should prostrate yourselves before me?" said Tanofir in his great
voice, which, coming from so frail and aged a man seemed most
unnatural. "Or is it to the goddess of Truth beyond that you bow
yourselves? If so, that is well, since one, if not both of you,
greatly needs her pardon and her help. Or is it to the sleeping god
beyond who holds the whole world on his horns? Or is it to the
darkness of this hallowed place which causes you to remember the
nearness of the awaiting tomb?"

"Nay, my Uncle," I said, "we would greet you, no more, who are so
worthy of our veneration, seeing we believe, both of us, that you
saved us yonder in the East, from that tomb of which you speak, or
rather from the jaws of lions or a cruel death by torments."

"Perchance I did, I or the gods of which I am the instrument. At least
I remember that I sent you certain messages in answer to a prayer for
help that reached me, here in my darkness. For know that since we
parted I have gone quite blind so that I must use this maiden's eyes
to read what is written in yonder divining-cup. Well, it makes the
darkness of this sepulchre easier to bear and prepares me for my own.
'Tis full a hundred and twenty years since first I looked upon the
light, and now the time of sleep draws near. Come hither, my nephew,
and kiss me on the brow, remembering in your strength that a day will
dawn when as I am, so shall you be, if the gods spare you so long."

So I kissed him, not without fear, for the old man was unearthly. Then
he sent Karema from the place and bade me tell him my story, which I
did. Why he did this I cannot say, since he seemed to know it already
and once or twice corrected me in certain matters that I had
forgotten, for instance as to the exact words that I had used to the