rn?"

I nodded. "I think so. Why not? As I have told you again and again, I
have always been certain of one thing, that if we were allowed to see
the next act of the piece, we should find Amenartas, or rather the
spirit of Amenartas, playing a leading part in it; you will remember I
wrote as much in that record.

"If the old Buddhist monk Kou-en could remember _his_ past, as thousands
of them swear that they do, and be sure of his identity continued from
that past, why should not this woman, with so much at stake, helped as
she is by the wizardry of the Shaman, her uncle, faintly remember hers?

"At any rate, Leo, why should she not still be sufficiently under its
influence to cause her, without any fault or seeking of her own, to fall
madly in love at first sight with a man whom, after all, she has always
loved?"

"The argument seems sound enough, Horace, and if so I am sorry for the
Khania, who hasn't much choice in the matter--been forced into it, so to
speak."

"Yes, but meanwhile your foot is in a trap again. Guard yourself,
Leo, guard yourself. I believe that this is a trial sent to you, and
doubtless there will be more to follow. But I believe also that it would
be better for you to die than to make any mistake."

"I know it well," he answered; "and you need not be afraid. Whatever
this Khania may have been to me in the past--if she was anything at
all--that story is done with. I seek Ayesha, and Ayesha alone, and Venus
herself shall not tempt me from her."

Then we began to speak with hope and fear of that mysterious Hesea who
had sent the letter from the Mountain, commanding the Shaman Simbri to
meet us: the priestess or spirit whom he declared was "mighty from of
old" and had "servants in the earth and air."

Presently the prow of our barge bumped against the bank of the river,
and looking round I saw that Simbri had left the boat in which he sat
and was preparing to enter ours. This he did, and, placing himself
gravely on a seat in front of us, explained that nightfall was coming
on, and he wished to give us his company and protection through the
dark.

"And to see that we do not give him the slip in it," muttered Leo.

Then the drivers whipped up their ponies, and we went on again.

"Look behind you," said Simbri presently, "and you will see the city
where you will sleep to-night."

We turned ourselves, and there, about ten miles away, perceived a
flat-roofed town of considerable, though not o