During an
instant Ulpius remained silent, listening to the noise they produced.
For the first time an expression of dread appeared on his face. His
memory was obscurely reviving the incidents of his discovery of the
deadly machinery in the vault when he first made his sojourn in the
temple, when--filled with the confused remembrance of the mysterious
rites and incantations, the secret sacrifices which he had witnessed and
performed at Alexandria--he had found and followed the subterranean
passage which led to the iron grating beneath the dragon. As the wind
lulled again, and the clashing of the metal ceased with it, he began to
give these recollections expression in words, uttering them in slow,
solemn accents to himself.
'I have seen the Destroyer; the Invisible has revealed himself to me!'
he murmured. 'I stood on the iron bars; the restless waters toiled and
struggled beneath my feet as I looked up into the place of darkness. A
voice called to me, "Get light, and behold me from above! Get light!
get light!" Sun, and moon, and stars gave no light there! but lamps
burnt in the city, in the houses of the dead, when I walked by them in
the night-time; and the lamp gave light when sun, and moon, and stars
gave none! From the top steps I looked down, and saw the Powerful One in
his golden brightness; and approached not, but watched and listened in
fear.
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