"To the Immortal Goddess," he said, "I, her servant, return that which in her worldly existence ever bore her to victory, and which, when she was taken to rule over the gods, remained behind to become the curse of the covetous inhabitants of the world. It was at thy command, Great Goddess-Queen, that I caused the last man who ever saw it to re-inter it in its abiding-place. It was at thy command that death afterwards came to him. It was at thy command that I, Raspul the seer, recovered it, and by none other than thyself, Sophana Great Goddess-Queen, was I appointed its guardian. The time has now, doubtless, come when it is meet that I should quit this world and pass into the service of the gods. For that reason I willingly obey the behest of my mistress, who ordereth that, through fire, the spirit of the Sacred Belt shall soar into the realms of the Great Unknown."
Much more he said, but he spoke in an undertone and we could only catch a word here and there. I now feared the worst. He was evidently going to destroy the Golden Girdle; and the thought that all my hopes of obtaining it were about to be dashed to the ground made me forget fatigue, hardship, fear, and everything else. I quietly drew my revolver, hardly knowing what I intended to do, but Faris saw the movement, and seized my wrist.
"Fool," said he, "would you murder a priest in the presence of his goddess, in her own temple? Tush! it were madness."
I knew that it would be so; yet, was I to stand by and see the whole object of my journey, the one thing that I imagined that I lived for, destroyed before my very eyes? There was the Golden Girdle almost within my grasp—barely twenty paces from me. I could see each serpent that composed it clearly outlined on the white figure of the goddess. One shot from my revolver would secure the treasure. But the sheik's grip brought me to my senses and saved me from being a murderer.
"Speak to him, then," I said, in a state of agitation. "Offer him a price for the Serpent Belt."
"It would be useless," answered Faris. "He is possessed, and cannot control his actions. See, he is preparing the fire which is to consume it."
The seer had already brought cakes of bitumen and charcoal, and had kindled a small but hot fire. With difficulty he placed a heavy iron vessel over it, and then, blowing on it through a hollow bamboo, watched the fuel ignite and grow red. Every now and then, he prostrated himself before the goddess, and besought her to give heat to the fire, which, it seemed to me, she must have done; for, before long the iron vessel began to glow, and was soon red hot. That the end was near I realised; and as Raspul, after examining the vessel carefully, moved towards the goddess, my hand again sought my revolver—but only again to be arrested by my companion.
