the musty antechamber and discovered at the
distant end the fourth wall, hitherto unseen. Reaching from the left
corner of the scarlet tomb was a narrow staircase built also of marble.

Dropping his hand nervously into his right-hand tunic pocket, he went
up and pushed open another door. He found himself now in a snow-white
corridor, faintly lighted by grilles overhead. The hall reached
gloomily into gray distance, and it was quite vacant. An unseen
fountain was playing near by. At his left was another door, closed.

The closed door attracted him. Certainly there was no other course now
than a detailed exploration.

Bracing himself for a surprise in this palace of hideous surprises, he
flung open the door, and entered black darkness.

Carelessly he closed the door behind him, listening and sniffing. At
first he heard nothing, but he smelled altar-incense faintly.

A deep-voiced gong suddenly reverberated while Peter tensed himself.
The sonorous melody lifted and crashed, subsiding into countless
unmusical overtones. Lighter metal rang upon wood.

Then lights--electric lights--by the dozens,
hundreds--thousands--blazed with a violent suddenness, a suddenness
that Peter could compare only with that of a tropical sun leaping out
of the ocean; and Peter blinked upon green. It was a hideous green, a
green of diabolical intensity. He shivered. It seemed to creep, to
writhe, this green.

At first he could not absorb this insane color idea; and he stood
there, with his heart sinking.

He discovered that he was occupying an oblong green rug of satin. He
was dazzled by the green glare of a cluster of quartz lights in front
of him, and he stared, first at a monstrous green Buddha, squatting on
a thighless rump between flashing green pillars, and finally at the
most hideous individual he had ever gazed upon, a human, who occupied a
throne carved solidly from green jade.

The glimpse was like stepping from a dark dream into the center of an
aquamarine nightmare. And in the instant following his partial
digestion of the viridescent scheme he was possessed with the notion
that the occupant of such a chamber of horror must certainly be insane.

That was the first idea to possess Peter. He was not surprised to find
that he was unafraid. Anticipation is much more fearful than
realization. He had experienced many panicky moments in looking
forward to this meeting; and yet in the presence of him he was cool.