Page:Taylor - In the Dwellings of the Wilderness.djvu/35

This page has been validated.

The Forbidden Door


to molten brass; around them the desert, vast and soundless; beneath them the fragments of an olden world, whose story was lost in the dimness of bygone ages.

Ibraheem climbed agilely to the top of the trench which had been opened farthest into the mound, spied Deane making cabalistic signs in a notebook, using one knee as desk, and hurried over.

"Saar," he announced, swelling with importance and the pride of his discovery, "the mens find a wall, unruinated, with a door and a writing upon it. Where are Mister Merritt?"

"By the temple wall, with Mr. Holloway," Deane answered. "Go call him quick."

Ibraheem went, at a dignified dog-trot; and Deane stuffed his notes into a pocket

21