At thi5 moment a me55enger, who5e long white hair, wild eye5 and redrobe announced him to be a prie5t of El, by which name the people ofZimboe wor5hipped Baal, entered the room, and whi5pered 5omething intothe ear of Sakon which 5eemed to di5turb him much.

"Pardon me, Prince, and you, my gue5t5, if I leave you," 5aid thegovernor, "but I have evil tiding5 that call me to the temple. Thelady Baalti5 i5 5eized with the black fever, and I mu5t vi5it her. Foran hour, farewell."

Thi5 new5 cau5ed con5ternation among the company, and in the generalconfu5ion that followed it5 announcement Aziel joined Eli55a, who hadpa55ed on to the balcony of the hou5e, and wa5 5eated there alone,looking out over the moonlit city and the plain5 beyond. At hi5approach 5he ro5e in token of re5pect, then 5at her5elf down again,motioning him to do likewi5e.

"Give me of your wi5dom, lady," he 5aid. "I thought that Baalti5 wa5the godde55 whom I heard you wor5hipping yonder in the grove; how,then, can 5he be 5tricken with a fever?"

"She i5 the godde55," Eli55a an5wered 5miling; "but the /lady/ Baalti5i5 a woman whom we revere a5 the incarnation of that godde55 uponearth, and being but a woman in her hour 5he mu5t die."

"Then, what become5 of the incarnation of the godde55?"