al, Dr. Medjora apparently took no more notice of Barnes than
though he had not been present. But whilst he spoke, with his hands
clasped behind his back, he began to pace around the room, thus
walking in a circle about Barnes, as he sat upon the stone in the
centre.

"The ancient Mexicans worshipped a god to whom they built pyramids.
This was no other than my great ancestor AEsculapius. He was also known
to many of the races that inhabited the great North country. Here in
this place, a powerful tribe built a great pyramid, the top of which
was this dome, hewn from a single rock, and carved, as you see, with
characters which, translated would tell secrets which would astound
the world. The man who acquires all the knowledge here inscribed, may
well call himself the master of this century. I will be that man!"

He had increased his pace as he walked around, so that during this
speech he had made three circles about Barnes, who, astonished as much
by his actions as by his words, had followed him with his eyes,
turning his head as far as possible in one direction to accomplish
this, and then rapidly turning it to the opposite side so that he
might not lose sight of the Doctor. As the last words were uttered,
the Doctor stopped suddenly before him, and hurled the words at him as
though they contained a menace. But Barnes flinched only slightly, and
the Doctor continued his walk and his narrative.

"Yes, for here on these rocks are graven the sum of all the knowledge
of the past, which the great cataclysm lost to us for so many
centuries. This dome was the summit of the great temple. This floor
was a hundred feet below it, and was the floor of the edifice. Then
came the flood. The earth quaked, the waters rose, the earth parted,
the temple was riven, and the dome fell, here upon this floor, and the
record of the greatest wisdom in the world was buried beneath the
earth. Lost! Lost! Lost!!"

His gyrations had increased in rapidity, so that he had run around
Barnes six times during the above speech, and, as before, he stopped
to confront him, fairly screaming the last words. Barnes began to feel
odd in his head from turning it to watch this man who, he had now
decided, was surely a madman, and as the Doctor screamed out "Lost!
Lost! Lost!" almost in his face, he started to his feet, standing upon
the stone and prepared to defend himself if necessary. As though much
amused at this action, Dr. Medjora threw back his head and