uch that they were forced to hold their breath almost to
the point of suffocation. If the Thing _could_ speak what would its
voice be like? The seconds passed, and they were beginning to prepare
themselves for disappointment, when suddenly across the intervening
space separating them from the Unknown, the reply came--came in soft,
silky, lisping tones--human and yet not human, novel and yet in some
way--a way that defied analysis--familiar. Strange to say, they all
three felt that this familiarity belonged to a far back period of
their existence, no less than to a more modern one--to a period, in
fact, to which they could affix no date. And, although a perfect unity
of expression suggested that the utterance of the Thing was the
utterance of one being only, a certain variation in its tones, a
rising and falling from syllable to syllable, led them to infer that
the voice was not the voice of one but of many.

"You are anxious to acquire knowledge of the Secrets associated with
the Great Atlantean Magic?" the voice lisped.

"We are!" Hamar stammered, "and we are willing to give our souls in
exchange for them."

"Souls!" the voice lisped, whilst trunk and branches swayed lightly,
and the air was full of silent merriment. "Souls! you speak in terms
you do not understand. To acquire the secrets of Black Magic, all you
have to do is to agree that during a brief period--a period of a few
months, you will live together in harmony; that you will make use of
the powers you acquire to the detriment of all save yourselves; that
you will never allow your minds to revert to anything spiritual;
and--that you will abstain from--marrying."

"And if we succeed in carrying out the conditions?" Hamar asked.

[Illustration: THE INITIATION]

"Then," the voice replied, "you will retain free, untrammelled
possession of your knowledge."

"For how long?" Curtis queried.

"For the natural term of your lives--that is to say, for as long as
you would have lived had you never been initiated into the secrets of
magic."

"And if we fail?"

"You will pass into the permanent possession of the Unknown."

"Does that mean we shall die the moment we fail?" Kelson inquired
timidly.

"Die!" the voice lisped. "Again you speak in terms you do not
understand. You may be sent for."

"You say--in perfect harmony." Hamar put in. "Does that mean without a
quarrel, however slight?"

"It means without a quarrel that would lead to separation. The mom