urse
of time becoming one of themselves, and winning great renown under
another name--which I forget for the moment. But antiquarians insist
that the name he assumed was but the Japanese rendering of his own
former one of Genghiz Khan.

"At any rate, he never returned to China to recover his treasure; and
legend has it that it still remained where it had been originally
hidden. From time to time, expeditions have been formed for the purpose
of searching for this legendary deserted city; but it has remained for
us, Drake, to discover it, and to secure Genghiz Khan's millions. This
must be the town, this must be the treasure; for not otherwise can such
an enormous hoard be accounted for. Nobody but the conqueror of Asia
could ever have amassed so much."

"That's very interesting, Mr Frobisher," said Drake, who had been
listening intently; "and it's a very comforting thought that all this
belongs to us, if we can only get out. I suppose, in any case, we had
better fill our pockets, lest we should not be able to get back here?"

"It would not be at all a bad idea, skipper," returned Frobisher; and
the two men slipped a few handfuls of the jewels into their pockets, as
coolly as though they had been so many pebbles instead of gems worth
several thousands of pounds.

"And now," said Frobisher, "we had better turn our attention to getting
out of this. I shall not feel comfortable until I have satisfied myself
that this place is not going to prove a living tomb for us."

They closed the lids of all the chests, and passed through what
Frobisher called "the door-way of swords", carefully closing the door
behind them by means of a stick, lest the closing should again set the
swords in motion. But it did not; the mechanism was evidently so
arranged as only to operate upon the opening of the door.

"I do not think we need fear burglars here," said Drake with a smile, as
the door clanged shut.

The two men then decided to explore the remainder of the corridors, for
unless an exit from one of them could be found there was little doubt
that the treasure would prove as useless to them as it had been to
Genghiz Khan himself.

The first passage they explored ended in a blank wall, as the three
others had done; but in the next, to their great relief, they found
another passage branching away to the left. This they followed for some
distance, until they reached a spot where it branched into two. As
there was no knowing wh