d men, the upturned faces of the pale
priests below me, their dark eyes fixed upon me with looks of hatred
and malevolence.

"Aye, they would torture and sacrifice thee," said the strange being
who dominated them, and who held my life in her hands, and who again
answered my unspoken thought, "but that may not be. . . . And now look
thou on me and forget not."

She stood proudly erect, her brow bound by a bronze snake the miniature
of the idol above, the diamond set in this strange coronet outdone in
splendor by the fires of her wondrous eyes. And now I saw her not as a
sphinx-like being of terror, but as a glorious woman, a creature to be
adored for her beauty alone, and the long stagnant blood coursed
through my veins as I gazed entranced, and for ever enthralled.

No thought of that woman who waited crossed my mind, nothing but mad
desire and adoration filled me for this creature of unearthly beauty;
and spirit, woman, devil, be she what she might, my one mad longing was
to gaze upon her, to worship her, to possess her for ever.

And as I gazed spellbound she spoke again.

"Nay, I see thou wilt never forget," she smiled gravely, "yet must thou
eat of the fruit that will bring forgetfulness of all other things."

She called to the priest in another tongue; and one came scowlingly,
bringing with him a small box of ebony. The priestess took something
from it, and again turned her piercing eyes upon my own, compelling,
commanding, dominating me, as she had done when I first opened my eyes.
I tried to speak to beg, to implore, that I might remain her slave, if
need be, but near her, but she had put a spell upon my tongue, and I
could not.

Slowly she held forth her hand, and in the palm I now saw a small
withered berry, black and shriveled, but in shape like the scarlet
berries I had eaten so often in the crater. "Eat and forget! . . . Eat
and forget!" the voice commanded; and now the eyes sought mine again
and fascinated and mastered me.

No! I would not eat. ... I would not go! and with all my strength I
opposed her will . . . this was poison surely ... I would not eat!

"I seek not thy life rather would I save it," came the warning, as I
struggled against the domination, "I have but to hold forth my hand to
these my servants, and they would tear thee limb from limb. See, then!"

A gesture, and the crowd of frowning priests sprang up the steps and
swarmed round me; their fierce, vulpine faces aglow with terrib