er end of the passage, the Olema stopped.

"Here is a new trophy, just added to all that Allah hath placed in our
hands," said he, gravely. "There are some three-and-twenty places yet
left, to fill. Wilt thou see the new trophy?"

The Master nodded silently. Raising the torch, the Olema thrust it
into one of the embrasures. There the Master beheld a human skull.

The empty eye-sockets, peering out at him, seemed to hold a malevolent
malice. That the skull had been but freshly cleaned, was obvious.

"Abd el Rahman?" asked the Master.

"Yea, the Apostate," answered Bara Miyan. "At last, Allah hath
delivered him to us of El Barr."

"Thou hast used a heavy hand on the Apostate, O Sheik."

"We of Jannati Shahr do not anoint rats' heads with jasmine oil. Tell
me, Frank, how many men hast thou?"

"Three-and-twenty, is it not so?"

"Yea, it is so. Tell me, Bara Miyan, this whole pyramid--"

"Skulls, yea."

"This is the Pyramid of Ayeshah that I have heard strange tales of?"
the Master demanded, feeling even his hard nerves quiver.

"The Pyramid of Ayeshah."

"No myth, then, but reality," the Master commented, fascinated in
spite of himself. "Even as the famous Tower of Skulls at Jerba, in
Tunis!"

"Thou hast said it, O Frank. Here be more than ten-score thousand
skulls of the enemies of Islam, of blasphemers against the Prophet, of
those who have penetrated the Empty Abodes, of those who have sought
to carry gold from El Barr. It is nearly done, this pyramid. But there
still remain three-and-twenty vacant places to be filled."

For a long minute, the eyes of the Master and of Bara Miyan met, in
silence, with the torch-flare glinting strange lights from them. Then
the Olema spoke.

"Hast thou seen enough?" demanded he.

"Mine eyes are filled."

"And dost thou still ask rewards of gold?"

"Nay, it is as I have already told thee; let the cut jewels of the
Caliph el Walid suffice!"

"It is well spoken. Let us descend."

In silence, again, they left the gruesome gallery and went down the
stairway with the Olema's torch leaving vague, fantastic wreaths of
odorous smoke curling up along the polished, dull-yellow slant of the
pyramid. Back on the floor again, the Master said to his men:

"This pyramid is filled with skulls of men who have tried to carry
gold from El Barr. For the present, we must dismiss gold from our
minds. Common prudence dictates that we abandon all idea of gold, take
whatever reward we