Passing unnoticed through all this crowd and tumult, Aziel, Issachar and Metem entered a winding passage in the temple wall, and came to the little gate.  Metem tried it, and whispered:—­

“She has kept her word; it is unlocked.  Now enter to your love-tryst, holy Issachar.”

“Do you not come with us?” asked the Levite.

“No, I am too old for such adventures.  Listen, I go to make ready.  Within an hour the mules with the prince’s bodyguard will stand in the archway near the small gate of the palace, for by now the baggage and its escort await us a day’s march from this accursed city.  Will you meet me there?  No; I think it is best that I should come to your chambers to fetch you, and, I pray you, let there be no delay, for it is dangerous in many ways.  When once the prince has done with his tender interview, and wiped away his tears, there should be nothing to stay him, since the farewell cup with Sakon has been already drunk.  Enter now swiftly before some prowling priest happens upon you, and pray that you may come out as sound as you go in.  Oh! what a sight!  A prince of Israel and an aged Levite of established reputation going to keep a tryst at midnight with the high-priestess of Baaltis in the sanctuary of her god!  Nay, answer not; there is no time”—­and he was gone.

*****

Having passed the gate, Aziel and Issachar crept down the winding passages of stone, groping their path by such light as fell from the narrow line of sky above them, till at length they reached the court of the sanctuary.  Here the place was as silent as death, for the noise from the city without could not pierce its towering walls of massive granite.

“It is the very pit of Tophet,” murmured Issachar, peering through the dense shadows, “the house of Beelzebub, where his presence dwells.  Whither now, Aziel?”

The prince pointed to two objects that were visible in the starlight, and answered:—­

“Thither, at the foot of the pillar of El.”

“Ah!  I remember,” said Issachar, “where the accursed woman would have offered sacrifice, and the priests struck me down because I prophesied to them of the wrath to come, and that is now at hand.  An ill-omened spot, indeed, and an ill-omened tryst with the fiends for witnesses.  Well, lead on, and I pray you to be brief as may be, for this place weighs down my soul, and I feel danger in it—­danger to the body and the spirit.”

So they went forward.  “Be careful,” whispered Aziel presently.  “The pit of sacrifice is at your feet.”

“Yes, yes,” he answered, “we walk upon the edge of the pit, and, in truth, I grow fearful, for at the threshold of such places the angel of the Lord deserts us.”

“There is nothing to fear,” said Aziel.  But even as he spoke, although he could not see it, a white face rose above the edge of the pit, like that of some ghost struggling from the tomb, watched them a moment with cold eyes, then disappeared again.