The heavy carts rolled slowly along the valley, and paused as they reached each smouldering fire. The filth and rubbish which composed the daily fuel of these fires were nearly exhausted: but fresh combustibles were cast on them to make the funeral-piles of the martyrs, and then the bodies were flung, naked and headless, to be reduced to ashes. Javan watched them one by one, and by the light of the lurid flames he saw nine livid corpses thrown from the carts. His heart sickened, but he could not leave the spot, and there he stood, gazing down on the dreadful spectacle until all was over. The forms of the degraded criminals whose loathsome office it was to attend to these fires, were seen moving about amid the smoke and vapour, and appeared fitting inhabitants of this Gehenna, or place of Hell-fire, as it was commonly called. To Javan's excited imagination the altars once erected on this spot to Chemosh, Moloch, and Ashtaroth, were present again, reeking with their human sacrifices; and the cries of the innocent children who were offered up by hundreds to the gods of cruelty and murder sounded in his ears. The savage mob that had followed the dead-carts stood round to enjoy the spectacle, and as the flames burst forth afresh, and the bodies consumed away, they expressed their exultation and joy by loud discordant shouts, that only added to the infernal character of the scene. Among this rabble were some who came from other motives, and who trembled with stifled emotion, while to escape observation they endeavoured to join in the cries of the surrounding crowd. These were the friends and relatives of the martyred Nazarenes, and they came to wait until vengeance had been satiated on the bodies of those they loved, and the valley should be abandoned to the dogs and the vultures that lurked around to snatch their horrid meal. One by one the fires went out, and darkness overspread the valley. The crowd dispersed, and the criminals left their daily employment to seek a short repose in some wretched huts at a little distance from the place of their appointed labours. Then, when all was silent, Javan saw a number of men and women approach one of the fires which yet continued smouldering, and light their torches at the embers. Carefully they searched among the ashes for the bones of their relatives which yet were unconsumed, and having collected them from every fire, they enclosed the precious relics altogether in a casket, and noiselessly moved away down the valley toward Solomon's Pool.