"
"Come!" answered this wicked Dive, with his malignant grin, "come! and
possess all that my sovereign hath promised, and more."
He then conducted them into a long aisle adjoining the tabernacle,
preceding them with hasty steps, and followed by his disciples with the
utmost alacrity. They reached, at length, a hall of great extent, and
covered with a lofty dome, around which appeared fifty portals of bronze,
secured with as many fastenings of iron; a funereal gloom prevailed over
the whole scene; here, upon two beds of incorruptible cedar, lay
recumbent the fleshless forms of the pre-adamite kings, who had been
monarchs of the whole earth; they still possessed enough of life to be
conscious of their deplorable condition; their eyes retained a melancholy
motion; they regarded each other with looks of the deepest dejection;
each holding his right hand motionless on his heart; at their feet were
inscribed the events of their several reigns, their power, their pride,
and their crimes; Soliman Raad, Soliman Daki, and Soliman Di Gian Ben
Gian, who, after having chained up the Dives in the dark caverns of Kaf,
became so presumptuous as to doubt of the Supreme Power; all these
maintained great state, though not to be compared with the eminence of
Soliman Ben Daoud.
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