Nehushta's eye rested on the far-off point, and she raised one hand to shade her sight.

She remembered how, when she was a girl, she had watched the line of that very road from the palace above, and had seen a cloud of dust arise out of a mere speck, as a body of horsemen galloped into view.

There was no mistaking what it was.

A troop of horse were coming--perhaps the king himself.

Instinctively she turned and looked for Zoroaster, and started, as she saw him standing at a little distance from her, with folded arms, his eyes bent on the horizon.