h the dead to its work in the Under World. The enlargement of this
idea came to a belief that it was possible to transmit, by magical
formulae, the soul and qualities of any living creature to a figure
made in its image. This would give a terrible extension of power to
one who held the gift of magic.

"It is from a union of these various beliefs, and their natural
corollaries, that I have come to the conclusion that Queen Tera
expected to be able to effect her own resurrection, when, and where,
and how, she would. That she may have held before her a definite time
for making her effort is not only possible but likely. I shall not
stop now to explain it, but shall enter upon the subject later on.
With a soul with the Gods, a spirit which could wander the earth at
will, and a power of corporeal transference, or an astral body, there
need be no bounds or limits to her ambition. The belief is forced upon
us that for these forty or fifty centuries she lay dormant in her
tomb--waiting. Waiting with that 'patience' which could rule the Gods
of the Under World, for that 'love' which could command those of the
Upper World. What she may have dreamt we know not; but her dream must
have been broken when the Dutch explorer entered her sculptured cavern,
and his follower violated the sacred privacy of her tomb by his rude
outrage in the theft of her hand.

"That theft, with all that followed, proved to us one thing, however:
that each part of her body, though separated from the rest, can be a
central point or rallying place for the items or particles of her
astral body. That hand in my room could ensure her instantaneous
presence in the flesh, and its equally rapid dissolution.

"Now comes the crown of my argument. The purpose of the attack on me
was to get the safe open, so that the sacred Jewel of Seven Stars could
be extracted. That immense door of the safe could not keep out her
astral body, which, or any part of it, could gather itself as well
within as without the safe. And I doubt not that in the darkness of
the night that mummied hand sought often the Talisman Jewel, and drew
new inspiration from its touch. But despite all its power, the astral
body could not remove the Jewel through the chinks of the safe. The
Ruby is not astral; and it could only be moved in the ordinary way by
the opening of the doors. To this end, the Queen used her astral body
and the fierce force of her Familiar, to bring to the keyhole of