dance upon a
curtain draped behind the sarcophagus, picking out diamond points. The
dreamer groped in the mental chaos of his mind, and found a clue to
the meaning of this. The diamond points were the eyes of thousands of
tarantula spiders with which the curtain was broidered.

The sign of the spider! What did he know of it? Yes! of course; it was
the secret mark of Egypt's witch-queen--of the beautiful woman whose
name, after her mysterious death, had been erased from all her
monuments. A sweet whisper stole to his ears:

"You will befriend him, befriend my son--for _my_ sake."

And in his dream-state he found himself prepared to foreswear all that
he held holy--for her sake. She grasped both his hands, and her
burning eyes looked closely into his.

"Your reward shall be a great one," she whispered, even more softly.

Came a sudden blank, and Dr. Cairn found himself walking again through
the narrow street, led by the veiled woman. His impressions were
growing dim; and now she seemed less real than hitherto. The streets
were phantom streets, built of shadow stuff, and the stairs which
presently he found himself ascending, were unsubstantial, and he
seemed rather to float upward; until, with the jewelled fingers held
fast in his own, he stood in a darkened apartment, and saw before him
an open window, knew that he was once more back in the hotel. A dim
light dawned in the blackness of the room and the musical voice
breathed in his ear:

"Your reward shall be easily earned. I did but test you. Strike--and
strike truly!"

The whisper grew sibilant--serpentine. Dr. Cairn felt the hilt of a
dagger thrust into his right hand, and in the dimly-mysterious light
looked down at one who lay in a bed close beside him.

At sight of the face of the sleeper--the perfectly-chiselled face,
with the long black lashes resting on the ivory cheeks--he forgot all
else, forgot the place wherein he stood, forgot his beautiful guide,
and only remembered that he held a dagger in his hand, and that Antony
Ferrara lay there, sleeping!

"Strike!" came the whisper again.

Dr. Cairn felt a mad exultation boiling up within him. He raised his
hand, glanced once more on the face of the sleeper, and nerved himself
to plunge the dagger into the heart of this evil thing.

A second more, and the dagger would have been buried to the hilt in
the sleeper's breast--when there ensued a deafening, an appalling
explosion. A wild red light illuminate