sent. I was about to rise and move away
when a sound came from the Fraeulein Valerie's cabin that caused me to
remain where I was. Someone was speaking, and that person was a woman.
Knowing there was no other of her sex on board, this puzzled me more
than I can say. The voice was harsh, monotonous, unmusical, and grated
strangely upon the ear. There was a pause, then another, which I
instantly recognised as belonging to Pharos, commenced.

I had no desire to play the eavesdropper, but for some reason which I
can not explain I could not choose but listen.

"Come," Pharos was saying in German, "thou canst not disobey me. Hold my
hand so, open thine eyes, and tell me what thou seest!"

There was a pause for a space in which I could have counted fifty. Then
the woman's voice answered as slowly and monotonously as before:

"I see a sandy plain, which stretches as far as the eye can reach in all
directions save one. On that side it is bordered by a range of hills. I
see a collection of tents, and in the one nearest me a man tossing on a
bed of sickness."

"Is it he? The man thou knowest?"

There was another pause, and when she answered, the woman's voice was
even harsher than before:

"It is he."

"What dost thou see now?"

"I am in the dark, and see nothing."

"Hold my hand and wait, thou wilt see more plainly anon. Now that thine
eyes are accustomed to the darkness, describe to me the place in which
thou standest."

There was another interval. Then she began again:

"I am in a dark and gloomy cavern. The roof is supported by heavy
pillars, and they are carved in a style I have never seen before. On the
ceilings and walls are paintings, and lying on a slab of stone--a dead
man!"

Once more there was a long silence, until I began to think that I must
have missed the next question and answer, and that this extraordinary
catechism had terminated. Then the voice of Pharos recommenced:

"Place thine hand in mine and look once more."

This time the answer was even more bewildering than before.

"I see death," said the voice. "Death on every hand. It continues night
and day, and the world is full of wailing!"

"It is well, I am satisfied," said Pharos. "Now lie down and sleep. In
an hour thou wilt wake and wilt remember naught of what thou hast
revealed to me."

Unable to make anything of what I had heard, I rose from the place where
I had been sitting and began to pace the deck. The remembrance of the
conve