erial products of man's invention, the same worship of art, the
same idolatry of each other's souls between the sexes. There is this
difference, however: in the outer world men pretend that they worship
something else other than such objects; here they have the honesty to
say what they do actually worship.

Apart from the idea of attempting to realize a friendship that can
only exist in a realm that knows neither interest, fortune, time,
ambition, temper, nor sensual love, their idolatry had one splendid
truth to unfold, viz., the necessity of a soul for an arid and
mechanical civilization. "Every intellect shall enfold a soul" was
their motto, and there was this sanity in their creed that sentiment
was the breath of its life. Science abhors sentiment; it is the cold
investigation of that which once thrilled with the passion of life.

While the singing continued, a band of neophytes of occult force
performed marvellous feats of magic, led by the Grand Sorcerer,
Charka, chief of the magicians of Harikar. The people sat enraptured
as miracle after miracle was performed. At the waving of fans by the
adepts, plants issued from the hands of every god of gold, clothing
the throne in one endless wreath of brilliant crimson blossoms and
green foliage. The fans again waved and that crimson mass of flowers
turned to a pale green, while again the green foliage changed to a
vermilion color. The throne appeared like one enormous Bougainvillea
glabra, whose leaves are flowers.

Again the fans were waved and the flowers changed to bloom all
snowy-white, while the foliage became blue.

The adepts disappeared at a given signal and thereupon entered another
band of beautiful girl adepts, who seated themselves, each body in a
crouched mass with flowing drapery, around the base of the throne.
These priestesses were in a state of catalepsy. The ego, or soul, in
each case had been separated from the body, which floated in a state
of apparent death. They had so developed their will by thinking
enormous thoughts, yearning for spiritual power, that they could
suspend the functions of the body and give all their existence to the
soul. Thus hypnotized, it was stated their souls were floating freely
in the dome above, in blessed converse, and that their reincarnation
would afterward take place.

The organ rolled a blessed monotone, with variations exquisitely
sweet. The light in the dome faded perceptibly by the magical
shadowing of its wind