“‘And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables whereon the shew-bread was set;
“‘Moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle, of pure gold;
“‘And the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, made he of gold, and that perfect gold;
“‘And the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers, of pure gold; and the entry of the house, the inner doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.’
“Concerning the Ark of the Covenant, which the cipher says still lies hidden, we have in the next chapter, commencing at verse 7:
“‘And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim:
“‘For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
“‘And they drew out the staves of the ark that the end of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle, but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day.
“‘There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.’
“The gold, of course, came from the ancient Ophir,” remarked the Doctor, “and curiously enough the site of this El Dorado has only recently been established by Dr Carl Peters as having been at Zimbabwe, and the surrounding region in south-eastern Mashonaland.”