“I say I shall not bow to any god but the God of Israel!  In Him I trust.  If we perish by the hand of our enemies, so let it be!  Better death than a base betrayal of our sacred trust.  But is not that God who saved us once from death able to deliver us again?  Is his arm shortened, that he cannot save?  Then let them heat the fiery furnace!  That God in whom we trust will yet deliver us from this calamity, and overrule this dark providence to his glory.”

A knock was heard.  The door was opened, and the pleasant voice of the newcomer gave them to understand that he was no other than the kind-hearted Apgomer.

“I trouble you, at this time, as a bearer of dispatches from my kind master, Belteshazzar, who is now in Egypt, on government business of pressing importance.  Before he left, he gave me positive orders to deliver all messages to his cousins without the least delay.”

“Thou art ever welcome, dear Apgomer!” answered Hananiah. “and especially to-day, as a bearer of a dispatch from one we love so well.”

“And here is another, from one that, peradventure, ye love the more.  Ye perceive that the children of Judah have some confidence in their Chaldean friend.”

“And great is the confidence thou deservest, as one that has proved himself a genuine friend in every trial,” said Azariah.

“Let not my noble friend speak thus!” said the modest Chaldean, “for I deserve it not.  I must return, and any further dispatches that may be sent to my care shall, without delay, be conveyed hither.  Adieu!”

These dispatches proved to be letters.  The last delivered was confidentially handed to Apgomer by Mathias, and was written by Perreeza.

The letter from Daniel was first considered.  It was read aloud by Azariah.

“Ever Dear Cousins:  I have this moment read the wonderful proclamation of the king, in regard to the great image of Bel, to be dedicated on the plains of Dura.  By some strange providence, he saw fit to send me hither, with imperative instructions to remain until some unpleasant affairs between the two governments are amicably adjusted; and before this can be accomplished, the great idolatrous display will have passed.  Your minds, undoubtedly, have been much troubled in view of the unpleasant position in which ye are placed.  So hath the mind of your beloved cousin.  Already I know full well that, with holy courage, ye are ready for the trial.  The flames of a fiery furnace must fail to frighten a true Israelite from the worship of the God of his fathers.  Past favors are not to be repaid by proving traitors to the God of Israel.  We are the temporal subjects of the King of Babylon it is true, and in anything that interferes not with the command of Jehovah, we are happy to render him willing obedience:  but with us obedience to the higher law is paramount to all other considerations.  The words of a loving mother are yet fresh in my mind.  The morning on which we left our beloved Jerusalem,