"These descendants of Abraham," he said to his grand vizier, "never know when they are beaten. How many times it has been reported to me that they have been wiped out of existence, or driven from the land, I know not. Yet nothing, it seems, can crush their spirit. Tell me, why is this?"
"It is because they have a firm faith in their future," answered the vizier.
"What mean you by those words?" demanded the king, angrily.
"I speak only of what I have heard from their wise men," the vizier replied, hastily. "They hold the belief that they will be restored as a united people to their own land."
"Under their own king?" interrupted Hormuz.
"Under a descendant of the royal House of David," the vizier answered, solemnly.
The king stamped his foot with rage.
"How dare they think of any other Shah but me," he exclaimed, for his one idea of ruling over people was that he had every right to be cruel to them. Then he said suddenly, "Think you that if there were no more people who could trace their ancestry to this—this David, their faith would be shattered?"
"Peradventure, it may be so."
"It shall be so," cried the king. "There shall be no remnants of this House of David."