Here was
a vast acreage, overhung with the atmosphere of sanctity. The grove of
mysteries was there, dark with profound shadow, and silent save for a
lonesome bird song or the suspirations of the wind. The great pool in
its stone basin reflected a lofty canopy of sunlit foliage, and the
shaggy peristyle of palm-tree trunks.
The shadow of the great structure darkened its approaches before it was
clearly visible through the grove. The devotee entered a long avenue
of sphinxes--fifty pairs lining a broad highway paved with polished
granite flagging.
At its termination the two truncated pyramids that formed the entrance
to the temple towered upward, two hundred feet of massive masonry.
Egypt had dismantled a dozen mountains to build two.
When he reached the gateway that opened like a tunnel between the
ponderous pylons, he was delayed some minutes waiting till the porter
should admit him through the wicket of bronze. At last, a lank youth,
the son of the regular keeper, appeared, and, with an inarticulate
apology, bade him enter.
Within the overarching portals he was met by a novice, a priest of the
lowest orders, to whom he stated his mission. With a sign to the young
man to follow, the priest passed through the porch into the inner court
of the temple.
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