Beginning at the northern side of East Avenue, and circling in a radius of three thousand and ninety feet to the same side of West Avenue, was a set of pillars supporting a low crenellated wall along which was a sentry-path, used for public observation in the residence part of the city. This crescent gave the distance of the lost planet from the center of Tlamco, Mount Olympus being in the same radiation. It was indicated again from Las Papas to Lime Point, and also from Lone Mountain to the artificial sugar-loaf surmounted by the Tower of Refuge, south of Blue Mountain, and between Las Papas and Strawberry Hill. The gilded domes on the Temple of the Sun were the five-pointed star in the center of the crescent, a device which anciently figured as the lost planet[23]—the present star and crescent of the Turkish Empire. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE THE MEMENTO FOR GENERATIONS—BUILT BY SERPENT KINGS “Alcyesta, hast thou the silver casket safe?” asked Ben Hu Barabe, as soon as they were comfortably afloat. “Yes.” “Give it me.” He leaned forward eager to take it, but she held back, saying: “Dost thou remember the injunction to loosen the eagles in time of peril and to follow their lead?” “Yes. I have freed both birds. Dost thou not hear the cowardly gulls screeching with fright because of the eagles’ presence?” “Then thou hadst best confide thy secret.” “Yermah, wilt thou hear me?” “If it is to accuse thyself, no!” “It is to give into thy hands a message from Akaza, and to impart to thee the manner of its coming.” “Speak,” returned Yermah, in a whisper. “Before the awful time of wrath, a pair of golden eagles trained in falconry were intrusted to me by our beloved high-priestess, who intended them to be thy companions in the chase. She gave me, also, a ring set with diamonds, which I carried safely until I met Akaza after we left our battered balsa. I should never have known how, or when, the ring and the birds left me, had I not received this from the hierophant.” He handed over a tiny, silver locket taken from the casket in Alcyesta’s hand. Yermah pressed the spring and revealed a ring, large enough for his thumb, and having a fine silk tissue evenly fitting its broad band. “Before removing the contents of this locket, hear me fully,” pleaded Ben Hu Barabe. “This treasure was made fast in a leather pouch, which was securely tied to the wing, next the body, of one eagle. Here is the parchment slipped in beside it.” Yermah reached out his hand, but Ben Hu Barabe retained it. “Thou canst not read without more light. Hold a lantern close by,” he ordered. When the tamane obeyed, Ben Hu Barabe gave Yermah the writing. BELOVED: _The eagle shall lead thee into strange lands. Never again wilt thou be separated from Yermah. Withhold from him all knowledge of the birds until such time as thou shalt find him in great danger._ _Then loosen and follow thy guides._