es of man in the guises of animals, I had
perceived a nucleus of wisdom pointing to the possibility that the law
which I had so laboriously established might have been known to the
early Egyptian priesthood. Indeed I was partly induced to inquire into
the myths of Bast, the cat-headed goddess to whom of old this town was
dedicated, by the following two things: first, a chance reference in
the pages of Herodotus; and, second, a persistent superstition that
during a certain season of the year, _psycho-hybrids_ occurred in this
town.

By dint of close research I discovered that the date favored by the
inhabitants of Zagazig, as that upon which such creatures were born
there, corresponded very closely with the Sacred Sothic month,
formerly sacred to Bast, the titulary goddess of the place,
corresponded in short with the ancient Feast of Bast.

My inquiries at the time, however, proved futile, and beyond the fact
that the town was remarkable for a singular number of semi-wild cats,
I discovered nothing to support my theory. However, as I have already
stated, a native acquaintance there, a very learned Moslem, to whom I
had imparted during my residence some idea of the nature of my
studies, sent me a long communication containing particulars of the
event which had befallen Lady Coverly during her one-night's sojourn
in Zagazig.

Briefly, she had learned from a native attached to the one possible
hotel which the town boasted, of the tradition associated with the
place. Some other member of the party (for quite a large company had
been detained in Zagazig by the mishap) unwisely pointed out to her
that the favored date was that upon which they had arrived in the
town.

Nothing might have resulted from this; but by a strange fatality (or
because of the operation of some unsuspected law understood by the
ancients but misapprehended to-day) the matter was sealed in a very
extraordinary fashion.

Lady Coverly's room opened upon a balcony, and during the night one of
those huge cats of the kind which I had observed myself to infest the
neighborhood, gained access to this balcony. Since the appearance of
the creature produced so singular and disastrous an effect, it must
certainly have been an unusually large specimen of its kind. I may add
that according to my Moslem friend--who, although a man of great
culture, was soaked in the traditions of his religion--it was none
other than a member of the _ginn_, an _efreet_ or evil sp