ld a small chapel for miners.
The labor of building continued six years. I, had much free time and
wandered among mountains, examining the caves in them.

"What have I not seen in those places! Corridors so long that it took
hours to pass through them, narrow entrances through which if a man
passes he must crawl on his stomach; chambers so immense that in each a
whole temple might find room sufficient. I saw underground rivers,
lakes, crystal chambers, dens totally dark in which no man could see
his own hand, again others in which there was as much light as if a
second sun had been shining there.

"How often have I been lost in countless passages, how often has my
torch gone out, how often was I approaching an unseen precipice? I have
passed many days in subterranean places, living on parched barley,
licking the moisture from wet rocks, not knowing whether I should ever
see this upper world again.

"But I gained experience. My vision grew sharp and I even came to love
those underground regions. And today when I think of the childish
recesses of the labyrinth I am ready for laughter. Edifices built by
men are like mole-hills when compared with the immense structures
reared by those silent and invisible earth spirits.

"But once I met a dreadful thing which brought me to change my
position. West from the quarries of Sinai is a group of ravines and
mountains among which subterranean thunders are heard frequently, the
earth trembles, and flames are seen sometimes. I was made curious, so I
went there for a longer visit. I sought, and, thanks to an
inconsiderable opening, I discovered a whole chain of immense caves
under the arches of which it would be possible to place the largest
pyramid.

"When I wandered into those places I was met by a smell of
putrefaction, a smell so strong that I wished to flee from it. But,
conquering myself, I entered the cave whence it came, and beheld
Imagine, lord, a man with legs and arms shorter by one half than ours,
but thick, awkward, and with claws at their extremities. Add to this
figure a broad tail, flattened at the side, indented like the comb of a
cock, a very long neck, and on it a dog's head. Finally, dress this
monster in armor covered on the back with carved spikes. Now imagine
that figure standing on its feet with arms and breast resting against a
cliff."

"That was something very ugly," put in Ramses; "I should have killed it
immediately."

"It was not ugly," answered S