and here is my staff. Oh! there are jars of jewels up there."
Antar wondered whether the old man were raving; but the evil spell of wasted hours was still upon him, and he said: "I will go. If there be gold and jewels, you shall have half."
Without more words the two men, side by side, walked slowly up the mountain in the white mist of the sunless morning, the old beggar labouring and stumbling and groaning on his way, and Antar assisting him where the ground was rough and broken. And afar off, in the mind of each, shone the fatal glitter of gold, beckoning onwards; for age has an unfailing eyesight for wealth, even after it can no longer see the brightness of a bird's wing, or the face of love, or the pure colouring of a flower; and although a heart be sick of endearments and weary with passion, it can never, while it beats, think of riches without beating faster, and throbbing with all the novelty of desire.
Higher and higher they climbed over a
