The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1906-01-07

Al least the figures on tnat mirror ar
the flame were a miracle. Nay. why 50?
4 hundred Cl0iTvOyanis IN hundred
cities can produce or see their like in
water and ia crystal the difference be
ing only one OF size. -ney were bat re-
Elections of scenes familiar 20 the mind
of Ayesha, or perhaps not 80 much as
that. Perhaps they were only phaa-
toms called up in our minds by he.
mcsmeric force.
Nay, none of these things were true
miracles, since all. however strange,
might be capable OF explanation. What
right then had We TO expect a marvel
now?
Such thoughts as these rose in our
minds as the endless inmates We're born
and died ;,nd-nothing happened
Yes. at last enc thing did happen. The
light from the sheet Of fame died grad
ually awav as the flame Itself sank
downward into the abysses of tho pit.
But about this in itself there was moth
ing wonderful; for as -,e had seen with
our own eyes from afar .his FIRE varied
much and indeed it was customary for
Il TO die down at the approach Of dawn,
which now drew very near
Still that onWa rd-creeping darkness
added 10 the tc~rors of ehe scene. Ily
the last rays of the lurid light We saw
Aycsha rise and advance some few
PAGES to that little tongue ~ rcck a.
the edge of the pit of which, the bedy
of Rasseu had been buried; SAW her
standing on II also. looking like som.
black miEshapen imp against tho gmoky
glow which still rose from the depths
beneath.
Leo would have gone forward TO iiei,
for he believed that SIC was about &
hUrl h'Tsclf 10 doom. waIch indeed J
thought was her design But the priest
Cros and the priestess Papaye. obeyins.
] suppose, some secret command that
reached them I know not how, sprang
to him, and, seizing his arms, held him
back. Then il became ,1riite lark. and
through Jhe darkness we could hear
Ayss1a chanting dirge-ike hymn IN
some secret, holy tCngt;c which W. : nm
known 90 US
a great fake Of FIRE d0ated through
The gloom, rocking 10 ana fro like some
vast bird upon IT'S piniuns. we had siren
many such that night. tora By he gale
from The crest ut the .s:aZtng curtain a.
/ have described. But-bul--
Horace. whispered Leo. through his
chatterIng teeth. "that lame Is COM
ias up against the windr
Perhaps the wind has changed. /
answered, though / knew well tnat II
had not; 1hat II blew stronger t1an
ever from the sOIth.
Nearer ana nearer sailed the rock
ing flame; two enormous wings was
t-e shape of it, with something dark
between them. IT reached the little
pFomoutcry The wings appeared to
Iold themselves about the dwarfed
figure that stood Observation-Disclosures
il Tor "A moment Then the Iight went
out of them and they vanished-every-
thing vanished.
while passed, il may have been a
minute or an hour. when suddenly the
prleStess PapaVc. III obedience 10 some
summons which we could not hear
crept 10y me I knew that it was she
because her woman 5 garments touch
ed me as she went. knothcr space of
silence and of deep darkness. during
TaicR i heard Papdve return. breath
ing in short. sObbing gasps like one
who is very frightened,
All, 1 thought, she has east herself
into the pit. The tragedy is finished
Then it was that the wondrous mu-
sic came. or course. it may only
nave been Lne sound OF priests chant
ing beyond US, but l do not think SO,
since its quality was quite different to
any that / heard in the temple before
or afterward; TO any indeed that ever
! heard upon the earth,
I cannot describe it, but it was
awful 10 listen 10. yet most entranc-
ing. From the black. smoke-veiled pit
where the fire had burned it welled
and echoed-now a single heavenly
voice, now a sweet chorus. and now an
air-shaking thunder as OF q hundred or
gans played To time
That diverse and majestic harmony
seemed 20 include. to express. every hu-
Ulan emotion. and l have often thought
since then that in its ali-embraclng
scope and range. this. the song or paean
of her rebirth, was symbolical Of the
infinite variety of Ayesha's spirit Yet