we want--save youth--"

"Youth you will never regain," lisped the voice. "And elixirs of life,
surely you must know, are no longer sought after, by beings of the
planet Earth. They are quite out of date. You will, of course, learn
the most efficacious means of making yourselves and other people
youthful in appearance."

"Yes, but how shall we learn these secrets?" Kelson nerved himself to
ask.

"They will be revealed to you in various ways--sometimes when asleep.
You will receive preliminary instructions as to divination before this
time to-morrow."

"And meanwhile, we shall be in want of money," Curtis remarked.

"No!" the voice replied, "you will not be in want of money. Have you
anything more to ask?"

No one spoke, and the silence that followed was interrupted by a loud
rustling of the wind. The darkness then lifted; but nothing was to be
seen--nothing save the trees and bushes, moon and stars.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 16: This is a very sinister sign in astrology, denoting
the presence of evil influences of all kinds.--(_Author's note._)]

[Footnote 17: According to Atlantean ideas these spirits were:--Vice
Elementals; Morbas (or Disease Elementals); Clanogrians (or
malicious family ghosts, such as Banshees, etc.); Vampires;
Barrowvians, _i.e._ a grotesque kind of phantasm that frequents
places where prehistoric man or beast has been interred; Planetians,
_i.e._ spirits inimical to dwellers on this earth that inhabit
various of the other planets; and earthbound spirits of such dead
human beings as were mad, imbecile, cruel and vicious, together with
the phantasms of vicious and mad beasts, and beasts of
prey.--(_Author's note_.)]

[Footnote 18: They are a literal translation of the Atlantean by
Thos. Maitland, and are very nearly identified with forms of spirit
invocation used in Egypt, India, Persia, Arabia, and among the Red
Indians of North and South America.--(_Author's note_.)]

CHAPTER VI

THE FIRST POWER

After their rencontre with the Unknown, Hamar and his companions did
not get back to their respective quarters till the sun was high in the
heavens, and the streets of the city were beginning to vibrate with
the rattle and clatter of traffic.

"It's all very well--this wonderful compact of ours," Curtis grumbled,
"but I'm deuced hungry, and Matt and I haven't a cent between us. As
we went all that way last night to oblige you, Leon, I think it is