ON THE WAY TO THE TOMB OF KORAH
Time passed—time that had no measure—time that an eternity. They had all from their with the Sacred Serpent, but the had left them and irritable. There was food in plenty, and the gave them meat and drink. Always they mounted—and as they saw the paths them, out her hand, and that one day they might see the stars. Jez-Riah still them on, through paths and a maze. She always that she the right path to take.
Sometimes they had to on their hands and through narrow and low passages that to have no end. At other times they themselves in wide, with a almost computation, for above their they just catch the of light on the that the roof. Now and again up from the earth and ran along them, themselves as as they had appeared. The was very and fetid—very different from the air on the other of the river that the people from the region they were now in. “How long, Jez-Riah?” they asked her over and over again. “How long we the Tomb of Korah?” And her answer was the same each time. “Oh Men of the World Above, I do not tarry, I am leading you to the Tomb as fast as I can. Be with that.” 110So the days passed—so the nights came again. Days which had no night, nights which had no day. Time was by sleep. When they were all they to and sleep. This they called night—when they they called it day. But they had count of the times they had slept since Jez-Riah had come to them, they had count of everything. They had only one object them—to the Tomb of Korah. Their plans ended there; they had no idea what their next move would be after they it. They had to their strange, companion—in she had almost a to them both. It was she who passed many hours for them, by of the life of her people since they had below. It was she who told them more than Har-Barim had done, how her people’s had up against Musereah, and Har-Raeon, and how they had the ages. And the boys Musereah as Moses, and Har-Raeon as Aaron, and were more than that as the was, this new was from the Israelites of the Old Testament and Korah, Abiram and Dathan as its progenitors.
It was Jez-Riah who told them that a gate was a had been deposited the of their priests—“Har-Barim and Kartharn.” It was at their that the to the of Meherut were performed. It was their Holy of Holies, and it was over the of Har-Barim and Kartharn that the their vows.
They asked Jez-Riah about the fire and she as she answered them—“Ah, Men from Above, Our Fire is sacred—it is Holy. It is the symbol of our Jovah.—It is almost our God. The God of our took on one occasion the of fire, so fire is to us.”
“The Burning Bush,” said Alan in an undertone.
“But,” she added sorrowfully, “the power of the Fire is waning. According to one of our prophecies, 111when the Fire shall die, then, also shall all the of Korah die too. In all the that have passed since the earth closed against us, no fuel was needed for the Fire—it of itself and less. Then one day were in the earth—our land and trembled, and men on their in fear. From that day we the Fire was less. Our it—all our people it and terror was in all our hearts. Then our high looked up all the old laws and in the fourth book of Rabez-ka, Queebenhah the Seer writes—
‘When the Fire shall shrink, then is the time for the people of Kalvar to rise. Live must be offered to the God of Anger. Send a Light to the world above, and let it men and animals and to the of Light. Live alone will keep the fire quickened—live alone will prevent on the Children of Kalvar.’
“So our wise men together,” she continued, “and by the of all, the Light was made. The wise men of the temple and Kaweeka alone it—for they were of Holiness, and the Light was from the Fire itself. Chemicals were from the of the earth, and in the Light was made.”
“How did they use it, Jez-Riah?”
“When it was sent out into the earth above, it was only to life. When any warm thing of the world was near, it down, and and its to us.”
“I better,” said Alan to his cousin. “The Light is some magnetic with power. Ugh! It’s horrible.”
“But why did they stop sending out the Light for to the flames?” asked Desmond.
“Because we that our time is short. Nothing will keep the Fire alive. The end is near.”
So they travelled—and then them as their and they got no nearer to their goal. Even Jez-Riah herself to 112lose hope, and with in her she would say “O Ar-lane, my dimmed—the way is dark. Surely we must come there soon!”
The of the way the white men nearly mad. The of the food them. They dazed; they the of their march; they forgot, even, what the was toward which they were going. They only that some power them them to go on and on and always on.
At last Jez-Riah’s and her step alert. “Don’t speak,” she urged, “don’t speak!” So they went, until all the passages into one long tunnel—darker than the others through which they had come. The natural light from the earth itself, still more feeble, and they it difficult to walk for of pitfalls. Suddenly the passage ended and Jez-Riah gave a cry. “Behold, O Men of the Sun, this is the entrance to the Tomb of Korah.”
“Are you sure?” asked Alan.
“Quite, O Ar-lane. The paths we have been were by our long æons ago. After they had Korah and all that to him fast the of the earth, they had to their way through to make a place of habitation. They cut paths as they along, and when they the Fire—there they their home. I that when all paths into one, the way was near to Korah’s tomb.”
The place in which they themselves was very disappointing. Their way just ended—it did not out at all, and the end was with and earth that had through the ages. Their was over at last, and they took their rest. They slept long and quietly, and it was Jez-Riah who them and them the food they were so of. “Nay, eat,” she commanded, “your is needed more than before,” and the truth of her words, they ate until they were satisfied and all the for the food.
“The earth has fallen,” said Jez-Riah. “If we are 113to the entrance to the we must clear away all that rubble.”
Feverishly they set to work their hands to pieces on the until the passage them was nearly closed with the of and earth that they had displaced. Twice they slept, and then success came to them, for a solid of appeared in the wall—a that had been and upon which were hieroglyphics.
“I cannot read it,” said Jez-Riah, but Alan was already translating, for it was the Hebrew he knew, and not the that had come through the to the people.
“Read it aloud,” said Desmond, and Alan spoke the of the reverently.
“BY THE WILL OF THE EXILED CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.
“Korah, son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and his and his children and all that him and to them, in this cave. For the of Jehovah on his people who against the Lord, by the Evil one—Korah. This is his Tomb—cursed be the ones who open it the day is at hand.
“Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, the son of Peleth, son of Reuben; Shedur, son of Helon, son of Abira, the son of Simeon. Priests, by the Children of Israel in their new land of Kalvar—in the of the earth.”
The did little else but talk about the until the time came for them to rest. Their had been rewarded; the Tomb of Korah had been to them.
They hard when they to move the of stone. There was no to them—the had been in position some three thousand years before, and now to all the they to move it. With and used lever-wise they until after many “days” they succeeded in the solid of to the ground, but it was a closely 114built of and earth together with a cement. Their were and in their attempt to the apart. “At last,” Alan in delight. For as he his hand had gone into space—the was open him.
115
