CHAPTER II
THE MIDNIGHT LANDING
The skipper predicted like a prophet. The ship was in the bay, and itwas midnight or nearly so; for certain stars had climbed into certainquarters of the sky, and after their fashion were striking the hour.
The passenger was pleased.
"You have done well," he said to the mariner. "Be silent now, and getclose in shore. There are no breakers. Have the small boat ready, anddo not let the anchors go."
The calm still prevailed, and the swells of the sea were scarceperceptible. Under the gentlest impulse of the oars the little vesseldrifted broadside on until the keel touched the sands. At the sameinstant the small boat appeared. The skipper reported to the passenger.Going to each of the slaves, the latter signed them to descend. Thenegro swung himself down like a monkey, and received the baggage,which, besides the bundles already mentioned, consisted of some tools,notably a pick, a shovel, and a stout crowbar. An empty water-skin wasalso sent down, followed by a basket suggestive of food. Then thepassenger, with a foot over the side of the vessel, gave his finaldirections.
"You will run now," he said to the skipper, who, to his credit, hadthus far asked no questions, "down to the city, and lie thereto-morrow, and to-morrow night. Attract little notice as possible. Itis not necessary to pass the gate. Put out in time to be here atsunrise. I will be waiting for you. Day after to-morrow atsunrise--remember."
"But if you should not be here?" asked the sailor, thinking of extremeprobabilities.
"Then wait for me," was the answer.
The passenger, in turn, descended to the boat, and was caught in thearms of the black, and seated carefully as he had been a child. Inbrief time the party was ashore, and the boat returning to the ship; alittle later, the ship withdrew to where the night effectuallycurtained the deep.
The stay on the shore was long enough to apportion the baggage amongstthe slaves. The master then led the way. Crossing the road running fromSidon along the coast to the up-country, they came to the foothills ofthe mountain, all without habitation.
Later they came upon signs of ancient life in splendor--broken columns,and here and there Corinthian capitals in marble discolored and sunkdeeply in sand and mould. The patches of white on them had a ghastlyglimmer in the starlight. They were approaching the site of an oldcity, a suburb probably of Palae-Tyre when she was one of thespectacles of the world, sitting by the sea to rule it regally far andwide.
On further a small stream, one of those emptying into the bay, hadploughed a ravine for itself across the route the party was pursuing.Descending to the water, a halt was made to drink, and fill thewater-skin, which the negro took on his shoulder.
On further there was another ancient site strewn with fragmentsindicative of a cemetery. Hewn stones were frequent, and mixed withthem were occasional entablatures and vases from which the ages had notyet entirely worn the fine chiselling. At length an immense uncoveredsarcophagus barred the way. The master stopped by it to study theheavens; when he found the north star, he gave the signal to hisfollowers, and moved under the trail of the steadfast beacon.
They came to a rising ground more definitely marked by sarcophagi hewnfrom the solid rock, and covered by lids of such weight and soliditythat a number of them had never been disturbed. Doubtless the deadwithin were lying as they had been left--but when, and by whom? Whatdisclosures there will be when at last the end is trumpeted in!
On further, but still connected with the once magnificent funeral site,they encountered a wall many feet thick, and short way beyond it, onthe mountain's side, there were two arches of a bridge of which allelse had been broken down; and these two had never spanned anythingmore substantial than the air. Strange structure for such a locality!Obviously the highway which once ran over it had begun in the city thebetter to communicate with the cemetery through which the party hadjust passed. So much was of easy understanding; but where was the otherterminus? At sight of the arches the master drew a long breath ofrelief. They were the friends for whom he had been searching.
Nevertheless, without stopping, he led down into a hollow on all sidessheltered from view; and there the unloading took place. The tools andbundles were thrown down by a rock, and preparations made for theremainder of the night. The pallet was spread for the master. Thebasket gave up its contents, and the party refreshed themselves andslept the sleep of the weary.
The secluded bivouac was kept the next day. Only the master went forthin the afternoon. Climbing the mountain, he found the line incontinuation of the bridge; a task the two arches serving as a basemade comparatively easy. He stood then upon a bench or terrace cumberedwith rocks, and so broad that few persons casually looking would havesuspected it artificial. Facing fully about from the piers, he walkedforward following the terrace which at places was out of line, andpiled with debris tumbled from the mountain on the right hand side; ina few minutes that silent guide turned with an easy curve anddisappeared in what had yet the appearance hardly distinguishable of anarea wrenched with enormous labor from a low cliff of solid brownlimestone.
The visitor scanned the place again and again; then he said aloud:
"No one has been here since"--
The sentence was left unfinished.
That he could thus identify the spot, and with such certainty pass uponit in relation to a former period, proved he had been there before.
Rocks, earth, and bushes filled the space. Picking footway through, heexamined the face of the cliff then in front of him, lingering longeston the heap of breakage forming a bank over the meeting line of areaand hill.
"Yes," he repeated, this time with undisguised satisfaction, "no onehas been here since"--
Again the sentence was unfinished.
He ascended the bank next, and removed some of the stones at the top. Acarved line in low relief on the face of the rock was directly exposed;seeing it he smiled, and replaced the stones, and descending, went backto the terrace, and thence to the slaves in bivouac.
From one of the packages he had two iron lamps of old Roman stylebrought out, and supplied with oil and wicks; then, as if everythingnecessary to his project was done, he took to the pallet. Some goatshad come to the place in his absence, but no living creature else.
After nightfall the master woke the slaves, and made final preparationfor the venture upon which he had come. The tools he gave to one man,the lamps to another, and the water-skin to the negro. Then he led outof the hollow, and up the mountain to the terrace visited in theafternoon; nor did he pause in the area mentioned as the abruptterminus of the highway over the skeleton piers. He climbed the bank ofstones covering the foot of the cliff up to the precise spot at whichhis reconnoissance had ended.
Directly the slaves were removing the bank at the top; not a difficulttask since they had only to roll the loose stones down a convenientgrade. They worked industriously. At length--in half an hourprobably--an opening into the cliff was discovered. The cavity, smallat first, rapidly enlarged, until it gave assurance of a doorway ofimmense proportions. When the enlargement sufficed for his admission,the master stayed the work, and passed in. The slaves followed. Theinterior descent offered a grade corresponding with that of the bankoutside--another bank, in fact, of like composition, but more difficultto pass on account of the darkness.
With his foot the leading adventurer felt the way down to a floor; andwhen his assistants came to him, he took from a pocket in his gown asmall case filled with a chemical powder which he poured at his feet;then he produced a flint and steel, and struck them together. Somesparks dropped upon the powder. Instantly a flame arose and filled theplace with a ruddy illumination. Lighting the lamps by the flame, theparty looked around them, the slaves with simple wonder.
They were in a vault--a burial vault of great antiquity. Either it wasan imitation of like chambers in Egypt, or they were imitations of it.The excavation had been done with chisels. The walls were niched,giving them an appearance of panelling, and over each of the nichesthere had
been an inscription in raised letters, now mostly defaced.The floor was a confusion of fragments knocked from sarcophagi, which,massive as they were, had been tilted, overturned, uncovered,mutilated, and robbed. Useless to inquire whose the vandalism. It mayhave been of Chaldeans of the time of Almanezor, or of the Greeks whomarched with Alexander, or of Egyptians who were seldom regardful ofthe dead of the peoples they overthrew as they were of their own, or ofSaracens, thrice conquerors along the Syrian coast, or of Christians.Few of the Crusaders were like St. Louis.
But of all this the master took no notice. With him it was right thatthe vault should look the wreck it was. Careless of inscriptions,indifferent to carving, his eyes ran rapidly along the foot of thenorthern wall until they came to a sarcophagus of green marble. Thitherhe proceeded. He laid his hand upon the half-turned lid, and observingthat the back of the great box--if such it may be termed--was againstthe wall, he said again:
"No one has been here since"--
And again the sentence was left unfinished.
Forthwith he became all energy. The negro brought the crowbar, and, bydirection, set it under the edge of the sarcophagus, which he heldraised while the master blocked it at the bottom with a stone chip.Another bite, and a larger chip was inserted. Good hold being thus had,a vase was placed for fulcrum; after which, at every downward pressureof the iron, the ponderous coffin swung round a little to the left.Slowly and with labor the movement was continued until the space behindwas uncovered.
By this time the lamps had become the dependencies for light. With hisin hand, the master stooped and inspected the exposed wall.Involuntarily the slaves bent forward and looked, but saw nothingdifferent from the general surface in that quarter. The master beckonedthe negro, and touching a stone not wider than his three fingers, butreddish in hue, and looking like mere chinking lodged in an accidentalcrevice, signed him to strike it with the end of the bar.Once--twice--the stone refused to stir; with the third blow it wasdriven in out of sight, and, being followed vigorously, was heard todrop on the other side. The wall thereupon, to the height of thesarcophagus and the width of a broad door, broke, and appeared about totumble down.
When the dust cleared away, there was a crevice unseen before, and wideenough to admit a hand. The reader must remember there were masons inthe old time who amused themselves applying their mathematics to suchpuzzles. Here obviously the intention had been to screen an entrance toan adjoining chamber, and the key to the design had been the sliver ofred granite first displaced.
A little patient use then of hand and bar enabled the workman to takeout the first large block of the combination. That the master numberedwith chalk, and had carefully set aside. A second block was taken out,numbered, and set aside; finally the screen was demolished, and the waystood open.