walking in such and such a direction, he would speedily come
to it. Arriving at Bordeaux, as the peasant had directed, the Vicomte
rested a short time, and then set out for Toulouse, which city he at
length reached after a few days' journeying. But he had not been back
long before he was arrested for the murder of the miller, it being
deposed that he had been seen near Bordeaux, in the immediate
neighbourhood of the tragedy, directly after its enaction. However, as
it was obviously impossible that the Vicomte could have taken less than
a few days to travel from Toulouse to a spot near Bordeaux, where the
murder had taken place, a distance of several hundreds of miles, on the
evidence of his friends, who declared that he had been with them till
within a few hours of the time when it was presumed the crime was
committed, the charge was withdrawn, and the Vicomte was fully
acquitted.

CHAPTER X

THE HAND OF GLORY; THE BLOODY HAND OF
ULSTER; THE SEVENTH SON; BIRTHMARKS;
NATURE'S DEVIL SIGNALS; PRE-EXISTENCE; THE
FUTURE; PROJECTION; TELEPATHY, ETC.

_The Hand of Glory_

Belief in the power of the Hand of Glory still, I believe, exists in
certain parts of European and Asiatic Russia. Once it was prevalent
everywhere. The Hand of Glory was a hand cut off from the body of a
robber and murderer who had expiated his crimes on the gallows. To endow
it with the properties of a talisman, the blood was first of all
extracted; it was then given a thorough soaking in saltpetre and pepper,
and hung out in the sun. When perfectly dry, it was used as a
candlestick for a candle made of white wax, sesame seed, and fat from
the corpse of the criminal. Prepared thus, the Hand of Glory was deemed
to have the power of aiding and protecting the robbers in their
nefarious work by sending to sleep their intended victims. Hence no
robber ever visited a house without having such a talisman with him.

_The Bloody Hand of Ulster_

The Red Right Hand of Ulster is the badge of the O'Neills, and according
to tradition it originated thus:--On the approach of an ancient
expedition to Ulster, the leader declared that whoever first touched the
shore should possess the land in the immediate vicinity. An ancestor of
the O'Neills, anxious to obtain the reward, at once cut off his right
hand and threw it on the coast, which henceforth became his territory.

Since then the O'Neills have always claimed the Red Right Hand of Ulster