g his laugh. Barnes hesitated
and then retreated. "Come here, you coward!" said the Doctor, in a
sterner voice. The taunt made the blood course more swiftly through
the young man's veins, and the laugh of the demon echo having died
away, he threw his head up and approached the stone, stopping within a
few feet of Dr. Medjora, and looking him in the eye.

"Ah! As I thought. A strong will, for a youngster. I must use
strategy." This so softly that Barnes did not comprehend the sense of
the words. Then the Doctor spoke in his most alluring manner:

"You are plucky, Mr. Barnes. This is a gruesome place, and I have
brought you here under such peculiar circumstances that you might well
be alarmed. But I see that you are not, and I admire you for your
courage. It is his courage that has made man the master of all the
animal world. By that he controls beasts, who could rend him to a
thousand bits, with ease: only they dare not. So, for your courage, I
forgive your impudence, and I might say imprudence, in following me
this morning."

Barnes was mystified by this alteration of manner, and was not such a
fool that he did not suspect that it boded him no special favor. He
did not reply, not knowing what to say. The Doctor jumped up from his
seat, saying pleasantly:

"I am forgetting my politeness. You are my guest, and I am occupying
the only available seat. Pardon me, and be seated." Barnes hesitated,
and the Doctor said, "Oblige me!" in a tone which made Barnes think it
wise to comply. He therefore seated himself on the stone, and the
Doctor muttered low to himself:

"How innocently he goes to the sacrifice," words which Barnes did not
hear and would not have understood had he done so. Then the Doctor
laughed with a muffled, gurgling sound, which, answered by the echoes,
again made Barnes feel uncomfortable.

"Now then, Mr. Barnes," began Dr. Medjora, "I have no doubt that your
curiosity has been aroused, and that you would like to know what sort
of place this is, and how it came here. It is a very curious story
altogether, and as we shall find time hang heavily on our hands whilst
the fire is burning upstairs, I cannot entertain you better, perhaps,
than with the tale. You know, of course, or you have heard, that I am
a physician. But no one knows how thoroughly entitled I am to the
name. I am a lineal descendant of the great AEsculapius himself."
Barnes stared, wondering whether the man were mad. Having begun his
recit