"Khania, what do you seek?"
"That answer which you should have given me this twelve hours gone.
Remember, before you speak, that I alone can save your life--aye, and
will do it and clothe you with that dead madman's crown and mantle."
"You shall have your answer on yonder Mountain," said Leo, pointing to
the peak above us, "where I seek mine."
She paled a little and replied, "To find that it is death, for, as I
have told you, the place is guarded by savage folk who know no pity."
"So be it. Then Death is the answer that we seek. Come, Horace, let us
go to meet him."
"I swear to you," she broke in, "that there dwells not the woman of your
dreams. I am that woman, yes, even I, as you are the man of mine."
"Then, lady, prove it yonder upon the Mountain," Leo answered.
"There dwells there no woman," Atene went on hurriedly, "nothing dwells
there. It is the home of fire and--a Voice."
"What voice?"
"The Voice of the Oracle that speaks from the fire. The Voice of a
Spirit whom no man has ever seen, or shall see."
"Come, Horace," said Leo, and he moved towards the horse.
"Men," broke in the old Shaman, "would you rush upon your doom? Listen;
I have visited yonder haunted place, for it was I who according to
custom brought thither the body of the Khan Atene's father for burial,
and I warn you to set no foot within its temples.
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