'
'Esther,' said Alroy, advancing, and gently taking her hand, 'the
capital of the East will soon unfold its marvels to thy sight. Prepare
thyself for wonders. Girl, we are no longer in the desert. Forget thy
fitful fancies. Come, choose a husband from my generals, child, and I
will give a kingdom for thy dower. I would gladly see a crown upon that
imperial brow. It well deserves one.'
The prophetess turned her dark eyes full upon Alroy. What passed in her
mind was neither evident nor expressed. She gazed intently upon the calm
and inscrutable countenance of the conqueror, then flung away his hand,
and rushed out of the pavilion.
CHAPTER VIII.
_Bagdad and the Princess_
THE waving of banners, the flourish of trumpets, the neighing of steeds,
and the glitter of spears! On the distant horizon they gleam like the
morning, when the gloom of the night shivers bright into day. Hark!
the tramp of the foemen, like the tide of the ocean, flows onward and
onward, and conquers the shore. From the brow of the mountain, like the
rush of a river, the column defiling melts into the plain.
Warriors of Judah! holy men that battle for the Lord! The land wherein
your fathers wept, and touched their plaintive psalteries; the haughty
city where your sires bewailed their cold and distant hearths; your
steeds are prancing on its plain, and you shall fill its palaces.
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