On one bright afternoon he had wandered farther westward than ever before, going far beyond the limits of the land appurtenant to the farm. He was weary with climbing over the endless hills, and reclined to rest upon a projecting rock beneath an ample shade of forest-trees, and gazed away over the calm and brilliant expanse of the peaceful Mediterranean. But not long had he rested there when his quick ear caught the sound of slow and measured footfalls as some unseen person paced slowly back and forth upon a diminutive plateau that stretched still farther westwardly along the mountain-side. The intervening foliage hid the person from sight, and, the lad’s curiosity being aroused by the presence of a stranger in a spot so secluded, he quietly went forward, and a few steps brought him to the place where this little stretch of level ground had been carefully denuded of trees and seemed to be cultivated as a garden. Then he saw a tall, gray-haired, venerable-looking man, with downcast eyes, and slow, deliberate step, coming in his direction along a narrow walk that led directly through the cultivated land. Almost at the same instant the aged man perceived him also, but quietly pursued his way, and, when he had come near, Arius respectfully bowed and saluted him. The ancient returned his salutation, and added words which the boy did not understand, but the lad said, in the Greek tongue, then in common use throughout Cyrenaica: "I think thou speakest the language of Egypt, which I do not comprehend. If thou wilt speak in Latin or in Greek, I can understand thy wishes or thine orders." The old man gazed at him in astonishment, but answered in the Greek tongue: "Surely thou art an Egyptian!--and in the course of a long life I have never met with a son of Egypt that could not speak his mother-tongue if he could speak at all!" "Yea, sir," answered Arius, "I am altogether a son of Egypt, although born on an adjacent farm, but my parents would never use that language, and, while they carefully instructed me in Greek and in Latin and in Hebrew, and in the Aramean tongue of the Israelites now in use, they would never permit me to learn an Egyptian word." "Strange enough!" said the ancient. "Dost thou know any reason why thy parents thus forbade thee to acquire the primitive and wonderful old speech of the land of Kem?" "Yea, sir," answered Arius. "I have heard my father say that in his childhood he was placed in a temple and dedicated to Ammon, and that when he grew older he liked neither the temple nor the god, and fled away to follow another course of life; and I think that he believed the language of the Nile region to possess some peculiar power over every son of Egypt, and that to preserve me from that influence, whatever it may be, he desired of me that I would never seek to learn that speech--at least not for many years to come."