ich is not empty _now_!"

"If you know of the existence of such a chamber, sir, why have you
kept it secret?"

"Because I cannot _prove_ its existence. I do not know how to enter
it, but I know it is there; I know what it was formerly used for, and
I suspect that last night it was used for that same unholy purpose
again--after a lapse of perhaps four thousand years! Even you would
doubt me, I believe, if I were to tell you what I know, if I were to
hint at what I suspect. But no doubt in your reading you have met with
Julian the Apostate?"

"Certainly, I have read of him. He is said to have practised
necromancy."

"When he was at Carra in Mesopotamia, he retired to the Temple of the
Moon, with a certain sorcerer and some others, and, his nocturnal
operations concluded, he left the temple locked, the door sealed, and
placed a guard over the gate. He was killed in the war, and never
returned to Carra, but when, in the reign of Jovian, the seal was
broken and the temple opened, a body was found hanging by its hair--I
will spare you the particulars; it was a case of that most awful form
of sorcery--_anthropomancy_!"

An expression of horror had crept over Robert Cairn's face.

"Do you mean, sir, that this pyramid was used for similar purposes?"

"In the past it has been used for many purposes," was the quiet reply.
"The exodus of the bats points to the fact that it was again used for
one of those purposes last night; the exodus of the bats--and
something else."

Sime, who had been listening to this strange conversation, cried out
from the rear:

"We cannot reach it before sunset!"

"No," replied Dr. Cairn, turning in his saddle, "but that does not
matter. Inside the pyramid, day and night make no difference."

Having crossed a narrow wooden bridge, they turned now fully in the
direction of the great ruin, pursuing a path along the opposite bank
of the cutting. They rode in silence for some time, Robert Cairn deep
in thought.

"I suppose that Antony Ferrara actually visited this place last
night," he said suddenly, "although I cannot follow your reasoning.
But what leads you to suppose that he is there now?"

"This," answered his father slowly. "The purpose for which I believe
him to have come here would detain him at least two days and two
nights. I shall say no more about it, because if I am wrong, or if for
any reason I am unable to establish my suspicions as facts, you would
certainly regard me as a mad