, and Freeman was too weak to
travel, it was decided to encamp beside the pyramid till the following
evening, and then make the trip across the desert in the comparative
coolness of starlight. Meanwhile, there was something to be done, and
much to be explained.

The spirit of Kamaiakan had passed away, apparently at the same moment
that the peculiar case of "possession" under which Miriam had suffered
came to an end. They determined to bury him at the foot of the great
pyramid, which would form a fitting monument of his antique character
and virtues.

Miriam, after her struggle, had lapsed into a state of partial lethargy,
from which she was aroused gradually. It was then found that she could
give no account what ever of how or why she came there. The last thing
she distinctly remembered was standing on the veranda at the ranch and
looking towards the east. She was under the impression that Kamaiakan
had approached and spoken with her, but of that she was not certain. The
next fact in her consciousness was that she was held in Freeman's arms,
with a feeling that she had barely escaped from some great peril. She
could recall nothing of the journey down the gorge, of the adventure
at the bottom of it, or of the return. It was only by degrees that some
partial light was thrown upon this matter. Freeman knew that he was at
the entrance of the cave when the earthquake began, and he remembered
receiving a blow on the head. Consequently it must have been at
that spot that Miriam and the Indian found him. He had, too, a vague
impression of seeing Miriam coming out of the cave, dragging the chest;
and there, sure enough, was a metal box, strapped to the saddle of the
pack-mule. But the mystery remained very dense. And although the
reader is in a position to analyze events more closely than the actors
themselves could do, it may be doubted whether the essential mystery is
much clearer to him than it was to them.

"We know that the ancient Aztecan priests were adepts in magic,"
observed the professor, "and it's natural that some of their learning
should have descended to their posterity. We have been clever in giving
names to such phenomena, but we know perhaps even less about their
esoteric meaning than the Aztecans did. I should judge that Miriam would
be what is called a good 'subject.' Kamaiakan discovered that fact;
and as for what followed, we can only infer it from the results. I was
always an admirer of Kamaiakan; but I