"_For since the beginning_ of the world men have not seen such great treasure as was in the darkness removed from the house of Jehovah, from the defenceless city upon which the judgment of G.o.d was set. _Woe_ unto Jerusalem for Nebuchadnezzar was hastening upon the City of Judah, and the hour of her destruction was approaching.
"_And they took from_ the Holy of Holies the Ark of the Covenant, together with the stone tablets which Moses put there at h.o.r.eb, the pot of manna and the staff of Aaron and the two cherubims of fine gold, the Urim and Thummim with two rubies of great size and a mult.i.tude of other gems set around them... And of the other treasures of the house of the Lord did they bring forth; of basons of pure gold made by Solomon which Shishak, Ging of Egypt had restored, three thousand and forty; of the chargers of gold eight hundred and two; of the candlesticks of gold from the oracle four; of the lamps of gold six hundred and ten, of the tongs of gold six hundred, and of the smaller tablets of gold four score and five; of spoons of gold two thousand; of censers of gold one thousand and forty-six, and of the bowls which Solomon commanded to be made of the gold of Ophir two thousand and seventy... _Furthermore_ of the gems and precious stones of Solomon they took seven ox-loads of fine gold, three talents together with the archives of the Temple in secret; so that of the vessels of gold there remained only about six thousand and these Nebuchadnezzar afterwards carried off to Babylon, where they were dedicated unto his G.o.d Belus--
"_It came even to pa.s.s_ that when the King of Babylon and his host searched for the other holy vessels of the Temple they found them not, for they knew not their hiding-place, and none knew save the priests and the two scribes. _Wherefore_ afterwards in my captivity in Babylon, I, Michaiah the scribe, invented this secret writing by which the place of concealment of the tablets of Moses should not be lost. Secure shall they remain, with the great treasure, the war-chest of the house of Israel, until the coming of the Messiah, who alone may open their place of concealment, in order that He may furnish proof of the faith. _He_ hath chosen Jerusalem that His name may be there.
"_And be it now known_ unto you in what place to seek for the chamber of the sacred Ark. _At_ the lower platform of the brazen altar of the Temple turn thy face to the southward, and measure four reeds and thirty-three legal cubits, unto the north end of the Pool of Siloh.
_Thence_, to the sunrise, measure one thousand and fifty cubits unto the highest point on the mount of Solomon"s idolatry. _Face_ unto the south-west, and measure ten-score cubits and four, down to the hillside to the face of stone. _From_ the cleft fifteen cubits.
"_Moreover, at the gate_ of the Priests at the north-west corner of the sanctuary, face the south-east, and pace four hundred and three cubits unto the centre of the tomb in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and thence to the south nine reeds and three-score cubits, which bringest thee unto the same wall of rock, fifteen cubits from the cleft.
"_And the distance_ from En-rogel is, to the north-east, of cubits three hundred and ninety-four, where the entrance faceth directly the bend of the Valley of Hinnom.
"_Of the three entrances_, two are impa.s.sable. Know ye therefore that the third is in the face of the rock, concealed from the sight of all men at the point where the valleys converge, at the base of the mount, from the cleft fifteen legal cubits.
"_To learn_ the whereabouts of the secret chamber of the Ark, O ye Israel, measure from the hidden entrance up the face of the rock and over the mount with thine eyes set to the east two reeds and fourscore cubits and three, till thou comest to the gate of stone set in the rock which, when opened, will let forth the flood to admit thee from the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
"_O hear me_, ye enemies of the Lord! Curses, yea, sixty times six curses shall be upon the head of any who dare to attempt to violate the sacred treasure-house of Israel.
"_Moreover the Lord_ hath performed the word that He spake, and Judah remaineth beneath the heel of the oppressor.
"_Now therefore these acts_ are not written in the book of the chronicles of Israel lest thine enemies search to recover the holy things.
"_Hearken O Lord_ G.o.d of Israel to the supplications of Thy servant. If Thy people be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against Thee, and shall return and confess Thy name, then hear Thou from the heavens and bring them again unto the land which Thou gavest to them and to their fathers.
"_Wherefore I beseech Thee_ to stay Thine hand, and seek not to discover what is hidden until the Lord have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the Land, which the Lord your G.o.d hath given them.
"_For he who entereth therein_ shall be accursed. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out _The_ Lord shall send thee cursing, vexation and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings.
_Fear_ the Lord thy G.o.d.
"_These words am I commanded_ by Zeruiah the high priest to write in our captivity in secret script, that only those of the faith shall know and shall understand."
And when the girl had finished typing, she raised her head, and stared at her father in abject wonder. Here was the complete solution of the problem! The truth was written there!
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
IN THE NIGHT.
Laura, the parlour-maid, had been let in at the area-door by the cook, to whom she had made her excuses for the lateness of the hour, and had crept up to her room, fully satisfied at having a.s.sisted her good-looking lover. She was, of course, in utter ignorance that "Mr Miller" was the person to whom Miss Gwen"s mysterious absence from home had been due. Otherwise she certainly would not have fallen into the trap.
Meanwhile, in the study, with the typed folios of the cipher before him, the old Professor sat making certain explanations to his daughter and answering her eager questions.
"We ought to telegraph to Frank the first thing in the morning, dad!"
she cried, when she had recovered from her excitement at learning the secret.
"I have not yet decided upon my course of action, dear," was his slow, deliberate answer. "To-night we are dealing with this astounding record of the authenticity of which there seems not the slightest doubt. I have been using the exact copy of the St Petersburg text of Ezekiel-- the oldest known ma.n.u.script. It is evident from the word of Michaiah the scribe, that, having invented the cipher, he altered certain words of the original text of Ezekiel with Ezekiel"s knowledge and consent, in order to include in the book this secret record."
"It agrees entirely with Biblical history, does it not?" asked the girl.
"Yes. Several hitherto uncertain facts are here explained. For instance, it is now made quite clear that Shishak, King of Egypt, restored to the Temple certain of the basins of gold made by Solomon.
Again, Michaiah shows that none of the sacred vessels secreted were afterwards used in the Temple. Those used in the second temple were certainly those carried away by Nebuchadnezzar and restored by Cyrus."
Then rising he took from a cupboard a large roll-map of the environs of Jerusalem issued by the Palestine Exploration Fund, and both studied it very closely.
"What is meant by the mount of Solomon"s idolatry?" asked Gwen.
"It is now known as the Mount of the Offence," he answered. "Here it is--about half a mile almost due south of the temple mount. Sometimes it is called the Mount of Scandal, for upon it Solomon and some of his successors built high places, altars to Moloch, to Ashtoreth, and to other strange G.o.ds. [1 Kings xi, 5-7.] I recollect the hill quite well. On the summit is now a Benedictine Monastery, while the slopes are occupied by a Jewish cemetery. The Turks call it Baten el Hawa (Bottle of the Winds). The measurements given seem to be most explicit, the entrance to the chamber being on the west side of the extreme south of the mount, facing the sudden bend in the Valley of Hinnom. See, here," and he pointed to the spot upon the map. "And at the east side, at some spot to be determined by measurements, are the secret flood-gates by which the waters can be released. The `dry-room" is evidently situated above the water-tunnels, at such a height that the waters never rise there."
"And can those ancient measures be worked out to modern measures?"
"Yes. We practically know almost exactly what was the reed, and what was the legal cubit of the days of Jehoiakim as compared with the ordinary cubit. Surveyors will have no difficulty in finding the exact spot indicated."
"You do not think, dad, that after the restoration and rebuilding of the Temple that the treasures were recovered?"
"Certainly not. If so, we should certainly have had some record in Holy Writ of the Ark of the Covenant and the tablets. But there is none.
Since a few days before Nebuchadnezzar"s hosts entered Jerusalem, the Ark has never been seen. My firm belief is that it is still in its place of concealment as stated by Michaiah the scribe."
"And what shall you do now, dad?" inquired the girl, her elbows upon the table, as she looked up into his face. "You have solved a problem that will startle the whole world!"
"Yes, dear," he sighed, pa.s.sing his hand across his brow. "It is so remarkable that I hardly know how to act. I must, of course, see Diamond and Farquhar, and consult with them. One thing is quite certain; for the present we must keep this matter a most profound secret. If our enemies were to gain wind of it, they would send out at once and purchase the land for themselves."
"But they can"t know, dad."
"Ah, dear! I"m--I"m suspicious. With such enormous possibilities before us, who knows that our secret enemies may not have bribed our servants," he said. "For that reason, Gwen dear--and please forgive me--fearing that there might be eaves-droppers, I purposely, when explaining to you the cipher this afternoon, rearranged and omitted some of the second portion of it, so that our secret could not possibly leak out."
"But surely, dad!" cried the girl. "You don"t suspect Laura or Mullingar, or Kate, being in the employ of our enemies, do you?"
"My child, it is best to be always wary in a matter such as this. As your friend Mr Mullet has already told you, they appear to be most unscrupulous."
"I wonder where Mr Mullet is--why he doesn"t write or telephone to me, as he promised."
"Don"t distress yourself about him," urged the old Professor. "We hold the secret, and for to-night at least that is sufficient."
And then, after gathering the typed sheets together he put a fastener through them and locked the precious decipher carefully in one of the drawers of his writing-table. Then a few moments later, it already being two o"clock in the morning, they both ascended to their rooms.
When upon the landing, the old man kissed his daughter tenderly on the brow as was his habit, saying:
"Good-night, my child. I fear you must be very tired. But think!--we have completed our task. We alone know the great secret which will convulse the whole civilised world!"
In her own pretty room Gwen threw herself into the cosy chintz-covered armchair before the fire, and pondered deeply.
She was thinking of Frank--ever of him. Though she had been fond of flirtation, and though perhaps she had committed grave breaches of the _convenances_ before she had known young Farquhar, yet all had now changed. She would give her very life for him--for was she not his, and his alone?
Over her spread the thought of the man who had posed as Frank"s friend-- that man who had laughed defiance in her face, the man who was in league with her father"s enemies. Who was he? What was he? she wondered.
Then there rose before her the recollection of the man Mullet, the man with the ugly past, as he himself had admitted, yet nevertheless devoted to his little daughter, and a gentleman. She longed to see him again-- to introduce him to her lover, and to tell the latter the whole strange truth.
To her, it seemed as though Mullet feared the man who had so cleverly entrapped her, just as he was the "cat"s-paw" of the bloated red-faced man who had raised his hand to strike her.
Who were these people? she wondered. Why did Mullet fear them?