When the girl finally
finished her selection, the woman begged permission to attend to the
camels and getting the beasts on their feet led them together to be
tethered.
Laodice, assisted by Momus, took up the condemned supplies and flung
them one at a time upon the roaring fire. Little by little, with
growing reluctance, the heap of spare belongings was examined and
condemned, until finally only the garments they wore, the tents that
were to shelter them and the essential harness of the camels were
left. Then Momus drew from his wallet a fragment of aromatic gum and
cast it on the blaze. While it ignited and burned with great vapors of
penetrating incense, he unstrapped the precious casket, set it down
between his feet, stripped off his comfortable woolen tunic and passed
it through the volumes of white smoke piling up from the fire.
And while he stood thus a deft hand seized the casket from behind.
There was a sharp, warning cry from Laodice. The old man staggered
only a moment from the tripping that the wrench gave him, but in that
instant of hesitation the pillager vanished.
The old mute shouted the infuriated, half-animal yell of the dumb and
started in pursuit, but at his second step he saw the fleeter camel
swing down the declivity, at top-speed, with the other trailing with
difficulty at full length of its bridle behind.
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