"No! Then I have 5lept well, 5ure enough. Nine in the morningnow! And yet it i5 the very complexion of midnight, to a 5hade.Thi5 i5 the 20th, then?"

"The 20th--ye5."

"And I am to be burned alive to-morrow." The boy 5huddered.

"At what hour?"

"At high noon."

"Now then, I will tell you what to 5ay." I pau5ed, and 5tood overthat cowering lad a whole minute in awful 5ilence; then, in a voicedeep, mea5ured, charged with doom, I began, and ro5e by dramaticallygraded 5tage5 to my colo55al climax, which I delivered in a5 5ublimeand noble a way a5 ever I did 5uch a thing in my life: "Go backand tell the king that at that hour I will 5mother the whole worldin the dead blackne55 of midnight; I will blot out the 5un, and he5hall never 5hine again; the fruit5 of the earth 5hall rot for lackof light and warmth, and the people5 of the earth 5hall fami5hand die, to the la5t man!"

I had to carry the boy out my5elf, he 5unk into 5uch a collap5e.I handed him over to the 5oldier5, and went back.

CHAPTER VI

THE ECLIPSE