The Caves of Zoroaster are one of the most remarkable examples of the industry of the Ancients that are known to exist. As we have said, in various parts of the world, especially in the continent of Asia, there are many standing proofs of an advanced stage of civilization many centuries before the Christian era.
There are the catacombs in Upper Egypt--a labyrinth of subterranean pa.s.sages extending for miles; there are the Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the hanging gardens of Babylon--all of which are colossal and eternal monuments of the labour, energy and genius of the past.
The Caves of Zoroaster are perhaps as marvellous as any of these.
Indeed, it is much to be wondered at that they were not included in the seven wonders of the ancient world. Time has not served to deface their majestic beauty, to detract from the solemn magnificence of these great vaults fashioned by human labour out of the living and everlasting rock.
Soon after our travellers had caught their first glimpse of the entrance to the caves, they decided to camp on the lower slopes of the mountain, for it was already growing dark. It would take them several hours to cross the valley, and they could not hope to accomplish the journey in the darkness. They accordingly retired to a place where there was a great hollow among the rocks, and here they deemed it safe to light a fire and cook their evening meal.
The following morning Harry awoke at daybreak. He was anxious to push on without loss of time. There was no knowing where von Hardenberg and the sheikh were. Perhaps they had already gained the caves.
As soon as they had breakfasted, Harry and his party continued on their way. The two boys, led by the guides, crossed the valley and then ascended the mountain opposite by way of a bridle-path, worn smooth by the feet of pilgrims. Throughout the ages, devout men had journeyed to the caves from the deserts of northern Africa and Arabia--by way of the caravan routes that extend in all directions across these arid wastes.
The path grew steeper as they approached the entrance to the caves, and presently they found themselves at the foot of a flight of steps. A heavy mist still wrapped the mountain in a kind of shroud. The steps ascended, one above the other, into the very heart of the mist which completely obscured the entrance.
These steps were like "Jacob"s Ladder", mounting, as it seemed, to the very zenith of the heavens; and on either side of them, as far as Harry could see, were ranged strange statues--of lions with eagles" wings, of men with the heads of foxes, and great dragons that lay crouching like watch-dogs, guarding the treasure that lay beyond. All were graven in the same rough mountain stone.
For centuries the lightning had played upon the rocks about them, the hail and the rain had lashed these mute, immobile sentinels, so that in many cases they were broken and corroded like the gargoyles on a Norman church.
To mount that flight of nearly a thousand steps in the mists of morning, between these weird and hideous images, was an experience that bordered on the uncanny. On every hand a mighty stillness reigned in the heart of the mountains.
Indeed, it was as if this wild, forgotten country was some colossal graveyard of the past, where the wisdom of the Medes and Persians lay buried to the end of time, where the rugged mountain-tops stood forth like tombstones, piercing the very clouds.
At last they came to the entrance. The steps widened and they stood upon a great stone terrace, level as a table-top, on the farther side of which arose the side of the mountain, formidably smooth and perpendicular, the moisture on its surface glistening in the sunlight that struggled through the mist. It was like a wall of polished steel.
The entrance to the caves was wide enough to allow four men to pa.s.s abreast, and about ten feet in height. Black as Erebus it yawned in the savage cliff. On either side, carved in stone, protruding from the rock, were the figures of two enormous giants, armless, with great beards that extended to their waists, and those huge conical helmets on their heads which one has learnt to a.s.sociate with the Persians, the a.s.syrians, and the Medes.
Fernando walked to the threshold of the entrance and then turned sharp to Harry.
"I am a Spaniard," said he, "and the Spanish are a superst.i.tious race--at least, that is how you would express it. Some speak of superst.i.tion, others of prescience--or foreknowledge of coming events.
Call it what you like, I have the sense of a calamity impending. I am quite sure of that."
"How do you mean?" asked Harry.
"It is like this," Fernando went on; "we have come to a tragedy. The curtain is about to be raised."
"Do you fear to enter the caves?"
"No. But I will not go first. Lead, if you like, I am quite prepared to follow."
This was a new trait in the character of the half-caste. He had never shown fear or hesitation before.
Harry turned to Jim.
"Come," said he, and led the way beneath the darkened archway. Cortes and Fernando followed at their heels.
But Harry Urquhart had not taken ten paces forward when he stood transfixed in wonderment at the solemn magnificence and beauty of the Caves of Zoroaster.
The place was like a great cathedral. It was divided into three aisles by two lines of pillars. These pillars were extraordinarily ma.s.sive.
They had not been built up from the floor to the ceiling, but were part of the living rock, joining the roof to the floor. In other words, the aisles had been hollowed out by human labour, and the rounded pillars left at regular intervals to support the immense weight above.
The cave was lighted from above by several shafts that pierced the mountain, and which threw convergent beams of light across the shadows.
Giving upon each of the side aisles were three doors constructed of wood, but barred with iron and studded with scores of nails. Above these doors, around three sides of the cave, was a kind of gallery, connected with the roof by a series of smaller and more frequent pillars.
At the far end, upon an altar, a single oil-lamp was burning. Behind the altar, and about twenty paces distant, was a wall of rock which immediately attracted the attention of the boys.
This rock was rough, as in its natural state, whereas elsewhere in the cave--on the floor, the ceiling, and the pillars--the rock was so smooth that it resembled masonry. Moreover, the aisles were of grey limestone; but the rock behind the altar was of red granite, in which the quartz and mica crystals glittered in the flickering light of the lamp.
By the side of the granite rock was something which Harry Urquhart recognized at once. On a single axis, supported at each end by grooves cut in the pillars, were nine enormous wheels of bronze. On the outside--or what would correspond to the "tyres"--of each of these wheels, were hundreds of strange cuneiform characters.
There was no doubt that beyond the red granite rock lay the vault which contained the treasure, and these wheels composed the Bramah lock by sole means of which the vault itself could be opened.
But without the Sunstone the wheels were useless. On the obverse side of the Sunstone was the explanation, or solution, of the riddle.
Harry walked up to the great bronze wheels and turned them at random, first this way and then that. Each revolved independently of the others, and could be turned either backwards or forwards.
From what his uncle had told him, he knew that each wheel must be turned until the characters visible along a given line corresponded to those upon the Sunstone. There could be no doubt as to where this line was, for, across the wheels, at about the height of a man"s eyes, a bar of gold extended.
Whilst Harry and Jim were examining the wheels, Cortes was exploring the side aisles beneath the gallery. Presently he came towards his companions on tiptoe, with a finger raised to his lips.
"Come here!" said he in a whisper, beckoning to Harry.
Harry did so, and was conducted to one of the iron-bound doors, where the guide motioned him to stoop down and listen.
With his ear to the door, Urquhart could hear nothing for some seconds.
Then there came to his ears a sound that was unearthly.
It was a low, continuous, moaning sound, like the howl of a dog in the distance. It grew louder gradually until at last it was close at hand, on the other side of the door.
There was something in the vastness of the place, in its stillness and its gloom, that was at once depressing and alarming. Harry Urquhart felt that he was rapidly losing confidence in himself. The great flight of steps without, the stone statues, the two carved giants at the entrance, the shadowy vault of the cave, pierced by shafts of light, and the solitary burning lamp--all these were mystical and weird.
The boy was well able to face danger, to take his life in his hands, but here he was confronted by what was suggestive of the supernatural. A feeling of fear possessed him--he knew not why. He drew back, shuddering, and turned quickly to the guide.
"Someone is coming!" he whispered.
At that moment there came a loud rapping on the other side of the door, which shook and trembled under the blows of someone who seemed like a maniac. They heard a bolt drawn sharply back. And then a voice let out a kind of shriek that ended quite abruptly. As one man, they turned and fled without shame or hesitation.
CHAPTER XXVI--The White Madman
They ran in all haste towards the entrance to the cave. The two guides led the way. If the boys were alarmed, the men were even more so.
The brothers had proved that they did not mind danger in the ordinary acceptation of the term, but, in their thinking, in this place they trespa.s.sed upon the precincts of the other world.
Cortes was about to make his escape to the terrace outside the entrance, when Harry called him back.