From the bath all three went out again among the trees, passed a number of gardens, and found themselves in an empty space finally. "There," said one of the priests, "are the ancient tombs; on that side is the city, and here the temple. Go whithersoever thou wishest. May wisdom point out the road to thee, and sacred words guard thee from perils." The two priests went back to the garden, and Phut was in solitude. The moonless night was rather clear. From afar, covered with mist, glittered the Nile; higher up gleamed the seven stars of the Great Bear. Over the head of the stranger was Orion, and above the dark pylons flamed the star Sirius. "The stars shine in our land more brightly," thought Phut. He began to whisper prayers in an unknown tongue, and turned toward the temple. When he had gone a number of steps, from one of the gardens a man pushed out and followed him. But almost at that very moment such a thick fog fell on the place that it was quite impossible to see aught save the roofs of the temple. After a certain time the man of Harran came to a high wall. He looked up at the sky and began to go westward. From moment to moment night birds and great bats flew above him. The mist had become so dense that he was forced to touch the wall so as not to lose it. The journey had lasted rather long when all at once Phut found himself before a low door with a multitude of bronze nail heads. He fell to counting these from the left side on the top; at the same time he pressed some of them powerfully, others he turned. When he had pressed the last nail at the bottom, the door opened. The man of Harran advanced a few steps, and found himself in a narrow niche where there was utter darkness. He tried the ground carefully with his foot till he struck upon something like the brink of a well from which issued coolness. He sat down then and slipped fearlessly into the abyss, though he found himself in that place and in Egypt for the first time. The opening was not deep. Phut stood erect on a sloping pavement, and began to descend along a narrow corridor with as much confidence as if he had known the passage for a lifetime. At the end of the corridor was a door. By groping the stranger found a knocker, and struck three times with it. In answer came a voice, it was unknown from what direction. "Hast thou, who art disturbing in a night hour the peace of a holy place, the right to enter?" "I have done no wrong to man, child, or woman. Blood has not stained my hands. I have eaten no unclean food. I have not taken another's property. I have not lied. I have not betrayed the great secret," answered the man of Harran, calmly. "Art thou he for whom we are waiting, or he who in public thou declarest thyself to be?" inquired the voice, after a while. "I am he who was to come from brethren in the East; but that other name is mine also, and in the northern city I possess a house and land, as I have told other persons."