If you thought me weak or childish, you will then excuse me." The sheik held his peace, listening closely, until Ben-Hur came to the paragraph in which he was particularly mentioned: "'I saw the Jew yesterday in the Grove of Daphne;'" so ran the part, "'and if he be not there now, he is certainly in the neighborhood, making it easy for me to keep him in eye.

Indeed, wert thou to ask me where he is now, I should say, with the most positive assurance, he is to be found at the old Orchard of Palms.'" "A--h!" exclaimed Ilderim, in such a tone one might hardly say he was more surprised than angry; at the same time, he clutched his beard.
"'At the old Orchard of Palms,'" Ben-Hur repeated, "'under the tent of the traitor Shiek Ilderim.'" "Traitor!--I ?" the old man cried, in his shrillest tone, while lip and beard curled with ire, and on his forehead and neck the veins swelled and beat as they would burst.
"Yet a moment, sheik," said Ben-Hur, with a deprecatory gesture.
"Such is Messala's opinion of you.

Hear his threat." And he read on--"'under the tent of the traitor Sheik Ilderim, who cannot long escape our strong hand.

Be not surprised if Maxentius, as his first measure, places the Arab on ship for forwarding to Rome.'" "To Rome! Me--Ilderim--sheik of ten thousand horsemen with spears--me to Rome!" He leaped rather than rose to his feet, his arms outstretched, his fingers spread and curved like claws, his eyes glittering like a serpent's.
"O God!--nay, by all the gods except of Rome!--when shall this insolence end?
A freeman am I; free are my people.

Must we die slaves?
Or, worse, must I live a dog, crawling to a master's feet?
Must I lick his hand, lest he lash me?
What is mine is not mine; I am not my own; for breath of body I must be beholden to a Roman.