"Thou hast said it, O Frank. Here be more than ten-score thousand
skulls of the enemies of Islam, of blasphemers against the Prophet, of
those who have penetrated the Empty Abodes, of those who have sought
to carry gold from El Barr. It is nearly done, this pyramid. But there
still remain three-and-twenty vacant places to be filled."
For a long minute, the eyes of the Master and of Bara Miyan met, in
silence, with the torch-flare glinting strange lights from them. Then
the Olema spoke.
"Hast thou seen enough?" demanded he.
"Mine eyes are filled."
"And dost thou still ask rewards of gold?"
"Nay, it is as I have already told thee; let the cut jewels of the
Caliph el Walid suffice!"
"It is well spoken. Let us descend."
In silence, again, they left the gruesome gallery and went down the
stairway with the Olema's torch leaving vague, fantastic wreaths of
odorous smoke curling up along the polished, dull-yellow slant of the
pyramid. Back on the floor again, the Master said to his men:
"This pyramid is filled with skulls of men who have tried to carry
gold from El Barr. For the present, we must dismiss gold from our
minds. Common prudence dictates that we abandon all idea of gold, take
whatever reward we can get, and leave this city at once.
"The gold is of no importance, whatever. On the way back over the
outer foothills of the Iron Mountains, many outcrops of gold exist.
_Nissr_ can poise above some of these; and a few hours' labor will
load her with all the gold we can carry. There can be no sense in
trying to get any here. It would simply add to our peril.
"Everything is therefore quite satisfactory. But watch every move. If
nothing breaks, in two hours from now we should be on our way. Again
I caution you all, keep silent and make no move without my orders. The
prize is at our very finger-tips. So long as we shed no blood and as
nothing happens to the Myzab and the Black Stone, we are safe. But
remember--_be careful!_"
The Olema touched him on the elbow.
"Now," the old man asked, "now, O Frank, wouldst thou see the cut
jewels of the Caliph el Walid?"
"Even so!"
"Come, then!" And Bara Miyan gestured toward another door that led, at
the left, out of the Chamber of the Pyramid.
Again the strange procession formed itself, as before, with the
gorilla-like Maghrabi stranglers a rear guard. A few minutes through
still another passage in the gold brought them to a door of ebony,
banded with silver. No door of gold, it seemed, sufficed for this
chamber they were about to enter. Stronger materials were needed here.
This door, like the others, swung silently on its massive hinges.
"Come, O Master of the fighting-men of Feringistan!" exclaimed the
Olema. "In Allah's name, take of the gifts that I have already offered
thee, and then in peace depart!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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