'You've been there before?' 'Some weeks ago. But the place was very effectively locked. Now--ah, here it is.' He picked up a long silvery-looking strip of metal and slipped it into the bosom of his robe. 'How far is the tomb?' 'Five good miles, not counting climbing. It took me four hours before, but then I lost time finding the way.' We set off at once through the silent streets of the city, stealing from shadow to shadow and pausing every now and then to assure ourselves that the attendant, who had so mysteriously disappeared, was not following us now. If he was, I never from first to last detected the least trace of him. We made fair time, considering the need of caution, and were soon come to the standing crops southward of the city, then on to the grassy foothills. For all the signs of life we saw, we might have been in the middle of a desert. Poyning's recollection of the ground stood him in good stead. He had learned on his former sally that the best way to find the tomb was to strike for the new stream that had recently burst out of the mountains and follow it up. This water, though much shrunken from what it had been when we saw it from the watch-tower, still showed well in the moonlight, and sounded distinctly on the still night air, and we found it without much difficulty. The going was bad, however; over and above the earthworks which the engineers had thrown up, the hillside itself was rough and strangely soggy for ground at such a slant, and it must have been fully two hours before we sighted the tomb. It rose from behind a low hump on the hillside, a small but beautifully designed building, with pillars and steps in the eternal marble; except that the entrance in the middle of the façade was a good deal larger in proportion, the structure might have passed for a model of our own house. Poyning discovered the aperture for the key, thrust in the long silver bar, tried it one way and another, and I heard the gentle screech of metal against metal. We leaned our shoulders against the dark teak-like wood. It gave. The tomb was open before us. 'Wait,' I said, catching his arm. 'There's no need to scatter clews abroad.' With that I carefully confused our tracks round the door, loosened my sandals, and stepped out of them barefoot on to the lowest marble stair, motioning Poyning to do the same. Then we entered. The mausoleum was in pitchy darkness, for there was no aperture but the door, and that we shut as soon as we had passed inside. I heard Poyning's heart pounding, and saw his hand shake like a man in an ague as he struck a light with his flint--the people of the valley used a very ingenious implement of this type to kindle fire--and lit the lamp. He held it up, and together we swept our gaze round the interior of the tomb.