a signal from my conductor two beings, I cannot call them men, who
from their appearances I should have judged to be as old as Pharos
himself, made their appearance, bringing with them certain vestments and
a number of curiously shaped bottles. The robes, which were of some
white material, were embroidered with hieroglyphics. These they placed
about my shoulders, and when they had done so the old fellow who had
conducted me to the place bade me stretch myself upon one of the slabs I
have just mentioned.

Under other circumstances I should have protested most vigorously, but I
was in such a position now that I came to the conclusion that it would
not only be useless but most impolitic on my part to put myself in
opposition against him thus early in the day. I accordingly did as I was
ordered. The two attendants, who were small, thin, and wizened almost
beyond belief, immediately began to anoint my face and hands with some
sweet-smelling essences taken from the bottles they had brought with
them. The perfume of these unguents was indescribably soothing, and
gradually I found myself losing the feeling of excitement and distrust
which had hitherto possessed me. The cigarettes Pharos had given me on
the occasion that I had dined with him in Naples must have contained
something of a like nature, for the effect was similar in more than one
essential. I refer in particular to the sharpening of the wits, to the
feeling of peculiar physical enjoyment, and to the dulling of every
sense of fear.

It was just as well, perhaps, that I was in this frame of mind, for
though I did not know it, I was about to be put to a test that surpassed
in severity anything of which I could have dreamed.

Little by little a feeling of extreme lassitude was overtaking me; I
lost all care for my safety, and my only desire was to be allowed to
continue in the state of exquisite semiconsciousness to which I had now
been reduced. The figures of the men who continued to sprinkle the
essences upon me, and of the old man who stood at my feet, his arms
stretched above his head as if he were invoking the blessing of the gods
upon the sacrifice he was offering to them, faded farther and farther
into the rose-coloured mist before my eyes. How long an interval elapsed
before I heard the old man's voice addressing me again I cannot say. It
may have been a few seconds, it may have been hours; I only know that as
soon as I heard it I opened my eyes and looked abo