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Updated: July 9, 2025
Did the palm branch hang low enough so that, if he jumped, he could grasp it? The portion of the old palm branch was a slender thing. It would not have borne the leopard's weight. Probably the animal had tried to clutch the branch before now. The lower end might be frayed by his claws. "Will the branch bear my weight?" questioned Timokles.
The lad clung to the branch with desperate strength, though his support was swaying to and fro. The claws of one of the leopard's paws raked Timokles' arm, and then the beast dropped to the floor. The leopard's angry cries stunned Timokles' ears. He clutched the palm branch tightly.
"Ill shalt thou fare in this oasis, then," threatened the slave. Timokles' eyes wandered over the landscape. The surface of the oasis was undulating, and on the north it rose into high, limestone hills. Date palms abounded near by Timokles. He could see the inhabitants of the village, and the wanderers from farther, more isolated homes.
"O Christian, no one ever before came back from the House of the Leopard! O Christian; I am afraid of thy God!" There was real terror in her voice. Timokles was moved with compassion. He leaned forward, eager to explain to her the truth. What should he say? "He is a great God, the only God!" whispered Timokles, reverently. "O maiden, he is not like an idol! He is the only God.
He knew of the little company of Christians that had been brought captive to Alexandria, for a slave belonging to another household had told Athribis secretly, "He who was once thy young master the Christian, Timokles hath been brought in from the desert and goeth on the ship!" In his heart Athribis made answer, "The ship needeth another passenger my young master, the Christian, Heraklas!"
How worn he was! And that brand upon his cheek! Athribis bent forward. Timokles' eyes were opening. "Athribis!" exclaimed Timokles faintly, as, after a prolonged gaze, he recognized the slave. "Ah, my Christian master! My Christian master!" jeered Athribis, "I see you once again. My Christian master!" The hands of the unseen Heraklas clinched at that tone. Timokles looked around, bewildered.
He dared not come out, but lay there through the torrid hours, moistening his lips now and then with a little water from the small, skin water-pouch he carried. The sun plunged beneath the horizon at last, with the usual seeming suddenness observed in the desert. Night was welcome to Timokles, and he came forth. The lad's heart was very lonely.
Then the lad bent over the sleeper to scan his face. But, as Timokles stooped, he dimly saw, in the relaxed, open palm of the man's hand, a small stone of the triangular form under which the Egyptians were wont to worship Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Such are the stones found in the tombs of the Egyptians. This was no Christian sleeper that lay at Timokles' feet!
All this Timokles remembered, as he stood beside the steaming Fountain of the Sun in the oasis, and watched the bubbles that constantly rose to the surface of that famous body of water. "O branded-cheeked cutter of dykes, art thou in very truth a Christian?" contemptuously asked the slave that guarded Timokles. "I am, O friend," gently answered the lad.
He was alarmed lest the old palm branch should break or should loosen from the wall. If he once fell back into the leopard's jaws, there would be a swift end to this skirmishing. Timokles looked down at the eager eyes. Then he scanned the palm branch narrowly.
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