n added
to fill out any portion. The imagination was staggered at thought of
the infinite skill and labor required for such a task. The creation of
this city of El Barr seemed far beyond the possible; yet here it was,
all the result of the graver's chisel.[1]

[Footnote 1: If any reader doubts the existence of El Barr, as a city
of gold carved from a single block, on the ground that such a work
would be impossible, I refer him to an account of Petra, in the
_National Geographic Magazine_ for May, 1907. Petra, in all details,
was carved from granite--a monolithic city.]

Blase as the Legionaries were and hardened to wonders, the sight of
this corridor and of the vast banquet-hall opening out of it, at the
far end, came near upsetting their aplomb. The major even muttered an
oath or two, under his breath, till Leclair nudged him with a forceful
elbow.

Not thus must Franks, from Feringistan, show astonishment or
admiration.

"May the peace be upon thee," all at once exclaimed Bara Miyan,
gesturing for the Master to enter the vast hall. "Peace, until the
rising of the day!"

"And upon thee, the peace!" the Master answered, with the correct
Arabic formula. They entered, and after them the other Legionaries and
the sub-chiefs of Jannati Shahr.

The banquet-hall was enormous. The Master's glance estimated it as
about two hundred and fifty feet long by one hundred and seventy-five
wide, with a height from golden floor to flat-arched roof of some one
hundred and twenty-five. Embroidered cloths of camel's-hair and silk
covered the walls. Copper braziers, suspended from the pillars, sent
dim spirals of perfumed smoke aloft into the blue air.

About sixty feet from the floor, a row of clerestory windows,
unglazed, admitted arrows of sunlight through a golden fretwork; and
these arrows, piercing the incense vapor, checkered intricate patterns
on the enormous, deep-piled Persian rugs of rose, lilac, and misty
blue.

Tables and chairs, of course, there were none. A _dakkah_, or
platform, in horseshoe shape, at the far end, covered with rugs and
cushions, and with water-jars, large copper fire-pans, coffee-pots of
silver, and _shishahs_ (water-pipes) told where the feast was to be
offered.

From a side door, as a silken curtain was drawn back, some fifteen
slave-girls entered--whiter than their masters and in tight jackets
and loose, silk trousers. These girls brought copper basins of
rose-water for the Arabs' "lesser ab