embered that this same papyrus was
always placed under the _tongue_ of the dead; I remembered, too, that
among that very nation whose language had afforded the motto, to "turn
up the _thumb_" (_pollicem vertere_) was a symbol significant of death.
I touched the under surface of my tongue with the tip of my thumb. The
aged man was appeased. I passed on, and examined the place.

'It was simply a vast circular hall, the arched roof of which was
supported on colonnades of what I took to be pillars of porphyry. Down
the middle and round the sides ran tables of the same material; the
walls were clothed in hangings of sable velvet, on which, in infinite
reproduction, was embroidered in cypher the motto of the society. The
chairs were cushioned in the same stuff. Near the centre of the circle
stood a huge statue, of what really seemed to me to be pure beaten
gold. On the great ebon base was inscribed the word [Greek: LUKURGOS].
From the roof swung by brazen chains a single misty lamp.

'Having seen this much I reascended to the land of light, and being
fully resolved on attending the meeting on the next day or night, and
not knowing what my fate might then be, I wrote to inform you of the
means by which my body might be traced. 'But on the next day a new
thought occurred to me: I reasoned thus: "these men are not common
assassins; they wage a too rash warfare against diseased life, but not
against life in general. In all probability they have a quite
immoderate, quite morbid reverence for the sanctity of healthy life.
They will not therefore take mine, _unless_ they suppose me to be the
only living outsider who has a knowledge of their secret, and therefore
think it absolutely necessary for the carrying out of their beneficent
designs that my life should be sacrificed. I will therefore prevent
such a motive from occurring to them by communicating to another their
whole secret, and--if the necessity should arise--_letting them know_
that I have done so, without telling them who that other is. Thus my
life will be assured." I therefore wrote to you on that day a full
account of all I had discovered, giving you to understand, however, on
the envelope, that you need not examine the contents for some little
time.

'I waited in the subterranean vault during the greater part of the next
day; but not till midnight did the confederates gather. What happened
at that meeting I shall not disclose, even to you. All was
sacred--solemn--f