against the settee, and inhale until
you find your senses leaving you, though I don't know that this is
necessary for the stuff is subtle. Then throw your head back, go to
sleep and dream."

"What am I to dream about?" I inquired in a vacuous way, for my senses
were leaving me already.

"You will dream, I think, of past events in which both of us played a
part, at least I hope so. I dreamt of them before in Kendah Land,
but then I was not myself, and for the most part they are forgotten.
Moreover, I learned that we can only see them all when we are together.
Now speak no more."

This command, by the way, at once produced in me an intense desire for
prolonged conversation. It was not to be gratified, however, for at that
moment she stood up again facing the tripod and me, and began to sing in
a rich and thrilling voice. What she sang I do not know for I could not
understand the language, but I presume it was some ancient chant that
she learned in Kendah Land. At any rate, there she stood, a lovely and
inspired priestess clad in her sacerdotal robes, and sang, waving her
arms and fixing her eyes upon mine. Presently she bent down, took a
little of the _Taduki_ weed and with words of incantation, dropped it
upon the embers in the bowl. Twice she did this, then sat herself upon
the couch and waited.

A clear flame sprang up and burned for thirty seconds or so, I suppose
while it consumed the volatile oils in the weed. Then it died down and
smoke began to come, white, rich and billowy, with a very pleasant odour
resembling that of hot-house flowers. It spread out between us like a
fan, and though its veil I heard her say,

"The gates are wide. Enter!"

I knew what she meant well enough, and though for a moment I thought of
cheating, there is no other word for it, knew also that she had detected
the thought and was scorning me in her mind. At any rate I felt that I
must obey and thrust my head forward into the smoke, as a green ham is
thrust into a chimney. The warm vapour struck against my face like fog,
or rather steam, but without causing me to choke or my eyes to smart. I
drew it down my throat with a deep inhalation--once, twice, thrice, then
as my brain began to swim, threw myself back as I had been instructed
to do. A deep and happy drowsiness stole over me, and the last thing I
remember was hearing the clock strike the first two strokes of the hour
of ten. The third stroke I heard also, but it sounded like to