Ildiko was kept under surveillance, and Setos found his movements closely watched. The news went through the city like wild-fire, and the excitement kept the streets alive all night, while the death-watchers sat with the linen-swathed body of Orondo. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR THE TRIBUNALS OF GOD DEAL WITH ALCAMAYN The “Tribunals of God,” as the courts of justice were called, convened in the Temple of Mars, situated northwest from the center of the city. It was here that the highest courts assembled four times a year to hear and to judge the most important criminal cases. There were twelve judges and eighty jurors, who were seated in a semi-circle facing the south, where sapphire tablets in gold plates set forth the ten great laws of the land. In front of them were two blocks of stone, on which the accuser and the accused stood. Outside this were seats for the jurisconsults, hedged in by a wall of solid masonry, always guarded. The building itself was square, with each corner exactly on a cardinal point, and finished with square towers, from the tops of which the decisions were announced at sunset. The size of the temple was one three-hundred-thousandths of the diameter of Mars. Outside the walled enclosure were quarters for the jurisconsults and their families, also for the students and the instructors. A long subterranean passage, dimly lighted, led to the chambers for solitary confinement, and it was from the arches overhead that criminals under death-sentence were executed, by being hung by the heels. Dull gray walls, ceilings and floors greeted the eye everywhere, while leather and iron fittings added to the gloom and depression. Over the door of the main entrance was the inscription: “THE WISE EMPLOYMENT OF PUNISHMENT IS THE BEST MEANS OF TEACHING THE LOWER ANIMALS: MAN LEARNS ONLY BY EXPERIENCE, WHICH IS A VARIED FORM OF PUNISHMENT.” The awning over the head of the presiding judge was a splendid woolen tapestry, representing the “Judgment of Hirach,” and underneath was the inscription: “THE MISFORTUNE OF THE CRIMINAL IS THAT HE MAKES A BAD BARGAIN: HE GIVES SO MUCH FOR SO LITTLE.” * * * * * As hierophant and Past Grand Servitor, it was Yermah’s duty to preside at Alcamayn’s trial. His official robe for this occasion was flame-colored, with belt, bracelet, and thumb-ring of iron set with amethysts, while on his head was a skeletonized iron crown. The extreme gravity of the case hastened the proceedings, which were concluded on the following Tuesday—Mars’ day. In ordinary circumstances it would have been considered a monstrous thing to appeal with such haste to an extraordinary tribunal; but the diversity of frictional causes underlying the main issue made it expedient to act with vigor and promptitude.