rge as that of El-Karnac, at Thebes, some of the largest columns,
which I measured, being between eighteen to twenty feet in diameter at
the base, by about seventy feet in height, our little procession was
halted, and Ayesha descended from her litter.

"There was a spot here, Kallikrates," she said to Leo, who had run up to
help her down, "where one might sleep. Two thousand years ago did thou
and I and that Egyptian asp rest therein, but since then have I not set
foot here, nor any man, and perchance it has fallen," and, followed by
the rest of us, she passed up a vast flight of broken and ruined steps
into the outer court, and looked round into the gloom. Presently she
seemed to recollect, and, walking a few paces along the wall to the
left, halted.

"It is here," she said, and at the same time beckoned to the two mutes,
who were loaded with provisions and our little belongings, to advance.
One of them came forward, and, producing a lamp, lit it from his brazier
(for the Amahagger when on a journey nearly always carried with them a
little lighted brazier, from which to provide fire). The tinder of this
brazier was made of broken fragments of mummy carefully damped, and,
if the admixture of moisture was properly managed, this unholy compound
would smoulder away for hours.[*] As soon as the lamp was lit we entered
the place before which Ayesha had halted. It turned out to be a chamber
hollowed in the thickness of the wall, and, from the fact of there still
being a massive stone table in it, I should think that it had probably
served as a living-room, perhaps for one of the door-keepers of the
great temple.

[*] After all we are not much in advance of the Amahagger in
these matters. "Mummy," that is pounded ancient Egyptian,
is, I believe, a pigment much used by artists, and
especially by those of them who direct their talents to the
reproduction of the works of the old masters.--Editor.

Here we stopped, and after cleaning the place out and making it as
comfortable as circumstances and the darkness would permit, we ate some
cold meat, at least Leo, Job and I did, for Ayesha, as I think I have
said elsewhere, never touched anything except cakes of flour, fruit and
water. While we were still eating, the moon, which was at her full, rose
above the mountain-wall, and began to flood the place with silver.

"Wot ye why I have brought you here to-night, my Holly?" said Ayesha,
leaning her head upo