he pit over which the Silent
Ones are set, and stored here, I know not by whom, for that was done
longer ago than even I remember. But once has this place been entered
since the time that those who hid the stones departed in haste, leaving
them behind. The report of the treasure went down indeed among the
people who lived in the country from age to age, but none knew where
the chamber was, nor the secret of the door. But it happened that a
white man reached this country from over the mountains--perchance he
too came 'from the Stars'--and was well received by the king of that
day. He it is who sits yonder," and she pointed to the fifth king at
the table of the Dead. "And it came to pass that he and a woman of the
country who was with him journeyed to this place, and that by chance
the woman learnt the secret of the door--a thousand years might ye
search, but ye should never find that secret. Then the white man
entered with the woman, and found the stones, and filled with stones
the skin of a small goat, which the woman had with her to hold food.
And as he was going from the chamber he took up one more stone, a large
one, and held it in his hand."

Here she paused.

"Well," I asked, breathless with interest as we all were, "what
happened to Da Silvestra?"

The old hag started at the mention of the name.

"How knowest thou the dead man's name?" she asked sharply; and then,
without waiting for an answer, went on--

"None can tell what happened; but it came about that the white man was
frightened, for he flung down the goat-skin, with the stones, and fled
out with only the one stone in his hand, and that the king took, and it
is the stone which thou, Macumazahn, didst take from Twala's brow."

"Have none entered here since?" I asked, peering again down the dark
passage.

"None, my lords. Only the secret of the door has been kept, and every
king has opened it, though he has not entered. There is a saying, that
those who enter there will die within a moon, even as the white man
died in the cave upon the mountain, where ye found him, Macumazahn, and
therefore the kings do not enter. _Ha! ha!_ mine are true words."

Our eyes met as she said it, and I turned sick and cold. How did the
old hag know all these things?

"Enter, my lords. If I speak truth, the goat-skin with the stones will
lie upon the floor; and if there is truth as to whether it is death to
enter here, that ye will learn afterwards. _Ha! ha! ha!_" and sh