THIS chapter may well be omitted by the incredulous. For my part I know not fully whether to see in it mere hypnotic influence, or some power more evil. Possibly both had dealing in the matter. As it occurred, I will give it you, as briefly as may be, since I have little liking for these doings.

One night, the moon being very clear and full, Peregrine was roused from slumber by a rap on his chamber door. Opening it he saw Castrano the negro without, bearing a lantern in his hand.

“My master, Menippus, bids you follow me, an’ you would see that which will chance in the Temple this night,” he said shortly.

Donning his clothes anew, and wrapping his cloak around him, Peregrine prepared to follow the negro. The latter led the way in silence to the hall, and thence down vaulted passages which struck with a strange chillness. From the manner of their descent Peregrine perceived that they led underground, penetrating deep into the earth. They were hewn out of rock and stone, very rough and jagged. Far above him was their arched roof plastered in some manner.

After walking five minutes or so, Castrano came to a halt opposite a great door, nail-studded. This he opened, and in the dim light Peregrine saw steps descending. Castrano led the way down them; signed to Peregrine to take his place by a pillar, indicated a stone seat, whispered an injunction to remain where he found himself, and so left him.

Peregrine’s eyes becoming accustomed to the gloom, he looked around him. It was a dark vaulted place, very lofty. In each of the four corners, barely discernible through the darkness, were huge marble statues. To the left was an arch containing seven hanging lamps, their dim flame casting a faint light upon a dark object below it. What this object was Peregrine knew not. It appeared to be a cabinet of black wood.

In the middle of the Temple was a stone pillar some three and a half feet in height, the base pentagnol, the capital slightly hollowed. Smoke ascended from it in a misty blue column. The burning substance upon it gave forth a strange heavy scent. Above it hung a lamp half hidden by the ascending smoke. Around the pillar, on the black marble floor, was drawn a great circle in white chalk. An outer circle surrounded the floor of the whole Temple. This Peregrine saw but faintly, and only as he peered from right to left, marking all that reached his eye.

His gaze coming back again to the pillar, he saw Menippus standing near it, within the inner circle. He had not marked him previously, and believed this to be his first appearance. He was standing motionless and rigid, robed in purple, white, and scarlet; Peregrine felt his eyes drawn to him by some impelling force.

For a space Menippus remained thus; then Peregrine saw him slowly stretch out his arms. Through the Temple came his whispered voice, gradually gathering in force.

came the cry. And then again louder.

It seemed to Peregrine that the atmosphere around him trembled, as the cry came floating through the Temple. And then it came a third time.

Now it penetrated to the furthest corners, echoed hollowly in the vaulted roof. He was very sure that the air shook.

Still the cry went on, and with it further words. They were uttered in Latin. For your better understanding of the ritual I give you the translation. The utterance of the words came in curious waves of sound, rising, falling, beating through space; collecting, so it seemed, power and force, in their inexorable rhythm.

The voice fell to silence; a breath of wind swept through the Temple.

Again the wind swept through the Temple, falling once more to a deathly stillness. Small points of light focussed, broke, and scattered through the gloom.

And then, lastly, the supreme utterance given with the whole collective force of will:

Now the wind swept through the Temple in a volume, swaying the lamps till their chains jangled, beating down the smoke from the pillar till it spread in clouds around it. Again the stillness fell. The air around the pillar cleared.

Now Peregrine saw four figures standing by it, where previously there had been but one,—men robed in purple, white, and scarlet, as Menippus was robed; and round the forehead of each was a gold fillet fronted by the Rising Sun. From whence they had made their appearance he knew not, but it is very certain that the awe brought to his heart by the sweeping wind remained with it in their presence. The still air felt almost ice cold. Peregrine shivered, and drew his cloak closer around him the while he gazed, his eyes rivetted upon the pillar and the four figures. While fully aware of their actual presence, he was yet imbued with a sense of unreality, and more especially a sensation of unsafety. He felt somewhat as a man might feel, who sees poisoned arrows falling round him, and knows himself vulnerable at every point. An’ he be not wounded, it will be by some good chance, rather than by any protection he can afford himself.

Then he saw that another light had entered the Temple,—pale moonlight falling straight upon the circle where the four stood, though from whence it entered he knew not. Now he heard chanting coming from the four; saw some ceremony was in progress. This was none too easy for the uninitiated to follow.

At the first they stood, arms wide-spread, rhythmic syllables falling from their lips in measured tone, with curious undulation and dwelling on the vowels. It seemed, indeed, naught but vowels that they uttered with the wailing cry as of some Banshee. Next, the cry dying away, they bowed themselves in silence to the earth, touching the black marble floor with their fillet-bound foreheads. Then, standing again upright, the figure nearest him went up to the pillar, took from it with a pair of golden tongs, what appeared to be glowing charcoal. This he placed in a gold censer. Standing, then, beside the pillar, Menippus, who faced him, came towards him, blew upon the charcoal till it glowed to deeper crimson. Half unconsciously, through the ritual, Peregrine found his brain recording sentences. Here was the first.

“And the Wind of the North shall blow upon the Fire of the South that it increase in fervour, since from the South cometh the Purifying Fire.”

Menippus moved back to his place, and the figure to his right came forward. This one scattered drops of water on the pillar, which hissed as they fell among the burning mass. Next Menippus came down, breathed upon the vessel the figure held.

“And the Wind of the North shall blow upon the Waters of the East, that they quench not the Fires of the South.”

Here the figure holding the vessel of water carried it to him with the censer. Thrusting his hand into the vessel he scattered drops upon the charcoal in the censer. Again there was a sound of hissing; but the smoke from the censer continued to ascend. He stepped back, and Menippus came forward, signing symbols over the water, finally scattering drops around the pillar and upon the other three.

“And the Wind of the North scatters the Waters of the East, purifying those on whom the drops shall fall.”

Now he again returned to his place, and the figure to his left came forward. From a bag of purple stuff he drew forth grain, threw it on the pillar where it was caught by the fire, and flame sprung up. Once more Menippus came forward. Here he took grain from the hands of the figure who held the bag, carried it to the figure bearing the censer, threw grain on the censer.

“And the Wind of the North shall carry the offering of the West, that it be purified by the Fires of the South.”

All four now returning to their former places, again the wailing chant rang through the Temple with ever increasing insistence. The vibratory strength of the ascending and descending cry brought back to Peregrine’s mind somewhat of the Sage’s teaching. He perceived in it new meaning, felt, in a measure, the vibrations correspond with other subtle vibrations in the atmosphere around him. Together they formed a strange harmony. Now he saw Menippus stand with arms again outstretched, saw the figures South, West, and East, scatter burning charcoal, grain, and water upon the ground, found his brain again recording words, even though they were not heard in actual sense by his ears.

“Thus purified upon the altar, further purified by the breath of the Wind from the North, we return these gifts to the Earth, in the Name of the Great Lord Adonay, Creator of the Universe, Lord of the World, Ruler of all Creation, of the Elements, of things animate and inanimate. Adonay! Adonay! Adonay!”

Now they moved in measured tread around the pillar, chanting as they went. Nine times they circled it, coming at length to a stand in their former position. The chanting now held a tone of praise rather than of invocation. Words after this fashion came to his mind:

He saw that the moonlight was shifting. It no longer fell full upon the circle. The chanting came with a tone of finality. He received now no sense of words, knew merely that the ritual was drawing to an end.

On a sudden the chant ceased. An extraordinary silence fell upon the Temple. At the same instant he saw that the three figures had disappeared. Menippus alone stood rigid by the pillar. Peregrine found himself trembling. A slight sound drew his eyes to the dark object before the archway. A face, white and frightened, was peering from it. Peregrine made a quick step forward. On the instant his arm was seized. Turning he saw Castrano.

“It is ended,” whispered the negro, and hurried him from the Temple.