idnight
of a certain night, he should present himself, naked, at the door of a
certain temple and he would be admitted.

On the stroke of the hour, at the appointed time, Pythagoras, the youth
with the beautiful hair, was there, clothed only in his beautiful hair.
He knocked on the great, bronze doors, but the only answer was a faint,
hollow echo.

Then he got a stone and pounded, but still no answer.

The wind sprang up fresh and cold. The young man was chilled to the
bone, but still he pounded and then called aloud demanding admittance.
His answer now was the growling and barking of dogs, within. Still he
pounded! After an interval a hoarse voice called out through a little
slide, ordering him to be gone or the dogs would be turned loose upon
him.

He demanded admittance.

"Fool, do you not know that the law says these doors shall admit no one
except at sunrise?"

"I only know that I was told to be here at midnight and I would be
admitted."

"All that may be true, but you were not told when you would be
admitted--wait, it is the will of the gods." So Pythagoras waited,
numbed and nearly dead.

The dogs which he had heard had, in some way, gotten out, and came
tearing around the corner of the great stone building. He fought them
with desperate strength. The effort seemed to warm his blood, and
whereas before he was about to retreat to his lodgings he now remained.

The day broke in the east, and gangs of slaves went by to work. They
jeered at him and pelted him with pebbles.

Suddenly across the desert sands he saw the faint pink rim of the rising
sun. On the instant the big bronze doors against which he was leaning
swung suddenly in. He fell with them, and coarse, rough hands seized his
hair and pulled him into the hall.

The doors swung to and closed with a clang. Pythagoras was in dense
darkness, lying on the stone floor.

A voice, seemingly coming from afar, demanded, "Do you still wish to go
on?"

And his answer was, "I desire to go on."

A black-robed figure, wearing a mask, then appeared with a flickering
light, and Pythagoras was led into a stone cell.

His head was shaved, and he was given a coarse robe and then left alone.
Toward the end of the day he was given a piece of black bread and a bowl
of water. This he was told was to fortify him for the ordeal to come.

What that ordeal was we can only guess, save that it consisted partially
in running over hot sands where he sank to his waist