azed about him bewildered.

At most he had expected to find himself in some forgotten vault or old
wine-cellar. What he saw was quite different. The apartment, if such a
term may be employed was spacious, and formed in a perfect circle,
with a hemispherical roof. This dome was covered with what, in the dim
light, appeared to be hieroglyphical sculpture. What puzzled Barnes
most was that no seams appeared, from which he concluded that the
entire cavern must have been hewn out of the solid rock. The floor
also was of stone, elaborately carved, and, appearing continuous with
the ceiling, at once presented an impossible problem in engineering.
For the door through which they had entered evidently had no
connection with the original design of the structure, since it was of
modern style, and, moreover, the doorway, cut for its insertion, had
destroyed the continuity of the carvings on the wall, which, to the
height of this doorway, represented a seemingly endless procession,
interrupted only by the cutting of the opening, which thus showed
curiously divided bodies of men and women along its two edges. In the
centre of the place was a singular stone, elaborately carved, with a
polished upper surface. Upon this Dr. Medjora seated himself, after
having lighted the lamp which hung like a censer from the centre of
the roof. Barnes looked at him, awed into silence. Allowing him a few
minutes to contemplate his surroundings, the Doctor said:

"You are Jack Barnes, the assistant of Dudley & Bliss. You are
ambitious to become a detective. Therefore, when you read my name on
my card this morning, you thought it a good opportunity to track a
murderer, did you not? Answer me, and tell me no lies!"

"Yes," said Barnes, surprised to find that a curious sensation in his
throat, as though he were parching, precluded his saying more.

"Well, you have tracked the murderer to his den. What do you think of
the place. Safe enough from the police, eh!" The Doctor laughed in a
soft congratulatory way, which grated upon his hearer's ear. He
continued, as though to himself: "And Dudley & Bliss warned me that I
could not escape from the police. I, Emanuel Medjora! I could not
escape!" Then he burst out into a prolonged ringing peal of laughter
which made Barnes tremble affrighted, as a hundred echoes for the
moment made his imagination picture myriads of demons chiming in with
the merriment of their master.

"Come here," cried the Doctor, checkin