Page:Princess Badoura, a tale from the Arabian nights.djvu/121

91 Camaralzaman sat weeping; for the mourning of these birds reminded him in some way of the grief and separation he himself had endured, and as little could he hope for the return of his lost happiness as they for the revival of their dead comrade. As he was thus thinking, once again came the strange cry he had heard before, and lookup up he saw the two birds flying back carrying the murderer in their claws. No sooner had they alighted above the grave than filling upon their captive they tore out his heart and entrails, anil having drained out his blood as an offering to the slain, they left the body lying, and flew away.

All this while Camaralzaman had looked on in wonder; and surely it seemed to him that if, in the lower order of creation such miracles of devotion and service were wrought, humanity had no cause for despair. And even as he so thought, he saw in the torn body of the bird something