Meanwhile the city of the "Invincible and Beautiful Archangel" slumbered, and "the great stars globed themselves in heaven," and seemed to bridge the gulf that separates the infinite from the finite with their tender, loving light. Who can say but that the fond spirit of a dead wife and mother beamed in love and pity over the father and child sleeping thus alone in the heart of a great city? for the girl dreamed a dream which seemed a warning to her. Suddenly she started in her sleep, and saw in the distance a company of men armed with swords and spears, carrying lanterns in their hands, marching slowly towards the spot where they lay. These were the night-guards patrolling outside the walls of the inner city. While she looked they seemed to expand. They were now colossal,--monsters that filled the earth, air, and sky. Full of dismay, she clung closer to the side of her father. Their heavy tramp came nearer, and she could hear them stop. How desperately her heart beat under the covering! What if they should find her out! The captain of the guards approached, passed his lantern slowly over the face of the old man, and perceiving that he was one of the many strangers called into the city at this time of the year, he and his company went on their rounds. No sooner had the glimmer of their lanterns vanished in the distance, than the girl sprang up, and, casting a cautious glance all round, drew out in the darkness a small brass image of Indra, which she wore within her vest, and placed it at her father's head; then, loosening a silk cord from her neck, to which was attached a silver ring inscribed with the mystic triform used by the Hindoo women, she proceeded to implore the protection of the gods, and to describe several weird circles and waves over herself and her father. This done she slept sweetly, feeling in the presence of that brass image a sense of security that many a Christian might have envied. Just at this moment, one of the guards in passing on the other side of the city remarked that they ought to have aroused the old khaik (foreigner) and exacted a toll from him for taking up his quarters so near the walls of the royal palace. "That very thought has just crossed my mind," said the captain, "and mine, and mine," echoed a number of voices. "It is hardly midnight yet; let us turn back and see what we can squeeze out of the old fellow." No sooner said than done. The chief led the way, and the whole company rapidly retraced their steps to where the travellers slept. It would be difficult to reproduce the picture that must have presented itself to the captain of the night-guards, who, after having stationed his men at a little distance, advanced noiselessly, approached the old man, and drew off lightly the covering that wrapped the sleeper, in order to make some guess from his dress and appearance as to the amount of money they might demand from him.