anon heard amidst the hissing and
sputtering of the boiling metals. Long cries came up as if from men in
the agonies of death; a clatter as of chains sounded from the abyss;
muttered curses; and bent and wretched human figures were seen moving
over swards of diamonds and precious stones, like the dark stains
passing athwart the bright face of the moon. The eye of the Monarch then
flamed with wrath. Sometimes clanging their chains as they moved their
fettered limbs, these melancholy figures raised to him their suppliant
hands, begging with anguished cries for one drop of water, for one
moment of respite to breathe the free air of heaven. He vouchsafed to
them no answer, and with every moment the wretched and emaciated shadows
fell from utter exhaustion into the molten metals seething in the depths
of the mine. But what mattered that, since with every instant, new bands
of living shadows, equally fettered, doomed, and wretched, arrived to
fill the vacant places? The young man thought he had seen some of these
melancholy faces before in the high places of the earth, that the noble
traits once had been dear to him, but the flashes of lightning blinded
him, and the features were rapidly lost in the depths of the succeeding
gloom. The roar of the seething, fusing metals deafened the sound of the
groans from the chained and broken-hearted miners. And as I gazed, an
all-pervading splendor, like the golden calm of the Desert, settled over
all, covering with glittering veil the anguish which had been revealed.

As this light overflowed the scene with its brilliant haze, the gates of
bronze clapped to with heavy clang. The Master of Life and Death took
leave of the young man, and as he departed, said: When the great bell
again strikes, be in the Hall of the Throne; thy seat at my Banquet is
next my own.

As the young man turned to move away, the throng greeted him with shouts
and cheers. Many knelt to kiss his hand, because it had touched the hand
of the Master. They asked him what music he would hear, and when his
choice was made, the grand orchestra rolled it forth in massive waves of
sound. They bore him luscious wines in jewelled vases, kneeling as he
took the cup. He marvelled, and at first scorned the homage, but again I
saw him look proudly round him, and assume an air of command.

In a recess of the most exquisite beauty, veiled by groves of perfumed
flowers, he meets resplendent groups of married women, blooming cluster