se in the cave. The sound of trumpets was mingled with
voices, as it were, of distant thunders.

The curtain of the altar rose almost horizontally, and behind it, amid
glittering lightning, appeared wonderful creatures, half human, half
plant and animal, crowded and mingled together.

Suddenly all was silent, and Beroes rose slowly in the air, higher than
the heads of the priests there attending.

At eight o'clock next morning Phut of Harran returned to the Phoenician
inn "Under the Ship" to which his bags and casket stolen by thieves had
been returned safely. A few minutes later came Asarhadon's confidential
servant, whom the innkeeper took to the cellar and examined briefly,

"Well?"

"I was all night on the square where the temple of Set is," answered
the servant. "At ten in the evening out of the garden which lies about
four places farther than the house of the 'Green Star,' came three
priests. One of them, with black beard and hair, turned his steps
through the square toward the temple of Set. I ran after him, but mist
fell, and he vanished from my eyes. Whether he returned to the 'Green
Star' or when, I know not."

The innkeeper, when he had heard this account, struck his forehead and
muttered to himself,

"So my man from Harran, if he dresses as a priest and goes to a temple,
must be a priest; and if he wears beard and hair, he must be a Chaldean
priest. But if he meets priests here in secret, there must be some
rogue's tricks. I will not tell the police, for I might be caught. But
I will inform some great man from Sidon, for there may be profit in
this, if not for me, for our people."

Soon the other messenger returned. Asarhadon went down to the cellar
with this one also, and heard the following narrative,

"I stood all night in front of the 'Green Star.' The man of Harran was
there; he got drunk and raised such shouts that the policeman warned
the doorkeeper."

"Did he?" inquired the innkeeper. "The man of Harran was at the 'Green
Star' all night, and Thou didst see him?"

"Not only I, but the policeman."

Asarhadon brought down the first servant, and commanded each to repeat
his story. They repeated the stories faithfully, with the utmost
conviction. It appeared then that Phut of Harran had remained all night
at the "Green Star" without leaving the place for a moment; at the same
time he went to the temple of Set, and did not return from it.

"Oh," muttered Asarhadon, "in all this there is som