Page:Weird Tales volume 30 number 01.djvu/94

 chamber. But it was not that alone which held us spellbound. Lying along the walls and down the length of the long floor, from beneath the grayish mass of dust and cobwebs, there glowed and sparkled in the torchlight the scintillating brilliance of the world's greatest treasure.

On either side of the high room, large piles of golden ingots rose to the ceiling. As though hastily stowed, the precious metal lay in careless mounds. In many places great tablets of gold had been set in the solid masonry of the floor. An exquisite urn showed a thousand pearls of priceless beauty, while the three large chests in the center of the room flashed with the radiance of diamonds, emeralds and other precious stones.

At the far end of the great vault four stone steps led up to a tiny room of black marble. There, on a rising stone slab of exquisite carving lay a jewel-encrusted sarcophagus. An atmosphere of mournful silence prevailed in that ancient tomb of riches.

Slowly I turned to Atma.

"It's wonderful!" I whispered in an awed tone. "It's—it's too wonderful!"

The girl nodded.

"And securely hidden, too," she added. "I doubt not that thirty centuries more could pass and its great wealth would still lie undisturbed."

"Who else knows of its location?"

"Only Karamour, and he would not dare enter these halls of eternal night. Even the bravest of the ancients trembled at the vengeance of the gods to a desecrator of a tomb. But come, let us look upon Balkis."

a warning of instant death to the blacks if they dared to touch the jewel chests, the Princess of Egypt made her way through the piles of riches to the small room where rested the famed Queen of antiquity.

Within the open sarcophagus lay a richly appareled woman of striking beauty. So fresh, so natural was her appearance, it seemed as if she were but sleeping. The eyes, half open, were turned toward us. Two bejeweled hands lay crossed on her large pearl breast-plates. The lovely thick hair, combed in a strange yet becoming manner, lay in a waving mass on the dark olive skin of her neck and arms. The faintest flush seemed to have mounted her cheeks, while the half-opened lids were curled in a sad half-smile.

"Sheba!" I gasped. "Sheba, the beloved of Solomon!"

"The large ring that encircles her thumb—a parting gift from the Jewish King. It was once worn by Abraham."

"How do you know that?"

"She told me of it long ago," answered Atma. "Poor Balkis! It is better, perhaps, that she continues her long sleep. Great would be her anguish to arise and find that her country, once so rich and powerful, has dwindled to a comparatively weak and defenseless nation."

The strain of the subterranean tomb had told on the blacks. Now, with nerves completely broken, they begged their Princess the privilege of returning to the outer world.

The girl looked at the two kneeling men in scornful silence. Suddenly she turned to me, fearless and beautiful in the torchlight.

"Their courage has snapped," came her firm voice. "In a few minutes they will be gibbering idiots. But we must not let that deter us. For riches we came, and with riches we shall leave. All the rattling bones of eternity will not stop me! Hold the light above those jewel chests, while I select the most precious stones. The gold is far too heavy for us to