It is said, how truly I know not, that beneath the foundation pillars of
the temple was wisely prepared by Eline a vault, a vast cave wherein
were hidden the most sacred records of the temple and the sacred secret
name which they had forgotten.
To her over the sea came the knowledge of the faithless guard, and in
her agony she called upon that sacred name if by chance the temple
should be saved.
In days of old men knew that there is a power in words, a power now
forgotten. Stories there are which tell of city walls falling at a
trumpet blast, of cities rising as if by magic at a word, of mighty
doors thrown open, of nature spellbound by a song, of mighty names the
jinns and genii of the desert obey.
And this sacred name was such a one as these; for with its whispering a
mighty thrill passed out over the world and the foundations of the sea
were shaken. Vast continents were destroyed, and men said the world was
at an end. Terrible was the time, but Eline knew that it was better so;
for the remnant of the living might one day restore the ancient glory of
that land. But had it been that the land remained, those wicked ones
would have lived and worked to destroy the whole world so that not even
a remnant should be left in the bosom of the waters to re-people the
earth.
After many days, tossed and beaten by the waves, the little ship with
the outcast faithful one came drifting to the land where Eline was.
The winds and the sea conspired, as it seemed, to urge the ship on her
voyage, and the dwellers of the ocean pointed the way, watchful ever and
untiring in their duty. Small as it was, and ill-found, Eline chose this
ship for her return, and once again she came to the place where the
temple had stood--she and that faithful one.
She gazed on the ruins of that sacred spot and sadly looked at the tops
of the mighty pillars just rising above the waves of the sea which at
times filled the arches in between so that no man might pass beneath.
Unseen guards there were, Eline knew, guards who would keep that spot
free for future generations of a world to come. Water-nymphs,
sea-sprites, and earth-goblins, undines, gnomes, and sylphs dwelt there
as sentinels of a sacred trust, and Eline was content to go.
"For," she said, "the secret vault of the sacred name yet stands intact
until these same faithless ones shall come again, purified by many
wanderings and trials, and shall again guard that new-old temple with
me. That time they shall not fail!"
And a ray of glorious hope shone in her face as she left the ruined
temple.
"I will return!" she said. "I will return!"
[Illustration: "I WILL RETURN"]