It was night on the Libyan desert.

The stars glittered on the rocky highlands that compose so much of that desert, and lit faintly, too, the areas between, where stretches of sand waited to be shifted by the next simoon that should blow.
In one spot, at the edge of a rock, there was a movement of the sand.

Out of it a form slowly rose.
The sand shook near by, and another person appeared.

Another arose, and another, till five had arisen.
The man who had first appeared spoke, slowly, in a voice that told of exhaustion.
"The Emperor Septimius Severus reigneth over our land," he said.

"He hath forbidden that any one should become a Christian.