nd respect that was by custom
accorded to the king. Also the power of life and death was publicly
conferred upon us. Ignosi, too, in the presence of his people,
reaffirmed the promises which he had made, to the effect that no man's
blood should be shed without trial, and that witch-hunting should cease
in the land.

When the ceremony was over we waited upon Ignosi, and informed him that
we were now anxious to investigate the mystery of the mines to which
Solomon's Road ran, asking him if he had discovered anything about them.

"My friends," he answered, "I have discovered this. It is there that
the three great figures sit, who here are called the 'Silent Ones,' and
to whom Twala would have offered the girl Foulata as a sacrifice. It is
there, too, in a great cave deep in the mountain, that the kings of the
land are buried; there ye shall find Twala's body, sitting with those
who went before him. There, also, is a deep pit, which, at some time,
long-dead men dug out, mayhap for the stones ye speak of, such as I
have heard men in Natal tell of at Kimberley. There, too, in the Place
of Death is a secret chamber, known to none but the king and Gagool.
But Twala, who knew it, is dead, and I know it not, nor know I what is
in it. Yet there is a legend in the land that once, many generations
gone, a white man crossed the mountains, and was led by a woman to the
secret chamber and shown the wealth hidden in it. But before he could
take it she betrayed him, and he was driven by the king of that day
back to the mountains, and since then no man has entered the place."

"The story is surely true, Ignosi, for on the mountains we found the
white man," I said.

"Yes, we found him. And now I have promised you that if ye can come to
that chamber, and the stones are there--"

"The gem upon thy forehead proves that they are there," I put in,
pointing to the great diamond I had taken from Twala's dead brows.

"Mayhap; if they are there," he said, "ye shall have as many as ye can
take hence--if indeed ye would leave me, my brothers."

"First we must find the chamber," said I.

"There is but one who can show it to thee--Gagool."

"And if she will not?"

"Then she must die," said Ignosi sternly. "I have saved her alive but
for this. Stay, she shall choose," and calling to a messenger he
ordered Gagool to be brought before him.

In a few minutes she came, hurried along by two guards, whom she was
cursing as she walked.

"Leave h