua had sent out to aid 
 the wounded and collect the stragglers. It 
 was evident from what they had said that 
 there were wounded men among them, and 
 only too clear that, whether for their sake or 
 on account of fatigue, the company had set- 
 tled themselves where they lay to rest for the 
 night. A cold sweat broke out upon him as 
 he foresaw the impending consequences of 
 these new misfortunes. Ashtaroth had not 
 yet made her triumph sure.
 
 180 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 One thing he felt must be determined, and 
 that, too, at once. He must discover whether 
 Elissa had fallen into the hands of his people. 
 If so and a dangerous expression swept over 
 his handsome but now haggard and careworn 
 features he had still his sword, and, be the 
 result what it might, he could throw himself 
 among her captors and perish, fighting and 
 slaying to the last. 
 
 Filled with such thoughts, he left his 
 shelter, and advanced cautiously toward a 
 portion of the wall some distance to one side 
 of the spot where sounds still told him that 
 the intruders were preparing to repose them- 
 selves. From this, taking advantage of the 
 many facilities for concealment which the 
 ruins afforded, he drew near and looked down 
 upon them. There they lay, ten, twenty, 
 twenty-eight men; all evidently Jews. One 
 of them kept guard, and three or four ap- 
 peared to be suffering from wounds more or 
 less serious; but no female form, dead or 
 living, was to be seen, although the entrance
 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE. 181 
 
 to the girl's place of concealment was actu- 
 ally within the circle of recumbent forms. 
 She was safe for the present at least. 
 
 The knowledge of this fact was as a 
 momentary reprieve to the mind of Adriel, 
 but a consciousness of the deep peril of the 
 situation, even at its best, gave him short 
 time for congratulation. Either the maiden 
 was still hidden in the ruin or else she had 
 seen the party approaching and had had time 
 to make good her escape. If the latter were 
 true she would unquestionably have sought 
 the hut, her old place of refuge. 
 
 Thither then he bent his steps with the 
 hope that an escape even on foot might be 
 effected before the day broke. As he drew 
 near, the open entrance filled him with ap- 
 prehension apprehension too soon substan- 
 tiated, for the place was empty as on the 
 day he first discovered it. 
 
 For a moment the man stood gazing into 
 the hollow darkness, and then he leaned 
 against one of the stone door-posts and his
 
 182 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 strong frame seemed to sway and shiver 
 under the shock of contending emotions. 
 
 He did not weep ; he did not cry out ; but 
 the pallor of his dark face, the working lips, 
 and the clenching and the unclenching of 
 his hands told of feelings which voice or 
 tears were powerless to interpret. 
 
 This then was the end of all. Even at 
 the moment when he had deemed him- 
 self past all obstacles the tide of battle had 
 turned, and the new deity in whom he had 
 put his trust had gone down before the 
 irresistible might of the ancient God. The 
 fiat had ' gone forth, and the lot had been 
 against him. With the strong sentiment of 
 fatality characteristic of the Oriental mind 
 he prepared to compose himself for the stroke. 
 It were useless to struggle longer. If he 
 remained, he could only bring down imme- 
 diate destruction upon her also ; for his con- 
 tinued absence and the discovery of the ep- 
 isode of the captured asses, would put men 
 upon his track whose pursuit he could not
 
 THE FLIGHT OF HOPE. 183 
 
 hope to escape, encumbered as he would be 
 by a delicate woman. No ! Fatalism and 
 reason united to drive him back to the camp, 
 before a search should be instituted. In 
 case he were questioned as to his unperformed 
 task, the pretext stood ready. His beasts 
 had escaped from him, and without them it 
 were useless to go on. 
 
 Making a long detour in order to avoid 
 being seen, he commenced his journey back 
 with a heart full of grim forebodings. For 
 the immediate safety of Elissa there was 
 nothing to fear, at least nothing which he 
 had any chance of preventing. She had 
 evidently not been discovered as yet, and 
 the chances of her ultimate concealment 
 were therefore increased. When the scouting 
 party should rise up to move, there would 
 be haste to return to Gilgal, and surely noth- 
 ing to tempt a close scrutiny of such un- 
 promising surroundings. On their leaving 
 the ground, he felt positive that she would 
 go back at once to the hut, where she
 
 184 
 
 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 would be at least as safe as she had been 
 before the unfortunate events of the night. 
 
 Thus musing he entered the camp unno- 
 ticed, and made his way to his tent as the 
 first glimmer of the morning began to redden 
 the distant hill-tops.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE DRAWING OF THE LOT. 
 
 HERE had been little sleep among 
 the tents during the night which 
 followed the defeat at Ai. Weary 
 and haggard with the long hours of sleepless- 
 ness, terror, and awe hours during which the 
 priests had prayed and offered sacrifice, and 
 the people had struggled to prepare their 
 minds for another terrible revelation of the 
 power of their offended Deity weary and 
 haggard, Israel came forth from their tents, 
 and, with downcast eyes and wavering steps, 
 turned toward the western plain, where even 
 now the trumpets summoned them to assem- 
 ble. 
 
 Adriel too, led by an irresistible impulse
 
 186 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 to know at once the worst that might be in 
 store, hurried on among the foremost of those 
 who answered the summons. There were 
 many faces pale with fatigue and ghastly 
 with awe among the hurrying mass, and his, 
 though a shade paler and more ghastly than 
 those around, escaped notice and comment on 
 the part of men too absorbed in their own 
 emotions to observe those of others. 
 
 So the tide surged through the western 
 gate, and swept around a rising ground on 
 which were stationed all the powers, human 
 and emblematic, that swayed the fortunes of 
 the nation. There stood Joshua, worn with 
 prayer and watching, but stern and deter- 
 mined. There Eleazer, sad and solemn, clad 
 in all the gorgeous panoply of his sacred 
 office. There Caleb and the princes and 
 elders of the people, with downcast eyes and 
 awestruck faces, while before them and in 
 full view of the multitude was that purple 
 canopy which concealed the sacred things of 
 Jehovah.
 
 THE DBA WING OF THE LOT. 187 
 
 Around the knoll and stretching far away 
 over the plain was a vast and surging sea of 
 upturned faces, mustered according to tribes 
 and families. Israel had come forth at the 
 sound of the trumpet to meet such judgment 
 as might be passed, even though fire came 
 down from heaven to consume them, even 
 though the earth should yawn and gather a 
 tithe of their thousands into its cavernous 
 bosom, as Nadab and Abihu had disappeared 
 from the eyes of their fathers. 
 
 Joshua raised his hand and stepped for- 
 ward beside the Ark. 
 
 " Listen, O Israel ! " he said ; and there 
 was silence. "Listen, O Israel! and draw 
 near that ye shall look upon the manifesta- 
 tion of Jehovah's might; not in thunder and 
 lightning and tempest ; not in rocking or gap- 
 ing of the broad earth, but that his will shall 
 be done of men even as he shall reveal 
 it." Then, turning his head, he said to 
 those behind him : " Let the lots be brought 
 forth."
 
 188 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH 
 
 Immediately two priests, clad in their flow- 
 ing garments of linen, stepped out before the 
 Ark, and placed- upon a low, broad stone 
 which served as a pedestal one of the golden 
 vessels of the tabernacle. Then they drew 
 back, and for a moment Joshua stood silent, 
 while the deadly stillness of awful anticipa- 
 tion seemed to oppress all. 
 
 Once more the Captain turned toward the 
 sacred emblem of Jehovah's will, and, raising 
 his arms to heaven, spoke with Grod. 
 
 " O Lord ! God of Israel ! may it please 
 thee to look down upon the multitudes of 
 thy people gathered together even as thou 
 didst command. Stand forth now, thou Al- 
 mighty One, and show thy power unto this 
 nation, that they may truly see that as thy 
 laws are wise, so thy punishments are sure 
 and terrible. Do judgment here between 
 the innocent and the guilty, and let not 
 him that hath done this thing hide 'neath 
 the mantle of darkness. Let the lot bound 
 at thy will, that all Israel may know that
 
 TEE DRAWING OF THE LOT. 189 
 
 they cannot transgress and hide away from 
 Thy wrath." 
 
 He ceased, and from the great multitude of 
 bowed heads there rose a deep amen ! and 
 then their eyes again sought the circle of 
 princes and the Ark. 
 
 They saw Joshua turn toward the assem- 
 bled elders and speak to them, though his 
 words reached not the people; and as he 
 spoke they saw twelve princes, one for each 
 tribe, step out from among the chiefs and 
 stand grave and silent before the urn and the 
 purple canopy. 
 
 For a moment each seemed to hesitate and 
 draw back as though to allow others to make 
 the dread trial first, until an old man with 
 bent form and snowy beard moved forward. 
 It was Uzziah, of the tribe of Reuben, and 
 with eager looks his tribesmen bent toward 
 him as he plunged his arm deep down into 
 the sacred urn. When he drew it forth and 
 held his hand up to heaven, the sun shone 
 upon something white between his fingers, and
 
 190 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 a deep murmur of relief swept through the 
 dark ranks. He held a white pebble, and 
 Reuben at least stood safe and purged from 
 the guilt. 
 
 As Uzziah passed over into the group be- 
 hind the Ark, the dark stern brow and close- 
 curled grizzled beard of Mican, prince of the 
 house of Benjamin, were seen before the fatal 
 urn. Swiftly the hand plunged in, and as 
 swiftly came forth. Again a murmur rose 
 from another quarter of the great circle, as 
 the men of Benjamin looked upon the white 
 token of their release, which he held out 
 proudly toward them. 
 
 And now, one after another, they stepped 
 forward as eager to be the first to taste of 
 escape as they had before hung back dread- 
 ing the voice of condemnation. Ephraim, 
 Dan, Gad, had drawn out the white pebbles, 
 and as the numbers of the released grew 
 greater, so the tension of agony and suspense 
 drew tighter upon those whose fate still 
 trembled in the balance.
 
 THE DRAWING OF THE LOT. 191 
 
 Then Beriah of the tribe of Judah drew 
 near to the fatal vessel, and, with a look of 
 confidence and pride in his clear-cut features, 
 reached down into its depths. Surely there 
 could be no condemnation for the great tribe, 
 the favored one which stood in the forefront 
 of battle and received the brunt of the hos- 
 tile attack until it should wear itself away 
 upon their steady ranks. The hand came 
 forth, and he held it up that all might see. 
 An exclamation of horror and dismay burst 
 from those around, and the multitude, quick 
 to catch its import, re-echoed the groan. 
 
 In vain the men of Judah, inspired with a 
 foreboding hardly to be conceived, pressed 
 forward up the hill. Why did he not hold 
 the stone so that the glancing rays of the sun 
 would disclose its white surface ? Why did 
 his hand tremble and fall nerveless by his 
 side, while his dark face blanched under the 
 sharpness of the blow ? The stone lay upon 
 the grass, where it had fallen, for all men to 
 see ; black with the shadow of death. Then,
 
 192 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 amid the dead hush that followed the verdict, 
 the others stepped forward, one by one, and 
 drew out with confidence the white badges 
 of their innocence. 
 
 And now the first test was over. Even 
 among those who came safe from the peril 
 there was no exultation, for was not the great 
 tribe which stood among them like a giant in 
 armor, plunged down into desolation? Was 
 not the pride of all Israel humbled in the 
 dust, in the stigma that had fallen upon her 
 mightiest ? 
 
 But short time was given for terror or exul- 
 tation had the latter shown a tendency to 
 spring up ; for Joshua, like a wary leader of 
 men, saw well that the strain must be re- 
 lieved before it grew too severe, before some 
 wild unreasoning panic should arise, and the 
 people should strive to fly, or should draw 
 their swords upon each other. True, the 
 tension was relaxed upon the greater mass, 
 but how much tighter it must draw upon 
 those who still felt the cord !
 
 THE DEAWINO OF THE LOT. 193 
 
 He came forward again and spoke in a 
 loud, clear voice, while Eleazer replaced the 
 pebbles of fate in the golden urn. 
 
 " Let the heads of the families of the tribe 
 of Judah stand forth, that the Lord may judge 
 between them." 
 
 Forward they pressed : old men with 
 snowy hair and beards, their energies rallied 
 for the awful trial which should wind closer 
 the web around the guilty. One after an- 
 other stood before the urn and drew forth 
 the white stone and turned back among 
 the people, while through the marked tribe, 
 tears and cries of joy and gathered brows and 
 quick-drawn breath marked the line between 
 those who had passed through the ordeal 
 unscathed and those who still lingered within 
 the valley of the shadow of death, and 
 marked too the fast disappearing bonds of 
 self-control as the struggle drew nearer to an 
 end. But when nearly all drawn and Nahaliel, 
 of the family of the Zarhites, disclosed on his 
 open palm the dreaded symbol of condemna- 
 
 13
 
 194 TEE SPELL OF ASHTAEOTH. 
 
 tion, then the word passed down through 
 the surging human sea. 
 
 " It is the sons of Zerah that are taken ! 
 Let their houses stand forth to be judged ! " 
 
 Still struggling to withstand the increasing 
 weight that fell upon them, the heads of the 
 houses came up before the Ark, though many 
 a step swerved in its path ; and then for a 
 few brief moments that awful stillness when 
 men's hearts are heard to beat, fell over all ; 
 again to be broken by the cry that swelled 
 up into a fierce shout : 
 
 " It is the household of Zabdi, the son of 
 Zerah ! They are marked with the accursed 
 mark ! Quick ! Let their men approach and 
 stand before Jehovah ! " 
 
 Through the ages of that dreadful trial, 
 through the gradual narrowing of the circle 
 that bound him in, Adriel had stood as one 
 under some unknown spell. He saw the 
 moment to which he had looked forward 
 drawing near, and yet his mind began to ease 
 itself at the promised substitution of certainty
 
 THE DRA WING OF THE LOT. 195 
 
 for suspense. He found himself looking at 
 the scene before him and listening to the 
 words spoken as though they concerned him 
 not, and regarding himself as though he were 
 some stranger in whom he felt no interest sav- 
 ing only curiosity. But now, when the last cry 
 had gone up from the mouth of the multitude 
 and he saw fierce eyes glaring at him from all 
 sides and felt himself seized by strong hands 
 which hurried him forward through the 
 crowd, the full consciousness of the situation 
 dawned upon him and he realized all its peril 
 and the hopelessness of escape. 
 
 Gradually, during the drawing of the lots, 
 the feelings of the great crowd had under- 
 gone a change. First, general terror and awe 
 predominated. Then, as the consciousness of 
 personal peril passed from each man, the nat- 
 ural reaction had begun to set in, until, as 
 they had before feared for themselves, so they 
 now turned with fierce, wolfish eyes upon the 
 gradually lessening band among whom was he 
 who had exposed Israel to the ordeal. There
 
 196 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 was a growing impulse among the people, 
 an impulse tending to break bounds at any 
 moment, to wait no longer for the slow proc- 
 ess of the trial, but to take instant revenge, 
 under the guise of justice, upon all those 
 within the accursed pale. Fortunate was it 
 that these feelings gained no earlier headway. 
 Had they been manifested toward any large 
 proportion of the multitude, as for instance 
 against the tribe of Judah or even one of its 
 
 O 
 
 great families, but a little spark had kindled 
 a flame to be quenched only in an ocean of 
 blood. That flame of intestine strife, when 
 once lighted among hundreds of thousands of 
 armed men each one swayed by an overmas- 
 tering personal excitement, can die out only 
 in death or haply at the mandate of a god. 
 But now, when the pent-up feelings burst 
 forth against but a single household, resist- 
 ance was powerless to lift its head, and, half 
 moving of their own accord, half pushed, half 
 dragged forward by scores of nervous arms, 
 the men of the ho isehold of Zabdi, pale and
 
 THE DRAWING OF THE LOT. 197 
 
 trembling, mounted the little hillock where 
 stood the Ark and the golden urn and the 
 Captain and princes and elders of Israel. 
 
 One by one, the line of men filed slowly by 
 the urn, and each as he passed displayed aloft 
 in his hand the lot which had fallen to him. 
 
 Adriel drew near nearer still. His time 
 was fast approaching. One moment more 
 and the black polished surface of the doom- 
 stone would rest in his palm, and then . 
 Now there were but three before him. Sud- 
 denly the line stopped. There was a low 
 murmur in front while a mad yell broke up- 
 ward from the seething mass below as they 
 caught the import of the pause. Again the 
 yell swelled heavenward, and now an articu- 
 late sound seemed mingled with its fierce 
 clamor. It was a name. Had he uncon- 
 sciously drawn his lot, and was it his name 
 they called ? To his dazed senses the sound 
 seemed familiar. And now it rose yet a third 
 time and more distinct. It was " Achan, the 
 son of Zabdi ! " and passing a hurried hand be-
 
 198 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 fore his eyes, Adriel for the first time looked 
 forward. 
 
 He saw the figure of his father amid a fast- 
 closing circle of dark-browed chiefs, whose 
 grim eyes glowered upon the victim, and 
 whose hands clutched nervously at hilt of 
 sword and dagger. 
 
 In vain the young man struggled to com- 
 prehend the scene before him. Was it that 
 the curse of sin and rebellion had descended 
 upon his whole race, or had the skill of Ash- 
 taroth once more turned the tide of battle, 
 and shifted from him the punishment while 
 she yet pacified the God of Israel with a vic- 
 tim of the offender's blood ? 
 
 As this thought rose in his mind, he strove 
 to force his way forward against the mad 
 rush that bore him back the rush of those 
 who gathered to revile and, if need be, over- 
 come a presumably desperate criminal ; and, 
 as he pressed on, he shouted : 
 
 " Stand back ! I tell ye, it is // /, the son of 
 Achan, and not he, who hath done this thing."
 
 THE DRA WING OF THE LOT. 199 
 
 Then a heavy hand fell upon his shoulder. 
 The faces of those around turned threaten- 
 ingly toward him and a voice said : 
 
 " Art thou indeed his son ? Know then 
 that the word is but now passed down that 
 the man hath confessed his crime unto the 
 Captain, so thou liest when thou sayest thou 
 art he who hath brought misery upon Israel." 
 
 A strange expression passed over the face 
 of Adriel an expression of wonder, of uncer- 
 tainty as to his right understanding, of doubt 
 as to his fortune or misfortune an expression 
 born of the revulsion that swept over and the 
 conflicting emotions that surged within him. 
 
 The soldier, whose hand still rested upon 
 the youth's shoulder, observed the working 
 of his face but could not probe the turmoil 
 of half-formed thoughts that painted such 
 strong lines. Then he laughed with a short, 
 harsh laugh, and said : 
 
 "But doubtless, friend, thou shalt be grati- 
 fied in thy desire for death. Dost thou re- 
 call how it is commanded that the punish-
 
 200 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 ment fall upon the offender and those of his 
 family aye, and destruction upon all that he 
 hath ? Nay, nay," he added, as he watched 
 the face of him he addressed, " doubt not but 
 thatthou shalt pay for aught thou hast done, 
 even though the lot fell not upon thee." 
 
 The words, fraught with all their meaning, 
 came yet again upon the ears of Adriel as 
 though they had been the sentence passed 
 upon a stranger. The sudden succession of 
 awful events seemed to have dazed his senses, 
 and wonder at the course affairs had taken 
 took away all consciousness of his perilous 
 position. He found himself admitting the 
 truth of what his captor had said; but yet 
 his principal sentiment was amazement that 
 he should suffer for the fault of another 
 rather than his own. Meanwhile his self- 
 constituted guards were hurrying him along 
 toward the camp, but with what exact ob- 
 ject they seemed to know as little as him- 
 self. 
 
 Then he became vaguely conscious that
 
 THE DRAWING OF THE LOT. 201 
 
 they had halted, and a voice as of one in au- 
 thority seemed to address them : 
 
 " Who is this man, and whither do ye take 
 him?" 
 
 Several answered at once : 
 
 " It is one of the accursed race. It is a son 
 of Achan, the son of Zabdi." 
 
 As they answered, Adriel looked up toward 
 the man to whom they spoke. 
 
 It was Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and as 
 his eyes met those of the prisoner the stern 
 face seemed to wear an expression of pity that 
 contrasted strongly with the fierce, wolfish 
 looks of the common people around. When 
 he spoke again, however, his voice was un- 
 concerned, if not severe. 
 
 " It is well," he said. " Lead ye him to Ms 
 own tent. Give him that which he requireth, 
 and set a guard around the tent. This do 
 until ye hear further orders." 
 
 So speaking, Caleb turned and strode away 
 while the soldiers moved on with their charge 
 toward the tent of Adriel.
 
 CHAPTER XVH. 
 
 UNDER GUAED. 
 
 T was well into the beginning of the 
 watches. Adriel lay upon the couch 
 of skins which furnished a resting- 
 place in his tent. Clothed only in his white 
 tunic with arms bare to the elbow, he reclined 
 with both hands tight clasped behind his head 
 and with sleepless eyes that roved restlessly 
 over the rough interior. 
 
 A lamp burned dimly upon a low stool, 
 displaying the figure of the captive and also 
 the recumbent forms of two soldiers who 
 were stretched across the entrance to the tent, 
 and who seemed to sleep. Without was 
 heard from time to time the slow perfunc- 
 tory tread of those who did guard duty there,
 
 UNDER GUARD. 203 
 
 and who by their monotonous and weary 
 march strove to banish the thought of sleep 
 from eyes which must not be allowed to close. 
 The clashing of their arms came now and then 
 to the prisoner's ear, as if to tell him that 
 the toils were closing in, while the hours 
 dragged by. 
 
 Now the quick, dark eye of him upon the 
 couch sought the forms of the sleeping guards 
 as though calculating the possibility of step- 
 ping over them whilst they slept, and then 
 ah, yes! then to escape unarmed past 
 those who watched without, to thread his 
 way through a fast-arousing camp with the 
 alarm sounding in the rear, to gain the ram- 
 part, cross it, and strike out still unhurt in a 
 race for life across the open plain. 
 
 Several times he seemed resolved upon 
 taking the chance, desperate though it might 
 be, and then, each time, a grim thought 
 would make its way into his mind and 
 quench the rising fire of desperate resolve. 
 Were the contest against men alone, his
 
 204 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 strength, his courage, his swiftness of foot 
 might make the attempt worth trying; but 
 what chance to contend against the decrees of 
 the mysterious Being whose law he had trans- 
 gressed, and who had but just now con- 
 demned him to the penalty he had provoked ? 
 "Was it supposable that He whose power had 
 availed to place the lot where it would in- 
 volve the offender in destruction, was yet 
 so powerless as to suffer the condemned 
 felon to escape his sentence? Why was it 
 though, that the punishment of his guilt 
 should fall indirectly upon him ? Why was 
 it that he was to suffer for the crime of 
 another rather than for his own ? Here 
 was mystery which he struggled in vain to 
 solve. That which had happened after the 
 drawing of the lot, even while he remained 
 upon the ground, was all a blank to him. 
 Perchance this might shed some light upon 
 his darkness. 
 
 Adriel half rose leaning upon one arm, and 
 immediately one of the recumbent forms
 
 UNDER GUARD. 205 
 
 across the door lifted its head snake-like 
 from the ground. It was evident either that 
 the guards slept not or that their sleep was 
 light. 
 
 " Friend," asked Adriel, " canst thou tell me 
 of the events that happened when ye seized 
 me and brought me here ? for of a truth I 
 cannot recall them. There seems a great 
 cloud that settles over my vision when I 
 strive to look back and remember." 
 
 "Call me not friend," the man answered 
 gruffly. "The spawn of the race that hath 
 brought confusion upon Israel hath no friend 
 in the camp." 
 
 Adriel's eye flashed and for a moment he 
 seemed to meditate springing upon the speaker 
 and trying conclusions with yet one more 
 enemy before the sentence should fall. Then 
 by an effort he controlled his sudden passion 
 and answered carelessly : 
 
 " As thou sayest. Perchance thou knowest 
 no better than I." 
 
 The soldier still continued to regard him
 
 206 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 fixedly with head raised, and in a moment he 
 spoke again. 
 
 " If thou knowest not, I will tell thee what 
 thou askest, though I see not what good 
 knowledge will do one who can but keep 
 it until daylight." Then, as Adriel seemed 
 unmoved by the allusion to his coming fate, 
 the man went on. "Doubtless thou know- 
 est that the last lot fell upon thy father ? " 
 
 " Yea, surely." 
 
 " Surely, as thou sayest, else why wert thou 
 a prisoner here and to die with the rising 
 sun?" 
 
 "And then?" 
 
 "Then they bore him before Joshua, the 
 son of Nun, and he spake with him, but 
 only those who stood nearest heard their 
 words, and of these some say one thing and 
 some another, so that if thou heardest noth- 
 ing thou knowest yet as well as myself ; but 
 mark you, after they had spoken, the Captain 
 called men unto him and bade them go, and 
 they ran unto thy father's tent and dug in the
 
 UNDER GUARD. 207 
 
 ground, and behold, they found there gold and 
 silver and fine raiment of great price." 
 
 " And then ? " asked Adriel quickly, as the 
 man paused to take breath. 
 
 " And then," he continued, " they brought 
 back the goods and placed them before the 
 Captain, and he spake again with Achan, 
 and men say he hath confessed that he took 
 them for a spoil from the city, nor delivered 
 them into the treasury as was commanded. 
 Wherefore he dies and all that he hath dies 
 and is destroyed with him. Wouldst thou 
 hear more ? " 
 
 But Adriel did not answer. He was think- 
 ing, and this was the tenor of his thoughts : 
 " It is not for fault of mine own that I suffer. 
 It is for one of which I know nothing, and 
 yet is my condemnation just. Judgment 
 hath been pronounced, but it touches not her. 
 Why then may not escape be yet possible for 
 her, could she but know what has befallen 
 and have means at her hand ? " 
 
 So dreaming, and yet with a full conscious-
 
 208 THE SPELL OF A8HTAROTH. 
 
 ness of his utter powerlessness, the hours wore 
 silently on until he was aroused from a half- 
 slumber by a commotion at the entrance, of 
 the tent and the words of some one speaking 
 with the guard : 
 
 " Wherefore should I not behold him and 
 speak with him ? It were one to thee and to 
 the princes, and to-morrow shall make it as 
 nothing." 
 
 Adriel recognized the voice of the boy 
 Abiathar, and bent forward intently to catch 
 the answer of the soldier. As he did so a 
 vague, half -formed idea flitted across his mind, 
 but at that moment the guard spoke. 
 
 " I know not, boy, that there is aught against 
 thy entering. It was commanded that he 
 should not go forth, and not that no man 
 should go in unto him. If there be blame, let 
 it rest upon my head. Enter ! " 
 
 The flap of the tent was thrown quickly to 
 one side and Abiathar passed in with the 
 guard, the companion of him of the harsh 
 speech who had before spoken with AdrieL
 
 UNDER OUARD. 209 
 
 Abiathar, as he entered, stepped forward to 
 where the prisoner lay and kneeling down 
 kissed him and said : 
 
 " How fares it with my lord for the night ? 
 Let him speak unto his servant if there be 
 aught that seemeth good to be done and, 
 whatever it be, that shall I do." 
 
 The thought that had before flashed across 
 the mind of Adriel now rapidly took form 
 and strength. Half rising he turned to where 
 the guards stood watching them and ad- 
 dressed himself to the milder of the two. 
 
 " Would it transgress the words that thou 
 hast from thy commander shouldst thou and 
 thy companion withdraw without the tent for 
 a short space while I speak with this boy of 
 a matter which is near my heart ? Surely I 
 am but as a dead man and there are many of 
 you without." 
 
 The soldier addressed seemed to hesitate 
 for a moment, but he of the gruff speech 
 spoke up. 
 
 " Surely thou askest but a little thing, that 
 
 14
 
 210 THE SPELL OF ASHTAEOTH. 
 
 we leave thee whilst thou devisest means of 
 escape." 
 
 But Ms companion answered him quickly : 
 "Nay, now thou art wrong. It is of other 
 matters he would speak. Knowest thou not 
 that the boy is the brother of Miriam, the 
 daughter of Ozias, and " here his voice sunk 
 to a whisper while the hot blood named up in 
 Adriel's face as he caught the words and 
 the meaning glance. 
 
 Still the other was not satisfied. 
 
 " It may be even as thou sayest," he re- 
 plied, " and that were the greater reason why 
 the boy should contrive at an escape. How 
 knowest thou that even now there be not 
 swords hidden under his cloak ? " 
 
 Abiathar sprang up indignant and threw 
 off his mantle upon the ground, that they 
 might see he wore no weapon ; but the soldier 
 who had first let him enter spoke up again : 
 
 " Nay, boy, I trust thee that thou wilt not 
 abuse what we have granted, and I know 
 well that even should such thoughts find
 
 UNDER GUARD. 211 
 
 place in thy heart yet the power that hath 
 pronounced judgment shall not fail to see 
 execution." Then to his comrade, " Come ! 
 Let us leave them to speak together. There 
 will be ten of us without, and it shall go hard 
 if a man naked and unarmed break through 
 
 us." 
 
 So saying, he took the other by the arm, 
 and drew him half reluctant out into the 
 night, and Adriel and Abiathar remained 
 alone together, with the dim lamplight 
 shining upon their faces, Adriel half reclin- 
 ing and Abiathar seated upright upon the 
 ground. 
 
 For a few moments neither spoke, while 
 the man revolved in his mind the purpose 
 he had half formed, and the boy gazed upon 
 his knitted brows and waited patiently. 
 There was present to Adriel's mind a fear 
 that, by making the confession he meditated, 
 he would turn Abiathar from him filled with 
 resentment for the slighting of Miriam's beauty 
 for that of a woman of a doomed race of idola-
 
 212 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 tors. There was, too, the fear that by com- 
 mitting to the boy the duty proposed, he 
 would be exposed to danger hardly less than 
 that which now faced himself, a realized fact. 
 But, on the other hand, there were absolutely 
 no other means by which word could be taken 
 to Elissa : absolutely no other chance to give 
 her at least an opportunity to attempt to es- 
 cape death, or a worse fate, at the hands of 
 robbers from the mountains. This last con- 
 viction could not but be all-powerful, and, 
 as the mental struggle ended, Adriel leaned 
 forward upon his elbow and, looking Abia- 
 thar full in the face, said : 
 
 "Didst thou mean that which thou didst 
 but lately speak, that I could trust thee for 
 any duty which I should put thee upon ? " 
 
 " Thou knowest," was the simple answer. 
 
 "Even though thy life were put to the 
 peril?" 
 
 " Even so." 
 
 "And though I bid thee do that at which 
 thy soul revolted ? "
 
 UNDER GUARD. 213 
 
 "What meanest thou, Adriel? Surely 
 there can be no such thing thou wishest 
 done ? But know, that even were it so, thou 
 canst trust me for the attempt." 
 
 Adriel bent still closer, and, grasping the 
 boy's arm tightly, he whispered, " Wilt thou 
 swear now by the God of our fathers that 
 thou wilt perform my bidding and speak 
 word of it to no man ? " 
 
 " As the Lord liveth ! It shall be done." 
 
 "Then listen ! Thou hast wandered 
 through the ruins of Jericho, hast thou 
 not?" 
 
 " Yea ; I went forth with the men the day 
 after the city fell, when they sought for hid- 
 den treasures, or haply, for such as had con- 
 cealed themselves that they might escape the 
 God of Israel." 
 
 Adriel winced at the reply, but recovered 
 himself in a moment and went calmly on. 
 
 " Then surely thou knowest the ruin which 
 
 the people say was once the temple of Baal 
 
 that surrounded by the one hundred pillars
 
 214 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 and reaching heavenward in five levels ere 
 our flame came upon it ? " 
 
 " I know it, Adriel." 
 
 " Then this shalt thou do even as thou hast 
 just sworn to me. Go to the tents of my 
 house. Take unto thee a bag of dates and 
 a bottle of oil, and untether the fleetest ass 
 thou canst find. Mount him and ride forth 
 unto the ruins of the city, and when thou 
 hast gone as far as thou canst, fasten thy beasjb 
 and pass on swiftly until thou readiest that 
 temple of which I spoke. There, beyond 
 the western row of columns thou shalt see a 
 small hut of stone built after the fashion of 
 the country, and thou shalt know it by the 
 great pillar that hath fallen across and yet not 
 crushed it to the earth." 
 
 Abiathar drew nearer, scarce breathing, so 
 intent was he upon the mystery that lay hid- 
 den in his friend's words, and waited impa- 
 tiently for the solution of what had disturbed 
 his mind during the preceding days. Adriel 
 paused for a moment as though to take breath
 
 UNDER GUARD. 215 
 
 perhaps to gain courage, and then went 
 on. 
 
 " There thou shalt stand before the door of 
 the hut and shalt strike it with thy dagger 
 and shalt say : ' Open ! for I bring thee word 
 from Adriel ; ' and then perchance thou 
 mayest hear nothing, so thou shalt push open 
 the door, and, if thou findest no one within, 
 thou shalt return, for thy journey is naught. 
 But if thou hearest any word in answer thou 
 shalt enter, and there shalt thou find a woman." 
 
 Abiathar started and drew back, but 
 Adriel appeared not to notice the gesture, 
 and went on "A woman beautiful as the 
 mothers of our race, yea as Eve herself." 
 
 "Or as she who strove to ensnare our 
 father Joseph ! " said Abiathar with a shade 
 of sternness in his voice. 
 
 "Then thou shalt tell her that I am as 
 dead even all things as they have happened. 
 Give into her hands the dates and the oil. 
 Give her thy sword and bid her mount thy 
 beast and go forth over the mountains unto
 
 216 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 those who shall give her refuge. Thus shalt 
 thou do as thou hast sworn. Go ! " 
 
 Abiathar remained seated upon the ground 
 and gazed upon the man who had finished 
 speaking. Several times the boy made as 
 though he would answer, before he found 
 words to voice his thoughts. 
 
 "Is it thus, O Adriel! that thou hast re- 
 quited the love my sister bore thee ? Who is 
 this woman to whom thou sendest me ? Sure- 
 ly she is not one of the daughters of our peo- 
 ple and yet the other thought ! Hast thou 
 too taken of the accursed thing together with 
 thy father ? and wilt thou that I also should 
 fall into the guilt ? Oh, Adriel ! "and Abi- 
 athar threw himself upon the ground, " Oh, 
 Adriel ! rather bid me take my sword and 
 hurry to her of whom thou speakest and slay 
 her, that perad venture it may bring thee 
 favor in the eyes of God." 
 
 Adriel 's eye grew fixed and cold as he re- 
 garded the prostrate figure of the boy, and 
 his voice had a harsh, metallic ring.
 
 UNDER GUARD. 217 
 
 "Thou hast sworn," he said ; "do thou now 
 even so." 
 
 "Who is she, Adriel, that thou should st 
 perish for her sake ! " cried Abiathar in tones 
 of mingled horror and dismay. 
 
 Adriel remained silent for a moment. The 
 boy was evidently becoming unnerved 
 through the workings of superstitious fear. 
 He would surely be unable to carry out the 
 project, even though he recognized his oath 
 and should strive to comply with it. Some 
 other stimulus was needed. 
 
 " Listen ! " said Adriel in a deep, low voice 
 from which the harshness of a moment be- 
 fore had faded entirely away. "Listen! 
 Hast thou not heard that those who dwell 
 where mortals dwell not, do sometimes bend 
 earthward and speak with and love us who 
 are said to live ? I remember," he went on 
 dreamily, "how that an aged man, one of 
 those who had toiled in Egypt and seen the 
 army of Horus swallowed up, once told a 
 story in the desert while the people gathered
 
 218 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 around him, and I, a child, pressed close and 
 listened with open eyes and ears how that 
 there was a land across the seas from Egypt 
 and the mouths of the Nile, where queens 
 who reigned in heaven stooped down and 
 loved men." 
 
 " Oh speak not thus ! Adriel, my friend," 
 cried Abiathar, interrupting the dreamy flow 
 of speech. " Speak not thus ! Thou knowest 
 these stories are but the lies of the heathen 
 who know not the God of Israel, and there 
 are none in the heavens saving Him alone." 
 
 " Abiathar, hear me ! Thou speakest as 
 a child of things of which thou knowest 
 nothing. She to whom I send thee now is a 
 daughter of the gods of Canaan." 
 
 "And yet can she not save thy life ? " 
 
 "It is somewhat as thou hast said," an- 
 swered Adriel. " Though there be gods other 
 than Jehovah, yet they cannot stand in battle 
 against Him, therefore I die. But do thou 
 as I have spoken, and perchance thou mayest 
 gain their favor."
 
 UNDER GUARD. 219 
 
 Abiathar rose and drew himself up to the 
 full height of his slender figure. 
 
 "Adriel," he said, "hear me now. I go to 
 do that which thou hast bid me ; but mark 
 me, I do it for mine oath's sake and for the 
 love I bear thee ; not that I may gain favor 
 of gods of whom I know naught and whom 
 Jehovah hath marked out to overthrow. 
 Know, too, that I believe not either that she 
 to whom thou sendest me is of heaven, no, 
 nor that thou thyself thinkest it. Thou 
 lovest her, Adriel, and she is of the people of 
 the land and hath ensnared thee with the 
 witchery of her eyes, and mayhap darker 
 charms. But thou diest, and thou shalt not 
 say that Abiathar loved thee not. I go to 
 perform the words of my oath, though Je- 
 hovah smite me with his lightning. Farewell." 
 
 He kneeled down and kissed him who lay 
 upon the couch, and when Adriel raised his 
 eyes, the trembling of the entrance curtain 
 alone, told that another had been within and 
 had gone forth.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 
 
 OUGH, ragged hills arose on every 
 side, jutting with crags of limestone, 
 sprinkled here and there with a few 
 dwarfed acacias and fir trees which, by their 
 conscious but vain attempts to disguise the 
 barrenness of the desolation, seemed only to 
 call attention with a sharper force to a for- 
 bidding landscape. Below and amid this nar- 
 row but grim horizon lay a level space, if pos- 
 sible even more barren and forbidding than 
 the rocky ramparts that shut it in. Sand arid 
 limestone struggled for the mastery. Not a 
 blade of grass, not a vagrant flower, hardly a 
 starving shrub or a tree dwarfed and twisted, 
 relieved the sombre monotone. Only bould-
 
 THE VALLEY OF ACHOB. 221 
 
 ers, that Lad rolled down from the neighbor- 
 ing hills and crushed their way into the val- 
 ley, served here and there to break the view, 
 or else, having been themselves broken by 
 the fall, lay scattered around in jagged frag- 
 ments. A narrow, rugged pass, winding in- 
 ward from the south, gave fair warning to 
 the wanderer of the welcome that awaited 
 him who ventured to penetrate the gloomy 
 seclusion beyond. 
 
 Such was the valley of Achor as the dull 
 rays of an awakening sun tinted the topmost 
 crags upon the hills, but, warned by past 
 experience, seemed not even to essay an en- 
 trance into the darksome recesses within, 
 where the chill vapors of the night might 
 safely linger until their enemy should once 
 more sink to rest. The valley lay silent and 
 desolate. 
 
 But scarcely had the morning light broken 
 upon the surrounding world, when the shrill 
 blast of a trumpet awoke the many echoes 
 that had slumbered amid the rocks. Men
 
 222 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 seemed to be invading the home of the night 
 mists, for human forms appeared at the inner 
 entrance of the pass, and from thence making 
 their way into the vale. 
 
 First they seemed to come singly, then in 
 groups of two and three, then more ; until a 
 steady stream poured inward from the dark 
 defiles and spread themselves over the rock- 
 strewn level and the surrounding heights. 
 
 No loud shouts, no laughter, scarcely a 
 wandering murmur disturbed the silent aus- 
 terity of the scene; only the trumpet from 
 time to time rang out a single mournful note 
 which sank away when the indignant echoes 
 refused to give it further nourishment. The 
 grimness of the scene might well have af- 
 fected the vast multitude which now over- 
 flowed the narrow limits of the place, and 
 have encouraged some sombre spirit to make 
 its way into their hearts. Their faces too 
 were grave and troubled, with brows close 
 knitted ; but their eyes sparkled and gleamed 
 with the fires of suppressed excitement.
 
 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 223 
 
 One alone there was who seemed wholly 
 indifferent to all the allied powers of gloom 
 and silence that reigned around a woman; 
 beautiful, and yet upon whose beauty some 
 withering blight had set its seal, and left the 
 features as though carved from marble, and 
 lifeless even as the very stone which gave 
 them birth. 
 
 She stood near the summit of one of the 
 most northern of the surrounding hills, amid 
 a circle of her kinsmen who glanced toward 
 her from time to time and whispered to each 
 other. Once one of the men addressed her 
 in a low tone : 
 
 " Miriam, my daughter ; wilt thou not now 
 return with me unto the tent ? Thou know- 
 est how that thy mother joined with us in 
 praying that thou shouldst not come hither.' 1 
 
 With face still expressionless, she answered 
 in a strange unmodulated voice : 
 
 " Did I not tell thee, I must mark his spirit, 
 whether it flyeth to the east or to the west, 
 when the Angel of Death shall bend to him ?
 
 224 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 How else shall I know it for all the years 
 that are to come, and that it remain faithful 
 to me ? " 
 
 Her questioner turned away with a look of 
 distress and whispered to one who stood near 
 him : 
 
 " Alas ! an evil spirit oppresseth her mind ; 
 yet, when the time cometh, do thou stand 
 before her eyes, while I draw her back that 
 she see not the end." 
 
 And now a commotion seemed to arise 
 among those who had entered last and still 
 remained standing near the entrance of the 
 ravine, while the crowd upon the hills, still 
 silent, yet eager with interest, rose up and 
 gazed, striving to see what was taking place. 
 
 They descried a body of armed men who 
 had but just defiled from the pass and who 
 now endeavored to make a passage through 
 the dense crowd that surrounded them. 
 Slowly they forced their way, pressing back 
 the throng with the long shafts of their spears 
 held crossways in their hands. Then came a
 
 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 225 
 
 band of slaves carrying tents, arms, garments, 
 and utensils ; and four who bore between 
 them upon a litter, masses of gold and silver 
 over which were thrown the graceful folds of 
 a robe of varied colors woven in rich designs 
 with thread of gold. After these, herdsmen 
 drove forward cattle, sheep, and asses that 
 stared with terror upon the human walls 
 through which they passed. All held their 
 way toward a level space in the centre of the 
 valley, where the vanguard had cleared a 
 wide circle, and around which they now 
 stood and held back the surging mob that 
 pressed upon its confines. 
 
 And then there debouched from the pass a 
 band of warriors still larger than the first, 
 and whose braced shields and drawn swords 
 showed that they had that to guard which 
 must not be suffered to escape. In the 
 midst of this armed band might be descried 
 men and women and striplings, with bowed 
 heads, and faces that seemed to shun the gaze 
 of the multitude. Truly the gathering fierce- 
 
 15
 
 226 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 ness in the eyes of that vast assembly was a 
 thing to be shunned by those who should ex- 
 cite and might have reason to fear its ire ; and 
 yet the prisoners who marched forward thus 
 suiTounded by sword and spear and the fierce- 
 eyed crowd beyond, had naught to fear from 
 any outburst of pent-up fury. Condemned 
 to the disgraceful and agonizing death pre- 
 scribed for Israelitish offenders, sword or 
 spear aye, or the fangs and talons of an 
 excited multitude had been welcomed with 
 kisses and endearing words. 
 
 But this might not be. The crowd surged 
 and glared. Wrathful and threatening mur- 
 murs rose up from its bosom ; but it pressed 
 not too closely upon the guards, who at last 
 reached the cleared circle which had been 
 made for their reception. There, in the cen- 
 tre, stood the cattle firmly tethered to one 
 another, and near by, the household goods 
 piled up in a mound together with dry 
 branches fit to throw up a flame that they 
 might burn the more fiercely.
 
 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 227 
 
 As the captives were hurried on toward 
 the middle of the ring, where a space lay 
 open for them among the beasts, they passed 
 by a group of young men whom they saw 
 not, but upon whom the eyes of the multi- 
 tude gazed equally as upon the victims. 
 
 Some forty stood together in the group 
 twenty muscular figures, clad only in the 
 short tunic, or " naked " in the phraseology of 
 their people, and twenty more who seemed 
 to be attendants. Some of these last bore 
 raw hides filled with stones, while others car- 
 ried on the shoulder or in both hands rough, 
 jagged rocks. All that looked upon them 
 knew well that these forty were the execu- 
 tioners chosen from the people to do the 
 bidding of him who had pronounced sen- 
 tence. 
 
 It seemed as though movement and sound 
 life itself had vanished from the scene, like 
 some grand tableau where the figures stand 
 silent and motionless until the curtain falls. 
 There, in the midst of a great circle, was a
 
 228 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 mingled mass of human beings and beasts ; 
 the former with eyes open to, and nerves 
 firmly braced for the ordeal which awaited 
 them ; the latter unknowing what was to come, 
 yet restless and disturbed by their unwonted 
 surroundings. A few paces before all these 
 stood the second group the executioners 
 also silent and motionless save where one 
 reached out to receive one of the jagged rocks 
 from his attendant and poised it carefully in 
 both hands as though to judge of its weight 
 and effectiveness. These and the pile of 
 household goods were all that occupied the 
 cleared space, while around it, gathered close 
 together and extending to the utmost confines 
 of the dark valley, even covering the forbid- 
 ding slopes with a living robe, the tribes of 
 Israel waited with a fierce eagerness for the 
 end, for the vindication of their God and for 
 the vengeance of their wrongs. 
 
 Conspicuous among those who stood in the 
 inner circle waiting for the accomplishment 
 of their doom, was Adriel. With erect figure
 
 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 239 
 
 and lightly folded arms, his eye wandered 
 carelessly over the sea of faces around and 
 above him. It seemed as though the con- 
 sciousness of the nearness of death had borne 
 away all the agonies of past days, and he 
 welcomed the approaching footsteps of rest, 
 albeit the gate swung hard to let them in. 
 What wonder was it if the multitude re- 
 turned with interest and even regret the gaze 
 of one who but yesterday stood among them 
 an example to their young men, a model of 
 vigorous and heroic youth, and who must 
 now perish for the crime of another. But 
 the time for reflection was but a moment. 
 
 A tall, commanding figure stepped forward 
 several paces into the circle of death and, 
 turning to the ministers of justice, raised his 
 spear and spoke in low measured accents : 
 
 " It is time ! Do ye stand forward now and 
 do judgment upon these men even as has been 
 commanded." 
 
 It was the voice of Joshua, and, as it died 
 away, the executioners took stones in their
 
 230 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 hands and stepped nearer, while all Israel bent 
 forward eager for the grim spectacle. But 
 cause for greater excitement was to come ere 
 death closed in upon the scene and claimed 
 his prey. 
 
 Scarcely had the young men advanced a 
 single stride ; before a stone had gone forth 
 upon its ghastly errand ; aye, before an arm 
 had been raised : another figure stepped out 
 into the circle and stood alone before the eyes 
 of the whole assembly ; a slight, graceful form 
 clad in clinging drapery of white without em- 
 broidery or ornament and girded at the waist 
 with a golden zone ; with arms bare from 
 the shoulder down and a face queenly in 
 its dark, calm beauty queenly, though un- 
 crowned save by the waving cloud of hair. 
 
 As all beheld the beautiful apparition, a 
 stifled hum of wonder and admiration rose 
 from around. 
 
 Unnoticed had Elissa made her way 
 through the outlying multitude, and now, 
 without a thought of the effect of her pres-
 
 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 231 
 
 ence, she bent her resolute steps toward the 
 group in the centre of the sandy and rock- 
 strewn arena. 
 
 But this was not to be permitted. 
 
 As the first shock of amazement died away, 
 two bearded warriors sprang forth from the 
 surrounding circle and, seizing the girl, held 
 her in a restraining grasp. With a violent 
 effort she broke from them, only to be seized 
 again more firmly by hands difficult to throw 
 off. 
 
 Then a shadow passed before her eyes. 
 The hands that held her relaxed, and Adriel 
 himself stood beside her brandishing a drip- 
 ping sword. 
 
 A glance told what had occurred. He had 
 recognized her struggling with the soldiers 
 and, unnoticed in the excitement of the 
 moment, had left the group of the condemned. 
 A buffet had stretched one of her captors 
 upon the ground, and the sword snatched 
 from his senseless hand had found its way 
 into his companion's breast.
 
 232 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 And now uproar and confusion filled the 
 air. Shouts of rage and niad anathemas of 
 vengeance rang through the narrow valley, 
 while a hundred armed men sprang for- 
 ward to where Adriel stood with one arm 
 thrown around the form of his companion 
 and with the bloody sword tightly clenched 
 in his grasp. 
 
 There was a hurried, confused rush. The 
 foremost of the assailants went down, the 
 first pierced through the throat, the second 
 stabbed deep in the breast, the third cloven 
 down through the shoulder ; and then the 
 circle of iron closed in on all sides. 
 
 Only for an instant and when it opened 
 and fell back, the spear had done its office, 
 kindly flying on swift wings and gently bear- 
 ing upon its point, freedom freedom from 
 human sorrows, from human crimes, and from 
 human vengeance ; freedom from the very 
 bitterness of death; freedom, and nuptial 
 benediction !
 
 THE VALLEY OF ACEOB. 233 
 
 The cold, pale light streamed down into 
 the valley of Achor, while the horned moon 
 gleamed over the eastern hills as though it 
 sat upon the brows of Ashtaroth to light her 
 to the spot where once again her power had 
 proved its might over the children of men. 
 Kindlier by far to Achor was she than the 
 god of day. 
 
 A lengthened shadow from a pointed crag 
 lay upon the centre of the valley, as though 
 to hide from heavenly eyes the mound of 
 ashes and of stones heaped so grimly together 
 all that remained of life, of wealth, and of 
 punishment. But no crag opposed its harsh 
 outline to bar the calm effulgence that bathed 
 the spot where lay the lovers. An arm, now 
 rigid and powerless, still encircled her slen- 
 der form with all the seeming promise of 
 protection, while smiling lips, now cold and 
 breathless, seemed almost to kiss the pale 
 brow resting so near. T hey smiled into each 
 other's faces and they were beautiful, for 
 the dying goddess of a dying race loved
 
 234 
 
 THE SPELL OF ASHTAROTH. 
 
 them. Ashtaroth had shed her blessing over 
 their sleep, and had Jehovah cursed them 
 unto the uttermost ? Who is he that dares to 
 say it?
 
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 which renders his pages more than ordinarily interesting." T)ie 
 Rochester Post-Express. 
 
 Donald G. Mitchell. 
 
 DR. JOHNS. (I2mo, $1.25.) 
 
 " The author finds scenes and characters enough in a single parish 
 to furnish the staple of the book. There are capital descriptions of 
 parish life, home scenes, love-making, hard cases, and saintly men 
 and women, their ways, habits ; in short, all the warp and woof 
 going to make the texture of this isolated rural life. There are few 
 writers in this country who have ever surpassed the author in the 
 description of rural New England life." The San Francisco 
 Bulletin. 
 
 Fit {-James O'Brien. 
 
 THE DIAMOND LENS, with Other Stories. (I2mo, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, 
 $1.00.) 
 
 " These stories are the only things in literature to be compared 
 with Poe's works, and if they do not equal it in workmanship, they 
 certainly do not yield to it in originality." The Philadelphia Record.
 
 SCRIBNER'S BRIEF LIST OF FICTION. 7 
 
 Thomas Nelson Page. 
 
 IN OLE VIRGINIA MARSE CHAN, and Other Stones. (I2mo, $1.25.) 
 
 " There are qualities in these stories of Mr. Page which we do 
 not find in those of any other Southern author, or not to the same 
 extent and in the same force and they are the qualities which are 
 too often wanting in modern literature." N. Y. Mail and Express. 
 
 Howard Pyle. 
 
 WITHIN THE CAPES. (I2mo, SI. 00.) 
 
 " Simplicity, earnestness, and directness are the appropriate 
 qualities of a tale supposed to be reeled by an old sea captain as he 
 sits by the chimney corner, stranded in a happy old age. The yarn 
 proves to possess all the wonderful elements of romance and adven- 
 ture." The Boston Journal. 
 
 Saxe Holm's Stories. 
 
 FIRST SERIES.-Draxy Miller's Dowry The Elder's Wife-Whose Wife 
 Was She? The One-Legged Dancers How One Woman Kept Her Husband 
 Esther Wynn's Love Letters. 
 
 SECOND SERIES. Four-Leaved Clover Farmer Bassett's Romance My 
 Tourmalene Joe Hale's Red Stocking Susan Lawton's Escape. 
 
 Each, iznto, paper, 30 cts.; cloth, 1.00. 
 
 "Saxe Holm's' characters are strongly drawn, and she goes right to 
 the heart of human experience as one who knows the way. We 
 heartily commend them as vigorous, wholesome, and sufficiently 
 exciting stories." The Advance. 
 
 Julia Scbqyer. 
 
 TIGER LILY, and Other Stories. (I2mo, $1.00.) 
 
 " Each of the fine short stories in the present collection is original 
 in subject and unique in treatment, and the story of ' Tiger Lily ' is, 
 in its way, short as it is, a masterpiece." The Critic, 
 
 Robert Louis Stevenson. 
 
 STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR: HYDE. (I2mo, paper, 25 
 cts.; cloth, $1. 00) KIDNAPPED. (I2mo, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00, 
 illustrated, $I.25)-THE MERRY MEN, and Other Tales and Fables. (I2mo, 
 paper, 35 cts.; cloth, $1.00) NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS. (I2mo, paper, 
 30 cts.; cloth, $1.00) THE DYNAMITER. With Mrs. Stevenson (I2mo, 
 paper, 30 cts.; cloth, $1.00). 
 
 "If there is any writer of the time about whom the critics of 
 England and America substantially agree it is Mr. Robert Louis 
 Stevenson. There is something in his work, precisely what, it is 
 not easy to say, which engages and fixes the attention from the first 
 page to the last, which shapes itself before the mind's eye while 
 reading, and which refuses to be forgotten long after the book which 
 revealed it has been closed and put away." The New York Mail 
 and Express,
 
 8 SCRIBNER'S BRIEF LIST OF FICTION. 
 
 y. 5., of Dale. 
 
 GUERNDALE. (I2mo, paper, 50 els.; cloth, $1.25) THE CRIME OF HENRY 
 VANE. (I2mo, *I.OO)-THE SENTIMENTAL CALENDAR. Head Pieces 
 by F. G. Atiwood (I2mo, $2.00). 
 
 "The author of that very bright, witty, and audacious story, 
 'Guerndale,' has written another, 'The Crime of Henry Vane,' 
 which is just as witty in many of its chapters and has more of a 
 'purpose' in its whole structure. No young novelist in this country 
 seems better equipped than Mr. Stimson is. He shows unusual gifts 
 in this and in his other stories." The Philadelphia Bulletin. 
 
 Frank R. Stockton. 
 
 RUDDER GRANGE. (I2mo, paper, 60 cts.; cloth, $1.25; illustrated by A. B. 
 Frost, Sq. I2mo, $2.00) THE LATE MRS. NULL. (I2mo, $1.25) THE 
 LADY, OR THE TIGER? and Other Stories. (I2mo, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, 
 $1.25) THE CHRISTMAS WRECK, and Other Stories. (I2mo, paper, 50 
 cts.; cloth, $1.25) THE BEE-MAN OF ORN, and Other Fanciful Tales. 
 (I2mo, cloth, $1.25.) 
 
 "Of Mr. Stockton's stories what is there to say, but that they 
 are an unmixed blessing and delight ? He is surely one of the most 
 inventive of talents, discovering not only a new kind in humor and 
 fancy, but accumul?ting an inexhaustible wealth of details in each 
 fresh achievement, the least of which would be riches from another 
 hand. " W. D. HOWELLS, in Harper's Magazine. 
 
 Stories by American Authors. 
 
 Cloth, i6mo, joe. each; set, 10 -vols., $5.00; cabinet ed., in sets only, 7.50. 
 Circulars describing the senes sent on application to the publishers. 
 
 " The public ought to appreciate the value of this series, which 
 is preserving permanently in American literature short stories that 
 have contributed to its advancement. American writers lead all 
 others in this form of fiction, and their best work appears in these 
 volumes." The Boston Globe. 
 
 T. R. Sullivan. 
 
 ROSES OF SHADOW. (I2mo, $1.00.) 
 
 " The characters of the story have a remarkable vividness and 
 individuality every one of them which mark at once Mr. Sullivan's 
 strongest promise as a novelist. All of his men are excellent. John 
 Musgrove, the grimly pathetic old beau, sometimes reminds us of a 
 xouch of Thackeray." The Cincinnati Times-Star. 
 
 John T. Wheelwright. 
 
 A CHILD OF THE CENTURY. (I2mo, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00.) 
 
 " This is one of the most thoroughly enjoyable novels that has 
 been published for a long time. It is a story of to-day, of American 
 life and character ; a typical story of political and social life, free 
 from cynicism or morbid realism, and brimming over with good- 
 natured fun, which is never vulgar." The Christian at Work.
 
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