Impatiently we at last crawled forward again, eager to ascertain what
our attempt at blasting had effected. Our first impression was that we
were worse off than before, as the explosion had hurled great portions
of rock along the tunnel, where they now lay nearly blocking it, and in
several places we could only advance by squeezing ourselves flat upon
our stomachs or struggling sideways between the boulders and the rocky
sides of the long recess. Our tedious advance was once or twice almost
effectually barred, but each time Octave, whose arms were stronger than
I had imagined them, succeeded in pushing back the great pieces of stone
sufficiently to allow the passage of our bodies.
"_Epatant_!" cried my companion suddenly, just as he had squeezed
himself flat to pass a piece of rock that almost barred our passage
completely. "Excellent! The stones that blocked the entrance have been
entirely blown away!"
"Hurrah!" I shouted excitedly, struggling along after him. "Can you
distinguish anything?"
"Nothing yet," he answered.
A second later I scrambled up close behind him, but, peering forward
over his shoulder, I saw only an impenetrable darkness beyond. The
torch he now held did not burn as well as the first, shedding only a
flickering, uncertain light. Through the breach we had made we crawled
together, and as we stumbled on over the rocks that had been displaced
by the explosion, we found there was room to stand upright. The
flambeau, held high by my companion, revealed only a portion of the
gloomy chamber we had opened, but against the rugged walls, that
glistened here and there as the rays fell upon them, we saw black,
mysterious-looking objects that in the fickle light looked shadowy and
indistinct against a background of Stygian darkness. Their sight
startled us. Half choked by smoke and dust, we knew not whether there
might be another entrance to this pitch-dark cavern, where wonderful
stalactites hung glistering from the roof, or what wild animals might be
its tenants.
Holding our loaded rifles in readiness, we listened. But the silence,
complete as that of the tomb, remained unbroken. Igniting one of the
torches I held in my hand, the light became so far increased that we
could distinguish we were in a spacious vaulted natural chamber, that
bore traces of previous occupation. My feet caught an object on the
ground, and, picking it up, I examined it. It was a leathern scabbard
curiously ornamented with metal that was black with age. As we
advanced, we found that the dark, mysterious objects we had at first
noticed were great packages strongly bound in skins. We counted them;
there were thirty-seven. Dust, inches thick, was upon them, for they
had evidently been borne over the Desert by camels, and lain secreted
there many years. What, we wondered, did they contain?
After a brief inspection of the place, we set to work to investigate.
Taking our knives, we commenced upon the pack nearest the place we had
entered, but so rotten was the leather that our impatient fingers tore
it asunder like paper, and the ropes that had once secured it crumbled
into dust at our touch. In breathless eagerness we thrust both hands
into the openings we had made and drew them forth.
With one accord we uttered loud ejaculations of abject amazement. _Our
hands were filled with precious stones_!
We could scarce believe our eyes, each half fearing that our sudden good
fortune was but a dream. Yet, nevertheless, in a few moments we were
convinced of its reality, for time after time we thrust in our hands and
allowed the unset gems to run through our fingers like beans. In our
delirium of intense excitement as we tore away the wrappings, the jewels
became scattered about the ground, and many were trodden under foot.
Beyond ejaculating expressions of amazement, we could not speak.
Dumbfounded, we stood caressing in our hands the newly-discovered
treasure, vaguely conscious of its enormous value and of the fact that
Fortune had at last, in a most extraordinary manner, bestowed her favour
bountifully upon us.
Our wealth was beyond our wildest dreams. We were absolutely bewildered
by the sight that met our gaze.
The brilliance of the gems, though somewhat dulled by the dust of ages,
held us with fascination. Upon the ground around us they lay heaped in
such scattered profusion that we seemed powerless to collect them.
There were great diamonds of enormous value that flashed, scintillated,
and dazzled us under the uncertain rays of the torches, magnificent
emeralds, some almost yellow, others green as the deep sea, white,
yellow, and rich blue sapphires, huge purple amethysts, pale,
exquisitely-coloured beryls, peerless pink and black pearls larger than
any in the Crown Jewels, green, straw-coloured, and blue topazes of
enormous size, beautiful topazolites of delicate hues, huge blood-red
jacinths, opals marvellous in their iridescent reflection of light, and
matchless spinels, turquoises, and other stones of all difference of
colour and shade and every degree of translucency.
"Come!" I cried excitedly at last, when speech returned to me; "let us
see what the next contains!" and together we tore asunder the wrappings,
to discover a similar hoard of unset gems, many of the diamonds being
even larger and more magnificent than those we had at first discovered.
Intoxicated by delight, we proceeded to further investigate our
newly-discovered wealth, passing on from bale to bale, finding in each a
wondrous collection of precious stones of such size and brilliancy, the
like of which our eyes had never before encountered.
"Look!" I ejaculated, picking out three enormous diamonds that were
lying in a heap upon the floor. "Each single stone will realise a
fortune!"
"True," answered Octave gleefully, his eyes glistening with delight.
"They are as large as any in the world."
Finding a piece of rotten wood that had originally been placed along the
edge of one of the packages, apparently to strengthen it, we utilised it
as a flambeau, and, proceeding with our investigations, we found that no
fewer than sixteen of the great bales contained nothing but gems, most
of which had evidently been hurriedly knocked from their settings in
order to be more easily transported.
One pack was nearly filled with treasures that were absolutely priceless
from an archaeological point of view, for they were genuine and
well-preserved relics of bygone ages. Strangely--engraven zircons,
hyacinths, tourmalines, spinels, beryls, all of exquisite hues,
delicately carved emeralds, and deep blood-red sards with mystic
inscriptions and remarkable designs. Hundreds of Egyptian seals in the
form of the scarabaeus, or sacred beetle, curious cylindrical seals in
chalcedony, and beautiful Greek scarabs, the engraved intaglio of which
in most cases was enclosed in a guilloche or engrailed border. There
were also large numbers of finely-engraved ornaments of carnelian,
chrysoprase, plasma, bloodstone, jasper, beryl, agate, and onyx, and
many seals of thin form, through which the light passed sufficiently to
show the engraving by transmitted rays, the stones with this view being
mostly cut _en cabochon_.
In another package we discovered, carefully wrapped by themselves in
cloths of fine linen--now yellow with age and rotten as tinder--a number
of strangely-shaped amulets. Upon many of them were engraved in Arabic
gnomic or other sayings, indicating that they were believed to guard the
wearer against demons, thieves, and various evils, or regarded as charms
for procuring love; while others had on them the names of their
possessors, various mottoes, good counsels from the Koran, and even
distichs of Arab poetry.
Continuing our search, we came across a great pack of ancient ornaments
of gold. Time had in some instances dulled them, but their weight
showed their solidity, and the stones set in them were the most
magnificent we had ever seen. Rings, bracelets, anklets, necklets,
great bands of gold for the arms, earrings, buckles and girdles
encrusted with diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires, marvellously-enamelled
clasps, jewelled sword-hilts, aigrettes with diamond bases,
finely-worked filigree balls of gold, and four magnificent diadems, one
of which was set entirely with huge diamonds, that gleamed and flashed
with a thousand fires as we held it up, while another was adorned wholly
by emeralds. From their delicacy of construction, we judged that their
wearers must have been Sultanas. Who, we wondered, were they? Whose
harem had their dazzlingly-ornamented figures graced?
From the bottom of this pack I at length drew forth a small oval-shaped
casket of tortoise-shell beautifully inlaid with gold devices, around
the sides of which was a pious inscription in Arabic. The lid refused
to open, therefore I placed it aside, and assisted Octave to further
investigate.
On we passed, our amazement becoming more complete every moment,
ejaculations of profound surprise and admiration escaping us at almost
every breath. In the remaining packs we cursorily inspected, we found a
most valuable collection of vessels, goblets, dishes, salvers, urns, and
wine-vessels, all of solid gold, each very heavy and exquisitely chased
in designs that told their age to be considerably over a thousand years.
Some bore hieroglyphics that showed that they had ages before been
brought out of Egypt, while upon others were Arabic characters that were
easily decipherable. Some indeed were Chaldean, many were Byzantine,
while greater portion of the goblets bearing Arabic were profusely set
with gems. Fine lamps of chased gold, great heavy ornaments that had
once graced the dazzling Courts of Love of some powerful potentate, and
beautiful jewelled breastplates we unearthed, together with a large
number of shapeless masses of gold, ornaments with the gems still set in
them having apparently been ruthlessly melted down in order that they
might be the more easily secreted. These rough lumps varied from the
size of an orange to that of a man's head, and in several diamonds and
other stones were protruding, showing how hurriedly their shape had been
altered, and the whole system of careless packing testifying to the fact
that they had been brought there with swiftness and secrecy.
"Are we dreaming?" cried my companion in an awed tone, when we had
finished examining the contents of the last pack, and relighted another
piece of wood we had found. "I cannot yet fully realise the extent of
this wonderful discovery!"
"It is indeed amazing," I said, looking around upon the vast hoard of
treasure that lay heaped in every direction. "This then is the Great
Secret revealed by the Crescent of Glorious Wonders!"
"And a secret worth obtaining," my companion added. "It is yours, for
you discovered it. You are indeed a Croesus!"
"Yes, no doubt its value is enormous," I answered. "But in what manner
can its recovery effect Zoraida's safety?"
I thought only of her. In my waking hours her fair, wistful face was
ever before me; in my dreams she appeared, urging me on to seek the
solution of the mystery. I had found an extraordinary and magnificent
collection of gems, hundreds of which were unique in the world. They
would give me enormous wealth; but would they also bring me happiness?
Alas! I feared they would not, for I had not fully solved the problem.
I stood silent, thoughtful, and disheartened.
Octave Uzanne roused me. I was thinking little of the piles of gorgeous
jewels at my feet; my thoughts were all of her.
"You haven't opened that tortoise-shell box yet, old fellow," he
exclaimed. "There might be something in it."
"Ah! I had forgotten!" I answered, suddenly recollecting its
existence. Truth to tell, in the excitement of the moment I had thrown
it aside, and it lay in a dark corner unheeded. My companion searched
for a few moments, found it, and handed it to me.
With trembling hands I tried to wrench off the lid, but it would not
budge. No clasp secured it, yet the lid fitted with an exactness that
rendered it quite air-tight. Several times I made vain efforts to open
it, and at last was compelled to draw my knife, insert the point of the
blade, and so wrench it asunder, utterly ruining the lid.
From inside I drew forth a folded piece of skin, dried, yellow and
wrinkled with age. So crisp and brittle was it that it almost broke
asunder as, on carefully opening it, I found it covered with small
Arabic characters closely written in ink that had faded and become brown
and dim by time. Glancing at the bottom, my eyes caught the characters
which, more legible than the others, told me its age.
"It is actually over a thousand years old!" I cried. "See! The date
is 311 of the Hedjira!" and with Octave holding the torch and eagerly
following me, I proceeded to decipher the crabbed and difficult writing,
reading it aloud as follows:--
"RECORD OF THE HADJ MOHAMMED ASKIA, SULTAN OF THE SONGHAY, PEARL OF THE
CONCH OF PROPHECY, WHO DESCENDED FROM THE THRONE OF MAGNIFICENCE AND
GLORY AFTER MUCH TROUBLE AND AFFLICTION, WHO FROM HIS HEAD REMOVED THE
DIADEM OF RESPECT AND FROM HIS BODY THE CLOAK OF HONOUR, WHOSE
ROSE-GROVE BECAME A HUT OF GRIEF, WHO WRITETH THESE WORDS IN THE DARK
NIGHT OF SEPARATION.
"In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Clement! Praise is my garment,
magnificence is my cloak, grandeur my veil, and all creatures within my
kingdom are my men-servants and my maid-servants. O Discoverer of this
my Word, know that thou who openest this casket and findest this my
treasure, assuredly hast thou learned the secret by the power of the
Crescent, the cusp of which is the wondrous Revealer of Secrets and its
graven words are as a bright light in the darkness. Before its power
men quake in fear, for it bringeth victory over thine enemies and
exceeding wealth. By thy belief in the power of the Revealer, thou hast
been translated from affliction to the happiness of dignity, and hast
been promoted from baseness unto the summit of magnificence; thy mind
will be illumined with the light of the interpretation of dreams, and in
the storehouse of thine intellect wilt thou deposit the secrets of the
treasure of prophecy. Remain ye steadfast, and if thou lovest a woman,
be thou not discomforted, for Allah hath predestined blessings, and will
bring thine affairs to the desired termination. Upon thee be most
abundant salutations and greetings. Those beside whom I fought in
battle have deserted me on account of the plague of bloodsuckers. I
have descended the throne of dominion and have secreted my treasure, to
wander in search of peace. Even though I have presage that I pass in
short space from the Mansion of Vexation to the Imperishable Kingdom,
yet my memory will only be blotted from the pages of the times to be
revived. Happy thou who hast possessed thyself of my camels' packs, for
they will guide thee out of the Valley of Confusion, and if thou lovest
a woman, easy will be thy path to the tying of the knot of matrimony,
and verily will the verdure of the meadow of life be as a cloak unto
thee. O my soul, thou hast cramped mine heart; burnt my spirit. I
said, I will complain, but thou hast burnt my tongue. Thou art gone,
and we gave many promises of meeting, in hopes of which thou hast
consumed me as a lamp. I said, I will lament my separation, but within
me hast thou burnt that lamentation. I cannot wish evil to anyone, for
the good and evil of this world are but transient. Know, O Discoverer
of the Treasure, she who is the light of thine eyes will soon invest
thee with the ennobling robe of her choice, for I have made thee a
confidant of mysteries, and upon thee will the favours of Allah be
plentifully showered. If adversities threaten her, give unto her this
my record, together with the Great White Diadem, that is of diamonds,
and they shall be weapons in her hands by which they who harbour evil
designs against her shall fall, while thee and she shall walk in peace
beside the limpid brooks, where the waters of good fortune meander into
the river of dignity. If the flames of thine enemy's malevolence are
kindled against thee, take thee also the Emerald Diadem for thyself, for
it shall be an indication of prosperity that shall appear upon thy
forehead, and shall astonish and disconcert them. To thee the world
shall be pleasant as the face of the woman thou lovest. It is incumbent
on thee who hast believed, who hast sought, and who hast found, to live
merrily in this brief life during the season of flowers, for this is thy
purpose, and life is short. Laugh at the times as the cloud wept, for
roses smile because the dawn weeps. Unto one faithful follower, he who
is named E'mran, son of Anush, son of Yusuf, who hath been compelled to
leave me to travel afar over the Great Desert, have I entrusted the
Crescent, to be handed down through generations, and after a thousand
years have elapsed, to be given unto one who hath faith in its power, in
order that he may solve the Great Mystery. Endeavour not to learn the
cause of its secret power, for it is an influence the existence whereof
none knoweth in thy generation. Suffice it that thou hast secured the
Treasure of the Sultan Askia; that my hands, long ago crumbled unto
dust, have watered the thirsty meadows of thine hopes, and that thou
knowest thou wilt hereafter dwell in the meadows of felicity. Remember,
O Holder of my Treasure, my commands. May thy feet never cross the
threshold of the House of Misery, and may many years elapse ere thou art
translated from thy frail abode to the Mansion of Eternity. Enduring
and permanent is Allah alone. Peace.
"Written on the fourth of the month Chaoual, 311 of the Hedjira."
"Extraordinary!" ejaculated Octave. "It is a voice from the grave!"
"The will of the most powerful of the Sultans, who has bequeathed to me
all his riches," I said, almost stupefied by the stupendous wealth that
had been heaped upon me.
Handling the precious document with infinite care, I refolded it and
placed it back in its broken box.
"Shall you carry out his commands?" he asked.
"To the letter," I answered; then, looking round, I added, "It seems
that, having secreted his treasure here, he walled up the entrance with
rocks which he cemented together, thus hermetically sealing this
chamber, and so preserving its valuable contents."
"Yes. But the mystic influence of the Crescent of Wonders, and its
effect? How do you account for it?"
"It is a mystery which I am commanded not to attempt to solve," I said
quietly. "For the present, I am content with what has been revealed;"
and, remembering the dead Sultan's instructions, I walked to the heap of
gold ornaments and took therefrom the Great White Diadem. It was a
magnificent ornament, encrusted with huge and wonderful diamonds of the
first water, three exquisitely fine stones, cut in the form of a
crescent, forming a centre-piece. After a short search, I drew from the
pile of jewels the Emerald Diadem, an ornament of similar shape, but
green with flashing gems, the central one, enormous, and of magnificent
colour, being fashioned as a star. Dusting both of them lightly with my
burnouse, the stones shone with bewildering brilliancy.
To place the Great White Diadem and the parchment record in Zoraida's
hands was my first object, and, with that end in view, my companion and
I held brief consultation, the result being that, having promised my
friend a portion of the treasure, we resolved to take a few of the more
remarkable of the jewels, and leave at once, blocking up the entrance
after us. As the packages had remained there untouched for a thousand
years, it was scarcely likely anyone would find their way to that cavern
in the unexplored Desert before we returned, and even if they did, the
narrow passage would be barred in such a manner as to be utterly
impassable except by blasting.
Therefore, gathering together a number of set and unset gems, rings,
bracelets, and seals, we filled our pockets to overflowing, and,
wrapping others in a piece of the crumbling leather, we forthwith went
back to the narrow entrance, leaving the jewels scattered as they had
fallen from the camels' packs. By our united efforts we succeeded in
rolling forward great pieces of rock, until the entry was entirely
blocked up, and again, at the other end of the tunnel-like passage, we
placed a similar barrier.
Then, finding our way up to the surface again, we emerged into the
brilliant day, and, after a hasty meal, mounted, and with eager faces
turned towards Agadez, we set out hopeful and jubilant, with treasures
of great price concealed in our capacious saddle-bags.