I paused abruptly, for a bell had sounded, a deep toned gong of enormous size which rested behind the gilded Buddha in the temple above us. Its clang sent a thrill of horror to my heart.
Instantly five yellow forms sprang to their feet and ranged themselves about the white altar, for we were again in that subterranean mausoleum beneath the shrine.
It was far on toward midnight; the day following our arrival at the lamasery was closing. Without, the cold was intense and the stars shining in that rarified atmosphere with a brilliancy of which few who read these lines can form the least idea.
We had seen nothing of Maurice since we left the vault hours before, nor of Mr. Mirrikh, nor of the girl Walla; even old Padma had vanished, and the only person who we could discover was the young lama, Ni-fan-lu. We had pushed through the deserted houses in the court, prowled about the temple, and explored the tower. Locked doors we found, and these probably concealed the objects of our search, but we knocked here and there—pounded on them—waiting in vain for a reply.
You see we had come back into the temple shortly after the termination of the conversation narrated in the previous chapter.
The Doctor was himself again as soon as we had passed the image, where Ni-fan-lu awaited us.
“Be brave my friends! ” said the adept. “Have patience to endure to the end. Think of what a glorious mission will then be yours, to father these stupendous and hitherto unknown truths!”
“Farewell, George!” added Maurice, wringing my hand. “Doctor, all good go with you! Once again before I take the final leap we shall certainly meet.”
I would have detained him, but I could not.
Let me show myself in all my weakness, I wept, I pleaded with him; by all the ties he held dear, I begged him to pause before it was too late.
Useless—quite useless!
“Don’t be absurd, old fellow! What are we here for?” was his only reply.
It was not like him. Though he never displayed the affection for me that I had foolishly shown toward him, he had ever been considerate of my feelings.
