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A Dweller on Two Planets 
 
 OR 
 
 The Dividing of the Way 
 

 
 •fc. 
 
 \ 
 
Pi 
 
(SIGNATURE OF PHYLOS, IN ATLAN CHARACTERS.) 
 
 
 ■^ '&* 
 
 
 * 
 
 K 
 
 PHYLOS, THE THIBETAN. 
 (Otherwise named, in fulness, Yol Gorro, author of this book. 
 
.1 1 .11 
 
 A 
 
 DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS 
 
 OR 
 
 THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY 
 
 BY 
 
 PHYLOS THE THIBETAN 
 
 This is before the coming of a new Heaven and a new Earth, in the which shall reign the 
 
 Prince of Peace forever and forever, as the Old shall be passed 
 
 away, for lo f on earth there is nothing great but man; 
 
 in man there is nothing great but mind. 
 
 "Never utter these words: 'I do not know this, therefore it is false.* One must study to 
 know; know to understand; understand to judge." — Apothegm of Narada. 
 
 " There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your phi- 
 losophy." — Hamlet. 
 
 BAUMGARDT PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 Los Angeles, California 
 
 1905 
 
/^ 
 
 COPYRIGHTED 1894 
 BY FREDERICK S. OLIVER 
 
 COPYRIGHTED 1899 
 BY FREDERICK S. OLIVER 
 
 V 
 
 ' \ 
 
 fi 
 
 COPYRIGHTED 1905 
 BY MARY ELIZABETH MANLEY-OLIVER 
 
 Albert Adsit Olemona 
 
 Aug. 24, 1938 
 
 (Not available for exchange) 
 
This book is dedicated to 
 
 progressive thinkers everywhere, but especially to 
 
 the "Invisible Helper" who has made 
 
 possible its presentation to 
 
 the world. 
 
INDEX 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 CHAPTER I, 
 
 Page 
 . 25 
 
 Atlantis, Queen of the Sea and of the world. Zailm 's 
 pilgrimage to the top of Pitach Rhok to worship his 
 Deity. He finds gold. The volcanic eruption — he is 
 almost overtaken by lava flow, but escapes. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 41 
 
 Caiphul, capital of Atlantis, and its people, its form of 
 Government; polities and marvelous mechanical features 
 Excerpts from labor laws. Electrodie transit system. 
 
 CHAPTER III 57 
 
 Zailm determines his course of studies as he believes 
 Incal has directed. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 60 
 
 Physical science as understood by the Poseidii, and the 
 prime principles upon which it was based. il Incal 
 Malixetha: i. e. God is immanent in Nature' ' was first 
 — to this they appended — ' ' Axte Incal, Axtuce Mun ' ' — 
 translated "To know God is to know all worlds what- 
 ever". They held that but One Substance existed, and 
 but One Energy, the one being Incal externalized, and 
 the other His Life in action in His Body. Applying this 
 principle to their scientific work they accomplished 
 through it aerial navigation without gas or sails, — cir- 
 cumnavigating the globe in a day — conveyance of sound 
 with reflection of the sender — heat and power conduction 
 to whatever distance without material connection, — 
 transmuted metals — obtained, by electrical action, water 
 from the atmosphere. These, and many others, were in 
 common use. (Some of these things approach re-dis- 
 covery, but the reader must remember that the book here 
 indexed was finished in 1886, when the modern world 
 knew them not. It knew not the Cathode Ray till 1896). 
 
 V 67 
 
 Zailm 's life in Caiphul. The Rai of the Maxin Lawt. 
 Acquaintance with the prophet. Visit to the Emperor's 
 Palace— an interview with the Emperor. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 83 
 
 No good thing can ever perish. Synopsis of the Origin 
 of the Poseidii. 
 
11 
 
 INDEX 
 
 CHAPTER VII 87 
 
 Religion of the Poseidii. "Close not the Ends of My 
 Cross." (Illustration.) 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 92 
 
 A Grave Prophecy of Zailm 's future. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 96 
 
 Curing Crime. Zailm called to criminal court as witness. 
 Treatment of the criminals. 
 
 CHAPTER X 101 
 
 Zailm offered the position of Secretary of Records — 
 bringing him in close contact with the Rai, and all of 
 the Princes, which he accepts. He is requested to go on 
 an errand of courtesy to the country of the Suernii — a 
 nation much more advanced in mystic knowledge than 
 the Poseidii. 
 
 CHAPTER XI Ill 
 
 Recital of Princess Lolix regarding an exhibition of 
 Magic power. 
 
 CHAPTER XII .121 
 
 The unexpected happens. Prince Menax reveals his 
 affection for Zailm and asks him to be his son. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 128 
 
 The language of the Soul. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 129 
 
 The adoption of Zailm. Description of the Incalithlon, 
 or Great Temple, — The Incalix Mainin. The Rai of the 
 Maxin. Establishment of the Maxin or Unfed Fire of 
 Incal and the Book of the Law. Rai Gwauxln and In- 
 calix Mainin "Sons of the Solitude." 
 
 CHAPTER XV 138 
 
 Zailm 's mother deserts him and returns to the mountain. 
 Brain fever. The vase of malleable glass for Ernon, Rai 
 of Suern, with Poseid inscription. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 146 
 
 The aerial voyage to Suern. Parting two miles above 
 terra firma. The storm. Sowing seeds at sunset — three- 
 hundred and fifty miles horizon. Waiting the cessation 
 of the storm. Friends at home appear in the mirror of 
 the Nairn. The Suernii a strange and angry people, re- 
 belling against the rule of the Sons of the Solitude, who 
 strove to lift them up. Death of Rai Ernon. His body,- 
 by command of Rai Gwauxln, taken back to Caiphul to 
 pass through the Unfed Fire. 
 
INDEX 
 
 in 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 164 
 
 Impressive funeral of Rai Ernon, attended by the Sons 
 of the Solitude. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 166 
 
 , Rai Gwauxln tenders Zailm Suzerainty over the land of 
 Suern. He hesitates, as he is yet an undergraduate at 
 the Xioquithlon; but as the Emperor promises him that 
 the Governor whom as Envoy-in-Speeial of the Rai of 
 Poseid, he (Zailm) had appointed over Suernis should 
 execute the duties of the position until himself should 
 be legally capable of doing so, he accepts the almost 
 imperial honor, and is dismissed to the completion of 
 the pleasure trip interrupted by the death of Rai Ernon. 
 They visit the Umaurean (present American) colonies of 
 Poseid, which are described. The Grand Canon of the 
 Colorado is not merely the gradual product of time 
 and water and weather, but of sudden formation through 
 volcanic action. "The hand of Pluto was the major 
 worker;" 12,000 years ago he saw a sea cover that 
 region, which "fled away into the Gulf of California." 
 Visit to the building on the summit of the greater of 
 the Three Tetons, in Idaho, rediscovered by Pro- 
 fessor Hayden while on the same expedition which 
 made known to the modern world the famous Yellow- 
 stone region — Professor Hayden once a Poseida, at- 
 tached to the government body of scientists stationed 
 there. Visit to the copper mines, in the present Lake 
 Superior region. Present of a knife of tempered copper. 
 Incalia, west of the chain now known as the Rocky 
 Mountains. Toward home, East, then South. Forsaking 
 the realms of air for the depths of the sea at the rate 
 of a mile a minute. (Illustration.) Reproved by his 
 father over the naim for recklessness. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 177 
 
 Home again. The problem of teaching the Suernii. 
 These people, having lost their seeming magic power, 
 require tuition in the arts of life. Zailm and his vice- 
 regents accomplish this. The later records of this peo- 
 ple to be found in the history of the Judaic race. Death 
 of Lolix's father; her indifference at hearing of it. 
 Slumbering of conscience. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 183 
 
 Duplicity. Graduation at the Xioquithlon. Festivities 
 in honor of the graduates. Sadness of the Emperor at 
 his nephew's wrong-doing. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. . . : 186 
 
 The mistake of a life. The' demand of karma. Atone- 
 ment is not undoing. Christ atoned — we must undo. 
 Reincarnation is expiation. 
 
IV 
 
 INDEX 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 191 
 
 Zailm asks Anzimee to be his wife. She confides her joy 
 to Lolix, who drops fainting to the floor, but does not 
 betray the secret of Zailm and herself. In an interview 
 she resigns him to his new love, but the shock unsettles 
 her mind, and in the evening she appears before the 
 assembly in the Great Temple, where the announcement 
 of the coming marriage is being made, and a most! ex- 
 citing scene occurs, closing with the dramatic deatk of 
 Lolix, through the magic art of the High Priest. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 199 
 
 A witness before the criminal. Remorse of Zailm. 
 Speeding away on his vailx, for three months he wan- 
 ders in agony of soul, that takes him for a time out of 
 the body. Finding Lolix, he weeps over her and their 
 child. Then a glorious radiance breaks over the scene, 
 and One) whom he has seen before is beside them and 
 gives them rest. (Illustration.) At last he goes home, 
 to learn that his father has died of grief at his supposed 
 cleath. The shock of his unexpected return nearly causes 
 the death of Anzimee. Confession to Anzimee and for- 
 giveness. Departure for the mines of Southern Umaur. 
 The electric generation of water. Loss of the vibrator 
 of the naim, thus destroying communication with home. 
 Finding of the cavern house and getting fastened 
 therein. Hunger and thirst. Astral visit of Mainin, the 
 High Priest. He promises to send help, but comes again 
 taunting Zailm, blaspheming Deity. A glorious visitor 
 appears, who blasts Mainin into outer darkness. To 
 Zailm He gave il Peace and Sleep.' ' (Death.) 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 220 
 
 Awaking in the astral he returned to camp. Succeed- 
 ing in making his men understand that they must return 
 to Caiphul, he returned thither by exertion of will- 
 power, to be greeted by the Emperor, who alone could 
 see him, thus: "What! Zailm! Dead! Dead!" En- 
 trance to and ' ' life ' ' in Devachan. References to earlier 
 earth lives. Completion of Devachan and reincarnation 
 on earth. 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 APPENDIX , 242 
 
 Seven Shasta Scenes. 
 
 CHAPTER I 249 
 
 In another personality — that of Walter Pierson, an 
 American citizen. Orphaned in infancy — roving life on 
 the sea. Is a soldier in the war of Secession. Next is a 
 gold miner in California. Quong: companionship with 
 
INDEX 
 
 the Tehin on trips among the mountains. Philosophiz- 
 ing. Meeting with the grizzly bear and witnessing his 
 docility at Quong's command. 
 
 CHAPTER II 259 
 
 The Lothinian Brotherhood. Reclamation of one on the 
 wrong path. The mystic note. Offer to sell his mine; 
 reason, want to go "home." The mountain lion and 
 the deer. Visit to the Sach in Mount Shasta. Descrip- 
 tion of the/ lodge-room. 
 
 CHAPTER III 275 
 
 Pentecostal address of Mendocus, Master. Invocation 
 ceremonies. A visitor from Pertoz — Mol Lang — "has 
 come to induct one of their number, Quong, into the 
 'land of the departed/ and another, Walter Pierson, or 
 'Phylos,' to take home with himself.' ' 
 
 CHAPTER IV 295 
 
 Visit to one enjoying life's rewards in the astral life; 
 "As a man soweth so shall he reap." Visit to a Deva- 
 chanic home. Temporary return to earth. Difference 
 between Devachanie concepts and the objects conceived 
 of. Who was the daughter? 
 
 CHAPTER V , 315 
 
 Mol Lang's home in Hcsper. "It is good to be at home 
 again." Meeting with Phyris, his Alter Ego. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 321 
 
 Sohma 's teachings. The better methods. The key to all 
 wisdom. Phyris' thought creations. In the library. 
 Books transported from earth to Hesper — (Venus.) 
 Magic glasses. Magical growing of fruits through the 
 power of the symbol. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 337 
 
 Phyris' magical painting which was a prophecy. Mol 
 Lang's teachings. Why it is more wrong to take ani- 
 mal life than vegetable life. "Thou eanst not compen- 
 sate the animal for its lost opportunities, but a plant 
 thou mayest." Farewell of Mol Lang. Other inhabitants 
 of Hesper. A heritor of many lives. Faith replaced by 
 knowledge. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. Phyris 
 tells him of previous lives, but says that he will forget 
 them "until he comes again." She teaches of the 
 Crisis of Transfiguration. She takes him back to the 
 Sagum in Mt. Shasta. Parting for a little time. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 352 
 
 Awaking in the Sagum. Taking up earth-life again. 
 1 ' Do unto others as thou wouldst be done by. ' ' Sale of 
 the mine. Travel. Meeting with Lizzie, the reclaimed 
 one. Home to Washington. Marriage. 
 
VI 
 
 INDEX 
 
 CHAPTER IX , . '. 360 
 
 A little retrospection — Meeting with the chela in Hin- 
 dostan — a message from Mendocus. Stirring of Hes- 
 perian memories. Remembrance of a visit to the Sun 
 memories. Remembrance of a visit to the Sun with 
 with Sohma. The Navaz currents. Discontent with life. 
 Death of little daughters. Starting on a sea voyage 
 with Elizabeth. Storm and wreck and — Death. Home 
 again to Pertoz. Home, now; Earth, with its ills, left 
 behind forever, and Karma satisfied. 
 
 CHAPTER X 376 
 
 After the years, returned. Phyris as tutor and guide. 
 Creation of a body ; for use in Hesperus. Teaching by 
 the Voice of the Spirit. "Go into the Holy Place." 
 (Illustration.) 
 
 CHAPTER XI .~. . . 383 
 
 "To be or not to be! That is the question.' ' The 
 critical ordeal — temptation met and conquered. 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 CHAPTER I 394 
 
 "Ye shall reap as ye have sown." Perception. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 395 
 
 Victory and Praise. Life ended. Being just begun. 
 
 CHAPTER III 396 
 
 Retrospection: Phyris and Phylos scan their Atlantean 
 lives — Lolix and Elizabeth. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 398 
 
 The decline of Atlantis during several thousand years. 
 Decadence of Science. Aerial navigation and many 
 scientific instruments forgotten. National depravity 
 and ruin. Blood sacrifice in religion. Beginning of 
 human sacrifice. Disappearance of the Maxin Book and 
 the Unfed Light. Earthquake and deluge and sinking 
 of Atlantis. Retrospective look at the time of Zailm in 
 the continent of Lemuria, ages before Atlantis. Cap- 
 tives offered up to the gods. A sacrifice for love. (Illus- 
 tration.) 
 
 CHAPTER V. ...... , 409 
 
 Karmic retrospection: "Man's inhumanity to man." 
 
 CHAPTER VI ; 410 
 
 Why Atlantis perished. - . - 
 
 CHAPTER VII. ,.....- 412 
 
 The Transfiguration. 
 
 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR 414 
 
 THE MIGHTY CAP STONE 414 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 Note: — Readers of "A Dweller on Two Planets' ' will please remember 
 that in the Atlantean or Poseid language the word-terminations con- 
 veyed grammatical number and gender. Thus the singular was indicated 
 by the equivalent for "a," the plural by "i, fi feminine by "u," while 
 the absence of this terminal indicated masculinity. 
 
 Aphaisism — equivalent for mesmerism, but not hypnotism. 
 
 Astika — a prince. 
 
 Bazix — the name of one of the weeks of the year. 
 
 Devaehan — the life after death. 
 
 Ene — terminal signifying study or student. 
 
 Espeid — Eden, Edenic. 
 
 Incal — the sun; also the Supreme God. 
 
 Incaliz, or Incalix — High Priest. 
 
 Inclut — first, or Sunday (also Incalon). 
 
 Inithlon — college devoted to religious learning. 
 
 Ithlon — any building, like a house. 
 
 Incalithion — the great Temple. 
 
 Lemurinus, Lemuria or Lemorus — a continent of which Australia is 
 the largest remnant to-day. 
 
 Karma — consequences growing out of oue's actions in former lives. 
 
 Maxin — the Unfed Light. 
 
 Mo — to tfiee. 
 
 Murus — Boreas. 
 
 Nairn — combined telephone and telephote. 
 
 Navaz — the night; also Goddess of the Night; also secret forces of 
 Nature. 
 
 Navazzimin — the country of departed souls. 
 
 Ni— to. 
 
 Navamaxa — cremation furnaces for dead bodies. 
 
 Nosses — the moon. 
 
 Nossinithlon — insane asylum; [lit. a home for moon-struck persons.] 
 
 Nossura — mocking bird. 
 
 Pitach — a mountain peak. 
 
 Eai — Emperor or monarch, as Rai Gwauxln, pronounced Wallun. 
 
 Raina — a land governed; as the Raina of Gwauxln — Poseid. 
 
 Rainu [also Astiku] — a princess. 
 
 Su — he is gone. 
 
 Sattamun — desert, or wasted land. 
 
 Suernota — the Asian Continent. 
 
 Surada — to sing, or I sing. 
 
 Teka, or Teki — Poseid gold coin, value about $2.67. 
 
viii GLOSSARY 
 
 Vailx — an aerial ship. 
 Ven — a linear unit of about a mile. 
 Xanatithlon — conservatory for flowers. 
 Xio, or Xioq — science. 
 
 Xiorain — the self-government board of Xioqua. 
 Xioqene — science student. 
 
 Ystranavu — the star of evening; also, when used astronomically, 
 Phyristunar. 
 
 Zo— personal pronoun, possessive my or mine. 
 
 Rai — Emperor or monarch, as Rai Gwauxln, pronounced Wallun. 
 
AMANUENSIS' PREFACE. 
 
 By permission of the Author, whose letter addressed to 
 me, follows as his preface herein, and to meet the natural 
 inquiry and satisfy, so far as any personal statement from 
 me will, any honest inquiring mind, I humbly appear in order 
 briefly to give the major facts concerning the writing of thia 
 - — even to me — very remarkable book. 
 
 I am an only child of Dr. and Mrs. Oliver, who for many 
 years have resided in the State of California. 
 
 I was born in Washington, D. C, in 1866, and brought to 
 the State by my parents two years later. Prior to commencing 
 the writing of this book, in 1884, my education had been 
 comparatively limited, and extended to a very slight knowl- 
 edge of the subjects herein treated. 
 
 My father, a well-known physician, died a few years ago, 
 my mother surviving him. Both were daily witnesses of most 
 of the circumstances and facts surrounding the writing of 
 this book. But further than to state this, I do not think my- 
 self called upon to introduce my family into the work, nor, in 
 fact, myself, except in so far as it is meet for me to stand forth 
 and do my personal part as the amanuensis. 
 
 I feel that I am mentally and spiritually but a figure beside 
 the Author of the great, deep-searching, far-reaching and 
 transcendent questions presented in the following pages; and 
 I read and study them with as much interest and profit, I 
 imagine, as will any reader. At the same time I feel with no 
 sense of the natural pride of an Author of such a book, that 
 it is a work of unselfish love, and will help to the better- 
 ment of an upward-struggling world, searching ever for more 
 light, and feed the hungry for knowledge of the great mystery 
 of life and of the ever evolving soul, through Him who said — 
 "I AM THE WAY; FOLLOW ME." 
 
x AMANUENSIS PREFACE. 
 
 In these days of doubt, materialism, and even rank atheism, 
 it requires all the courage I possess to assert, in clear unequiv- 
 ocal terms, that the following book, "A DWELLER ON TWO 
 PLANETS," is absolute revelation; that I do not believe my- 
 self its Author, but that one of those mysterious persons, if 
 my readers choose to so consider him, an adept of the arcane 
 and occult in the universe, better understood from reading 
 this book, is the Author. Such is the fact. The book was 
 revealed to me, a boy, and a boy, too, whose parents were 
 mistakenly lenient to such a degree that he was allowed to 
 do as he chose in most things. Not lacking in inclination to 
 study, but very lacking in will-power, continuity and energy, 
 I gained little in educational triumphs, and was pointedly 
 criticised by my teacher as ' ' lackadaisical, even lazy. ' ' Hence, 
 when a little past seventeen years of age, "Phylos, the Esoter- 
 ist," took me actively in charge, designing to make me his 
 instrument to the world, that profound adept showed what 
 seems to me a rare faith, for I w'as without any solid education, 
 as generally so considered, was minus any special religious 
 trend, and for my sole commendation, had willingness, love 
 of the remarkable, and an uncolored mind. 
 
 For a year my occult preceptor educated me by means of 
 "mental talks," and to such a point was my mind occupied 
 by the many new thoughts with which he inspired me, that 
 I paid no heed to my environment, worked automatically, if 
 at all, studied and read not, and scarcely heard those who 
 addressed my exterior senses. Then it was that my father 
 determined to stop my "approaching imbecility," as he called 
 it; for I had avoided explanations, and had said nothing of 
 the talks with my mystic preceptor, whom even I had never 
 seen but a few times. To parental pressure I yielded, and 
 told my — to me — divine secret. To my relief it was not 
 scouted, but after a long narration to both parents, they ex- 
 pressed a desire to hear the mysterious stranger also. This 
 he would not grant, but permitted me to quote his words, 
 talks and addresses, and at length I became so proficient that 
 I could repeat what he said almost as fast as he spoke to me. 
 
AMANUENSIS PREFACE. xi 
 
 A circle was formed at home, consisting at first of my parents, 
 W. S. Mallory (now of Cleveland, Ohio), and myself, as hearers, 
 and Phylos as teacher. Later Mrs. S. M. Pritchard and Mrs. 
 Julia P. Churchill were present. This was in Yreka, Siskiyou 
 Co., Cal., early in the eighties, where the MS. was commenced 
 in A. D. 1883-4, but was finished in Santa Barbara County, 
 California, A. D. 1886, where it has even since remained in the 
 manuscript, at the command of the author. 
 
 It will have added interest to many who love, or have be- 
 come interested in CALIFORNIA, to know that within full 
 view of Shasta, one of her loftiest mountain peaks, this book 
 was begun and almost finished under the inspiration of that 
 spirit of nature which speaks ever to those who, listening, 
 understand. 
 
 How the Author differs from us common mortals, and how, 
 by his occult methods, he possesses the power to dictate— 
 "reveal"— as he has done and still does, may be better known 
 by perusal of his remarkable record, set forth in this book — 
 his personal history. 
 
 In 1883-4, A. D., in sight of the inspiring peak of Mount 
 Shasta, the Author began to have me write what he told me, 
 and, curiously enough, he dictated the initial chapter of 
 "Book Second" first of all. Other chapters, both preceding 
 and succeeding, were given at intervals of a few weeks, or 
 even months, sometimes only a sheet or two, at others as high 
 as eighty letter-size sheets being covered in a few hours. I 
 would be awakened at night by my mentor and write by 
 lamplight, or sometimes with no light, but in darkness. In 
 1886 the main work, as I remember it, was done. Then he 
 had me revise it, under his supervision, and this work was 
 as erratic as the other. In fact, the whole thing was as if he 
 had the MS. already prepared when first he began dictation, 
 and was indifferent as to what portions were written first, so 
 only all were written. Had I been a medium in the sense 
 usually understood by the believers in spiritualism, as I un- 
 derstand it, the writing would have been automatic, and I 
 would not have been forced to clothe his converse so largely 
 
xii amanuensis preface. 
 
 in my own language, and in that case no revision would have 
 been necessary. But I was always conscious of every sur- 
 rounding, quite similar, in fact, to any stenographer — with 
 this lack of equality to such an amanuensis— that I was not 
 then a shorthand reporter. Realizing how useful in taking 
 my preceptor's teachings the possession of this art on my part 
 would be, I learned to write stenographically, although never 
 an expert. 
 
 Twice was the work revised, twice he had me go over this 
 erratically written MS., which, as I have said, was mainly 
 written backward. So strangely was it given that I had al- 
 most no idea of what it was, or with what it dealt. On one 
 occasion, when I had written over two hundred sheets, mostly 
 backwards, i. e., the sentences rightly last coming first, so fast 
 and mixed that I had no idea of its sense, he bade me burn it 
 without even reading it. This I did, and to this day I have 
 little idea of what those pages contained, or why he had me 
 destroy them; nor will he tell me. The book was finished in 
 A. D. 1886, though for the purpose of publication the MS. has 
 been thoroughly edited by a literary expert, that any errors 
 therein due to my own limitations and mistakes in transmis- 
 sion as amanuensis, should be eliminated. 
 
 In the year 1894 the manuscript as finished in 1886 was 
 typewritten in duplicate by Mrs. M. E. Moore of Louisville, 
 Kentucky, and she has had possession of one of said copies 
 ever since up to midsummer, 1899. The Moore copy has 
 never been changed by even a letter since it was 
 written, evidence whereof has been judiciously preserved. 
 Said manuscript was copyrighted by me in 1894, and owing 
 to an addition to the title, again in this, the year 1899. 
 
 During all this time I have not been permitted, nor able, to 
 have it published. In the interval many of the things spoken 
 of in the shape of scientific and mechanical rediscoveries, 
 spoken of in the book, have been brought to pass. The high 
 attainments of the Atlanteans. lost for thousands of years, 
 following as the result of the engulfment of their great conti- 
 
AMANUENSIS PREFACE. xiii 
 
 nent, have been and are rapidly being brought to light and 
 utility; bearing out the prediction of the Author. 
 
 Witness the discovery recently of the Roentgen or "X-ray," 
 not even dreamed of in 1886, yet in the book you will find a 
 long treatise concerning "Cathodicity," and the amazing 
 powers of the "Night Side of Nature," of such practical use 
 to and so well understood by the people of that wonderful age. 
 Also note wireless telegraphy; it, too, is herein, scattered all 
 through and referred to in this book, precluding the possi- 
 bility of interpolation. Again, regarding there being but 
 "One Energy" and but "One Substance," now beginning to 
 find able champions and general scientific acceptance, in place 
 of passing it by as a chimera for the elementary hypothesis so 
 long held by chemists. This also is an integral part of this 
 book; though it is not more than two years since an article 
 appeared in Harper's Magazine seriously advancing this belief 
 of fin-de-siecle science as a novelty. These are but major ex- 
 amples of what was set forth in "A DWELLER ON TWO 
 PLANETS" in 1886, together with many more predictions of 
 the immediate oncoming of what the Author terms rediscovery 
 of the secrets buried with Atlantis ; and it is promised that we, 
 as Atlanteans returning, are going beyond her fallen great- 
 ness, and that by slow, synthetic steps, we are coming up to 
 surpass even those wonderful attainments, as the ever expand- 
 ing and growing mind and soul of man climbs ever higher in 
 the rounds of his evolution. 
 
 To all earnest, though perhaps skeptical inquirers, I may say 
 say that the evidence as to this book being finished in 1886, 
 and before the latter-day discoveries became known, abund- 
 antly exists and can be clearly established, to clear away any 
 cobwebs that might otherwise find lodgment in their minds 
 and prevent them from accepting the book for what its 
 Author claims— the truth. 
 
 Upon the ability of the perusers to so accept this book as 
 history and not fiction, much depends, in lighting up the Path 
 for their souls. I am rather in expectation of another work, 
 
xiv AMANUENSIS PREFACE. 
 
 but whether I will have it, or some other amanuensis will get 
 it, I do not know. If it come as promised, it will be one for 
 the inner eyes of those who profit by this work, and seek yet 
 more of the counsel which will place their feet firmly on the 
 "Narrow Way of Attainment. ' ' 
 
 In writing as such, amanuensis, I am always conscious of the 
 presence calling himself Phylos, whenever he chooses to come 
 to me, and sometimes I see as well as hear and speak with 
 him, though vision is rare. Clairvoyance and clairaudience 
 would account for this. I hear — and speak or write — what is 
 said as I am directed. Often, after being shown the mental 
 picture, I am left largely to express it in my own language. 
 At such times I am as fully conscious of my surroundings as 
 at any other time, though I feel lifted as into a Master's pres- 
 ence, and gladly do for him the work of an amanuensis. If the 
 good counsel and loving eare I have personally received from 
 my wise friend had been faithfully and persistently remem- 
 bered and followed, instead of so largely slighted or forgot- 
 ten, as often to almost fade from my memory during his 
 absence, I should undoubtedly have been a better example 
 than I feel that I am of the grand lessons he sets forth in this 
 book. 
 
 I have never represented myself to any person, nor to the 
 public as possessing mediumistie or any other quality, nor have 
 I ever used the same at any person's request, for love or money. 
 Whatever my talents or qualities in these things may be, they 
 have only been used as a sacred gift. With such influences as 
 have surrounded me in this work, I can gratefully and truly 
 say that I have never been, tempted to do otherwise, if I could ; 
 and have ever received exceedingly more good than I feel that 
 my services have returned. 
 
 Now the question arises, do I believe this Book? Unhesi- 
 tatingly, Yes. There may be points that I can accept only on 
 faith, like any other reader, feeling that a day will come when, 
 if I shall be faithful, I will be instructed by the Spirit to which 
 he testifies. There certainly will be criticisms from some as to 
 the manner of the writing of this MS., and as to the truth of 
 
AMANUENSIS PREFACE. xv 
 
 my statements regarding it, as there has so often been by 
 those who prefer to believe that all such claims are but 
 author's fictions. I have come to personally know the truth 
 of some of the things mentioned in this book, in the course of 
 the fifteen years that I have had in this connection. I have 
 had many experiences, mentally confirmatory at least, either 
 of the direct statements of the author, or tending to strengthen 
 the absolute confidence which I feel in him I reverence so 
 deeply. I have often, even as "Christian" in "Pilgrim's 
 Progress," fallen. But the Path is there. Does the sun cease 
 to shine because fogs obscure it? Then is it not for us to fol- 
 low the Path, forgetting persons, and looking to the spirit, 
 as we read Phylos' Book? F. S. OLIVER. 
 
 LETTER FROM PHYLOS, AUTHOR OF THIS HISTORY. 
 
 January, 1886. 
 
 Today, my brother, the masses of humanity on this planet 
 are awakened to the fact that their knowledge of life — the 
 Great Mystery — is insufficient for the needs of the soul. Hence 
 a school of advanced thought has arisen, whose members, 
 ignorant of the mysterious truth, yet know their ignorance 
 and ask for light. I make no pretenses when I say that I — 
 Theochristian student and Occult Adept — am one of a class of 
 men who do know, and can explain these mysteries. I, with 
 other Christian Adepts,, influence the inspirational writers 
 and speakers through an ability to exert the control of our 
 trained, and therefore more powerful, minds over theirs, which 
 are enormously less so. Hence, when the people ask for bread, 
 our media give it to them. Who are these, our media? They 
 are allmen or women, in churches or out, who bear witness 
 of the Fatherhood of God, the Sonship of Man, and the Brother- 
 hood of Jesus with all souls, irrespective of creeds or ecclesias- 
 tical forms. Because these, our writers and speakers, have 
 wrought for human good, so shall, and so does, good come to 
 themselves, bread from the waters. It is proper that the 
 
xvi AMANUENSIS PREFACE. 
 
 leaders of the mental van should receive generous remunera- 
 tion. And they do. But at this point enters a different phase. 
 Observing the cry for more light, more truth; observing also 
 how great is the recompense, up springs the imitator, who has 
 no light of inspiration, no conception of the real truth, none 
 of the laws of the Eternal. What does he? 'Watch! With a 
 pen whose shaft is imitation, and whose point is not of the 
 gold of fact, but of the perishable metal of selfish greed, this 
 person writes. He dips his pen into the ink of more or less 
 thrilling sensationalism, muddy with the dirt of immorality 
 and nastiness, and he draws a pen picture illuminated by the 
 tallow-dip of lust and corruption. There is in his work no 
 lofty aim to inspire his readers ; he deals with the lowest aspects 
 of life, and, ignorant of the inexorable penalty for sin, has no 
 expiation to demand of his characters. While a little allured 
 by brilliant word-painting, the reader goes to the end, he is 
 conscious ever that the cry of his soul for the bread of- infinity 
 has been answered not even by a stone, but by a handful of 
 mud! No good purpose is thus subserved; nothing taught of 
 the real laws or philosophies of life ; it drags down, but never 
 elevates. Whoso shall utter thus, upon them shall come retri- 
 bution, and they shall be judges upon themselves, and execu- 
 tioners also, out in the open sea of the soul, where their own 
 spirit will have no mercy for the misdeeds of the soul. Other 
 imitators there may be, who. fired with a genuine desire to do 
 good, will mimic intuitional utterances, and. however poor 
 the work, yet if the animus has been to do good, in the meas- 
 ure of that resolve shall the Most High judge that whatever is 
 for good is not for evil. But let them beware who, for money 
 or profit, are tempted to give stones or mud ! 
 
 And now, my brother, I have another subject to speak 
 upon. Readers of my book, "Two Planets," may consider 
 awhile over those passages concerning the sin of the Princess 
 Lolix and of Zailm, the legal nephew of the Emperor Gwauxln. 
 They may say that the mention of this fact, though liable to 
 occur as one of the varied experiences of life, is nevertheless 
 out of place in a book whose aim is highly „moral. But I 
 
AMANUENSIS PREFACE. xTii 
 
 ask those who know my work, is it? Is it inexcusable to 
 speak of those grave but common crimes if the author can 
 treat them as examples of broken law, and can place the 
 working of such law so clearly before this unthinking world 
 that men and women will be afraid to break it, fearful of the 
 penalty, which can in no wise be evaded? I think it unjusti- 
 fiable to keep silence under such circumstances. I have, so 
 far from overdrawing the estimate of the penalty of crime, 
 not given the entire expiatory picture. I know whereof I 
 speak, for this, my brother, is my own life history, and words 
 have no power to depict the utter misery which the exaction 
 of the punishment has caused me! If but one soul shall be 
 saved like misery, and similar or equal sin, or less or more 
 error, then am I content. I have sought to explain the great 
 mystery of life, illustrating it with part of my own life his- 
 tory, extracts which cover years reaching into many thousands; 
 and the greatest of all Books has been my text. I add not 
 thereto nor take way, but explain.* Peace be with thee. 
 
 PHYLOS. 
 
 Addendum: — I feel myself vastly indebted to many bright 
 writers and authors for numerous quotations of which I have 
 availed myself, without making credit at the time; it is im- 
 possible to render this award to every indivdual by name, 
 hence I must do so concretely, just as the world finds itself 
 forced to express its aggregate gratitude, not by words of 
 laudation, but by shaping its life in conformity to the noble 
 precepts in poetry and in prose, devised to humanity as the 
 legacy of all the ages. As the world is helped, so has my 
 work been; I hope I have returned help for help. 
 
 Sincerely, PHYLOS. 
 
 •Relations, XXII, 18-19: also I Tim. VI, 3-13. 
 
xviii AMANUENSIS PREFACE. 
 
 A MARVELOUS PREDICTION. 
 
 The preface is mine to say what may properly please me. 
 It was so given me by the Author. 
 
 A subject not specifically treated by Phylos in his book, 
 but not forbidden me by him, I feel it almost due the public to 
 give here, most especially as it was told me by him while I was 
 summering in Reno, Nevada, in the year 1886. I at that time 
 embodied it in a short story, which I dated, but more to the 
 point, read to a young lady friend, Miss S. This fact she can 
 testify as being fact, for it was partly written under her eyes, 
 was criticised by herself, sister and mother, and, climax, was 
 written upon paper bought for the purpose from her father's 
 drug and book store. 
 
 Phylos stated to me then that inside fifty years, considerably 
 inside, he thought, mundane scientists would have discovered 
 and applied electric forces to the astronomical telescope. Just 
 how, lie did not state, although he did give ample enough de- 
 tails so that one familiar with those subjects probably would 
 have been able to seize upon and work out the idea to a suc- 
 cessful issue. He said that electric currents unimpressed! with 
 vibrations such as produce sound, heat and light, until re- 
 sisted, would be superadded to the light vibrations constituting 
 the image beheld through the telescope. This would be ac- 
 complished through the media of well-known so-called chemi- 
 cal elements, whose then unrecognized higher powers re- 
 mained to be discovered. 
 
 The result was described to me as awe-inspiring and mar- 
 velous past earthly dreams. Thus, he stated, that upon suns 
 and stellar bodies so distant that hundreds of them only (even 
 in this A. D. 1899) seem as a faint speck through the most pow- 
 erful modern telescopes, to this electrostellarscope would,' by 
 proper amplification of the electro-luminous waves, be made 
 so plain to earthly vision that objects not visible to the un- 
 aided earthly sight would be easily perceptible on the most 
 distant stellar body, however remote from the mundane be- 
 holder. 
 
AMANUENSIS PREFACE. xix 
 
 Further, Phylos says that he did not embody this subject 
 in his book, because Atlantis did not know of it, despite her 
 marvelous scientific attainments. Hence it will be no "re- 
 discovery," but a distinct step in advance of anything that 
 Earth has known — Solomon at last outreached, so far as his 
 time-honored saying applies to our planet, at least. 
 Respectfully, 
 
 THE AMANUENSIS, FREDERICK S. OLIVER. 
 
 Los Angeles. October 11. 1899. 
 
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 MAP OF ATLANTIS. REFERRED TO ON PAGE 84. 
 
BOOK THE FIRST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 ATLANTIS, QUEEN OF THE WAVE. 
 
 "Why not?" I asked myself, pausing amidst the snow on 
 the mountain, there so far above the sea that the Storm King 
 was ever supreme, even while summer reigned below. "Am I 
 not an .Atlan, a Poseid, and is not that name synonymous 
 with freedom, honor, power? Is not this, my native land, the 
 most glorious beneath the sun? Beneath Incal?" Again I 
 queried:— "Why not, aye, why not strive to become one 
 amongst the foremost in my proud country?" 
 
 "Poseid is the Queen of the Sea, yea, and of the world also, 
 since all nations pay tribute of praise and commerce to us— ail 
 emulate us. To rule in Poseid, then, is not that virtually to 
 rule over all the earth? Therefore will I strive to grasp the 
 prize, and I will do it, too ! And thou, pale, cold moon, 
 bear witness of my resolve"— I cried aloud, raising my hands 
 to heaven— "And ye also, ye glittering diamonds of the sky." 
 
 If resolute effort could insure success, I usually achieved 
 whatever end I determined to attain. So there I made my 
 vows— at a great height above the ocean, and above the plain 
 which stretched away westward two thousand miles to Caiphul, 
 the Royal City. So high was it, that all about and below me 
 Jay peaks and mountain ranges, vast in themselves, but 
 dwarfed beside the apex whereon I stood. 
 
 All around me lay the eternal snows ; but what cared I ? So 
 filled with the new resolve was my mind— the resolve to become 
 a power in the land of my nativity— that I heeded not the cold. 
 Indeed, I scarce knew that the air about me was cold, wa& 
 chill as that of the Arctic fields of the remote north. 
 
 Many obstacles would have to be surmounted in the accom- 
 plishment of this design— for truly, what was I at that mo- 
 
26 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 ment? Only a mountaineer's son, poor, fatherless; but, the 
 Fates be praised! not motherless! At thought of her, my 
 mother, miles away, down where the perennial forests waved, 
 where snow seldom fell; while I stood on the storm-kissed 
 summit, alone with the night and my thoughts— at the thought 
 of my mother my eyes grew moist, for I was only a boy, and 
 often a sad enough one, when the hardships which she endured 
 arose to mind. Such reflections were but added incentives to 
 my ambition to do and to be. 
 
 Once more my thoughts dwelt on the difficulties I must 
 encounter in my struggle for success, fame and power. 
 
 Atlantis, or Poseid, was an empire whose subjects enjoyed 
 the freedom allowed by the most limited monarchical rule. 
 The general law of official succession presented to every male 
 subject a chance for preferment to office. Even the emperor 
 held an elective position, as also did his ministers, the Council 
 of Ninety, or Princes of the Realm — offices analagous to those 
 of the Secretarial Portfolios of the American Republic— its 
 veritable successor. If death claimed the occupant of the 
 throne, or any of the councillors, the elective franchise came 
 into activity, but not otherwise, barring dismissal for mal- 
 feasance in office, a penalty which, if incurred by him, not 
 even the emperor was exempt from suffering. 
 
 The posession of the elective power was vested in the two 
 great social divisons, which embraced all classes of people, of 
 either sex. The great underlying principle of the Poseid 
 political fabric might be said to have been "an educational 
 measuring-rod for every ballot-holder, but the sex of the 
 holder, no one's business." 
 
 The two major social branches were known by the distinctive 
 names of "Incala" and "Xioqua," or, respectively, the priest- 
 hood and scientists. 
 
 Do my readers ask where that open opportunity for every 
 subject could be in a system which excluded the artisans, 
 tradespeople, and military, if they happended not to be of 
 the enfranchised classes? Every person had the option of en- 
 tering either the College of Sciences, or that of Incal, or both. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 27 
 
 Nor was race, color or sex considered, the only prerequisite 
 being that the candidate for admission must be sixteen years 
 of age, and the possessor of a good education obtained in the 
 common schools, or at some of the lesser seats of collegiate 
 learning, as the Xioquithlon in the capital city of some one 
 of the Poseid States, as at Numea, Terna, Idosa, Corosa, or 
 even at Marzeus' lower college, Marzeus being the principal 
 art-manufacturing center of Atl. Seven years was the allotted 
 term of study at the Great Xioquithlon, ten months in each 
 year, divided into two sub-terms of five months each, de- 
 voted to active work, and one month allowed for recreation, 
 half of it between each session. Any student might compete 
 in the annual examination exercises, held at the end of the year, 
 or just preceding the vernal equinox. That we recognized the 
 natural law of mental limitation will be obvious from the 
 fact that the course of study was purely optional, the aspirant 
 being at liberty to select as many, or as few topics as were 
 agreeable, with this necessary proviso: — that only possessors 
 of diplomas of the first class could be candidates for even the 
 humblest official position. These certificates were evidence 
 of a grade of acquirement which embraced a range of topical 
 knowledge too great to be mentioned, otherwise than inferen- 
 tialiy, as the reader proceeds. The second-grade diploma did 
 not confer political prestige, except in the matter of carrying 
 with it the voting privilege, although if a person neither cared 
 to be an office holder, nor to vote, the right to instruction in 
 any educational branch was none the less a gratuitous privi- 
 lege. Those, however, who only aspired to a limited education, 
 with the purpose of more successfully pursuing a given busi- 
 ness, as tuition in mineralogy by an intending miner, agricul- 
 ture by a farmer, or botany by an ambitious gardener— had 
 no voice in the government. While the number of those un- 
 ambitious ones was not small, none the less the stimulus of 
 obtaining political prestige was so great that not above one in 
 a dozen of the adult population was without at least a second- 
 grade diploma, while fully one-third had first-grade certifi- 
 cates. It was owing to this, that the electors found no scarcity 
 
28 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 of material for filling all elective positions under the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Some uncertainty is possibly left in the mind of the reader 
 as to what constituted the difference between priestly and 
 scientific suffragists. The only essential difference was that 
 the curriculum at the Incalithlon, or College of Priests, em- 
 braced, in addition to every high-grade feature taught at the 
 Xioquithlon, also the study of a wide range of occult phe- 
 nomena, anthropological and sociological themes, to the end 
 that graduates in the sciences might have the opportunity of 
 fitting themselves to minister to any want, which men of less 
 erudition and less comprehension of the great underlying laws 
 of life might experience, in any phase or condition. The Inca- 
 lithlon was in fact the very highest, most complete in- 
 stitution of learning which the world knew then, or — pardon 
 what may seem to be, but is not, Atlan conceit— has known 
 since ; and for that matter, will know for centuries to come. 
 As such an exalted educational institution, students within 
 its halls must needs possess extra zeal and determined will- 
 power in order to pursue, and secure graduation certificates 
 from its board of examiners. Few indeed had found life ex- 
 tended enough to enable them to acquire such a diploma; 
 possibly not one in five hundred of those who made honorable 
 exit from the Xioquithlon— itself an institution not second 
 to the modern Cornell University. 
 
 As I pondered, there amidst those mountain snows, I de- 
 cided not to attempt too much, but a Xioqua I determined 
 to be, if any possible chance existed; although I scarcely 
 hoped for the possession of the eminence conferred by the title 
 of Incala, I vowed that I would make an opportunity to 
 compete for the other, if no occasion presented otherwise. To 
 obtain the proud distinction would require, in addition to 
 arduous study, the posssession of ample pecuniary means to 
 furnish the expense of living, and the maintenance, at its 
 highest, of an unfaltering energy of purpose. Whence could 
 I hope to obtain all this? The gods were believed to help 
 the needy. If I, a lad of not yet seventeen summers, who had 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 29 
 
 a mother looking to me for support and the necesaries of life, 
 with nothing that could aid me to attain my aspirations ex- 
 cept native energy and will, might not be placed in that 
 category, then who were the needy? Methinks there should 
 be no more evidence of dependence necessary, and it were 
 indeed proper in the gods to extend aid. 
 
 Filled with such reflections as these, I climbed yet higher 
 towards the top of the sky-piercing peak, near the apex of 
 which I stood, for the dawn was not far distant, and I must 
 be on the highest stone to greet Incal (the sun) when He 
 conquered Navaz, else He— chief of all the manifest signs of 
 the great and only true God, whose name He bore, whose 
 shield He was— might not favorably regard my prayer. No, 
 He must see that the supplicating youth spared no pains to 
 do Him honor, because it was for this purpose only that I 
 had climbed alone, amidst these solitudes, up that trackless 
 steep of snow, beneath the starry dome of the skies. 
 
 "Is there," I asked myself, "a more glorious belief than 
 this which my country-folk hold? Are not all Poseidi wor- 
 shipers of the Great God— the one true Deity— who is typified 
 by the blazing sun? There can be nothing more sacred and 
 holy. " So spake the boy whose maturing mind had grasped 
 the really inspiring exoteric religion, but who knew of none 
 other, deeper and more sublime, nor was he to learn of it in 
 the days of Atla. 
 
 As the first glance of light from behind His shield stole 
 through the dark abyss of night, I threw myself prone in the 
 summit snows, where I must remain until the God of Light 
 was entirely victorious over Navaz. Triumphant at last! 
 Then I arose, and making a final profound obeisance, retraced 
 my steps down that fearful declivity of ice, and snow, and 
 barren rock, the latter black and cruelly sharp, thrusting its 
 ridges through the icy coat, showing the ribs of the mountain 
 which stood, one of the peerless peaks of the globe, thirteen 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 For two days all my efforts had been to reach that frigid 
 summit and cast myself, a living offering, on its lofty altar. 
 
30 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 thus to honor my God. I wondered if He had heard and noted 
 me. If He had, did He care? Did He care enough to direct 
 His vice-regent, God of the mountain, to aid me? To the 
 latter, without knowing why, I looked, hoping in what may 
 seem a blind fatuity, for him to reveal a treasure of some 
 sort, or— — 
 
 What is that dull metallic glint in the rock whose heart my 
 iron-shod alpenstock had lain bare to the rays of the morning 
 sun ? Gold ! Incal ! It is so ! Yellow, precious gold ! 
 
 "0 Incal," I cried, repeating His name, "be thou praised 
 for returning answer so quickly to Thy humble petitioner ! ' ' 
 
 Down in the snow I knelt, uncovering my head out of grati- 
 tude to the God of All Being, the Most High, whose shield, 
 the sun poured forth his glorious rays. Then I looked again 
 on the treasure. Ah, what a store of wealth was there ! 
 
 As the quartz rock splintered beneath my excited strokes, 
 the precious metal held it together, so thickly did it vein 
 its matrix. Sharp edges of the flinty stone cut my hands, so 
 that the blood flowed from half a dozen places, and as I 
 grasped the icy quartz which did the deed, my bleeding hands 
 froze fast upon it— a union of blood and treasure ! No matter I 
 and I tore them^loose, unheeding the pain, so much was I 
 excited. 
 
 "O Incal," I exclaimed, "Thou are good to Thy child in 
 so liberally bestowing the treasure which shall enable a reali- 
 zation of his resolution, ere the heart hath opportunity to 
 grow faint through long-deferred hope." 
 
 I loaded into my capacious pockets all that I could stagger 
 under, selecting the richest and most valuable pieces of the 
 gold quartz. How should I mark the spot, how find it again ? 
 To a born mountaineer this was no hard task, and was soon 
 accomplished. Then onward, downward, homeward, joyfully 
 I swung, with light heart, if heavy load. Over these moun- 
 tains, indeed not two miles from the base of my treasure peak, 
 wound the emperor's highway to the great ocean, hundreds 
 of miles away on the other side of the Caiphalian plains. This 
 causeway once reached, the most fatiguing part of the trip 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 31 
 
 would be over, although but one-fifth of the entire route would 
 yet have been traversed. 
 
 To give some idea of the difficulties encountered in scaling 
 or descending this giant mountain, I must remark that the 
 final five-thousand feet of the ascent could be made by only 
 one tortuous route. A narrow gorge, a mere volcanic fissure, 
 afforded foothold of the most precarious character, all other 
 parts of the peak being insurmountable cliffs. This meager 
 support existed for the first one thousand feet. Above this 
 point the cleft ceased. Near its upper end a small cave ex- 
 isted, rather higher than a man's stature, and capable of hold- 
 ing perhaps twenty people. In the farther end of this rocky 
 room was a hole— a crack wider horizontally than in the per- 
 pendicular. Entering this crevice by crawling, serpent- 
 fashion, the venturesome explorer would find that for several 
 hundred paces he must needs descend a rather sharp incline, 
 albeit the crevice in the first dozen steps so widened, or 
 heightened, that a more or less upright posture could be as- 
 sumed. From the end of its descending course it twisted and 
 again increased in size so as to form a tunnnel, ascending by 
 tortuous windings, its walls affording sufficient support to 
 make the climbing safe, although pursued upward at an angle 
 of about forty degrees, while in some parts an even greater 
 degree of perpendicularity marked the passage. In this way 
 an upward climb of thirty odd hundreds of feet was accom- 
 plished, the sinuosities of the route greatly increasing the 
 distance covered in a vertical rise. This, reader, was the sole 
 method of reaching the summit of the highest mountain of 
 Poseid, or Atlantis, as thou callest the island-continent. 
 
 Arduous as was its passage, there was more than enough 
 room in this dry old chimney, or water-course, whichever it 
 was, Chimney it certainly had been, originally, though now 
 water-worn to such an extent as to render the idea of its 
 igneous formation, de novo, merely conjectural. At one part 
 of its course this long hole widened into a vast cavern. This 
 led away at right angles from the chimney, and down, down, 
 until far in the bowels of the mountain— thousands of feet it 
 
32 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 seemed in the dread darkness— he who ventured so far found 
 himself on the brink of a vast abyss, which had no visible 
 side except that on which he stood; beyond this, further 
 progress was impossible except for winged things, as bats,— 
 and bats were there none in that awful depth. 
 
 No sound came back from its frightful chasm, no bright- 
 ness of torches had ever revealed its other shore— nought was 
 there but a sea of eternal inky blackness. Yet here were no 
 terrors for me; rather a fascination. While others may have 
 known of the place, I had never found a companion with 
 enough temerity to brave the unknown, and stand by my 
 side on the horrid brink, where I had stood, not once only, 
 but several times in days gone by. Three times I had been 
 there, impelled by curiosity. On the third occasion I had 
 leaned over the edge to seek a possible further descent, when 
 the stone upon which I was— a huge basaltic block— loosened 
 from its place, fell, and I barely escaped with my life. It 
 fell, and for several minutes sounds of its descent came echoing 
 back to where I stood; my torch went with it, and far adown 
 the depths its sparks gleamed like fire-flies as it struck pro- 
 jecting points of the rock, ere it finally disappeared. I was 
 left in that deep darkness, weak from my great peril, to make 
 my way up and out— if I could. If not, then to fail and die 
 But I succeeded. Thenceforth I had no curiosity to explore 
 that unknown gulf. Through the chimney which led past 
 the upper end of this abyssmal cavern— between the upper end 
 of the outer fissure in the cliff and the summit's side, five or 
 six hundred feet below the apex of the mountain— I had been 
 many times; often had I been over the spot where a chance 
 blow of my staff revealed the golden treasure, yet never 
 found the precious store until I had asked Incal for it, urged 
 by the pressing burden of my necessities. Is it strange that 
 I felt absolute faith in the religious belief of my people? 
 
 It was into the dark chimney that I had to go when I left 
 the snowy summit— out of the sunlight and fresh air, into 
 dense blackness, and a slightly sulphurous atmosphere; but 
 if I left the morning brightness, I also left the. fearful cold 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 33 
 
 of the external air, for inside the tunnel, if dark, it was warm. 
 
 At last, I came into the small room at the head of the 
 thousand-foot crevice which would take me to the easier slopes 
 of the lower and middle third of the mountain. In that room 
 I paused. Should I return for another load of auriferous 
 rock? Or should I go directly on my homeward way? At 
 length I turned and retraced my steps. With the noon hour 
 I stood once more beside my treasure spot. Then down again 
 with my second load, till the weary toil ceased almost— for I 
 was standing then at the entrance to the great cavern, four 
 hundred feet from the little room at the head of the outer 
 crevice—four hundred feet of pretty steep climbing. After a 
 moment's pause I resumed the short but sharp ascent, and 
 was soon in the little room, with only a dozen feet at most 
 between myself and the free air. Sinuous, the long tunnel 
 was, considered as a whole, yet it had some passages as straight 
 as if cut by tools along a line. The four hundred feet, more 
 or less, which separated the room where I stayed my steps, 
 from the entrance proper of the cavern, was such a straight 
 stretch, and perhaps on that occount as difficult to traverse 
 as any part of the whole tunnel. Indeed it would have been 
 impossible, except for its rough sides affording some slight 
 foothold. Had the place been light, instead of filled with the 
 blackness of darkness, I could have seen directly into the 
 cavern from the apartment in which I was resting. The warm 
 air induced me to sit or rather lie down at this point, even 
 though I could not see, and so, as I rested there, I ate a 
 handful of dates and sipped a little of the melted snow-water 
 which my water-skin contained. Then I stretched myself 
 out to sleep in the warm air. 
 
 How long I slept I did not know, but the awakening— ah! 
 the terror of it! Blasts of air so hot as to almost scorch, 
 swept over and past me, laden with stifling fumes, and sending 
 back a hoarse murmur as they rushed up the passage to the 
 summit. Howling, groaning noises came up on the fervid 
 breath from the abyss, mingled with the sound of tremendous 
 explosions and deafening reports. Above all other causes 
 
34 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 for terror was a glow of red light reflected from the walls of 
 the cavern, into which I found I could look with unobstructed 
 freedom, and through whose depths shone flashes of red and 
 green and blue, and every other color and tint, gases on fire. 
 For a time, fright held me fast, so that without power to move 
 I remained gazing into the awful hell of the blazing elements. 
 I knew that the light and heat, both momentarily increasing, 
 and the stifling vapors, the noise and the quivering of the 
 mountain, all pointed but one and the same meaning— active 
 volcanic eruption. At last, the spell which numbed my senses 
 was broken by my catching sight of a spurt of molten lava 
 which dashed up the intervening passage, projected a number 
 of feet therein by an explosion within the cavern behind. 
 Then I rose up and fled— fled across the floor of the little 
 room and crawled with insane energy of haste through the 
 horizontal entrance, which seemed never so low as that mo- 
 ment ! I had forgotten that I carried gold in my pockets, and 
 the fact only came back when I felt the retarding weight of 
 the precious rock. But with the exertion to escape came a 
 certain degree of calmness, and the restored presence of mind 
 bade me not throw away the treasure. Reflection convinced 
 me that the danger, although impending, was probably not 
 immediate. So that I again crawled back into the little room, 
 and taking a sack which I had left there, filled it with all the 
 ore I could carry. I undid a leather thong from my waist— a 
 cord forty feet long— and looping one end to a point of rock 
 at the upper end of the crevice, I lowered the sack to the 
 other extremity of the small cord, and then climbed down 
 after it. Shaking the loop from the rock above, I repeated the 
 performance again and again as I descended. In this way I 
 reached the bottom of the crevice with the larger portion of 
 my two loads of ore. From this point onwards my route lay 
 along the crest of a rocky ridge, not very wide, but sufficiently 
 so to form an easy path. 
 
 I had just started along this ridge when I looked back over 
 the way I had come. At that instant, a shock of earthquake 
 occurred that almost sufficed to throw me to the ground, and 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 35 
 
 out of the little cave, where I had slept, shot a putt' of smoke, 
 followed by a red gleam— lava. Downwards it splashed, a 
 fiery cascade, and a most glorious sight in the gathering dark- 
 ness, for the sun was not yet set. The entire mountain was 
 west of the ridge on which I stood, and it being near night, 
 my position was in deep shadow. 
 
 Out along the ridge I fled, leaving my sack of gold and much 
 that was in my pockets in the safest place that I could choose, 
 high above the bottom of the gorge, along which the lava must 
 flow. At a safe distance I paused for rest and scanned the 
 fiery torrent leaping down the gorge, now some distance away 
 on my right, but in plain sight. "At least," thought I, "I 
 have as much gold-rock— more metal than rock, it appears— 
 left in my pockets yet, as I shall find myself well able to 
 carry, now that the strength, born of excitement, is fled. So 
 that even if I get not that I left behind, I have a great store 
 of wealth. Therefore, Incal be praised!" How entirely in- 
 adequate to meet the expenses of seven years at college— and 
 that college at the capital of the nation, where expenses were 
 higher than elsewhere— were the twenty pounds, approximate- 
 ly, of gold-quartz, my inexperience could not tell me. That it 
 was a greater treasure than I had ever possessed in my life, 
 or even seen at one time, was an undeniable fact; therefore I 
 was content. 
 
 A belief in an overruling Providence is necessary to most, 
 indeed to all men, the sole difference being that men of widest 
 knowledge require a Deity of power more nearly approach- 
 ing infinity than do those of lesser experience ; so those who 
 realize the boundlessness of life, recognize a God of whom their 
 conceptions are projected almost to omnipotence, compared to 
 the conceptions which satisfy the ordinary human mind. 
 Whether, then, the deity worshipped be a stone or a wooden 
 idol, some inanimate form, or a Supreme Spirit of androgynous 
 nature, it matters little. Those Beings who order the course of 
 events, executing the karmic law of the Eternal God, see the 
 faith in mortal hearts, and suffer not that that law shall ever 
 take its course in sterness, untempered by mercy. If trust 
 
36 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 in the idol, or the animate "god," or in the Supreme Spirit of 
 God, should be allowed to perish because of the withering 
 forces of sorrow and despair; then would human goodness 
 tremble for safety, and for continuation of its being. Such 
 a catastrophe could not harmonize with God, hence, under the 
 law, can never be allowed. 
 
 So with my belief in Incal, a belief shared by my country- 
 people. Incal was a purely spiritual conception, and aside 
 from the Eternal Cause— which no mind of any age of the 
 world can sanely doubt— was existent only in the minds of 
 his worshippers. And the faith was a noble one, one that 
 tended to high morality, nourishing faith, hope and charity. 
 What then though the personal Incal, symbolized by the shield 
 of the blazing sun, was inexistent except in the brains of men ? 
 Our Poseid concept stood for us in the place of the Spirit of 
 Life, Parent of all. That was enough to insure observance of 
 the principles which it was supposed pleased Him best. 
 
 Surely the angels of the Most High Uncreated God, minis- 
 tering then, as now, to the children of the Father, looked on 
 the belief as it lay enshrined in my heart, and in the hearts 
 of my fellow-men and women, and said, as they ministered : 
 "Be it unto thee according to thy faith." The angels be- 
 holding the hope that was in me to excel among men, had chas- 
 tened me with fear as I fled from the burning mountain, but 
 there came no disaster. 
 
 Onward I ran, as speedily as the nature of the path would 
 permit. I had life and gold; wherefore I praised Incal as I 
 went. And the Spirit of Life was merciful, for I was not to 
 know how insufficient for my needs was my treasure, until 
 the sting of disappointment was removed because of having 
 found a more abundant provision. For several miles my course 
 lay along the knife-edged back of the ridge. In many places 
 awful gulfs yawned beside the path, so near that I had need 
 of my hands to aid my feet. Sometimes these cliffs extended 
 along both sides of the trail, forming it into a narrow parapet. 
 I was grateful for small mercies, and thanked Incal that the 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 37 
 
 god of the mountain bestirred himself not in the form of 
 earth-throes while I was in those perilous situations. 
 
 At a distance of three miles from the starting place my 
 path led me along the brink of a frightful precipice, while 
 above reared the Avail of a second cliff. Only the light of the 
 burning mountain now illumined my steps. Here it was that 
 as I climbed cautiously downwards towards the basaltic brink, 
 a heavy shock threw me upon my knees and almost sent me 
 into the gulf. An instant later a dull boom Med the air 
 with an insistent intensity of sound, and I looked back in 
 affright. A huge spout of fiery smoke was rushing skywards, 
 mingled with stones large enough to be seen at the distance 
 I was from the spot. Below the brink where I clung, an 
 awful grinding and crashing was going on; the earth trembled 
 fearfully, and repeated shocks caused me to grasp the rocks 
 in desperate fear of being thrown over the edge. Off there in 
 front, the gorge which lay at my feet, once skirted other 
 ridges and spurs of the peak. Once, for a while, these ridges 
 and spurs had been, now they were not ! I gazed upon a 
 scene of awful and confusing turmoil, lit by the volcanic 
 glare just sufficiently to be perceptible. The solid hills and 
 rocks seemed tossing and unstable as the waters of the ocean, 
 and they rose and fell in a horrid swell, grinding and crashing 
 in genuine pandemonium. Over all, volcanic ashes sifted in a 
 thick, ceaseless shower, while dust and volcanic vapors filled 
 the air and hung like a funereal pall over a seemingly perish- 
 ing world. 
 
 Finally the mad uproar and sickening motion ceased; only 
 the steady glow from the still-flowing lava, and an occa- 
 sional throe of earthquake telling the Plutonic tale. But I re- 
 mained lying on the ledge, faint and ill. Gradually the lava 
 stopped running, and the light went out ; the shocks came 
 only at long intervals, and a peace as of death filled all the 
 region, while the silent gray ashes sifted down, covering the 
 stricken land. Darkness reigned. I think I must, for a time, 
 have been unconscious, for when I stirred I was aware of a 
 sharp pain in my head; putting up my hand I felt a warm, 
 wet oozing from a place which smarted at the touch. I felt 
 
38 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 about and found a jagged stone which had fallen from the 
 cliff above and struck me. Further motion proved the wound 
 was not serious, and I sat up. Already the dawn was coming, 
 and faint with pain, hunger and cold I again lay down to 
 await broad day. 
 
 What a different scene rising Incal shone upon, in place of 
 that of the previous morn ? When I looked at the proud peak, 
 the red light of the sun showed that one full half of it had 
 been riven away and swallowed up in "some mysterious 
 cavern." Aye, truly: — 
 
 ' ' Mountains rear to heaven their bald and blackened cliffs, 
 And bow their tall heads to the plain." 
 
 Nearer by, where other ridges had been, and where the awful 
 reeling of the cliffs had occurred— right at my feet, indeed— 
 no more was any rocky spire, nor peak, nor cliff there forever ! 
 Instead, was a great lake of steaming water, whose thither 
 shores were veiled by the softly settling ashes and clouds of 
 steam condensed by the cold air, a fine misty rain— the weep- 
 ing of the stricken globe over its recent agony. Hushed, was 
 all the noise ; quieted, the trembling ; ceased, the fervid stream- 
 ing of the lava. 
 
 That part of the ridge where I had lain had escaped, for 
 the most part, the general rending. But even it had suffered, 
 so that the path ahead of me, which I had been accustomed 
 to travel in my trips to the peak was gone, a huge block of 
 probably thousands of tons weight having slidden into the pit 
 below, making absolute erasure of the path, which had crossed 
 that very place. I sought another, and in climbing about in 
 the dull light, came to a part of the ridge which lay on the 
 far side from the sun, which, as yet, was not more than two 
 hours above the horizon. Moving in the deep shadow along 
 perilously narrow ledges— lakes of hot water below, impassa- 
 ble steps overhead— suddenly a dull red bar of light shone 
 athwart my course! Looking for its source, I saw that the 
 light streamed through a wide crack in the beetling cliff above. 
 The bottom of this crack was not far below me, and instead 
 of becoming narrowed out, had a floor as wide as any part of 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 39 
 
 the fissure, as if all above that point had been forcibly slidden, 
 or "faulted" to one side— undoubtedly the real explanation. 
 1 lowered myself to the level of this floor, and finding the 
 crevice sufficiently wide, stepped into it, heedless of the fact 
 that at any moment fresh convulsions of the volcano might 
 close the cleft and crush me as between the faces of a vise. I 
 did think of this possibility, but Poseid-like, put aside fear 
 by reflecting that I was trusting in Incal, who would do what- 
 ever was good for me. 
 
 The stricken cliff showed, here and there, veins of quart? 
 with porphyritic sheaves, forming ledges running through the 
 granite masses. Clear to the top, this narrow cleft extended, 
 and though really some two or three feet wide, its height 
 made it appear very narrow. As I paused, filled with delight 
 at the idea that on both sides of me my eyes rested on virgin 
 rock never exposed to the gaze of any man since earth began, 
 I noticed that which set my pulses bounding with wild joy — 
 right by my side, but a little in front, was a vein of yellow, 
 ocherous-looking rock in which I saw many maculations of 
 whitish, harder rock, which appearance was due to quartz 
 bodies torn apart by the same shock which formed the cleft. 
 These maculae were thickly dotted with nuggets of native 
 gold, and with argent mineral. The ductility of the precious 
 metals was exhibted in curious effects, the gold and silver 
 being drawn out from the smoothly fractured surface into 
 wires, which in some cases were a number of inches long. 
 Again the faintness of hunger left me, and the pain of my 
 aching head-wound was temporarily forgotten, as I chanted a 
 hymn of gratitude to my God. Gone was the towering peak; 
 destroyed was the sole route of access to the lofty summit 
 which man's foot might traverse; but here, after the war of 
 the subterranean fires was over— here was a greater treasure, 
 nearer home, easier to reach— the excitement of joy was too 
 great a strain on my nrves, already so weak, and I fainted! 
 But youth is elastic, and the health of those who are without 
 vices wonderfully buoyant. I soon recovered consciousness, 
 and was wise enough to make my way home without stopping 
 
40 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 to waste further strength, knowing that my mountaineering 
 instinct would be an infallible guide to my subsequent return. 
 
 I felt, in taking counsel of my mother, that her belief that 
 I could not work the mine alone was based on actuality. But 
 whom should I trust to aid me and take an honest share of 
 the wealth so obtained as recompense? 
 
 Enough, is it not, that I found the necessary help? Certain 
 professed friends entered into a copartnership with me, and 
 for the privilege of retaining the remainder of the proceeds, 
 allowed me one-third of the profits, agreeing to do this without 
 requiring any labor from me; and, with some demur, also 
 agreeing to my demand that no part of the ownership should 
 be vested in anybody but myself. I caused them to sign a 
 paper to that effect and to seal it with the most inviolable sign 
 possible in Poseid, namely, to make their signatures with 
 their own blood. We all three did thus. So much formality I 
 insisted upon for the reason that the suspicion was irrepressi- 
 ble that these men proposed to claim that they themselves 
 were the discoverers of the treasure, and that I had, per con- 
 sequence, no right to any of it. Today I know that this was 
 the case. I know that the proviso in the contract declaring 
 that the whole mine which they, my partners, worked in the 
 then current year was the inalienable property of Zailm 
 Numinos, was all that prevented the intended robbery. This 
 stipulation made no reference to the discoverer, as such, but 
 did state in incontrovertible terms that in the possessor of that 
 name was vested the title to the property. I would have had, 
 in the event of a difference arising between us, no necessity 
 to prove how I became owner of the mine ; no claim that some 
 person other than myself was the discoverer would avail the 
 would-be defrauders, for whosoever was the first to find the 
 lode, the fact remained that I was the owner, and possession 
 in this event meant every advantage through the law. At 
 least, so it seemed to my ignorance My associates were not 
 so ignorant They knew that the contract was worthless be- 
 cause executed in violation of the law The day came when 
 I knew all. I knew in later times that the laws of Poseid made 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 41 
 
 every mine a tithe-payer to the empire, and that a mine worked 
 without acknowledgment of this legal lien was liable to con- 
 fiscation. It was apparent, also, that if my partners had not 
 allowed themselves to be swayed by avariciousness into keep- 
 ing secret the whole agreement, and also by working in the 
 mine, thus rendering themselves participators in an infraction 
 of the law, that they would have become the legally recognized 
 owners, simply through furnishing information concerning my 
 acts to the nearest governmental agent. But I did not know 
 these things at the time, and the other two thought it dis- 
 cretion to keep silence, for the reason that they were not 
 aware of anything excepting the fact that they were violating 
 statutory enactments of no seeming importance. Thus was 
 the secret kept for a later revealment. 
 
 The means having been forthcoming, the removal of my 
 residence from the country to the city of the Rai was next in 
 order. Our farewell to the old mountain home and our in- 
 stallment in the new one in Caiphul will be passed over in 
 silence. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Caiphul. 
 
 The Atlantean people lived under a government having the 
 character of a limited monarchy. Its official system recognized 
 an emperor (whose position was an elective one, and not in 
 any sense hereditary) and his ministers, known by a name 
 signifying "The Council of Ninety," and also known as 
 "Princes of the Realm." All of these officers had a life- 
 tenure in office, except in cases of malfeasance, which term 
 was strictly defined and its punishment severely enforced; 
 and from the operation of the law relating thereto, no exalta- 
 tion of position was sufficient to secure exemption for offenders. 
 No governmental positions were made elective, with the ex- 
 
42 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 ception of one ecclesiastical office, and lesser positions in the 
 public service were made appointive in all cases, the ap- 
 pointees being held to strict account by the appointing power 
 —emperor or prince— who, for the use of this power was 
 responsible to the people for the conduct of his place-holders. 
 However, it is not the scheme of this chapter to discuss Poseid 
 politics, but to describe the ministerial and monarchical pal- 
 aces with which the nation furnished its elected officers— one 
 for each prince, but for the emperor, three. In the main, the 
 description of one of these buildings, both within and without, 
 typifies that of any or all of the others, just as in the United 
 States of America and other modern lands a governmental 
 edifice is easily known to be such, by its general architectural 
 features. A description therefore of one palace will serve a 
 double purpose— that of presenting an idea of the most notable 
 residence in the great Atlantean empire— since I will describe 
 the main palace of the emperor; and, secondly, that of illus- 
 trating the prevailing style of governmental architecture in 
 the period during which I resided in Poseid. Imagine, if it 
 please thee, an elevation approximating fifteen feet in height, 
 ten times that figure in width, and that fifty times its height 
 represents its length. External to the plane dimensions, on 
 each of the four sides of the platform, which was of hewn 
 blocks of porphyry, an easy flight of steps led from the lawns 
 up to the top of the elevation. On the sides, these steps were 
 divided into fifteen sections, while on the ends the divisions 
 were only three, each being divided into lengths of fifty feet. 
 Between the two sections nearest the corners each division con- 
 sisted of a deep quadrangular recess, into and around which the 
 stairs ran in uninterrupted continuity. The next, or third 
 section, was separated from those on either side by a sculp- 
 tured serpent of huge size, fashioned from sandstone, and as 
 faithful to life as art could make it. The heads of these 
 immobile reptiles rested on the green sward in front of the 
 stairs, while the bodies lay in full relief upon the staircases, 
 and reaching the top of the platform, wound about the mas- 
 sive columns which supported the pediments of the verandas 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY, 43 
 
 of the superstruetural palace erected upon the platform de- 
 scribed—columns which formed a most imposing peristyle 
 between the broad verandas and the steps. The succeeding 
 division was a quadrangle in the steps, and the next, another 
 serpent, and so around the building. It is hoped that this de- 
 scription is sufficiently perspicuous to give an idea of the tre- 
 mendous parallelogram, encompassed with steps, guarded by 
 monstrous ornamental, as well as useful, serpent forms— re- 
 ligious emblems, signifying not alone wisdom, but also the 
 appearance of a fiery serpent in the skies of the ancient earth, 
 initiating the event of the separation of Man from God. Alter- 
 nating with these forms were the recesses, relieving what 
 would otherwise have been severely straight and wearisome 
 lines. Surmounting this was the first story of the palace 
 proper, its reptile-entwined peristyle holding aloft great veran- 
 da roofs, whereon were enormous vases holding earth to nour- 
 ish all kinds of tropical plants, shrubs and many small varieties 
 of trees, a luxuriant garden which perfumed the air, already 
 cooled by numerous fountains playing in the midst. Above 
 the first story, with its flower-filled porticos, arose another 
 tier of apartments, surrounded by open galleries, the floors of 
 which were formed by the roofs of those beneath. The third 
 and highest tier of apartments had no verandas, although on 
 all sides it had promenades, formed by the roof of the portico 
 beneath. The same wild luxuriance of flowers and foliage 
 rendered the stories of equal attractiveness. In all, song 
 birds, and birds of plumage were welcome guests, uncaged, 
 but tame because they never received harm. Attendants with 
 blow-guns to project noiseless darts, quietly destroyed all pred- 
 atory species, as also they did those which, having neither 
 song powers, vivid coloring of plumage, nor the useful habits 
 of insectivora to commend them, were therefore undesirable. 
 Springing from the main roof of the palace, arose graceful 
 spires and towers, while the many jutting apartments, angles 
 and groined arches, flying buttresses, cornices and multifarious 
 architectural effects prevented any apparent heaviness in the 
 design. Around the largest of the towers there extended from 
 
44 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 bottom to top a winding staircase, conducting to the rail 
 enclosed space on its summit, one hundred feet above the 
 aluminum sheathing, or roofing-plates of the palace. Agacoe 
 palace was unique in the possession of this tower, differing 
 thus from all other ministerial edifices. It may be explained 
 that the tower had been erected as a memorial of the departure 
 of a fair princess from the loving care of her imperial husband 
 into Navazzamin— the shadowy land of departed souls— some 
 centuries before my day. Such was the Agacoe palace. Its 
 uppermost floor was in use as a great governmental museum; 
 the middle was devoted to offices of the chief government offi- 
 cials, while the first flat was magnificently arranged and fur- 
 nished for occupancy as the emperor's private residence. As 
 not uninteresting, it may be noted that the yawning mouths 
 of the stone serpents recently described, served as doorways 
 (of the usual size) to certain apartments in the basement— a 
 fact which gives an accurate idea of the enormous size of these 
 lithic saurians. The monsters were made with an eye to artistic 
 proportion, their bodies were of carved gray, red or yellow 
 sandstone, their eyes of sard, carnelian, jasper or other colored 
 silicious stone, while fangs for their yawning mouths were 
 made from gleaming white quartz, set on each side of the 
 entrance-way. 
 
 So much sawed and hewn stone forces the modern mind to 
 wonder if the Atlanteans obtained the finished product through 
 the unremitting toil of slaves— in which case we must have 
 been a barbarous people, whose political autonomy was ever 
 menaced by the uplifting forces of the social volcano which 
 slavery always creates— or else we possessed peculiarly efficient 
 stone-cutting machinery. This latter is the correct assumption 
 for our machinery for that purpose— like an almost infinite 
 variety of other implements for every sort of service— was our 
 pride amongst the nations. Let me here make an assertion, 
 not for argument, but to be understood in the light of subse- 
 quent chapters; namely, that if we as Atlanteans had not pos- 
 sessed this wide range of mechanical inventions 'and the inven- 
 tive talent which gave us these triumphs, then neither would 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 45 
 
 ye of this modern day have possesison of a like creative 
 ability, nor of any of the results of such genius. It may be that 
 thou canst not understand the connection between the two 
 ages and races whilst conning this statement ; but as thou shalt 
 draw nearer to the close of this history, thy mind will recur 
 to it with the fullness of comprehension. 
 
 Trusting that the effort has been successful to depict by 
 words the appearance of Atlantean governmental edifices, let 
 us next obtain an idea of the Caiphalian promontory, whereon 
 was enthroned Caiphul, the Royal City, the greatest of that 
 ancient day, within the limits of which, resided a population 
 of two million souls, unencompassed by walled fortifications. 
 Indeed none of the cities of that age were girt about with 
 walls, and in this respect they differed from the cities and 
 towns known to later historical epochs. To call my records of 
 this Poseidic age history, is not exceeding fact, since what I 
 relate in these pages is history derived from the astral-light 
 records. Nevertheless, it precedes the histories handed down 
 in manuscript, papyrus rolls and rock-inscriptions by many 
 centuries, seeing that Poseid was no longer known in the 
 earth when history's first pages were chronicled by the earliest 
 historian using papyrus; nay, nor even yet earlier, when the 
 sculptors of the obelisks of Egypt and the rock-inscribers of 
 the temples cut pictorial histories in enduring granite. No 
 longer known was Poseid, for it is to-day approaching nine 
 thousand years since the waters of the ocean engulfed our fair 
 land, and left no sign; not even so much as was left of those 
 two cities hidden away beneath lava and ashes, and for six- 
 teen centuries of the Christian era thought never to have had 
 existence. Excavators dug away the scoriae from Pompeii, but 
 from Caiphul no man can turn aside the floods of the Atlantic 
 and reveal what no more exists, for were every day a century, 
 it were even so nearly three months of such lengthy days 
 since the dread fiat of GOD went forth unto the waters : 
 " Cover the land, so that the all-beholding sun shall see it no 
 no more in all his course." 
 
 And it was so. 
 
46 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 In preceding pages the promontory of Caiphul was described 
 as reaching out into the ocean from the Caiphalian plain, 
 and as visible from a great distance at night because of the 
 glow of light from the capital. For three hundred miles west- 
 ward from Numea the peninsula projected outwards from 
 the plain, averaging almost to its extreme cape a breadth 
 of fifty miles, and rising much like the chalk-cliffs of England, 
 directly from the ocean to a height of nearly one hundred feet 
 to reach a plain almost floor-like in its evenness. On the point 
 of this great peninsula was Caiphul, or "Atlan, Queen of the 
 Wave." Beautiful, peaceful, with its wide-spreading gardens 
 of tropical loveliness;— 
 
 "Where a leaf never fades in the still, blooming bowers, 
 And the bee banquets on thro' a whole year of flowers"— 
 its broad evenues shaded by great trees; its artificial hills — 
 the largest surmounted by governmental palaces, and pierced 
 and terraced by the avenues which radiated from the city- 
 center like spokes in a wheel. Fifty miles these ran in one 
 direction, while at right angles from them, traversing the 
 breadth of the peninsula, forty miles in length, were the short- 
 est avenues. Thus lay, like a splendid dream, this, the proudest 
 city of that ancient world. 
 
 At no point did Caiphul approach the ocean nearer than 
 five miles. Though it had no walls, around the whole city 
 extended a huge moat, three-quarters of a mile broad by an 
 average of sixty feet in depth, and supplied by the waters 
 of the Atlantic. On the north side, a great canal entered 
 the moat, a canal in which the outflowing waters of a larg 
 river, the Nomis, created an outgoing current of considerable 
 swiftness. A current was thus naturally made to cause suc- 
 tion through the entire circle of the moat, of which the ocean 
 supply entered at an ingress on the south side. In this man- 
 ner efflux into the sea of all the drainage of the artificial cir- 
 cular island on which stood the city was allowed. Immense 
 pumping engines forced fresh ocean-water through large stone 
 pipes and conduits all over the city, flushing the drains, fur- 
 nishing motive power for all requisite purposes; for electric 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 47 
 
 lighting and electric services of vast variety— but enough. 
 Electric service? Electric power? Indeed we had deepest 
 knowledge of this motor-force of the universe; we used it in 
 countless ways which have yet to be re-discovered in this 
 modern world of ours, and ways, too, which are every day 
 coming more and more into recollection as men and women of 
 that past age reincarnate in this. 
 
 It is not strange that thou art incredulous, my friend, when 
 I speak of these inventions which thou hast considered the 
 special property of to-day; but I speak from a knowledge 
 born of -experience, seeing that I lived then, and live now ; 
 lived not only in Poseid twelve thousands years ago, but 
 also in the United States of America, before, during and after 
 the War of the Secession. 
 
 We drew our electrical energies partly from the waves 
 beating the ocean shores, more largely from the rise and fall 
 of the tides; from mountain torrents and from chemicals; but 
 chiefly from what might aptly be termed the "Night-Side of 
 Nature." High-grade explosives were known to us, but our., 
 employment of them was of much wider range than thine. If 
 thou couldst cause these substances to gradually yield up 
 their vast imprisoned force without fear of an explosion, 
 thinkest thou that thy machinery would long be propelled by 
 clumsy, because ponderous, steam or electric engines? If 
 a great steamship could dispense with its coal-bins and boil- 
 ers, and instead have dynamite in an absolutely safe compound 
 form yielding, from what a man could carry in a hand-bag, 
 force sufficient to drive the ship from England to America; or 
 to send a train six thousand miles, how long wouldst thou 
 see steam enginery? Yet this was a power, and a least valued 
 one at that, which we— possibly you, certainly I— knew in the 
 Atlantean life. It will be again with thee, because Our Race 
 is coming again from devachan to earth. 
 
 But not alone this resource of power was ours— indeed it 
 was to our forces of the Night-Side as an alcohol-vapor motor 
 is to thy steam-engines. The Night-Side forces— what are 
 they? At this place I will answer only by a counter-question. 
 
48 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 namely; The force of Nature, of gravitation, of the sun, of 
 light, whence is it? If thou wilt answer me "It is of God"— 
 so then will I make answer that, likewise, Man is the Heir of 
 the Father, and whatsoever is His, is also the Son's. If Incai 
 is impelled by God, the Son shall find how his Father doeth this 
 thing, and shall presently do likewise again, even as Man did 
 so once in Poseid. But greater things than these which we 
 did might ye do; ye are now, ye are then; ye are Poseid re- 
 turned, and on a higher plane ! 
 
 The original object for which the great moat encircling 
 the capital was excavated had, since long centuries, been ful- 
 filled. That purpose was purely maritime, in the days when 
 ships had been used as carriers, before the later general use 
 of aerial vessels; and it had served this purpose in such stead 
 as to win for Caiphul its proud title "Sovereign of the Seas," 
 name retained even when the original uses of its moat had be- 
 come a matter of history. When the better means of trans- 
 portation had supplanted the old, then the ships which for ten 
 centuries had graced all the seas and waterways of the globe, 
 had been suffered to decay, or had been converted to other 
 uses. Only a few sails now roved the waters, and those were 
 merely pleasure craft belonging to novelty-loving people of 
 leisure, who thus indulged their taste for sport. 
 
 This radical change was, however, no reason why the masonry 
 quays of the one hundred and forty miles, more or less, of 
 the moat, should be allowed to go to destruction. This would 
 have entailed the loss of valuable property, through the en- 
 croachment of the unchecked waters, as well as the deteriora- 
 tion of the sanitary system of the city; besides which such a 
 course would have destroyed the beauty of the moat and its 
 environments. Therefore, in all of the seven centuries since 
 we ceased to employ marine transportation, no sign of weak- 
 ness had been suffered to menace this great length of masonry. 
 
 A marked feature of Caiphul was the wealth and rare beaut}' 
 of its trees and tropical shrubbery, lining the avenues, cov- 
 ering the multitudinous palace-crowned hills, many of which 
 had been constructed to rise two, or even three ^hundred feet 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 49 
 
 above the level of the plain. Trees and shrubs and plants, vines 
 and flowers, annuals and perennials, filled the mimic canyons, 
 gorges, defiles and levels which it had delighted the art-loving 
 Poseidi to create. They covered the slopes, twined the minia- 
 ture cliffs, the walls of buildings, and hid even the greater 
 part of the steps which led in wide-sweeping banks to the 
 edges of the moat— overlaying everything like a glorious ver- 
 dant garment. 
 
 Perhaps the reader is beginning to wonder where all the 
 people lived. Truly the query is well-timed, and the answer 
 will, I trust, prove interesting. 
 
 In the work of altering the configuration of the surface of 
 the great promontory from that of a plain to the more beauti- 
 ful variations of hills and their intervening depressions, the 
 scheme pursued had been to make keyed-shells of rock, of 
 enormous strength, in the form of terraces, and leaving arched 
 passages wherever the avenues intersected such elevations, to 
 fill in the interiors then remaining with a concrete of clay, 
 rubble and cement carefully tamped. The exteriors were there- 
 after covered with rich soil on the levels, and terraced for the 
 support of vegetable life of all kinds. These elevations cov- 
 ered many square miles of the level once existent, leaving 
 little that remained as plane-surface, except the avenues, and 
 not all of these, inasmuch as quite a number of the thorough- 
 fares ascended the rise between the hills, or followed the 
 ascending bed of some canyon until they reached the ridge at 
 the head of the latter. They then penetrated the divide and 
 debouched upon the opposite side through an arched way, 
 wherein tubes of crystal, absolutely exhausted of air, gave 
 a continuous light derived from the ' ' Night-Side ' ' forces. The 
 vertical faces and inclinations of the terraces, as well as the 
 sides of the canyons, were made into rooms of varied and ample 
 size. The entrances to these, and to the windows, were con- 
 cealed under mimic ledges of rock, over which clambered 
 vines and rock-loving plants, thus removing from view the 
 stiff ungainliness of the metallic casings underneath. These 
 apartments were arranged in artistic suites for the accommoda- 
 

 50 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 tion of families. The metal sheathing with which they were 
 lined prevented moisture within, while their position under 
 the surface insured an even degree of temperature at all sea- 
 sons of the year. As these residences were designed and built by 
 the government, the ownership was vested in the same power, 
 and the tenants acquired leasehold from the Minister of Public 
 Buildings. The rental was merely nominal and only sufficient 
 to keep the property in repair, furnish the expenses of the in- 
 candescent lighting and heating service, the water supply, and 
 the salaries of the necessary officials to attend to these duties. 
 All of this cost not above ten or fifteen per cent of an ordi- 
 narily skilled mechanic's wages. The mention of so much 
 detail may be pardoned, for were it omitted, only a vague 
 and unsatisfactory conception of life in this antediluvian age 
 would be acquired by the reader. 
 
 The great charm of these residences lay in the fact of their 
 retired situations, which prevented the dismal appearance of 
 masses of angular houses— an effect of extreme ugliness seen 
 in our modern days, but seldom, or never, in our Atlantean 
 cities. The result of this arrangement was, that to a beholder, 
 looking from any high elevation, the city would have been con- 
 spicuous, to one accustomed to the modern atrocities of stone, 
 brick or wood, chiefly for the absence of sky-piercing piles 
 separated by narrow, dark, treeless and too-often filthy tun- 
 nels, miscalled streets. Here a hill, and there another and yet 
 another, until the eye counted them by scores — there were one 
 hundred and nineteen in all— here a lake, or there a cliff with 
 a lake, or wooded park at its foot ; gorges of mimic grandeur, 
 little forests, so regularly irregular; cascades and tumbling 
 torrents, fed from the exhaustless supply of fresh water be- 
 longing to the city, their banks and shores covered with those 
 plants, trees and shrubs that love contiguity to abundant 
 water. Such, dear friends, would have been the scene pre- 
 sented to thine eyes, couldst thou have gazed on Caiphul with 
 me; perchance thou didst. And yet, Caiphul was not devoid 
 of houses built much after the modern fashion, for the city 
 franchise to build neat mansions here and there in situations 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 51 
 
 and styles calculated to add to the beauty of the scene, was 
 a privilege of which any one of means might avail himself, 
 under official approval. Many did so. Museums of art, edi- 
 fices for histrionic entertainment and other structures not 
 designed for habitation were also in tasteful numbers. 
 
 I found, in going about the city, that the avenues, in certain 
 instances, seemed to come to an abrupt termination in some 
 grotto, whose interior was usually hung with stalactites pendent 
 from the roof. Perhaps a slight turn occurred from the 
 straight course, and thus prevented one from seeing through 
 the grotto. In these places, shaded, high-tension, airless cylin- 
 der lamps cast a soft glow throughout the interior, making 
 a moonlight effect very pleasing to one who came in from the 
 brightness of the sunlight. 
 
 While, in the majority of cases, our people were accomplished 
 .equestrians, this mode of travel was not used except for phy- 
 sical culture and grace, electric transit being provided by the 
 government. Indeed, the social reformers of these days of 
 the Christian nineteenth century would have been in their 
 ideal land had they been Caiphalians, and this because the 
 government pursued the paternalistic principle so systemati- 
 cally as to have vested in itself the ownership of all the land, 
 all methods of public transit and communication, all manufac- 
 tories—in a word, all property. The system was a most 
 beneficent one, which no Poseid wanted to see disused, or 
 supplemented by any other. Did a citizen desire a vailx 
 (airship) for any use, he applied to the proper officials, who 
 were on duty at numerous vailx-yards throughout the realm. 
 Or, to cultivate the land, he applied to the Department of Soils 
 and Tillage. Perhaps it was desired to manufacture some 
 product: the machinery was for lease at the nominal rate nec- 
 essary to meet working expenses and the salary of the officers 
 overseeing that portion of the public property. Let these sam- 
 ples suffice. Enough, that no political harmony exists in this 
 modern time of the world like that which sprung from this 
 paternalism on the part of our elected officials. Governmental 
 
52 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 paternalism is a thing regarded with jealousy and semi-alarm 
 by modern republics. But it is to-day a different quality from 
 what it was then. Ours was a paternalism closely watched and 
 duly checked by the suffragists of the nation, and its life was 
 essentially exponent of true socialistic principles. 
 
 I have not even now been so precise in details as to explain 
 many of the most peculiar adjustments maintained between 
 the political parent and its children; nor between labor and 
 capital. But neither can I do so in these pages with any 
 degree of propriety, because this is not a plea for re-adoption, 
 in this age of the world, of methods pursued in that remote 
 period. Yet, this much I can say, not inappropriately at this 
 juncture— that Poseid had not in my day, the modern, yet also 
 very ancient, annoyance of labor strikes, blocking capital and 
 enterprise, starving the artisan, and causing more suffering 
 on the part of the poor than such annoyances can ever bring 
 to the doors of the rich. The secret of this immunity was not 
 far to seek; in a nation whose government was the voice of 
 those people who possessed sufficient education to wield the 
 power of franchise; and this, too, regardless of sex, because 
 inborn in our national life was this principle— "An educational 
 measuring-rod for every voter; the sex of the suffragist is 
 immaterial." In such a nation, and under such a government, 
 it were strange indeed if industrial inharmonies could long 
 disturb social polity. The broad principle of equity between 
 employer and employee governed in Poseid; it mattered not 
 what a person did for another person, but the whole equation 
 hinged on this question : Was some service performed by one 
 person for another? If so, the fact that the service was or 
 was not accomplished by physical labor, counted for nothing. 
 It might be equally a service deserving compensation whether 
 it was a physical or a purely intellectual service ; nor was it 
 held to be important whether the employer represented one 
 or more individuals, or the employee one or more people. 
 
 Our local enactments on the subject of industrial equity were 
 complete, and rather voluminous. While I care not to give 
 in detail a reproduction of what may be termed labor laws, a 
 
 
HE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 53 
 
 few excerpts are worthy of place. It will be well to preface 
 these with a short history of their enactment, and thus show 
 how, in that olden time, labor troubles quite similar, and fully 
 as menacing to peace and order as any modern industrial up- 
 heaval, were finally and equitably settled. 
 
 On the '\Maxin-Stone"— to which legal code reference in 
 full is made in the proper place— was found this vital seed of 
 settlement of the fearful menace embroiling labor and capital, 
 to-wit : 
 
 "What time those who work for hire shall be oppressed, 
 and shall rise in wrath to destroy their oppressor— lo ! let their 
 hand be -stayed, that they shall obey Me. I say unto them, 
 harm not the person or the property of any man, not even 
 though by that man they be oppressed. For are not all brothers 
 and sisters? Are not all children of one Father, even the 
 nameless Creator? But this I command: — That they destroy 
 oppression. Shall things, which are less than man, rule over 
 and oppress their masters? Seek diligently my meaning." 
 
 The students of ethics interpreted this command to mean 
 that the oppressed industrial classes should not harm the 
 oppressing capitalists, nor their property. The rich classes 
 were perhaps as much victims of circumstances as the poorer 
 people; the remedy lay, not in blind anarchy, but in eradicat- 
 ing conditions. This was easy, if properly attempted. The op- 
 pressed were as a thousand to one of the oppressor. The ma- 
 jority of them held the elective franchise, and it was deter- 
 mined that as the government was the people's servant, the 
 proper method was to deal with the question at the polls, and 
 not to employ violence against the rich. Therefore the call 
 went forth amongst all the people to vote on the adoption of 
 a code of industrial regulations, and to vote its respectful sub- 
 mission to the Rai. Of the many articles and sections, I shall 
 insert only those that are pertinent to modern times and trou- 
 bles, so that if these selections are not articled and sectioned in 
 consecution, the reason is obvious. 
 
54 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 EXCERPTS FROM THE POSEID LABOR LAWS. 
 
 "No employer shall demand of any employee any service 
 outside of legal hours of work without extra remuneration. ' ' 
 
 "See. 4. These hours shaJl not be less, nor more than nine 
 in number, for physical labor in any period of twenty-four 
 hours; nor less nor more than eight hours for sedentary em- 
 ployments chiefly requiring intellectual exertion." 
 
 This statute allowed the two parties to a labor-contract to 
 arrange to suit themselves when the working hours were to 
 begin or end, with reference to the first hour of the day, 
 namely, the modern noon hour. In regard to wage matters, the 
 law was very clear. It held that as mankind was selfish by 
 nature— that is, the lower nature— that he would operate on 
 a basis of self-aggrandizement, the modern doctrine of ' ' laissez- 
 nous faire." Hence if he should not be actuated by the sense 
 of duty to his fellow-man to treat that man right, when right 
 was not dictated by might, then the law must compel him 
 to be fair. It is in this that the modern Anglo-Saxon world, 
 which is Poseid (and Suern) reincarnating, shows one mark 
 of the slow but sure upward progress begotten of time ; proves 
 that although man moves, as does all else, sensate and insensate, 
 in a circle, yet that circles is like a screw-thread, ever progres- 
 sing around and around, but each time moving on a higher 
 plane. Poseid must be compelled by its advanced minds to do 
 what is fair towards the weak. America and Europe are 
 growing willing to do rightly, fairly, because it is the part 
 of duty. Thus we behold modern employers often doing of 
 free-will what the ancient Poseid did because of law, namely, 
 sharing profits with their employees. 
 
 The law then having gone to the lawmakers— the suffragists 
 —decreed that the government should establish a Department 
 of Commissary, the duties of which should be to collect all 
 statistics concerning the food products of commerce; also 
 concerning all textile fabrics necessary for clothing, and in 
 brief, all articles necessary for the proper social maintenance 
 of individuals. On these statistical reports was to be founded 
 an estimate of the cost of all such necessaries, amongst which 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 55 
 
 books were reckoned as mental food, and the cost of these 
 things for a year was calculated. Upon this calculation, day's 
 wages were estimated by dividing the annual cost into the 
 number of days. This rate was decided anew every ninety 
 days, as the cost of the chief staples was found to fluctuate, 
 hence the rate was not wholly stable, and the wages of any 
 given three months' term might probably differ from those of 
 any previous quarter. 
 
 Let me quote : 
 
 "Sec. VII, Art. V. Employers shall divide the gross profits 
 of business operations upon the following plan: The wage, 
 salary or emolument of each employee shall be paid in the 
 sum directed by the quarterly estimate of living cost deter- 
 mined by the Department of Commissary. From the remain- 
 der, the amount of six parts in each hundred on the capital 
 invested shall be set aside. This increment shall be and rep- 
 resent the employer's net profits. From the remaining income 
 the running expenses shall be deducted, and of any sum there- 
 after remaining, one-half shall be invested to provide annuities 
 for sick or disabled, or assurance for the dependents of de- 
 ceased employees. The remaining half shall be periodically 
 distributed amongst the employees on the basis of their various 
 compensations. 
 
 "Sec. VIII, Art. V. The whole of a body of employees is 
 only equal to the Superintendent thereof. The Superintendent 
 is equal to all the underlings. Hence, employers, when not 
 themselves managers of the business, shall pay to managers a 
 salary equal to the combined wages of the subordinates." 
 
 Truly, these labor laws and other matters have a modern 
 sound. But civiliation in all ages, among all nations, is wont 
 to express itself in ways which, if modern language be used 
 to describe them, will seem almost identical ; so that in ancient 
 Atl. and in modern America the term ' ' strike ' ' may be properly 
 used to designate a labor revolt ; the same principle character- 
 ies all other phases; for from age to age the world makes but 
 slow progress, and is to-day not as far advanced in its present 
 
56 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 sub-cycle, nor as civilized, as it was in olden Foseid. This may 
 seem a hard saying, but it will presently be understood. 
 
 Such in the main, were the chief features of the industrial 
 world in Poseid. The old-time strikes and riots out of which 
 these laws were born disappeared and peace took its sway. 
 The change was beneficent, indeed, yet always tho strong- 
 looked to see how they might evade the law, and though they 
 did not succeed to a harmful extent, still the wish on their 
 part entered the sum of karma. So when the modern world 
 of the Christian epoch came to the eighteenth and nineteenth 
 centuries, particularly the last named, then began the rein- 
 carnation of this Poseid era, and for a time the tendency to 
 oppression again came uppermost. But overriding this ten- 
 dency now faintly appears the willingness to do right for the 
 sake of right, which, as applied to industrial matters, has of 
 very, very recent years been manifested— a sign of the evening 
 after-glow of the last day, now near striking its last hour, 
 telling of a spent age. I particularly refer to the greater 
 willingness of man to treat his fellow rightly, without being 
 forced thereto by legal enactments. Trutly, it is, as yet, only 
 done because it is found to pay ; but it would never have been 
 found to pay if the reincarnated right-wardness had not in- 
 duced experiments in profit-sharing to be made, in hopes 
 of exterminating the strike iniquity, and with the idea of 
 harmonizing society to be active in doing as it would be done 
 by. Finally, strange and paradoxical as it may appear, this 
 betterment is the direct child of the old-time rights extorted 
 by might in Poseid, and to-day, reincarnated off-spring of re- 
 incarnated oppression, as in Atlantis oppression sprang rein- 
 carnate from the grave of other ages gone before, previous to 
 the wondrous memorial of Gizeh. But to more than mention 
 this here would be to trench upon work given unto another 
 by the Messiah; therefore only a hint can I give now, but 
 more later. Suffice it then, that those were ages when man 
 was struggling, with scarcely perceptible upward motion, from 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 57 
 
 our fallen ancestry. Glory be to our Father that His children 
 surely, if slowly, are by devious ways climbing His heights; 
 many are their falls, but they shall rise again, not suffering 
 the enemy to triumph. 
 
 It may be a seemingly inopportune intrusion, but I must here 
 briefly describe the electro-odic transit system of Caiphul, and 
 the other cities, towns and villages scattered throughout the 
 empire and its colonies The description is of the local transit- 
 carriages only. On each side of every avenue was a broad tes- 
 sellated pavement for pedestrians. A line of massive, bottom- 
 less stone vases in which throve ornamental shrubs and foliage 
 plants stood upon the curb, and on either side of these was a 
 metal rail, placed at a height of about nine feet, and supportel 
 upon davits similar to those from which ship-boats are swung. 
 At regular distances other rails crossed these main runners, 
 rails capable of being raised or lowered to form a switch- 
 junction— a simple lever effecting this process. These rails 
 served as cross streets, there being in comparatively few in- 
 stances any paved street underneath the rails on any but the 
 great radiate avenues. On the maps of the City Department of 
 Transit these main and cross rails looked like the w T eb of a gar- 
 den spider. For each transit-district there were multitudes of 
 carriages, having aut-odic mechanism, whereby they were made 
 to speed at tremendous swiftness with their passengers; but 
 collisions could not occur, as the conveying rods formed a 
 double-track system. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FAITH IS KNOWLEDGE ALSO, AND IT GIVETH TO RE- 
 MOVING MOUNTAINS. 
 
 There is a saying, whose origin is dim through lapse of time, 
 to the effect that ' ' Knowledge is power. ' ' Within well defined 
 limits this is a verity. If behind the knowledge lies the re- 
 quisite energy to realize its benefits, then only is it a true 
 saying. 
 
58 A DWELLER ON TWO PLAiNETS; OR, 
 
 In order to exercise command over nature and her forces, the 
 would-be operator must have perfect comprehension of the 
 natural laws involved. It is the degree of attainment in this 
 knowledge which marks the less or greater ability of the per- 
 former, and those who have acquired the profoundest under- 
 standing of the Law (Lex Magnum) are masters whose powers 
 seem so marvellous as to be magical. Uninitiated minds are 
 absolutely alarmed by their incomprehensible manifestations. 
 On every side of me when I came from my mountain home to 
 my metropolitan abode, I found inexplicable wonders, but 
 natural dignity saved me from appearing ignorant. Little by 
 little was I to acquire familiarity with my environment, and 
 thereby gain a knowledge of the things which have been re- 
 ferred to since I first mentioned the exchange of country life 
 for urban surroundings. But these attainments of pleasing 
 authority over nature demanded a special course. That course 
 of study had not yet been determined upon by me, prior to 
 my introduction to the city, for it seemed that the part of wis- 
 dom was to concentrate my energies upon specialties, and 
 not to scatter force by attempting generalities. To this 
 end I determined to live for a more or less extended period 
 without seeking admission to the Xioquithlon, and resolved 
 to devote the interim to observation. I had been an extensive 
 reader of books, which I obtained from the public library in 
 the district where my mountain home had been. From these 
 I had gained no inconsiderable understanding of social polity. 
 The fact that there were but ninety-one elective offices in the 
 gift of the people, while there were almost three hundred 
 millions of Poseidi in Atl and her colonies, and according to a 
 late census which I had seen, thirty-seven — nearly thirty-eight 
 millions of electors held First Degree diplomas, thus entitling 
 them to hold elective offices— disposed me to think it extremely 
 improbable that such a high preferment would ever fall to 
 my lot. But if I could scarcely expect a ministerial office, I 
 yet felt that I might, if I fitted myself therefor by gaining a 
 prime diploma, attain to a high political level and hold an 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 59 
 
 appointive position, and some of these were almost equally as 
 honorable as a councillorship. What special subjects should 
 I concentrate upon? Geological research was very attractive 
 to me, and by its numerous branches offered wide and alluring 
 fields of opportunity. Then again, philology was almost as 
 much so; my ability to acquire foreign languages was not 
 inconsiderable, as I had found from studying a little volume 
 descriptive of a land known as Suernis, a strange country, and 
 of the language of which many examples were given; these 
 I had without effort learned perfectly from once reading. 
 
 Several months of city residence at length found me deter- 
 mined to acquire all the geological knowledge that I could, for 
 it was a study which I believed IncpJ. had directed me to make, 
 as also a knowledge of mines and of practical min- 
 eralogy. As co-efficients I purposed to thoroughly ground 
 myself in synthetic and analytical literature, not alone 
 of my native Poseid, but also that of the Suerni and 
 Necropanic languages. Thus have I named the three greatest 
 nations of pre-Noachian (pre-Nepthian) times. One of these 
 nations was effaced from the earth, but the other two have, 
 after terrible vicissitudes, survived till today; of them I will 
 speak later. 
 
 The reasons which induced me to choose the curriculum 
 which I have menetioned were, that as a geologist and co- 
 ordinate scientist I hoped to make new discoveries of value, 
 and to place them in book form before the world— at least 
 before the Poseid peoples, who esteemed themselves most of the 
 world— an end scarcely to be attained otherwise than by this 
 course of study. The influence which I hoped to gain through 
 such publications, might lead to my becoming Superintendent- 
 General of Mines— a political place not second to any other 
 appointive office. There certainly would be other studies re- 
 quired of me if I entered the race for a prime diploma, but the 
 ones cited were the most agreeable, and would constitute my 
 chief aspiration. As an aside, I may remark that those studies 
 then selected, and afterwards mastered, led my nature to 
 assume a bent which resulted, not many years ago, in my be- 
 
60 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 coHirning a mine-owner in the State of California— and a suc- 
 cessful one, too. It so much more firmly fixed my linguistic 
 leanings that, while a citizen of the United States of America, 
 I was a master not alone of my native tongue, but also of 
 thirteen other modern languages, such as French, German and 
 Spanish, Chinese, several dialectal varieties of Hindostanee, 
 and Sanskrit as a sort of mental relaxation. Please not to 
 regard this confession as due to boastfulness ; it is not. I 
 but make it in order to show thee, my friend, that thine own 
 powers are not matters of heritage only, but re-collected ac- 
 quirements from some one, or it may be of all of thy past lives ; 
 also to give thee a hint of profit,— to-wit:— that studies to-day 
 undertaken, no matter how near to the evening of thy days, 
 will surely bear fruit, not alone in they present earth- 
 life, but in the experiences of subsequent incarnations 
 also. We see with all we have seen, we do with all we havr 1 
 done, and we think with all we have thought. Verbum sat 
 sapienti. 
 
 In the next chapter I purpose devoting some pages to a 
 consideration of physical science, as understood by the Poseidi ; 
 more especially will I refer to the prime principles upon which 
 it was based, inasmuch as neglect to do this would necessitate 
 the taking of many statements ex cathedra which otherwise 
 might be clearly understood at the moment. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 "AXTE INCAL, AXTUCE MUN." 
 
 In their consideration of natural laws the philosophers of 
 Poseid had come to the conclusive hypothesis and working 
 theory that the material universe was not a complex entity, 
 but in its primality extremely simple. The glorious truth, 
 "Incal malixetho," was clear to them, that is, that "Incal 
 (God) is immanent in Nature." To this they appended,— 
 "Axte IncaL axtuce mun,"- "To know God is to know all 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 61 
 
 / 
 
 worlds whatever." After centuries of experimentations, re- 
 cording of phenomena, deductions, analysing and synthetizing, 
 these students had arrived at the final proposition that the 
 universe— not here dwelling on their wondrous astronomical 
 knowledge— was, with all its varied phenomena, created and 
 continuously kept in operation by two primal force-principles. 
 Briefly stated, these basic facts were that matter and dynamic 
 energy (which were Incal made externally manifest) could 
 readily account for all things else. This conception held that 
 only One Substance existed, and but One Energy, the one being 
 Incal externalized, and the other His Life in action in His 
 Body.* . This One Substance assumed many forms under the 
 action of variant degrees of dynamic force. Because it was 
 the basic principle of all natural, and all psychic, but not of 
 spiritual phenomena, allow here a postulate with which not 
 a few of my friends will find themselves at least partially famil- 
 iar, perhaps wholly so. Commencing with dynamic energy as 
 first sensibly manifest in the example furnished by simple 
 vibration, the Poseid position may be outlined as follows: A 
 very low rate of vibration may be felt; an increase of rate 
 heard. For example, first we feel the pulsing of a harp-string, 
 and then if the rate of vibration be increased we hear its 
 sound. But substances of other sorts, able to endure greater 
 vibratory impulses, manifest under more intense action — fol- 
 lowing sound, first heat, then light. Now again, light varies in 
 color. The first color produced is red, and thence, by a con- 
 stantly augmentation vibratile energy, orange, yellow, green 
 blue, indigo, violet— each spectrumband being due to an exact 
 and definite increase in the number, of the vibrations. Succeed- 
 ing the violet, further augment^SoWgives pure white, more 
 gives a. gray, then more extinguishes^ light, replacing it with 
 
 *NOTE — As, in its outgoing- impulse the Created draws away from 
 the Creator, it looks back to its origin and notes its progression-marks;^ 
 that is, its multiplied realizations of its increasing separation from its 
 Source. The greater this separateness. the greater the field (Matter) 
 wherein these points appear, because the divine element in the Created 
 has noted more points, or. in other words, more things, more material 
 objects, as being between it and its source. Only when we look back at 
 these things we have sensed, these thought-forms of God, do we perceive 
 matter, for when we look forward to reunion with Him, matter disappears, 
 giving place to Spirit. 
 
62 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 electricity, and so on through an ever increasing voltage until 
 the realm of vital or psychic-force is attained. This may truly 
 be regarded as going inward from those manifestations of na- 
 ture, of Incal or God, or the Creator, which are external; as 
 going toward the internal from externality. A very brief 
 study will show thee that the laws of the physical world 
 continue inward to their spiritual source; that they are, truly, 
 but prolongations the one of the other. But, ere entering into 
 the realm of vibration, whose doorkeeper is sound, we find that 
 the One Substance vibrates in viriant, but definite dynamic 
 degree, and that thence arise each and all of the diverse forms 
 of matter ; in short, the difference between any given substances, 
 as gold and silver, iron and lead, sugar and sand, is not one 
 of matter, but of dynamic degree solely. Do I weary thee, 
 my friend? Bear yet a little longer, I pray thee, for it is an 
 important matter. In this dynamic affection the degree is no 
 loose limitation, for if the vibratile rate be a shade variant— 
 lower or higher than in any special material which may be 
 under notice— the variation will be different in appearance and 
 in its chemical nature; thus to proper substantial entities 
 definite if enormous vibration per second may be imparted, 
 and the resulting substance (for light is substantial) is, say, 
 red light,* but if one-eighth greater it will be orange, and if 
 more or less, then the resultant must inevitably be a reddish 
 orange, or a yellowish, respectively. It thus appears that cer- 
 tain definite degrees exist as plainly as mile-posts, and that 
 these major degrees are absolute. In other words, the One 
 Substance is not as readily kept between these greater defini- 
 tions as upon them— a fact which explains the tendency of 
 composites, or intermediate affections, to decompose into the 
 
 *NOTE. — Red-light is stated to occur at 395,000,000,000,000 vibrations 
 of that "ether" which by Phylos is termed the last form of matter below 
 where matter ceases and mind begins. And the highest visible light 
 vibration is placed at 790,000,000,000.000. So says science. But Phylos 
 says: "Vastly higher than the high purple range where light ceases 
 ordinarily to be visible, the One Substance again vibrates visibly. As a 
 synchronous harp-string that responds to key of low C, for example, 
 struck on another harp, will also respond to every C in the whole register, 
 be it low, or middle, ©r high, so the One Substance responds at 831,000.- 
 000.000,000; at, again, the next octave of vibration, and again at the next, 
 where it becomes visible as the fatal Unfed Light, called in Atla the 
 "Maxin," and again, by the Tchin as the "Vis Mortuus." 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 63 
 
 ditinite or simple elements; chemical compounds are not as 
 stable as chemical primaries. The modern "wave theory," 
 that sound, heat, light and correlatives are but forms of force 
 is only half correct; they are this, but they are more also. 
 They are, in brief, affections of the One Substance by specific 
 degrees of the One Energy, and except that the rate of this 
 affection is vastly greater in the case of electricity than in that 
 of lead or gold, there is no difference between these widely 
 diverse appearing things. This is the energy by the Ros- 
 icrucians named "Fire," that which gives entrance to that 
 mysterious realm of nature penetrated only by the adept, 
 thaumaturgist, magician. Call these students at whose will 
 all nature bends obedient, by whatever name best pleases thee, 
 only bearing ever in mind that the real Magian never speaks 
 of self or works, and is not known by his fellows to be what he 
 is, save an accident hath revealed the secret. To this member- ( 
 ship belonged He at whose command the winds and the waves 
 were stayed on tempestuous Galilee. But He spoke not of 
 Himself. Of that sublime brotherhood I will relate much ere 
 long. No better proof is needed that all the variant manifesti- 
 tions are but variants of the odic force, the Rosicrucian "Fire," 
 than this: — offer resistance to an electric current, thereby re- 
 ducing or diverting it against an opposing force — and thou 
 hast light; oppose to this (arc) light a combustable obstruction, 
 and flame results. So mightest thou go on to the discovery 1 
 soon to be made by the world of science, that light, all light, \ 
 of the sun, or from any source, can be made to yield sound; 
 upon this discovery hinge some of the most astounding inven- 
 tions that thine age hath even dreamed of in its visions. But 
 the primal discovery in this wonderful link, first of the sequence . 
 will be the greatest of all, and so heralded. And this will be 
 warranted, for the fact that it will be but a reincarnate unfold- 
 ment will not diminish its importance to mankind, nor the 
 credit of its re-discoverer. In brief, the truths of our Father's 
 Kingdom are eternal; have ever been, will ever be existent, 
 and only the discoverers themselves will be new to the fact. 
 The fact not being a new one in itself, nor new even to the 
 
64 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 world, but only to this age of it. Poseid knew that light gives 
 out sound when correctly resisted. It knew that magnetism 
 gives rise to electricity in the same manner, and for the same 
 reason. Thus, the load-stone exhibits magnetism; revolve it 
 in the field of a dynamo, and so cut the current and pile it 
 upon itself, so to speak, and electricity develops. So, resist 
 this and light appears; this, and heat comes; again resisted 
 properly, and sound results, then next energy appears as 
 pulsing motion. But these various processes may be " short- 
 circuited" and all of the intermediate phenomena cut out: ~~ 
 
 Have I been wearisome in this discourse? If so, and I 
 suspect that I have, the reward is at hand. 
 
 The Poseidi found that in the realm beyond magnetism were 
 yet other forces, superior and more intense of pulsation, forces 
 operated by the mind. And Mind is of our Father, and is 
 the constantly creating source of all things whatsoever. Were 
 the perpetual Vis a tergo of divine creation to cease for one 
 instant, in that instant the Universe would cease to exist. 
 Now wilt thou see the sublime beauty of the Altan postulate not 
 long since repeated: "Incal malixetho. Axte Incal, axtuce 
 mun." For down from His heights, marking the descent by 
 "forcefalls" as a river marks declivities in its bed by cata- 
 racts, comes this supreme power ; comes far, oh ! very far 
 adown its course to the cascades of magnetism, electricity, light, 
 heat, sound, motion— and far off where the bed of this Divine 
 stream becomes nearly level, exhibits those little ripples of 
 material differentiation which thou termest chemical elements, 
 insisting on there being sixty-three, when there is but One : 
 
 From this knowledge came all the wondrous triumps of that 
 old age, and one by one they are emerging to-day after their 
 long oblivion, till to-morrow they shall awake in crowds, and 
 press to re-discovery by threes and fours, and then by platoons 
 and companies and legions, till all the treasures of Poseid shall 
 be again on earth, in air, and sea. 0, bright to-morrow of time, 
 and fortunate thou who shalt open thine eyes upon it and its 
 marvels : And yet, although so fortunate, still shalt thou 
 find it well behooves thee to temper all things by tire spirit, and 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 65 
 
 not to let the march of physical discovery outstrip the advance 
 of the soul. 0, sad shall be found any day wherein man ap- 
 proacheth the arcane treasury of his Father from the side of 
 the blind physic ial eye ; for if by this the whole world shall 
 be gained, what shall it profit if it lose the soul? 
 
 Having thus acquired insight into a new realm, if it be 
 new to thee, let me ask, and answer thou me : How explainest 
 thou these two great phenomena, heat and light? They are 
 not easy to explain; cold and darkness are not merely the ab- 
 sence of heat and light. 
 
 Having given the basis thereof, now will I show a new phil- 
 osophy : 
 
 I have said that the Atlans recognized Nature in its entirety 
 to be Deity externalized. Their philosophy asserted that force 
 moved, not in straight lines, but in circles, that is, so as 
 always to return into itself. If the dynamism operating the 
 universe acts in circular progression, it follows that an infinity 
 of increase in vibration possible to the One Substance would 
 be an untenable concept. There must be a point in the circle 
 where extremes meet and run the round again — and this we 
 find between cathodicity and magnetism. As vibration brought 
 substance into the realm of light, it must carry it out. It does 
 so. It conveys it into what the Poseidi termed "Navaz, the 
 Night-Side of Nature," where duality becomes manifest— cold 
 opposing heat, darkness light, and where positive polarity 
 opposes negative— all things antipodal. Cold is as much a 
 substantial entity as heat, and darkness as light. There is a 
 prism of seven colors in each white ray of light; there is also 
 a septuple prism of black entities in the blackest gloom— the 
 night is as pregnant as the day. 
 
 The Poseid investigator thus became cognizant of wondrous 
 forces of nature which he might bend to the uses of mankind./ 
 The secret was out, the discovery being that attraction of 
 gravitation— the law of weight— had, set over against it the 
 ' ' repulsion by levitation ; ' ' that the first belonging to the LightX 
 Side of Nature, and the second to Navaz— the Night-Side; that V 
 vibration governed the darkness and the cold. Thus Posied, j 
 
66 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 like Job of old, knew the path to the house of darkness, and 
 the treasures of the hail (cold). Through this wisdom Atlantis 
 found it possible to adjust weight (positiveness) to lack of 
 weight (negativeness) so evenly that no "tug of war" was 
 manifest. This achievement meant much. It meant aerial 
 navigation without wings or unwieldly gas-reservoirs, through 
 taking advantage of repulsion by levitation opposed in over- 
 matching strength to the attraction of gravitation. That vi- 
 bration of the One Substance governed and (composed) all 
 realms was a discovery which solved the problem of the con- 
 veyance of images of light— pictures of forms— as well as of 
 sound and heat, just as the telephone thou knowest so well 
 conveys images of sound, only in Poseid no wires or other 
 sensible material connection was required in the use, at what- 
 ever distance, of either telephones or telephotes; nor even in 
 caloriveyance, that is, heat-conduction. 
 
 To digress a little, it is to the employment of these and the 
 higher forces of the night-side that seemingly magic feats of 
 occult adepts, from the Man of Nazareth down to the least 
 Yogi, are indebted for their possibility. 
 
 And now, let me close this chapter by saying that when 
 modern science shall have seen its way to the acceptance of the 
 Poseidonic knowledge herein outlined, physical nature 
 will no longer posses any hidden recess, any penetralia, for the 
 scientific investigator. Not earth, air, the depth of the seas 
 nor those of interstellar space will hold secrets from that man 
 who approaches from the God-ward side, as did Poseid. I do 
 not say that Atl knew the very all ; it knew more than this day 
 has yet uncovered, but not all. Yet, the search commenced 
 then by them might be continued now by thee, for America, my 
 people, thou wert of Atlantis. Of either I can^ sing, "My 
 country, 'tis of thee," 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 LIFE IN CAIPHUL. 
 
 The new life presented very many novelties to my mother 
 and myself, coming into the midst of urban environments 
 from the mountains, as we had so recently done. 
 
 After learning more about its conveniences, I very readily 
 harmonized myself with the new requirements. My attire I 
 altered to suit the city styles, while my bearing being re- 
 served, I was enabled to appear at ease, an appearance sup- 
 ported in continually increasing degree by the fact that I 
 steadily gained in self-command. 
 
 The indoor life of a student, when I had enrolled myself for 
 attendance at the Xioquithlon, proved so enervating to one ac- 
 customed to unhampered freedom, that I found myself obliged 
 to follow some scheme which would afford me needed exercise. 
 
 After some thought, together with fortuitous information 
 which I gained, I went to the District Superintendent of the 
 Department of Soils and Tillage, and requested that official 
 to show me some piece of land which I might cultivate, not 
 necessarily for profit, but for exercise, telling him that I was 
 a student. 
 
 The Superintendent, with official indifference, laid before me 
 a platted map of the lands adjacent to Caiphul. 
 
 In speaking of distances I have consulted the probable con- 
 venience of my readers, and used feet, yards, miles, and so on, 
 as nominal quantities. I refer to this now, remembering that 
 our system of measurements was founded on a principle similar 
 to the modern Gallic or metric system. But its unit was not the 
 ten-millionth part of the terrestrial quadrant. Instead, it orig- 
 inated from the great Rai of the Maxin Laws. As previously 
 remarked, this monarch had introduced all conceivable re- 
 forms, and among others was this of replacing with a uniform 
 system of measurements the clumsier, though not wholly un- 
 scientific method previously in use. The circumference of the 
 earth at the equator, as determined by astronomers, had served 
 
68 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 as a basis, just as the modern metric system of a fraction of 
 the quadrature of the earth's north and south polar division 
 does today. But this standard was not regarded with unfailing 
 confidence ; it was feared some error had crept into the original 
 calculation, and while if it had, the rod of gold used as a 
 register would have served all purposes, being unchangeable, 
 still such is the human wish to be as perfect as possible, that, 
 as I have said, the fear of an error annihilated confidence. 
 Every man who chose to do so, set up a private standard, based 
 on any scheme which suited himself, a condition of things 
 which led to deplorable fraud throughout the empire. 
 
 The Rai of the Maxin instituted a system so admirable that 
 it was immediately accepted as absolute authority, more espec- 
 ially as no man doubted that it came from Incal. 
 
 The Rai had a vessel constructed of material which under- 
 went the smallest known contraction or expansion under the 
 influence of cold or heat. This vessel was interiorly a perfect 
 hollow cube, of the exact size of the Maxin-Stone. A massive 
 tube was also made of the same substance, some four inches 
 in interior diameter. Into the cubic vessel was poured pre- 
 cisely enough distilled water, of a temperature of 39 degrees 
 Fahr., to fill it, and leave no bubble of air within the hollow. 
 This water was then drawn off through a faucet into the 
 tubular vessel, the same low temperature being carefully main- 
 tained. The exact height of the water was then graven on a 
 rod of the same metal of which the vessels were made. The 
 next step was to heat the water to 211.95 degrees Fahr., both 
 this and the other process being performed at the sea-leveJ 
 on a uniform summer day. Under the heat, the water ex- 
 panded in an appreciable degree, and the almost boiling point 
 was marked as in the other instance, and the difference on 
 the rod between the two graven lines was made the unit of 
 lineal measurement, from which all other measures were de- 
 rived—that of weight being the weight of the hollow cube 
 full of water at 39 degrees ~|- Fahr. I use the Fahrenheit 
 thermometrical scale because to thee our Poseid scale would be 
 meaningless. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 69 
 
 Pardon this digression, since it reveals another of the phases 
 of life in that long-past age. 
 
 To return to the Superintendent's office. This person, hav- 
 ing laid before me a map of unrented areas— it will be re- 
 membered that there was no owner of land except the govern- 
 ment—turned to other business, leaving me to study the plat 
 at pleasure. Running my eye over the printed descriptions, I 
 found that a tract of about five acres, on a part of which was 
 an old orchard of various kinds of fruit trees, was to be had 
 at a distance of some eight "vens" (nearly the same number 
 of miles) from the city, but farther up the peninsula. Its 
 former tenant had leased it for a period of fifty years, but by 
 reason of his death the property was left vacant, and was 
 consequently again for disposition. 
 
 The fact that students were often hard-pressed for means 
 on which to live was taken into account by the government, 
 which in all of its dealings with this class allowed better terms 
 than were accorded to any other social division. 
 
 The property under consideration attracted me from its de- 
 scription, viz:— "An area of approximately eight ven-nines 
 (five acres) with a dwelling of four rooms, spring water piped 
 over the house; one ven-nine devoted to garden-flowers, and 
 six to fruit trees fifteen years of age. Terms (with all con- 
 veniences) to students— one half of the fruit-crop, and all 
 perfume-flowers grown, delivered to the Agent of Soils and 
 Tillage Department. To other persons than students, four 
 tekas per month (ten dollars and twenty-three cents.) Not 
 leased for less than one year." 
 
 I concluded to lease the place, for I learned that "all con- 
 veniences" meant vailx transportation, telephotic (naim) ser- 
 vice, and a caloriveyant instrument, which latter would save 
 fuel, energy to be converted into heat for cooking and other 
 purposes being transmitted by the "Navaza"— a range of 
 material forces denominated in these, thy modern days "earth- 
 currents", but also including those of the higher ether, a range 
 which ye shall yet find and utilize as did Atl, for are ye not 
 Poseid returned? I have said it. Ye lived then; ve live now. 
 
tO A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; Oft, 
 
 Ye used all these forces then; ye shall ere long use them all 
 again. 
 
 Having decided to take the property shown me, I so stated 
 to the official, whereupon he furnished me with a blank con- 
 tract, helping me to properly fill it out. As a glimpse into 
 that long-fled epoch, I give a copy of this leasehold: — 
 
 ' % years of age, of the sex, and 
 
 by occupation a do covenant with the Department of 
 
 Soils to lease block in district described as 
 
 follows : And I do agree to take 
 
 this for years, the same being smiled 
 
 upon by the Most High Incal." 
 
 I took the place for a term of eight years, expecting to be 
 a resident of Caiphul during at least that period of time, as a 
 student at the Xioquithlon. 
 
 It seemed no small thing that I could have conveyance by 
 vailx from my leasehold to the Xioquithlon, and thus enjoy a 
 daily trip through the air. Vailx, like the modern cab, might 
 be sent for by telephone, and respond for service in a short 
 time after the call. 
 
 It was customary with all new-comers in the city to make 
 a visit to the Agacoe palace and gardens as early as might be 
 convenient after their arrival. Two hours in each week the Rai 
 (emperor) sat in the reception hall, and during these two 
 hours visitors thronged the corridors and passed in double 
 ranks before the throne. After this ceremony all who chose 
 were free to wander unrestricted through the gardens, visit the 
 menagerie— where every known species of animal was kept— 
 or to go through the grand museum or the royal library. With 
 many it was a pleasureable custom to frequently spend the day 
 at Agacoe, on which occasions lunches were brought and a 
 quiet picnic held under the great trees beside fountain, lake or 
 cataract. 
 
 I must now return to that time when my mother and myself 
 were wholly unfamiliar with city usages, in order that the 
 reader may accompany us through scenes of novelty. Let us 
 begin with the visit to Agacoe. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 71 
 
 An acquaintance at that moment gained, guided us to the 
 palace taking us with himself in a car into which he ushered 
 us. At this time these cars were a novelty to me, and conse- 
 quently their manipulation became a subject upon which to in- 
 form myself. 
 
 Our friend took a small coin from his purse and dropped it 
 into an aperture in a glass-fronted box at one end of the car. 
 The coin could not miss falling in such a way as to rest in the 
 bottom of a glass cylinder, a very little greater in diameter 
 than the money itself. Two metal points which projected into 
 the lower end of the cylinder, but did not approach each other 
 nearer than a quarter of an inch, were in the bottom of the 
 tube. When the coin fell upon these a little bell rang, and our 
 friend then raised a lever in the carriage, which lever had a 
 lock-bar over it until the bell rang. This bar had, with the 
 closing of the circuit by the coin, automatically slipped back, 
 at the same time ringing a bell as above noted, thus releasing 
 the lever. When the latter was raised the car moved suddenly 
 but easily out of the station. It swung from its over-head rail, 
 only the peripheries of its large suspensory-wheels being vis- 
 ible, for together with their axles they were mostly hidden by 
 a long metal case which extended from one wheel to the other, 
 and within which a low, humming whirr could be heard— a 
 sound produced by the mechanism of the motory apparatus. 
 The plan of making the passenger do duty as engineer and con- 
 ductor also was a good one, seeing that the processes required 
 so little knowledge or trouble. As we left the car at the main 
 entrance depot below Agacoe terrace, our friend replaced the 
 lever, the bell rang again, the coin dropped from sight into a 
 strong box underneath, and the vehicle was ready for other 
 passengers. At the grand entrance— a gate which was a mar- 
 vel of architectural beauty— our friend bade us adieu, entered 
 a car which hung from another track, and was soon disappear- 
 ing at lightning speed to some yet more distant destination. 
 Glancing at the directory which hung above that particular 
 line, I saw that it bore the legend in Poseid characters, "Aagak 
 mnoiinc sus,"— that is "City Front and Grand Canal,"— to 
 
72 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 make a free translation. Wishing to inform myself concerning 
 our friendly guide, I asked some one who had interestedly 
 watched the arrival of our little party, who the gentleman was. 
 The reply given was :— 
 
 "A great preacher, who foretells the destruction of this con- 
 tinent, and bids all men so live that they will not fear to meet 
 One who, he says, is the Son of Incal, who shall come upon the 
 earth in days yet very far off. He says that this Son of Goo 
 shall be the Savior of mankind, but that many shall not know 
 Him until He shall have been put to death. Twelve shall know 
 Him, but one of them will deny Him in the hour of His last 
 peril. Indeed, it is a subject of very exceeding interest, albeit 
 one I do not very well understand; yet, as Rai Gwauxln— In- 
 cal be good to him!— showeth this preacher all favor, and saith 
 of him, 'He speaketh verities'— therefore is he attentively re- 
 ceived by every one." 
 
 Reader, even in that far past age of the world truth was 
 dawning, and this, in the morning of the cycle, was a first ray 
 of the bright sun of Christianity, the orb which even yet is not 
 arisen in the fullness of its glory. I had that morning ridden 
 in the same car with the first prophet who announced the com- 
 ing of our Lord Jesus Christ, exhorting all of his hearers so to 
 live that their souls might be turned as virgin soil to the rising 
 Sun of Truth, and thereby be made ready to receive the Mas- 
 ter when, after the death of their then possessed corporeal 
 bodies, they had returned to earth from Devachan as rein- 
 carnated souls. Sowing the seed by the wayside ! It fell on 
 me when at a somewhat later period I heard the prophet speak 
 in impassioned eloquence to the specially assembled Xioquithli 
 (students). I know it fell on fallow soil, when I compare my 
 life now with the lives past; yet, for long, the seed lay dor- 
 mant, and while it did so the bitter experiences of sin and er- 
 ror arose and swept my life outward on a wave of scorching 
 fire, which required another incarnation to heal the scars it left. 
 
 As we stood beneath the portal at the grand entrance to 
 Agacoe, we— unsophisticated mountaineers !— could not know 
 when a uniformed guide accosted us, that the emperor, on his 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 73 
 
 throne half a mile distant, was in that same moment perfectly 
 aware of our personal appearance, and also of the very words 
 we used, and our tones. 
 To me the soldier said: 
 
 "And thou, whence comest, and what is thy name?" 
 "I am called Zailm Numinos, and come from Querdno Aru." 
 "This visit— is it thy first, or hast thou previously been 
 here?" 
 
 "Not ere this; neither I, nor my parent here by my side." 
 " So ! I will provide thee a conductor. Thou wilt find him at 
 yonder gateway. One more question, an' it please thee;— thy 
 mission in Caiphul?" 
 
 "I am come to study xioq in the Inithlon; my mother doth 
 purpose to keep our house." 
 " 'Tis well. Thou mayest go." 
 
 This colloquy occurred at the great portal giving entrance 
 to the terrace above. The sentry sat behind a richly wrought 
 gate of bronze metal and gold, very slight, but all sufficient to 
 bar unwelcomed progress. At his back was a large mirror in 
 the heavy arch of the portal. This reflector was suspended by 
 two burnished copper rods in such a manner as to prevent it 
 from touching the side of the niche at any point. Could I have 
 looked behind it, I would have seen an arrangement of metallic 
 cords much resembling those of a piano, together with much 
 other mechanism which at the time would have meant nothing 
 to my untutored mind. How was I to suspect that this brightly 
 polished metal sheet, in which as in a calm lake, the whole in- 
 terior of the archway was reflected, was an ingenious auto- 
 matic messenger? That some one of the myriad wires behind 
 it was vibrant to every possible inflection of the voice, or to 
 any sound whatever, and that when I spoke, every briefest 
 sound I uttered was sped along the natural earth-currents 
 which sprang from nature's Night-Side responsive to the con- 
 trol of man, and heard by the Rai on his throne. No more did 
 I dream that, simultaneously with this tell-tale, our imaged 
 reflection was likewise conveyed to the same august presence, 
 But such were the facts, 
 
74 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 A few steps brought us to an inner gate made of fenestrated 
 iron plates which, upon the pressing of a button at the side, 
 arose between standards to give passage beneath. At this 
 point we found the guide whom the guard had provided. I 
 deemed his silence an indication of gruffness, not knowing 
 that he had received orders, ere we came unto him, which di- 
 rected him to conduct us to the royal presence, and needed 
 from us no repetition of our wishes. His quiet remark:— * 'I 
 understand"— when I began to tell him what we desired, pre- 
 vented more words on my part, for I felt a sense of injured 
 pride at his reserve, so different from the freedom of my moun- 
 tain associates; and there were so many of these haughty city 
 people ! I determined to give this man a lesson, and considered 
 how I might best let him know that I thought his manner over- 
 bearingly out of place for one in his station. That he already 
 possessed all necessary information concerning us I did not 
 imagine, since, if the distance from his post to the outer gate 
 was not great, it was obviously too far for our low-spoken 
 tones to have been heard. The unsuspected mirror had done its 
 work here also, although we knew it not. 
 
 "Come," said this haughty fellow, "I will conduct thyself 
 and mother." 
 
 "Mother!" I thought. "How does the fellow know that one 
 so fair and so young looking is my mother? She might be my 
 sister, or even my wife, for aught he knows to the contrary." 
 The supposed presumption of the man nettled me, for I was 
 proud not only of my mother's youthful appearance, but also 
 of my own fondly-fancied mature looks ; I had not infrequently 
 been told that I looked seven or eight years older than I ready 
 was. Had the foolishness of such a pride in my personal ap- 
 pearance been fairly presented to me, instead of feeling an ill- 
 defined resentment at a seeming presumption, I would have 
 laughed at its absurdity, and put it aside as unworthy of one 
 having such high-aimed ambition. As it was, it merely resulted 
 in stiffness of demeanor as a retaliation for the imagined over- 
 bearance, and, mostly to my own detriment, caused somewhat 
 of an obliviousness to sights and surroundings I had better 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 75 
 
 have noted at the time. Though I did not laugh then, by reason 
 of the obtuse view caused by my ignorance, I have laughed 
 since, as I looked back over the record of the past. So many 
 thousand years as have since elapsed may make it s^cm 
 laughter at long range, but, ' ■ Tis better late than never, ' ' fitly 
 applies here ! 
 
 We seated ourselves as directed, in a car of lighter build than 
 those used on the public avenues, and also of a different shape. 
 It was not until we were fairly in motion that I realized how 
 absolutely different was its construction and propulsive 
 method. Well-used as I wished to appear to all these novel 
 things, I gave a tell-tale start when the conductor touched a 
 lever and the vehicle rose into the air like a soap-bubble, 
 steadied itself, and then darted up the incline to the edge of the 
 level ground surrounding the palace. Here we left the cigar- 
 shaped vehicle, and entered a ear which ran upon rails. When 
 we were again in motion, we made a half circuit of the build- 
 ing, and then shot across the plateau directly into the dark, 
 yawning mouth of one of the great stone serpents Instead of 
 ascending at the same angle as did the body of the reptile, our 
 car glided along on a horizontal plane. As we entered, a sud- 
 den illumination lit up the gloom, where an instant previous 
 all had been darkness. From this pleasant surprise my atten- 
 tion was attracted to the brilliancy of the walls about us, 
 which seemed to flame with red, blue, green, yellow and all 
 other tinted flashes of fire, so that I can find no simile more 
 fitting than comparison to the sun-lit dews on the myriad webs 
 of morning lawn-spiders I forgot my own haughtiness, and 
 asked concerning the cause of this dazzling effect, and was an- 
 swered that the masons had finished the walls with a mortar 
 in which colored grains of glass had been incorporated. 
 
 In the midst of our admiration our horizontal progress 
 ceased, and I saw that we were at the bottom of a sort of well, 
 around the sides of which the track coiled in upward spirals 
 until it seemed to cease just beneath a ceiling vaguely visible 
 from the light cast upward by ourselves as we swiftly circled 
 the incline. As we came directly beneath the ceiling a sweet- 
 
76 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 toned bell rang' twice, and immediately afterward the entire 
 ceiling slid noiselessly aside, allowing our carriage to pass 
 through Behind us the well again closed automatically, and 
 we found ourselves in a splendid apartment, of which the size 
 was not apparent, owing to the many swinging screens of car- 
 mine silk— the royal color— as well as to the foliage plants 
 which made miniature sylvan vistas The flowers and song- 
 birds, the fountains and perfumed air, with the cool shade after 
 the heat outside— for we had not been long enough in the ele- 
 vator-well to become cool— all made what seemed a paradise. 
 The ceiling of this great room was visible only here and there, 
 being in most places hidden by pendant vines. Through all 
 this harmony of vision, trembling in the air, over, under, 
 around-about were sounding entrancing musical cadences, to 
 which, as to an inspiration, the birds replied in rivaling chorus. 
 In and out, amongst this edenic scene of color, sound and scent, 
 past choice statues and fairy, graceful fountains, our car glided 
 with a noiseless speed which from its even motion aided the 
 illusion that we remained still, and all the vision of delight 
 shifted about us as about a center. And this was a marriage 
 of art and of science; from their union sprang the fair dream, 
 a triumph of human skill and knowledge ! 
 
 In every direction cars were coming, going, or at rest, con- 
 taining people dressed as for a gala-day, the various dis- 
 tinguishing colors of their turbans denoting their social rank. 
 Poseid, like other countries then and since, had its social 
 castes— as the governmental, the literati and ecclesiastics, the 
 artisans, a limited military, which served as a police and sani- 
 tary corps, and so on through the usual familiar list. The ap- 
 parel of all classes was fashioned in the same general style, 
 until it came to the head-dress— all of the people wore tur- 
 bans—which article of raiment differed in color according to 
 caste Thus, the turban of the Sovereign was of pure carmine- 
 hued silk ; of the councillors, a wine-red, and of lesser officials, 
 a pale pink. The turbans of the soldiery were deep orange for 
 the ranks, and lemon-chrome for the officers. Pure white 
 marked the priesthood, and gray the scientific, „ the literary 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 17 
 
 and artistic classes. Blue distinguished the artisans, mechan- 
 ics and laborers, while green denoted all who, for any reason, 
 either immaturity or educational lack, did not enjoy the right 
 of suffrage. Notwithstanding that these caste-indices were 
 strictly adhered to, they resulted in good rather than other- 
 wise, for caste conceits did not find place among those who 
 wore any color but green, since dignity of labor was a feeling 
 of such vigor that there was no envy of one class by another. 
 As for those who perforce wore the green, those who did so 
 because of not having come to their years of majority would 
 grow out of the color, while those who lacked sufficient educa- 
 tion to entitle them to another hue, felt the stigma attaching 
 to their grade to be a reason for extra efforts to attain a more 
 honorable station in life. 
 
 While I had been studying the various topics presented for 
 thought, our car was deftly made to avoid collision with that 
 of a lady who came swiftly onwards, apparently heedless of 
 her course, while she was putting in place a loose end of her 
 gray turban, showing as she did so the flashing rays from a 
 ruby, a gem that only royalty might wear. Our car wheeled 
 into an augmenting procession of carriages, and presently car- 
 ried us into a second apartment. But the royal maiden of tiie 
 gray turban and ruby— my thoughts were still with her ! Ho^r 
 radiant was her beauty! 'Twas my first sight of the Princess 
 Anzimee— but I must not anticipate ! 
 
 The apartment into which we were now come was smaller 
 than the one we had just left, but yet of no mean exWt. 
 Everything here was of brilliant, flashing carmine, except an 
 elevation in the center of the room. This was of circular black 
 marble steps, or small terraces, the top, which was twelve feet 
 across, being surmounted by a dais of some dark wood, up- 
 holstered in black velvet. 
 
 It should here be remarked that black was a representative 
 hue, and included the symbolism of all colors, thus denoting, 
 as used on the throne, that he who sat there belonged to every 
 class; and this was the fact, since Rai Gwauxln was not only 
 sovereign and chief of the army; one of the high priests; a 
 
?8 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; Oft, 
 
 literate; scientist, artist and musician, but was aiso well ac- 
 quainted with the duties of artisans and machinists. 
 
 In front of the silver railing which surrounded the throne 
 our carriage stopped out to one side of the moving line, obedi- 
 ent to a gesture of the emperor. The guide bade us alight, 
 and opening a little gate directed us to ascend the steps of the 
 dais to the feet of the Rai. My heart beat fast as I obeyed, 
 and though pale with causeless trepidation, I had myself well 
 enough under control to offer the support of my arm to my 
 mother, and I think I never walked more proudly erect in my 
 life. At the top of the steps we knelt and waited the command 
 to rise again, nor had we long to wait. 
 
 As we arose Rai Gwauxln said quietly:— 
 
 ' ' Zailm, thou art young for a student so ambitious as I know 
 thee to be." 
 
 "If it please thee to have me so, I am happy," I made re- 
 ply- 
 
 "Hast thou learned what the primary schools for the young 
 have to teach? For this must be ere thou couldst gain ad- 
 mission to the Inithlon." 
 
 "I have done even so, Rai." 
 
 "May it please thee, Zailm, to confide to me what studies 
 thou dost chiefly prefer?" 
 
 "Zo Rai, I count it an high honor to speak. Of my own 
 fancy I have not chosen any studies. Yet I do not doubt that 
 Incal hath Himself ordered my preference, indicating geolog3 r 
 above all else. Also He hath given me a natural disposition, 
 which, if I consult, points that I study languages and litera- 
 ture. I am not yet decided, but think well of these branches of 
 xioq. But geology He directed through a wild experience." 
 
 "Thou dost interest me, lad. Yet this is an hour of state 
 duties, and I must not neglect my people who come before me 
 to pay respects to their monarch. Take, therefore, this pass, 
 and at the fourth hour come again to the portal at which thou 
 didst enter into Agacoe. I bid thee welcome." 
 
 I took the present, and on my way down the 'steps of the 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 79 
 
 marble terrace, saw that it bore the inscription, "Rai's pres- 
 ence. Permit bearer." 
 
 We had with us a packet of dates and pastries, and were 
 therefore under no necessity of leaving the gardens for lunch- 
 eon. Our guide took us again in charge, and after learning 
 that we desired to remain within the grounds about the pal- 
 ace, threaded our conveyance through the mazes of the build- 
 ing once more, letting us out of the carriage beside one of the 
 pillars of the peristyle. From the point where we alighted, and 
 where we parted from the guide, I looked about to ascertain 
 the direction of the grand entrance, and seeing that it was in 
 the east, I escorted my mother to a seat under the shade of a 
 giant deodar, or, as they were called in after centuries, ' ' Cedars 
 of Lebanon." On a bough over head sat a mockingbird, or, 
 as we call them, a "nossuri"— signifying "songster of the 
 moonlight"— in reference to the habit of these lovely, gray- 
 coated birds to fill all the still, moonlit air of night with their 
 wondrous melody. Not that they do not sing by day; indeed, 
 the bird was even then singing, but the naming these "nos- 
 suri"— from "nosses" (the moon) and "surada" (I sing) was 
 a distinctive Poseid ornithological term. 
 
 At the appointed hour we went to the place designated, and 
 presenting the passport, were shown into a conveyance, and 
 after again ascending the eminence, the guide ushered us into 
 a small apartment of most luxurious appointments. By a table 
 almost hidden by books sat the Rai, listening to a well-modu- 
 lated voice which was relating the latest news of the day, but 
 the owner of which was not visible. The Rai turned as the 
 usher announced us, dismissed the servitor, and bade us a 
 fair eventide. Then he turned to a case shaped something like 
 that pleasing instrument, the modern music-box, and turned 
 a key in it with a soft snap. On the instant the voice of the 
 unseen speaker ceased in the middle of a word, and I knew as 
 we complied with our sovereign's request to be seated, that I 
 had for the first time heard one of the vocal news-records of 
 which I had so frequently read. 
 
80 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 During the ensuing hour I related the story of my life, its 
 hopes, sorrows, triumphs and ambitions, in answer to the ques- 
 tions of the genial yet not seemingly old man to whom any liv- 
 ing person might pay homage and suffer no loss of dignity, be- 
 cause his regal courtesy showed how very manly a king, or how 
 kingly a man might be. 
 
 I told how each new fact had but added to my appetite for 
 yet greater knowledge. Then I recounted the experiences of 
 my trip to the summit of Rhok, a recital interrupted as I made 
 mention of the name of the mountain. "Rhok!"— exclaimed 
 the imperial listener— "Dost thou mean to tell me that thou 
 didst ascend that awful height, in the night, alone— a moun- 
 tain which all our maps assert to be inaccessible, except to 
 vailx?" "Perchance, Zo Rai, that the only route was known 
 to but a few of us mountaineers; I have read that it was 
 thought inaccessible ; but— " I hesitated, whereat the Rai said, 
 quickly : — 
 
 "Yea, speak! 'Twas to judge of thee that I have listened to 
 thy recital, for well do I know all thou hast told me. I could 
 have told it ere thou didst, and can tell all the rest thou wilt 
 say ; I have desired to hear thee to judge of thee ; thy story I 
 have known ever since I saw thee first. I am a Son of the Soli- 
 tude," he added. I was silent, for the thought abashed me— 
 that he already knew all. Seeing this, he said:— "Go on, my 
 son. Tell me all; I wish it from thy lips, for I am interested 
 in thee for thyself." 
 
 Thereupon I resumed the interrupted narration, and de- 
 scribed my rendition of homage to Incal, and the petition for 
 His aid ; His quick granting of my prayer ; then of the eruption 
 of the volcano and the peril in which it had placed me. At this 
 the Rai remarked:— "Then thou wert eye-witness to that out 
 burst of the terrene forces? I have been told that it wrought 
 great local changes, and that there is now a lake of extensive 
 size where before none was, at the foot of Rhok ; it is nine vens 
 across." 
 
 I was still unsophisticated enough not only to be curious as 
 to whether the Rai had seen the eruption— for I Hid not un- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 81 
 
 derstand the significance of his being a Son of the Solitude, 
 and as to his knowing about all my adventures, though I did 
 not doubt that to be a fact, I took it to be due to a keen judg- 
 ment of possibilities that this knowledge was his— but as an 
 addition to my unsophistication I asked the Rai if he had seen 
 these things. 
 
 " Artless youth!"— said the Monarch, smiling— "I do not 
 often find so frank a person! Thou art indeed a son of the 
 mountains ! But thou wilt not long remain thus, I fear me, in 
 this thy present environment ! I will answer thy question even 
 as thou askest. Know, then, that no large convulsion of nature 
 can occur that is not immediately automatically recorded, both 
 as to its approximate extent, and its location, and a photic ex- 
 hibition of every portion of the affected locality shown forth 
 afresh from instant to instant. All I had in this case to do to 
 see this depiction was to go into the proper office, which is in 
 this building — and there the whole scene was before me quite 
 as vividly as it could have been to thee, for I was able to see 
 the outburst, and also to hear it, by means of the naim. Truly, 
 what I saw lacked one element which doubtless made it a little 
 more vivid to thee than to me— that of bodily peril; but as to 
 me this element was nil— thou wilt some day know why— 
 therefore the scene lacked for me no element that mere pres- 
 ence could have added." 
 
 I marvelled greatly to learn of such instrumentalities con- 
 cerning which Eai Gwauxln had informed me, and pondered 
 with delight the prospect that I also might some day per- 
 sonally know and have access to them. The Rai resumed:— 
 
 "Thou saidst that thou didst find treasure of native gold in 
 two separte places. Didst thou ever seek to recover that which 
 thou didst obtain before the eruption occurred? No? It mat- 
 ters little. Zailm, it is said that ignorance of the law is not 
 valid excuse for its infraction." 
 
 The demeanor of the Rai had become one of great gravity, 
 and I felt a foreboding not at all agreeable. 
 
 "Still I am convinced that thou didst know nothing of the 
 
82 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 involved violation of the statutes when thou didst fail to re- 
 port the finding of the treasure. I shall not, therefore, punish 
 thee. But—" Here the emperor paused, lost in thought, while 
 I, not till then aware that I had done anything wrong in the 
 view of the law, paled so visibly with apprehension that 
 Gwauxln smiled a little, and said: 
 
 "But they who now work this mine, and they who receive 
 the gold-dust and ore shall not so escape. With them it is con- 
 scious crime, made worse in that they not only ignore the 
 statute, but do also defraud thee. Of thee I will require only 
 so much expiation as may be in demanding their names of 
 thee." 
 
 This command I perforce obeyed, yet thought with regret 
 of the wives and children of the culprits. Innocent these ; must 
 they suffer likewise with the real transgressors? The Rai 
 seemed to know my thoughts ; or if he did not, he at least spoke 
 in accord, asking: 
 
 "Have, then, these men wives, families?" 
 
 "Yes, it is true!" I replied, so earnestly that once again 
 the monarch smiled— and encouraged, I begged him to be 
 lenient for the saks of the innocent. 
 
 "Knowest thou aught of our punitive system, Zailm?" 
 
 "Very little, Zo Rai; I have heard that no malefactor ever 
 comes from the hand of justice without being better, but I 
 imagine the treatment to be very severe." 
 
 "As to severity, no. And as to the other, if men are made 
 better who have erred, so they will not be apt to again err, 
 would not that redound to the advantage of the families of the 
 criminals? Behold I will have these men brought before the 
 proper tribunal, and thou shalt see the process of reformation. 
 Methinks thou wilt thereafter desire to learn anatomy, and the 
 science of reformatory punishment, as an addition to thine 
 other studies in Xio. Furthermore I assure thee that thou 
 shalt in no case suffer confiscation of that mine, but shalt 
 possess it; and if thou wilt give it to the national treasury, 
 while thou art a student thou shalt in no wise feel a lack of 
 money. Afterward, when the years of study have passed over 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 83 
 
 thy head, if thou art successful as a student, lo ! then will I 
 make thee superintendent of that mine. And if thou dost so 
 use as to prove thyself faithful over its few things, I will make 
 thee master over many things. I have spoken." 
 
 Rai Gwauxln touched a service-button, whereupon an at- 
 tendant entered, to the guidance of whom he entrusted myself 
 and mother, bidding us:— "Incal's peace be with you both." 
 
 So ended an audience which influenced the course of the 
 years and bent life's great twig, making me feel a proud con- 
 sciousness of being a repository of the trust of a revered friend, 
 a consciousness which has ever proven most potent in this 
 world of trials and temptations. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 NO GOOD THING CAN EVER PERISH. 
 
 As antedating the reign of Rai Gwauxln, attention is called 
 to a period of time embracing four thousand three hundred and 
 forty years, inclusive of the main events of Poseid history. This 
 interval, notwithstanding its long duration, had been singu- 
 larly free from internecine wars, and, while not wholly un- 
 marked by marlM events, was certainly more peaceful than 
 any subsequent world-epoch of equal length occurring within 
 the one hundred and twenty centuries whose lapse furnishes 
 the incidents of this history . 
 
 At the initial date of the period referred to, the Poseidi— a 
 powerful, numerous race of mountaineers, semi-civilized at 
 best, but of splendid physique— had swept down "like the 
 wolf" and had, in many sanguinary contests, finally con- 
 quered the pastoral people of the plains— the Atlantides. The 
 war was long and fierce, consuming years in its duration. The 
 admirable valor of the hill-tribes found almost its equal in the 
 
* 
 
 84 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR ; 
 
 desperate courage of their primitive foe; one body of com- 
 batants fought for life, and like the Sabines, for the preserva- 
 tion of their women against capture by mate-seeking tribes, 
 while the other warred for conquest, and like the Romans, for 
 wives. It was superior strategy which finally gave victory to 
 the Poseid hosts. 
 
 As time went on, racial coalition obliterated all distinctions, 
 so that the union resulted in producing earth's greatest nation. 
 Inconsequential civil wars had several times made a change 
 of political complexion, so that Poseid had seen itself gov- 
 erned by absolute autocrats, by oligarchic and by the theocratic 
 , rule ; by masculine and by feminine rulers, and at last by a re- 
 publican monarchical system, of which Rai Gwauxln was the 
 head, when I lived as Zailm, in Atlantis. 
 
 Gwauxln was of a long line of honorable ancestors, and his 
 house had several times furnished successful candidates whom 
 the people had placed on the throne, during the seven centuries 
 that the present political system had ruled. 
 
 Such is the synopsis of the history of Poseid which I gath- 
 ered from a volume drawn from the Agacoe library. I might 
 relate other scenes, other features, of that long historic period, 
 and show how Poseid came to found great colonies in North 
 and South America, and in those three great remnants of Le- 
 muria, of which Australia is but the one-third left to the world 
 by that cataclysm which sunk Atlantis; also of how Atl 
 founded certain large colonies in eastern Europe at an age 
 when there was no western Europe, and in parts of Asia and 
 Africa. But I will not do so here, although by-and-by refer- 
 ence will be made to our Umauran possessions, when such ref- 
 erence is relevant to the subject-matter of this history. 
 
 Fatigued with late reading in the absorbing history, I arose 
 and went out into the quiet ravine in which our abode was sit- 
 uated, and my tired eyes rested upon a scene which in the 
 glorious moonlight was one of fairy-like beauty. 
 
 In the bed of the ravine, quite near, was a miniature lake, 
 but none the less a lake in seeming, because it was in fact only 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 85 
 
 a good-sized pond. Bits of shore, then steep banks, flower-hid- 
 den; the song of the nossuri, and the calls of various other 
 birds and furry-folk of the night-time, intermingled with the 
 soft plash of falling water— the voice of the cascade which fed 
 this lacustrine gem. Somewhere out of the night came the 
 sound of flutes and harps and viols in harmony, rising in swell- 
 ing cadence or lulling with dreamy languor, as the light breeze 
 rose or fell. Over all shimmered the silvery rays of Nosses, 
 round as a shield in her soft brilliancy, and oh! so beautiful! 
 Presently, I turned from the lake, and looked down the ravine 
 along which a few people were yet moving, despite the late- 
 ness of the hour— the fourteenth since the beginning of the day 
 at meridian. Here and there the gleaming white rays of house- 
 holders' lamps were observable, shining from underneath some 
 seeming ledge, revealing the presence of quaint windows or 
 door-ways. But not on these did I gaze over-long. I could not, 
 with the wonderful Maxt— the greatest tower of human con- 
 struction in the world, rising in the perspective. In the very 
 mouth of the canon it seemed to ascend, with nothing between 
 itself and me to interfere with the view. Although apparently 
 near, it was in truth over a mile away from my dwelling. 
 
 In this year A. D. 1886, chemists count the process costly y 
 which produces the metal, aluminum. In that day, forces aris- 
 ing from the Night-Side rendered inexpensive the production 
 of any metal which might be found in nature, either native, or 
 as an ore. As it might be done to-day didst thou but know how 
 — and that day is not far off when thou wilt again uncover the 
 knowledge— so, in that time, we transmuted clay, first raising 
 its atomic speed so that it became white light of a pale illumi- 
 nating power and then reducing it to the, so to speak, chemical 
 "mile-post" of aluminum, and this at a cost not nearly so great / 
 as in this modern day it takes to get iron from its ores. The J^y 
 mines of native metals, as gold, silver, copper, and so on, were/ 
 -valuable then, as now, requiring no processing save smelting. 
 But a metal which might be obtained from any ledge of slate- 
 rock, or a bed of clay, was so inexpensive as to be the chief 
 base metal in use. 
 
86 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 Of aluminum was the giant tower of the Maxt constructed. 
 T could see its base from where I stood; an enormous cube of 
 masonry; then the superstructural round shaft of solid metal 
 of the tower proper, a dully white, tapering column, lit by 
 lunar rays. From base upward, my gaze traveled until it rested 
 on the top, an apical point nearly three thousand feet in height. 
 Entranced by this crowning triumph of the scene, I gazed at 
 the heaven-piercing shaft ; sentinel over the garden city, ward- 
 ing off the lightnings when the lord of thunder was abroad; 
 and all my thought was of its grandeur, and its majectic 
 beauty. 
 
 "How often, oh, how often, 
 
 "In the days that have gone by " 
 
 1 have stood and gazed on some scene of loveliness, or of sub- 
 limity—handiwork of God, or possibly of man— God in man! 
 And, as I have looked, my soul sang with praise, and my breath 
 was the breath of inspiration. Always in such an experience, 
 the soul, be it that of man or beast, takes an advance step. 
 However, much a soul may be steeped in sin or misery,— syn- 
 onymous terms— an inspiration breaks over it, and bears away 
 a little of its sordidness, a little of its pain and fever. 
 
 So, therefore, the glories and marvels of Atlantis the Great 
 were not in vain. Thou and I, reader, lived then, and before 
 then. The glories of those long-dead centuries seen by us have 
 Lved enshrined in our souls, and made us much, aye, most, of 
 what we are, influenced our acts, soothed us with their beauty. 
 What, then, though the forms of the dim, mysterious past are 
 effaced from all existence save in the record of the great book 
 of life, the soul? Their influence lives, and forever. Shall we 
 not, then, strive that our labors may ennoble, may live in soul 
 and in spirit, and be looked back upon by ourselves and others, 
 even as I, here, look back upon the record of my dead, but ever 
 living past"? It is a great joy thus to have attained the emi- 
 nences of the spirit which enable me to scan the history of lives 
 from which I passed through the portal of the grave; lives 
 which now I am returned to gaze upon through ^the eyes of a 
 different personality, a personality strung, greatest one of a 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. Si 
 
 chain, like pearls upon a thread, teaching me I AM I! Smoky, 
 some of these pearls ; black, others, or white or pink, aye, some 
 are even red ! Could tears add to their number, I would have 
 more; oh! so many more, for the white ones are so few, and 
 the smoky, the black and the red, so many. But my pearl of 
 great price is my last life. Of white is it ; and oy my Master 
 was it cut cruciform. When He gave it me, He said, "It is 
 done." Verily so! It marks the junction of unity with in- 
 So is it the period set to all time, for me, save I 
 
 elect. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 CONTAIN THYSELF. 
 
 It was in the time of the annual respite from study that I 
 made my advent to the capital city. In this vacation the 
 Xioqua and the Incala participated, the majority seeking their / / 
 homes first, for a season, but generally, soon returning to the i ' 
 capital, in order to enjoy the special pleasures of the resting/ 
 time. But some went over the ocean to Umaur, or to Incalia, 
 that is, South or North America, respectively ; others went 
 only to the more distant provinces in Atl itself. 
 
 Thus far the reader has had to guess what sort of religion 
 the worship of Incal was ; it may even have been inferred that 
 Posiedi were polytheists, from my reference to the various 
 gods of this and that title, class or grade. Truly, I have said 
 that we believed in Incal, and symbolized him as the Sun-God. 
 But the sun itself was an emblem. To assert that we, despite 
 our enlightenment, adored the orb of day, would be as absurd 
 as to say that the Christians adore the cross of the crucifixion 
 for itself; in both cases it is the attached significance that 
 caused the sun, and causes the cross, to be held in any sort of 
 regard. 
 
88 A DWELLED ON TWO PLANETS; OK, 
 
 The Atlantides were given to personification of the prin- 
 ciples of nature, and of the objects of the earth, seas and skies; 
 but this was purely a result of the national love of poetry, and 
 could be mainly traced to the favor which popular fancy had 
 accorded to a chronological epic history of Poseid, wherein the 
 chief men and women figured as heroes and heroines. The 
 powers of nature, such as wind, rain, lightning, heat and cold, 
 and all kindred phenomena were gods of various degree, while 
 the germinal principle of life, the destroying one of death, and 
 other of life's greater mysteries, were characterized as the 
 greater gods; but each and all were but offspring of the Most 
 High Incal. It was an epic related in metrical measure and 
 rhyme, constituting a poem whose every line exhibited the 
 master touch of genius. Its authorship was lost in the night of 
 time. It was supposedly the work, however, of a Son of the 
 Solitude. There was an addendum embracing later events and 
 epochs, but it was a markedly inferior work, and was not 
 valued as highly as the body of the poem. 
 
 As a fact, the worship of Incal never included anything other 
 than the adoration of God as a spiritual entity, and the "gods" 
 had no portion in the religious services held on the two Sun- 
 days of each week, that is, the eleventh and the first days, for 
 with the Poseidi a week consisted of eleven days, just as a 
 month comprised three weeks, and a year eleven months, with 
 one or more "leap-year" days at its end, as the exigencies of 
 the solar calendar might require, these days being a regularly 
 recurring holiday season, as New Year's Day is now. That 
 so many gods and goddesses seem to have been venerated was 
 due to the national influence of the epic history spoken of, and 
 it was but a habit of mind to speak of them at all. 
 
 In our monotheism we differed little from the religion domi- 
 nating the Hebraic civilization; we recognized no divine trin- 
 ity, nor any Christ-spirit, neither any savior except the en- 
 deavor to do the best we knew in the sight of Incal. We con- 
 sidered all mankind as the sons of God, not any one mys- 
 teriously conceived person as solely His son. Miracle was an 
 impossible thing, for all things we deemed rationally referable 
 to uncontravenable law. But the Poseidi did believe that Inca 1 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 89 
 
 had once lived in human form upon the earth, and had cast 
 off the gross body of the world to assume that of unfettered 
 spirit. He had in that time created mankind, and as the Poseidi 
 were evolutionists, that word, "mankind" embraced all the 
 lower animals too. In course of time beings of the genus homo, 
 were evolved, one man and one woman, and then Incal had 
 placed woman spiritually highest, and above man, a position 
 which she had lost through an attempt to enjoy a fruit which 
 grew on the Tree of Life in the Garden of Heaven. But in do- 
 ing this she had, according to the legend, disobeyed Incal, who 
 had said that His highest, most progressed children should not 
 enjoy this fruit, for whosoever did should surely die, because 
 no mortal being could have immortal life and also reproduce 
 its kind. The legend read: "I have said unto my creatures, 
 attain perfection and study it evermore, and such is endless 
 life. But whoso enjoy eth this tree, can not contain self." 
 
 The form of punishment meted out was the rationalistic— 
 as the woman's attempt was to attain forbidden pleasures, and 
 she did not, uninstructed, know how. Her hand slipped from 
 its grasp on the fruit, and its side was torn out, so that its seed 
 dropped on the earth and became flint-stones, while the fruit 
 still adhered to the tree, and became of the likeness of a great, 
 fiery serpent, whereof the breath scorched the hands of the cul- 
 prit. Feeling the pain, she let go her hold on the Tree of Life, 
 falling prone upon the earth, and never fully recovering from 
 the injury. Thus man became the superior being through the 
 development of his nature by the necessity he was under of 
 preserving his mate and himself from the cold and kindred 
 conditions which came along with the flint-stones. (The last 
 Glacial or Ice-age.) Having fallen back into these material 
 conditions, reproduction of species was a necessity once more, 
 and so the law of continence supposedly commanded by Incal, 
 was broken. Death thus entered again into the sum of human 
 reckoning, and until the Word be observed, no man could 
 know a deathless condition. CONTAIN THYSELF ! On this 
 dependenth all knowledge; no occult law is so great as this. 
 Use all things of this world as abusing none. (I. Cor. vii., 31.) 
 
 Such was the popular belief regarding the creation of human- 
 
90 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OH, 
 
 kind by Incal. The higher priests held to a religion which was 
 virtually Essenianism, although for obvious reasons, the popu- 
 lace were not aware of this fact. The date of this fabled oc- 
 currence was theologically supposed to have been precedent at 
 least a thousand centuries, and some semi-authorities set it at 
 even a more extended period than that. 
 
 Incal, the Father of Life, was not supposed to punish His 
 children except that He made the laws of nature self-executive, 
 —His imminent will, and if any one transgressed these, the 
 guilt was inexorably punished by nature ;— it being impossible 
 to set in motion a cause without a consequent effect; if the 
 cause was good, so also was the consequence. And in this they 
 were undeviatingly correct; no mediator can avert for us the 
 results of our misdeeds.* The Poseid nation believed in a 
 heaven of good effects for those who put good causes into 
 operation, and there was a region filled with bad effects for the 
 wicked; the two places were adjacent, and those who were 
 neither wholly good, nor wholly bad, were supposed to live 
 on a middle territory, so to speak. But both of these post-vital 
 conditions were included in the Shadowy Land, as the word 
 "Navazzamin" may be translated, literally, "A country of de- 
 parted souls.' ' 
 
 Though the religion of Incal was one based on cause and ef- 
 fect, nevertheless a slight inconsistency appeared in the more 
 or less prevalent belief that He was supposed to reward the 
 very good. 
 
 To-day, my friend, thou standest on the threshold of a new 
 unfoldment. The religion of to-day is even yet tinctured by 
 this concept of an omnipotent, but man-like, Creator, heritage 
 of a dead antiquity. But thou art living in the final years of 
 an old Human Cycle, the Sixth. While I choose not at present 
 to explain what this means, I will do so ere I bid thee God's 
 peace. But I will say that humanity's new conception of the 
 Eternal Cause will be more lofty, more sublime, purer, wider 
 and more of an approach to boundlessness, than anything of 
 which the long gone aeons of time have ever dreamed. Christ 
 
 *NOTE. — Do not confuse "undoing:" with "atonement." Christ atoned; 
 we must undo. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 
 
 91 
 
 is indeed risen, and cometh unto His own, who ere long shall 
 know Him as no exoteric man hath ever known Him. And, 
 knowing Him, they shall know the things of the Father, and 
 do them, because it is written, "I go unto my Father." 
 
 GLORIA IN EXCELIS ! 
 
 Faith shall soon be knowledge. Belief shall be twin with 
 science, and the Word shall blaze as a sun of glorious new 
 meaning, for true religion means "I bind together." 
 
 RESURGAM CHRISTOS. 
 
 N.H. 
 
 I ▼• 1 
 
 'Close Not The Ends Of My Cross." 
 
92 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 The Exoteric Church hath closed the ends of His Cross. 
 
 Wherefore they are exoteric, and shall not ever be esoteric 
 
 until they open the ends of that Four-Way Path. Open thine 
 eyes and thine ears. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A GRAVE PROPHECY. 
 
 It was about the first hour of the first day in the fifth month 
 which had passed since I began attendance at the Xioquithlon, 
 and as it was the week of Bazix, it was consequently the thir- 
 tieth week of the year, and near its close, there being but three 
 weeks left in B. C. 11,160. 
 
 With the Poseidi, the day, as the reader has seen, commenced 
 at meridian, making twelve o'clock till one, the first hour. 
 From this hour in the last day of each week until the end of the 
 twenty-fourth hour in the following, or first day in the next 
 week, all business was suspended, and the time devoted to re- 
 ligious worship, such observances being enforced by the most 
 rigid of all laws, custom. To-day, A. D. 1886, there are those 
 who argue that if a man is engaged all the week at sedentary 
 labor, on Sunday he is obtaining natural recreation by going 
 zealously into athletic sports, or upon a fatiguing excursion. 
 But I submit, that as the body is the externality of the soul, 
 that, therefore, as the soul is, so will be the body also. Ergo :— 
 5 if the soul is of God, then to return to the Father as often as 
 | possible is to be re-created, or rested, or refreshed. Perhaps 
 not indoors; no, rather amidst His works, but ever with un- 
 artificial, natural thoughts of Him uppermost. Hence I am to- 
 day not less in favor of Sabbath observance, whether it be the 
 seventh day or any other of the seven days of the week as now 
 constituted, or the eleventh and first, as in Atla. Still, I shall 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 93 
 
 not argue my preferences, and will only make a re-statement 
 of the well-known physiological law that a periodic day of rest 
 is necessary to health, happiness and spirituality. In Atla any 
 person was free to employ the morning hours even of the 
 eleventh day in any manner most agreeable, whether at work 
 or playful relaxation. With the first hour, however, an enor- 
 mous and very sweet-toned bell pealed forth with an intense, 
 reverberant boom, two strokes, paused a moment, then rang 
 four times more. Thereupon all occupations ceased, and re- 
 ligious worship commenced. On the following day the great 
 bell struck again, and throughout the length and breadth of a 
 great continent other bells pealed synchronously. It was even 
 so in the populous colonies of Umaur and Incalia, the difference 
 in time being calculated, and one man in the great temple of 
 Incal in Caiphul attended to this sweetly-solemn duty. Then 
 the season of worship was over, and the rest of the Inclut (first 
 day) was devoted to recreations of every sort. This is not to 
 be construed that the worship was of a gloomy nature, or se- 
 vere; not so, nor was it continued through the night, any 
 further than that every light allowed during that interval was 
 rendered carmine red by blending the atomic speed of the odic 
 force, so that it was the element of light, and that of strontium 
 combined ; this being done at the odic depots. 
 
 About the third hour after the Sun-day had ceased, a pe- 
 culiar event occurred in my Poseid existence. As I walked 
 leisurely homeward, not yet having summoned a vailx, but pro- 
 ceeding under the dreamery calmness of the influence produced 
 by the music of a choice concert given to the public in the Aga- 
 coe gardens, I met a stately old man, also on foot. I had often 
 met him on former occasions, and, by his wine-colored turban, 
 knew him for a prince. Upon meeting him now, the current 
 of my thought was altered, and I determined not to go home 
 at once, but to remain in the city for a time, perhaps all night. 
 Just as I came to this determination, the older man smiled, but 
 without stopping went on his way. I then noticed that much as 
 he resembled the prince I had in mind, he was not that person. 
 and it must have been an illusion, for the turban of this man 
 
94 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 was pure white, not tinted. And somehow I felt that he had 
 wished to speak to me, but for some reason had not If I should 
 happen there later in the day, I might meet him again, and 
 learn what he had to say. 
 
 Pondering these thoughts, I went into a cafe in one of the 
 grotto-tunnels, where an avenue pierced a hill, and after or- 
 dering a luncheon, waited for it to be served. During the dis- 
 patch of the refection, a xioqene, or student with whom I had 
 become friendly, strolled in, bent on the same erand. The re- 
 past over, we proceeded to the moat, where we took a water- 
 sailer held for hire by a poor man who made his living from 
 the rental of these craft to those who liked this seldom-indulged 
 pleasure; the common mode of conveyance was by vailx. The 
 breeze being fresh, we sailed out into the ocean through the 
 exit-flow of the Nomis river— the great river which made a 
 complete circuit of the city, traversing the moat and then 
 emptying into the ocean. On account of this extended trip I 
 was unable to be again on the avenue until after nightfall. 
 When I neared the spot where my meeting had occurred with 
 the white-turbaned stranger; this time in a car, which I 
 checked from running overfast— I saw his commanding figure 
 standing in full view in the bright light of the tropic moon. 
 It was quite a part of my expectations thus to see him, and 
 this time I inclined my head in courteous recognition. As I 
 did so the stranger said : 
 
 ' ' Stop ! I would speak with thee, lad, with the^ alone. ' ' 
 
 Almost mechanically I nearly stopped the car, ir» obedience to 
 his gesture to descend, and setting its lever so that the vehicle 
 would move at about the pace of a slow walk, I let it go, know- 
 ing that if no one took advantage of the paid carriage, it soon 
 would reach some station, and there be stopped automatically. 
 When I stood before the priest, as I judged him to be, he 
 said :— 
 
 "Thy name, I understand, is Zailm Numinos?" 
 
 "Truly it is." 
 
 "I have seen thee oft-times, and am informed concerning 
 thee. Thou hast a laudable will to excel, and to attain high 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 95 
 
 honors among men. Thou art yet a boy, but in a fair way to 
 succeed as a man, as success is commonly counted. A boy thou, 
 conscientious at present, regarded with favor by thy sovereign. 
 Thou shalt succeed, and shalt come into places of high honor 
 and profit, and continue well-thought of by all thy fellow-men. 
 Yet thou shalt not live the full term allotted to man on earth. 
 In thy shorter period shall come to thee a knowledge of love. 
 Thou shalt experience the purest affection man is capable of 
 feeling for woman. Yet, notwithstanding this, thy love shall 
 not be a love crowned in this life period. And thou shalt love 
 again, wherefore thou shalt weep because of it. Thou shalt 
 work some good in the world, but alas, much evil also. And 
 because of an overshadowing destiny, unto thee shall come 
 much sorrow. By thee unto another, shall deep misery of 
 anguish come, and unto the uttermost shalt thou pay therefor, 
 nor come out thence until thou hast done so. Yet, behold, not 
 in this life shall much be required of thee. When thou thinkest 
 least to do sin, then shall thy foot stumble, and thou shalt 
 commit a sin which shall be unto thee a pursuing fate, inexor- 
 able. Even now, in the days of thine innocence, thou art tread- 
 ing upon the steps of thy destiny. Alas! that it is so. Once 
 thou earnest near to the realization of thy death ; and death is 
 but the least portion which shall overtake thee ;— but thou didst 
 awake and flee out of the caverns of the burning mountain unto 
 safety. Yet at last thou shalt pass into Navazzamin, the world 
 of departed souls, and lo ! I say unto thee thou shalt perish in 
 a cavern. Me, even me, shalt thou behold as the last living 
 being upon whom thy Poseid eyes shall ever rest. But I shall 
 not seem then as now, and thou wilt not know me for the one 
 who shall smite the evil-doer who will then have enticed thee 
 to thy doom I have said. May peace be with thee." 
 
 Much I marveled at first to hear these words, thinking that 
 perhaps the speaker was one escaped from the Nossinithlon 
 (literally the "Home for Moonstruck" or crazy persons), and 
 this despite the introductory circumstances under which we 
 had met. But as he continued speaking, I knew that this was 
 an erroneous judgment. Finally, amazed, I gazed on the 
 
96 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 ground, knowing not what to think, and filled with an inde- 
 finable fearsomeness. As he ceased utterance, and bade me 
 peace, I raised my eyes to look him in the face, to find to my 
 bewilderment that not a soul was in sight, but that I stood 
 alone in the great plaza surrounding a fountain whose jet 
 seemed like molten silver in the moonlight. Dumbfounded, I 
 looked about on every side. Had I been dreaming? Certainly 
 not. Were the words of the mysterious stranger true, or 
 false? Time will satisfy thy curiosity, my reader, as it did 
 mine. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 CURING CRIME. 
 
 During the subsequent four years after my strange meeting 
 with the tall and straight, white-haired old man who had 
 prophesied concerning me, events one after another shaped 
 themselves in harmony with his forecast. In all that time we 
 never met, indeed I met him but once more before my death. 
 
 Before going further I must recall and finally dismiss from 
 the scene the partners in my gold-mine, and also, the one who 
 bought the gold, knowing the act to be unlawful. 
 
 Several months had elapsed since the interview with Rai 
 Gwauxln in his private apartments, when a youth wearing an 
 orange-hued turban, and upon its front a gold-mounted gar- 
 net pin— denoting him to be a guard in the imperial service- 
 entered the geology-room in the Xioquithlon, and going to the 
 instructor-in-chief, spoke in a low tone. Rapping on his desk 
 for attention from the ninety or more students in session, ij* 
 the minerals class, the chief asked if a Xioqene named Zailm 
 Numinos was present. 
 
 I arose in my place in response to the question. 
 
 " Come forward.' ' 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 97 
 
 The other Xioqeni looked interestedly on, as I went up, not 
 without some trepidation, for I well knew what service was 
 represented by the messenger, and there seemed to be a stern- 
 ness in the tones of the instructor not at all pleasant. 
 
 ''This courier desires that thou wilt go with him before the 
 Rai, who has so commanded. He is at the Tribunes of the 
 Criminal Court, and thou art needed as a witness. ' ' 
 
 Remembering what the Rai had said, I was considerably re- 
 assured by the import of the words addressed to me, and no 
 longer specially apprehensive, went as required. Arrived at 
 the Court of the Tribunes, I saw my mining partners there in 
 custody, along with the incriminated purchaser of the go'd. 
 The judge of the court sat on the judicial divan on its raised 
 platform, and by his side sat, in simple dignity, Gwauxln, Rai 
 of the greatest nation of the earth; but he was nevertheless 
 studiously observant of the fact that the judge was, as such, 
 entitled to the place of first rank while in the hall. Sevarai 
 spectators were in the seats provided for the public in the 
 auditorium. 
 
 There could be but one verdict concerning the malefactors— 
 "Guilty as charged." This opinion was reached very quickiy, 
 and by the culprits admitted to be a just one. Immediately, 
 an officer took the prisoners into another part of the building, 
 where was a well lighted apartment, fitted with various port- 
 able and stationary instruments. He was accompanied by nil 
 persons present. 
 
 A chair with a head-clasp rest, and with other rests, clasps 
 and straps for the limbs and body of the occupant, stood in the 
 center of the room. A guardsman seated and firmly strapped 
 one of the prisoners in the chair. This preliminary attended 
 to, a Xioqa approached bearing in his hands a small instrument 
 of which, from its general appearance, I knew the nature to be 
 magnetic. He placed the two poles of this in the hands of the 
 condemned man, and after a brief manipulation a slight, pur- 
 ring sound was heard from the instrument. Immediately the 
 prisoner's eyes closed and his every appearance indicated pro- 
 found stupor; he was in fact magnetically anaesthetized. Then 
 
98 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 the operator carefully felt all over the head of the unconscious 
 man, and this examination concluded, ordered the attendant to 
 shave the entire cranium. When this order had been obeyed, 
 he made a blue mark upon the shaven surface in front and 
 above the ears. Feeling further, he made the Poseid numcra 1 . 
 y? (or 2) above, and a very little back of each ear. These op- 
 erations done, he gave his attention to the spectators, but, on 
 being spoken to by Rai Gwauxln, he paused long enough from 
 making his proposed address to the audience to call me to his 
 side from where I stood outside the railing. Then he spoke : 
 
 "In the prisoner I find that the predominant, most positive 
 faculties are those which I have marked one and two; these 
 are— number one— a grasping desire to acquire property, and 
 his disposition is to do all things secretly, as may be seen from 
 the exceeding prominence of the organs of secretiveness. Whii.e 
 the skull does not extend upwards very high, but at number 
 two is very wide between the ears, I should infer that here we 
 have a very acquisitive individual, lacking conscientiousness 
 and spirituality, and therefore the moral nature, almost wholly. 
 As he has also a very destructive temperment, we have withal, 
 a very dangerous character, one which I marvel has 
 so managed as not ere this to have exposed himself to 
 this office for correction. Why any one should hesitate, even 
 voluntarily, to undergo corrective treatment causes me much 
 wonder. It is something, I suppose, explicable on the theory 
 that one on the low moral plane of this poor fellow is unable to 
 see the advantage of being on any higher plane, but is able to 
 see the immediate advantages due to the pursuit of nefarious 
 methods. He is, in short, a man who would not hesitate at the 
 commission of murder, could he see any immediate gain in it, 
 and be wholly oblivious of after consequences. Is this true, 
 Zo Raif ' 
 
 "It is," replied the emperor. 
 
 "My diagnosis of the case," continued the Xioqa, "having 
 been confirmed by so high an authority, I will now apply the 
 cure. ' ' 
 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 99 
 
 He summoned an attendant, who wheeled out another mag- 
 netic apparatus contained in a heavy metal case. Having 
 placed this in a satisfactory condition of activity, the Xioqa 
 next applied its positive pole to that place on the head of the 
 patient marked by the figure one, and the other pole he placed 
 at the back of the neck. He then took out his timepiece and 
 laid it on the metal case of the instrument, near a dial, the 
 pointer of which he adjusted. All was then still, except the 
 low-toned conversation in various parts of the room, during 
 the ensuing half-hour. At the end of this time the Xioqa 
 arose from his seat and changed the positive pole to the other 
 side of the head, where the duplicate figure was marked. 
 Then again a half -hour's quiet, broken only by the exit of 
 some of the spectators and the entrance of others. When 
 the half-hour had again elapsed, the operator changed the 
 pole to the place marked "two t " This time only half an hour 
 was given to both sides of the head. I had been told by the 
 emperor to remain. He had only staid a few moments after 
 the beginning of the operation which was not new to him. At 
 the end of the work on the first man he was taken from under 
 the influence of the magnetic anaesthetizer by merely revers- 
 ing the poles of the instrument at a second application. The 
 Xioqa lectured upon the theme afforded by the operation while 
 the first patient was being removed. To the considerable 
 audience that had, by this time, assembled, he said : 
 
 "You have seen the treatment of those mental qualities 
 which tended through their predominance to warp his moral 
 nature, something but partially developed. The process has 
 been to partially atrophy the vascular channels supplying that 
 portion of the brain where are located the organs of greed, 
 and of destruction. But mark well this point; after all is 
 said, the soul is superior to the physical brain, and, it is in 
 the soul, the nature of the man, in which these criminal ten- 
 dencies inhere— the brain and other organs being the seat of 
 psychic expression— the business office, so to speak. Hence, 
 merely to have mechanically hypnotized this subject would 
 not accomplish our purpose. Hypnotizing is an indrawing, and 
 
100 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 the cerebral blood-vessels contract and become partially blood- 
 less; indeed, they may become fatally empty; this art is a 
 very dangerous one. But the opposite effect is produced in 
 aphaism (Poseid equivalent for the modem word "mes- 
 merism"). The brain is Med with blood, and the rever- 
 sion of the instrument cessated the hypnotic and initiated 
 the aphaic process. It is at this moment that the mind of the 
 operator may assume control of the mind of the subject, and 
 suggest to the erring soul a permanent cessation of the error. 
 This man has been so treated, doubly treated, since not only 
 has the blood supply been partially cut off which went to those 
 organs where was the seat of his weakness, but with my will 
 I have impressed his soul to cease its sin, and I have supplied 
 it with a work to execute which will have a counter action. 
 He may be slightly ill for a few days, but his tendencies to 
 sin will be gone. It requires a superior mind, which has gone 
 wrong in several directions, to make a successful evil-doer, 
 and where the lower nature, chiefly a perverted sex-nature 
 predominates, there will be found the criminal. Atla has no 
 debauchees, for if a person show such dispostion, the state 
 takes the waywarl one in hand and operates upon the proper 
 organs. But I need not dilate upon these subjects any fur- 
 ther." 
 
 The first man having been taken away to receive careful 
 nursing, the next of my whilom partners was placel in the 
 chair. Examination of the cerebral development revealed that 
 he was more weak than wicked ; an habitual prevaricator, and 
 of libertine tendencies ; one whose skull was mostly behind and 
 above the ears. I need not pause to describe his treatment; 
 it was on the lines of the other; mesmeric suggestion was the 
 chief cure. 
 
 As I went to my home that evening, I resolved to add the 
 science of prophylactic penology to my chosen curriculum. I 
 did so. By practice of the knowledge of men then acquired I 
 interfered with the karma of not a few individuals, but as the 
 result has proven, the interference was in no case injurious, so 
 that I have not today to answer for any harm done. I have 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 101 
 
 sometimes wished that I had submitted myself for treatment 
 at the hands of the State, for it would at least have prevented 
 the commission of errors which have wrought much misery 
 to me, and to others by me. That I did not, is as well, not only 
 on the principle that in our Father's kingdom whatever is, is 
 best, but also because no one can in any way whatever shirk the 
 responsibilities inbound in character by the karma of all preced- 
 ing incarnations. To have so submitted myself for correction 
 would have been an evasion of the ordeal, a sort of cowardly 
 attempt similar to the act of the self-murderer who seeks to 
 avoid trouble on earth by suicide, and who in every case es- 
 capes nothing, not one jot nor tittle of the law of God. In- 
 stead, he piles his miseries and penalties mountains higher 
 and prolongs through inexorable karma, and other earthly in- 
 carnations, his anguish. Thus it is with those who die by self- 
 destruction; but those who die by unavoilable causes, invol- 
 untarily, are not visited by such penalties. So the Poseid cul- 
 prits who could in no wise avoid the treatment, were benefited, 
 whereas for me, voluntary submision would have sown 
 dragon's teeth for my pathway. Penalties, observe, concern 
 not those who know and, knowing, do God's will. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 REALIZATION. 
 
 The government was accustomed to keep systematic track 
 of the more prominent Xioqeni to whom it gave free tuition, 
 but the supervision was never irksome, indeed, was scarcely 
 felt to be maintained by those under this paternal surveillance. 
 Those who, besides being bright and studious, were approach- 
 ing the last years of the collegiate septerm, were admitted to 
 those sessions of the Council of Ninety not of an executive or 
 secret character. There were some especial favorites who, be- 
 
102 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 ing bound by strict vows, were not excluded from any meetings 
 of the councillors. Not one of the many thousand students, but 
 esteemed even the lesser privilege most valuable, for beside 
 the honor conferred, the lessons in statecraft were of incalcu- 
 lable advantage. 
 
 In the latter half of my fourth year of attendance there 
 came to me one prince Menax, who desired to know whether 
 I would accept the position of Secretary of Records— a posi- 
 tion which gave opportunity to become familiar with every de- 
 tail of Poseid government. He spoke : 
 
 "It is a very important trust indeed, but one which I am 
 happy to offer thee, because I feel that thou art capable of 
 filling it to the satisfaction of the council. It will bring thee 
 into close contact with the Rai, and of all the princes; also it 
 will clothe thee with some degree of authority. What sayest 
 thou?" 
 
 "Prince Menax, I am aware that this is a very great honor. 
 But may I ask why thou hast given so great opportunity to one 
 who supposes himself almost a stranger to thee?" 
 
 "Because, Zailm Numinos, I have thought thee worthy; now 
 do I give thee all chance to prove it true. Thou art no stranger 
 to me, if I be much of one to thee ; I feel a trust in thee ; wilt 
 thou not prove it well founded?" 
 
 "I will." 
 
 "Then hold up thy right hand to the blazing Incal, and by 
 that sublime symbol declare that in no case wilt thou reveal 
 aught that taketh place in secret session ; nothing of the doings 
 in the Hall of Laws." 
 
 This vow I took, and in taking it, was bound by an oath in- 
 violable in the eyes of all Poseidi. Thus I became one of the 
 seven non-official, unenfranchised secretaries, who were en- 
 trusted with the writing of special reports, and the care of 
 many important state documents. Surely this was no small 
 distinction to confer on one out of nine thousand Xioqeni, 
 and a man, as yet, unenfranchised in a nation of three hun- 
 dred million people. If in some sort, I owed it to merit, yet I 
 was not more worthy than a hundred other of my fellow- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 103 
 
 students. It was due fully as much to personal popularity 
 with the powers that were, a popularity, however, which had 
 not been mine had I not in all things shown the same solid de- 
 termination which had governed my actions on the lone pitach 
 of Rhok, the great mountain. 
 
 Prince Menax continued, saying: 
 
 "I would have thee attend at my palace this night, it being 
 convenient, as I have somewhat to say unto thee. I would 
 prove to thee thine error in believing thyself unknown to me, 
 merely because thou art one of a large concourse of Xioqeni, 
 each in pursuit of knowledge. I do know thee. From me, and 
 not, as thou hast always imagined, from thy Xioql (chief pre- 
 ceptor) did the invitation issue to thee to attend the sessions 
 of the councils-in-ordinary. The Astiki (princes of the realm) 
 are always much interested in deserving Xioqeni; hence the 
 reason of many little duties falling to thee for execution. But 
 I will not say more at present, as I hinder thy studies. Remem- 
 ber then, the appointed eighth hour." 
 
 Menax held the highest ministerial office of all the Astiki, 
 being premier, and, in short, the Rai's chief adviser. My opin- 
 ion of myself rose in degree when I felt that I was held in such 
 high favor; but it rendered me full of gratitude, and not self- 
 conceit; it was true self-esteem, not vanity. 
 
 Although this was not my first visit to the palace of this 
 prince, I could by no means claim familiarity with the interior 
 of his astikithlon. 
 
 Winding my best green silk turban about my head, and 
 sticking in it a pin set with gray quartz, through which ran 
 veins of green copper ; thus denoting my social rank ; I stepped 
 to the naim and called for a city valix, as thou wouldst call for 
 a cab. The vessel soon came, and though small in size, was 
 ample for the conveyance of two, or even four, passengers. 
 Bidding my mother good night, I was soon speeding on my 
 way, and the conductor leaving me to my own company, I sat 
 listening to the furious patter of the torrents of rain which 
 rendered the night inclement in the extreme. 
 
104 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OK, 
 
 The palace of Menax was not far distant from the inner quay 
 of the moat where that great canal nearest approached my su- 
 burban home, not indeed, ten miles away, and therefore the 
 aerial trip consumed only about the same number of minutes 
 ere the bottom of the vailx grated a little upon the broad mar- 
 ble floor of the vailx-court, announcing arrival at my destin- 
 ation. 
 
 A sentry came up to demand my business, and having 
 learned it, a servitor was summoned to escort me into the pres- 
 ence of Menax. 
 
 A number of officers of the prince's suite were in the great 
 apartment, sedulously engaged in doing nothing in particular, 
 an occupation in which they were aided by several ladies res- 
 ident at the palace. Prince Menax himself was lying at length 
 on a divan drawn up in front of a grate full of pices of some 
 refractory substance heated by the universal force. 
 
 As the attendant conducted me before the prince and prior 
 to my presence being announced, I had time sufficient to enable 
 me to notice a group of officers and ladies, gathered about a 
 woman of such exceeding grace and beauty that even her 
 evident sorrow and distress, together with the distance of the 
 corner where she sat, could not wholly conceal it. Her attire, 
 her features and complexion, denoted that she was other than 
 a daughter of Poseid, inasmuch as she had not their dark eyes, 
 dark hair and clear but distinctly reddish complexion. She 
 who sorrowed, and was in distress, was the reverse of all this, 
 as nearly as my hasty glance could discern at the distance 
 between us. 
 
 Menax said, in salutation: 
 
 "Thou'rt welcome. 'Tis well. Be seated. The night is 
 tempestuous, but I know thee well; having promised, thou art 
 come." 
 
 He was silent for several moments, and gazed steadily into 
 the glowing grate; then said: "Zailm, wilt thou attend and 
 take part in the competition in Xi£dn the nine days given to 
 the annual examination of Xioqeni?" 
 
 "I have so intended, my Astika," 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 105 
 
 "Thou art privileged to waive examination until the Nst 
 year of the sep-term." 
 
 "Verily that is so in all Xioqeni?" 
 
 "I approve most emphatically of thy determination. I did 
 after that way myself, when I was a student. I hope that thou 
 wilt pass, that thou mayest be joyful at thy success, though 
 it shall not shorten thy years of study. But after the examina- 
 tion, then what ? Thou wilt have a month wherein to do as thou 
 shalt fancy. Would that I had thirty-three days' respite from 
 my duties ! Menax paused in meditation, and resumed : 
 
 "Zailm, hast thou any preferred plan for the occupation of 
 that vacation?" 
 
 "None, my prince." 
 
 1 ' None ? 'Tis well. Would it please thee to do me a service, 
 and go into a far country in fulfilling the kindness? The brief 
 duty completed, thou mayest remain there such time as thou 
 desirest, or go whither fancy may beckon." 
 
 I was not averse to doing as he desired, and as the duty 
 took me to a land barely mentioned hitherto, the account of 
 my long-ago vacation trip may be prefaced by a description 
 of Suer^4tr now called Hindustan— and Necropan or Egypt, 
 the most civilized nations not under Poseid supremacy. 
 
 When nations seek to make religion absolutely dominant 
 in their affairs, the result is sure to be fraught with disaster. 
 The theocratic policy of the Israelites was a case in point ; and 
 as the reader will ere long perceive, Suernis and Necropan 
 were examples yet earlier in the history of the world. And 
 the reason is, not that religion is a failure; the force of this 
 record of my life must convey the truth that I think nothing 
 is better than pure religion undefiled. No, the reason why a 
 successful theocracy can not permanently thrive is that the 
 attention of the promoters must be given to things spiritual 
 to render the spiritual successful, and the things of God's 
 Kingdom can never be the things of earth. Not, at least, until 
 man is fully developed in his sixth or psychic principle; has 
 become purified, by the fire of the Spirit, from all taint of 
 animalitv. 
 
106 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 Suernis and Necropan were possessed of a civilization which 
 I now perceive to have been peer with our own, though so 
 different. But because it possessed scarcely a salient point in 
 common with that of Poseid, therefore the people of the latter 
 country regarded it with a sort of scorn * when discussing it 
 amongst themselves. But they were very respectful in their 
 demeanor towards these poeple, for reasons that shall presently 
 appear. 
 
 The differences in the two coeval civilizations lay in the fact 
 that while Poseidi tended to the cultivation of the mechanical 
 arts, to sciences having to do with material things, and were 
 content to accept without question the religion of their ances- 
 tors, the Suerni and Necropani paid but little heed to anything 
 not mainly occult and of religious significance— practical prin- 
 ciples truly, occult laws having a bearing on materiality — 
 but none the less were they careless of material objects except 
 in so far as the proper maintenance of life was concerned. 
 Their rule of life was summed in the principle of taking no 
 heed of the life about them, but neglecting the present they 
 strove after the future. The vital principle of Poseid was to 
 extend her dominion over natural things. There were those 
 who philosophized over the spirit of the times— Poseid theo- 
 rists—and these drew a prognostic picture of Atlantean des- 
 tiny. They pointed out the fact that our splendid physical 
 triumphs, our arts, sciences and progress, absolutely depended 
 on the utilization of occult power drawn from the Night-Side 
 of nature. Then this fact was put side by side with the fact 
 that the mysterious powers of the Suerni and Necropani owed 
 their existence to this same occult realm, and the conclusion 
 
 *It hath been ever thus; the seed sown in the Acre whereof the 
 corners are marked by posts of which the first hath but one side, the 
 second five sides, the third six sides, but the fourth again only five. — 
 hath ever been scorned by man. That seed groweth a tree seventeen- 
 branched. So was Suern. In another day it would be watered by Poseid; 
 later it must be in Poseid. Vet again this would be after it was pruned 
 by its Sower. Then it must grow till the day's end, and become great 
 in the next day. But greatest at the end of that day. I have spoken a 
 riddle that whoso unfoldeth it proveth him of the Tree I have spoken, 
 and filled with deathlessness. Hear, O Israel! Seek, O Manasseh, and 
 Ephriam, seek! Land of the Starry Flag, open thine ey^s, and thou, too, 
 O Mother land! 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAf . lot 
 
 was that in time we also would grow careless of material 
 progress and devote our energy to occult studies. Their fore- 
 bodings were extremely gloomy in consequence; yet, while 
 the people listened respectfully, the failure of these prophets 
 to suggest a remedy rendered them in some degree objects of 
 secret contempt. Any one who shall find fault with an ex- 
 isting state of affairs and be confessedly unable to substitute a 
 better, is sure to meet with public ridicule. 
 
 We, as Poseidi, knew that the mysterious nations across the 
 waters were possessed of abilities which virtually dwarfed our 
 attainments, such as our power to traverse the aerial or marine 
 depths, our swift cars, our sub-surface sea ships. No, they did 
 not boast such conveniences, but they had no need of them to 
 carry on the course of their lives, and therefore, as we sup- 
 posed, no desire for such apparatus. Perhaps our scorn was 
 more affected than real, for in our more sober thought we 
 acknowledged, with no small admiration, their supremacy. 
 
 What though we could speak with, and see, and hear, and 
 be seen by those with whom we wished to communicate, and 
 this at any distance and without wires, but over the magnetic 
 currents of the globe? Truly, we never knew the pangs of 
 separation from our friends; we could attend to the demands 
 of commerce, and transport our armies in war times with a 
 dispatch which could pass around the world in a day ; all this 
 as long as our mechanical and electrical contrivances were at 
 hand. But what availed all this splendid ability? Shut one of 
 the most learned Xioqui in a dungeon, and all his knowledge 
 would be as naught; he could not, deprived in such a way of 
 implements or agencies, hope to see, to hear or to escape with- 
 out external aid. His marvellous capabilities were dependent 
 upon the creation of his intellect. Not so with Suern or with 
 Necropan. How to hinder one of these people, no Poseida 
 knew. Shut in a dungeon, he would arise and go forth like 
 Saul of Tarsus ; he could see to any distance, and this without a 
 naim; hear equally without a naim; go through the midst of 
 foes, and be seen by none of them. What, then, availed our 
 attainments if opposed to those of Suernis and Necropan? Of 
 
108 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; 0&, 
 
 ! what use our instruments of war even against such a people, 
 a single man of whom, looking with eyes wherein glittered the 
 terrible light of a will-power exerted to hurl in retribution 
 the unseen forces of the Night-Side, could cause our foemen 
 to wither as green leaves before the hot breath of fire? Were 
 missiles of value here ? Of use, when the person at whom they 
 were aimed could arrest them in their lightning path, and 
 make them fall as thistle-down at his feet? What, even, was 
 the value of explosives, more awful than nitro-glycerin, drop- 
 ped from vailx poised miles above in the blue vault of heaven ? 
 None whatever; for the enemy, with prescient gaze and perfect 
 control of Night-Side forces we knew not of, could arrest the 
 falling destroyer, and instead of suffering harm, could anni- 
 hilate that high ship and its living load. A burned child fears 
 the fire, and in times past we had sought to conquer these na- 
 tions, and failed disastrously. Repulse was all they sought to 
 effect, and successful over us in this, we had been left to go in 
 peace. 
 
 As the years stretched into centuries, our ways likewise 
 became those of defence only, never offensive any more, and 
 owing to this change on the part of Poseid, friendly relations 
 arose between the three nations. 
 
 Atla had learned at last so much of the secret as to wield 
 magnetic forces for the destruction of its foes, and had dis- 
 pensed with missiles, projectiles, and explosives as agents of 
 defense. But the knowledge of the Suerni was still greater. 
 Greater because our magnetic destroyers spread death only 
 over restricted areas circumjacent to the operator; theirs op- 
 erated at any desired point, however distant. Ours struck in- 
 discriminately at all things in the fated district ; at things inan- 
 imate, as well as animate; at men, whether foes or friends; at 
 animals, at trees— all were doomed. Their agencies went out 
 under control, and struck at the heart of the opposing force, 
 not destroying life unnecessarily; nor even molesting any of 
 the enemy except the generals and directors of their forces. 
 
 Of all these facts concerning the Suerni, I had long before 
 learned. Prince Menax asked me that I oblige him by going 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. i($ 
 
 on a mission to that people. I had never seen the land of 
 Suern, and having a desire to do so, felt well pleased that it 
 was to be gratified. After consenting to do as requested, I 
 asked the prince concerning the proposed duty, saying: "If 
 Zo Astika will tell his son what is required, he will satisfy a 
 growing curiosity." 
 
 "Even so will I do," answered the prince. "It is desired 
 to send unto the Rai of Suern a present in acknowledgment oi 
 certain gifts sent by him to Rai Gwauxln. While there can 
 be but small doubt that these gifts were sent to induce our ac- 
 ceptance of seven score women, prisoners of war, who seem to 
 be much in the way of Rai Ernon of Suern, nevertheless we 
 cannot regard it as necessary to throw us a sop, and while the 
 women will be allowed to remain, or go whither they will so 
 that they go not where forbidden by Suern, we choose to regard 
 the gift of gems and of gold as a gift, and make due return 
 for it. So saith the council in quorum assembled. It seems 
 that these women are members of certain strong forces of 
 foolish invaders whose country lies far to the west of Suern. 
 These people very unwisely made war upon the terrible Suerni. 
 They had never experienced, nor beheld exerted, the wrath ( 
 wherewith Incal arms His children of Suern— a wrath which 
 
 moweth its~foes as the scythe of the reaper layeth the grass. j*z 
 Now, Ernon hath a fertile country, and these ignorant savages 
 longed to possess it, wherefore they sent unto the Rai of Suern 
 a challenge of war. To this Ernon replied that he would not 
 make fight; that those who sought him with spears and with 
 bows, and came arrayed in armor, would find him, and therefor / 
 be sorrowful, inasmuch as Yeovah— as the Suerni are pleased) 
 to name Him whom we called Incal— would protect him andS 
 his people of Suern, and this without strife and bloodshed. 
 Thereupon the barbarians returned derisive language, and de- 1 
 clared that they would come upon his land and destroy his 
 people with the sword. So they gathered a numerous army, 
 even ten score thousand fighting-men, and many camp-follow- 
 ers, and these, led by a dauntless Astiki, swept east by south to 
 devastate the realm of Suern. But wait ; there is in this room 
 
110 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; 0% 
 
 one who can doubtless tell more than I, and tell it better. 
 "Mailzis!"— addressing his body servant— " conduct hither 
 yon fair stranger." 
 
 Mailzis obeying, the foreign woman whom I had seen as I 
 entered the apartment of the prince, arose in an easy, graceful 
 manner which commanded my admiration. Arranging her 
 attire in a not at all hasty way— quite, in fact, the reverse of 
 one obeying a superior— she approached Menax. Arising def- 
 erentially, the prince said:— "Lady, art thou minded to recount 
 to me that which thou hast told to my sovereign ? I know that 
 thy narration is vastly interesting. ' ' 
 
 During these remarks the stranger had looked not at the 
 Prince, but at me. Her eyes had been riveted on my face, not 
 boldly, but intently, though obviously quite unaware of the 
 fixity of her gaze. None the less there was such a magnetic 
 power in it, that I was compelled to look away, strangely 
 abashed by the glance, but feeling that yet it folowed me, al- 
 though I saw it not. It occurred to me that the fact of the 
 lady's reply being couched in the Poseid language was indica- 
 tive of her possession of a good education. 
 
 "If, Astika"— said she— "it be a pleasure to thee that I do 
 this that thou askest, it is also one to me. It is also much of 
 a pleasure to me to repeat it to the youth thou favorest. 1 
 would, however, that the maid, thy daughter, were not here"— 
 she added, sotto voce, with a glance of antagonism toward 
 Anzimee, who sat near us, engaged in perusing a book, ap- 
 parently, but, as I fancied, not in reality. This jealous under- 
 tone was not heard by Menax, though Anzimee heard it, and 
 presently arose and left the apartment in consequence. This 
 action I regretted, and the cause of it I resented, as the Saldu 
 quickly saw, and because of it bit her lip with vexation. 
 
 "It cannot be agreeable to stand; wilt thou seat thyself at 
 my right hand, and thou, Zailm, change thy seat, also, and be 
 at my left?" — said Menax, re-seating himself on the divan. 
 
 When this arrangement had been made, we were ready to 
 listen to the recital. At this moment the valet, Mailzis, 
 respectfuly approached, and being asked his wish, said: 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. Ill 
 
 "It is the desire of thine officers, and of the ladies of the 
 astikithlon, to be also present at the narration.' ' 
 
 "Their wish is granted; bring also the naim, and place it 
 near us, that the editor of the Records may take account, too." 
 
 Availing themselves of his permission, the petitioners were 
 soon grouped about us, some on low seats, others— higher of- 
 ficers—more familiar with their prince, stretched themselves on 
 side and elbow in front of Menax upon the rich velvet rugs on 
 the marble floor. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE RECITAL. 
 
 "Mailzis," said the Prince, "some spiced wine for us." 
 
 In the enjoyment of this truly refreshing, because unfer- 
 mented beverage, we listened to the following thrilling nar- 
 rative : 
 
 "Thou art, I think, acquainted with my native country, since 
 thou hast had commercial intercourse with the Said nation. 
 All here have likewise heard of how our ruler sent a great 
 army against the terrible Suerni. Ah! how little we knew of 
 those people!" she exclaimed, clasping her small, patrician 
 hands in an agony of terrified retrospection. 
 
 "Eight score thousand warriors had my father, the chief, 
 under his command. One-half as many more were followers 
 of the camp. Our cavalry was our pride, veterans tried and 
 true, and ah ! so lustful after blood ! Such splendid armament 
 had we; glittering spears and lances— oh! a wondrous array 
 of valiant men!" 
 
 At this eulogy of such primitive weapons her listeners were 
 unable to repress a shadowy smile. For a moment this seemed 
 to disconcert the princess, but not for long, for she continued : 
 
 "In this splendid, powerful fashion— ah! how I love power! 
 —we came, taking loot as we proceeded towards the Suern city. 
 
112 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 When we arrived near it, after many days, we could not see it, 
 as it was in a lowland. But we felt assured of an easy victory, 
 since captives whom we took informed us that no walls or like 
 defenses existed, and that no army was gathered to meet us. 
 Indeed, we nowhere found walled towns in all Suern, nor met 
 with resistance, hence had spilled no blood, but contented our- 
 selves with torture of the captives, by way of amusement, ere 
 we set them free." 
 
 ''Horrible!'' muttered Menax under his breath. "Heartless 
 barbarians!" 
 
 "What saidst thou, my lord?" asked the girl, quickly. 
 
 * ' Nothing, my lady, nothing ! I but thought of the splendid 
 march of the Saldan host." 
 
 Though seemingly somewhat doubtful of the accuracy of this 
 statement, the Saldu nevertheless continued her recital. 
 
 "Arrived, as I have said, we stayed our march on the brink 
 of a shallow, but wide defile, wherein the Rai was soun -warlike 
 and unwise as to have his capital, and sent a messenger to an- 
 nounce our errand and offer him favorable terms of war. In 
 answer there came with our flag-bearer a solitary, unarmed old 
 man. Elderly is a better word. He was tall, erect as a sol- 
 dier, and had a dignity of mien that made him splendid to look 
 upon. Aye, he looked as power incarnate! I ought to hate 
 him, but he is powerful, and I cannot choose but love him ! If 
 he were younger— I would woo him to be my mate." 
 
 At this unexpected remark we looked at the fair speaker in 
 amazement, not unmingled with other emotions, while Prince 
 Menax asked: 
 
 "Astiku, hear I aright? Woo a man? Is it customary 
 amongst thy people to give unto woman the love-making? I 
 had thought myself versed in the customs of every nation, 
 ancient and modern, yet knew not this fact. However, strange 
 things are to be expected of— well, a race which has but num- 
 bers to entitle it to recognition at the hands of people like 
 the Poseidi." 
 
 "Why not be frank, Zo Astika? Why not say what thou 
 thinkest— tjiat civilized nations like thine consider such a 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 113 
 
 race as the Saldi beneath them so far that even their customs 
 are well nigh unknown to thee?" 
 
 Prince Menax flushed deeply in ashamed confusion, for he 
 was unaccustomed to prevarication, and replied: 
 
 " Candor is best, I admit; but I desired to avoid wounding 
 thy feelings, Astika." 
 
 With a ringing laugh, full of amusement, the Astiki said: 
 
 "Zo Astika, allow me to tell thee that in Said, either sex is 
 free to woo its chosen one. Why not ? It is sensible, methinks. 
 I shall follow our custom in this respect, if chance ever pre- 
 sents.. My chosen one must be pleasing to look upon, and 
 must be courageous like unto the lion of the desert, yea ! even 
 the deserts whence he came unto the continent of Suernota. 
 Ah, me; yes, if chance offers,"— she reiterated, with a little 
 sigh. 
 
 At length she resumed wearily, sadly : 
 
 "The Astika— my father, chief of our armies— said to this 
 grand old man; 
 
 " 'Whatsaith thy ruler!' 
 
 " 'He saith:— 'Bid this stranger depart least my wrath 
 awake, for lo, I shall smite him if he obey me not ! Terrible is 
 mine anger.' 
 
 " 'What ho! And his army; I have seen none,' said my 
 father with the laugh of a veteran to whom despised resistance 
 is offered. 
 
 " 'Chief/— said the envoy, in a low, earnest tone— 'Thou 
 hadst best depart. I am that Rai, and his army also. Leave 
 this land now; soon thou canst not. Go, I implore thee!' 
 
 " 'Thou the Rai? Rash man! I tell thee that when the 
 sun hath moved one other sign, that thy courage shall not save 
 thee, unless thou wilt now return and collect thine army. Else 
 will I then send thy head to thy people. There is but this op- 
 tion. After that length of time I will strike and sack thy 
 city. Nay, fear not now for thy personal safety ; I cannot hurt 
 an unarmed foeman ! Go in peace, and by the morning I will 
 attack thee and thy army. I must have a worthy foe.' 
 
 " 'In myself is a worthy foe. Hast thou never heard of the 
 
114 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Suerni? Yes? And thou hast not believed! Oh, it is true! 
 Go, I entreat thee, while yet thou canst do so in safety ! ' 
 
 " 'Foolish man!'— said the chief. 'This thine ultimatum? 
 Then be it so! Stand aside! I go not away, but forward/ 
 Then he called unto the captains of the legions and com- 
 manded : 
 
 " 'Forward! March to conquer!' 
 
 " 'Withhold that order one moment; I would ask a ques- 
 tions—said the Rai. 
 
 "Agreeably to this request our men, who had sprung to 
 place at the word, were now halted with arms at rest. In the 
 very front ranks of the Saldan army as it stood on the little 
 eminence overlooking the Suern capital, and the great river 
 flowing near, was the prime flower of our host. Veterans they 
 were, tried and true, men of giant stature, two thousand strong 
 — leaders of the men less seasoned. I shall never forget how 
 grand looked that array, no, never! So strong; the very 
 mane of our lion-power, every man able to carry an ox on his 
 back. The sun was caught on their spears in a glorious blaze 
 of light! Looking upon these men the Suerna said: 
 
 " 'Astika, are not these thy best men?' 
 
 " 'Aye.' 
 
 ' ' ' They are the ones of whom it hath been told me that they 
 tortured my people, merely for amusement? And they called 
 them cowards, saying that men who would not resist — to them 
 should they serve death, and they did murder a few of my 
 subjects ?' 
 
 " 'I deny it not,' said my father. 
 
 " 'Thinkest thou, Astika, that this was right? Are not 
 men who glory in shedding blood worthy of death?' 
 
 " 'Possibly; if so, what matter? Perchance thou wouldst 
 have me punish them for such action?— said my father, scorn- 
 fully. 
 
 " 'Even so, Astika. And thereafter depart hence?' 
 
 " 'Aye, that will I ! 'Tis a good jest; yet have I not humor 
 for jesting!' 
 
 " 'And thou wilt not go, though I say to remain is death?' 
 
/ 
 
 THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 115 
 
 " 'Nay! Cease thy drivel! I weary of it.' 
 
 " 'Astika, I am sorrowful! But be it as thou wilt. Thou 
 hast been warned to leave. Thou hast heard of the power of 
 the Suern, and believed not. But now, feel it!' 
 
 ''With these words the Rai swept his outpointing index- 
 finger over the place where stood our pride— the splendid two 
 thousand. His lips moved and I barely heard the low-spoken 
 words : 
 
 " 'Yeovah, strengthen my weakness. So dieth stubborn 
 guilt/ 
 
 "What then befell so filled all spectators with horror, so 
 wrought upon their superstition, that for full five minutes 
 after, scarce a sound was heard. Of all those veteran war- 
 riors not one was left alive. At the gesture of the Suernis their 
 heads fell forward, their grasp was loosed on their spears, and 
 they fell as drunken men to the earth. Not a sound, save that 
 of their precipitation ; not a struggle ; death had come to them 
 as it comes to those whose hearts stop pulsing. Ah! what 
 frightful power hast thou, Suernis !" 
 
 "For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, 
 And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed." 
 
 Sennacherib was unknown then ; the Salda princess knew not 
 of the poem ; but we do, my reader, thou and I ; that is enough. 
 
 While describing the action of the Rai of Suern, the princess 
 had risen to her feet from her place by the side of Menax, simu- 
 lating at the same time the fatal gesture of Ernon of Suern. 
 So apt had been this mimicry that the group of listeners on 
 our left had involuntarily cowered as her arm swept over their 
 heads. The Saldu noticed them shrink, and her lip curled 
 with scorn. 
 
 "Cowards!"— she muttered. A Poseida overheard the 
 words, and his cheek flushed, as he said: 
 
 "Nay, Astiku, not cowards! Consider our involuntary 
 shrinking as a compliment to thy descriptive powers." 
 
 She smiled, and said:— "Perhaps so." Then, overcome by 
 her apostrophe to the dread strength of Yeovah as invoked 
 
116 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 by Ernon, a strength which even proud Atla feared— she sank 
 back in her seat weeping. 
 
 A little wine revived her, and the narration was resumed. 
 
 " After the horrible silence that fell on all who had witnessed 
 the awful sight, the women— wives and daughters of the 
 higher officers— began shrieking in affright. Many of our 
 men, as soon as they could realize that the stories they had 
 heard and discredited were no idle tales, fell to the earth in 
 an agony of puling terror. Ah ! then, then could ye have heard 
 supplications to all the gods, great and small, in whom our 
 people place trust. Ha! ha!"— laughed the princess, bitterly, 
 contemptuously— "Appealing to gods of wood and metal for 
 protection against such awful power! Faugh! Since I may 
 not live in Suern, being banished, I would not live again in the 
 land of my nativity! I want no more of people who idolize 
 insentient objects and defy them. No, Astika," she said in 
 answer to a question from Menax— "I never worshipped idols; 
 most of our people do, but not all. I have not proved an 
 apostate. But I do worship power. I ought to hate Ernon 
 of Suern; but I do not. Indeed, I would, if permitted, live in 
 his presence and idolize his wondrous strength, which works 
 death to his enemies. Not so permitted, I would rather re- 
 main with thy people, who are a goodly race, and, if not equal 
 to the Suerni, are yet better and more powerful than mine own, 
 ah ! far more so. 
 
 "My father knew better than to imagine this some trick of a 
 wily people--knew now, after this bitter lesson, that the repu- 
 tation accorded them by travelers was no idle fabrication of 
 wonder-mongers. But he did not cringe before the Rai— he 
 was too proud-spirited for that. While we gazed, stupefied, 
 on the awful scene ©f death, another and not less frightful, but 
 more ghastly thing happened. We that were alive— all our 
 host except the two thousand stood between our dead and the 
 river west of the city. Rai Ernon bowed his head and prayed 
 —what dire alarm that action caused our people !— and I 
 heard him say : 
 
 " 'Lord, do this thing for thy servant, I beseech thee!' " 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 117 
 
 "Then, as I gazed on the victims, I saw them arise one by 
 one, and gather up each his spear and shield and helmet. 
 Thereafter, in little irregular squads they marched towards us, 
 towards me. 0! My God!— and passed on to the river! As 
 they passed I saw that their eyes were half-closed and glazed 
 in death; the movement of their limbs was mechanical; they 
 walked as if hung on wires, and their armor clanked and 
 clanged in a horrid, mocking ring. As, one by one, the squads 
 came to the river, they walked in, deeper and deeper, till the 
 waters closed over their heads, and they were gone forever- 
 gone to feed the crocodiles which already roared and snarled 
 over their prey adown the stream of Gunja. No one to lead, 
 none to carry; each going as if alive, and yet somehow dead, 
 this ghastly procession to the river, a thousand paces distant, 
 so completed the horrible sense of fear that desperate terror 
 possessed the great army, and they fled, leaving behind all 
 things, and soon only a few faithful soldiers were left in sight ; 
 these remained with their commander and his officers of staff, 
 ready to share with him the death which they expected would 
 be meted out to all who remained. The women also did not all 
 flee. Then spoke Rai Ernon, saying: 
 
 " 'Did I not tell thee to depart, ere I punished thee? Will 
 thou now go ? Behold thine army in flight ! Its rout shall not 
 cease, for thousands shall never more see Saldee, because they 
 will perish by the wayside, yet not a few shall reach their 
 homes. But thou shalt never more go home; neither thee nor 
 thy women. But they will not stay in my land nor their own, 
 but in a strange country.' " 
 
 1 ' That haughty, but now humbled soldier, my father, bent 
 on one knee before the Rai, and said: 
 
 " 'Mighty Rai, what wouldst thou with innocent women? 
 Thou saidst my warriors were guilty; I admit it, nor except 
 myself. But these, my women— they have harmed no man. 
 Thy words lead me to believe that justice is thy ruling prin- 
 ciple; thine acts do likewise, for when thou mightest have 
 struck us every one, thou didst no more than make example of 
 
118 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 a few guilty ones. I implore thee, then, have mercy on my 
 women ; perchance on my officers also. ' 
 
 " 'On thy officers, yes; they are faithful unto thee, though 
 they expect but death as their reward. Bid them depart with 
 what still bides of thine army. They are unused to caring for 
 the needs of the body, wherefore they will of a surety all per- 
 ish, except I save them. Having power, I will use it mercifully. 
 None shall perish by the wayside ; not one shall hunger, neither 
 thirst, nor suffer any sickness, Yeovah! all the way home, 
 nor lose his way, though none shall have to eat any food all the 
 way. And about them shall wild beasts rave, and though not 
 one have a weapon, no animal shall harm him, for the spirit of 
 Yeovah shall go with them and be their shelter and their safe- 
 guard. Yea, more also, shall He do— for he will enter into 
 their souls, so that they that are warriors shall be henceforth 
 His prophets, and shall uplift their people and make of their 
 name one which shall go down unto all ages ; a famous race of 
 educated men shall they be, and astrologers, telling of God by 
 his works of heaven. Yet shall a further day come some six 
 thousand years hence when the men of Chaldea shall again 
 try to prevail over my people, and again shall fail, even 
 as now, but thou shalt long have been with thy fathers asleep 
 from a second life, and safe in the Name* whereby I work, ere 
 this second attempt. Callest thou innocent, women who vol- 
 untarily came in all the insolence of supposed power and in- 
 vincibility to murder my people? Innocent! they who came 
 to see the rapine of my cities and to revel in the sufferings of 
 my people ? Innocent ! Nay, not so ! Wherefore I shall re- 
 tain with thee these wives and these maidens. Behold ! I have 
 said thou shalt not go hence ; neither these women yet awhile, 
 but thou— thou shalt never go again from this land. I will 
 put thee in a prison which has neither bars nor gratings nor any 
 wall ; yet thou canst not hope to leave it. ' 
 
 " 'Dost thou mean that we are all to die, Zo Rai?' asked my 
 father in a low, sad voice. 
 
 1 ' ' Not so ; Zo Astika, thinkest thou I condemn murder, yet 
 
 *Yeovah or Jehovah. — Ed. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 119 
 
 would myself do it needlessly? No. Having said that thou 
 canst not leave Suern, neither is it possible for thee thereafter, 
 though neither bolt nor bar hindereth, nor any man watcheth 
 or keepeth thee. ' 
 
 "It was piteous to see the partings between those who were 
 to go and those who must stay. But then, such are the for- 
 tunes of war, and the weak must obey the strong. I had re- 
 joiced in our fancied strength, nor cared who fell by it. Power, 
 aye, power ! I think, after all, that I felt a grim satisfaction in 
 beholding thee, Power, my god, work so swift destruction!" 
 
 The princess said these last words musingly, apparently lost 
 to her surroundings as she sat with clenched hands, admiration 
 depicted on her beautiful face and her glorious blue eyes with 
 their far-away look, but oh! so heartless, so cruel, after alL 
 Queenly in figure, commanding in personality, beautiful, won- 
 derfuly beautiful, the world now, as then, would call the 
 Princess Lolix; indeed she bore a most startling likeness to 
 thine own fair American women. But these are not like her, 
 really. She, lioness-like, sided ever with the triumph-power. 
 But the real American maiden, sympathetic, true as steel, 
 graceful as a bird, sweet as a rose just blown— like Lolix in 
 these three last traits, but ceasing to parallel her further, for 
 she of today clings to her father, her brother, her lover, come 
 sunshine, come storm, success or adversity— faithful unto 
 death. Such have their reward. 
 
 There came a day when Lolix was altered to be all that the 
 fair modern maidens are. But it was not till after years. 
 There are some kinds of roses which, while in tender bud, seem 
 all thorns ; but what marvels of beauty are they when they have 
 at length opened their hearts to the sun and the dew ! 
 
 It appeared that Prince Menax had not heretofore heard 
 Lolix speak at length, but had for some reason waited this 
 experience until I might listen. Consequently it was a revela- 
 tion to him to hear one so fair, and even so sweet, reveal so 
 heartless a nature as she exhibited in her speech, which was 
 
120 A DWELLED ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 quite as much retrospective meditation, on her part, as recital. 
 After some moments, Menax said: 
 
 "Astiku, thou hast related that his Majesty of Suern did 
 not by thee and thy companions as thou didst anticipate, 
 reasoning from the national custom of thy people to devote fe- 
 male prisoners of war to lust and ministrations to man's base 
 passions." 
 
 "Astika Menax, thou 'It not esteem me disrespectful if I 
 shall henceforth call thee friend? I will confess it to have 
 been very much of a surprise that Rai Ernon did not so do. I 
 could not have complained, for such are the vicissitudes of war. 
 Instead, however, he declared that neither he nor the Suerni 
 had any use for us; wherefore he sent us into a foreign land. 
 Is that our destiny here— such a hard fate?" 
 
 ' ' No ! never so ! " replied Menax, his lip curling with disgust 
 at the bare imputation. "Here thou shalt be supported by 
 the government until perchance Poseid citizens shall choose 
 wives of thy number; ours is a people of strange tastes, some- 
 times!" 
 
 "Thou art sarcastic, Astika!" 
 
 Save that the prince slightly raised his eyebrows, he vouch- 
 safed no reply to her remark ; even this notice was so faint that 
 if I had not been closely watching his face, I should not have 
 perceived it. After a more or less extended silence, Menax 
 said that they were hindered from evermore returning home 
 to Salda, bcause— 
 
 1 ' No longer my home ! ' ' quickly interrupted the lady. 
 
 "Then the land of thy birth!" said Menax with some asper- 
 ity, as he again lapsed into silence. 
 
 Lolix then arose and, clasping her hands, vehemently ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 "I have no wish evermore to see my native land. Hence- 
 forth I choose my lot in Poseid— to call it home !" 
 
 "As thou wilt," said Menax. "Thou art certainly a most 
 strange woman! For love of power thou forsakest gods and 
 home and native land. Are the others, thy captive friends — 
 nay, hold! perchance not friends, seeing that they are fallen 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 121 
 
 under misfortune !— are these as thyself, these women, for- 
 getful of their country ? ' ' 
 
 Bending her lovely head, the princess fixed the gaze of her 
 glorious blue eyes upon the upturned face of her critic. Two 
 drops— tear-drops— fell from beneath the long sweeping lashes, 
 her lips quivered, and she clasped her little hands together with 
 the words: 
 
 "Ah! Astika, thou art cruel;" then turned away and 
 walked sobbing to the seat where first I had seen her. 
 
 Thus was the unblown rosebud mistaken for a thistle blos- 
 som. 
 
 As for me, a strange mixture of feelings possessed me, a com- 
 mingling of wonder and approval. I wondered what sort of 
 a nature it was that could be so heartless and thirst so greatly 
 after power as to leave every natural tie for the sake of fol- 
 lowing it, and yet was so essentially feminine as to be pained 
 at the expression of a very natural reprobation of such con- 
 duct. I pitied her because she was so ingenuous, and was so 
 sincerely honest in and through all her soullessness, and had 
 so artlessly narrated her later history, evidently expectant of 
 approbation, and felt so hurt at the contrary effect produced. 
 Finally, approval divided my emotions, because the prince 
 had given a really merited rebuke, and one which, though its 
 smart- was keen, could not fail of a salutary effect. My re- 
 flections were interrupted at this point by Menax, saying : 
 
 "Zailm, let us go into the Xanatithlon* where all is quiet 
 and beautiful among the flowers. We shall be alone there, 
 thou and I. I would dismiss these people of my palace, but 
 prefer not to disturb yo^Saldee maiden." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS. 
 
 A very few steps took us into the great conservatory, or 
 Xanatithlon, where bloomed all manner and species of flowers. 
 
 ♦Building for flowers. 
 
122 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 In the midst, was a fountain whose three lofty jets sprang into 
 
 the arch of the great dome, and sparkled during the day in 
 
 the sun-rays as they filtered through the thousands of panes 
 
 U of many-colored glass. Now, however, when the dull roar of 
 
 S the rain falling on all without, mingled its tones with the 
 
 5 dulcet plash of the fountain, that object of beauty was flashing 
 
 in the rays of numerous electric images of the Day King. 
 
 Intermingled with the myriads of natural flowers were many 
 hundreds wrought in glass so perfectly that only close exami- 
 nation by sense of touch might say which were produced by 
 Flora and which by the artist. These illuminants were suited 
 in kind to the natural flowers of the plant, tree or vine on 
 which they hung; on the plants there were but few, on the 
 trees, higher above the floor, the number increased, while on the 
 vines that clambered over arches and pillars, or swung pendent 
 between high points overhead were a great multitude, casting 
 throughout this floral paradise a soft, steady glow which was 
 most delightful. 
 
 In the midst of these pleasant environments we seated our- 
 selves on what to the eye seemed a pile of moss-covered rocks 
 with cosy depressions amongst them — very comfortable, since 
 in reality they were easy springs, whereon grew moss originally 
 furnished by silk-worms. 
 
 "Sit here, closer to me, my son,"— said the benign old prince, 
 drawing me down into a hollow beside that occupied by himself. 
 
 "Zailm,"— he began— "I hardly know why I called thee this 
 night ; why I waited not for a time. And yet I do know, too ; 
 I had a mission to confer upon some one fitted to perform it. 
 There are others more experienced, yet I choose to give it to 
 thee; thou knowest what it is." 
 
 Very evident to me was it that this was not what actuated 
 the Astika in his choice, and that it was not for this that he had 
 asked me into the conservatory. He had relapsed into silence, 
 which he presently broke by asking: 
 
 ' ' Hast thou ever heard that my wife gave me a son, and 
 that both wife and son are taken by death? Aye,„one son, and 
 a daughter. Praise unto Incal, I have her yet! But my son, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 123 
 
 the pride of my life, is gone unto Navazzamin, the destiny of 
 all mortality. My son, oh, my son!"— he sobbed. 
 
 When his emotion had somewhat subsided, he resumed: 
 
 "Zailm, when I saw thee, at thy first speech with our be- 
 loved Rai— four years ago, was it not?— I was astonished at thy 
 likeness to my dead boy, and I loved thee then, Zailm ! Many 
 a time have I gone to the Xioquithlon to note thee at work in 
 thy studies. Always have the summonses thou hast received 
 at divers times to attend at this astikithlon had for their 
 prompting motive sight of thee ! Yes, sight of thee, lad, sight 
 of thee!"— he murmured softly, gently stroking my curls the 
 while. 
 
 "Few days have passed that I have not at some time seen 
 thee, either personally or by naim; yes, I have gone at night, 
 and stood by thy window, that I might gladden my heart with 
 the sound of thy voice as thou hast sat reading to thy mother. 
 I have watched thee, and been proud of thee, Zailm, for in 
 every way thou hast seemed as my own ; thy triumphs in study 
 have made joyful my days, as has also the skill with which thou 
 hast performed governmental commissions— for thou wert as 
 my son! Then come and live here, lad, for I want thee near 
 me, in this mine old age. Together will we float down the 
 stream of life, thou and I ! Perchance I go first out across the 
 great ocean of eternity ; then will I await thee in the dim land 
 of dreams, where is no more parting, neither pain nor sorrow. 
 Come, Zailm, come!" 
 
 To this tender appeal I replied : 
 
 "Menax, I have often wondered, during the years of my 
 abode in Caiphul, what meant thy favors to me. Thou hast 
 ever been more kind to me than any other, yet have ever been 
 reserved and distant, yea, more so than others who could not 
 care overmuch what befell me. Now all is plain. I have 
 looked on thee with affection and loving reverence, and treas- 
 ured thy kindnesses, and acted according to thy few words of 
 advice. Yea, Menax, we will together go hand in hand to the 
 
124 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 shadowy land of departed souls, thou for me, or I for thee, 
 waiting the other's coming, whichsoever the Harvester of Souls 
 shall first garner." 
 
 We arose and tenderly embraced each other. As we parted 
 our clasp, I beheld the only child of the prince, enframed in 
 clustering vines that twined caressingly around her lovely 
 form. As I looked upon her I thought of that other girl, the 
 Saldu to whose story I had so recently listened. Nearly the 
 same age, neither of them more than a year my junior, but 
 so widely different from each other as types of womanly beauty. 
 It is difficult to describe a person in whom the deepest inter- 
 est of the heart is centered, and the greater this feeling, the 
 more difficult will be the portraiture. At least, it is so in my 
 case. 
 
 The reader is aware how the brown-haired, blue-eyed, 
 queenly girl of far away Said appeared, how delicate her fair 
 complexion, how high-strung and sensitive her nature, yet 
 withal, how cruel! But how can I picture her whom I loved, 
 her with whom the hope of a chance meeting, even at a dis- 
 tance, made a great part of the pleasure I felt in going to the 
 palace of Menax. She whom I had loved and enshrined within 
 my heart nearly as many years as I had resided in Caiphul— 
 how can I describe her? 
 
 If the Princess Lolix was on the threshold of womanhood, 
 so was this fair one, the Princess Anzimee. Slight, delicate, 
 womanly, the daughter of a long line of patrician ancestry ; my 
 senior and superior in the ranks of study at the Xioquithlon, if 
 my junior in years; I loved her, yet carefully concealed the 
 fact. Each of my friends who reads this will know. what I feel 
 when I avow unwillingness to describe Anzimee, and bid each to 
 place in this Poseid life-frame the picture of his own best-loved 
 one. 
 
 ''Each heart recalled a different name, 
 But all sang 'Annie Laurie.' " 
 
 Prince Menax caught sight of his daughter at nearly the same 
 moment as I did, and a look of mild surprise overspread his 
 face at her presence, when he had supposed the Xanatithlon 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 125 
 
 deserted. Seeing this expression, the Rainu came forward and, 
 kissing her father, said: 
 
 "My father, have I intruded? I heard thee and this— this 
 youth enter, but knew not that thou didst desire privacy, so, 
 kept my seat and continued my reading. ' ' 
 
 "Nay, my pet, thou hast no need of excuse. I am, indeed, 
 rather glad that thou art here. But what, may I ask, wert 
 thou reading? It will not be well for thee to study too hard, 
 and this, I suspect, was, or is, thy meaning when thy word is 
 'reading.' " 
 
 With a sweet smile dancing over her face and lighting her 
 gray eyes, she replied: "Thou wouldst make an excellent 
 reader of the hidden mind! I was indeed studying, but the 
 end justifies the labor. Whosoever shall acquire a deep 
 knowledge of the science of medicine shall be in a position to 
 relieve even those in the agonies of mortal pain, and to 
 cure those less gravely afflicted. Is it not a work for 
 Incal then, as well as for His children, and is not such an act 
 done for the least of these, something done also for Him?" 
 
 Two girls— Lolix of Said, and Anzimee of Poseid! A wide 
 continent separated their two countries, but a yet greater dis- 
 tance was between the daughters of the two lands. Lolix, with 
 no sympathy for those in pain, no sorrow for those in mortal 
 agony; Anzimee, at the very antipodes of such traits of char- 
 acter. 
 
 For a full minute there was silence, while Menax looked at 
 the noble-hearted, dainty speaker. Then, clasping my hands 
 with his right, and those of Anzimee with his left, he said : 
 
 "My child, unto thee I give a brother— one whom I deem 
 worthy to be such; Zailm, unto thee I give a sister more 
 precious than rubies; and unto Thee, Incal, my God! all the 
 song of praise which fills my breast for Thy blessings to me." 
 Here he dropped the hands that had touched together for the 
 first time, and lifted his own to heaven. 
 
 How the touch of that little hand thrilled me ere it was 
 withdrawn. Was I worthy of all this love ? No sin yet stained 
 my fair fame, and I felt at that moment entirely deserving. If 
 
126 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 ever it blotted my record, sin was yet to come; but with dis- 
 quiet I thought of the strange prophecy on that night of long 
 ago ; for an instant only this feeling possessed me, and then it 
 fled. 
 
 I was much given to the habit of analyzing men and motives ; 
 it was a second nature, so to speak, to consider every question 
 in every possible aspect. So, even now, I was querying myself 
 as to the meaning of this latest experience. I knew that for 
 Menax, who had so winningly asked me to be his son, I en- 
 tertained the most profound respect and affection. My life 
 would not have appeared to me too great a price to pay, if for 
 it I could have bestowed commensurate benefit on him; and 
 I loved life, too; there was nothing morbid about my nature, 
 unless exceeding love for my friends be a sign of morbidness. 
 I dwelt a little upon what my adoption meant socially and 
 politically. Thou needest not be told what it must have been 
 to my ambition thus to be placed in so high a niche as I would 
 thenceforth occupy in Atlan estimation as the legal son of a 
 high councillor, who by marriage was the brother of the Rai. 
 All this time, while considering the situation, I was reserving 
 as a choice sensation the pleasure of examining what was the 
 kind of love I felt for her who was my sister— by adoption only, 
 it is true— but who, herself the pet of inner circles, and the 
 adored of the people of Caiphul, would appear before the 
 world as my sister the moment Rai Gwauxln should officially 
 approve his brother's course. 
 
 Ought I to feel pleasure or vexation? I looked at her whom 
 I had dreamed of as my wife in case Incal in His goodness 
 should see fit to grant me exaltation to high places. Could I 
 hope to realize the dream, after this unexpected turn of fortune ? 
 If I had come to my high place by a differ erst manner, then J 
 could have hoped for the hand of Anzimee. But now! My 
 great fortune semed like an apple of Sodom, bitterness to my 
 mouth. For I was her brother, legally, if not by consan- 
 guineous ties. There was a chance that things were not so 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 127 
 
 dark as they semed, since such adoptions among the lower 
 classes were frequent, yet did not act as a bar to marriage. So, 
 thus again, the sun came from behind the clouds. 
 
 The characteristic most marked in the appearance of the girl 
 before me was the simplicity of her attire. That evening, her 
 glory of brown tresses was caught in a loose, unbraided fall at 
 the back of her shapely head by a plain golden clasp. A long, 
 flowing robe clothed her slender, girlish form. No costume 
 could be more artistically, tastefully simple than this colorless, 
 diaphanous fabric, tinged just enough with blue to seem pearly 
 white. Shoulder-tips of pure carmine indicated the wearer's 
 royalty. Her dress was gathered at her throat by a pin made 
 of a golden bar whereon flashed large rubies, grouped about a 
 center of pearls and emeralds, the whole heightening the color 
 of her cheeks so as to make her seem some lovely human rose- 
 bud. Rich, as it was quiet, the attire added nothing to the 
 girl's own sweetly dignified loveliness. The pearls— emblem 
 of her rank as a Xioqenu; the emeralds— mark of her not yet 
 having attained political voice; the rubies— gems of royalty, 
 worn only by the Rai, or one of his near relatives. Gwauxln's 
 own sister was Anzimee's mother and the wife of Menax. 
 
 Poseid derived her greatness from her educational superior- 
 ity—a greatness which recognized no sex in its learned ballot- 
 holders. But if Atlantis owed all things to knowledge, it was 
 none the less true that Atl's people of ability would not have 
 been what they were had it not been for their wives, the sisters 
 and the daughters, and more than all, the mothers of our proud 
 land. Our grand social fabric was founded on and built by the 
 efforts of sons and daughters who, for centuries, had respected 
 the lessons inculcated by fond, true, patriotic mothers. Next 
 to that paid to his Creator was the homage which a Poseida ac- 
 corded to woman. We loved our Rai, and the Astiki; we re- 
 spected them as much as ever rulers in this world have been 
 respected; but we honored our women more, and Rai and 
 prince, sovereign and subject, were proud to acknowledge the 
 holy influence which made all our glorious land of freedom one 
 great home. America, thou art beloved by me even as was 
 
128 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS $ OR, 
 
 Poseid. Foremost amongst nations, art thou so because of 
 woman— and Christ. Thou wilt keep in the van because of 
 them, and eclipse all the world beside when the happy karmic 
 day shall have arrived which places woman not below, not 
 above, but by the side of man on the rock of esoteric Christian 
 education, the granite of knowledge and faith, which with- 
 stands the winds and storms of ignorance. Built on such foun- 
 dation, the National house shall not fall; built on other, great 
 shall be the fall of it. Here is wisdom:— myriad serpents are 
 in a man ; in thee ; keep them. Now ye are slaves. Be ye mask 
 ers instead. But, alas ! this Way is narrow ; few will to find it. 
 
 -Y 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 'i 
 THE LANGUAGE OF THE SOUL. 
 
 "Zailm, my son, thou heardst the narration of the Saldu, 
 Lolix. As thou knowest, it is from things arisen out of thd 
 occurrences by her related that thou goest on a mission to 
 Suern. It is not a hard task, merely to make return of acknowl- 
 edgement for the gifts presented, and disavowal of our intent 
 to keep as prisoners the people whom Rai Ernon sent hither. 
 We will give them asylum, but Rai Ernon must not think that 
 we permit their presence for any purpose except to do him a 
 favor. Concerning other business; on the morrow it is Rai 
 Gwauxln's pleasure that thou attendest at Agacoe. But wilt 
 thou not remain here this night?" 
 
 "My father, I fain would stay; but is it not duteous that 
 I go unto my mother this night, and set her at ease ? She hath 
 an infirmity of nervousness than can not well withstand my 
 absence at night." 
 
 "Thou are right, Zailm. Yet soon it must be arranged that 
 thy mother be domiciled in some pleasant part of this astikith- 
 lon, so that thou shalt be under thy father's roof at night." 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 129 
 
 I then departed from the prince and from the sweet girl who 
 had been with us during a part of the evening, and went forth 
 into the night. The rain had ceased, and the clouds, rolling 
 across the sky in sullen blackness, had but one rift in their 
 gloomy mass. In this single rent shone a great white star, 
 which at times flashed red. As I looked at it, down close to 
 the horizon, seeming that moment risen from old ocean's 
 phosphorescent waters, visible from Menax Heights, I thought 
 of the past ; for this star had flashed brightly upon me while I 
 awaited the sunrise on Pitach Rhok. So many years it seemed 
 since that morn! Today this star is called "Sirus"— we 
 named it ' ' Corietos. " As I looked upon it, it seemed an omen 
 auspicious of success— past, present and to come. Raising my 
 hands toward it, I murmured: 
 
 "Phyris, Phyrisooa Pertos!" which is: "Star, star of my 
 life." 
 
 It seems a little singular that the language which is trans- 
 lated thus should have a similar sound and import as today 
 used by the people of my home-planet. At that old day I 
 raised my hands aloft and exclaimed: "Star, star of my 
 life!" To-day I turn awhile from precipitating this history in 
 astral word-things, turn to my Alter Ego, and say: "Phyris, 
 Phyrisa." This is her own dear name, and signifies "Star of 
 my soul." Peculiar, is it not, that twelve thousand years 
 should pass, and I, member of another race of human beings, 
 in another mansion, find so little change in the language of 
 the soul? 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE ADOPTION OF ZAILM. 
 
 When, according to request, I arrived at the Agacoe palace 
 on the next morning, I proceeded directly to the private office 
 there occupied by Prince Menax, expecting to find my father 
 
130 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 alone. But in this I was disappointed, as Rai Gwauxln was 
 there with him. The two were in conversation when I en- 
 tered, and did not cease, evidently not regarding me as an in- 
 truder. At last I heard the Rai ask: 
 
 ' ' Should we not now go to the Incalithlon ? ' ' 
 "If it please thee. And thou, Zailm, accompany us." 
 A palace car was summoned by the Rai, and came rolling 
 along into our presence without any person to operate it; 
 came in at the door of the office, which opened to allow its 
 passage precisely as if some court page had opened it. It 
 wheeled into the room and came to a stop in front of us. All 
 this was done exactly as if under a guiding hand. But no vis- 
 ible hand was there. This was the first time I had ever seen 
 any exhibition of occult power on the part of Gwauxln; in- 
 deed I never saw many examples of his power, notwithstanding 
 his high adeptship. Like all true adepts he was exceedingly 
 chary of such object lessons, disliking to show his knowledge 
 before those not posessed of sufficient common sense to knoAv 
 that any acts of the sort were but examples of the control of 
 nature through an understanding of higher laws than the ordi- 
 nary mind perceives in its natural surroundings ; but I was not 
 one who saw anything miraculous in the occult ; if I understand 
 not the process, I did understand that it was but the operation 
 of some unfamiliar law. Hence Gwauxln was not averse to 
 allowing me to witness his power at times. 
 
 The car conveyed us to the vailx-landing outside, where 
 we found a vailx of small size, into which Rai Gwauxln 
 courteously assisted first Menax, then myself, and him- 
 self entered last. Here was a spectacle worthy of note; 
 the ruler of a mighty nation without the display of 
 a single attendant, not more deferential to rank than 
 to those of inferior station. True, as a Xio-Incali, Gwauxln 
 had command over mechanical service which was more regal 
 far than a retinue of menials could be. 
 
 Like father, like son. Gwauxln, who was as a father to his 
 people, was copied by them in his demeanor. They, too, were 
 simple in habits, courteous in manner, and, though in many 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 131 
 
 cases wealthy, and luxurious in their habits in life, were en- 
 tirely unostentatious, as their Rai set them example. 
 
 The great temple of Incal was distant several miles, but a few 
 minutes sufficed to bring us to its huge structure. Outwardly 
 the Incalithlon was shaped like the Egyptian pyramid of 
 Cheops, not quite so high, but covering an area of twice as great 
 extent. No windows pierced its sides, and sunlight or that of 
 day never entered its interior. Besides a number of small 
 apartments, the building contained one vast hall where was 
 space for several thousand worshippers. The Poseid habit of 
 copying nature was followed in this sanctuary with extraor- 
 dinary faithfulness. Instead of straight walls, or alcoves, or 
 the ordinary arrangement of interiors, the enormous auditorium 
 was in faithful semblance of a cave of stalacttes and stalagmites. 
 In placing all this calcite, utility was consulted with regard to 
 the stalagmites so that too much floor space should not be oc- 
 cupied by them. But the stalactites, being pendent from the 
 marble ceiling, had been placed as thickly as space allowed, 
 and sparkled like stars in the light from the incandescent 
 lamps swung midway between them and the floor below. From 
 the latter point of view these lamps were concealed by broad 
 concave shades so that their glow was wholly invisible from 
 beneath, but shining upwards was reflected from myriads of 
 sparkling white needles, filling the temple with a steady and 
 soft, but powerful light that seemed to emanate from no 
 special point, but from the air itself— a light well adapted to 
 religious meditation. 
 
 We left the vailx and entered the unimposing but ample por- 
 tal, and proceeded across the hall to the Holy Seat, in the back 
 of the sanctuary. Within it we found Mainin, the Incaliz, or 
 high priest, a man of wondrous attainments of knowledge, sec- 
 ond to none in fact. To him we all made courteous obeisance, 
 and then Prince Menax said : 
 
 ' ' Most holy Incaliz, thou knowest, in thy great wisdom, upon 
 what errand thy sons have come before thee. Wilt thou fulfill 
 our prayer by granting us thy blessing?" 
 
 The Incaliz arose and bade us to follow him into the triangle 
 
132 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; Oft, 
 
 of the Maxin, or Divine Light, in front of the Holy Seat. De- 
 ferring the relation of our subsequent action, I will describe this 
 especially sacred part of the temple. It was a raised, triangu- 
 lar platform of red granite, several inches higher than the 
 floor of the auditorium, thirty-six feet between its points. In 
 the very center of it was a large block of crystal quartz, upon 
 the perfect cube of which rose the Maxin. This seemed 
 aflame, in shape like a giant spear-head, and it cast a light of 
 intense power over all things around, yet one could look at, 
 its steady, unwavering white glow without desiring shade for 
 the eyes, even though these were not strong. Over three 
 times the height of a tall man it stood, a mysterious manifesta- 
 tion of Incal, as all spectators believed. In reality it was an 
 occult odic light, and had stood in that one spot for centuries. 
 It had witnessed the grander development of Poseid and its 
 capital city, and had seen the original temple of Incal (a small 
 architectural structure, unworthy of a great people) torn down, 
 and the present Incalithlon built around it. It made no heat, 
 did not even warm the quartz pedestal ; yet for any living being' 
 to touch it was fatal in the instant of the rash act. No oil, no 
 fuel, no electric currents fed it; no man tended it. Its history 
 was peculiar, and can not fail to interest thee, my friends. 
 
 Many hundred years previously there had been for four 
 hundred and thirty-four days a ruler over the Poseidi who 
 possessed wonderful knowledge. This wisdom was like that of 
 Ernon of Suern. No one knew whence he came, and not a few 
 were disposed to question his statement, while all were in doubt, 
 as to whether his meaning was figurative or literal when he 
 said: 
 
 "I am from Incal. Lo, I am a child of the Sun, and am 
 come to reform the religion and life of this people. Behold 
 Incal is the Father and I am the Son, and He is in Me and I 
 am in Him." 
 
 He was asked to prove this claim, whereupon he laid his hand 
 upon a man born blind, and the man received his sight and 
 saw with the doubters that his deliverer stooped to the pave- 
 ment of the triangular platform, and with his finger drew a 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 133 
 
 square five and a half feet either way. Then he stepped out- 
 side of the lines indicated, and at once the great block of quartz 
 appeared, a perfect cube, in the place. Standing by its side he 
 placed his finger upon the rock, and blew thereon with his 
 breath. As he withdrew the finger the Maxin, or Fire of Incal 
 sprang up, and thus had Cube and Unfed Fire remained during 
 all the centuries since. 
 
 It is needless to say the proof was satisfactory, and there- 
 after the mysterious stranger revised the laws and provided 
 then the code which had ever since governed the land. He 
 had said that whosoever should add to or take from his laws, 
 that person should not come into the Kiugdom of Incal until 
 "I am come on earth for the final judgment." 
 
 No one had ever desired to disobey, it would seem, or at 
 least no change had ever been made. The laws which this Rai 
 had given were written by him with his finger upon the Maxin- 
 Stone, and no work of sculptor's chisel were better done. 
 They were also written upon a book of parchment leaves, and 
 this he placed under the Unfed Light itself, which thereafter 
 sprang from the surface of the Book; this had remained ever 
 since, unharmed, unscorched. The wonderful writer had placed 
 it there in sight of all the people who could enter the new Tem- 
 ple built in place of the old one. As he did so, he said : 
 
 "Hearken unto me. This is my law. Behold it also written 
 on the Maxin-Stone. No man shall remove it, lest he die. Yet 
 after centuries have flown, behold !• the Book shall disappear in 
 sight of a multitude, and no man shall know its place. Then 
 shall the Unfed Light go out, and no man be able to rekindle it. 
 And when these things have come to pass, lo ! the day is not far 
 off when the land shall no more be. It shall perish because of 
 its iniquity, and the waters of Atl shall roll above it ! I have 
 spoken." 
 
 Once, in the history of Poseid, a Rai had come to doubt 
 whether a man would surely die if he tried to withdraw 
 the Book of the Unfed Light. He conceived the idea that as 
 the Maxin sprang from the top of the Book alone, and not from 
 its sides, that removal might be possible. So therefore he 
 
134 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANtifS; Oft, 
 
 forced a malefactor to attempt the deed, fearing after all to 
 try it himself, although in the tyrannous policy which he fol- 
 lowed, he cared not whether the man died or not. That was a 
 day of growing darkness and wickedness, when men had some- 
 what forgotten the Great Rai, Son of Incal. The unhappy 
 wretch was made to grasp the Book, and withdraw it if he 
 could. He found it impossible to move it, but yet was not 
 destroyed by the Maxin. Grown bolder, and urged by the 
 Rai, he tried harder. He pulled, and then his grasp gave way, 
 and one hand passed through the Maxin. The member was in- 
 stantly destroyed, cut off, gone, while the monarch, standing 
 many feet distant, fearful of approaching near, was stricken 
 in that same instant by an outleaping flash of the Maxin, and 
 no one ever saw him more ! 
 
 That one example was sufficient! The error of their ways 
 suddenly became very apparent to the evil-doers, and admin- 
 istration of the laws was again in accord with their spirit, as 
 with their letter. The day of the "Dismal Prophecy" had been 
 looked for as the decades passed into centuries, but its time 
 was not yet come, and though many alarmists set days when 
 it would surely come, it came not, and the Unfed Light con- 
 tinued. According to the law bodies of all souls which had 
 passed into Navazzamin were cremated. This even included 
 some animals. Those dying at a distance from Caiphul were 
 incinerated in some one of the multitude of Navamaxa (fur- 
 naces especially for dead bodies) which the government pro- 
 vided all through the provinces, and if the incinerated body 
 was that of a human being, the ashes were taken to Caiphul and 
 cast into the Maxin, as a ceremonial act. Those of the de- 
 parted from Caiphul were taken as they lay in death to the 
 Incalithlon, and being raised to the top of the Cube, were let 
 fall face forward into the Unfed Light. In either case, whether 
 as incinerated ashes or unaltered forms, the result was the 
 same ; that is, while there was no flaming, no smoke, no tremor 
 of the Maxin, nevertheless the instantaneous disappearance of 
 the object occurred at the second of contact with the marvellous 
 Unfed Fire. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 135 
 
 Hence it had been sung by poets as the "Gateway" to the 
 country which each soul must discover for itself. To die, with- 
 out in some manner passing into the Maxin, either in corpus 
 personae or by the ashes from prior incineration, was thought 
 to be the most frightful calamity by the greater number of the 
 people. 
 
 It might appear that people of such scientific erudition would 
 not be so seemingly childish in religious conceptions as this. 
 As a verity it was not childishness. Instead, it was an insist- 
 ence upon such entire destruction of the earthly casket of the 
 soul, as to render certain the freedom of the real person from 
 all earthly restraint in entering into Navazzamin. 
 
 Not that many people understood the esoteric significance of 
 the rite ; no, they but understood so much of the real meaning 
 as the Incali had given them through comparing the earth- 
 leaving soul to the seed which, sprouting, leaves behind it every 
 fragment of the shell. 
 
 To return* to the Incalithlon, and the ceremonial of my adop- 
 tion by Prince Menax. 
 
 As we stood beside the Maxin-Stone, Gwauxln bade me kneel, 
 and then, placing his hand upon my head, spoke, saying: 
 
 "In harmony with the laws of the land, made and provided 
 in such cases, Astika Menax, a Councillor of the land of Poseid, 
 hath a wish to adopt thee, Zailm Numinos, for a son unto his 
 name, in place of one departed hence into Navazzamin. 
 Wherefore, as thy Sovereign and his, I, Gwauxln, Rai of Poseid, 
 do declare it to be as prayed for by Astika Menax." 
 
 The Incaliz completed the ceremonies by placing his right 
 hand upon my head and his left upon that of Menax as we 
 knelt before him, and invoking the blessing of Incal upon us 
 both. As he removed his hands, he addressed me thus: 
 
 1 ' Be thou erect in the sight of Incal, that no man may accuse 
 thee truthfully. This do, and thy days shall be long. But 
 even as thou shalt fail, so then shall thy time be shortened. 
 May the peace of Incal be with thee." 
 
 Not one of the three hearers of the Incaliz understood him 
 to mean that my days would be short because I would fail in 
 
136 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 rectitude, but only as a warning were the words taken. Yet I 
 knew afterwards, all too late, what prescience guided Mainin 
 in his words. Knew in a flood of bitter memory, which re- 
 called how recreant I had been to the high resolve on Pitach 
 Rhok to be successful, as a result of being true to my divine, 
 God-considering selfhood. But all this came, as I thought, too 
 late. Too late was it when I lay in a dungeon awaiting death, 
 from which no mortal could save me, and dreamed that my 
 soul sat on a verdureless shore looking across a limitless ocean, 
 and crying, " Ah ! where is the hope of my years !" Bitter and 
 fiery was the remorseful agony, but my name was still on the 
 Book of Life ; still there, and not erased as I feared. Karma is 
 inexorable and severe, my brother, my sister; but our Savior 
 hath said: "Follow Me." "He that hath an ear to hear, let 
 him hear." "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only." 
 
 As we turned away, an Incala, who had been present, began 
 playing on the great organ of the temple ; then the silences of 
 the vast auditorium responded as no human voice could make 
 them do. 
 
 "On the winds the bells' deep tones are swelling—" 
 
 The echoes rang again and again as the thundering voices 
 of the great organ pealed forth, thrilling the soul with its 
 mighty harmony. Rays of many-hued lights, some brilliant, 
 some soft-tinted as those of a spectroscopic image of the moon, 
 played from point to point in exhausted air-tubes, and as the 
 colors changed, so did the notes of music— for every ray of 
 light, whatsoever its source, is a pulsing choral note, if devel- 
 oped rightly. Thus the stars sing. 
 
 The Rai did not go with Menax and myself, when the con- 
 clusion of our business was reached, but remained with the 
 Incaliz Mainin. With him Gwauxln was more familiar, his 
 friendship more deeply intimate than with any other human 
 being. And the reason was that both he and Mainin were Sons 
 of the Solitude, and had been youths together in the days ere 
 public favor had marked the one for Rai, the other for Incaliz 
 — these both being elective positions, the office of High Priest 
 being the only ecclesiastical office whicji could be filled by 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 137 
 
 popular vote. And this exception was because it was con- 
 sidered true justice to allow the* people to consult their own 
 desires in this matter of choosing one whom all believed to be 
 the most eminently good and perfect example of moral life, to 
 be over them in this highest spiritual office. 
 
 But in the days of their youth neither had seemed to expect 
 the preferment which the years had in store, and after the 
 long course required of Xio Incali at the Xioquithlon, both 
 had bidden the world of men adieu and had gone forth into the 
 solitudes of the vast mountains, where only the Sons of Incal 
 had abode, of all mankind. These men were the Theochristic 
 or Occult Adepts of that olden age,— the Yog-Vidya of their 
 time. They were indeed chary of their wisdom, then as now ; 
 but to Gwauxln and Mainin they imparted it without stint. 
 They had no families then, nor do these students of God, of 
 Nature, deviate now from the same celibate principles. None 
 who hope to achieve their deep knowledge will mate.* 
 
 After years had flown, so many that men had almost for- 
 gotten them, Gwauxln and Mainin did what few had ever been 
 known to do— returned to the haunts of ordinary humanity. 
 My father, Menax, had been but a babe when Gwauxln went 
 away, and the latter 's sister was not then born. Yet when 
 Gwauxln came back, the silvery threads of age already 
 gleamed in the hair of the Prince Menax, while as for the Rai 
 that was to be, he looked a little more mature, but otherwise 
 unchanged from the youthful semblance of the days of yore. 
 In the interim, his sister had come to the world, grown to 
 womanhood, wedded Menax, and after bringing into life their 
 son, Soris, and their daughter, Anzimee, had gone into the 
 undiscovered country through the Maxin gateway. Mainin, 
 too, was of a similarly youthful appearance. 
 
 Both of these "Sons of the Solitude" came back, giving as 
 their reason for return that their presence was needed, and 
 both were eventually chosen by the people to fill the respctive 
 positions which we have seen them occupying, positions ren- 
 dered vacant by the death of the incumbents. It is only now, 
 
 *l, Cor. vii„ 3-4-5-7-8-9-29-31-32, 
 
138 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 after twelve thousand years have slipped into eternity through 
 the back door of time that I have come to know how much 
 Mainin had to do with those events, and how wholly in the 
 dark concerning his real character was Gwauxln, and every 
 other Son of the Solitude. Not to anticipate, is it strange that 
 Rai Gwauxln felt more pleasurably intimacy possible in his 
 intercourse with Mainin than with any other person connected 
 with his daily life ? Or that he felt his finally exposed treachery 
 more keenly than any one else could? I think not. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 A MATERNAL DESERTION. . 
 
 On leaving my farm-home that morning, I had told my 
 mother all that had transpired, and said that she should have 
 an escort to the palace, whither, after my recent change of 
 fortune, I expected her to go and live, in accordance with the 
 instructions of Menax. 
 
 What an anomalous position was this. Here was I, son by 
 adoption of one of the Imperial Princes, and by virtue of being 
 recognized brother of his daughter, Anzimee, I was a nephew 
 of my sister's uncle, Rai Gwauxln. Yet my mother was not 
 related to any of these royalties, and had seen none of them, 
 except the Rai, often enough to enable her to be sure of rec- 
 ognition should she meet them again. But I rejoiced when 
 I thought of the opportunities she would presently have of 
 more intimate acquaintanceship. 
 
 Having sent the promised escort for her, what was my sur- 
 prise on returning to the palace, at learning from my father 
 that instead of coming she had sent a message in writing. I 
 hastily broke the seal and read, in her fine Poseidic chirogra- 
 phy, the simple command: 
 
 "Zailm, come to me. 
 
 PREZ£A NUMINOS," 
 
THfi DIVIDING Of 1 TIIE WAt. 139 
 
 I went. Somehow an icy feeling of apprehension was about 
 my heart, a presentiment of something harrowing. When I 
 arrived at the house, my mother, looking, as I thought, rather 
 pale, said: 
 
 "My son, I cannot go to the palace. I have no desire to 
 do so. I am overjoyed at thy success in life, then, in thy high 
 place. I may not go with thee. Thou art easy in the midst of 
 noble society— I could never be so. Perhaps thou wilt say 
 that for me thou wilt give it up and remain with me. Do not 
 do so. Lest thou feel thus, it is best that thou shouldst endure 
 the pain of knowledge now rather than hereafter. Listen: 
 I have cared for thee during the years of infancy and boyhood, 
 and seen thee arrive at man's estate. Thou needest not this 
 care now. I will go back to the home of the mountains— ' ' 
 
 1 ' Mother, talk not so ! ' ' I interrupted. 
 
 "Hear me through, Zailm! I will go back to the moun- 
 tains with my husband, he whom thou knowest not, a good 
 man, a lover ere I married thy father, and whom, having wed- 
 ded this morning, the notice of it hath doubtless by this time 
 been published abroad. An Incala who came past very op- 
 portunely, performed the simple ceremony. My other hus- 
 band, thy father, I loved not, but did detest, for it was a 
 marriage arranged by my parents against my will, but alas! 
 with my consent, fool that I was to give it! Thou art the 
 fruit of that union, and to me came unwished. For thy father 
 was disliked, abhorred, but dying, left you heritor, not of my 
 dislike— that were too unjust:— but, must I say it?— an object 
 of indifference. I have not been a lacking mother, for, as a 
 matter of pride, I concealed my feelings. In a way I even 
 love thee; I love my friends; 'tis nothing deeper. I have 
 now to bid thee good-bye, having said which it is necessary 
 to-" 
 
 I heard no more, for I had fallect'unconscious upon the floor. 
 Was this the mother I had idolized? For whom I had striven 
 so hard in the earlier years and later, in Caiphul, ere a new 
 object to work for arose, and led me thenceforth with greater 
 
140 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 determination in the form of a double ideal— love of mother, 
 and love of Anzimee? Incal! My God! O my God! 
 
 At last I came out of the horrid dream into which, without 
 regaining consciousness after my swoon, I had passed, a 
 heated nightmare of brain fever. 
 
 "Mother!" 
 
 As I uttered the loved word, Astika Menax, who sat by my 
 bedside, turned away, his eyes brimming with tears. 
 
 "Nay, Zailm, be not troubled! Thou hast been ill near 
 unto death with brain fever these two weeks. I will tell thee 
 all, tomorrow, perhaps. Thou earnest very close to going to 
 await me in the Shadowy Land; but not long wouldst thou 
 have had to wait, my light— for it would have been but a little 
 while ere I rejoined thee, lad!" 
 
 The story is not long. My mother, being told that good 
 care should aid her in nursing me, said that she would not re- 
 main at all, as she doubted not that the skilled care of Menax 's 
 private physician could do as well, or better, for me than she. 
 Wherefore she had gone with her husband to their mountain 
 home. From the hour in which Menax told me this, at the cost 
 of much pain to himself, the subject was dropped, and never 
 again referred to by any one. 
 
 Once, when I went near to the place of my birth, and sent 
 a messenger to ask if I was welcome, he came back to my 
 vailx and said that a man met him at the door. To him the 
 message was given, and he said: "Say to thy master that my 
 wife bids him come. ' ' I went, but could see that she would 
 rather I had not come. She gave me her hand, but did not 
 offer to kiss me, as a mother is wont to do. Her manner— 
 but spare me details of this last meeting, and last time I ever 
 saw my Poseid mother. She acted wisely in not going to the 
 palace, constituted as she was; it is a painful subject; let it 
 be dropped. 
 
 As soon as my health permitted me to go on my mission to 
 Suernis— which was not until the new year had begun at the 
 Xioquithlon, from attendance at which the Xiorain forbade 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 141 
 
 me until the next year— Prince Menax took me to his private 
 office. 
 
 ''The Xiorain has ordered wisely,"— said Menax. "Oh! 
 these younger minds, they are full of promise for the future ! 
 No scheme was ever better than this in which the students 
 govern themselves, and on all questions concerning educa- 
 tional matters, even to the distribution and use of the educa- 
 tional funds provided by the government, and the selection 
 of tutors— their word is law." 
 
 On the table in Menax 's office stood a lovely vase of malle- 
 able glass, into which, while fused, powder of gold, silver and 
 other colored metals were mixed, together with certain chem- 
 icals which rendered the whole of various degrees of translu- 
 cency, from nearly opaque to perfect transparency, the var- 
 ious range affecting the metals as well as the glass, and ap- 
 pearing in different parts of the same object. The beauty was 
 not second to the value of the costly product. Menax 
 pointed to the tall vase, and I read upon it this inscription^ 
 formed with rubies: 
 
 1 ' To Ernon, Rai of Suern, I, Gwauxln, Rai of Poseid, return 
 this in token of thy appreciation of the Poseidi." 
 
 If any reader desires to see a fac simile of the original legend 
 in Poseid chirography, the desire is here granted : 
 
 Turning from the vase, I asked : 
 
 "When shall I go upon this mission, my father?" 
 
 "As early as health and convenience permit, Zailm." 
 
 "Then be it the day after the morrow." 
 
 " 'Tis well. Take any company thou mayst choose. 
 There are none who cannot get leave of absence from the 
 Xiorain, I think, shouldst thou wish fellow students for com- 
 panions; at least they can probably obtain a vacation of a 
 month, and thou wilt scarcely care to stay longer than thirty- 
 three days. Take also this signet ring, whereby I delegate 
 
142 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANERS; Oft, 
 
 thee my deputy, being confident of thy discretion in its use; 
 its powers are those of Minister of Foreign Business. And 
 take escort of courtiers, also." 
 
 To this I replied that I would not take a retinue, such as a 
 staff of officers, since from the story of Astiku Lolix, I judged 
 Rai Ernon to be one who would look with scorn upon such a 
 useless appanage. This pleased Menax greatly, and he 
 proudly said : 
 
 "Zailm, thy language pleases me! I see thou art wisely 
 politic, and dost consider well the probable idiosyncracies of 
 those with whom thou hast dealings. 
 
 During my illness Anzimee had shown much solicitude, and 
 as I learned from the regular nurses, all the while I was out- 
 side the realm of consciousness, she had permitted no one else 
 to care for me except when she was utterly fatigued, and not 
 long then. As I convalesced, her presence was not bestowed 
 upon me except at intervals. I took advantage of one of these 
 visits to let her know that I was aware of her kindness during 
 my delirium. She flushed, then said: 
 
 ''Thou knowest that I am studying the science of therapy; 
 what better chance to experiment could an eager student have 
 than thou didst furnish me?" 
 
 "Yea, verily," I answered, but felt that there was a deeper 
 reason than the experimental proclivity, and that the indul- 
 gence in the latter was extremely, lovingly cautious ! 
 
 To Anzimee I outlined a plan for getting the greatest pos- 
 sible amount of pleasure from my trip, after the state business 
 at Ganje, the capital city of Suernis, should have been attended 
 to. It was three years since I had been away from Caiphul to 
 any greater distance than going to Marzeus involved. I 
 showed her the route I purposed to take ; together we scanned 
 the map, and I pointed out that from Caiphul on the extreme 
 western cape of Poseid, my course would be east by north 
 across the continent, the intervening ocean beyond it and be- 
 tween that point and further land. Then still on east across 
 the country of Necropan, which country— now called Egypt, 
 Abyssinia, etc.— then embraced the entire continent of Africa, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 143 
 
 under one government similar to that of Suern, and was in- 
 habited by a people of kindred powers, but not nearly so 
 far advanced. 
 
 Africa was then not more than half its present size, while 
 Suernis, which also embraced all of Asia, was much different 
 from what it is today, but was a name more distinctive of the 
 peninsula of Hindustan. Leaving Necropan, the route would 
 be acros the sea to India, or, as we knew the names, across the 
 " Waters of Light" (in reference to their phosphorescence) to 
 Suernis, From Ganje, capital of Suernis, our course was still 
 eastward across the Pacific ocean, as it is now named, to our 
 colonies in America, called "Incalia" by us, because in that far 
 antipodal land, the Sun, Incal, was fabled as making his bed 
 by that epic heretofore mentioned as the basis of Atlan folk- 
 lore. 
 
 From Southern Incalia (modern Sonora) I intended to go 
 northwards and skim hastily over the desolate ice-fields of the 
 arctic regions. What is now Idaho and Montana, Dakota, 
 Minnesota, and the Dominion of Canada were then covered 
 with vast glaciers, the rear-guard of the glacial epoch, which 
 was slowly retreating, very slowly, even in so late a day, 
 geologicaly speaking, as the days of Atl, reluctant to end its 
 frigid reign. The trip could thus be made to afford novel and 
 pleasing contrasts— tropical, semi-tropical, temperate and 
 frigid. 
 
 ''Would our father object to my going also, Zailm?" asked 
 Anzimee, wistfully. "I have not been away from Caiphul in 
 five years." 
 
 "Indeed, no, little girl. He bade me invite whomsoever 
 should please me, and I know of no person who doth please 
 me more than thou. I have already asked a goodly company 
 of our common friends." 
 
 So Anzimee went also. When everything was arranged, our 
 party consisted of nearly a score of young people congenial 
 to each other; a couple of officers of the staff of Menax, with 
 
144 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 the necessary servitors, and conveniences for a month's ab- 
 sence. Our vailx was of the middle traffic-size— these vessels 
 being made in four standard lengths— number one, about 
 twenty-five feet; number two, eighty feet; number three, 
 something like one hundred and fifty-five feet, while the larg- 
 est was yet two hundred feet longer, than the third size. These 
 long spindles were in fact round, hollow needles of aluminum, 
 formed of an outer and an inner shell between which were 
 many thousands of double T braces, an arrangement productive 
 of intense rigidity and strength. All the partitions made 
 other braces of additional resistant force. From amidships the 
 vessels tapered toward either end to, sharp points. Most vailxa 
 were provided with an arrangement allowing, when desired, 
 an open promenade deck at one end. Windows of crystal, of 
 enormous resistant strength, were in rows like port-holes along 
 the sides, a few on top, and others set in the floor, thus afford- 
 ing a view in all directions. I might mention that the vailx 
 which I had selected for our vacation trip was fifteen feet 
 and seven inches in its greatest diameter. 
 
 At the appointed time (the first hour of the third day, as 
 agreed with Menax) my invited guests assembled at the pal- 
 ace, from the roof of which we were to take our departure. 
 How careful I was of my lovely sister, and how proud of her 
 beauty. 
 
 The princess Lolix, whom we had ever treated as a guest at 
 Menaxithlon, came up to the platform where the ship lay, 
 curious to see our preparations for departure. It seemed ever 
 new to her to behold an aerial vessel leave terra firma. Not 
 that anything of her wonder was expressed; she made it a 
 point of pride to appear surprised at nothing, however novel 
 or marvellous it might really be to her experience. Indeed, 
 hers was a calm, even temperament, not easily aroused. I had 
 not, in the five or six weeks since hearing her story, again seen 
 her exhibit so much of any sort of emotion as she had that 
 evening when I had observed that my attentions to Anzimee 
 disturbed the Saldu, and I knew that the effect must be deep 
 because of her inability to keep its appearance wholly secret, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 145 
 
 Considering that we were bound for Suernis, Lolix was not in- 
 vited to go, as she otherwise might have been. But I did not 
 forget to bid her a cordial and respectful farewell. 
 
 The current keys were set, and, just as the vailx trembled 
 slightly ere leaving the roof, Menax sprang upon the deck, 
 thereby considerably astonishing me, for I had no idea that he 
 intended accompanying us. In reality he did not, but to all 
 questions he preserved a smiling silence. 
 
 Long as was our silver-white spindle, we had soon risen so 
 high as to make us seem a mere speck to people on the earth 
 beneath. Then for half an hour we flew at moderate speed 
 through the high abyss, when a young lady called attention 
 to an approaching vailx, following in our wake. Prince Menax, 
 seated in a deck chair by my side, looked over the rail at the 
 surface, more than two miles beneath, then he drew his heavy 
 fur cape more closely about his shoulders, looked back over 
 the hundred miles, more or less, of our course already covered 
 in the half hour, and remarked that the other vailx was rapidly 
 gaining on us. 
 
 1 ' Shall I give orders to the vailx-man to increase speed, that 
 we may enjoy a race?" I asked of the company, which clad in 
 arctic clothing, was occupying the passing time in sightseeing 
 round about us on the open deck. 
 
 "Nay, not so, my son," said Menax. 
 
 I said no more, for it at that moment dawned upon me that 
 the pursuer followed us by the prince's order. 
 
 Menax now arose, bade the company good bye and a pleas- 
 ant trip, and then, Anzimee having arisen also, he put his arm 
 about her and came back to me. As I stood up he passed his 
 disengaged arm around me and thus we stood for some 
 moments. Then releasing us, he ordered the two deckmen to 
 throw grapples across to the other vessel, which at that 
 moment grated alongside. The next instant he stepped on 
 board the other vailx and signed to loose grapples. Thus we 
 parted, high above the green earth, two miles beneath, he to 
 return, we to go onwards. 
 
146 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE VOYAGE TO SUERN. 
 
 Before us lay a pleasure trip during which we should travel 
 many thousands of miles. We proceeded slowly when we came 
 above the base of the huge bulk of Pitach Rhok, the mighty 
 mountain, and ascended somewhat, so that we should be on a 
 level with its high point. When at the place, nothing would 
 suit the company except a stop on the summit, and together we 
 all placed foot in the snows on the pitach, which thing was 
 done chiefly to please Anzimee, who said that the place was 
 very interesting on account of what had there happened to me. 
 
 Then, again, we were under way, descending from the higher 
 altitudes in order to better view the thickly inhabited, though 
 mountainous country beneath us, between Pitach Rhok and 
 east Poseid. 
 
 At the approach of sunset a dull roar arose to the ear, and 
 soon the long white shore of old ocean flashed beneath a 
 moment, and in a little time was far behind, with the waters, 
 lead color in the twilight, beneath, behind, before and on both 
 sides, no land in sight, and over one thousand miles east the 
 country of Necropan. Without going at a full rate of speed, 
 we could not expect to be above that land in less than two or 
 three hours. But as it would be dark ere reaching it, we 
 slackened speed to an hundred and fifty miles per hour, closed 
 the deck and went into the salon, where incandescent lamps 
 lit up the darkening night-glooms. 
 
 A trip by vailx could never prove so monotonous as a 
 journey in even the fastest of ocean steamships so often is 
 today. The variety of scenery, the wide views possible, for 
 altitude was dependent wholly on pleasure, the external cold 
 being unheeded by people who sat in a parlor warmed by means 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 147 
 
 from Navaz, and furnished with air of the proper density by 
 the same Night-Side forces— all this tended to prevent ennui. 
 Then too, the rapid transit changed the aspect of things be- 
 neath so fast, that the spectator looking backwards gazed upon 
 a disolving view. As an aside, the currents derived from the 
 Night-Side of Nature permitted the attainment of the same 
 speed as that of the diurnal rotation of the earth, e. g. : sup- 
 posing we were at an altitude of ten miles, and the time the 
 instant of the sun's meridian; at that meridian moment we 
 could remain indefinitely, bows on, while the earth revolved 
 beneath, at approximately seventeen miles every minute. Or, 
 the reverse direction keys could be set, and our vailx would 
 speed away from where it was meridian on the surface beneath, , 
 at the same almost frightful rate,— frightful to one unused to/ / 
 it, as my reader is now, but one day will not be, if, as I hope, / 
 he or she will live to see vailxi rediscovered. Nor need thee* 
 life be a very long one ere then. ^ 
 
 While we had such preventives of ennui, we lacked not 
 commoner means of enjoyment. We had our naima, in the 
 mirrors and vibrators of which our friends, however distant, 
 could appear in image of form and of voice, life-sized and 
 with undiminished vocal volume. The salons of the great 
 passenger vailxa had libraries, musical instruments, and potted 
 plants, amongst the flowers of which birds similar to the mod- 
 ern domestic canary darted about. 
 
 At about the tenth hour it was reported that Necropan was 
 beneath, and at this surprising information— because at the 
 speed I had ordered, we should have been at least six hours 
 longer in coming to that country— I enquired of the vailxman 
 his reason for increasing speed without orders. No good 
 reason being given, I severely reprimanded the conductor, and 
 ordered that a descent be made to terra firma, in order that 
 we might travel by day over the Wasted Land, as our word 
 Sattammnd may be translated, which is the Sahara desert of 
 to-day. This great waste some of our party had never seen, 
 
148 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 and to allow them the privilege we settled down to spend the 
 night on an elevated ridge, high enough to be above malarious 
 influences, for we were near where modern Liberia lies. 
 
 "The proud bird— The Condor of the Andes, 
 That can sail thro' heaven's unfathomable depths, 
 Or brave the fury of the northern hurricane 
 And bathe his plumage in the Thunder's home, 
 Furls his broad wings at nightfall, and sinks down 
 To rest upon his mountain crag." 
 
 Though we called it Sattamund, or the Wasted Land, yet it 
 was not such an arid region then as it is now. Water, if not 
 as abundant as it was in Poseid, was abundant enough to give 
 a wealth of tropical trees of the hardier sorts, sufficient at 
 least to hide the nakedness of the slopes and hills of that old 
 sea-bed. There were even a few saline lakes there, broad and 
 blue, and it was around these that the population was centered. 
 But the same dread catastrophe that overtook fair Poseid laid 
 its terrible hand upon Necropan, and its beauty of verdure 
 went out from the land, because the geological changes with- 
 drew all the water from the surface, and hid it so that only ar- 
 tesian augers could find it. The same mighty throe rent the 
 rocks through and through in South-west Incalia, and today 
 there is in that arid region scenery most fantastic, weird past 
 the power of my pen to describe— where flows the Rio Gila, 
 the Colorado, and Colorado Chiquita. But I will reserve the 
 description, and when it is given it shall be in other words 
 than mine, so that thou and I, my friend, shall together have 
 the pleasure of enjoying a fine word-painting. 
 
 In Poseid and Suern, and wherever civilization extended its 
 sceptre, it was the universal law, and mankind's pleasure to 
 obey the heavenly mandate which the general accordance with 
 the solar life spirit taught us required the planting, instead of 
 careless rejection of all seeds of goodly flower or fruit, for 
 shade, for beauty, for utility, wherever it chanced that a 
 favorable spot offered, either in the habitats of man or in the 
 untrodden wilderness. Indeed, in such trips as our party was 
 then taking, it was a matter of religious significance to take 
 great quantities of seeds, and to scatter them from the vailx- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 149 
 
 decks at nightfall, both as an ottering to Incal, as His sublime 
 symbol set in the west, and also that the dews of night might 
 insure germination, and this ceremony was also held to be an 
 acknowledgement of the Goddess of Increase— Zania. Thus 
 the wilds came to bloom as the rose; and today the world is 
 heritor of that sowing of seed; the indigenous cereals,— the 
 wheat, for the origin of which many ingenious but insufficient 
 theories have been put forth, and the varieties of palms that 
 make the tropics famed for the grace of their cocoas and dates, 
 and every genera of the Chamaerops. And these things are 
 because man, woman and child found pleasure in that olden 
 time in " planting seed by the wayside." Go thou and do 
 likewise, that the waste places may become full of beauty, and 
 be a joy forever. All hail to Arbordays, which fulfill the in- 
 junction of Christ ; they will surely make a return, and some an 
 hundred fold. A small pocket now and then will hold many 
 a seed for planting, and though thou heedest not its sort, so 
 that it be goodly, yet the Father hath said:— "It shall bring 
 forth after its kind." 
 
 THE STORM. 
 
 The morning dawned clear and cloudless, and was alto- 
 gether so delightful that we essayed scarcely any forward 
 progress, moving slowly in order that the deck might be un- 
 covered and the company allowed to sit out in the fresh air 
 and warm sunshine. 
 
 Down below, a couple of thousand feet at most, we saw, 
 through good glass/is, various forms of human, animal, bird 
 and plant life; and sounds came up to us in drowsy, musical 
 monotone, as our vailx hovered above. Towards evening the 
 winds began to blow, rendering it unpleasant to remain so 
 near the ground. The repulse-keys were set, and presently 
 we were so high in the air that all about our now closed ship 
 were cirrus clouds— clouds of hail held aloft by the uprushing 
 of the winds, severe enough to have been dangerous had our 
 vessel been propelled by wings or fans or gas reservoirs. But 
 as we derived from Nature's Night-Side, or in Poseid phrase. 
 
150 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 from Navaz, our forces for propulsion as well as for repulsion, 
 or levitation, therefore our long, white, aerial spindles feared 
 no storm, however severe. 
 
 As the windows, being frosted over, obscured our view, and 
 as the night promised furious weather, we had recourse to 
 books, music and to conversation with one another, and, 
 through the naim, with our friends at home in far-away Poseid. 
 No authority had Murus (Boreas) over the currents from 
 Navaz. The evening had not far advanced when it was sug- 
 gested that the storm would most likely be heavier, and the 
 wind wilder nearer the earth, and so the repulse-keys were set 
 to a fixed degree, making nearer approach to the ground than 
 was desirable impossible an as accidentl occurrence. We 
 might, if it were generally agreeable, take advantage of our 
 privilege and enjoy the sensation of being in the midst of the 
 storm, ourselves safe and under full speed, 
 
 "And brave the fury of the Northern hurricane. " 
 
 The partial novelty might make us sleep better, when, the 
 evening passed, we should have gone to our state-rooms. I, 
 therefore, approved the plan, and gave orders to the conductor 
 to descend to a height of about twenty-five hundred feet. 
 Down we dropped. Our lights were made low in order to 
 produce a partial gloom, the better to enjoy the full fierceness 
 of the tempest, and we sat near the windows where we could 
 hear, if not see. To the eye naught would have appeared out- 
 side save entire blackness; to the ear the loud beating of the 
 rain upon the metal shutters was plainly, delightfully ap- 
 parent. Against the sharp points of prow and stern the wind 
 howled and shrieked like an army of demons. At times when 
 the vailx was struck broadside by some counter-blast, it would 
 careen and tremble, but it kept on its way, determined as a 
 thing of life. The experience was enjoyable, if not entirely 
 novel, for it spoke to us of the power of man over matter, and 
 taught us of the things of God— Incal to us— Master of all 
 things and of ourselves— who by Him had this authority over 
 the elements. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. isi 
 
 When the sensation had become monotonous the lights were 
 increased to proper brightness; again we turned to books and 
 games and music, as we once more sought the upper regions of 
 the atmosphere, which were quieter compared with those of the 
 half-mile plane. 
 
 Anzimee and a girl companion sat apart from the rest of 
 the company in a retreat formed of flowering vines draped 
 across one corner of the main salon. In a short time she came 
 from her nook to where I sat, wrapped in meditative oblivious- 
 ness. Touching my shoulder as she came close, she said: 
 
 "Zailm, thou dost sing; it would please me if thou wouldst 
 take thy lute and come to where Thirtil and myself have 
 chosen seats, and sing to us." 
 
 She bent over my shoulder, blushing slightly, looking so 
 altogether lovely that I simply sat and gazed in silent appre- 
 ciation of her beauty. 
 
 "Come, Zailm, wilt thou?" 
 
 I arose promptly enough when I saw a shade of disappoint- 
 ment cross her face, a she interpreted my silence to mean un- 
 willingness, and I said: 
 
 "Lo, Anzimee, I am but too pleased to comply, but how 
 could I move ? ' ' 
 
 Unsuspiciously, she asked: 
 
 "Move? and why not?" 
 
 "Hast thou ever seen a bright humming bird," I replied, 
 "which, poised at a flower beside thee, kept thee still, almost 
 afraid to breathe, lest it be alarmed to flight? Even so I 
 could not move, lest— 
 
 "There, there now! If I were not used to reading one's 
 earnestness or other emotions in the eyes, I would say thou 
 art a sad flatterer. But— come." 
 
 "What shall I sing, little friend?"— I asked of Thirtil, a 
 demure, sweet little maiden, an art student, half-serious, half- 
 frivolous in temperament. 
 
 "Oh, dost ask me? Well, something, something"— with a 
 mischievous glance at Anzimee— "from thy heart!"— she 
 laughingly replied. 
 
152 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OK, 
 
 Anzimee blushed, but made no other sign, merely dropping 
 her long lashes as I looked at her, while I said, ' ' Truly ! Then 
 from my heart— this" (a popular favorite, by the way) : 
 
 ' ' Ere the 'heart can know its own, 
 
 Ere the doubts of life are o'er, 
 Love in our hearts must have grown 
 
 To the heights of heaven's shore. 
 Truly, love is sought in vain 
 
 In other place than in the heart; 
 True love always hath its pain, 
 
 When from purity we part. 
 May we cease from every strife, 
 
 While in lovely verse enshrining 
 Incal's blessing in our life; — 
 
 With His peace it e'er entwining. 
 Song is melody divine, 
 
 When the music of the soul; 
 'Tis betrothing thine and. mine, 
 
 While the centuries unroll. 
 Yet our hearts are young and gay — 
 
 Seeking ever fairest bowers 
 Where shall bloom from day to day, 
 
 All the beauty of the flowers. 
 There is one of all the rest, 
 
 That alone for me is blooming; 
 Deep the tendrils in my breast, 
 
 Find forever their entombing. 
 Shall I pluck it while in bloom — 
 
 Eeady for the gardener's gleaning? 
 Could I take forever home 
 
 What unto me, is no dreaming? 
 Yea, beloved, we shall rejoice 
 
 In His blessing evermore; 
 List'ning to the gentle voice, 
 
 That as One— we do adore." 
 
 Thus it was within the vailx, song and pleasure ; without was 
 the storm, risen up after us. Into the teeth of the furious 
 gale plunged our long spindle, giving no sign exteriorly— even 
 had any one been there to see— of the light and warmth, 
 laughter and song, of the human freight and song-birds within 
 its staunch shell, amidst the flowers— a drifting bit of the 
 tropics, safe from boreal blasts. No sign, save only the gleam 
 of the crimson fore and aft lights. 
 
 While the others retired for the night to their various state- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 153 
 
 rooms, I remained in the vacated salon until the announce- 
 ment was made to me that we were above Suernis. No land- 
 ing could be made, however, in the face of a gale blowing 
 eighty miles an hour— such an attempt would have resulted in 
 being dashed to pieces the instant we reached the ground. 
 
 In order that we might be wholly out of the range of the 
 influence of the storm, I gave directions to rise above the 
 level of the disturbance, if such a region of calm existed within 
 reach, and there set the keys so as to stop all propulsion. Re- 
 ceiving this order, the conductor augmented the repulsion 
 force by means of the levers of degree, and we rose steadily 
 up, up, up— above the clouds, above the rush of the hurricane, 
 into a clear, calm atmosphere, intensely cold, almost thirteen^ 
 miles from the earth's surface. Could we have had a view 
 unobstructed by storm-clouds, we were just about high 
 enough to afford us a horizon of three hundred and fifty miles. 
 Soon after this order I went to my room to bed. With the 
 morning the storm had not decreased in fury; and occasional 
 flurries in the air above us proved that the storm-area on the 
 surface must be of vast extent. The cold outside was too in- 
 tense to consider, even for an instant, the opening of the deck ; 
 the sky was almost black in the depth of its blueness ; the sun, 
 shorn of much of its dazzling brightness, appeared strangely 
 dim, and the stars were visible. The steady motion of the 
 air-dispensers as their wheels and pistons worked to maintain 
 the interior air at a normal pressure was painfully apparent in 
 the awful stillness, while the fizz of the air escaping through 
 the fine crevices around the windows and edges of the deck 
 made such a noise that I ordered the set-screws tightened and 
 the ventilator-pipes opened. Had the frost not hindered vision 
 through the windows, and, with the clouds, prevented a view 
 of the earth's surface, a sight most peculiar would have been 
 presented. The view toward the extended horizon would have 
 made the apparent union of earth and sky seem almost on a 
 level with us ; but directly beneath, the full separation from the 
 solid globe would have seemed, not like a ball, but like a huge 
 bowl, ornamented with landscape scenes in its interior. As, 
 
154 A bWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 however, we could not see; our songs, our reading, and our 
 conversation went on, whilst the very faint beams of Incal, 
 coming through the frosted glass, were supplemented by the 
 same knowledge which gave us heat and air and position, to 
 defy the cold and the rarefaction and gravitation knowledge 
 of Navaz. 
 
 At home in Poseid there was no storm, but Menax, at the 
 naim, told us that the weather office anticipated one, the one 
 of which we at that moment awaited the abatement. We 
 waited until the sun set in the west, and came in sight in the 
 east twice. 
 
 Several times the Saldu appeared at the end of the salon, 
 seeming in the mirror of the naim as real and present as if, 
 in verity, a third of the globe did not separate us. Once, 
 only, she spoke, and then in a whisper to me, as I stood near 
 the naim: 
 
 "When, my lord, wilt thou be at home? A month? 'Tis 
 long, 'tis long!" 
 
 A report of even the smallest events of our trip was fur- 
 nished the news office, and was printed upon the discs of the 
 public vocaligraphs — to use a word of modern sound— and 
 long before any landing was effected by us on the soil of 
 Suernis, our fellow countrymen were acquainted with the 
 story of our enforced suspension between heaven and earth, 
 while biding the abatement of the storm. Speaking of the 
 vocaligraph leads me to remark that the social superstructure 
 of Poseid was maintained upon the broad basis of equitable 
 laws laid down by the great Rai of the Maxin-time through 
 the influence of free speech as made and molded by church and 
 school, and expressed through the millions of vocaligraphs, 
 the three rendering secure the integral homes which, aggre- 
 gated, formed the nation. 
 
 At last the storm king withdrew his forces, and the time 
 had come for our descent. Down we swept from the vault 
 of heaven, into Ganje, capital city of Suern. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 155 
 
 Hast thou ever been in the ancient and long deserted city of 
 Petra of Seir? That very peculiar city at the foot of Mount 
 Hor, a city hollowed from the living rock? Quite likely not, 
 for the followers of Mahomet make it hard to visit the place. 
 But if thou hast read thereof, then thou hast some idea of 
 Ganje, in old Suerna, built in the cliffs of the river banks. 
 
 Such details as embrace the manner of our reception are 
 too trivial to fill this record. Suffice it that it was suited to 
 the friendly international relations of Suern and Poseid, and 
 to my station and rank as a high deputy. Rai Ernon was far 
 less interested in the vase, and in the other gifts of gold and 
 gems, than in the captive Saldani whom the tokens commem- 
 orated, particularly in the Saldu, Lolix the Rainu. I was 
 startled at the monarch's close knowledge of the whole affair 
 in all its details, and of my sickness and other incidents which 
 were not matters of public note ; but I betrayed no such feeling, 
 since it was but momentary, and passed as soon as recollection 
 of Ernon 's wonderful occult powers came to me. 
 
 Speaking of the Saldui, but especially of Lolix, he said : 
 
 "I did not send the Chaldeans unto Gwauxln as objects of 
 lust, neither as a retributive punishment, that by exile from 
 their native Chaldea they might atone to Suern for their fath- 
 ers, sons, brothers, or husbands who worked harm to Suernis. 
 No doubtless they were not more blamable than is a tiger 
 which hath a similarly destructive nature, but by the laws of 
 Yeovah we find that ignorance of the law never exempts a 
 wrongdoer from penalty. Law says in regard to sin: 'Thou 
 shalt not.' And the penalty lies alongside, inexorably, and 
 is dealt out unsparingly for disobedience. Law, therefore, 
 appears not to be retributive, but educational. Having felt 
 the punishment, no one, either man or animal, is apt to try 
 the error twice out of curiosity. Nature makes no penalty 
 easy, saying: 'When thou hast learned, then the punishment 
 shall be more severe.' If a babe fell over a cliff, its death 
 would be the result, though its innocence knew nothing of 
 sin, just as surely as a knowing man might meet the same fate 
 deliberately. Now the Chaldean women needed to learn that 
 
156 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 conquest, bloodshed and pillage is a sin. The Chaldean na- 
 tion needed a lesson also. It received it, in the death of its 
 prize soldiery. But such examples need finish; a diamond in 
 the rough is surely a diamond, but how much doth the lapidary 
 increase its beauty and value ! To not release unto them those 
 women was to that nation what the faceting is to a gem. 
 Thinkest thou not that I am right ? ' ' 
 
 "Even so, Rai," I responded. 
 
 For several days we remained in the capital, and during 
 this time were escorted over it by no less a person than Rai 
 Ernon himself. 
 
 It was a strange people— the Suerni. The elder people 
 seemed never to smile, not because they were engagd in occult 
 study, but bcause they were filled with wrath. 
 
 On every countenance seemed to rest a perpetual expres- 
 sion of anger. Why, I pondered, should this thing be? Is it 
 a result of the magical abilities they possess? By what seems 
 to us of Poseid mere fiat of will these people appear to tran- 
 scend human powers, and set at naught the immutable laws 
 of nature, though it can not be said that Incal has not limited 
 them as surely as He has limited our chemists and physicists. 
 The Suerni never lift their hands in manual labor— they sit 
 at the breakfast or the supper table without having previously 
 put upon it anything to eat, or elsewhere prepared a repast; 
 they bow their heads in apparent prayer, and then, lifting up 
 their eyes, begin to eat of what has mysteriously come before 
 them-- of wholesome viands, of nuts, of all manner of fruits, 
 and of tender, succulent vegetables! But meat they eat not, 
 nor much that is not the finished product of its source, con- 
 taining in itself the germ for future life. Hath Incal exempted 
 them from His fiat as Creator of the world, which all men 
 suffer?— "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." It 
 is less onerous, certainly, on those who walk His paths, or 
 even those who partly do so, and whose rule of life is con- 
 tinence. Such are more powerful, have occult powers that no 
 eater of meats can ever hope to attain, but surely they are 
 not wholly exempt; it must be somewhat toilsome to perform 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 157 
 
 such magic feats as these. None ever got something i'or 
 nothing. These people gaze upon the foes who come to men- 
 ace them in their homes— and they are not! 
 
 "It passed o'er 
 The battle plain, where sword and spear and shield 
 Flashed in the light of mid-day— and the strength 
 Of serried hosts is shivered, and the grass, 
 Green from the soil of carnage, waves above 
 The crushed and moldering skeleton.' ' 
 
 What Poseida could do these things? Rai Gwauxln, Incaliz 
 Mainin, but no more, at least none known to the public even 
 by repute. But no man of all Atl had ever witnessed much 
 display of such power on the part of either, and with the 
 masses it was mere repute. I was favored beyond most 
 Atlanteans, in this respect. 
 
 I noticed in our visits in and about the capital a thing which 
 cast a shadow over me— that his people did not love Ernon, 
 however much they respected him, and feared his power. That 
 the Rai was aware of my knowledge of this dislike was obvious 
 from his conversation. 
 
 "Ours is a peculiar people, prince," he said to me. "During 
 many years, centuries even, it hath had to reign over its rulers 
 come from the Sons of the Solitude. Each and every one 
 hath striven to train his subjects so as to fit some future gen- 
 eration for initiation, as an entire people, into the mysteries 
 of the Night-Side of Nature, deeper than thy people of Poseid 
 have ever dreamed of going. To this end moral codes have 
 been insisted upon as a co-efficient of tuition in operative 
 magic. But the endeavor hath never produced the end sought ; 
 only here and there hath an individual arisen and progressed ; 
 soon every one of these hath fled away from the less ener- 
 getic people, and gone to the solitudes, to become one of the 
 'Sons' of whom thou mayst have heard; generically we term 
 these students 'sons;' specifically we would have to refer to 
 them as 'sons' or 'daughters,' for sex is no bar to occult study." 
 
 It had long been a matter of interest to me to learn all I 
 could of this band of Nature students— Incalenes, as they 
 
158 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 were sometimes called, from Incal— God and "ene"— to study. 
 Thousands of years later, in the time of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 these were called "Essenes." But Atla, which possessed such 
 a wealth of literature, had, with a single exception, no books 
 on the subject. In that exception— a little volume printed 
 in ancient Poseidonic— the details were very meagre; yet its 
 perusal had been of great interest to me. As I now listened 
 to Rai Ernon, my interest was re-awakened, and I thought I 
 might one day become a candidate for admission to the order, 
 if — but that "if" was of a large size. If the study renders 
 the student so wrathful in soul as I see the Suerni are, then 
 I will have nothing to do with it. The seed was planted, how- 
 ever, and grew a little when I learned that the angry gloom 
 was not due to occult study, except in the sense that the lower 
 nature was rebellious against the purity of the study, and 
 cast up the mud of anger, rendering turbid the clear waters 
 of the soul. It grew still more when the Rai remarked later 
 on that "the girl Anzimee would one day be an Incalenu." 
 But the growth was not great in that olden time; it was re- 
 served for a life to come, when decades upon decades of cen- 
 turies had flown, till now! 
 
 The Rai continued: "Ye of Poseid, dip a little into the 
 Night-Side, and behold ! out of it ye gather forces which open 
 the pentralia of the sea, and of the air, and subject the earth. 
 'Tis well. But ye require physical apparatus; without it ye 
 are nothing powerful. Those versed in occult wisdom need 
 no apparatus. That is the difference between Poseid and 
 Suernis. The human mind is a link between the soul and 
 the physical. Every higher force controls all those lower. 
 The mind operates through odic force, which is higher than 
 any speed of physical nature; hence controls all nature, nor 
 needeth apparatus. 
 
 "Now I, and my brother 'Sons' before me, have striven to 
 teach the Suerni the laws which govern the operation of this 
 force. Through this knowledge Yeovah lendeth His children 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 159 
 
 strength. Hand in hand with this knowledge are physical 
 acts— powers that come early in the study. So far have they 
 gone, but will no farther go. 
 
 ' 'Morality aids serenity of soul; hence it is profitable to the 
 Incalene, above all things, to be moral. But man is an animal 
 in his corporeal self, and the passions thereof are pleasant. 
 Love is of twofold nature— love of God and of the Spirit, pure 
 and undefiled, and love of sex, which may likewise be pure, 
 though if the dominion of the animal in man be over it, and not 
 so that of the human, it shall cause the man to sin, for then 
 it is lust. I have sought that the Suerni may know the law, 
 so that they may be the masters, not the creatures, of circum- 
 stance. But because they know a few things of magic, and 
 in the greater feats were aided by the 'Sons' dwelling 
 amongst them, lo, they are content. And behold! they rebel 
 against punishment on account of the lustful nature they do 
 indulge, and curse me mightily because I exact obedience to 
 the law, and penalty for the infraction thereof ; and they curse 
 my brother 'Sons' who do aid me,— therefore is their wrath 
 which it hath so troubled thee to witness. My people do 
 things strange in thy sight, O Poseida, yet have no wisdom 
 why it is so, and work their wonders heedless of Yeovah. 
 Wherefore they are a brood of sorcerers, and do not work 
 white magic, which is beneficient, but black magic, which is 
 sorcery. It shall work them exceeding woe. I would, Zailm of 
 Poseid, have taught these my people faith, hope, knowledge 
 and charity, which same make pure religion undefiled. Have 
 I not done well ? Gwauxln, my brother, have I not done well ? ' ' 
 
 Rai Ernon was sitting in the salon of the vailx, and now 
 addressed Gwauxln of Poseid, whom I saw in the naim as I 
 looked around. 
 
 "Verily thou hast even so, my brother," said Gwauxln. 
 For some moments the noble ruler was silent, and I could see 
 tear-drops falling occasionally from beneath his closed eye- 
 lids. Then he opened his eyes and began a most touching 
 apostrophe to, and in some sort against his people. 
 
 "Oh, Suernis, Suernis! I have given up my life for thee! 
 
160 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 I have striven to lead thee into Espeid (Eden) to teach thee of 
 its beauties, and thou wouldst not ! I have tried to make thee 
 van of all nations and thy name synonym with justice and 
 mercy and love of God, and how hast thou requited me? I 
 would be as a father to thee, and thou didst curse me in thy 
 heart ! Keener than knives is ingratitude ! I would have led 
 thee to the heights of glory, but thou wouldst rather lie in 
 wallow of ignorance, like swine, content to do what are marvels 
 to other people, but thyself all ignorant of their import. Thou 
 art an infidel, ingrate race, believing not in Yeovah, content to 
 live by the little thou knowest, too slothful to learn, more 
 ungrateful to Yeovah than to thy Rai! 0, Suernis, Suernis, 
 thou hast cast me off and made my heart to bleed! I go. 
 From thy midst the 'Sons' go also, a mournful band of dis- 
 appointed men. And thou shalt become few where thou art 
 many, a derision before men and a prey to the Chaldeans — 
 yea, thou shalt dwindle and shalt wait until the centuries— 
 even ninety centuries, are fled into eternity. And in that day 
 thou shalt suffer until the time of him who shall be called 
 Moses. And of them it shall be said: 'They are the seed oi 
 Abraham.' And behold, even as now the Spirit of God is 
 abroad in the land, immanent in the Sons of the Solitude, and 
 ye do mock It, so in a remote day shall His spirit become man- 
 ifest, and shall incarnate as the Christ, and so shall the perfect 
 human glow with the Spirit, and become First of the Sons of 
 God. Yet shalt thou even then know Him not, but shalt cru- 
 cify Him; and thy punishment shall go down the ages until 
 that Spirit comes again in the hearts of those who do follow 
 Him, and find thee scattered to the four winds! Thus shalt 
 thou be punished! From now until then shalt thou earn thy 
 bread by the sweat of thy face. Thou shalt no more have the 
 regal power of defense, less thou use it for offense. I will no 
 more restrain thee. My people, oh, my people ! Ungrateful ! 
 I forgive thee, for thou canst not know how I love thee ! I go. 
 Oh! Suernis, Suernis, Suernis!" 
 
 At the last word the noble ruler's voice lowered to a mur- 
 mur, and he buried his tearful face in his hands, and sat 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 161 
 
 bowed in silent grief, except for a sigh of sorrow which once 
 or twice he uttered. Several Suerni had heard his words, and 
 these now left the vailx very quietly and went to the city. 
 
 "Raini Incal." 
 
 I turned to the naim as these words were uttered, and noted 
 that a great shade of sadness rested upon the face of our own 
 Rai, Gwauxln, as he looked upon Ernon— like himself, an 
 Adept Son. 
 
 ''Rai ni Incal, mo navazzamindi su," which being trans- 
 lated, is— "To Incal the Rai; to the country of departed 
 spirits he is gone!" 
 
 Startled I looked around at the Suern Rai, who still sat 
 silent as before, in the same position. I spoke to him, yet he 
 gave no sign. Then I bent and gazed through his fingers into 
 his fine gray eyes. They were set, indeed, and the breath of 
 life was fled. Yea, verily, he had gone, even when he said 
 "I go." 
 
 "Come unto me, Zailm," commanded Gwauxln. 
 
 I went to naim and stood waiting. 
 
 "Are thy friends all within the vailx?" 
 
 "Even so, Zo Rai." 
 
 "Take then thy guards and seek the palace of Rai Ernon. 
 Call upon his ministers to come before thee, and tell them that 
 their Rai is deceased. Tell them that thou wilt take his body 
 in charge and carry it unto Poseid. Amongst the ministers are 
 two elderly men and sedate ; these are Sons. They are of that 
 body of disappointed men who go forth from Suernis accord- 
 ing to the words of Ernon. These two will know that thou 
 speakest truth when thou sayest that Ernon of Suern hath 
 left his Raina in my hands to govern as I shall decide is most 
 wise. But the others will not know, and the Sons will leave 
 to thee the telling of the facts. Great shall be the anger of 
 them that are not Sons, so that they shall try to destroy thee 
 by their terrible power, disliking to be told that they are de- 
 posed from authority. Nevertheless, this do and fear not; be 
 of good cheer, for how shall a serpent bite if it hath lost its 
 fangs?" 
 
162 . A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 When, according to these orders, I had the court before me, 
 I spoke as directed by the Rai. It was received with a cour- 
 teous smile by the two who by their demeanor I recognized 
 as the Sons of the Solitude. But by the others great anger 
 was shown. 
 
 "What! and thou, Poseida, offerest us such indignity? Our 
 Rai is dead ? We are pleased ! But we, not thou, will attend 
 to the funeral rites. As to the government of Suern, we 
 laugh with scorn ! Begone ! We are our own masters. Leave 
 us our ruler, and thou, dog, leave this country!" 
 
 For reply I repeated with emphasis the assertion of my 
 authority. I confess to having felt an inward fear when the 
 brow of one of these never-smiling men clouded with intense 
 anger, as he pointed his finger at me, and said: 
 
 "Then die!" 
 
 I did not outwardly shrink, though half-expecting to perish 
 on the spot. Neither did I feel any death tremor, though the 
 menace, ever before fatal, was not withdrawn. Gradually 
 the minister's fury gave place to surprise, and he dropped his 
 arm, gazing at me in amazement. I ordered my guards to 
 manacle and take him to the vailx. Then I said: 
 
 "Suern, thy power is fled. Thus said Ernon. He hath said 
 that henceforth thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy 
 face. Over this country Poseid shall rule. I, special envoy of 
 Gwauxln VII, Rai of Poseid, do depose all ye that are here 
 from rulership, except those two who offered not scorn, but 
 courtesy. While they remain, which will not be long, I will 
 make them governors over Suern. I have spoken. ' ' 
 
 Indeed I had spoken, and that, to so great an extent, unau- 
 thorizedly. I was in an agony of doubt lest Rai Gwauxln 
 should rebuke me. But I would not reveal my real weakness 
 to these ingrates. Instead, I took a roll of parchment and 
 wrote from memory the form of commission of governors 
 of provinces in Alta, appointing one of the Incaleni to the 
 office. This I sealed with my name as envoy extraordinary, 
 following that of Gwauxln as Rai, using red ink? for which I 
 sent a messenger to Anzimee at the vailx. My reason for ap- 
 
f ft£ DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 163 
 
 pointing one of the Sons as Governor was that only one would 
 serve. The other choose to ask passage to Caiphul in my vailx. 
 Then, giving the Governor his commission, a document which 
 he received with the remark, "Thou are a man, indeed, not 
 longer a boy;"— words which, though so kindly meant, fell on 
 heedless ears at the time, for as I made my return to vailx I 
 felt actually heartsick at what I feared had been the acme of 
 indiscretion on my part. I called for Rai Gwauxln, and when 
 he responded, I told him what I had done. He looked grave, 
 and said merely the words : 
 
 "Come home." 
 
 Imagine now my distress. Not reprimanded, nor com- 
 mended, but without any explanatory clue whatever, I was 
 ordered home. Then it was that I sought Anzimee, and having 
 found her in her state-room, I told her all the story. Our Rai 
 was known to be one who could be severe in his punishments, 
 although these took the form of disgrace meted out, as public 
 dismissal from office for being unworthy of trust. Anzimee 
 was very pale, but said hopeful words : 
 
 "Zailm, I see not but that thou didst right well. And yet, 
 why was our uncle so gravely reticent? Let me give thee a 
 potion; lie here on this couch, and take what I give thee." 
 
 She poured a few drops of some bitter drug, put in a little 
 water, and handed the cup to me to drink from. Ten minutes 
 later I was asleep. 
 
 Then she left the room, and, as I afterwards learned, called 
 her royal uncle to the instrument, where she laid the case 
 before him. He was troubled to the effect of his words upon 
 me, an effect not intended, as he told her, and one which would 
 never have occurred if he had not at that time been engaged 
 in solving the very abstruse political problem presented by the 
 new aspect of affairs, through the decease of Rai Ernon. What 
 further he said was: "Be not worried, because Zailm is called 
 home for no purpose of punishment, since I am well satisfied, 
 and called him for quite another reason. ' ' 
 
 I slept for hours, and when I at last awakened, Anzimee, 
 sitting beside me, told me all that Gwauxln had said. As it 
 
164 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 was then nearly night, I concluded to go to my own room and 
 prepare for the evening repast. On the way I met the Son 
 who was going to Caiphul with us. To this person it seemed 
 a great novelty to travel as he was then doing, although his 
 remarks on the subject were few. 
 
 It was, as I reflected upon it, something of a novelty to be 
 piercing the air at the rate of seventeen miles each minute, 
 a mile above the earth. I tried to fancy how it would seem to 
 one like my passenger to be doing this thing; but after five 
 years of familiarity with it as a means of travel, I had poor 
 success in attaining a sense of his feelings concerning the ex- 
 perience. 
 
 As we traveled westward, the sun seemed to remain as it 
 was when we left Ganje, for its speed, or that of the earth, 
 rather, was the same as our own. We had been on the way for 
 five hours, and had covered considerably over half of the dis- 
 tance home, the whole journey being something like seven 
 thousand miles. The remaining two thousand miles would 
 occupy some three hours for transit, a length of time which 
 seemed to my impatient desire so long, that I paced the floor 
 of the salon in very fretfulness. I have seen, since the days of 
 Poseida, a time when a vastly slower progress would have 
 seemed swift— but then the past had a veil obscuring it so 
 that comparison was impossible — 
 
 "Man never is, but always to be blest.' ' 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 RAI NI INCAL-ASHES TO ASHES. 
 
 On a bier in front of the Holy Seat, by the eastern face of 
 the Maxin Stone in the Incalithlon, lay all that was of the 
 earth, earthy of Ernon of Suernis. In the triangle were gath- 
 ered a few witnesses asked by Rai Gwauxln to be present, and 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 166 
 
 over all shone the mysterious light which required no fuel, nor 
 for its tall taper any human keeper. High above, hung the 
 white stalactite ceiling, casting down from its many points tht- 
 radiance of the lights which no one could see from below. 
 
 "Close his eyes, his work is done." 
 
 Beside the restful form stood Mamin, the Incaliz, his hand 
 on the shoulder of the dead Rai. After the mighty organ had 
 sounded a mournful requiem, Mainin made the funeral speech, 
 saying : 
 
 "Once more has a most noble soul known earth. How hath 
 it treated him who gave his life to the service of its children? 
 Verily, Suerna, thou hast done a deed which shall clothe thee 
 in sackcloth and ashes for aye! Ernon, my brother, Son of 
 the Solitude, we bid thee adieu in great sorrow of soul ; sorrow 
 not for thee, for thou art at rest; but for us left behind. It 
 shall be until many years ere we know thee again incarnate. 
 As for this, thy poor clay, over it we will say final words, lor 
 it hath done its work and is committed to Navazzamin. Ernon, 
 brother, peace be with thee evermore." 
 
 Again the mighty organ played in solemn sadness, and while 
 attendants raised their bier upon the cube of the Maxin, the 
 Incaliz raised his hands to heaven and said : 
 
 "Unto Incal this soul, unto earth this clay." 
 
 The body, bound with light bands to the bier, was raised 
 with it to an erect posture, trembled a moment in that posi- 
 tion, and fell forward into the Maxin. There was no flame, 
 no smoke, not even ash left behind the instantaneous disap- 
 pearance of body and bed. 
 
 The funeral was over. As we who abode in Caiphul turned 
 to depart, we saw that which no man then living had ever 
 before beheld in the Incalithlon. Back of us, in the auditor- 
 ium, stood groups of grey-habited men, cowled like monks of 
 Rome. There seemed great numbers of them, collected in 
 groups of seven or eight amongst the maze of stalagmite pil- 
 lars which supported the roof. As we gazed, these men faded 
 slowly from sight, until over four score of Caiphalians seemed 
 indeed small in number in the vast hall where so recently had 
 
166 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; Oft, 
 
 been hundreds of Incaleni— Sons of the Solitude in astral form, 
 gathered at the funeral of their brother. Yea, verily, had the 
 Sons come to witness the impressive ceremony where all that 
 was mortal of their dead fellow was restored to the keeping 
 of the elements of nature. 
 
 "But no man knows that sepulchre, 
 
 And no man saw it e'er, 
 For the angels of God upturned the sod 
 And laid the dead man there. " 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 LE GRAND VOYAGE. 
 
 Rai Gwauxln directed me to attend at Agacoe ere resuming 
 my vacation trip, although it was all arranged previously to 
 the funeral of Ernon that my action in Suern was to his satis 
 faction. 
 
 When I obeyed the Rai, which was almost immediately, for 
 we were all ready to resume our journey, Gwauxln, in the 
 presence of his ministers of state affairs, tendered me the posi- 
 tion of Suzerain over the land of Suern. I was vastly sur- 
 prised, yet felt that I might accept, and in conducting the 
 affairs of that country render good service. But the fact that 
 I was yet an undergraduate at the Xioquithlon made me hesi- 
 tate. At last I spoke, saying : 
 
 "Zo Rai, I am sensible thou hast done thy servant a great 
 honor. Nevertheless, my liege, feeling that I have not thus far 
 acquired the full knowledge I desire, being yet but a Xioqene, 
 I ask thy permission to refuse the office." 
 
 Gwauxln smiled, and said : 
 
 "Even so. But the governor thou didst appoint shall exe- 
 cute thy duties for the three years intervening— the four years, 
 I would say, since I would not that thou shouldst^study at all 
 this year— and thereafter thou shalt legally assume active 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 167 
 
 duties. I have an object in this besides mere form; I believe 
 that that man who hath an object, a direct goal, in view, is 
 more likely to win success than one without. It is a good 
 stimulus. I do therefore appoint thee Suzerain over Suernis, 
 and dismiss thee to thy journey of pleasurable recreation with 
 thy friends as soon as thou shalt sign thy name to this docu- 
 ment. That is well written, though thy hand shakes a little 
 because of thy nervousness. Be calm." This last he said as, 
 trembling slightly, I wrote the desired signature. 
 
 Once more we were on our travels. 
 
 Anzimee, the elf, persisted in calling me "My Lord Zailm ,, 
 when she had learned the story of my imminent suzerain 
 duties. 
 
 Our course was again eastward, although now farther south, 
 for we did not propose to visit Suernis this time, but intended 
 to proceed instead to our American colonies, as in the original 
 route we had planned to do after leaving Suernis. 
 
 We crossed equatorial Necropan (Africa), then the Indian 
 Ocean and the present East Indies— but then colonies of Suern 
 called Uz— then onwards above the wide Pacific, still east- 
 ward. 
 
 "Umaur! the coast of Umaur!" was the cry that called our 
 little company to the windows to look at a dark, serrate line 
 that bounded the eastern horizon. It was the distant range of 
 the Andes, appearing almost on a level with our vailx, which, 
 two miles high above the ocean, shot towards the hazy, black 
 line. Below was the broad mirror of the blue Pacific, appa- 
 rently waveless because so far beneath us. 
 
 Umaur, land of the Incas in a far later day. Umaur, where, 
 in eight centuries more they must find a refuge who should 
 be so fortunately fated as to escape from Poseid, ere— "Queen 
 of the World" no more— she sank beneath the waves of the 
 Atlantic. Eight centuries, whose lapse would see the proud 
 Atlantean become so corrupt that his soul no more reflected the 
 wisdom of the Night-Side, because the calmness of morality 
 being fled, the key to nature's pentralia would have been lost, 
 
168 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 and with it his dominion over the air and the depths of the sea. 
 Alas, poor Atl ! 
 
 But Umaur lay ahead of us, and ignorant of the misdeeds- 
 to-be of our national posterity, we in our vailx stood gazing on 
 the coast we were so rapidly approaching, and commented 
 upon its majestic mountain ranges as seen through the tele- 
 scopes.* Here we beheld a land where, after thousands of 
 years, the conquering Castilians would come, led by Pizarro, 
 and find a race under the rule of Incas, a name preserved 
 through the many centuries from the day when their remotest 
 ancestors fled from sunken Poseid, calling themselves ''Chil- 
 dren of the Sun." 
 
 Umaur was the region of the quarries of Poseid, and of many 
 of its rich mines of mineral wealth. Here, too, were vast plan- 
 tations, and east of the mountains were regularly planted 
 groves of the rubber tree, the genuine Siphonia Elastica of 
 botany. Here also flourished the Cinchonas, as well as many 
 other trees now indigenous to South America— colonized plants 
 from Poseid. Until planted abroad by Atlanteans these vege- 
 table treasures never grew outside of Poseid, and to-day the 
 wild forests of peculiar South American trees and shrubs are 
 the direct descendants of our regularly cultivated farm and 
 plantation products in Umaur. In that olden time the Amazon 
 river ran within dykes across the continent, and the trackless 
 
 ♦NOTE. — When thy science shall, like Poseid, approach Nature from 
 its God ward side; when, instead of ascending to that key-force of all 
 Nature, the Odic force, from a synthesizing of environing phenomena 
 — thou shalt look from Odicity adown all the river of Energy, then wilt 
 thou have all that Poseid had (being thyself Poseid returned), even its 
 vailx, its naim, and its telescopes. Not such crude instruments as thine 
 are, were the telescopes of Atl. Not the most remote star which sends a 
 beam of faintest light across the depths of space, but that star could be 
 brought so near to us in seeming, that had so minute an organism as a 
 leaf been lying on the "ground" of the star, it were visible to our eyes. 
 Dost thou refuse credence? Con this proposition: — that light is not alone 
 a reflection or refraction of force from a substance, but is a prolongation 
 of every substantial form, for as much as only One Substance exists, 
 though many are the dynamic variations thereof; these are mistaken by 
 thee for different substances. There is but ONE SUBSTANCE: Light 
 from Arcturus, let us say, is the prolonged substance of that star. Ma- 
 chine-made electricity is per contra, unimpressed, formless force. One 
 can be made to reinforce the other — the Formless to acquire the image 
 of the Formed. Dost now see the principle of our telescopes? Thy mind 
 jumps far to the van, and I hear thee ask, "Is Mars inhabited? Is Jupiter? 
 Is Saturn, Venus?" Ah! my friend, I will not answer yea nor nay, for 
 when the Poseid view of Nature reappears on earth, thou wilt KNOW: 
 Seek and ye shall find; but seek correctly. Walk the cruciform Way, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 169 
 
 sylvas of Brazil were then drained areas of tilled soil, such 
 as the adjacent territory of the Mississippi is to-day. Some 
 day this river, " Father of Waters," in the north, will sweep 
 unresisted, undyked, across the lowland, which, even now, its 
 surface is above in altitude. It will do this, because these 
 things are certain to be, in the mutations of the coming cen- 
 turies. It will do this, also, because history repeats itself; 
 think not that thou shalt inherit, reincarnate the glories of Atl, 
 and escape its shadows. All things move in cycles, but the 
 circle is that of the screw-thread— ever around and around on 
 a higher plane each time. But that time when these things 
 shall come to pass, and no man be able to say nay, is yet far 
 away on the horizon of time future, as far as is the grand 
 recession of the Amazon on the horizon of the past. 
 
 From the great orchards and plantations and homes of 
 Umaur, in the north of that continent, to the desert wilds of 
 its southern parts, where one day trouble was to overwhelm 
 me— and thence north along the eastern coasts, we took our 
 way, leaving the doings of the millions of our colonists— the 
 Umauri— to the imagination of the reader. 
 
 Successively we came to the Isthmus of Panama, then over 
 four hundred miles in breadth; to Mexico (South Incalia) and 
 to the immense plains of the Mississippi. These latter formed 
 the great cattle-lands whence Poseid drew most of its supplies 
 of flesh-foods, and where, when the modern world discovered 
 it, enormous herds of wild progeny of our ancient stock roamed 
 at will. Buffalo, elk, bear, deer and mountain sheep— all off- 
 spring of the remotest ages. I regret to see them so wantonly 
 slaughtered as they are ; surely so old a stock might be spared. 
 
 To these broad valleys were to come, in later centuries, in- 
 vading hordes in boats, and over the far northern isthmus 
 where now are only vestiges of its former existence— the Aleu- 
 tian Islands. They came from Asia, then, as now, to a large 
 extent the home of semi-barbarians, except where the sway of 
 Suernis had extended a civilizing influence by sending out the 
 tribes which, in a later day, were to occupy so large a niche 
 in history under the name of the Semitic races. But the bar- 
 
170 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 barians who went into Incalia, occupying the North American 
 plains and lake region— a future age should come which would 
 find these hordes gone from the earth forever; and, later still, 
 curious people digging from archaeological remains would 
 say: "Here lived the mound-builders." 
 
 Still farther north than this, in the present "lake region," 
 were large copper mines, whence we obtained much of our cop- 
 per, and some silver and other metals. A cold region was this, 
 far colder than it is to-day, for it lay in the edge of the retreat- 
 ing forces of the glacial epoch, an epoch not over until much 
 more recently than geologists have hitherto thought, and even 
 still think. 
 
 To the west lay what in early American days were called the 
 "great plains." But in the days of Poseid they had a far dif- 
 ferent appearance from that which they bear to-day. Not then 
 arid, nor very sparsely inhabited, though vastly colder in win- 
 ter, owing to the nearness of the vast glaciers of the north. 
 The Nevada lakes were not then mere dried up beds of borax 
 and soda, nor the ' ' Great Salt Lake ' ' of Utah a bitter, brackish 
 body of water of its present comparatively small size. All 
 lakes were large bodies of fresh water and the "Great Salt 
 Lake" was an inland sea of fresh floods, bearing icebergs from 
 the glaciers on its northern shores. Arizona, that treasure- 
 house of the geologist, had its now marvelous desert covered 
 with the waters of "Miti," as we called the great inland sea 
 of that region. Verdure was on all the slopes of all the hun- 
 dreds of square miles not covered with lovely bodies of water. 
 On the shores of Miti was a considerable population, and one 
 city of no small size— colonists all, from Atl. 
 
 Reader, dost thou remember a promise given in previous 
 pages, wherein I looked forward to a treat in scenic depiction, 
 saying it was from another pen than mine? I redeem it now, 
 for already the geologist is after me for having declared Ari- 
 zona the scene of a lake or inland sea so vast as Miti, and so 
 recently as twelve thousand years ago. I am reminded that he 
 has decided from evidence afforded by erosion and weathering 
 of the rocks in that amazing region, that while the Arizona 
 
THE DIVIDING OP 1 THE WAt. 17i 
 
 desert was undoubtedly a lake or a sea-bed since the palaeozoic 
 time when it was the site of a shallow ocean, nevertheless that 
 lake was certainly "of an age older than the Pliocene, being 
 probably in the Cretaceous epoch. " My friend, no. Those 
 gorges and stupendous canons are not merely the gradual prod- 
 uct of time and water and weather. Per contra, they are of 
 sudden formation, the rending and cracking apart of the strata 
 in a similar, but on a far more vast scale than the volcanic out 
 burst at Pitach Rhok, described in the first chapter of this his- 
 tory. The Arizona wonders, and the gorge of the "Grand 
 Canon of the Colorado" were the result of an awful dance of 
 the solid crust of the globe. Even now the lava-beds of the 
 rectangle between the parallels 32 deg. and 34 deg. north lati- 
 tude and 107 deg. to 110 deg. longitude west from Greenwich, 
 in the Mt. Taylor and Mt. San Francisco region, have few 
 parallels on earth as regards size. All over this hideous work 
 of destruction, when the sea Miti had fled away into Ixla (Gulf 
 of California) the rains and torrents of eleven thousand wintei 
 seasons, and the dessicating, powdering influences of as mant 
 torrid summers have smoothed and chiseled and wrought the 
 ruptured, ragged surfaces into yet more fantastic shapes, and 
 claimed the whole work as its own, denying the hand of Pluto 
 as the major worker. And the geologist seems to have admit- 
 ted the claim, and placed the lake-time far back, in order to 
 allow a sufficient term for the execution of the gigantic work. 
 And it is not so, for I saw that lake, only twelve thousand 
 years ago. But now for the literary treat; it is taken from a 
 very modern pen, but it is so faithfully descriptive of the ap- 
 pearance of the region to-day that I desire to enjoy its perusal 
 with my readers. The words are those of Major J. W. Powell, 
 U. S. Army : 
 
 "The canon walls are buttressed on a grand scale, and deep 
 alcoves are excavated; rocky crags crown the cliffs, and the 
 river rolls below. * * * The sun shone in splendor on the Ver- 
 million walls, shading into green and gray where the rocks 
 were lichened over; the river filled the channel from wall to 
 wall, and the canon opened like a beautiful gateway to glory. 
 
112 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANERS; Ofi, 
 
 But at evening, when the sun was going down and the shadows 
 were settling in the canon, the vermillion gleams and roseate 
 hues, blended with tints of green and gray, slowly changed to 
 brown above, and black shadows crept over below— then it 
 seemed the shadowy portal to a region of gloom. * * * Lying 
 down we looked straight aloft through the canon cleft and saw 
 that only a little of the blue heaven appeared overhead— a 
 crescent of dark blue sky with but two or three constellations 
 peering down upon us. I did not sleep for some time, as the 
 excitement of day had not worn off. Soon I saw a bright star 
 that seemed to rest on the very verge of the cliffs overhead. 
 Slowly it seemed to float from its resting place on the rocks, 
 out over the canon. At first it appeared like a jewel set in 
 the brink of the cliff, but as it moved out I almost wondered 
 that it did not fall. In fact, it did seem to descend in a gentle 
 curve, as though the sky, in which the stars were set, was 
 spread across the canon, resting on either wall, and swayed 
 down by its own weight. The star appeared to be really in 
 the canon, so high were the battlemented walls. * * * The 
 morning sun was shining in splendor on their painted faces. 
 The salient angles were as if on fire, and the retreating angles 
 buried in shade; the rocks, red and brown, blazed from their 
 setting of deep gloom below, but above all was vermillion fire. 
 The light above, made more brilliant by the bright-tinted rocks, 
 and the shadows below, made more gloomy by the sombre 
 shades of sunlessness, increased the apparent depth of the 
 awful canons, and it seemed a long, long way up to the world 
 of sunshine— and was a mile !" 
 
 Even the wide waters of the Miti, set about with towering 
 peaks in the olden days, beautiful as a dream, were not more 
 grand and glorious than these awful gorges come to take tm-ir 
 place. 
 
 From the city of Tolta, on the shores of Miti, our vailx arose 
 and sped away north, across the lake Ui (Great Salt) to its 
 northwestern shore, hundreds of miles distant.^ On this far 
 shore arose three lofty peaks, covered with snow, the Pitachi 
 Ui, from which the lake at their feet took its name. On the 
 
*Hfi trivitoiNG of Hie WAt. m 
 
 tallest of these had stood, perhaps for live centuries, a building 
 made of heavy slabs of granite. It had originally been erected 
 for the double purpose of worship of Incal, and astronomical 
 calculations, but was used in my day as a monastery. There 
 was no path up the peak, and the sole means of access was by 
 vailx. 
 
 In the neighborhood of twenty years ago, more or less, count- 
 ing from this Anno Domini 1886, an intrepid American ex- 
 plorer discovered the famous Yellowstone region, and while on 
 the same expediton went as far west as the Three Tetons, in 
 Idaho* These mountain triplets were the Pitachi, Ui, of Atl. 
 Professor Hayden, having arrived at the base of these lofty 
 peaks, succeeded, after indefatigable toil, in reaching the top 
 of the greater peak, and made the first ascent known to modern 
 times. On its top he found a roofless structure of granite 
 slabs, within which, he said, that "the granite detritus was of 
 a depth indicating that for eleven thousand years it had been 
 undisturbed." His inference was that this period had elapsed 
 since the construction of the granite walls. Well, the professor 
 was right, as I happen to know. He was examining a structure 
 made by Poseid hands one hundred and twenty-seven and a 
 half centuries ago, and it was because Professor Hayden was 
 once a Poseida and held a position under the Atlan Govern- 
 ment, as an attache of the government body of scientists sta- 
 tioned at Pitachi Ui, that he was karmically attracted to return 
 to the scene of his labors long ago. Perhaps knowledge of this 
 fact would have increased the interest he felt in the Three 
 Tetons. 
 
 Our vailx alighted upon the ledge without the temple of Ui 
 just as nightfall came on. It was very cold there, so far north, 
 and at such an altitude. But the priests within the heavy, well- 
 built edifice never suffered cold, for Alta, drawing upon Navaz, 
 had Night-Side forces at its call. The primary cause of our 
 
 ♦The Three Tetons are situated in north-western Wyoming, but \ 
 Wyoming as a territory, was not in existence at the time referred to \ 
 having been formed in 1868, from parts of Idaho, Dakota and Utah. A 
 small part of the Yellowstone Park is in Idaho. — King's Hand-book of 
 United States. 
 
If 4 A DWELLER Oft TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 visit was our desire to pay devotion to Incal as He arose next 
 morning. All night the brilliant beams of light from our ruby- 
 colored lanterns flashed the tidings, to such Posedi as might 
 look our way, that a royal vailx was in the region. Next morn- 
 ing after sunrise our vessel lifted and departed for the east, 
 that we might visit our copper mines in the present Lake Supe- 
 rior region. We were conducted in electric trams through the 
 labyrinths of galleries and tunnels. When we were about to 
 leave, the government overseer of the mines presented each of 
 our company with various articles of tempered copper. To 
 me he gave an instrument, similar to the modern pocket-knife, 
 which I retained to the day of my death, and always valued 
 highly on account of its extra fine temper, which kept a keen 
 edge, good enough to shave with, and rarely required to be 
 sharpened. The Poseidi were adepts in this now lost art of 
 copper tempering. In return I gave the overseer a nugget of 
 native gold. He asked me whence it came, and when I told 
 him, remarked: 
 
 1 'Any specimen from the famous mine at Pitach Rhok will 
 be highly prized by an old miner like thy servant, more espe- 
 cially as it is presented by the discoverer of the mine him- 
 self/ ? 
 
 Thus had the mine, found by me when an obscure lad, re- 
 turned riches to the pick and shovel which had rendered it 
 famed throughout the civilized world. 
 
 After taking counsel among ourselves, we decided not to 
 make the farther northern trip, for every one of us had seen 
 the Arctic ice-fields at least once, while some of us had been 
 there several times. Instead, we concluded to remain in Incalia 
 for a week longer, and spend the eleven days thereof in visiting, 
 more at our leisure, the great territory where, although of 
 course we did not know it, the Anglo-Saxon was one day to 
 found the glorious American Union. History is said to repeat 
 itself ; I believe it does. Certainly races follow in the track of 
 preceding races, and as the most important and populous part 
 of all the North American colonies of Poseid had its habitat 
 west of the great chain now known as the Rocky Mountains, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 175 
 
 so also the grandeur of America will be upheld by the western 
 and south-western States of the American Union. 
 
 Man likes pleasant places to live in; he likes those lands 
 where mother nature is amiable and laughs with abundant 
 harvests upon slight provocation; man likes to live in a fruit- 
 land, and where shall he find anything more to his mind than 
 this same south-west and west of the Incalia of yore? Along 
 the ocean shore, and back to the Sierra Nevada mountains is 
 the region where, under Poseid dominion, lay a province not 
 second in beauty to the lake region along the shores of Miti. 
 And it has retained its fair charm, while that of the other 
 has given- place to drifting sands and cactus and the mesquite, 
 and has tenantry of the Moloch lizards, rattlesnakes, and prairie 
 dogs. It is no more the 
 
 "Union of lakes and union of lands"— 
 
 that it was in that olden time. 
 
 When we finally left Incalia, that we might return home to> 
 Caiphul, the last of our colonial lands visible was the coast of 
 Maine, for we journeyed eastward, then south. 
 
 For change we decided to forsake the realms of the air for 
 those of the deep where the shark is king. Like all vailx of 
 the class to which it belonged, ours was constructed for both 
 aerial and submarine service, the plates of the sliding deck 
 and the other movable parts of the hull being capable of very 
 close approximation by means of set-screws and rubber 
 washers. 
 
 To settle straight down into the ocean would be too much 
 like a landing on terra firma. But being at a height of two 
 miles, more or less, the conductor was directed to gradually 
 reduce the repulsion current, thus diminishing our buoyancy 
 so as to bring us into the water ten miles distant from where 
 the slant commenced. He was further ordered to do this while 
 maintaining a speed which would, though very slow for a vailx, 
 be really swift— that is, he was to cover ten miles in as many 
 minutes. 
 
 When we struck the water at this rate of progress the shock 
 which the entering needle experienced, was sufficiently great 
 
176 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 to cause its inmates to stagger, and little exclamations were 
 made by the ladies. 
 
 As soon as we entered the water the repulsion was made 
 nil, and its opposite, a degree of attraction greater than that 
 of water to the terrestrial center of gravity, was set up, where- 
 by we were enabled to sink to a considerable depth, despite the 
 air contained in the vessel. The lights outside the windows 
 were started, our speed modified to suit the element, and then 
 we all gathered in the salon by the windows, darkness within 
 and the waters lit without, enabling us to see curious tribes of 
 Neptune which crowded about the strange illumination in their 
 midst. 
 
 While thus engaged and while listening to the delighted 
 words of an enthusiastic ichthyologist, I heard a familiar voice 
 in the darkness. I knew it for that of my father Menax, and 
 accordingly went to the naim. He could not see me because I 
 stood in darkness; but I could see him in the great mirror — 
 for at home he was in the light and his image was so trans- 
 mitted, so that I saw not only himself, but his immediate sur- 
 roundings, just as a person outside a lighted window at night 
 beholds everybody and thing in the interior, himself unseen. 
 
 "My son," said the prince, "thou shouldst not have allowed 
 thy love of novelty to cause thee to act so unwisely as thou 
 didst in entering the ocean at even the slow rate of a ven 
 (mile) per minute. I fear that thou hast a vein of reckless 
 daring in thy nature which will some day bring thee mis- 
 fortune. Incal punishes the reckless by allowing His broken 
 laws to exact their own penalty. Be cautious, Zailm, be 
 cautious!" 
 
 After the submarine experiences had become tedious, the 
 opposite course of a rapid but graduated augmentation of re- 
 pulsion was imparted to our vailx— a procedure not dangerous, 
 as the other had really been— and soon our long spindle shot 
 out of the water like some great bubble, then rose to where 
 the raz, or repulse indicator, was set for its government— only 
 a few hundred feet above the surface of the ocean. There, 
 putting aside the closed deck, we sat in the bright sunshine and 
 
THE DIVIDING OE THE WAY. Ill 
 
 enjoyed the pleasant ocean breeze, which blew in the same 
 southern direction in which we were going. Desiring to reach 
 home by the next day, when the afternoon grew cool we closed 
 the deck, arose high in the heavens so as to lessen atmospheric 
 resistance and made the quickest speed we could towards the 
 south. This, I should remark, was not nearly so great as 
 either an eastern or western course would have allowed. Thus, 
 travelling either due east or due west, we could proceed at 
 the rate of a degree of longitude every four minutes. But north 
 or south we cut the earth's currents, and just in proportion as 
 a vailx-course deviated from east to west, in that proportion 
 was its speed lessened, until going due north or south we could 
 only travel at the comparatively slow rate of some hundred 
 miles each hour. 
 
 We saw that if we travelled home by the straight course, we 
 would not reach Caiphul under two days, and, having set our 
 desires on reaching it by the next morning, the prospective 
 delay was so tedious that we decided to run in on an angle. 
 That is, we would head our vailx south-east for the Necropan 
 coast, thence south-west for Caiphul, and though the extra 
 distance would be several thousand miles, the increased speed 
 attained would allow us to reach our destination in time to 
 take our breakfast at home. 
 
 Beautiful Caiphul, 
 
 There's no place like thee; 
 Queen of Atlantis 
 
 And Queen of the Sea. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A WELL-MET PROBLEM. 
 
 Work awaited me upon my return to Caiphul— work to which 
 I might attend without harm to my delicate health, in fact 
 rather tending to its improvement, furnishing a proper degree 
 
116 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 of mental stimulus, without involving any of the severe tension 
 of study. 
 
 On the day of my arrival home, Menax said to me in a way 
 which set me to thinking : 
 
 "I understand that the people of Suern have lost the power 
 which they have hitherto had of providing themselves with 
 food by seeming magic. It must be a terrible problem to them 
 how to meet the cravings of hunger." 
 
 Whether Menax designed these words for the purpose of 
 arousing me to a sense of my duties in the premises or not, I 
 had at the time no idea. But I pondered the situation very 
 earnestly. It occurred to me that these people had few if any 
 cultivated fields like our own; that they probably had no ade- 
 quate knowledge of the arts of husbandry, tillage and like re- 
 quirements, and, finally, that they were not possessed of 
 muscles trained to effort. In fact they must be, in all matters 
 of this sort, a kind of overgrown children. The more I dwelt 
 on the problem, the more startling the situation seemed. I saw 
 that they would, for at least a year, require to have provision 
 made for them. They would also have to be taught the meth- 
 ods of agriculture, horticulture, and care of cattle, sheep and 
 other useful domestic animals. Later, it would be necessary to 
 teach them such other arts as mining, spinning and metal work- 
 ing. In fact, here was an entire nation of eighty-five millions 
 of people coming to school to me for tuition in the arts of life. 
 As the full force of the position came to my realization, it stag- 
 gered me. Ah, poor me ! I fell upon my knees on the green- 
 sward of the gardens and prayed to Incal. As I arose I turned 
 and found Gwauxln regarding me with a most peculiar glance. 
 His face was as grave as possible, but his splendid eyes were 
 full of laughter. 
 
 "Dost thou feel equal to the task?" he queried. 
 
 "Zo Rai," I replied bravely. "Thy son is hard pressed. 
 Equal? Yea; if Incal will give me guidance." 
 
 "Well said, Zailm. Thou shalt call upon the resources of 
 Poseid to aid thee, and they shall be at thy service. ' ' 
 
 Not to be prolix, the schools were established, the food and 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 179 
 
 raiment stations were placed in given districts, and the people 
 of Suern— the great peninsula of modern Hindustan, with 
 parts of Arabia— were taught the means of comfortable self- 
 preservation and dependence upon their knowledge. Not all 
 of this was done, that is to say, supervised by me, but the initi- 
 ation of it, and during three and a half years the practical work 
 of it was conducted by me and my vice-suzerains. Perhaps 
 I was not grateful to Incal; perhaps I never thought a second 
 time, in these days of prosperity, of the prayer of the money- 
 less and unknown youth upon Pitach Rhok. But perhaps I 
 did, too. I rather think that I was never for one moment for- 
 getful of that morning and its vows. Yet, it is a strange fact 
 that human nature may swerve aside from what it knows to be 
 the undeviating line of right ; may be keenly conscious of every 
 infraction, and still be able to feel that it has been true to its 
 vows. Moral lapses are the most frequent, those sins which 
 are not strictly direct infractions of communal equities, but 
 rather of the Magdalen type. Strange, also, is it that mankind 
 is seldom lenient to the victims, though generally quite sparing 
 of censure for the real criminal. There can be no true justice 
 in a decision on any subject in the world until, in crimes of 
 this sort, equal penalty is meted regardless of sex. Does my 
 proposition seem too sweeping ? Consider then this : human 
 justice is a system; if it be faulty in only one particular it is 
 faulty in all things, since justice means perfection, and that is 
 not perfection which hath a blemish. 
 
 In the history of the Judaic race the later records of the de- 
 serving portion of the people of Suernis may be found. Verily, 
 my people, we have seen glory together, and long suffering. 
 We have stood together since before the age that is and, that 
 which passeth, was ! My seed of strong effort was sown in fal- 
 low soil, and it returned more than a hundred fold. The end 
 is not yet ; the harvest is not garnered, nor the Chosen People 
 come yet into their reward for the Great Tribulation since 
 Ernon of Suern ceased to strive for them. The way was long, 
 but they shall come at last from out the desert they entered so 
 long ago, and Yeovah will give His children rest ! 
 
180 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 As Rai Ernon had said, the Saldee general never returned 
 to his native land. He wandered about the city, little noticed 
 by the people, and made his chief abiding place at the vailx of 
 a certain Poseid commissary stationed with others at Ganje. 
 
 One day, having become quite friendly with the latter, the 
 Salda asked that his friend give him the pleasure of an ascent 
 into the air; he had never experienced a ride on a vailx, and 
 was desirous of so doing. At the time the commissary was 
 busy, and promised to do as requested on the morrow. Accord- 
 ingly, after dinner next day, which meal was served on the 
 open promenade deck of the vailx, the ascension was made. 
 The general had taken too much strong wine, and was rather 
 unsteady in his motions. One of the party was a Suerna who 
 had been one of Rai Ernon 's counsellors. The general stalked 
 to the tanrail of the vailx to look down into the nether air. 
 Standing near was the Suerna. Neither liked the other, and 
 the Salda, also excited by wine, became quarrelsome. The 
 Suerna, the same, by the way, who had been so amazed by the 
 failure of his occult powers when he made his attempt to kill 
 me, gave the general a sly push, and he fell against the rail. 
 Being heavy, his weight bent it so as to cause a still further loss 
 of balance, and he fell over the side, catching the rail with 
 both hands in a very agile manner. Here, unable to raise him- 
 self, he hung, calling for help in an agony of terror. The 
 Poseid captain was not a bad man, but he was somewhat stupid, 
 as a result of a fall on his head, and while able to give satis- 
 faction as a commissary, he was not able to rise higher than 
 some such subordinate position. He had, previous to his in- 
 jury, been a talented man, and was even yet an inventor of 
 some small note. This was a talent that did him small service 
 now, however, because so many others outranked him in the 
 same direction. He had finally come to be a lunatic on the sub- 
 ject, and was ever seeking to utilize force, or to economize 
 power. While the captain was standing in stupid indecision, 
 the Suerna stepped in and pushed him aside, himself grasping 
 the terrified Salda by the arm. The next instant the ex-coun- 
 sellor and the Salda general were swinging, whirling towards 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 181 
 
 the earth, over a mile below. Then the Poseida looked over at 
 them as they fell, and, his mind all occupied with his favorite 
 mania for invention, exclaimed: 
 
 ''What a waste of force! If only they could fall on some 
 mechanism adjusted to raise a weight!" How it happened, 
 the commissary never knew, he averred, and for lack of wit- 
 nesses, together with his obvious stupidity, the court excused 
 him. 
 
 When I learned of the event it was through the governor, 
 whom I had appointed, who reported having relieved the cap- 
 tain from command of his vailx and commissarial office, and 
 the placing of another Poseida in his place. The Salda was the 
 father of Lolix, and I thought it well to break the news as 
 gently as possible to her. How was I astounded, after having 
 done so, to hear her calmly say : 
 
 "Prithee, how doth this concern me?" 
 
 "Why, thy father,— " I began, when she interrupted me 
 with: 
 
 "My father! I am glad. Shall I, who love courage, feel 
 aught but displeasure at his cowardice in the face of death, 
 wiierefore he was moved to cry out in terror like a child! 
 Faugh ! I call no coward father ! ' ' 
 
 I turned away entirely horrified, silent for lack of words to 
 express my feelings. Perceiving my action, Lolix came to me, 
 and resting her small, white hand on my arm, looked up into 
 my face, so that my gaze was directly into her glorious blue 
 eyes. 
 
 "My Lord Zailm, thou seemst offended! Is it so? Have I 
 said aught to cause thee offence ? ' ' 
 
 "Gracious gods!" I exclaimed. Then remembering a former 
 estimate of mine, that the Saldu was only a child in certain 
 respects, I said: 
 
 "Offended me? Not so, Astiku." 
 
 Then she slipped her hand through the bend of my arm and 
 walked beside me. This little experience was the beginning of 
 a longer one which, while very sweet for a length of time, yet 
 
182 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 culminated in anguish there in Atlantis, and phoenix-like, arose 
 from the ashes of the dead centuries, only a few short years 
 ago. Verily, ''the evil that men do lives after them." 
 
 Because it was so very obvious that her heartlessness was 
 only that of undevelopment, I was not disgusted with Lolix. 
 I reproved her, indeed, but instead of turning away in unreas- 
 oning wrath at its existence, I sought to induce a perception 
 of the enormity of such an offense as cruelty of heart. 
 
 According to the custom of her people, Lolix wooed me to 
 wed her. Of course I could not accede, pleasant thought it 
 was to have this beautiful girl doing her best to win my regard. 
 I could not, while I loved Anzimee. Of this love for my sweet, 
 womanly little sister, I never told Lolix, disliking possible con- 
 tingencies. But I did worse— I told her an untruth, for I said 
 that the Poseid law forbade marriage with those of alien birth. 
 
 "Never an exception?" queried Lolix. 
 
 1 ' Never one. Death is the penalty. ' ' 
 
 This was another falsehood, for in Poseid the death penalty 
 was never inflicted, it being forbidden by the law of the Maxin 
 book. 
 
 "Well, then, it matters nothing. Thou art young and strong, 
 and of good courage and handsome. Wherefore I love thee. 
 If the law forbid, it is all the same. None but ourselves need 
 know. ' ' 
 
 The last barrier was fallen. Conscience slumbered. Thoughts 
 of Anzimee were put aside as one would shun an accusing 
 angel. Did I think of Pitach Rhok and my days of sinlessness ? 
 Or of the mysterious stranger whom I had heard in awe in the 
 first of my life at Caiphul? Yea, I thought of these things. I 
 thought of Incal, and I said : 
 
 "Incal, my God, if I am about to do wrong in thy sight, in 
 disregarding the laws of society and marriage, smite me dead 
 ere I sin." 
 
 But Incal smote, not then, but afterwards through the ages. 
 He smote not then; conscience slept the sounder, but passion 
 awoke. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 183 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 DUPLICITY. 
 
 The year during which I was not permitted to study passed 
 quickly and uneventfully, except that complications deepened 
 on account of Lolix. My affection for Menax became almost 
 reciprocally great as his love for me, which was limitless. Bui 
 I did not tell him that, which heavier and yet heavier, weighed 
 upon me as time lapsed— the secret affair with Lolix. To have 
 done so would have been best, yet I dared not, for it would 
 have lost me all that I most prized. At least I so feared then. 
 
 As time went on I began to query my position. Did I love 
 this beautiful girl? Not as I loved Anzimee. "0, Incal, my 
 God, my God ! " I moaned in anguish of soul. Conscience slept 
 yet, but stirred restlessly. The fact that Anzimee was my 
 adopted sister did not prevent her becoming my wife, for the 
 law of consanguinity was not violated. But my own acts 
 barred the way. 
 
 My scheme to domicile Lolix in a palace on the far side of 
 Caiphul from Menaxithlon was successfully carried out with- 
 out exciting the suspicion of any one, not even arousing the 
 jealousy of Lolix. Duplicity, duplicity ! 
 
 Then I wooed Anzimee unrestrained by the presence of her 
 who would have been a dangerous factor had she even sus- 
 pected that the daughter of Menax was not my sister by the 
 ties of consanguinity. But my days began to be filled with 
 fear, for I had sown dragon's teeth; the denouement of such 
 affairs as have evil for a guide is invariably sorrow and bitter- 
 ness. Suppose Lolix did not tire of me?— and I had neither 
 the heart nor the will to do anything to cause her to do so— 
 nature-laws were ever liable to cause a revealment of the facts 
 which would be fatal to my hopes ; and though I often cried in 
 agony of soul that I was an unhappy wretch, conscience still 
 slept. 
 
184 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 But mine was not a character to be deterred from my re- 
 solves by danger. If I was engaged in a game of skill with 
 the Evil One for opponent, I would play to the best of my abil- 
 ity. So I determined to be rid of Lolix, a determination that 
 was late, for the fruit of our sin was come and a home 
 secretly provided— for I would do no murder. These plans 
 were carried out— all fortunately, as I thought, without any 
 man being the wiser. But how to be rid of the really lovable 
 woman, Lolix. Only a year remained ere I would enter exam- 
 ination for my diploma at the Xioquithlon. If successful, I 
 meant to ask Anzimee, whom I knew loved me in return, to be 
 to me all that the honored name of wife conveyed. 
 
 At evening, or of an afternoon, nothing pleased Anzimee 
 better than to walk alone, or with Menax, or myself through 
 the palace gardens, under the spreading palms and festoons of 
 flowering vines which canopied all the walks, forming long, 
 cool tunnels of green, gemmed with Flora's most radiant hues. 
 From the breaks in these verdant walls we could see the mimic 
 lakes, hills, cliffs and streams, and beyond these could look out 
 over palace-capped, vine-draped Caiphul and its half thousand 
 hills, large and small. Walking amidst such scenes by the side 
 of her who was so dear, is it strange that my soul was at such 
 times eased of something of its burden of sin and woe? 
 
 So long did I defer action in the case of Lolix that I came 
 to fear to take any course except to let events order their own 
 settlement. Yea, I lost confidence in my ability to solve the 
 dangerous problem, fearful lest I should make a bad matter 
 worse. Thus the days slipped by and the examination ordeal 
 was close at hand. Neglect Lolix I did not, could not, nor had 
 I desire to do so. Very often I was with her; indeed, with a 
 strange blindness to the wrong involved, I divided my leisure 
 between Lolix and Anzimee. I sometimes feared that Mainin, 
 Gwauxln, or perhaps both, knew of my secret. They did, too, 
 for their occult vision was too keen to allow them not to know 
 the facts. But neither made any sign— not Mainin, for he 
 cared not how much secret evil went on, as we shall see ere 
 long. Nor Gwauxln, not because he, like Mainin, did not care, 
 
THE DIVIDING OP 1 THE WAY. 185 
 
 but because he was merciful and knew that karma had more 
 dreadful punishment in store than any man could possibly in- 
 flict, and his mercy forebore to add to my penalty. So the can- 
 cer remained hidden from public gaze, and I knew not that the 
 noble ruler was a sad spectator of my misdeeds. I do not won- 
 der at his sad demeanor when with me as manifested in the 
 last year of my studies. 
 
 Anzimee had postponed the time of her examination in Xio 
 until the year in which I was to graduate, and hence the festivi- 
 ties which always followed the examination as a mark of re- 
 joicing aver the success of those who received diplomas, in- 
 cluded her in the honorable list, for she had passed with high 
 credits. 
 
 A dinner was given by the Rai to the successful contestants, 
 and this feast inaugurated an extended season of high social 
 dinners, balls, parties, concerts and theatrical performances- 
 all in the same honor. Anzimee, arrayed in a robe of grayish 
 silk, with her heavy coils of dark hair fastened apparently by 
 a lovely rose, and upon her shoulder a pin of sapphires and 
 rubies— was presented by Gwauxln at the state dinner to the 
 new Xioqi as the "Ystranavu," or "Star of the Evening." 
 This was a social distinction akin to the modern "Queen of 
 the Ball." 
 
 Knowing that Rai Gwauxln would lead his niece to the table 
 and be her escort, I took Lolix, as I had a right to do, for I 
 was a graduate and the possessor of a diploma, and all such 
 might choose a companion, who might or might not be a gradu- 
 ate. Lolix, for my sake, had studied hard during the last 
 three years, and was now in her second year at the Xioquithlon, 
 to which she went from the lower schools. I was growing 
 proud of the girl, and felt most tenderly towards her; indeed, 
 I would have been a most despicable person had I not, after her 
 sacrifice for me. Several times I found Gwauxln looking in- 
 tently at me— I sat not far from him— and once, as he passed 
 me after the feast, he murmured sadly: 
 
 "Oh, Zailm, Zailm." 
 
 As may be imagined, this address did not increase my peace 
 
186 A DWELLED ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 of mind. But that night passed without any further disquiet, 
 as so many others had done. 
 
 As I walked with Lolix in the great hall of Agacoe, I re- 
 marked the many glances of admiration bestowed upon her 
 beauty by the many gentlemen we met ; nobles of high degree. 
 She had indeed grown to have a loveliness of face and figure, 
 and best of all, of character, which was no longer heartless, 
 but very gentle since her sad experience of secret motherhood 
 and consequent disbarment from its innocent joys, since the 
 child might not be known as hers. She had had offers of honor- 
 able marriage, and refused them, knowing even as she did so 
 that the fact of their proffer was a proof of my having spoken 
 falsely when I told her that the laws of Poseid forbade our 
 marriage. But her love for me, if it suffered, was faithful 
 and knew no lessening. And she kept the secret well, and the 
 more closely for my sake, wretch that I was! As I looked 
 upon her, I felt that she was very dear to me. But Anzimee 
 was more so, and therefore the hideous tragedy went on. I 
 knew that from love of me, Lolix had first repressed heartless 
 remarks, then taken an interest in relieving suffering for its 
 own sake, and so had become transformed from a beautiful 
 thorn tree to a glorious rose of womanly loveliness, with few 
 thorns indeed. Had I really any conscience deserving the 
 name, that I did not come out before the world and take Lolix 
 as my wife after all this boundless love for me? No, not in 
 Poseid. Conscience had not slept; it had never been existent; 
 it was yet to be born, and grow in a later time. Thus did the 
 nemesis of judgment still withhold her stroke. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE MISTAKE OF A LIFE. 
 
 Comparison is good mental exercise. It is due to the reader 
 and to myself, as well as to Anzimee and Lolix, to indulge a 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 187 
 
 present mood prompting me to make an analytical comparison 
 of these two women. 
 
 What was it that fixed so unalterably my desire to wed Anzi- 
 mee, and not Lolix? Both were gentlewomen— the first by 
 nature, the second by— yes, by nature, also. I was, however, 
 about to ascribe the sweet charity of Lolix to the perception 
 on her part of the misery she would feel, placed in like situ- 
 ation with those who suffered in very fact. But the ability to 
 so perceive could arise only from its existence in her nature. 
 No, it was her nature finally developed. Both women were 
 refined, intelligent, and both were beautiful, though of types 
 as widely variant as a blush rose and a white lily. Anzimee 
 was a born daughter of Atl; Lolix was one by adoption. A 
 small difference, surely, since both were in full accord with, 
 and equally sensitive to the good, the beautiful and the true, 
 in the polished refinement of erudite Poseid. Truly, the rela- 
 tions between Lolix and myself were wrong, but she was not on 
 that account less dear to me, nor was my regard for her less 
 tender and loving. Her companionship had become a part of 
 my life. If I had a sorrow, or was despondent, she interposed 
 her sympathy and cheered me. My anxieties were also hers; 
 m Y joys her joys. In everything but name she was my wife. 
 Then why did not I acknowledge the fact before mankind ? Be- 
 cause karma ordered otherwise. I loved Anzimee also. Through 
 this love karma operated to annul its own tendencies to espouse 
 Lolix. And the mode of this operation was exhibited in my 
 recognition of Lolix as possessed of every requisite to make 
 me happy except in her one lack— that of psychic perception 
 of the relation of the finite to the infinite. Absurd? No. 
 That my soul craved such an ability on her part, and found it 
 not, but did find it in Anzimee, was evidence of the growth of 
 the frail seedling of interest in the occult life of the Sons of 
 the Solitude, which had been somewhat matured by the words 
 of Rai Ernon of Suern, years before. Sayest thou that if a lit- 
 tle such interest worked such error in life that deep interest 
 would make for the losing of the soul, wherefore thou wilt 
 have none of it? Not so. It was the not being true to the 
 
188 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 ideal at that time gained, true with all my soul, that did the 
 mischief, just as in the myth of Lot's wife— she had never been 
 turned to salt had she obeyed, not curiosity, but the higher 
 injunction. 
 
 Lolix had no dimmest perception of this psychic link between 
 the things of earth and the things of infinity. I had; I knew 
 Anzimee had; wherefore I ordered my life so as to include her 
 and exclude Lolix, whereby I did both them, myself and my 
 conception of God (which is but a redundant expression, for 
 no one finite can injure Infinity) a fearful injustice. But 
 karma lay in wait for the evil of my life, demanded payment— 
 and got it, every jot; no words can paint the suffering of the 
 expiation. I scarcely propose to try and shall rest content if a 
 realization of some part of it shall deter others from sin 
 through the certitude that there is no vicarious expiation for 
 evil done, and no escape from its penalty. 
 
 The Law of the ONE reads: "Except a man overcometh, 
 he shall not inherit of My life ; I will not be his God, neither 
 shall he be My son." There can be but one way to such over- 
 coming—the ever recurrent plungings into material incarna- 
 tion, until the errors of the personal will are at-oned to the 
 Divine Will. There can be no vicarious undoing,* and soon 
 will I show why. Another can not do thy breathing for thee. 
 Reincarnation, the ever recurrent prisoning of the soul in 
 fleshly bodies, is but expiatory, is but penalty. If in His Name 
 ye are become free; if in that Way ye have overcome, and in 
 place of being slaves to, are masters over desire, ye have un- 
 done sin. Then is there no more incarnation for you in the 
 prison of this death, miscalled life. There is no other Way; 
 the Great Master pointed none. 
 
 In expiation of my dark past I must needs return into the 
 world— thy world of sin, sorrow, sickness and pain, and disap- 
 pointed longings for the peace that passeth understanding. Is 
 not my twelve thousand and more years of further wanderings 
 in the far land of this world, far from my Father's house, and 
 feeding on the husks called joy ; suffering the fevers, pains and 
 
 *NQTE, — See foot note on page 88. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 189 
 
 disappointment of hopes, enough of expiation? Yet for a 
 little while longer I must, and, impelled by love, willingly do 
 serve Him. Some souls shall have even more than I, if they 
 turn not. Which will ye? Will is the sole Way to esoteric, 
 or occult Christian knowledge. Whosoever will, shall have 
 Eternal Life. But the will to overcome must replace our will 
 of desire, as the fresh air replaces the exhalations of our lungs. 
 As the atmosphere is around about us, and, inhaled, becomes 
 our breath, so Will of the Spirit is around us, and, entering 
 into the heart that hath determined to strangle into submis- 
 sion the serpent, suffers us not to know defeat. But I and 
 Lolix r refused this Breath, and unwilling, turned away. Oh! 
 the horror, the pain, of those lost ages, lost with her ! But re- 
 found by us both, in— overcoming. I am sorry to admit that 
 such moral obliquity could ever have warped my character, 
 even twelve thousand years ago ! Will is the only Way to 
 Christ. 
 
 Is it not an appalling contemplation, to think that having de- 
 termined to put Lolix away, and to install Anzimee in her 
 place by honorably wedding her before mankind, I was able 
 to calculate upon my knowledge of Lolix, and to depend upon 
 her acquiescence in keeping my secret because of her unselfish 
 love for me? Monstrous! I knew that Lolix did nothing by 
 halves. Having given herself to me, she would not expose my 
 iniquity, even though I rejected her for another; society had no 
 reproach for a woman betrayed. 
 
 In pursuance of my plan I proposed to obtain the spoken 
 affirmation of the love that had long been confessed by the de- 
 meanor of Anzimee. Then I would tell Lolix all, reserving 
 nothing, and throw myself on her mercy. Even after these 
 many, many centuries, when— Laus Deo !— reparation is at 
 last complete, I look at the record of this part of my life when 
 I was Zailm, and wonder that the very confession does not 
 scorch holes in the paper upon which it is written. Moral turpi- 
 tude is a fearful thing, for, though conscious of its being sin- 
 ful, I was but dimly aware of the hideous blackness of my 
 action. 
 
190 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Canst thou dissociate, reader, thy horror at the one action 
 sufficiently to take interest in the recital of my profession of 
 love made to Anzimee, after I had hidden from my own sight 
 the evil of my life? It may be almost futile to try; yet it is 
 possible to forget anything out of sight, at least to such a de- 
 gree:— 
 
 ''That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain." 
 More especially is it easy to smile when the evil is in such a 
 far, far past tense, is atoned, and the villain is one no longer. 
 Thou wilt pardon me if I hint the Way of at-onement. Of all 
 my thousands of years of my many lives, to which in this his- 
 tory I can but briefly allude, I draw for thee one lesson that the 
 weary pilgrimage hath taught me, and in my soul I pray thee 
 heed it. For I am longing for my release, when I may go out 
 into the blessed realms that mine eyes have seen, mine ears 
 heard, and myself been amidst, with Him who openeth, and no 
 man shutteth, and shutteth, no man openeth. So this know, 
 and these things— so long as any that read my words turn 
 aside, and will not to know and do His Way, so long do ye 
 keep me out of my part in the Great Peace, until His spirit 
 shall cease to strive with thee, or hinder thee. I am working 
 and sacrificing that ye may know that Way, and tread it. 
 Yet some of you will, even at the finality, be of them that deny- 
 ing Him, are by Him denied. Out of all the glorious systems 
 of worlds, only Earth denieth, for acknowledging Him by 
 words, and crying: "Lord, Lord," they yet hate one another 
 in their serpent dominated hearts. Think not that I use any 
 figure of speech when I say "serpent;" microscopists know 
 better. "He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap 
 corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit 
 have Life everlasting. ' ' They that are alive have crucified the 
 flesh with its affections. Some will close the eye and the ear 
 to my message I have of Him. By that shall the seed of Eternal 
 Life be closed out of their souls, and they shall die.* But so 
 
 *NOTE. — In this connection read the last page of this book, which 
 closes the history given of a Life redeemed upon His Cross. — Ed. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 191 
 
 many as in all things turn unto the Way shall in no wise be 
 cast out. He said it who is true. Keep thy lamps trimmed, 
 and be wise, not foolish virgins. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 ZAILM PROPOSES. 
 
 My mind was filled with the question which I made para- 
 mount—how to phrase my proposal of marriage to Anzimee. 
 Such occupation of thought is common to all lovers, of every 
 race and nation, where match-making is not conducted by the 
 parents. 
 
 Having set my time for the momentous inquiry, I sought 
 Anzimee. The information that she was absent at Roxoi palace 
 —one of the three set apart for the Rai, but seldom used by 
 him— was rather perturbing. Lolix resided at Roxoi, and had 
 done so ever since the time when I secured her transference 
 from Menaxithlon. But I was not altered in my purpose of 
 seeing Anzimee; so, while journeying across the city, forty 
 miles to Roxoi, I pondered the new situation. I knew that the 
 two girls were friends, and this fact seemed likely to complicate 
 matters. 
 
 Arrived at Roxoi, I found Anzimee in the gardens, seated 
 near a cascade that tumbled over a fairy-like cliff into a mam- 
 moth dewdrop of a lake. She was alone. As I came near she 
 inquired, in a surprised tone : 
 
 ''Where is Lolix?" 
 
 "Where?" I repeated. "I know not. I was told that she 
 was with thee." 
 
 "And 'twas truth. But she took my vailx and went away, 
 saying that she would go and get thee, that we three might 
 have a little outing together." 
 
 I thought rapidly. To Menaxithlon was forty miles across 
 the city due south. The vailx must therefore take nearly or 
 
192 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 quite as many minutes going in that direction, and the same 
 returning. Eighty minutes. That would be long enough. 
 
 Seating myself beside Anzimee, I took her hand in mine. I 
 had often done the same before, and even clasped her about 
 with my arm, but in a distinctly brotherly way. Now the sim- 
 ple touch of the fingers was electric in effect, and she could at 
 once detect the intensity of excitement which possessed me. 
 The fine language I had intended to use was lost, and instead of 
 trying to regain it, I said merely : 
 
 "Anzimee, would words deepen thy certainty of my love 
 for thee? I can not command them; but I ask thee, little 
 girl, to be my wife ! ' ' 
 
 And for reply she answered in phrase as brief : 
 
 "Zailm, be it so!" 
 
 What followed the reader may imagine; thine own fancy 
 will please thee best, for surely the picture is not hard to draw. 
 
 When Lolix returned, I had departed, nor this hastily, for 
 she had been delayed in coming back, so that three hours had 
 elapsed since her departure. 
 
 I knew that few things were more certain than that Anzimee 
 would confide her joy to Lolix. But I had no misgivings, for 
 I felt every confidence that Lolix would not betray our secret, 
 however terrible the blow might be for her to bear. As I an- 
 ticipated, Anzimee told the story of my avowal, and of her 
 acceptance of me. When the whole was related, Anzimee said 
 that her friend looked at her a moment, then fell fainting to 
 the floor. When she had been revived, she seemed so calm that 
 even Anzimee did not question her statement that the swoon 
 was due to nervousness. This was at the eventide. Anzimee, 
 filled with happy feelings, saw her friend in bed, dismissed the 
 attendants, soothed her to sleep, and came home. These facts 
 I did not learn until next day. I thought it best to have an 
 interview with Lolix at once, and so experience all the pain, 
 and have done with the anguish of it. Deluded mortal! 
 
 I went to Roxoi, and going into the Xanatithlon, awaited 
 Lolix, to whom I had sent word that I desired to see her there. 
 She came. Fully ten years seemed to have passed over her 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 193 
 
 since I saw her last. Worn and pale, with great dark rings 
 under her glorious blue eyes, into which the tears flooded as she 
 caught my quick gaze. Poor girl! But what could I do?— 
 that was my thought. I was even a little conscience smitten, 
 but very little, for the scales of sin were thick and very numb- 
 ing to the soul. 
 
 She spoke first: 
 
 ' ' Oh, my love, my love ! Why hast thou done this ? Think- 
 est thou I shall live? I have for long known that no law ex- 
 isted to bar our union, and have waited for thee to do what 
 was right— confident that the day would soon come when thou 
 wouldst ask me to share thy proud name. But— Incal! my 
 God! my God!" she exclaimed, bursting into a flood of tears, 
 that were as quickly repressed. Then in a calmer voice, full 
 of piteous heartache, she went on : 
 
 ' ' Zailm, I love thee too well, even now, to chide thee ! I am 
 thine to do with as thou wilt. I gave thee my life long ago. 
 I gave thee my babe, and thou didst place it in a home where 
 no man might suspect its parentage. Zailm, I have done more 
 also— there was another that— that— Incal, forgive me ! I 
 sent it in to Navazzamin, that it might not accuse thee, Zailm ! 
 And now, I, whom thou hast called thy 'Blue-eyed darling,' I, 
 who love thee more than I do life, me hast thou put aside ! O 
 God ! Why am I made to suffer thus ? Why thus stricken ? ' ' 
 
 She broke into a storm of agonized weeping, and I sought 
 not to stay the flood, knowing that sometimes tears are a 
 blessed relief. Had she loved me thus? Fool! not to have 
 known it from her actions, which spoke louder than words 
 possibly could. My heart smote me now indeed, and I prayed, 
 prayed to God for forgiveness, and I prayed to her. Too late ! 
 Conscience came forth at last, born to smite, sprung like 
 Minerva, full-armed for the combat. 
 
 When Lolix had recovered calmness, she said, in such heart- 
 broken tones as had never fallen on my ears before : 
 
 " Zailm, I forgive thee. Not even now will I betray thee, 
 since whom I once love I will love till death ; afterwards, also, 
 if love survive the grave. If thou art come to say the parting 
 
194 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 word, so be it ! But leave me now, for I am almost crazed ! 
 Yet remember, my darling, that if thy new life be not happy— 
 though I pray Incal it may be :— that there once beat a heart 
 for thee warmer, more loving, perchance truer, than I fancy 
 thou 'It find that of thy new love. I shall not live long to be a 
 shadow over thy peace. Kiss me once as thou wouldst if I were 
 thine own wife in the sight of the world, as I am in that of 
 Incal, and having died, thou wert about to confide my clay to 
 the Unfed Light. " 
 
 With these words she stopped, having arisen and come before 
 where I sat, and placed her arms around me, drawing me into 
 a convulsive embrace. A moment thus, then her lips— chill as 
 those of one who keepeth company with Death, met mine in 
 one long, sobbing kiss ! She released her clasp, stood an in- 
 stant, and was gone. So she left me. Long I sat in the midst 
 of the flowers in the great conservatory at Roxoi. 
 
 '"The blossoms blushed bright — but a worm was below, 
 The moonlight shone fair— there was blight in the beam; 
 Sweet whispered the breeze— but it whispered of woe, 
 And bitterness flowed in the soft flowing stream. " 
 
 KARMA DISPOSES. 
 
 That night the banns of my coming marriage with Anzimee 
 would be announced by the Incaliz Mainin in the great temple, 
 for in cases of high social rank it was customary thus to add 
 extra formality to the publication. If, during the ceremony, a 
 death was to occur within the Incalithlon, custom decree that 
 one entire year must elapse before consummation of the mar- 
 riage rites. In any event one month must pass after the banns, 
 which were, in consequence declared immediately following the 
 engagement. For reasons of his own, Mainin the Incaliz de- 
 sired that Anzimee should not wed any one ; but as he had no 
 authority over, and but little acquaintance with her, he kept 
 silent respecting his wishes. 
 
 At the proper hour, Anzimee and myself stood before Mainin 
 the Incaliz, within the Holy Seat. By our side was Rai 
 Gwauxln and Menax, the five of us being the cynosure of the 
 eyes of a great audience. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 195 
 
 In a clear, slow voice, the Incaliz began an invocation to 
 Incal. But in the midst of this service, a woman glided quickly 
 across the triangle of the Place of Life, in the center of which 
 was the Maxin. It was Lolix. She was as faultlessly attired 
 as it was her pride always to be. Apart from the awful blaze 
 in her eyes I saw nothing extraordinary in her appearance. 
 But to have stepped into the Place of Life was an impermissi- 
 ble thing, and the act centered all eyes upon her. It meant an 
 appeal to the authority of the Rai. 
 
 "What wouldst thou?" asked Gwauxln. 
 
 ' ' Zo Rai, in Salda, my native land, it was the custom to allow 
 either sex to woo the other in marriage. I wooed this man, the 
 Astika Zailm, ignorant that he loved my friend— how could I 
 know? And now, I pray thee, deny the banns, as thou hast a 
 right to do." 
 
 "Woman, I am sorry for thee! But the customs of Salda 
 are not those of Poseid. I grant not thy prayer." 
 
 I had felt a numbing terror lest at last my crime was to be 
 revealed. But the fear faded as the slender, graceful figure 
 of Lolix turned and was swallowed up in the audience. Then 
 the interrupted banns were renewed. When Mainin said to 
 Anzimee : 
 
 "Thou dost declare it thy wish to wed this man?"— she re- 
 plied : 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "And thou, dost thou declare it to be thy wish to wed this 
 woman?" To which I said: "Even so, Incal not preventing." 
 As I made answer the proceedings were the second time inter- 
 rupted by Lolix, who again came into the Place of Life, but 
 this time as hurriedly as if pursued. Opposite the Unfed Light 
 she stopped, and said : 
 
 "Incal will prevent! See, I come to wed thee now, Zailm, 
 and here ! The God of departed souls shall be our Incaliz— 
 this dagger our wedding proclamation, banns and all ! ' ' 
 
 I ought to have prefaced the narration of the questions put 
 to Anzimee and myself by explaining that after the invocation 
 by Mainin, that person, Anzimee and myself, and the Rai with 
 
196 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANEfS; 0% 
 
 Menax, had left the Holy Seat and had gone into the Place of 
 Life, so that Lolix now stood close beside me. As she spoke 
 of the dagger her words were calm, but rapidly uttered— it was 
 the calmness of insanity ! Crazed by the course I had followed, 
 Lolix stood there, her glorious blue eyes filled with the light 
 of madness. With her last words still upon her lips, she struck 
 at my breast with the keen weapon. I warded the blow with 
 my arm, which was pierced through by the forceful stroke. As 
 she drew it out with a wrench, blood spurted over the granite 
 floor. At sight of this she uttered a frightful shriek, saying : 
 
 "Mad! Mad!! MAD!!!" 
 —and with one bound sprang to the center of the Place of 
 Life, where she stood by the cube of the Maxin. 
 
 Anzimee swooned ; Menax stood as if petrified, gazing at my 
 flowing blood, while Gwauxln, pale but calm, spoke to a guards- 
 man near : 
 
 "Arrest the maniac !" 
 
 The order of the Rai attracted the attention of Lolix, who 
 said to the approaching soldier : 
 
 "No, no, arrest not me. I was mad, but I am not. Whoso- 
 ever shall touch me, him will I curse, and then die in the 
 Maxin." 
 
 Being superstitious, the guardsman paused, for he dared not 
 touch her, neither disobey the Rai. In his terror he turned to 
 the latter and began to make excuse. 
 
 "Silence!" thundered Gwauxln. Then in gentle tones he 
 said to Lolix: "Woman, come to me." 
 
 "Not so, Zo Rai! At this place beside the Maxin no one 
 under the law may offer me violence. Here, then, I stay!" 
 
 Speaking thus, Lolix rearranged her slightly disordered tur- 
 ban, folded her arms, and then leaning back against the Maxin- 
 cube, gazed calmly at the Rai. He made no motion, but looked 
 first at her, then at me. Lolix, though still near to the Maxin, 
 had assumed an erect position, no longer touching the cube. 
 
 Incaliz Mainin had stood quietly by during the- excitement. 
 He now said: 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 197 
 
 "Aye, Astiku from Salda, there thou shalt stay, indeed, even 
 longer than thou thinkest ! ' ' 
 
 He had spoken very calmly, even softly, gazing the while at 
 the unhappy girl. When he turned towards the Rai, he saw a 
 look of horror on his face, and hurriedly looked away again, 
 finishing the reading of the banns. I scarcely heard him, be- 
 ing engaged partly with my bleeding arm, and partly with 
 Anzimee, who, but partially recovered, and still half fainting; 
 leaned against me for support. When the ceremony was com- 
 pleted, Rai Gwauxln, placing a hand on each of our heads, said : 
 
 "Not only a year must elapse ere ye may wed, but much 
 longer! Zailm, I do forgive thee thy sins so far as it is mine 
 to forgive — the human laws thou hast broken. As for thy 
 partner in wrong, never mind/' 
 
 Then turning to Mainin, the Incaliz, he sternly said: 
 
 "Because of thine accursed deed, thou and I are forevermore 
 strangers ! Now I know thee for what, alas, thou art. ' ' 
 
 Having spoken in this, to his hearers, enigmatical and start- 
 ling language, Gwauxln left the Incalithlon. Mainin also left. 
 Menax, become curious regarding the unhappy cause of all this 
 trouble, spoke to her as she stood by the Unfed Light. She 
 neither answered nor moved. I approached near to her and 
 said gently: 
 
 "Lolix?" 
 
 Still no answer nor movement. I touched her silken bodice, 
 but received a shock which startled me like an unexpected 
 blow! Her corsage was as rigid as stone. I touched her 
 hand; it, too, was cold and stiff. Her face, even her wavy 
 brown tresses, were alike rigid. Not only was she dead, but 
 actual rock! Like one in a dream, too much stunned to be 
 horrified, but still possessed of a strange curiosity, I rapped 
 with my knuckles on the various thin ed-ges presented by folds 
 in her robe, and heard them sound with a metallic clink. I 
 grasped a finger; it broke off, and then in a sudden wave of 
 awful, living horror, I dropped it upon the stone floor; it 
 broke into fragments like any fragile bit of rock. Still were 
 the golden tresses, with which I had so often caressingly played, 
 
198 A DWELLEU ON TWO PLANETS; OK, 
 
 of the old lovely color. Her complexion, her blue eyes, even, 
 were of the same natural hue they had been in life, but for all 
 that her body was stone, and her soul was forever fled! Her 
 pretty foot, showing from beneath the hem of her robe, was 
 not only as the rest— stone— but it was petrified fast to the 
 stone pavement on which she stood. At last I realized all. 
 This hideous deed was the work of Mainin in that instant he 
 looked at Lolix in speaking to her. He had prostituted his 
 occult wisdom, and for this had Gwauxln cursed him. Lolix 's 
 flesh and blood and raiment had been transmuted into solid 
 stone. This petrification was all that remained of poor, 
 wronged, forsaken Lolix— a perfect statue which, if suffered 
 by man to remain, might stand during the many centuries, 
 till even stone at last crumbled to dust. 
 
 The awful meaning of it all came home to me at last. Was 
 I primarily responsible for it? In that moment I knew that 
 I was— knew that the murder was on my soul, as well as on 
 that of Mainin, who had never found that opportunity, at least, 
 except by me. 
 
 Even in her temporary insanity Lolix had been true to me. 
 Not one word had she spoken to involve me. If Gwauxln knew 
 —and I was aware that he did— he gave me free pardon so 
 far as human law was concerned. For the broken laws of 
 Incal he could not extend pardon— that was become karma, 
 and lay— a weary width of desert sands of sin to scorch my 
 feet in the passage I must make across them ere ever I could 
 tread the narrow way of attainment— the long atonement was 
 before me. I gazed on the mute form of the girl I had so 
 fondly loved, and loved yet, until Menax, who had become 
 aware of the awful occurrence while I stood stupefied, but on 
 whom the main effect was a desire to leave as soon as possible, 
 pulled me by the sleeve: 
 
 "Come, Zailm; let us go home." 
 
 Giving one last remorseful look, I obeyed. Lovely Lolix. 
 Her voice was still in death, and that through me! As re- 
 morse surged over my soul, I thought that I would now be 
 glad to ask Anzimee to release me, confess all to her, and with 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 199 
 
 her consent make Lolix my honored wife— but it was forever 
 too late in that life thus to make reparation. No more could 
 the tender glance of love flash on me from those starry eyes 
 of blue ! No more would my weary head nestle down on her 
 shoulder, while with gentle caress she chased away my darker 
 musings with a mild and gentle sympathy. Ah, ye gods ! what 
 had I lost? My life, that had seemed complete, and as a 
 sphere like unto the full moon, was come, like that orb when 
 it rises late at night, to seem torn, and but half of itself, 
 wrecked and ragged, careening through the night time of ex- 
 istence. 
 
 Anzimee knew nothing of the awful reality; she had been 
 too much stunned by the sudden knowledge of her friend's 
 insanity. She must not know, if it were possible to prevent 
 her learning of it, We went to our carriage and, solemn the 
 one, stunned the other, and wildly remorseful the third, got 
 in and went home to Menaxithlon. Home? I felt that the 
 peace of home was no more mine ! Life had become a desert, 
 over which stalked the skeletons of despair, regret and sorrow ; 
 overhead a moonless sky, underfoot in the night a howling 
 waste of sand, blown hither and thither by curbless winds. 
 Lolix was gone, Anzimee would never be mine, as I felt in 
 prophetic forecast of soul, and so, with bowed head, I sat in 
 the midst of the desert of my days and let the phantoms dance 
 about and mock me, unheeded. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A WITNESS BEFORE THE CRIMINAL. 
 
 States of mind, of feeling and of intuition are the only real 
 things that exist. Jesus, although the Son of God, and John 
 and Paul were all Sons of the Solitude ; Hegel, Berkeley, Ster- 
 ling, Evans; all real theosophists and all real Christians— are 
 becoming Sons, and are in accord with those peerless nature- 
 
200 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 students of old when they say :— " Spirit alone is real; all else 
 is illusion." 
 
 If a man think himself ill, he will become so; if, per contra, 
 he is cheerful under even the most adverse circumstances, he 
 will not see that the world about is full of gloom; nor is it. 
 'Tis only in himself, and he can change the world all into gall 
 and bitterness for himself, although it be all a song for others. 
 
 For weary weeks I wandered about, stupidly a leaden load 
 of grief weighing on my soul, a feeling of dull despair which 
 would have crazed a less well-balanced temperament. Had 
 Lolix felt thus for even a little while? If so— and I knew 
 she felt worse, if that were possible— God pity the bright, 
 sweet and beautiful girl who had so suffered through me! I 
 was tempted to sucide, tempted to sneak out of the back door 
 of life, and I often felt of the edge of the razor-keen knife 
 given me by the Incalian mining superintendent— how long 
 before? Four years, really; four years? Four centuries, for 
 aught I knew by my feelings. I stood by the Maxin in the 
 long afternoons when I was alone in the temple. Or did I but 
 dream that I did this? Aye, it was a dream of tortured sleep, 
 for no one had admittance to the Incalithlon (except the 
 Incala) on any other occasion than on days of worship, or of 
 special ceremonies; and then the edifice was always thronged. 
 Anzimee crossed my desert at times, but though she spoke, and 
 caressed me, and strove to arouse me, it was in vain; all her 
 efforts fell like a ray of sunlight on the inky, lustreless pools 
 sometimes seen in deep forests. Left all alone with my re- 
 morse—for their unavailing efforts seemed to my friends more 
 productive of harm than of good, and therefore they ceased 
 them — I took my private vailx, and, to shut off all possible 
 communication with the world, removed from it the naim. 
 Then, no one witting my intentions, I slipped away in the 
 night-time. I wandered then through the realms of the air, 
 sometimes so high above the earth as to be in almost entire 
 darkness, where the Nepthian Ring was visible, and where 
 even the air generators and heat furnishing apparatus were 
 scarcely able to keep the air in the vailx dense ancl warm 
 
 

 REMORSE. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 201 
 
 enough to support my miserable life. Or, equally alone, equally 
 in darkness, I made my vailx seek the depths of the sea where 
 phosphorescent fish would have mistaken my craft for a larger 
 brother, had I ever cared to light up. But my soul was dark, 
 and of what avail was it to illuminate the vailx, when, with 
 eyes to see, I saw not? So bitterly keen was my horrible 
 anguish of soul that at last the body of clay lost its power to 
 hold Me, and I arose above time and earth, and remained in 
 that state for what seemed an endless period. No light ap- 
 peared to be in the awful blackness, neither any warmth, but 
 a darkness as of death, a coldness as of the grave. No person 
 crossed my path; no sound was heard, save dull, muttering 
 groans. But at length flashes of red flame leaped athwart my 
 vision, then went out, leaving the gloom more wholly black 
 than before. Horrid hisses, as of giant serpents, assailed my 
 ears now ; awful pain seemed dissolving my very soul. At last 
 my nerves failed to respond to the racking agony, and sensa- 
 tion failed. Numbness seized upon me, and I exclaimed:— " Is 
 this death ? ' ' But only echo answered. The hisses had ceased ; 
 all was silent. Suddenly I felt a deep dread of the horrible 
 solitude, so dark and cold, yet in which, somewhere, I could 
 see a little light, that but seemed to render the intense dark- 
 ness lore smothering. I called aloud ; reverberating echoes 
 alone answered. I shouted and shrieked in wild terror. But 
 in all the vast glooms around no sound save my own replying, 
 reflected tones came again. The knowledge that my confines 
 were limited came to me from the fact that my voice was 
 sounded back to me, after what seemed ages between utterance 
 and return. With this knowledge came the sense that I was 
 free to go, and I arose from the place whereon I stood, as if 
 I was endowed with wings, and I fled faster than thought. 
 Tall cliffs I found in the glooms, and ever and anon peaks 
 shone out in the glare from some flaming pit, but no creature 
 was anywhere to be found ; I was in a very universe of solitude. 
 Alone, oh, alone ! The awful, horrible despair that then seized 
 upon me caused me to wail in more than mortal pain. My 
 eyes were dry and my soul as if crushed. Despair so frightful 
 
202 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 held me for its own that I longed to perish. Vain wish. Then 
 I remembered that I had an earthly body; to find even that 
 would be some solace. On lightning lines I sped to it, to find 
 it cold and lifeless save for a small glow of magnetic light in 
 the plexus of the heart nerves, and another in the medulla 
 oblongata. But beside it I found, 0, Incal! I found Lolix, 
 weeping, praying to our God to restore— me. She did not 
 seem aware that I had come, but sought me in the cold body 
 of earth. Then I knew that I had been reminded of my cor- 
 poreal self by that fond woman's soul pleadings. Such plead- 
 ing, such anguish, I could no longer endure. I stood beside 
 her, I touched her. Then she looked up and saw me. She 
 looked long at me; then at my body. And then:— "Zailm, is it 
 thou? My love, my love. Oh, clasp me, ere I fall!" 
 
 She fell forward upon my breast, and in that time the body 
 of me disappeared, and also all things, save the sandy waste 
 where we then found ourselves together. * * * Then, 
 before our horror-stricken gaze came a little babe, so tender in 
 age it seemed just born. It was able to come to us, however, 
 and it could utter wailing speech, which smote our ears like 
 cries of mortal agony! It was dripping with blood, and its 
 eyes were as those of a dead infant. With an awful shriek of 
 anguish Lolix cried:— 
 
 "0 Incal, my God, my God! Have I not suffered enough 
 but that my dead, my murdered babe should come to smite 
 my soul ! Zailm ! Zailm ! See ! See ! See our baby girl, mur- 
 dered by me, for thy sake ! ' ' 
 
 My heart seemed to stop beating in its fearful woe, and I 
 stood paralyzed, gazing at the little one as it stretched its 
 hands, gory with the blood of untimely birth, and raised its 
 glazed eyes— to me ! Then I stooped and took it into my arms, 
 holding it close, trying to warm its poor, cold little body, and 
 I wept— aye, at last I wept great tears of real value, because 
 shed for another. With a voice choked with anguish, I said:— 
 "Lolix, thy sin is on my head, because done for me! Let Incal 
 have mercy on me, if He will!" 
 
THE CROSS-BEARER. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 203 
 
 Then a glorious radiance broke over the scene, and the 
 Cross Bearer was beside us as we stood, clasping each other 
 and our child. He whom I had seen by the moonlit fountain, 
 years before, stood by us again. On His breast shone a Cross 
 of Fire, which leapt or fell again in waves of undulating, 
 living Light. He spoke:— 
 
 "Lo! Thou hast called upon the Most High for mercy. Be- 
 cause unto that little child thou hast shewn mercy, thou shalt 
 receive it. Thou hast come unto Me, and I will give thee— 
 rest. Yet, it shall not abide with thee until the day of the 
 Great Peace entereth into thy overcoming heart. Therefore, 
 in a far day, thou shalt garner a sorrowful harvest of woe, 
 and repay all thou art indebted. When thou art come again, 
 also she with thee, and again are ready to go into Navazzamin, 
 ye will find yourselves free of earth forever. Then, having 
 received, thou shalt give. He that causeth another to sin 
 causeth that other's and his own feet to slip, and to turn from 
 My way. He must at-one his heart to Me first, then go again into 
 the field of woe, yet not in a body of flesh, but of spirit. And 
 he must find his victims, and struggle with them, till he turn 
 them back from whence he led them. Thus taketh he on his 
 own back their burden he made them to place there. Then 
 shall he carry it for them until they, following his spirit- 
 counsels to their souls, are come unto Me. And I will take 
 that burden, that shadow, and it shall cease, for I am the 
 Sun of Truth. Can a shade exist in sunlight? Can any pile 
 shadows on the sun? Neither can any pile sins upon Me, and 
 burden Me. That little one I will take unto Me; thou hast 
 offended it, and it shall be as a millstone on thy neck, casting 
 thee into the sea of earthly woe; yet ye shall escape, for thou 
 hast thy name in the Book of Life. But now, rest ! And My 
 daughter, rest!" 
 
 I found myself in my body, unable to recall anything I had 
 passed through. But I was aweary and I slept. Nature came 
 to the rescue of my tired soul, and for days I was in fever, 
 
204 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 which passed into a coma, and from that I awoke, weak, but 
 well. Still, I was in a waking dream. And I dreamed that I 
 was in the Incalithlon at Caiphul. 
 
 ' ' 0, the agony ! 0, sin 's bitter cost ! ' ' 
 
 But at last I went back to Caiphul, after weary weeks in 
 which I was lost to my people— aye, months, three of them. 
 Back to my home. As I passed through the palace I met offi- 
 cers and ladies of the court, and attendants, to all of whom I 
 had been a friend, and who so regarded me. They now gazed 
 blankly at me, but spoke no word of greeting. Was my life 
 known at last to a horrified world? No. This was not the 
 reason of the strange demeanor of the people. I was unex- 
 pected, was supposed to be dead. During the hundred days of 
 my absence, Menax, with Anzimee, had concluded that I was 
 dead, had perhaps taken my own life. It were happier for me 
 had they thought aright as to the first part of the matter. 
 
 Now I was come home, resolved to be open and frank in my 
 relations with those whom I loved best on earth. I would con- 
 fess my evil ways to them, and implore forgiveness. Once 
 again— too late ! Menax, long a sufferer from an affection of 
 the heart, thinking me dead because I had not come to him, 
 nor to Anzimee, had not survived the shock which this belief 
 caused him. I was told that for some weeks he was gone to 
 Navazzamin. I dreaded to ask after Anzimee, lest here, too, 
 some terrible news awaited me. 
 
 In my misery I wandered about the city, and ere long found 
 myself by the great temple. A little door stood open, and no 
 one was near, so I entered by it, careless that admittance was 
 denied all but Incali. I hoped to find in this sacred shade some 
 relief. No one seemed to be within, and I wandered about 
 until I stood in the triangle of the Place of Life. There, forget- 
 ful for the moment, I gazed reverently on the Unfed Light. 
 Then I passed around to the other side of the quartz cube and— 
 
 God ! there stood Lolix, still and cold ! My very brain reeled. 
 
 1 went to her, and found her the same as when I looked last on 
 her dear form, stone, only stone ! How many yBars was it since 
 then? A whole life may crowd into a day's length and cen- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 205 
 
 turies pass in a few weeks. O Lolix, Lolix, my accuser! In 
 blank numbness of mind I laid my hand on her cold form, and 
 shuddered at the chill, yet bent and looked into the eyes which 
 saw me not, and kissed the dumb lips which made no response, 
 
 ''Yet she would not speak, though he kissed in the old place 
 the quiet cheek.' ' 
 
 In her hand was a roll of red parchment; I ventured to 
 remove it and look at its contents, if indeed it had any writing 
 upon it. It had, and I read : 
 
 "Because this statue is record of a despicable crime, I, 
 Gwauxln, Rai of Poseid, do forbid its removal until I grant 
 permission. Let it stand a silent witness before the criminal." 
 
 With a shudder I replaced the roll in the stony grasp, and 
 almost fainted at the hollow rattle which it made as I did so. 
 Was I that criminal? Not the one. But I felt as if I was. I 
 would go to Agacoe and ask permission of the Rai to remove 
 her of whom he knew I was fondest, but had lacked the courage 
 or decision to say so to the world. Aye, circumstances made 
 her more precious to Zailm than Anzimee was. I turned to 
 leave that I might go to Agacoe. But I was startled when, 
 on turning, I found myself facing Rai Gwauxln, gazing sorrow- 
 fully upon me. Startled only, for nothing surprised me any 
 more, nor ever gave me real terror. Ere I had spoken he said : 
 
 "Yes, thou hast my consent to remove her." 
 
 I felt no wonder at his anticipation of my request, although 
 I noted the fact ; indeed, it was deep gratitude which I experi- 
 enced instead. I was muscular, and at once acted upon the 
 permit. I took one long, last look into the deep blue eyes, and 
 at the face, which seemed almost to smile as I bestowed a sob- 
 bing kiss upon the calm lips. Then I lifted her from the gran- 
 ite floor. The one foot that was exposed to view beneath the 
 hem of her stony robe broke off at the ankle, just above the 
 straps of her dainty sandal, as I lifted the slight, but now 
 heavy body. Then I raised her higher, and yet higher, to the 
 top of the cube of the Maxin, and let her drop forward against 
 the Quenchless Light. 
 
 "Kiss her and leave her; thy love is clay." 
 
206 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 As she touched the Maxin-Light she instantaneously disap- 
 peared, with no more disturbance of the tall taper than comes 
 from the flight of darkness when the morning sun lights up 
 the valleys. Calmly the Quenchless Light stood, unchanged 
 as ever. As I turned away I saw the little foot, whereon spar- 
 kled the sapphires and diamonds of the sandal strap-buckle— 
 my gift! I succeeded in detaching the little remnant un- 
 broken, but instead of putting it also in the Maxin-Light, I 
 wrapped it in my mantle, glad that I had a token, even if it 
 was only a stone foot. 
 
 I could not bring my courage to the point of asking my 
 sovereign about Anzimee. No, I feared his possible, and not 
 unreasonable scorn. I would seek her, and find if she also were 
 dead, like Menax. If so, I resolved to take the first opportunity 
 — the morrow might favor me, as it was the beginning of an 
 Incalon or Sun-day of general worship— and return to the 
 temple, where I would bathe away my physical self in the un- 
 wavering flame of the Unfed Light. 
 
 Anzimee was not dead, however, but had not yet learned of 
 my return. I found her, the sign of her great sorrow in her 
 fine gray eyes, which, as we met, rested on me in a bewildered 
 stare. Then, with one long sob, she fell into my outstretched 
 arms in an unconscious condition. Poor little girl ! I held her, 
 I clasped her close to my heart, and while I kissed her pale lips, 
 her black-ringed eyes, her sunken cheeks, my tears fell on her 
 face like rain— the first tears my fevered physical eyes had 
 shed through all my agony of soul. At last she awoke from 
 her faintness only to experience a long sickness, in which her 
 pure spirit came near bursting its earthly casket, and after 
 several weary weeks, finally left her to consciousness. When 
 she was again moving about in her old quiet way, and although 
 frail, was able to endure the recital, I sat down in the Xana- 
 tithlon in the seat where Menax and I had sat so long before. 
 Then I drew the slight form down upon my knees, and with 
 my arm about her, told her all the sad story of Lolix, and the 
 miserable flight from Caiphul which I had made to escape the 
 memory of it— alas! how unsuccessfully! No one can run 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 207 
 
 away from self. Then after the unrestrained confession, I 
 asked her to forgive me. For some time she said nothing, but 
 her arm stole around me, so that we clasped each other. At 
 last she spoke : 
 
 "Zailm, I do forgive thee— from the depths of my soul I do! 
 Thou art but mortal. If thou hast sinned, do so no more. I do 
 not wonder that thou shouldst have loved that sweet woman." 
 
 At this I drew forth the memento of Lolix, which I had car- 
 ried with me, despite its weight, and without a word handed it 
 to her. 
 
 1 ' This is her foot ? Lolix ! I loved thee, also ! Zailm, give 
 me this. I would keep it in memory of my friend. ' ' 
 
 Then I spoke:— "Anzimee, my wife, for thou art to be mine; 
 the world knoweth it— thou hast forgiven me. So hath thin* 1 
 uncle, our Rai. But it is yet some months ere we may wed till 
 death. Hence I will go forth into Umaur, in the region where 
 men are not, even in the south part, for in Aixa are certainly 
 mines, and in the sandy deserts there will I find gold. Not that 
 I want gold, for I have millions, aye, three million teki, and 
 much other wealth ; but all that the earth will yield it is good 
 for Poseid to have. I go, because I fear I can not be in Caiphul 
 and refrain from being always with thee. In Umaur I can see 
 thee, and hear thee, and love thee, dear, for I shall not this time 
 remove the naim, so that it will be much as if I were here. 
 Therefore, kiss me, sweet one, a fond farewell, and I will be 
 gone when the evening falls. Incal be with thee, and His peace 
 overshadow thee ! ' ' 
 
 It was two thousand miles from Caiphul to that part of the 
 Umaur coast nearest which I desired to go inland. But, think- 
 ing of Anzimee, the distance was passed unheeded until we lay 
 above the region where now the geographies mark the great 
 nitre-bearing desert of Atacama. It was desert then as now. 
 We found on prospecting its deepest sands, near to the base 
 of the Andes, that these were rich enough in gold to justify 
 myself and men in setting up the electric generator of water. 
 This was an instrument containing several hundred square 
 yards of metal plate surface arranged in banks like the gills 
 
208 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 of a fish, the whole encased in a tight metal box. An air cur- 
 rent entering at one end of the case had to traverse every inch 
 on both sides of the plate ere it touched the farther end. As 
 each plate was made and maintained very cool by Navaz 
 forces, the result was rapid deposition of moisture from the 
 atmosphere. In the example cited the generator was of the 
 largest portable size, and the flow of water condensed by it 
 was about a quart every minute— quite enough with which 
 to do a considerable amount of mining in the economical way 
 in which our mining machinery used water. 
 
 I had brought a horse from Poseid, and after mining ar- 
 rangements were attended to, and the men placed at work, I 
 had the animal made ready ~ and taking a case of mineral lo- 
 cators—light instruments operated by something similar to 
 what would nowadays be called a pile la clanche— hence not 
 Night-Side electricity— instruments used for determining the- 
 location of mineral deposits on the principle of the electro- 
 meter—and with food enough for several days, I set out to 
 prospect for valuable minerals. I also took a small, easily 
 portable naim, so as to maintain communication with the rest 
 of the world. I soon left this latter instrument in a cache, 
 intending to get it when I came back, for I had not gone above 1 
 five miles ere discovering that the instrument had been ren- 
 dered useless by the loss of its vibrator. Where I had lost this 
 essential I did not know, but I concluded not to go back after it. 
 The loss, though no small annoyance, was a relief to my horse, 
 for it reduced his burden by a number of pounds— no small 
 matter, considering that I had a rifle, which I will not now 
 describe, different though its principle from any modern wea- 
 pon, in that its propulsive force was electricity— my mining 
 tools, my packages of dates and nuts for food, my polar com- 
 pass, pocket photographic apparatus, and a small generator, 
 with, lastly, my bedding and my own weight. 
 
 That night I was far away, and the next evening found me 
 over a hundred miles from the camp. As the sun sank low I 
 found myself riding along the bottom of a deep arroyo.* At a 
 
 *NOTE. — A deep, narrow ravine. 
 
 Oul tHM^ 
 
 A 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 209 
 
 little distance I saw the mouth of what appeared to be a 
 small cavern. This might do nicely to camp in over night, and 
 provide shelter. My horse was well trained, and would stay for 
 hours within whistling distance of the place where I left him. 
 So I dismounted, and bidding him remain near, I went into the 
 cavern. It seemed like a long tunnel, and without going 
 further, I returned to my steed and took off his saddle. Then 
 I laid under it the food I had brought for myself ; for the ani- 
 mal there was abundance of grass growing about. The tools I 
 also put under the saddle, and taking my electric rifle, was 
 about to return to the investigation of the cave, when my horse 
 pleaded for water, and as the ravine was a dry creek, I pro- 
 ceeded to give him drink and save some myself. The creek bed 
 was of smooth, cement-like rock, with numerous depressions 
 shaped much like buckets. Beside one of these I set the gen- 
 erator, and soon the hole was full of water, cool and refresh- 
 ing. I watered my grateful animal at this, and drank from 
 the spout of the instrument myself. How good the fluid seemed ! 
 As I placed the generator, still running, back beside the hole, 
 I little thought how I would need it soon, and be unable to 
 get it. 
 
 I found the bottom of the cavern to be of the same rocky 
 character as the bed of the arroyo. I knew it was not mineral 
 bearing, but my curiosity was aroused, and I concluded to go 
 to the end of the tunnel. In my pocket I had a small lighting 
 battery and incandescent bulb, and when it grew dark in the 
 cave by reason of my distance from the entrance, I used this 
 to illumine my pathway. For fully half a mile I found the cave 
 to open on before me. At that point I stopped, overcome by 
 surprise. In all that region I had not seen a sign of human 
 presence, recent or ancient, until now. But before me, only 
 partially exposed, stood a house, presenting its corner and 
 part of two heavy walls of basalt. I dropped my lumen in my 
 surprise, and it "broke on the rocky floor, extinguishing the 
 light. But it was not altogether dark about me, for daylight 
 filtered in from some source. 
 
 Long I stood there in that gloomy cavern, gazing upon the 
 
210 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 ruined house. Whence had come its builders, and in what for- 
 gotten age? Where had they gone? Was this but a solitary 
 building, or were there others hidden in the sands of the plain 
 near by, but not uncovered? Conjecture had here full play, 
 for in all the annals of Poseid, covering decades of centuries 
 with concisely written records, no mention was made of any 
 people, civilized, or even savage, having had inhabitants in this 
 "No Man's Land." The only tenable conclusion was that I 
 now gazed upon the relic of some people so ancient as to ante- 
 date even Poseid 's forty centuries. At length I crossed the 
 cave's short width in order to more closely examine this rem- 
 nant of the dim past— a past forgotten even when Poseid was 
 young. In the side of the building nearest to me was a door- 
 way through the smooth, finely chiseled basalt blocks forming 
 the wall. Partly ajar swung a door, apparently formed of a 
 single slab of basalt about six inches thick by the proper pro- 
 portions otherwise. Impelled by curiosity, I stepped into the 
 room, which was easily done without disturbing the door from 
 the position it had so long occupied. My reason greatly dis- 
 liked the admission that even a stone structure should so long 
 have withstood the effects of time ; but it was only thus explain- 
 able, so I dismissed conjecture for the time. 
 
 I found the three dimensions of the interior apparently 
 equal, and about sixteen feet every way. There was but the 
 single door to give entrance. Excepting two parallel openings 
 in the roof, formed by placing a stone of less width by a span 
 on either side of the opening it would otherwise have filled, 
 there was no break in the solid masonry. The floor, which was 
 thinly covered by sand, I found to be made of granite, the 
 jointure of which was as perfect as that of the walls — not a 
 sheet of paper could have been slipped between any two blocks. 
 After exploring thus far, I leaned against the wall, near enough 
 to the door to touch it without change of place, and letting my 
 gaze rest on the barred grating in the ceiling, gave myself to 
 reflection. How cold and gloomy^ it seemed in that lonely room, 
 relic of a bygone age, forgotten by even so old a race as ours. 
 The solid construction, the simple severity of its plan, all forci- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 211 
 
 bly brought to mind the descriptions given of prisons in Poseid 
 in ante-Maxin days. Was it the solitary example of building 
 skill of its constructors in which I now stood, or was it one of a 
 collection forming a buried city? How this particular building 
 came to be clear of sand in its interior was easy to see. The 
 rain waters had percolated through the shallow soil above, and 
 had run through the crack which I have mentioned as giving 
 light to the cavern. A part of the flow had gone outside, thus 
 exposing two sides of the corner of the house; the rest of the 
 water, running on the flat roof, had entered through the grat- 
 ing. Seeping thence through the sand in the room it had car- 
 ried it out of the door standing open at the side. 
 
 Satisfied with my reflective study, I began to think of return- 
 ing to the open air, and to my horse. As I turned to pass out, 
 curiosity impelled me to swing the ponderous door on its 
 hinges, if I had strength. Expecting that much effort would 
 be required, I gave force to the action. Alas, for my super- 
 ficial examination of the slab. I had observed no sign of a 
 lock of any sort, and did not imagine any existed. Hardly any 
 effort was needed to swing the deceitful door, and it went to 
 with such quickness that I lost my balance and fell against the 
 wall, striking my head so severely as to render me unconscious. 
 When I recovered I found the door shut and securely locked. 
 In my cursory notice of it I had seen that instead of a simple 
 slab it was made of two plates of stone, separated at the edges 
 by a segment of a third plate, forming thus a hollow space 
 between the outer surfaces. In that space there was concealed 
 an arrangement of bolts and bars of stone, working on the 
 gravity-drop principle, and releasing the locking-bolts when 
 the door shut tight to place. The ends of these, four in num- 
 ber, then shot into recesses in the wall, and the door was 
 securely locked. 
 
 Being of a calm disposition, given to reliance on my scien- 
 tific knowledge, the discovery that I was imprisoned did not 
 discompose me in any great degree. Instead, I sought for some 
 means of withdrawing the bolts. But none existed. I now 
 thought in dismay that I had not a single tool with me with 
 
212 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 which to dig out of this gloomy prison. I then sat down to 
 reflect on the situation. The longer I pondered, the more ter- 
 rifying the aspect of things became. First, not a soul knew of 
 my whereabouts. As I had no naim, my place could not be 
 determined except by tracking me ; this would prove impos- 
 sible, because I had followed the beds of watercourses, long 
 stretches of which were bare rock. I would not be missed 
 for three days yet, as I had said that I expected to be gone 
 for a period twice as long, and three days more than I had 
 already Been absent, ere I proposed to return. No; there was 
 no hope of escape, and now I realized how true were the 
 words of Rai Ernon of Suern when he told me that a Poseid 
 depended for his very life on his being surrounded' by -he 
 creations of his knowledge in the realm of natural physics. 
 
 The food which I had brought with me was with my horse 
 and outfit, as far beyond my reach as the stars. It might be 
 that they would finally search for me, and find my horse. 
 But no, he would not be apt to remain three or four days 
 alone in that awful wilderness; he would wander, perhaps 
 go back to the vailx. But he would leave no trail to give a 
 clue to my prison, for he would go as he came, over an un- 
 yielding, rocky stream bed. Hunger pangs again suggested 
 that I had no food; not even had I any water. Hope still 
 remained, for was not Incal my protecting Father? How futile 
 this, my hope ! God, Incal, Brahm— call the Eternal Spirit 
 what thou wilt— verily doth heed the needs of His children, 
 but those needs which to the child seem to be uppermost, are 
 not always so adjudged by the Eternal One. He operates 
 through His children, whether human or angelic ones, making 
 each one interdependent with all others, and thus men or 
 angels may have for helpers each other, or perhaps only some 
 animal brother. God noteth a drowning mariner, but unless 
 some brother be there to rescue, he may physically perish. 
 He tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb, but generally only 
 through the fact that self interest, or it may be some higher 
 emotion, as pity, is aroused in the mind of beholding man. 
 Nay, it is only through the mainsprings of character, by our 
 
THE DIVIDING OP THE WAY. 213 
 
 Heavenly Father implanted in the souls of His children, that 
 He ever helps or saves. And this is mostly true :— that the ., 
 physical body must pray with muscular action if it would get 
 an answer to its needs in physical form ; the mind must pray 
 through mental processes, and its answer will be in mental 
 results, while the Spirit shall pray through its spiritual nature, 
 and receive those values which are not perceptible to the nat- 
 ural mind. All this; but although the mind prayeth forever, 
 and the body doeth no work, the results— save a brother act- 
 eth— shall not be for the body. And though the Spirit pray, 
 yet if the mind pray not also, knowledge will not come to the 
 brain. .How shall the mind pray? By being in harmony with 
 the Spirit. And how shall it have this harmony? By control 
 through the will of the animal body, that it infringe not the 
 laws of that wholeness which is health. 
 
 When I sat in the cave house and prayed to Incal with my 
 whole mind, yet, as I could not pray with my muscles, no 
 release would come for the body, neither food nor drink. I 
 might, on the mental plane, have influenced Rai Gwauxln 
 to understand my predicament; this, to him, would have been 
 clairvoyance; but this I could not while the enemy who had 
 aroused my curiosity to work my ruin intercepted all such 
 clairvoyant messages; more especially I could not, being ig- 
 norant of the proper method. It would have been mere chance 
 that Gwauxln would have been influenced by my mental ten- 
 sion of distress undirected by my knowledge. Meanwhile, 
 unaware of how to use such powers, I dismissed thoughts of 
 any possibility of escape in that direction. But I would pray 
 to Incal. So I knelt on the cold, cruel floor, and prepared to 
 invoke His aid. As I uttered His name I heard a musical 
 laugh, albeit mocking— a sound which thrilled me with that 
 dread terror which every man and woman has sometime felt, 
 either in childhood days or in later life — that chill which 
 shivers the senses when listening to some weird tale of hor- 
 ror, told by the fire's open grate, while the Storm King rocks 
 the very foundations of the ground. 
 
 ■ ~ - : ' 'j L , 
 
214 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Turning, and arising from my knees, I beheld the Incaliz of 
 the Great Temple in Caiphul. 
 
 ''Wherefore didst thou start at beholding me, as if thou 
 hadst looked on a demon?" 
 
 To this question I could vouchsafe but one reply— that my 
 sudden fright must have been from beholding him in that 
 manner, since I was not accustomed to seeing men go about 
 like ghosts, disembodied, yet not seeming to be so. 
 
 I felt a great joy at his coming, for I then believed that Incal 
 had answered my yet unspoken petition for mercy by sending 
 Mainin to my aid. And yet, why should I still be possessed 
 by that unaccountable fear, the fear which overcame me upon 
 first seeing him? I knew in the moment after its utterance 
 that it did not arise from the cause attributed— his method of 
 advent to my prison, because I knew that as a Son of the Soli- 
 tude he possessed the power to lay aside the gross body of 
 earth as one would an overcoat, and project himself to any 
 desired place. I knew as I looked upon him that his corporeal 
 self was in a trance sleep, thousands of miles away in Poseid. 
 I had no such power to project myself, else it had been easy 
 for me to let Rai Gwauxln know of my danger; at least, un- 
 knowing of Mainin 's interference, I thought so. But as Incal 
 had sent the Incaliz to me all was surely well. 
 
 The priest doubtless read my thoughts, for he said that he 
 had become aware of my unpleasant predicament through In- 
 cal, and had come to assist me to escape. He must, however, 
 leave me until he could get aid to me by dispatching a vailx 
 from Caiphul. It would not take long, and meanwhile I must 
 be of good cheer. And then he disappeared as he had come, 
 and I was again alone, awaiting his promised return with a 
 feverish anxiety not to be expressed in words. Hours passed, 
 and he came not, nor any other. Hours grew into days, three 
 days, and he came not, neither came any succor. The pangs 
 of hunger, terrible as they had become, were as nothing com- 
 pared to my thirst. Once more the daylight ceased to filter 
 through the grating overhead and the crevice leading to the 
 upper ground. I had worn the ends of my fingers to rawness 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 215 
 
 trying to release the bolts of the door ; had sounded every inch 
 to see if it did not contain a secret spring that would let loose 
 some part of the prison wall. But fate had no such kindness 
 in store for me. Seven times the light had gone out above 
 me, marking seven nights since Mainin's visit. 
 
 Several times my torture of hunger and thirst had rendered 
 me wildly delirious, with lucid intervals. In one of these lucid 
 moments of comparative calm, as I lay moaning on the sandy 
 floor, feebly calling on Incal for help, I heard the same low 
 laugh that had heralded Mainin's first appearance. The 
 sound fired me with temporary strength, and I sat up. I 
 would have cursed the Incaliz for his long absence, which 
 had meant so much suffering for me, had I not feared that in 
 his anger he would leave me there to die. I no more felt for 
 him the reverence I had ever felt, for I was certain now t':»at 
 he was not what men thought him. And I would have there- 
 fore cursed him, because of my inward sense that great as 
 was his esoteric knowledge, and the fact of his being recog- 
 nized as a Son, that none the less he was black hearted, and 
 an abomination in the sight of Incal, and that in him the Sons 
 of the Solitude were deceived as the very elect. That I did 
 not denounce him to his face was due to the fast vanishing 
 hope that he might still be induced to help me escape. 
 
 This time he came with changed manner. Now when he 
 spoke, his first words were in mockery of my appeals to the 
 great Father of Life. 
 
 "Ha! Much good may it do thee to cry unto Incal or any 
 helper. God! There is no God.* Bah! how blind men are 
 to pray to such empty ideals as their fancies name 'God!' 
 Men of Poseid say Incal is God ; men of Suernis say Yeovah, 
 and they of Necropan say Osiris. What madness and idiocy ! ' ' 
 
 Here I sat more erectly, and regarded him a moment before 
 asking, "If he were not afraid so to blaspheme Incal and to 
 deny his Maker?" 
 
 "Thinkest thou, Zailm, son of Menax, that I should do as I 
 have if I thought any God existed? Is it news— aye, it is 
 
 ♦Psalms lxiii. 1. 
 
216 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 news to thee that I should desire to achieve the ruin of her 
 called Anzimee— that I came from a former life on earth— aye ! 
 many of them— filled with hatred of her who always hereto- 
 fore hath caused me to be exposed to the laws of man? She 
 can not now, for in the Book of Fate I do not find it so writ- 
 ten, so that either it is not there, or else I have lost my power 
 to read fate, a thing I think not likely. But I will, through 
 thee, wring her heart to the' depths, so that she shall cry out 
 in anguish of soul! What hath Anzimee done to me? Not 
 as Anzimee, but as a powerful woman and seeres^ere she was 
 born in the earth as Anzimee. I follow her in vengeance. To 
 wring her soul in agony I compassed the death of Menax, 
 against whom personally I had no cause; I have almost done 
 the same for thee, yet have I naught against thee. I it was 
 that did work upon thy curiosity that thou here might est find 
 thy death. I had hoped to hinder thy confession of thy life- 
 sin with Lolix unto Anzimee. Then, after thou shouldst have 
 met thy death, and then been found by me, I would have 
 gotten so much the greater misery for her out of the public 
 exposure of thine iniquity, for I had all the proofs well in 
 hand. But that scheme is foiled; I care not overmuch— thy 
 death will occasion her much torture. For that purpose also 
 was Lolix led to do as she did, and thou also with her, so long 
 ago— for I lay my plans long ahead, being gifted with vast 
 power of f orepiercing the future. For that same end shall the 
 Rai be brought low, and at the last she who is the object of 
 my chief est wrath shall not know good from evil, so that her 
 name shall be a scorn in the mouths of the people. Revenge 
 is sweet, Zailm, sweet!" 
 
 My horror and my weakness together made it impossible 
 for me to do aught but sit and stare in silent helplessness, 
 even had any corporeal body been before^e upon which to 
 act. 
 
 "Thou art aghast at my iniquity? I am too old to fear 
 failure, and am beyond the reach of the laws of men, at last. 
 No man, nor all the men on earth, could deprive me of life 
 or liberty. I have long known a secret which prolongs life 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 217 
 
 many times the common length— 'tis a secret won from the 
 deeper Night-Side of Nature. One day shall come when all 
 Poseid shall know these secrets. 'Twill be a sad day for it, I 
 rejoice to think! I was old, old, when Gwauxln of Poseid 
 thought me a boy with himself; so also thought the Sons of 
 Solitude, for I was cunning in concealment. So think they 
 yet. I — yes, I wTH tell thee, for thou art even now as one who 
 is dead. I have worked for three centuries in this present 
 body. Sajd I not that I am old? I have counteracted the 
 good done by Ernon of Suern, so that lie died of a despairing 
 heart. I do thus that I may^ if possible, wither all the hopes 
 of humankind, turn them down from the infinite path— down 
 to demonhood, death and destruction. Ernon worked to the 
 exaltation of mankind; I to its depression; so we came in 
 conflict, and I won. And why knew he not my hand? Be- 
 cause I have ever worked in the dark, kept my own counsel, 
 and obtained mastery over the eyiiiiosts which are not human, 
 never were, and never will ,M. And against workers in the 
 dark can no Son of Light' prevail, for both work on the ani- 
 mal nature of man, which, having no light of guidance, taketh 
 the first offered support, thus favoring Workers in the Dark. 
 But enough. So' much would I not tell thee were it not that 
 thou wouldst not have much power thereby over me — ME, 
 understand— wert thou alive instead of practically dead. 
 Thinkest thou now I can have belief in a God ? Bah ! If God 
 exists, I fear not ; yet let Him punish ~! ' '* 
 
 And now a fearful, glorious and wonderful sight appeared. 
 The night had come while Mainin thus confessed to me and 
 gloried in his apical crimes, and called upon Incal to punish 
 if He existed. In the total darkness of the prison, which, 
 being physical gloom, could not veil the form of Mainin, there 
 appeared that which struck terror to both our hearts, albeit 
 terror of different sorts. A human form, which yet was not 
 of earth, surrounded by a blinding white light, stood before us. 
 Was this Incal? Had He of a verity accepted the rash chal- 
 lenge of the criminal priest? Upon His countenance rested a 
 
 NOTE. — "The fool hath said in his heart, 'There is no God.' " 
 
218 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 calm but awful expression, though not of anger or any human 
 emotion. For an instant the wondrous eyes gazed upon me, 
 then turned to Mainin. He then spoke, calmly, musically, 
 and while I listened all my pain left me, though the words 
 were of fearful import : 
 
 "To feel 
 The perfect calm o'er the agony steal." 
 
 The voice was like my conception of the tones of Incal, as 
 He said: 
 
 "I shall not, Mainin, enumerate thy crimes— thou know- 
 est them every one. Thou hast been fellow with the Sons, and 
 they taught thee all they knew, and of Me thou learnedst mora 
 than they could teach— aye, centuries agone. I knew thy way; 
 I knew its evil, yet interfered not, for thou art thine own mas- 
 ter, even as all men are self -masters ; few, alas, are faithful ! 
 But thine altitude of wisdom, prostituted to selfishness, to 
 sin, to crime, more utterly than any other man hath dared, is 
 thy destruction. Thy name meaneth 'Light/ and great hath 
 thy brilliancy been; but thou hast been as a light adrift on 
 the seas, a lure to death of all them that follow thee, and 
 these have been myriad. Thou hast blasphemed God, and 
 jeered in thy soul, saying, 'Punish!' but thy day was not 
 come. Wherefore thou wert let go unrebuked. It made thee 
 bold, and thou wouldst go on, even now. But lo! Anzimee 
 thou shalt not harm, for she is handmaiden of Christ, ev^n 
 mine own daughter in service. Thou hast well merited the 
 penalty, and because thou hast knowingly dared it, lo! now 
 shall it be dealt out to thee. I would it were avertible. But 
 thine is one out of a myriad of cases, more heinous because 
 thou art wise, not ignorant. But as thou art an ego, a ray 
 from my Father, and now give out no more light, but dark-- 
 ness only, I will cut thee off for a season, for thou shalt neither 
 destroy more of my sheep, nor be let to leave unexpiated the 
 evil thou hast done. It were better for thee couldst thou cease 
 to exist. But this may not be of an ego. I can but suspend 
 thee as a human entity and cast thee into the outer darkness 
 to serve as one of the powers of nature. Get thee behind me!" 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 219 
 
 The High Priest had stood the picture of an awful terror, 
 numbed beyond thought of escape, which indeed was not pos- 
 sible, for the Judge was Man, and more than Man finite— 
 was MAN INFINITE, even CHRIST. 
 
 Now, however, as the Son of Light ceased to speak, Mainin 
 uttered a howl of mingled terror and defiance. At this dread 
 sound the Christ stretched forth His hand, and instantly Mainin 
 was surrounded with a glowing flame which, on disappearing, 
 revealed also the disappearance of the Demon Priest. 
 
 Thus had Mainin sinned, perverting his noble wisdom to 
 evil and to sowing the seeds of sin, on and in the hearts of 
 unsuspecting weaklings of humanity. He had sown and Suern 
 was to reap, and through Suern, the world. But for this sow- 
 ing he himself was blasted from the Book of Life by a curse 
 from the Son of Man. 
 
 Even those unfamiliar with any but the material aspect of 
 nature, can find no difficulty in comprehending the destruction 
 of the life of a man whose corporeal body was in far away 
 Caiphul, when they consider that the earthly frame is no more 
 an essential of the real man than the cocoon is a part of the 
 butterfly, although in either case these things are essential to 
 physical life. 
 
 Terrified by the awful sight of the blasting, I sank on my 
 face on the floor. From this position I was bidden to arise by 
 the Christ, who said: 
 
 "Such is the fate of the wholly selfish man. Fear not for 
 thine own safety, for I blast not thee ; neither worship me, but 
 my Father who sendeth me. I am reached unto the perfection 
 of the Seventh Principle and am Man, also the Son of Man, 
 yet more than any man, for I am in the Father, and the Father 
 is in me. But all men who will may follow me and be by me 
 in the Kingdom, for are we not all children of One, our Father ? 
 I am He, Christ; that which I am, the Spirit of every man is. 
 The penalty visited upon Mainin was not annihilation, which 
 can not be; neither was it the death which is transition, but 
 the death which liveth no more as human life, but is cast for 
 a season into the outer darkness of devildom. Behold, I speak, 
 
220 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 yet having ears, thou hearest not, neither comprehend. But 
 thy hearing shall come to thee, and thou shalt know, and shalt 
 lead my people. And lo ! thou shalt lead them in a day to 
 thee yet afar off. But now thou shalt go no more to Atl to 
 live there, neither be seen of Anzimee any more, until she 
 hath gone from Earth twice and come again, and shall be called 
 Phyris. Lo ! I have said that these things should come to pass, 
 and did prophesy unto thee in that city called Caiphul, and 
 thou heardst me, yet heeded not. But now thou wilt heed me, 
 for I speak great words of GOD,— and the world is His. Yet 
 now no man knoweth me ; but in a far day I will come again, 
 yea! I will enter in and dwell as a perfect human soul, and 
 make that Man first fruit of them that sleep the sleep which 
 is change, so that by me he shall be exalted above Death. Then 
 shall men get them up, and mock me, being unbelievers, and 
 shall crucify me, yet shall I, that am become Jesus the Christ, 
 not be harmed, but mine earthly house only. And they shall 
 be forgiven, for they will not know what they do.* Peace I 
 give unto thee. Sleep ! ' ' 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 DEVACHAN. 
 
 Obedient to this command I slept. When I awakened I was 
 yet in the prison, but all the suffering, all the tortures of hun- 
 ger and thirst that I had endured were gone. Nothing seemed 
 strange to me, not even when I arose and found that behind 
 me, as a shell, remained the poor clay casket which had suf- 
 fered so keenly under the pangs of starvation. All was as 
 natural in seeming as are things in vivid dreams. I thought 
 of Anzimee, and wondered if she, too, felt as happy as I did 
 at that moment. I prayed that she might. Then I thought of 
 the words of Him who caled Himself the Son of Man, and 
 
 *St. Matthew xii, 23. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 221 
 
 wondered what manner of being He was. His talk had, tor 
 the most part, been unmeaning to me ; yet from it I understood 
 that I was dead ; that Anzimee would see me no more until after 
 what dimly seemed an eternity, and not then as Anzimee, nor 
 would I then be Zailm; yet I felt no regret over this long 
 prospective separation. And in that time this Son of Man 
 would have come again to the world, and left work for His 
 brethren, the children of our FATHER, who in doing this 
 work would be following after Him, and would become as 
 Himself, in so far as to be disenthralled from time and from 
 earth, and have all things, life and death. Yet, dimly under- 
 standing all this, I comprehended not its perfect fullness, for 
 my natural mind was not able to grasp its spiritual meaning. 
 
 This, then, was Navazzamin, and I was what men call dead. 
 It was much different from my concepts, as taught me by the 
 priests of Incal— because it apparently differed not at all from 
 earth-life, so far as I had as yet experienced. Perhaps it would 
 if I were now to go and pass through the Maxin-Light. To 
 do this would not be suicide, because I was already dead. No, 
 it would purge away the earthiness which possibly prevented 
 my finding the real Navazzamin which had been taught me. 
 Would Anzimee and all others of my loved ones come hither 
 some day, and should we meet and know each other here ? Oh ! 
 it must be so, it must be so ! 
 
 Filled with these reflections I stepped to the door, forgetting 
 that its lock had previously prevented my exit. Only when it 
 opened at my touch did I remember that it had defied every 
 previous effort. Lightly I stepped away down the tunnel until 
 I came to the daylight and to my saddle and tools, and yes, 
 my horse, faithful animal ! He was eating of the grasses, and 
 evidently made the overflowing waters at the generator his 
 headquarters. Leave him? Not if I could avoid it! I was 
 free at last! I looked around at the dry washes lying under 
 the open sky, with their eroded monuments of clay, capped 
 with wild pampas plumes. How gracefully these nodded in 
 the light breeze, seeming to say:— "Free now, free!" 
 
222 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Then I went to my horse, to take him, forgetful that being 
 dead I could not need such transportation. But he seemed not 
 to see me, or to know my presence. This was a difficulty. I 
 was used to conquering difficulties, but this was one where I 
 was at a loss what to do. I sat down and looked at the hand- 
 some animal. The longer I looked, the more perplexed I be- 
 came. At last I got up in a sort of exasperation and talked 
 very earnestly to the animal. No effect! Of course not! The 
 more I talked, the more contented the horse became, as if he 
 felt that I was near, and was satisfied. Finally I started away, 
 intending to leave him, since I could in no way influence him. 
 This had great effect! The farther I got the more unvasy he 
 became, as I was able to see, until at last he lifted up his head 
 and neighed loudly. Once, twice, thrice, and then he started 
 after me in a wild gallop ! When he reached me he grew easy, 
 but as I went rapidly onwards he followed. He was awake 
 to a sense of my presence, though he could not see, feel or 
 hear me. My mind was wholly occupied in getting this faith- 
 ful servant to the camp. So, feeling no fatigue, nor hunger, 
 nor thirst, nor any sensation of the physical life, I walked 
 clear into camp, all those miles, with that horse following con- 
 tentedly after! When we reached the camp the vailx was 
 there, but only two of the men, the others having gone in 
 search of me, since I was now overdue in my arrival, thanks 
 to Mainin. These men, like the horse, could not see me, but 
 unlike him, neither could they sense my nearness. My utmost 
 efforts were entirely unsuccessful, and although I stayed for 
 two days— until the search was over and the men had returned 
 to the vailx, to obtain further orders from Caiphul, I was un- 
 successful still. One of the hunters was still out, and when he 
 came back I spoke to him. He could not see me, but my pres- 
 ence affected him strangely. So I spoke again and again, till 
 at last he sat down trembling by my desk in the salon of the 
 vailx. A paper and a pen and ink were on this, and I said to 
 the man:— "Use that pen." To my partial surprise, he used 
 it, but seemed in a deep sleep the while and mechanically 
 wrote:— "Use that pen." An idea occurred to me, and I 
 
 . 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 223 
 
 uttered words which had no collection of meaning, every one 
 of which he wrote just as I spoke it. This was encouraging, 
 so I next said:— "It is I, even Zailm, who say these things; I 
 am dead. Go home to Caiphul." Of my body and its where- 
 abouts I said nothing, feeling that it was properly entombed. 
 But what I spoke in dictation was all written, not that the 
 medium heard, but for the time I was the controlling intel- 
 ligence of his body. The others took the message and hid it, 
 and when the writer had come out of trance, they asked him 
 what he had written. But he denied having written anything. 
 This seemed to satisfy them, the man was so obviously honest 
 in his denial. So they went and gathered the equipage and 
 animals into the vailx, and prepared to leave for Caiphul. 
 Their action satisfied me, so that I thought no more of them, 
 but began to wish I was at home. I reflected that I had left 
 the disability of the flesh in the cave-house, hence I ought to 
 be able to go here or there, as had Mainin. I would try it. 
 So I said to myself :— " I would be at home, at Agacoe, where 
 is the Rai, and he will be able to see me, and know all things 
 of this matter. ' ' 
 
 With this utterance all things changed, and I found myself 
 in the palace of Agacoe. But neither Gwauxln nor Anzimee— 
 who was there also— were seemingly able to see me, more than 
 the man in the vailx had been. What was this thing called 
 death? this barrier? Was death indeed the threshold between 
 two conditions, communication to and fro being impossible? 
 as futile to attempt from my side as from the other? I had 
 thought Gwauxln able to penetrate this barrier. But alas! I 
 found myself not more able to obtain his recognition than that 
 of the others. I knew he could see those who put off their 
 fleshy shells in order to travel as Mainin had done, and re- 
 sume them at will; why then not see me? Death perhaps 
 meant more even than putting aside the body. Long I stood 
 there, wondering at this thing called death. As I stood by 
 Gwauxln 's side, having abandoned the attempt to impress him 
 with a knowledge of my presence, a human shape came into 
 the apartment. Shape? It seemed as real as any of the cour- 
 
224 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 tiers sitting by the arch of the doorway. None of these latter 
 appeared aware of the new arrival; except the Rai, no one 
 beside myself saw him, but continued their talk regarding the 
 sudden death of the Incaliz Mainin, and disposal of his body 
 in the Maxin Light on the previous afternoon. I had been 
 dumfounded at the strange resemblance of the new arrival 
 to myself, but I was immeasurably amazed to hear the Rai 
 exclaim : 
 
 "What! Zailmdead! Dead!" 
 
 An attendant, hearing this exclamation, but seeing only the 
 sovereign, hastily went to him enquiring his pleasure. As he 
 approached he passed directly through the form which Gwauxln 
 had addressed by my name ! Neither the human shape nor the 
 attendant seemed aware of the remarkable occurrence, but 
 the Form, smiling, in reply said: 
 
 "Aye, Zo Rai; I am Zailm, but not dead, except in that I 
 am free of earthly restraint." 
 
 Confused, almost stupefied by these happenings, I sank on a 
 divan near me. Gwauxln could see what purported to be me 
 —was indeed a very image of me in looks, speech, memory of 
 events, in fact really was the psychic counterpart of my life 
 and self — but he could not see me. Mystery, aye, mystery! 
 How many had death to reveal to me ? I had left in the Umaur 
 prison a material image of myself— was it possible that there 
 also existed an intermediate counterpart of both my material 
 body and myself, which yet retained certain gross forms of 
 life lost by me, making it visible while I was invisible? But 
 as Gwauxln was a Son of the Solitude, why was he unable to 
 perceive both my astral and myself? He was not unable, but 
 would not allow me to know his ability. The reason— plain to 
 me now, but not then,— briefly is:— That a person in dying is 
 separated into psychic elements which, not to be too detailed 
 in the statement, are three-fold— earthly, psychic and spiritual. 
 Of these the highest is the I Am— the ego. The others are those 
 above mentioned as spoken to by Gwauxln, and as left in the 
 prison. Now, the ego seeks an exalted level— the "shell" 
 stays in the earthly conditions until the body, finally dissolved, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 225 
 
 is "dust to dust." The exalted or egoic state is one of isola- 
 tion. As spoken in Biblical records,* a medium can go to it, 
 but the ego, after a little while, cannot return to earth, nor 
 know anything earthly save those extremely tense mental- 
 spiritual states of one or many individuals who reach out for 
 the things of God. And these things are not earthly. This is 
 real mediumship. The genuine medium rises to the necessary 
 height, but the ego can not descend to earth; can not deny 
 the law of progress, except during a limited period after the 
 transition called death, and then it is not retrogression. A 
 medium is like an aneroid barometer— able to indicate the 
 degree of ascension above the ocean of water, or of spirit. 
 But he must be present on the level— the level cannot descend 
 to him. Hence it is that one in dying is a traveller to that 
 bourne whence none return. There is no return of the de- 
 parted, except through physical rebirth and reincarnation. I 
 leave thee to find out that this is not transmigration of souls— 
 for the latter postulates rebirth in lower animal form as a 
 punishment for sin; such a thing can not be. Retrogression is 
 impossible, and the whole notion is but a corrupt falsity of 
 conception, founded upon the misunderstood truth of reincar- 
 nation, whose successive rebirths are invariably progressive. 
 
 To return to the Rai, and his determination not to see me. 
 Gwauxln knew that I was not yet come into the proper state, 
 and feared to interrupt my progress. Hence he would not 
 allow my "shell" to influence him, so far as I could determine. 
 Having, however, by the contact of his supersensitive nature 
 perceived the fact of my demise, he sought further, and though 
 his actions denied to me that he saw me, yet he put into oper- 
 ation forces to the end that I should presently be ready for 
 him to come to me. But not until my mundane life was faded 
 would he do so; not until I was gone forth into the "undis- 
 covered country" of Navazzamin. Then he came, and the 
 meeting was one of simple joy, of unaffected grace, between 
 two souls equal before God— not in status of acquired wisdom— 
 for in that Gwauxln was vastly above me— but in that equal 
 
 *II Samuel, xii, 23, 
 
226 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 brotherhood of the Spirit which I wish now reigned on earth. 
 It shall yet do so, for the Cross Bearer said, "Ye are all Chil- 
 dren of one Father ! ' ' Behold, it is so ! 
 
 When Gwauxln was come unto me, the sphere of earth was in 
 nowise brought with him. To have carried earthly conditions 
 with him would have been to remand me to earth, and have 
 rendered me palpable injustice. No ego ever permitted, by 
 the very laws of its being, to go back to earth except a wrong 
 thing is thereby suffered. The self-hood of an initiate may 
 project itself into devachan, but the dweller in devachan 
 (heaven) can not go again to earth till it be born again therein. 
 Indeed! why does the soul leave earth after the grave? It is 
 because in devachan it assimilates the fruits of active earth- 
 life. Right here is the explanation of the written Word of 
 God: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might; for there is no work, no device, nor knowledge, nor 
 wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."* True it is that 
 in the grave is nothing done. In the following pages much 
 will seem to indicate my "doings" between the grave and 
 the cradle. But observe that the whole of earth was become 
 a perfect blank to me. The soul can not return save it re- 
 embody in rebirth. To call it back is to cause revulsion of this 
 process, and reassociation with the astral-shell which the ego 
 left behind at the decease of the body. Such reassociation 
 revives the astral, whereupon action and reaction take place 
 ; between it and the ego, much to the detriment of the latter. 
 All I "experienced" was only the fruits of what I had done; I 
 .' could do no new thing ; think no new thought, experience noth- 
 ing not in itself the expression of something done ere I came 
 through the grave. And in this rearrangement and crystalliz- 
 ing of my past earthlife time cut no figure. The realness of it 
 was but the reality of vivid dreaming; time had no part in 
 that which was already done. 
 
 It lay in the power of the Rai to recognize me, but he would 
 not, that I might not suffer harm. It similarly lies in the 
 power of all forceful mediumistic natures (generally) belong- 
 
 *Eccl. ix, 10, 
 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 22? 
 
 ing to the sect called "Spiritualists" to do likewise. These 
 media can recall the departed, but at what dread cost to the 
 departed ego, and reacting upon the medium to the latter! 
 I say no process of Nature as ordered by our Heavenly Father 
 may be lightly interrupted ; every such act carries penalty pro- 
 portionate to the understanding of the culprit ; never light, and 
 often of fearful weight. Had I remained to see, I would have 
 seen Gwauxln— Son of the Solitude— go forth in his own astral 
 shape, after retiring his corporeal to his secret chamber, that 
 no harm might come to the body while he was away. And the 
 shell-Zailm would I have seen go with him to the Incalithlon, 
 and there should I have seen the Rai cause it to pass into the 
 Unfed Light. But of all men on earth only the trained eyes 
 of a Son could have seen what then happened. The " shell " 
 would sot have emerged from the Maxi nevermore. What was 
 this? Why destroy it? So that it might not go forth in the 
 earth and impress sensitives such as the vailx-man whom I had 
 impressed in Umaur, and whom my "shell" might otherwise 
 continue to impress. Thus might have resulted much trouble, 
 for this astral of mine was but faithfully repeating my final 
 words ere I parted company with it, when it said to Gwauxln, 
 there in Agacoe, "I am not dead." It was even then like all 
 other shells, its double composite nature only holding together 
 during the limited period it could draw sustaining magnetism 
 from my recently closed earthly correspondence. 
 
 In some cases such sustenance is sufficient for ages, in others, 
 centuries, years, days, or even minutes— according to the 
 earthward-turning, or the spirit-turning sympathies of the de- 
 cedent. The astral is only vivified force, bearing the image 
 in all respects of its ego, the I AM. Even prophecies made by 
 "returned spirits," prophecies which come true after years, 
 perhaps are but the impressed foresight of the ego at the 
 moment of departure. It for an instant sees into vast future 
 depths of time. And this glimpse is imprinted on its astral- 
 shell. It is psychic force. If the phenomena set in motion by 
 man are of that intensely vital sort created by Moses, Buddha, 
 Zoroaster— then just so long as a believer of any one of these 
 
228 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 religious systems adheres, that long, but no longer, the "shells" 
 of these prophets will continue their derived existence. It is 
 psychic force which is their controlling lever— formed force. 
 It is this same force which holds the stars to their orbits, and 
 the atoms to theirs. It is vital, and dual, being positive and 
 negative. To separate the force or "fire element" of the 
 ancients (ancients to thee, not to me) was to cause the focus 
 for such an Unfed Fire as the Maxin, and in later ages— in 
 Israel— the power in the Ark of the Covenant— alike with the 
 Maxin, fatal to life. These focus points are portals whereinto 
 the entire concourse of lesser forces of nature are absorbed 
 upon contact. These foci are also the sole residence of the 
 much sought "universal solvent" of the alchemists; needless 
 to say that as some of these alchemists have been Sons of the 
 Solitude, that therefore they have had the wonderful "solvent" 
 to serve them. 
 
 Equally apparent must it be why the secret has remained 
 carefully concealed. These foci are very auricles of the heart 
 of the Universe, hence any sort of formed force meets here its 
 Omega. Consequently when Gwauxln caused my astral to pass 
 into the Maxin, he returned to the sum-undivided of cosmic 
 force a quantity no longer of use to the formed world. On a 
 very small scale indeed the medulla oblongata of the brain is 
 such a focus— a maxin-point— where positive and negative 
 meet. Were it not so, life would be impossible; destroy this 
 maxin of the body, even by a needle thrust, and vitality in- 
 stantly ceases. But enough. Gwauxln came to me, who could 
 not go to him. Those not initiates do often thus rise in their 
 sleep to their friends, but they fail at the point of not knowing 
 how to do so voluntarily. 
 
 As one great point of my work is to explain these mysteries, 
 I may spare yet a little space in rendering clear, past all mis- 
 take, how it is that those on earth can acquire the power of 
 going to their friends beyond the Divide, but never these last 
 come back to earth. 
 
 The barometer on a calm day registers at sea level a definite 
 degree of air pressure, and at one mile above the sea, on the 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 229 
 
 side of a mountain, let us say, the mercury in the tube has 
 "fallen" to another definite, but less degree. This is in both 
 cases due to air pressure. If now, one desire to have the pres- 
 sure existing at a mile's height, will he go up to it, or will he 
 bring that altitude down to himself? In storm weather the 
 barometer "falls" also, the air is less dense, meteorological 
 changes have taken place which in effect have brought the high 
 aerial altitudes — i. e. — the conditions prevailing in high alti- 
 tudes—down to the lower level. But thus has a storm been 
 created; superior conditions have forced one. So it is that by 
 the exercise of superior force a medium at a "spiritualistic 
 seance" can bring back or down a soul which had gone on 
 through the grave; but it will give rise to a psychic storm, 
 and these are exceedingly costly occurrences. The Witch of 
 Endor created such a storm when she forced Samuel down 
 to earth again. Beware, O ye mediums! If thou art, friend, 
 a human "spirit barometer," thou mayest rise to thy friends, 
 but never, as thou valuest soul's peace for thee, or for them, 
 seek to bring them down to thy ' ' circles. ' ' 
 
 Those who seek only the exciting part of this history will 
 do well to omit perusal of the greater part of Book I, and 
 leave it to the reader who seeks the reason and lesson of my 
 life record, and how I am able to depict scenes past by more 
 than twelve thousand years ago. 
 
 Through the crime of Mainin the Incaliz, I had been forced 
 to seek my psychic plane, and because I was I, and am I, that 
 plane is more or less one of isolation. That is to say, it was 
 peopled with the children of my fancy, my experiences, my 
 hopes, longings, aspirations, and my conceptions of persons, 
 places and things. No two people see in the same way the 
 same world. To Anzimee, with her knowledge, the world could 
 not have seemed the same as to Lolix, who saw from another, 
 and in some ways lower standpoint, while to neither was it 
 the same as to the wise minister, Menax; and with all three 
 the view of life was different from that held by Gwauxln. 
 
230 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 So also the heaven, the devachan, of one person is filled with his 
 concepts of life, while that of his neighbor on either side— so 
 to speak— is peopled with other peculiar mental properties. 
 Now the state after the grave, and his or her knowledge, as- 
 pirations and trusts of life is the condition of harvest, where 
 no one acts, but where the rewards of action in the preceding 
 life are paid; it is the land of Lethe, where is no pain, sorrow, 
 sickness or agony— for these earthly conditions begun on earth, 
 and they perforce must be finished on earth. So karma decrees. 
 Heaven is passive, not active, and results of knowledge are 
 there assimilated by the soul; that is, made so that the new 
 birth is like the succeeding page of a business ledger— all of the 
 old lives, with the last added in. I hope I have not been prolix. 
 I have not, if I have given a clear comprehension of what the 
 relation really is between earth and heaven, and that the lat- 
 ter is to the former as the resting time of night is to the activity 
 of the day. Let none suppose that the devachan of one that 
 hath committed earth-binding errors, and must by these bonds 
 again reincarnate, is anything like the great Life wherewith 
 are crowned those who are faithful unto the death of that ser- 
 pent in the heart, animal lusts. The words can well portray 
 mere devachan, they are powerless to depict that Life. Finite 
 can never compass Infinite. Then let the Infinite into thy 
 hearts. 
 
 Even as I pondered, in the presence of Gwauxln, Anzimee 
 and the others, who either would not or could not see me, my 
 earthly powers were departing. The power which I had a 
 moment before possessed of seeing persons, places and things 
 of the world seemed fast escaping me, while glorious sights and 
 sounds replaced them— sights and sounds akin to the day 
 dreams of the life just left, except that these were real to my 
 senses, tangible and mutually reactive. Ah, well ! if those left 
 on Death's first shore could not see me nor know my presence, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 231 
 
 nor I see them nor their presence, why not unresistingly glide 
 into enjoyment of the peace and the new sights and things 
 which were come in place of the old? Yea ! I would— goodbye, 
 old life ; hail to the new. 
 
 As peacefully as a dream the sight of the palace and of 
 familiar things faded from view, and I seemed to have come 
 into a beautiful valley, hemmed in by azure hued mountains. 
 Before me stood a building of unpretentious exterior. Irregu- 
 lar in its outlines, it seemed to have been built in sections, 
 added as more rooms became necessary. What an altogether 
 excellent idea that was, I thought. It was formed of slabs of 
 rock, not quarried, but naturally scaled from the ledge. In 
 places it was three stories high, in others only two, but mainly 
 all the rooms were on the ground floor. What sort of people 
 lived here? Certainly people whose architectural abandon was 
 after my own heart. I felt, ere seeing them, already friendly. 
 Assuredly they lacked not the love of beauty, for covering the 
 quaintly picturesque dwelling ran perennial vines, while all 
 about lay tasteful gardens. Should I venture to intrude my 
 presence? As I considered, a man opened a door near me and 
 came forward. He had a very familiar appearance ; where had 
 I seen him? I had forgotten as completely as if I had never 
 known the life which I had experienced as Zailm, the son of 
 Menax. My senses were dominated by the feelings of boy- 
 hood, and the thoughts and ideas and simple knowledge of 
 boyhood in the mountain home by Pitach Ilhok. As the famil- 
 iar looking stranger drew close he said : hi <*%j 
 "Knowest thou me, thy father— Merin ^Kiminus ? ' '/fy^ 
 While this settled the apprehension that dimly arose in my 
 consciousness that I was alone, and therefore invisible to peo- 
 ple, it only quenched the idea that had rapidly faded as I looked 
 on the house of slab-rock— the idea that I was dead. I no 
 longer knew any such experience, and the knowledge of death 
 had passed away so far as it applied to my own decease. I was 
 
232 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 filled with pleasure at the question of the man before me, and 
 I now perceived that he was the father of my childhood's 
 ideal, but not him whom my mother had always presented 
 in disparaging light— she, thou knowest, did not like him. But 
 this thought did not present itself then; I only knew that I 
 looked on him whom I recognized as my father. I was over- 
 joyed, at finding him, and I replied: "Verily, I know thee 
 well ! ' ' Then he asked : ' ' Wilt thou rest ? ' ' 
 
 "Being fatigued, I will do so, and no doubt be much bene- 
 fited." 
 
 Thereupon Merin Numinos led me within the great rambling 
 house to what I must call a den, even though the name may 
 seem inelegant. Den it was, cleanly, but so charmingly, de- 
 lightfully confused and disorderly; books and specimens of 
 rocks, and all things which a boy loves were scattered about in 
 that inextricable litter which fills the trim housekeeper with 
 despair. My pleasure was unbounded, for I felt that I was a 
 boy, only a boy, and had yet to reach maturity, the unknown 
 possibilities of which seemed to fill my whole being with 
 pleasant anticipation of the future; I was a lad of exuberant 
 spirits let loose in his own realm, and in this room free from 
 fear of the orderly mother who had elsewhere always restrained 
 me. On a bed, roughly smoothed up in one corner of the 
 shaded room, lay a pack of books from the district library, 
 each marked, "Pitach Rhok District 5," in Poseid characters. 
 These were in my way, and I laid them carefully— for books 
 were ever almost sacred objects in my eyes— on the floor, in 
 order that I might rest on the bed. Then I laid me down to 
 sleep upon the rude couch which had always seemed softer and 
 easier to fond memory than any downy cushion in the Cai- 
 phalian life. Not that I knew this as I lay down— I only knew 
 that I experienced a state of things just suited to my desires. 
 I had no clear idea of any event of the old life in Poseid— no 
 memory of death, nothing. All had gone like the events of 
 some dream which we strive in vain to recall at breakfast next 
 morning. And yet, when I came across things in the new 
 state similar to those known and loved in the old; when I 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 233 
 
 found things here such as I had been wont to dream of some day 
 carrying to realization, then the new realities, which, after all 
 were not new, seemed wholly satisfactory, with the added 
 charm of achievement, though I could not recall the old. 
 
 "The whole scene which greets mine eyes, 
 In some strange mode I recognize 
 As one whose ev'ry mystic part 
 I feel prefigured in my heart.' ' 
 
 Nature here, though presenting some novelties, was different 
 enough to excite special attention. 
 
 One day I arose and departed from the scenes of this repro- 
 duced boyhood's life. The curtain rose on things derived from 
 the later life after leaving Pitach Rhok for Caiphul, and I found 
 myself now in the midst of acquiring knowledge even to the 
 great degree of a Xio-Ineala— a degree greater than even any 
 scientist of the modern world has achieved. But this phase 
 of devachan soon passed, because, not having reached such a 
 degree on earth, nor having even tried to do so, I had no real 
 basis from which to draw devachanic scenes. Thus passed 
 the time around me, sometimes with real egoii of deceased 
 earthly persons who had worked with me intimately on earth, 
 and so had with me to reap the results of the collaboration. 
 At other times I was alone with my concepts, which, however, 
 seemed as real as actual persons— for all seemed absolutely real. 
 Lolix was here in her better aspects; but the sin of our day 
 was held against our return to earth. 
 
 It seemed perfectly natural to meet Anzimee one night as I 
 wandered by the shore of a sea adjacent to an articficial wilder- 
 ness, where all things were arranged in harmony with my ideal 
 solitude to which, in Caiphul's busy whirl, I had one day 
 dreamed of taking her when we should be wed. It was sweet 
 when we met to hear her call me ''husband," and the peace 
 after action was all delightful as I had imagined it would be. 
 
 But my pen is in advance of its proper place. To return 
 to the den: 
 
 Without dirobing, for the air was warm, I lay down and 
 slept. When I awoke I passed down the hallway into the gar- 
 
234 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 den. A change had come over. I was older; the landscape 
 was different, and the houses were more like that which my 
 maturer needs had painted as a necessity while I still lived 
 near Pitach Rhok. No longer was a river in the foreground, 
 but a broad sea with only the near shore visible. The change 
 was correspondent with the later desires of my youth. These 
 alterations, though startling, as considered from an earthly, 
 physical standpoint, were not startling, nor even remarkable 
 to me. What sort of life or condition was this which permitted 
 such changes, yet did not present itself as anything extra- 
 ordinary to me— the beholder? Even truth should not be told 
 in prolix phrase, and all that can be replied now is that it was 
 the life after death, to be slightly paradoxical. But this is 
 not the Great Life with God. 
 
 Was time consumed in effecting these changes— or was this 
 an Aladdin's lamp sort of land where a rubbing out of one and 
 an installation of another set of appearances took place in- 
 stantaneously? I did not even pause to consider, for no such 
 conjecture occurred to me. To me things were real. Is earth 
 real? Spirit, God, is real, and the earth and universe are the 
 fiat, or externalized ideas of God. The things of earth are 
 words of God's great Word, speaking to us. So, too, are the 
 things of devachan or heaven. Both are real, oppositely so, 
 but only real within us, not without us. I sought my father, 
 Merin Numinos, and asked : "How long have I slept?" It was 
 no more anything but a habit of thought to ask this, for I had 
 no other motive. That, in the process of death, habits of mind 
 do not suffer extinction together with life's memories of events, 
 was proven by my action on hearing my father's reply : 
 
 ' ' Even several years hast thou slept. ' ' 
 
 "Years!"— dost thou exclaim? It was no remarkable thing 
 to me to hear this account of a Rip Yan Winklian nap. No, 
 but my habit of mind which took pride in neatness of per- 
 sonal attire caused me unwittingly to glance at my raiment to 
 see if it were not the worse for such long wear. The allusion 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 235 
 
 to several years attracted my attention, so that having found 
 my attire presentable, though I still gazed at my clothes, it was 
 in an absent minded way. I said:— 
 
 "Thou sayest years; also another thing— 'thou has slept 
 ever since thou earnest into this country.' Now, I pray thee, 
 have I ever been elsewhere?" 
 
 Receiving no reply, I looked up, only to meet a stare like 
 that of a statue from my father. He evidently knew nothing 
 of any previous state, nor, by the very form of my question, 
 did I know more than he. 
 
 Death was another thing, never referred to, because in the 
 instant when promoted souls find it no more possible to im- 
 press their existence upon those left behind on earth, they 
 recognize that they are in the midst of the change called 
 death, of which they were perhaps apprehensive all their 
 earthly days. As the exoteric religion then— aye, and now, 
 also— taught but one death, the devachanee knew or conjec- 
 tured no other. Hence, death to the disembodied soul was and 
 is an unknown conception. Well, there is no such thing as 
 death for a fact. Likewise pain and sorrow. Devachan the 
 minor is like devachan the major (Nirvana), a state particu- 
 larly referred to in Revelation XXI.— 4. Now, my friend, I 
 am not postulating an argument ; I must refuse to argue, and 
 though it savor of mediaeval methods, yet must I also refuse 
 to reason with thee. It is the purpose of this history to state 
 what I know by experience; I state no theoretical ideas. If 
 thou wilt take any small matters left unexplained into the 
 inner sanctuary of thy soul and there meditate over them, then 
 will they become clear to thee, and be as the water which 
 quencheth all thirst, if so gained. Hast thon ears to hear- 
 Then heed that counsel. I address only those who follow 
 these pages for profit. 
 
 As the devachanee knows of but one change, and as that is 
 so different from what he was religiously taught to fear, there- 
 fore many souls entering heaven conceive at the moment of 
 death that no death exists— and that the teachings received 
 on earth from priests were but ecclesiastical fictions. Nor are 
 
236 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 they so far wrong, for there is no other death than the mere 
 change from objective to subjective states of being, save the 
 second death, spoken of in my final page. To be paradoxical, 
 death is different because not different, so far as they can per- 
 ceive, from the swift view of the life just closed, a view all 
 souls have, however brief it be. Hence it was that I was un- 
 aware of the fiction called death when I asked the father I 
 found there if I had not always been there. 
 
 Religion taught in that old age as it now teaches, that with 
 death came the cessation of all earthly sorrow. This is true 
 for a time limited by the length of the soul's sojourn in deva- 
 chan. These earth born mists do not intrude there for the 
 reason that being earth born they must of necessity have 
 abiding places on earth and influence only those on earth. 
 
 ' ' The evil that men do lives after them. ' ' 
 
 Verily; and in the form of crystallized disposition to do 
 wrong, lies in wait for their return to earth life; it is the 
 wrongly so-called "Adamic" tendency to sin, and while the 
 sinner is free of its power in devachan, the seed, like tares with 
 the wheat, is ready to grow a harvest of sorrow along with the 
 growing life of the new incarnated one; and until some good 
 action shall atone for evil done, this evil will continue to grow. 
 Fortunately, man hath an eternity in which to make repay- 
 ment,* and though following God's laws and being true to 
 right, what ever its source, the tares are little by little up- 
 rooted. A good act is the erasure of a bad, and once performed 
 
 *Do not confuse "repayment" with "atonement." Jo w» makes atone- 
 ment for us with God. We can only begin to repay, when, — having ob- 
 tained forgiveness through Jesus, we try to Live Him. Until we conse- 
 crate ourselves to Christ, we can not have recognized that we are HIS 
 because HE owns us. When we recognize this, then we recognize that 
 HE owns us, and we own HIM. Then, but not until then, can we even 
 begin to repay our karma. And if we "Go and sin no more," then HE 
 will equalize our debt to karma, and we be released unto HIM — released 
 or leased again! Karma closes for one who thus is atoned for, and his 
 opportunity for reparation begins. For such an one no more incarnation 
 is necessary, for hath he not the SON? And that is Eternal life. What 
 mean I by having the Son? And by being consecrated to Christ? Is 
 this, then, only the church postulate? Nay, more, friends. The Divine 
 is eternal, infinite. The Human is finite. When the awakened man comes 
 to know himself, he chooses which way he shall go. This choice is the 
 crossing* of the Divine by the Human; it is ownership by the Son, which 
 is within. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 237 
 
 is ''oft-interred with the bones"— thus completing the philoso- 
 phy of Hamlet. 
 
 All about me were those I loved. As time seemed to lapse, 
 I became conscious of the presence of one and another of my 
 friends. Anzimee, Menax, Gwauxln, Ernon, Lolix without the 
 shadow,— all those and thousands more who have no name 
 to the reader were there. They did not come; no, they were 
 with me, each as I had conceived. These were my concepts, 
 for they were subjective, not objective; they were my ideals, 
 not real people; and they formed my world. It occurred not 
 to me that they were not real. Did it ever occur to thee, reader, 
 that the world of thy senses is the only world thou hast ? That 
 if thou hadst no sight, smell, hearing, taste or touch, that 
 thou wouldst have no world even though thy soul were im- 
 prisoned in a body thus dead, yet alive in a vegetative way? 
 As the soul of each living man, woman or child, is different 
 from every other soul, so also the world is different to every 
 person— not the same precisely in any two cases. Now it is 
 the record of the soul, made on imperishable mental substance, 
 which constitutes much of the life after the grave— the record 
 merges into a reality, and all seems equally real, just as real as 
 when the combined senses first perceived it ; in verity this after 
 life is a reconstituted and inverted earth life— subjective now, 
 instead of objective. My supposed friend may be a real enemy, 
 yet if I die thinking him or her my friend, that concept is the 
 one carried into the afterlife ; and vice versa. 
 
 Thus, all about me were my friends. The things of my sense 
 record, and the places, were the scenes where all these friends 
 moved. But while I had thus my world about me, a concept 
 of me existed in the imaged world of every friend I had. Not 
 that I was with them, but their concept of me was with them. 
 Thus regarding the reality of all those concepts that were non- 
 involute, simple and easily assimilable upon being remembered 
 from the astral record, or, so to say, memory plates of the 
 soul, of every incident small or great, simple or complex, im- 
 pulse or even unconscious celebrations. But now mark a fea- 
 ture of vast interest, inasmuch as it affirms what I have seemed 
 
238 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 to deny— any real asociation of the soul in devaehan with other 
 individual souls. Devaehan would indeed be a drear heaven 
 if the friends of mundane life were never aught but "dream 
 faces. ' ' Dreams they are, if the incidents created in our hopes 
 on earth, and in devaehan set forth as real to all seeming, were 
 a simple fact. But if, per contra, it were so complex that to 
 solve its equation required the joint efforts of two souls work- 
 ing in harmony, then also in devaehan the results of this com- 
 plex act affected both these souls, and during the assimilation 
 of its results— that is, during the crystallization of such re- 
 sults into traits of character— both these souls would as ac- 
 tually be together as ever they were on earth. If more than 
 two people were involved on earth, so all these souls would 
 congregate in devaehan. When the process was complete, the 
 separation came. So it happened that in one moment of assimi- 
 lative experience that all my concepts were only phantasms, 
 as the persons of one 's nightly dreams ; the next moment more 
 complex, as my associates were real egoii like myself. To me 
 all this was unknown— all seemed real, and so, perhaps, was so. 
 But it is pleasant to feel that one works with a loved son, 
 father, daughter, mother, wife or other friend; that the con- 
 sequences of the more serious events of our daily lives here 
 will bring us again together in the heaven of our hopes; that 
 the wife thou takest to thy heart, and to whom th^ confides t 
 loving plans for the weal of thy loved ones, to realize which 
 both thou and she must work nobly, earnestly, will come across 
 the chasm which death spreads for thy bodies, and be with 
 thee or thou with her, there in Navazzamin. Pleasant that 
 thy mother, father or other dear friend shall sometimes really 
 be with thee there; and that together thou shalt garner thy 
 various records, and enjoy in a seeming real that which was not 
 on earth aught but a hope never materialized. 
 
 In meeting Anzimee, who yet lived on earth, I met sometimes 
 my conception of her, sometimes her own higher self. How 
 was the latter possible? Because she so longed for me that it 
 developed and enabled her to project her pure soul into my 
 plane. This was not only pleasant and beneficiarto her, giving 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 239 
 
 her a hold upon things unseen, of which the apostle Paul speaks, 
 but it was a holy joy to me to meet her thus; she could come 
 to me, but I could not go back to her. There is no retrogres- 
 sion. 
 
 In communion with these ideals I had my reward, for noth- 
 ing occurred contrary to my wish. But in experiencing this 
 reward, I also unconsciously assimilated the value of the pre- 
 vious life on earth. Thus my connection with politics in Poseid 
 had brought me in contact with men and manners, and from 
 this contact were born schemes in which I was to have had a 
 leading part. These schemes were now brought into the sub- 
 jective state, and as such appeared to me to be in process. 
 From these apparent actions my capacities were developed, and 
 tests of the worth of my conceptions made. All of this resulted 
 in making a concrete deduction which became a part of my 
 mental being; hence in a new incarnation I would come forth 
 to mankind possessed of phrenological organs of increased 
 power in the handling of political and social questions. Per- 
 haps this power would not be actively employed, owing to 
 other tendencies being stronger ; none the less the power would 
 be augmented, and ready for use upon demand. The same 
 thing would prove true of all these souls really associated 
 with me, both in previous-earth and after-heaven— the results, 
 values and summings-up of our contemporary devachan would 
 give them new mental traits, or increase the force of their old 
 ones— and reincarnation would re-associate us again on earth. 
 And it has done so, else would I never have written this his- 
 tory for thy profit, dear reader. My education as a geologist 
 at Xioquithlon was tested in this same subjective heaven, and 
 from this came added ability as a geologist; in short, an intui- 
 tive knowledge of geology and desire for that study after rein- 
 carnation. Books would then serve to educe the geological 
 bent I might manifest. I might go on with other instances of 
 the summing-up and arranging process experienced by those 
 who have both the grave and the cradle between them and 
 
240 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 earth. But this will suffice to hint to the reader that truths 
 lie here and sweeten the 
 
 "Thoughts of the last bitter hour * * * 
 Of stern agony, and shroud and pall." 
 
 I hope, my friend, that this effort to render death less terri- 
 fying, by relating my own experiences of it, will be fraught 
 with success, and that these words may so sustain thee that 
 thou shalt 
 
 ' ' Approach thy grave 
 Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
 About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. '' 
 
 Zerah Colburn, the marvelous boy mathematician, did not 
 acquire his knowledge in the schools of this modern age, but 
 brought it, a legacy from the dead centuries, his past lives; 
 his latent power was educed. I will not argue with thee, 
 friend, that if thou hadst had a past life on earth, thou couldst 
 "not have forgotten it, but would have brought memory of it 
 with thee." No, I argue not. I only leave it with thine own 
 intelligence to decide if I be not right, when thou rememberest 
 that habits of life grow from repeated actions of boyhood, the 
 details and every recollection of which are gone. And know- 
 ing that this is so, decide, if thou thinkest it not absurd, that 
 actions of a life experienced century times centuries agone 
 would be possibly recollected, more especially when all the 
 interval was spent on a different plane of life, whereon no sin- 
 gle memory ever intruded— could not by the laws of God. I 
 know whereof I speak. 
 
 At length there came a time when I cared no more for the 
 appearance of action, nor for those concepts of persons, places, 
 or things connected with seeming activity. Chiefly now I 
 cared to remain in some quiet spot and listen to Anzimee— 
 the real, not the concept— as she read to or talked with me. I 
 slept much also. One morning I did not arise; I did not care 
 to. I was not ill— no one ever knew illness in devachan. But 
 
 A 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 241 
 
 I had lost all desire to see or hear more of anything. I did 
 indeed feel languor, but not weariness. So I turned over again, 
 facing the wall, and slept. It was the last occurrence in the 
 last chapter of a life's long rest, which, though I knew it not, 
 had covered twelve thousand years of the actions of men on 
 earth. Death had never appeared in that home of the soul, for 
 my concepts did not die— they only disappeared from the view 
 of their creator. Even the real souls of men or women did not 
 die. No. But when they came, one after another, to the retri- 
 butive awakening at the cradle, if their lives in heaven were 
 still associated with mine; if they had not gone elsewhere in 
 devachan, as neighbors on earth separate and put the world 
 between them— then they disappeared, just as my concepts dis- 
 appeared when I had assimilated their value. They disap- 
 peared, because all the deeds of previous earth life had crys- 
 talized as traits of character, and they were ready for earth 
 life again. Only myself could be conscious of my own change ; 
 I could not be conscious of theirs. I was ready for activity 
 once more. I slept, and in this sleeping, died out of that life 
 of passivity into the waking of earth, a babe in a cradle. Born 
 to see my Master in this life, and enter the Great Rest with 
 him! 
 
 NOTE. — But one will come after me who shall tell thee more of the 
 Great Deep of Life than I. Await her words. — Author. 
 
 End of Book First. 
 
242 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SEVEN SHASTA SCENES. 
 
 By Frederick S. Oliver, Amanuensis. 
 
 I. 
 
 If there are "sermons in stones and books in the running 
 brooks, then is "Tchastel's" craggy pile a noble library, in 
 Veritas. In it the vastness, the grandeur and the solemnity 
 of nature are expressed in mystic numbers carved in the eter- 
 nal granite. On those stony, stratified pages Nature's students 
 may read the doings of the gnomes, mother earth's treasurers. 
 Here, too, in characters of lava, is writ Pluto's kingly record. 
 Aye! 'tis indeed Nature's own volume, bound between covers 
 of snow and ice ; and marking the treasures thereof is a silvery 
 ribbon whose ends hang out of the vast tome— at the north one 
 end, at the south the other— the name of the one "McCloud" 
 river, and of the other the "Sacramento." Again, two lesser 
 markers are in this sublime epic, viz.: "Pitt" and "Shasta" 
 rivers. A volume of poems should bear poetic title; so shall 
 this. Can we bestow one more appropriate than the aboriginal 
 appellation— "Ieka"— a name retained and used by the earliest 
 white men whose eyes gazed on that land, far northern Cali- 
 fornia—land of romance, of gold and of adventure; retained 
 through that intuitive recognition of eternal fitness, which 
 pioneer and trapper have ever, in all lands, exhibited toward 
 existent nomenclature. For years the noble mountain bore, 
 for white as for aborigine, the name it had fetched from out 
 the night of time, as its sister peak far to the north— Mt. 
 Rainier retained its primal christening of "Tacoma." But, 
 

THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 243 
 
 alas, for human conceit! Alas, for man's vain discontent, un- 
 able to let well enough alone ! To the one snowy mount came 
 a Russian trapper, and thereafter "Ieka" was no more on the 
 tongues of men, unless, indeed, it was still lovingly murmured 
 by the dusky Modoc and his savage bride. To the other glit- 
 tering peak went an egotistic Englishman. His lordship found 
 "Tacoma" "so beastly savage, doncher know," and so over 
 its Indian appellate he tacked his own patronymic. Time 
 evens all things, and "ever is justice done." The patriotic 
 Americanism of the Northern Pacific Railroad topographers re- 
 instated on the company maps musical "Tacoma," tossed to rub- 
 bish the imported name, and rebuked one egotist's vanity. That 
 "Shasta Buttes" will ever know a parellel experience is proble- 
 matical; if not, 'tis perhaps as well, for American gratitude 
 willingly concedes the privilege of nomination of this proud 
 peak to its friend, and, in the '60s, champion of our national 
 
 autonomy Russia. So much for a kind of mental 
 
 view, past and present, of this pride of the crags and peaks. 
 
 II. 
 
 On the old wagon road which existed ere ever iron rails 
 linked Oregon's greatest city to the metropolis of the Golden 
 West, there still stands, as for thirty years, not many miles 
 from the State line, a station established for stage line uses, and 
 "run" by "Daddy Dollarhyde." A lonely place, hidden 
 amongst towering pines, which make regal raiment for the 
 great "Siskiyou Ridge" of the Coast Range extending in 
 gloomy grandeur not miles, but hundreds of miles— Dollar- 
 hyde 's appeals to the heart of the traveller as Saharan oasis 
 to the weary caravan. ' ' 'Tis a lodge in some vast wilderness, ' ' 
 and in the days of this second "Shasta Scene" (A. D. 1884) 
 was the only footprint of civilization for many a long mile. 
 
 Leaving Dollarhyde 's the road wound as directly as possible 
 up a two-mile stretch of exceedingly steep mountain. Up this 
 steep, long before aught but painted dawn lit those grand 
 ridges, a youth, on foot and alone, was climbing. A tramp? 
 
244 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 Temporarily; down below, at Dollarhyde's, the rest of his party 
 yet slept. Up, up he toiled, stopping when the love of nature 
 prompted him to "hold communion with her visible forms," 
 and listen to her "various language"; pausing, the better to 
 enjoy the exhilarating freedom, the beauty of the piney slopes, 
 the whirr of the early grouse, and the chattering of squirrel 
 and chipmunk. Once, enchanted by the exquisite charm of a 
 crystal spring that leapt into and across the road, he staid his 
 steps ; and again, he stood, gazing afar down into the gloom of 
 a great canyon, which became lost to view "in the dawn's 
 early light. ' ' The summit at last ! But still no sun in the sky. 
 All beneath was yet quietly resting 'neath the sway of Mor- 
 pheus. Ah! what is that? Away in the south is a huge, dim 
 mass, dull grey below, but, where its peak holds aloft the sky, 
 'tis a rosy, glowing pink. As the youth gazes, spellbound, Old 
 Sol dispels the valley glooms, thrusts aside the night, and the 
 new day is born. The rose tints are gone, but also the grey, 
 and in their place appears a giant, pointed cone of purest 
 white, albeit streaked at its base with black lines— each some 
 awful gorge. It rises not like other mountain piles— from 
 ranges rivalling its own height— no, all alone it stands forth 
 from its high plateau, piercing heaven's blue, from base to 
 summit, eleven thousand feet, from ocean's plane to apical 
 peak thirty-five hundred more— Shasta, 0, Mt. Shasta. 
 
 III. 
 
 Of the youth, what? A year later we find him suffering a 
 violent fever— the "gold-fever," which yet lingers in that 
 region of once famed mines, lingers, though it be now A. D. 
 1890. Away up on a mountain's side with pick, pan and 
 shovel he has camped where a little gold may always be found ; 
 where hope whispers he may find a "pile" some time and — 
 fortune. 
 
 All through that region forest fires have raged many weeks ; 
 all the valleys lie hidden under a pile of smoke. But the miner 
 on the mountain is above it all, and as he labors looks out over 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 245 
 
 the undulating surface of the silvery, smoky ocean, down 
 below. He sees a strange sight. No waves disturb this sea, 
 which, nearly a mile deep, extends away beyond scope of 
 vision. Two or three islands dot its expanse ; these are all that 
 is left to see of lofty mountain peaks whose bases are hidden. 
 Perchance the words "smoke-ocean" seem figurative. Look 
 heavenward from its bottom down in the valleys; the sun, ap- 
 pearing like a globe of blood, needs no colored glass to shield 
 too sensitive eyes. Now go aloft to the miner on the mountain, 
 looking down on, but seeing not, Yreka (town). With him 
 again gaze at the "islands"; one only of them is not black in 
 hue. It is the largest; sharp-summitted, white— shrouded in 
 eternal snows, Mt. Shasta rises, a noble island in the murky 
 ocean about it— nine thousand feet. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Night. Otherwise the same scene. Our miner sits in his tent 
 door, meditating on the novel beauty of the scene before, 
 below him. A north breeze has rolled the smoky sea silently 
 away, and left no sign. Beneath the tent outspreads a vast 
 abyss, dark, silent, "the night's Plutonian shore." Our miner's 
 fancy fills it with golden phantoms. Only the stars— "night's 
 tall tapers" — lighten the gloom. But far away east, over 
 ranges of lesser mountains— dim shapes couched in the dark- 
 ness—far away, miles real as well as seeming, familiar shadowy 
 shape of vast, uncertain size appears to shut from sight vision 
 of some awful conflagration. Look! It grows, it brightens, 
 till on the charmed eyes bursts a sudden, intense spark, then a 
 full flame in Ieka's side— 'tis the moon at its roundest! And 
 now Ieka's snows glow in its ray like molten silver, the dark 
 abys before, beneath the tent lightens, the phantoms flee, 
 while over all, sublime, glorious, supreme rises Shasta's argent 
 image. 
 
 Traveling, southward, miner no more, the youth bends his 
 course. A year agone the golden phantoms died, the mine 
 
246 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 caved in ,and "no man knows that sepulchre" in the wilds of 
 Siskiyou. Winter wet had extinguished the flames, and laid 
 the smoky sea. But the succeeding summer saw all aglow 
 again, matched by the lightnings of heaven. Our traveler is 
 at the very base of Ieka Butte, and he and his steed crawl 
 along the slopes and vales in the bed of the fireborn ocean 
 of smoke as do Crustacea on the bottoms of aqueous seas. A 
 flaw of wind decreases the denseness of the clouds, and above 
 his head he sees an indistinct shape, lit feebly by the smoke- 
 smothered moon, at its full now, as on that other night, a year 
 ago. Beautiful through the murky air it is not ; but when told 
 that the point dimly seen overhead is the smoke-free, gleaming 
 crest of Shasta, fifteen miles away as the crow flies, e'en though 
 we gaze at it from its own base, we feel an indescribable sense 
 of awe. And we liken the mount, with the flaming forests 
 glowing at its feet, and its own muffled form rising in obscured 
 grandeur— to a silent sentinel by his watch fire, wrapped 
 around with his cloak, and meditating on the trust he has kept, 
 lo ! these many ages, still keeps, and forever ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 Returned from the far south, and in camp. In camp at the 
 timber line on Tchastel's side, awaiting the nightfall, and 
 through the long afternoon gazing out over a wealth of scenery 
 not in word power to paint. To the north "Goose Nest" moun- 
 tain—its crater ever full of fleecy snow— rears itself aloft eleven 
 thousand feet. Down yonder in that gem-like valley is the 
 lovely town of Sissons ; down, to our traveler, albeit on a plane 
 seven thousand feet above the ocean. Night. But not in a 
 tent door. No, on mule-back, he and a companion are toiling 
 upwards. There is no moon, no wind, no sound, save a few 
 strange noises arising from the nether regions. No moon; yefe 
 plenty of light, since the snow seems self luminous, so that 
 objects appear against it in sharp silhouette. How black the 
 bleak rocks and ledges ! And those glimmerings of light afar 
 in the night— what are they? Lamps; lamps miles away, thou- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 247 
 
 sands of feet lower, yet in seeming not so far off. It is cold; 
 oh, so frightfully cold, numbing the mind! And still— as the 
 grave. No sounds now arise to the ear ; 'tis too high for aught 
 save silence. So cold ; and yet mid-day sun heats reflect from 
 the snows as from a mirror, and then the temperature is fearful 
 to feel, yet the snow melts not. Here is a hot, sulphur spring, 
 one thousand feet below the apex. Warm your chilled hands 
 in the hot mud, wipe them quickly, lest they freeze, and climb 
 on. Your eyes, could you see them, congested as they are in the 
 rarified atmosphere, the color of liver, would horrify you. Your 
 breathing pains you; your heart-beats sound like the thuds of 
 a pile driver, your throat is afire from thirst. No matter ; here 
 is the top ! Two o'clock a. m. in July, 188—. As yet no light, 
 but faint dawn. But ere long the soul is awe-stricken by a 
 weird glow in the east, which lights nothing. The beholders 
 are filled with a strange disquiet; see the waxing light, and— 
 in a fearful wonder, almost terror— see the great sun, scarce 
 heralded by the aerial rarity, spring from beneath the horizon. 
 Yet all below is in "the darkest hour before the dawn." No 
 ridges, no hills appear, no valleys, nothing but "night's deep 
 darkness." We seem to have lost the world, and, for the 
 nonce, are free of time ! The planet is swallowed up, leaving 
 the mountain top's half acre sole visible spot of all the Uni- 
 verse, save only the fearful splendor of Helios. Understand 
 now, for you may, the sensations of Campbell's "last man." 
 The world all gone, and self and comrade alone on a small 
 spot in mid-air, whereon the almost rayless sun casts cold 
 beams of strange, weird brightness. Look north. Afar in the 
 night are four cones of light— Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. 
 Tacoma, and St. Helen's tall torch, all peers of our Ieka. As 
 the Day King soars higher lesser peaks appear, then long 
 black ridges— ranges of vast extent— begin near by, only to 
 lose themselves in distant darkness. 
 
 Now the void of night vanishes, hills stand forth, silvery 
 spots and streaks appear as the dawn lights lakes and rivers, 
 and at last, no fog obscuring, in the distant west, seventy miles 
 away, is seen a great gray plain, the Pacific' broad expanse. 
 
248 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 To the south interrupted streaks of silver show where flow 
 Pitt and Sacramento rivers, while over two hundred miles 
 away behold an indentation of California's central coast, mark- 
 ing the Golden Gate, and San Francisco's world-famed bay. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Beside a roaring, dashing mountain torrent— falling in 
 myriad cascades of foam white as drifted snow, interspersed 
 with pools of quiet water— deep, trout-filled, blue, reflecting 
 flowery banks and towering pine-crested ridges, "ribs of the 
 planet," we pause. The day is hot, but the waters of this 
 branch of McCloud river are cold as the pristine snows of 
 Shasta from which they flow to our feet and thence away. 
 
 We recline on the brink of a deep blue crystal pool, idly 
 casting pebbles into and shivering the image of a tall basalt 
 cliff reflected from the mirror-calm surface. 
 
 What secrets perchance are about us! We do not know as 
 we lie there, our bodies resting, our souls filled with peace, 
 nor do we know until many years are passed out through the 
 back door of time that that tall basalt cliff conceals a door- 
 way. We do not suspect this, nor that a long tunnel stretches 
 away, far into the interior of majestic Shasta. Wholly un- 
 thought is it that there lie at the tunnel's far end vast apart- 
 ments—the home of a mystic brotherhood, whose occult arts 
 hollowed that tunnel and mysterious dwelling:— "Sach" the 
 name is. Are you incredulous as to these things? Go there, or 
 suffer yourself to be taken as I was, once! See, as I saw, 
 not with the vision of flesh, the walls, polished as by jewelers, 
 though excavated as by giants ; floors carpeted with long, fleecy 
 gray fabric that looked like fur, but was a mineral product; 
 ledges intersected by the builders, and in their wonderful polish 
 exhibiting veinings of gold, of silver, of green copper ores, and 
 maculations of precious stones. Verily, a mystic temple, made 
 afar from the madding crowd, a refuge whereof those who, 
 ' ' Seeing, see not, ' ' can truly say : 
 
 "And no man knows*** 
 
 "And no man saw it e'er." 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 249 
 
 Once I was there, friend, casting pebbles in the stream's 
 deep pools; yet it was then hid, for only a few are privileged. 
 And departing, the spot was forgotten, and today, unable as 
 any one who reads this, I cannot tell its place. Curiosity will 
 never unlock that secret. Does it truly exist? Seek and ye 
 shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. Shasta 
 is a true guardian and silently towers, giving no sign of 
 that within his breast. But there is a key. The one who first 
 conquers self, Shasta will not deny. 
 
 This is the last scene. You have viewed the proud peak 
 both near and far ; by day, by night ; in the smoke, and in the 
 clear mountain air; seen its interior, and from its apex gazed 
 upon it and the globe stretched away 'neath your feet. 'Tis 
 a sight of God's handiwork, sublime, awful, never-to-be-for- 
 gotten; and as thy soul hath sated itself with admiration 
 thereof, in that measure be now filled with His Peace. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "I have called you friends, for all things that 
 I have of the FATHEB I have made known unto you." 
 
 With Chapter Twenty-four of Book First closed the last 
 devachanie experience of a personal life history— a history en- 
 acted over one hundred and twenty centuries ago. It has its 
 good and its bad phases. Under the social rules and customs 
 of a people whom the modern world regarded as pure myth 
 until after the cruise of the ' ' Challenger ' ' and the ' ' Dolphin, ' ' 
 there existed a personality whom those who have followed this 
 history thus far know by the name of "ZaUm,"— an Atlantean 
 cognomen not less euphonious than its significance is interest- 
 ing—viz:—"! live to love." 
 
 According to his narration, Zailm's youth was that of an 
 obscure mountaineer. He was possessed of an overmastering 
 ambition to make his name blaze among those of the noble of 
 earth. He succeeded in his ambition— for his name, his wealth, 
 
250 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 his social and political position became of the highest of the 
 aristocracy of a proud and, in myriad ways, marvellous people. 
 If he failed in one particular— if his moral life became awry, 
 his record in other respects was most commendable. For the 
 one failure he paid dearly, and, if you credit his own appre- 
 hensions, the payment would not be complete for many a long, 
 long year after you would have lain 
 
 " down with patriarchs of the infant world — 
 
 With kings, the powerful of earth— the wise, the good, 
 Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past." 
 
 You have a view of Zailm, that boy so obscure, that man so 
 celebrated throughout a land not paralleled to-day, nor ever 
 matched since old ocean rolled over it, and the sun saw it no 
 more in all his proud course. 
 
 From the perusal of that record I ask you to turn to the 
 history of another personality— that of Walter Pierson, my 
 own humble self. If the Poseida Zailm was proud to declare 
 himself a Poseida, I am equally proud to say, "I am an Amer- 
 ican citizen !" 
 
 While I was still so young as to be unable to understand 
 anything concerning my parents' death, except the agony of 
 being left alone, I was orphaned by the fell stroke of an epi- 
 demic. I cried in my childishness, and begged to be allowed 
 to see my papa and mamma, nor could I comprehend the state- 
 ment— "They are dead and gone." 
 
 My orphaned boyhood was passed under circumstances of 
 such sharp contrast to those years of my babyhood which 
 knew parental kindness, that my inherent tendency to rove 
 grew stronger, until at twelve years of age I became a cabin- 
 boy on board ship, running away to accomplish my ambition. 
 For many years thereafter I realized that actual hardship was 
 an unforeseen part of the dream of travel and of sailor life ; but 
 its toil and trouble had to be endured. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 251 
 
 My ability, willingness and honesty in service told in my 
 favor so well, that at eighteen years of age I found myself first 
 mate on a splendid British merchantman. With this advanta- 
 geous position, intervals in which to study such books as the 
 captain, an educated man, had on shipboard, were mine, and 
 I used the opportunity to excellent advantage, reciting my les- 
 sons to the captain, who took much interest in me. An inven- 
 tion for which many a seafarer has been grateful, and to which 
 many a man whose life has been spent on the ocean wave has 
 owed continuation of that life, paid me such a handsome sum, 
 in royalties, that ere I was of age I had no small fortune, 
 which by wise investment soon gave me a sum to put in the 
 bank with the assurance of a fair support for life. I did not 
 long continue in marine service after my money began to ac- 
 cumulate, but left sea life to enjoy travel on terra firma. I 
 had seen the chief ports of every land, and now was bent upon 
 seeing the interior of my own country. 
 
 In the gold placers of California I added immense sums to 
 my fortune during the years 1865-6, where I drifted after my 
 discharge from the Army of the Cumberland, having served 
 two years in that famous corps during the War of the Seces- 
 sion. 
 
 I gloried in the absence of two fingers, lost by a vicious frag- 
 ment of shell at the battle of Missionary Ridge. I wonder if 
 any reader remembers the morning of the 25th of November, 
 1863? 
 
 "All night the flash of rifles from the outposts had gleamed 
 through the fog; and when day dawned it had not yet been 
 determined whether the enemy had been forced from his almost 
 unassailable position on the mountain. The morning was 
 clear. All eyes in the Union bivouacs were strained towards 
 the summit. Gradually the east purpled with strengthening 
 light, and just as the sun rose, a squad of men walked out on 
 the rock overhanging the precipice. Then, in full view of the 
 watching tens of thousands, they unfurled l ' Old Glory. ' ' Amid 
 
252 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 thunderous cheers an army of veterans looked long through its 
 tears at the Stars and Stripes— mute announcement of vic- 
 tory.' ' 
 
 At the close of this saddest of wars, because the hands of 
 fathers against sons and of brothers against brothers were 
 raised, I presently found myself in the city of my birth- 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 Two months later I was in far-away California, in one of its 
 most beautiful mountain countries, and formed one of a com- 
 pany of gold miners. So rich were the returns of labor that 
 we soon began to feel the work onerous, and employed men 
 to do it for us. Amongst these was a man from China. I say 
 a man from China because he certainly appeared, from the 
 very first, to be not one of the class sneeringly called ' ' coolies, ' ' 
 but. a real man. "Coolies" were numerous in the town, some 
 two or three miles from our mine, but Quong had nothing in 
 common and did not associate with them ; neither was he pri- 
 vately addicted to their habits of gluttony, gin-drinking or 
 opium-smoking. His dress was that which always distinguishes 
 the Tchin from other nationalities, but his features were not 
 thus significant. Indeed, his high, prominent forehead, well 
 developed sinciput, bold eyebrows and delicate neck marked 
 him as a man of high character, spiritual cast, splendid per- 
 ceptive abilities and nervous temperament. His eyes— such 
 eyes!— calm, clear, light gray, resting upon one with so kindly, 
 unprejudiced and dispassionate a gaze— charitable, forgiving 
 and strictly upright and conscientious himself, but always 
 ready to overlook faults in others. Such was the appearance 
 of a remarkable man. His speech was intelligible to every 
 one with whom he had dealings, yet it always seemed to me 
 that his broken English, a commingled Chinese and Anglo- 
 Saxon idiom, would have been wholly unintelligible gibberish 
 in the mouth of any other Chinese. I am no Don Quixote, and 
 do not propose to contend that it is not an evil of serious im- 
 port to the white man of America, Australia and-the people of 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 253 
 
 the Spanish-American republics to be forced to compete with 
 Chinese laborers or the commercial products of that nation. I 
 think it a very real evil, and I sympathize with the Caucasian 
 race. But in all frankness I would ask if the hordes of un- 
 skilled, uneducated, almost imassimilable laboring poor of 
 Europe are not an even greater menace! The immigration of 
 either is fraught with fearful peril to the free institutions 
 which I believe in, to the extent of having at the point of the 
 bayonet risked my life for their preservation. But far be it 
 from me to urge a spirit of strife— rather I counsel you to 
 follow Him whose life meant "Peace on earth," and the true 
 brotherhood of man. 
 
 In deference to a correct sentiment these pages will hence- 
 forth refer to my one Chinese employee as the "Tchin," or 
 Quong (his given name), instead of "the Chinese." 
 
 After the change of policy which gave the hard work to hired 
 men, my partners and myself resided in town, although one 
 or more of us were always at the mine in the capacity of over- 
 seers. We employed two gangs of workers, that worked on 
 alternate days, each thus giving but half of the time to labor, 
 although the wages were not reduced in consequence. These 
 easy arrangements made the men extra faithful, for they saw 
 that our object was not to get all the work out of them which 
 they were able to accomplish, irrespective of their comfort, or 
 the fact that they were men, not beasts of burden. That white 
 men treated thus considerately will do more in the way of re- 
 sults than those who are made to work at their highest power 
 every week-day hour has been my uniform experience. Treat 
 your fellow men as you would like to be treated, were you in 
 his place. 
 
 None of the men felt the least objection to Quong as a fellow- 
 worker; most of them were ready to admit, indeed, that he 
 did not seem like a heathen. They were right, for he was not 
 one. His demeanor towards all was respectful and manly, 
 rather reticent, very quiet, but always so full of benevolent 
 feeling that he won the affection of his fellow workers. They 
 felt that he was a true man. On one occasion a new man was 
 
254 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 hired by the company, and he "didn't like pigtails." But in 
 less than a week he fell ill, and, unasked, the despised "coolie" 
 not only worked all day, but nursed the sick man through the 
 brief but severe fever, sitting up all night, and only taking a 
 few hours rest next day— his "off" day. No more was heard 
 from the shamed objector to coolies, for he was completely 
 won over, so far as Quong was concerned. Thus he, too, was 
 proved a real Man, when the canker of intolerance was healed. 
 
 More than once were the Tchin and I companions on his 
 leisure days. Sometimes we went to the town, but more often 
 we turned our horses' heads away into the wilderness of the 
 mountains. Without his guidance I had surely been lost there, 
 amid the vast gorges, with their shade of giant pines lying be- 
 tween the almost interminable ridges, those stern ribs of the 
 planet. But Quong was never lost, never hesitated, though the 
 night was upon us so dark on more than one occasion that I 
 could not see my hand before my face, a fact I never quite 
 comprehended at the time, though it is clear to me now. Once 
 at such a time as this I felt the need of a light, so greatly— it 
 was in a cavern which we had found— that he said:— "Here, I 
 give you light." I heard him break off a fragment of rock 
 from the side of the wall of the cavern ; next he put it into my 
 hand, saying:— "Have care now, it must not touch you— like 
 lightning ; would kill you. ' ' As may be imagined, I touched so 
 little of the rock that Quong directed me to hold it tighter. 
 Then up sprung a brilliant light from the tip of that rock, 
 illuminating all the cave like sunlight! Had this amazing 
 thing occurred a few years later, I should have first pronounced 
 ^ <*fit an electric light, then, bethinking me that no battery was 
 there, nor any dynamo-electric machine, I would have done 
 as I did do— sat down and gazed at the marvellous light, for- 
 getful of where I was. As Quong would give no other explana- 
 * ^' tion than he had already given, I was, perforce, content— only 
 O I was not ! but his power of keeping his course where not even 
 the track of an animal was not to be discerned, was sufficiently 
 astonishing, and I was often amazed at the man for not losing 
 his way amongst ranges of sierra which stretched away to 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 255 
 
 where the vast snowy peaks defined the horizon, and kept the 
 blue of the sky from blending insensibly with the blue of the 
 mountains. 
 
 When we took such trips as these we were accustomed to 
 leave the mine as early after supper as possible; that is, at 
 half past five in the afternoon. If the other men were fatigued, 
 Quong never seemed to share their weariness, although there 
 was not a fellow worker but admitted that he accomplished 
 more than any of them. 
 
 If the night was one of Luna's own, it was our habit to ride 
 for several hours, frequently not halting before midnight, 
 when we might be thirty or more miles from the mine. 
 
 On one of these occasions, when we and our horses were 
 alone with nature and the night, we stopped in a remote soli- 
 tude to wait for morning— to sleep or not as we felt most agree- 
 able. Quong sat down on a rock by the edge of a roaring 
 crystal torrent, and gazed in silent enjoyment upon the solitary 
 grandeur of the sombre pines and moonlit peaks. I left him 
 there and wandered up the stream, till, on looking back, I saw 
 that my friend was hidden from view by a sharp turn in the 
 canon. But heedless of this I wandered on, musing at the 
 scene— "rockribbed; ancient as the sun." 
 
 It is not possible for a person alive to the beauties of nature, 
 long to remain insensible to the more serious thoughts evolved 
 by meditation pursued amidst the wilds, untroubled by man's 
 sordid methods. Gradually my thoughts assumed a reflective 
 cast, which, almost unperceived, became tinged with the dead 
 black shadow of materialism. Many a time and oft had grim 
 despair seized upon me while pursuing to philosophical end 
 the mysterious questions of the soul— "Whence" and 
 "Whither?" Unreasoning faith had never held any place in 
 my nature, and yet mine was a deeply religious disposition. 
 "To reason is to be lost," thundered the church of those days, 
 and even yet does it maintain this attitude concerning reason 
 as applied to faith. The queries which haunted others pursued 
 me ; but I lacked the Ingersollian desire to propound the ques- 
 tion, which madened me, to a world I doubted not had misery 
 
256 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 enough already. But the despair which arose from the hidden 
 questionings was not less keen because hidden. Eagerly I read 
 scientific works; studied anatomy, physiology, mechanics, the 
 structure of cells, and the essays of Darwin and Huxley, and I 
 came to the same conclusions that have troubled the world so 
 mercilessly in all ages. The gray matter of the brain, and 
 the white cerebral substance; the medulla oblongata and vital 
 magnetism, and the blood— these became so much phosphorised 
 fat, haematin, and magnetic vibration— that same ''uncon- 
 scious cerebration" theory in fact, which even yet disturbs 
 certain philosophers. Thus joy and sorrow, and every other 
 emotion, became a form of vibration, akin to sound waves, 
 heat waves, light waves and undulation in general. I saw, in 
 brief, my joy become a mere vibratory thrill of nerve tissue, 
 similar, but more complex, to the throb of a violin string. My 
 grief became a similar pulsation or wave. But neither were 
 less keen; if my delight were mere pulsation of bundles of 
 fibers proceeding from a cell or nucleus, principally 
 composed of phosphorised fatty substance; if in passing, 
 this delight but gave rise to a magnetic thrill, and a minute 
 quantity of phosphoric acid, while any chance muscular exer- 
 tion produced, ultimately, only relatively small amounts of 
 carbonic acid and other excretory chemicals— nevertheless, it 
 was keen joy. And my grief over a deceased friend, if it pro- 
 duced exactly the same chemics, having their formulas re- 
 ducible to the symbols P04 and C02, etc., etc., was this emo- 
 tion less agonizing, less painful? None the less, when all 
 queries were finished, when all were reduced to their ultimates, 
 ever and forever faced me a blank wall, insurmountable, and 
 everything ceased short of God. In my despair I cried:— 
 "There is no God, no immortality, and man differs from the 
 oyster only in having a more complex organization. Only be- 
 cause I, believing thus, lack incentive to crime, am I prevented 
 from lust, from murder; what reck if I kill a man and no 
 witness be there ? When I, too, die, the clock of life is either 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 257 
 
 worn out, or broken; both are irreparable, and there will be 
 never more resuscitation, nor punishment, for death levels all, 
 equalizes all. Perhaps I myself am only a complex vibration 
 of atoms, not dyads, but mult-atomic arrangements of matter 
 acted upon by— what? Force, wave force, moving ether. We 
 are but puppets, creatures of uncontrollable circumstances. 
 'Kismet,' says the Arab, and I must say so, too!" 
 
 Do hideous, natural causes of fright seek those moments to 
 appal poor, despairing man when he is already a prey to shapes 
 of awful oppressiveness to his very soul's life? I have thought 
 so, and even the next moment thought so ; soul in peril, and 
 body also— for then in my path arose a terror, a huge grizzly 
 bear, Ursus horribilis. "Surely horrible enough," I thought, 
 as the animal raised himself in frightful posture. I had no 
 weapon except a clasp knife, and the remembrance emphasized 
 the reality of my peril. Wildly I looked about for a tree, into 
 the branches of which to climb for safety. None except giant 
 pines were near ; down the stream towards Quong were cotton- 
 woods, but to go there was to put my friend, unwitting his 
 peril, into extreme danger. Yet bruin was rapidly forcing me 
 to decide on the courses of flight, or remaining to be eaten, so 
 I turned to run and— stood face to face with the Tchin! Calm 
 and cool himself, he bade me have no fear. 
 
 Stock still I stood, amazed to see him walk slowly up to the 
 grizzly, which, from its fierce-eyed aspect changed to docility 
 of looks, got down on all fours, and awaited the man's ap- 
 proach! Was Quong insane? I expected to see him rent in 
 pieces; instead, he placed his hand on the head of the animal 
 and said: 
 
 "Lie down!" 
 
 The order was obeyed at once, and then Quong sat down on 
 the prostrate animal and fondled its great, stiff ears! Very 
 gently, the bear licked the human hand, as gently indeed as if 
 caressing its own cubs. What occult power was here? Was 
 the Tchin a worker of miracles? Never before had any action 
 
258 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 betrayed to me this ability of his. True, the example of pro- 
 ducing the light in the cave was one, but it had not then so 
 occurred to me, because I knew enough, and at the same time 
 not enough, to know that the production of electric light was 
 a possibility, but not possible to any electrician or chemist in 
 the way the Tchin performed it. It was not possible to or- 
 dinary science then, nor is it now any more so. But it would 
 be possible to them if they would but take the porper occult 
 method; it is one of the earliest learned and easiest feats per- 
 formed by the novitiate. But I was not then a novitiate. 
 
 After a few moments Quong got up and, speaking to the 
 conquered ursine, said: "Go!" As obediently as before the 
 shaggy beast lumbered heavily off up the canon and was soon 
 lost to view amongst the rocks and shadows of the night. 
 
 Once more the granite boulders shone silvery in the glorious 
 summer moonlight ; the dark pines swayed in the gentle breeze 
 which, descending from its play with the whispering boughs, 
 blew the spray of the rushing torrent over the grateful wild 
 flowers nodding on the banks. And beside the rocks, the crags 
 and peaks, the torrent and the pines, the moon shone down on 
 two figures— two men. One stood wrapped in meditation; the 
 other, not thinking at all, simply regarded the first with eyes 
 where amazement yet lingered. Neither moved, neither spoke. 
 But one, at least, though he thought not, yet felt. I felt how 
 little difference existed between men, so that they were worthy 
 men. I would have acknowledged the Tchin as my equal be- 
 fore the world; perhaps, indeed, as my superior. In the clear- 
 est nights some mists come over and obscure the face of things 
 So with the soul— in its clearest moments it knows Truth, only 
 to forget in later moments how Truth seemed. Then, anon, 
 the fogs clear away again. Sometimes, alas, it is after the 
 obscured orb has set. So also the soul— death may set its 
 darkness over it ere the clouds of prejudice have melted, or it 
 may not. 
 
 But there in the moonlight, the sky of my soul was also 
 clear. But neither man moved, neither spoke. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 259 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 A SOUL IN PERIL. 
 
 Many days I pondered that scene in the mountains, marvel- 
 ing over the wonderful power possessed by Quong over wild 
 animals. Did he know how he exerted this control, or was it 
 simply a feature of his nature, sufficiently astonishing, truly, 
 but still not understood by its owner ? At Bombay, I had seen 
 snake charmers exercise the same dominion over serpents, 
 but it was an inherited ability, unexplained even by the oper- 
 ator. To querists they would reply: 
 
 1 'So did my father, and my father's father, and his father. 
 I know not, except he got it from Brahm. ' ' 
 
 But perhaps Quong knew the law which governed his phe- 
 nomena ; if he did, and knew one occult law, did he not know 
 two, or more than two ? I determined to ask him when oppor- 
 tunity presented. While in Hindostan I heard that there were 
 certain men there — not fakirs, but learned men who lived in 
 the Himalayan solitudes— who wrought magical feats of won- 
 derful variety and power. Had Quong come from these ; learned 
 of them? Was he an occult adept, such as I had heard of? 
 These were called, so I had been told, Ragi-Yogees, and to the 
 curious person trying to learn more about them than the 
 meagre statement of their vast occult or theosophic wisdom, 
 the native laity proved dumb as the Sphinx of Egypt. 
 
 I had an early chance presented to question my friend, who, 
 well as I knew him, still proved more communicative than I 
 had hoped. 
 
 It pleased me greatly to learn that not one in a hundred 
 thousand Chinese had any occult wisdom whatever; pleased 
 me, because I felt that if the degraded, groveling Mongol had 
 such knowledge, then because it did not lift that benighted 
 race it could not be of an elevating character. But all through 
 the Orient, here and there, the magicians were to be found; 
 
260 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 the reasons for such secrecy, as they maintained, arose from 
 the fact that ere such knowledge as they were custodians of 
 could be gained, the soul must be calm with that calmness 
 which comes best from life amidst the wilds of nature. Now 
 this may seem strange, but it is a calm which can hardly be 
 maintained in the habitats of those addicted to meat eating, 
 or of persons engrossed in the selfishness of common life. You 
 may imagine that these students could seclude themselves from 
 disturbance; men who wish to study do so seclude themselves, 
 even in cities. Not so the occultist. For, from the social order 
 and communal life of the world emanates an aura, or atmos- 
 phere of its own disturbed muddiness— an aura fatal to the 
 absolute peace required by the theosopher. I am impelled to 
 remark at this point that what goes under the name of "theo- 
 sophy" in the world to-day is an article so far removed from 
 the genuine that the name has even thus early been laid aside 
 by the silent nature student, who, now as ever, is a Son of the 
 Solitude. 
 
 But to return to Quong and the question which I asked him. 
 I append his answer verbatim :— 
 
 "Yes, in this land of the Starry Flag there are students 
 known as the 'Lothinian Brotherhood/ Their lodges, called 
 'Saches,' are habited throughout the western hemisphere; 
 there is one Sach near here. No one not privileged could hope 
 to learn where it is, or who are its members. Yet as I have led 
 you, Mr. Pierson, to ask the question you have ; as I have done 
 this with consent of the brethren, to every one of whom you, 
 who, however, know none of them, are yourself well known, 
 to what do you ascribe my action?" 
 
 I could construe it in only one way ; so I told the Tchin that 
 doubtless they knew and favored my deep desire for occult 
 fraternization, a desire ever baffled until that hour; I felt my 
 Sonship; I did not know it. 
 
 ' ' It is so ; thou art to be taken as a Brother Son by a class 
 of men who seldom allow fraternity even to new affiliates, and 
 never to any other persons whatsoever. But be this clear to 
 thee forever— there is no order of mystic students anywhere, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 261 
 
 never was and never will be. The Lothins of America, the 
 Yogis of Hindostan, do not combine for study of occult lore. 
 It is not possible so to study. He who attains, grows; he does 
 not study as collegiates study. It is not in books. Each 
 student of God is in himself the plane he dwells on— a radiating 
 center of God-wiseness. The very vows asked of initiates are 
 but tests to determine if in themselves they are that which 
 they seek to affiliate with. The Theo-Christian indeed does 
 live with others as to body— but because similars are mutually 
 attractive only. The Kingdom of God is within thee, or else 
 (for thee) non-existent elsewhere. Be that thou knowest, and 
 then Christos will give it to thee to know and become more, 
 which also do thou become— and thus grow, as the lilies of the 
 field, which toil not, nor spin, but are God thoughts external- 
 ized. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life," said our Great 
 One. Thou art, Walter Pierson, of right by growth one of 
 the Saeh. And this right is because thy life for ages is known 
 to them." 
 
 "My what? My life for ages? Am I so old?"— I asked, 
 laughing at the supposed joke. 
 
 "You will learn in time, Mr. Pierson; in time," gravely said 
 Quong, in meditative tones. "I am not speaking humorously." 
 
 The reason assigned for the interest taken in me made noth- 
 ing clearer, so I fell to studying the question. 
 
 "No, you can not guess why, sir," said Quong. "Look at 
 me; you say I seem about thirty years of age. I am more. 
 Multiply that figure by three and add its half, and you will 
 be correct within one year. I have watched over you since 
 your birth, using my pschic powers for the purpose, since 
 until a year ago your present eyes have not beheld me. You 
 are born with powers which you can educe so as to become 
 wiser than I. If it please you we will go to the Sach to-night. 
 You are surprised that I, whom you have heretofore heard 
 speak only in pidgin-English— as it is called— now use such 
 fluent language. I have my reasons, believe me; perchance 
 you find them obvious." 
 
262 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 In the afternoon I went to town, telling- Quong that I would 
 meet him there, if access to the Sach was as convenient from 
 there as from the mine. 
 
 On my way into town I met an acquaintance at whose very 
 popular liquor saloon I had more than once taken refreshment, 
 thinking it no harm, for I drank moderately. When we came 
 near his place, on the main street, he insisted on my tying my 
 horse and coming in to have a social glass with him. But the 
 idea of acceptance jarred, and I felt that it disturbed the calm 
 reflections which had filled my thoughts on parting with the 
 Tchin. Quong never drank liquor, smoked, or was aught but 
 absteminous in his habits. But I entered, resolved not to take 
 any form of spirituous liquor. The scene presented was 
 familiar; men stupid, foolish, or excited from their potations, 
 and public women mingling with the crowd in the place. 
 Previously to the week just passed these sights were viewed 
 by me with indifference. But now they seemed revolting in 
 the extreme. One exemplification of the satanic influence of 
 liquor I saw with different emotions now from those of other 
 days:— a fair, beautiful girl, a moderate user of liquor, not 
 reached to the depths as yet, but a wanton, for all her educa- 
 tion, culture and refinement; beginning life in the midst of 
 the influences of school, church and home, in the far Eastern 
 States, but fallen through a man's heartless treachery, and 
 that cruel and equally heartless judgment of society— that 
 whited sepulchre, outwardly stainless, but secretly worse than 
 the victims it stones with its merciless opinions. All the worse 
 is this pharisaical spirit in that it lets the betrayer go free. 
 
 ''Let him that is without sin cast the first stone." She was 
 already passing her days in the midst of hell. And the original 
 cause was liquor. Liquor? Yes, I knew her history. Her 
 parents saw no harm in the moderate use of wine, and with 
 the taste created in the girl's nature for the use, came that 
 for "fast" society— and then ruin! Only eighteen years old, 
 yet her feet had stepped on the embers of Hades. Was she lost, 
 entirely lost? I hardly thought so. I believed her story, that 
 all the glitter of erroneous ways, wine and fast society had 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 263 
 
 been embraced in her eastern home because not discouraged 
 by her parents. She said she had no care for those wild ways, 
 but rather a disgust. I felt that she spoke the truth, for tears 
 of genuine sorrow stood in the bright brown eyes, and I knew 
 the possessor of such eyes had trod the path of sin, not through 
 preference, but, as she said, "Through it seeming that at home 
 no one cared what she did, until her disgrace, and then they 
 had put her out and locked the doors of house and hearts 
 against her." All this she told me while she sat in her own 
 home, the finest in the little city, known as the "Retreat." 
 She was occupying the day in painting, for her skill as an 
 artist was only equalled by that which she had as a pianist. 
 Her walls were covered with pictures of her own execution— 
 such paintings 1— so sad and full of pathos. One was an ideal 
 picture representing a fair maiden, with a feverish light in her 
 eyes and a look of defiance on her face, sitting under a great 
 tree on a lawn. Beside her was a young man, and before them 
 was a serving woman with a tray on which were four glasses 
 —two full of milk, two of red wine. With a smile of ridicule 
 the young man placed his hand on the wine, and the girl, with 
 flushed cheeks and defiant eyes, was reaching for the other 
 glass of liquor, although it was evident that she preferred the 
 milk. Behind her, unperceived by any of the three, stood a 
 shadowy form, a man with a face of divine purity, who was 
 gently weeping over the girl's error. Behind her companion 
 was another shadowy form, black, and with a satanic counten- 
 ance, his hand on the young man's shoulder and a smile of 
 triumph on his evil features. Below the picture was the title : 
 "The Defeat of Purity." 
 
 After I had studied long over the picture, I turned to its 
 painter and said : 
 
 "That represents your life and its woe, does it not, Lizzie?" 
 
 She made no reply other than to break into a storm of tears. 
 I waited for the cessation of her anguish, and as I sat, she dried 
 her tears and replied: 
 
 "Yes, my woe. Oh, God! that I have fallen so low, and 
 there is no hope! Xo hope! If I could, I would leave this 
 
264 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 I 
 
 sort of life and go away to begin anew where no one knew 
 anything of me or my past. But I can not, for I can not get 
 away ; I have no means of support if I could. ' ' 
 
 "Your art, Lizzie,"— I suggested, gently. 
 
 "Yes, my art, I know; but I fear not, for I have no means 
 adequate to a beginning." 
 
 It was from that girl's parlor I had gone forth when, in the 
 evening of the same day, Quong and I went into the mountains, 
 and the grizzly bear episode occurred. That was a Week ago 
 now, and to-day I stood in the saloon of Charles Prevost, and 
 saw, engaged in conversation with the barkeeper, over a glass 
 of sherry, Lizzie. 
 
 The barkeeper turned away to wait upon another customer, 
 and at the same time I went up behind the girl and bending 
 my head close to her ear, said, almost in a whisper: 
 
 ' ' Would you not rather that sherry was milk ? ' ' 
 
 The hard look died out of the mournfully sweet face and a 
 tear leaped to each eye and trembled there like a dew drop, as 
 she said, oh, so wearily :— " Yes." 
 
 "Then come with me; let us go to your house." 
 
 We went, followed by the curious, misjudging eyes of the 
 saloon idlers. Having arrived and having entered the parlor, 
 I offered her a chair and took another myself. Then I said, 
 as she looked at me wonderingly : 
 
 "Lizzie— let me rather say Elizabeth, for it is more stately, 
 dignified, and so suits you better— you said you would rather 
 it were milk; now, I know what you meant— that your soul 
 yearned for the better life of which we were speaking last 
 Monday. Well, I am rich ; no one in the west dreams how rich. 
 To me the loss or mere absence from my control of twenty 
 thousand, or even more than twenty thousand dollars, would 
 be unfelt; the income of a couple of months would replace it. 
 Since we talked here last week I have thought of you many 
 times ; to-day I come prepared to— to, well, smother your pride, 
 and accept this check on the First National Bank of Washing- 
 ton, D. C. Will you, Elizabeth, will you take it and go there ; 
 flee from the misery of to-day and begin life there anew?" 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 265 
 
 "But, but— how can I repay it, if I do ; or how will you know 
 that I do not waste it and abuse your confidence ? ' ' 
 
 "My girl, I do not want you to repay it ever, in any way— 
 to me. Use it as I ask; as for me the Savior has said:— "He 
 that giveth even a cup of cold water shall in no wise lose his 
 reward;" and again He said:— "He that loseth his life for my 
 sake shall find it again." If life, Elizabeth, what of money, 
 which is so much less ? I trust you. Will you take it from me 
 as a 'cup of cold water' to save you from perishing?" 
 
 "Yes, if you give it in that way, I will, and as God shall help 
 me I will be true to promise ! " 
 
 How she kept her faith, dear reader, you will find by-and-by. 
 
 But, City knew her no more, nor was a trace of her 
 
 destination known to any one there except myself. All that 
 was known was that her finer pictures were boxed and con- 
 signed to a firm of picture dealers in New York City, via San 
 Francisco and the Horn. This was a blind, for while the im- 
 pression was sought to be conveyed that they were sold to the 
 consignees, such was not the case, for nothing could have in- 
 duced her to part with them except dire necessity. The less 
 valued pictures were sold at an auction, along with her house 
 and furniture, bringing quite a sum of money. Her own ticket, 
 I was told a month or so later by a mutual acquaintance, a 
 Catholic Sister of Charity— may God bless those sisters! 
 —who went to San Francisco with her, was purchased 
 for the City of Melbourne, Australia. The information 
 surprised even me, and I thought her plans were deep laid, 
 indeed. The Catholic Sisters gave me a small painting which 
 Elizabeth had left for me. It was a picture of the Capitol at 
 Washington, and under it the words in quotation marks, 
 "Home, sweet home." The sister had never been in Washing- 
 ton and did not know what the subject of the picture was, nor 
 had any other person seen it, so that not a soul but myself 
 knew through the picture or in any way else where the fair, 
 frail, but newly born to a high purpose, artist had gone. 
 
 Dismissing further special thought about her whom I be- 
 lieved to be saved, I began to reflect on my next actions. I 
 
266 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 felt, in thinking of my proposed visit to the Sach, as if I were 
 about to leave the world; joining their order was, according 
 to Quong, virtually, and perhaps in fact, leaving jthe world of 
 ordinary humanity. As I walked along the streets after writ- 
 ing out the check for Lizzie, a wind-blown sheet of paper fell 
 on my arm and remained until I picked it off. As I was about 
 to let it nutter away, my own name on the paper caught my 
 eye and aroused my curiosity. Then I read the entire note, 
 and will repeat its words for your sake : 
 
 "Give not the rest of thy fortune away; so far thou hast 
 given well, but do not rashly throw away the rest of it. Yet, 
 as thy mining days are practically over, as well as thy life in 
 this community, therefore sell thy share in the mine. It is a 
 good mine, and will bring a high figure ; yet be not discouraged 
 if thou find not a taker for it now, but wait. Offer it now, 
 for time is an essential. 
 
 M ." 
 
 Whence came this message ? I could not tell, and, strange to 
 say, my usual abundance of natural cautiousness never sug- 
 gested that the whole thing was an artfully planned scheme to 
 defraud me. So far from such an idea occurring to me, I 
 sought my partners and asked what they would give me for 
 my third share of our joint property. The reply was not im- 
 mediate. At last, one cautiously asked: 
 
 "Pierson, why do you sell? Do you fear the 'pay' is petering 
 out?'/ 
 
 I replied that I did not, but had reasons of a private nature. 
 Then, too, I wanted to go home. They did not know that I 
 meant by the word "home," a figurative rendition; that home 
 was not Washington, the city which they knew I had come 
 from, and that instead, I meant affiliation with an occult broth- 
 erhood. They promised me an answer upon the next day. To 
 this I agreed, but "next day" came not for more than a month; 
 when it did, the interim had seen a "strike" at our mine, un- 
 covering what was, in the belief of the company, millions of 
 dollars. In the "pay dirt," lying on the "bed-rock," a lode 
 of gold quartz was found which, according to the assay, ran 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 267 
 
 into the thousands of dollars per ton. Unconscious of this 
 coming good fortune, I left my partners engaged in debate 
 and went out upon the street. At the appointed place and 
 hour of seven o'clock in the evening, now come, I met the 
 Tchin. Our meeting place was beyond the town limits, and 
 night had fallen when I arrived. He sat by a tall pine tree, 
 and I did not see him until I had been there— supposing myself 
 first arrived— some five minutes. It was the night of the full 
 moon of that lunar period, and I sat musing on a rock 
 by the roadside, thinking of the myth of Morpheus, who with 
 leaden sceptre wafts the many into the dim land of dreams — 
 the only respite from woe that weary millions of sufferers 
 ever find on earth. But Quong was not to usher me into peace- 
 ful slumber; he was not come as Morpheus— but he was to 
 introduce me into a realm which, new to me, was old in the 
 earth since the first flight of years began back in the aeons 
 of dead time— a realm that has existed from the time of the 
 creation, the spiritual, far away land of the soul, where the 
 vagaries of dreamland are supplanted by verities stranger yet. 
 I was about to enter on the path of Kabala, wherein travel 
 those whose researches into the occult penetralia come from 
 an antiquity of hoary seers of ages past. Would I prove 
 worthy? Then the Tchin broke in upon my reverie with the 
 bidding 
 
 "Let us go." 
 
 Strange as it may seem, I was in no wise startled at his 
 sudden appearance. Soon we were among the rock-ribbed 
 hills, and the pine forests waved above us, around us, and 
 adown the slopes beneath our feet. Deer roamed here, despite 
 the comparative nearness to the habitations of men, and many 
 a bright flower was faintly visible in the moonlight, peeping 
 from its shy retreat— wood lilies, tiger lilies, violets. My 
 thoughts dwelt musingly on these natural beauties and seemed 
 to say "How fitting that they who, in love of nature, hold 
 communion with her visible forms should go, from listening 
 
268 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 to the tongues of the visible, to take note of the various lan- 
 guage wherewith she tells of things unseen." To the thrill 
 of feeling which swept over me at the meditation, my very 
 soul responded. 
 
 By the time we were fairly amongst the enforested moun- 
 tains and the silences of nature, the night was well advanced. 
 The moon's round shield now shone broadly upon us, or again 
 peeped forth between swaying pines. Scarce a cloud floated in 
 the heavens, the air was warm and still, the entire scene seemed 
 a most appropriate introduction to greater beauties which I 
 felt were about to be presented. 
 
 Then, as I beheld Quong ahead with his blue Mongolian 
 blouse, and in the act of uncoiling his queue to §ool his head, 
 the sight acted upon my deep seated prejudice against the Chi- 
 nese race and, like a ruffling breeze, swept over my placid soul 
 and marred my enjoyment, my serenity. For a moment I for- 
 got the superiority of manhood in Quong, and there arose 
 within me a repugnance to investigating, in the company of a 
 Chinese, things which impressed me as sacred. My vanity 
 whispered that, because he was a Chinese, he was my inferior ; 
 yet for the world I would not have breathed a word of it to 
 him. I almost felt inclined to return to town, nevertheless. 
 
 Quong 's voice interrupted this disagreeable train of thought 
 —and his words became a mirror to reflect my conceited ego- 
 tism so faithfully that I was aghast, and wondered that my 
 own sense of justice had allowed such vain ascendancy of 
 meanness. Swept away at last was every vestige of the notion 
 that nationality was of the smallest consequence where real 
 manhood was under consideration. Replacing the narrowness 
 was the conviction that, while one race may have more numer- 
 ous exemplifications of nobility than another— none the less 
 the individuals of every race may leap the highest social bar- 
 rier, and stand equal at last— because it is the soul, not the 
 casket, which springs aloft to God. 
 
 "What said the Tchin?"— do you ask? This: 
 
 1 ' Alas for human vanity ! It is more prolific of evil than any 
 other emotion— makes men weak when they should be strong, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 269 
 
 cringe to prejudice when bravery is meet, and sows the seed of 
 Injustice, which hath the flower Intolerance and the ripe fruit 
 Iniquity. ' ' 
 
 He then turned to me direct, saying : 
 
 ''Brother, ought the penalty earned by the depravity of the 
 Chinese race to be visited upon me, who have no part in their 
 iniquity? Shall the good stone in the pile rejected by the 
 masons of society be also cast aside? Perchance it might 
 become the head of the corner. Oppression of tyranny is rejec- 
 tion, for it denies a man's rights. Behold, then, what a pillar 
 of strength is built of the rejected stones of the nations upon 
 the rock of the American Declaration of Independence ! Yet, 
 let it not be built too high, and never of any but choice stone, 
 whatever its source, lest it become of ill proportion and fall in 
 ruin ! ' ' 
 
 "Indeed, indeed! I knew not that you could so easily 
 fathom my thoughts ; nor did I know how illiberal I had grown 
 through my vanity ! Forgive me, my friend ! ' ' 
 
 "Ask not my pardon. I am not offended. But I saw clearly 
 that you were doing yourself an injustice in allowing such play 
 to prejudice. It was to set you right, not to humble you, that 
 I spoke. " 
 
 Somehow the beauty of the scene was enhanced in my sight. 
 Like a gladdening rain laying the dust were the words of r*y 
 friend, and my soul's atmosphere was cleared, so that all things 
 appeared more lovely. 
 
 As we walked, a doe and her fawn stepped into the path 
 before us. Their impulse on seeing men was to take flight. 
 But Quong held out his hand and called them as if they were 
 pets familiar with him. The animals stopped, and returned 
 along the path until within reach. He stroked them gently, 
 and as we passed on they followed behind. I was wondering 
 if Quong, in his many solitary walks in the mountains, had 
 not made a few pets, as, for example, these deer, and even the 
 bear, when the idea was put aside by a new occurrence. As 
 we came under an overhanging rock a puma, or "California 
 lion" (Felix concolor), leaped into our midst with the evident 
 
210 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 intention of having venison for supper— indeed, had not the 
 deer for which he sprang been too nimble, it would have b«?on 
 an instant victim ; but it and its companion affrightedly closed 
 about Quong, and the latter turing to the panther, said sternly, 
 but in a calm, low tone : 
 
 "Peace!" 
 
 And there was peace, for the carnivore slunk down for an 
 instant, like a whipped dog, then resumed a normal cat-like 
 attitude, and, purring, walked with soft, feline tread on one 
 side, with the deer on the other side of the human mediator, 
 and I, lost in amazement, brought up the rear. Veriiy, the 
 fable of the lion and the lamb was realized in actuality. 
 
 "See, my brother, what it is to know the law and to ^ve it- 
 for I myself am a vegetarian, and the perfect peace such foot* 
 allows renders my soul calm, so that I see the law as in a mirror. 
 Behold proof of the truth in this occurrence ! ' ' 
 
 As he ceased to speak we halted in front of a huge ledge of 
 basaltic rocks, some hundreds of feet in height. The ledge 
 was broken and twisted as if by some rending convulsion. All 
 about the base lay huge fragments broken off the face of the 
 wall. Against the cliff rested a giant block many tons in 
 weight touching this with his hand, the Tchin said : 
 
 "Here is our Sach— our Temple, so to say; this rock is guard 
 at the entrance to a place remarkable, to say the least, if 
 viewed from an occidental standpoint." 
 
 I looked in vain for the doorway, or any crevice which might 
 lead into a cavern. Meanwhile Quong laid his hand on the 
 great cat with us and said : 
 
 "Go!" 
 
 And the lion, pausing not, went leaping along in bounds— 
 for these animals have such a limber spinal column that they 
 can not run or trot like other animals not of the felme tribe — 
 leaps by which it was soon lost to sight. Then Quong said- 
 
 "As it will not return here, these gentle deer would best 
 remain; no other spot is so safe for them. Good bye, my little 
 friends ! " 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 271 
 
 Continuing, Quong said to me: "Have you found the door- 
 way? It is not strange that you should fail, for it was con- 
 structed with the special purpose of baffling the curious." 
 
 Again he touched the enormous quadrangular block. Im- 
 mediately it tipped on edge and leaned outward over us, caus- 
 ing me to spring away in terror lest it fall on me. "Be not 
 afraid, my brother. See, it is under my control as if on 
 hinges;" and he swung it back on its lower outer ege with won- 
 derful ease, only keeping his own nearest hand firmly upon it. 
 To my amazed query he replied that it worked to his will 
 through magnetism. But I saw no magnet, and said so. 
 
 "Truth! In me is the magnet you do not see. Did it ever 
 occur to you that the proceses of all life are carried on by what 
 for our present purpose may be called magnetism? Assimila- 
 tion of food and drink, waste, excretion, all vital processes 
 whatever? The magnet is in the cerebellum or back brain, 
 and in the medullary substance of the corporae stratum— a 
 veritable wound magnet. The force which causes the heart to 
 act, the lungs to act, maintains bodily heat, and so on, is enor- 
 mous; it amounts to many hundreds of thousands of foot 
 pounds per day. He that knows occult law can make nature 
 parallel this magnet, for the universe itself moves only be- 
 cause of the current which flows from positive to negative— 
 from one-half of matter into the other half, continuously. Here, 
 now, is an occult secret:— make a place of separation in this, 
 the Fire of Life, and where the poles come in contact there 
 shall force be in action. This block of stone, the door, is an 
 armature in a natural field of force. Here on the ground is 
 another. ' ' 
 
 Putting the door stone back in place, Quong drew a circle 
 on the ground about a foot across. Then in this circle a 
 couple of lines in a simple cross, one north and south, the 
 other east and west. As the four ends of the cross were 
 contacted with the circle, a tall, steady flame sprang up, its 
 spear shaped cone trembling within itself, but being wholly 
 kfunfluenced by the wind, which had some time before commenced 
 ' blowing in vigorous gusts. Then said the Tchin : 
 
272 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 "Behold the Vis Mortuus. Of all mankind only an occult 
 student could bring it forth; only such a one could put it out, 
 unless by accident. Touch it not; 'twould be fatal, on the 
 principle that the greater contains all lesser forces, and it 
 would instantly absorb the force of life, or of wind or wave, 
 or projectile; it exists visibly here because on a thaumaturgic 
 symbol. You think that symbol might as well be of any other 
 form? So think those who comprehend not. See that moth 
 darting about the flame of the light; it will enter, but not be 
 burnt; no, quicker— see ! it touches, and disappears, and leaves 
 no sign— yet the light is not hot, no, not even warm. I will put 
 it out." 
 
 Suiting his action to the word, he drew a stick through 
 beneath the dust on which the circle was described, and the 
 light in that instant was gone. Then another circle made he, 
 drew but one line across it, north and south, then stepped 
 into the figure, one of his feet on each semi-circle. Immedi- 
 ately his whole person was covered with a brilliant flame, so 
 that he appeared on fire. I was exceedingly terrified. 
 
 ' ' Do not fear for me ! It is well with me. The other flame 
 was negative odicity, and would have instantly been fatal to 
 whatever motion touched it and have disintegrated its form; 
 yea, a rock thrown into it would at once have disintegrated, or 
 a cannon ball discharged from the muzzle of the piece would 
 have fared the same. But this is a positive flaming of the Vis 
 Naturae, and preserves life. I might stand here till the cen- 
 turies mounted and be not weary, nor hungry, nor sick ; eat not, 
 nor drink, yet live; for this keeps all things untouched by 
 time, as when they enter it. No difference in symbolic figures, 
 think you now? Indeed, yes. But my soul will not progress; 
 so that ease of living though its use offers, I care not to 
 employ its aid, except that when weary it gives me rest; ill, 
 it restores health." 
 
 He broke the circle with his foot, and coming away, swung 
 back the door-stone again and stepped within the tunnel dis- 
 closed behind it.* I followed, the door was replaced, and I 
 
 NOTE. — This was in one of the walls of one of the vast canyons 
 which seam the sides of Mount Shasta, in Northern California. — Author. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 273 
 
 found that the passage led into the mountain. I was still think- 
 ing of the biblical legend of the rolling away of the stone from 
 the mouth of the sepulchre of Jesus the Christ, and paralleling 
 it with this act of the Tchin — aware now that neither were 
 miracles, but manifestations of higher natural law— when we 
 began to walk along the hall of the tunnel I followed closely 
 in the rear of my guide, whom I could hear but not see, for 
 since the closing of the door-stone the blackness was apalling 
 in its intensity. Mistrusting this blind guidance, I approached 
 the wall, that I might feel my way, when suddenly all about 
 me shone a marvellous white light. It was not emanent from 
 any point, but all the air was luminous, for I observed that 
 nothing cast a shadow, either below, above or on any side. 
 'Twas the same marvellous light I had once before seen in the 
 cavern we had found together. After going about two hun- 
 dred feet we came to a door made apparently of bronze covered 
 with artistic cameo and intaglio figures of men and animals 
 ranged about a double triangle inside of a circle. This door 
 gave entrance to a large circular chamber not less than sixty 
 feet across, with dome-like ceiling ten or a dozen feet high at 
 its junction with the wall, but over twenty feet in the center. 
 The same wonderful illumination was omnipresent in this great 
 apartment as in the hall outside. But I asked no questions— 
 I deemed observation the better way. Here it was that Quong 
 temporarily left me, going into another room through a nar- 
 row doorway closed by a portiere. I devoted the time to look- 
 ing about me, examining the surroundings. I found that the 
 chamber, like its approach, was hallowed from the living rock, 
 only that while the beginning of the hallway was in a basalt 
 cliff, the room was in a different formation, being in mineral 
 bearing rock. The central part of the walls and ceiling cut 
 across a wide vein of gold-bearing gray quartz of hard texture. 
 This lode, fully twenty-five feet wide, had on one side a granite 
 ledge, and on the other red prophyry of the variety chiefly 
 found in the quarries of upper Egypt. Beyond the granite 
 was another lode of metalliferous rock, and in this one side of 
 the room was reached without cutting into other veins. The 
 
274 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 prophyry almost completed its side of the chamber, but not 
 quite, as a second body of gold quartz was intersected, but 
 not cut through. Now imagine the extreme beauty of such 
 walls as these when polished like glass, thus enhancing the 
 veinings of the clouded rock and brilliant beauty of silver 
 and gold— both native and in their ores— and not a few other 
 metals and minerals. 
 
 The makers of the wonderful room had ' ' builded like giants 
 and finished like jewellers." But how had such an enormous 
 task been accomplished, and when? A town of many hun- 
 dreds of people lay but a few miles distant ; but the inhabitants 
 knew nothing of all this. It did not occur to me in explanation 
 that its builders were of the Lothinian Brotherhood, am! had 
 formed their temple by the disintegrating force of the Vis 
 Mortuus, into which I had seen Quong cast a stone and had 
 witnessed its instantaneous disappearance. It was lor.^ after- 
 wards ere I, musing o'er memory's pages, thought of this solu- 
 tion to the puzzle of the existence of the Sach, or Sagum. But 
 when I did, I knew it for the truth; knew that neither pick 
 nor drill, nor any tool of human kind had Le**n used, an.i that 
 what I had thought the result of years of patient toil was but 
 the work of a short time. Yet this was the faci, my friends ! 
 
 On the floor was a carpet of oriental variety. The fabric 4 
 was of long fibres woven together at one end, but loose like 
 hair at the other; in color a quiet gray. A foot-fall upon it 
 gave no sound whatever, any more than would a carpet of 
 eider down. Around the sides of the Sagum extended a wide 
 divan, continuous except at the three entrances. Covering it 
 and depending from its edges was the same silky fabric as lay 
 upon the floor. The one article of movable furniture in sight 
 was a singular looking stand made of brass, which stood in 
 the middle of the apartment. Its top indicated that it was 
 used as a brazier. I would have made sure of its real use, but 
 refrained from asking, not desiring to appear curious. 
 
 " Indeed, ask questions if you wish," said Quong, who had 
 just returned. "Have no fear of seeming inquisitive. That is, 
 as you suppose, a censer; its use will appear." - 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 275 
 
 I was again astonished at my friend's occult powers, for 
 his answer proved a clear case of mind reading. I now felt 
 an unconquerable sense of fatigue and sleepiness, and with- 
 out saying anything, or* asking permit as I might more courte- 
 ously have done, and would but for my being so sleepily stupid, 
 sat down on the divan, and then reclined at full length ; but this 
 act seemed to arouse me so that I could not sleep. I tried very 
 determinedly to do so ere finally admitting to myself that it 
 seemed impossible. 
 
 "So you can't sleep? I will aid you." 
 
 Again the Tchin had fathomed my wish, for I had hoped as a 
 last resort that he would offer to put me to sleep, having 
 myself no doubt of his power to do so. He leaned over me, and 
 touched a knob in the wall; a small door flew open, disclosing 
 a number of shelves. From one of these Quong took a peculiar 
 looking flute of reed pipe. Placing it to his lips he began play- 
 ing an air which had a very familiar sound. Like some sweet, 
 half -forgotten memory floating back from "Lang Syne," bring- 
 ing an exquisite sense of pleasure and pathetic pain— so the 
 wild, sweet notes brought to my mind a faint, indistinct recol- 
 lection of some former delight. In trying to remember where— 
 what— remember when— ah, me— sleep had overtaken my 
 senses. 
 
 It matters little how long I slumbered, whether minutes or 
 hours ; yet it must have been hours. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 TAKE THEREFORE NO THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. 
 
 When I awoke, rich, delicate perfumes, and the low hum of 
 voices greeted my still slumberous senses. On opening my 
 eyes, I found that Quong was by my side, having either re- 
 mained while I slept, or returned before I roused. In the cen- 
 ter of the room, sitting on the floor, I saw about a dozen people, 
 
276 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 each clad in a long gray robe. Quong had one of these robes 
 on his person, and to my astonishment, I found myself attired 
 in like manner. A high caste Thibetan, two Hindoo pundits 
 and Egyptian were, excepting Quong, the only foreign breth- 
 ren, the remaining persons being American and English. The 
 Egyptian was to the Sakaza what the Grand Master is to a 
 Masonic fraternity. Understand that he was not a teacher in 
 the sense that a professor in a college is an instructor. He 
 was in himself more of the Way, more of the Truth, more of 
 the Life of God than any other present. And hence, as in him- 
 self the highest plane, he stood before the rest as a pinnacle 
 each might study, and rise unto. This man alone was standing. 
 Perceiving that I had awakened, Quong said : 
 "Let us seat ourselves in the circle, brother, that the cere- 
 monies of the evening may commence." 
 
 When seated we formed two in a circle of ten persons, ar- 
 ranged in a ring in the center of the chamber, our hands 
 clasped on either side by our neighbors, and so around the 
 circle. In its center stood the brazen censer, and beside it the 
 Grand Master. Presently this person began to speak in the 
 best of English, giving a clear, concise statement of the wisdom- 
 religion of the Lothinians. He disclaimed the idea that any- 
 thing which was performed under occult law could be a miracle, 
 and declared that no miracle had ever yet taken place in the 
 world, because a miracle would be a contravention of law— 
 and what was a violation of law but evil ? It being evil, Jesus 
 the Christ would have been the last ever to have worked one. 
 Not a man or woman, it was asserted— and it is true— compre- 
 hends how these laws operate, or understands anything of their 
 nature, unless such man or woman is an occult student. The 
 world of science is more ignorant of these mysterious forces 
 of Nature than even the sect styled "Spiritualists," for these 
 do comprehend a little, but so very, very little as to expose 
 them to fearful dangers, handling as they do forces so terrible 
 when abused, that their field of operation might well give 
 pause to the wisest ere they trod therein. Yet science soon 
 shall know, following the Cross-Bearer. 
 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 277 
 
 Beyond admitting me to free hearing of what was said and 
 done, no notice other than salutatory courtesy was paid me; 
 that is, I was not invested with any membership degrees; no 
 degrees can be conferred, for each is in self the degree rep- 
 resented. But the Adept, as I clearly perceivd, had spoken 
 so personally direct, that I knew he addressed me. This was 
 when he said: 
 
 "There is within this sacred place of meeting one who hath 
 studied deeply; studied as scientific modernism contemplates 
 all life, and ever hath the study filled him with melancholy, 
 yea, even despair. He hath questioned of the stars, ' What art 
 thou?' and no reply hath been given beyond that which astron- 
 omy ever returns— 'Worlds, suns, blazing orbs, mighty beyond 
 power of mentality to conceive.' And of the grass, and it 
 hath said, 'I am of cells aggregated and vitalized by the spirit 
 of nature.' The animal hath replied, but in Darwinian terms: 
 'I am a form evolutionized, and come up from protoplasm.' 
 Man has he seen to be at the apex of animal life, and so he 
 says of himself : * Lo ! there is naught but at one end the simple 
 cell; at the other a complexity of cells aggregated. But to 
 me the world and all its forms speak of action, and eternity; 
 but of the immortality of man, of a soul or a spirit, or of God- 
 nay, no word! Death ends all!' my brother! speaketh not 
 this joy, these griefs of thine, to thee of aught but mgnetic 
 vibration? Art thou blind to the message of God that the 
 'vibratory' joy or grief or 'unconscious cerebral action,' 
 whereby thou comest to a given knowledge, is but the method 
 of thy life ? And the animal, saith it not : ' Lo ! I am a soul, and 
 this animal body is fit tool for my soul powers, which, if they 
 increase beyond the power of the tool to express, force me 
 (the ego controlling) to cast it aside and seek a fitter tool in a 
 body suited to my progress. ' And saith not man to thee : 
 '0 brother in darkness, I am at the apex of animal life, truly; 
 in my admirably adapted physical body is a fit tool to prose- 
 cute to the utmost any and all material processes. It brings 
 me to the wall of all physical life, and behold! it enables me, 
 the ego, to reach the top of this wall, and find that I am a 
 
278 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 spirit, not a vital stone. And because of my sight, I will leave 
 behind the pursuit of materiality for that of spirituality, and 
 go even unto my Father's house, where are many mansions 
 (conditions) of spirit, but where matter breaketh not in to 
 corrupt nor steal the treasures.' Who hath asked, let him 
 hear me. I have spoken. May peace be with thee." 
 
 I thought my friend Quong was speaking in a humorous 
 vein when he said that the Adept, whose name was Mendocus, 
 had not so much as opened his lips, or used his vocal organs 
 at all. Not so, however; I was mistaken. Quong read my 
 thought, and said : 
 
 "Nay, my brother, not in jest! Each of us has heard Men- 
 docus, and to each it seemed that his national tongue was 
 used; to me, my own; to you and five others, Anglo-Saxon; 
 to the Hindoo pundits, their tongue. Because Mendocus spoke 
 from his soul unto ours is the reason of this seeming paradox. 
 
 I thought at once of my Bible, which was a treasure to me 
 above all other books, and of the passage wherein it is written : 
 
 "Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came 
 together and were confounded, because that every man heard 
 them speak in his own language." 
 
 In answer to the unspoken thought, Mendocus, the Adept, 
 turned to me and said: 
 
 "Verily, they spoke unto the souls of that multitude; it 
 was no miracle, but law. The Bible is sound occult doctrine so 
 far as the matter in it has escaped the revisers, and worse than 
 revisers— the Roman Catholic interpolaters and twisters of its 
 truths. Thou doest well to read it; I have read it through 
 eighty-seven times." 
 
 Here another brother joined with the remark: "The hearers 
 and the speakers were to each other as a perfectly attuned 
 violin to its bow— every string ready to respond to the least 
 master-touch. ' ' 
 
 To this Mendocus added: 
 
 "They heard the speakers as thou heardst me, not with ears, 
 for no aerial connection is needed between souls in sympathy, 
 but the consciousness of what was said existed asjloes the c >n- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 279 
 
 thoughts that thine ears may convey to thy consciousness what 
 sciousness of one's own thoughts; thou needst not speak thy 
 thoughts thou thinkest. Neither are thine ears of more use in 
 comprehending me. Yet because the thoughts did not orig- 
 inate in thy brain, but in mine, and so were external to thine 
 inner consciousness, therefore thou didst suppose that thou 
 heardst me with thine ears, when it was thy soul which under- 
 stood, for my voice I used not. ' ' 
 
 I now understood, in the light of the mind-reading power 
 which these students had revealed, why no question had been 
 put to me concerning my life, my thoughts or will in regard 
 to affiliation with themselves ; they knew these things, through 
 this ability, without asking. 
 
 Mendocus, Master, now requested attention from all pres- 
 ent, and then made an invocation to God and to all occult initi- 
 ates in this world and elsewhere in the universe. At the con- 
 clusion of this petition, he slowly raised his right hand, whence, 
 after half a minute, he dropped it to his side and bowed his 
 head. The wonderful light commenced to wane and, simul- 
 taneously with its disappearance, a blinding flash of light- 
 seemed to dart from the ceiling overhead, striking the censer 
 by his side. Then succeeded that inky blackness which fol- 
 lows the midnight flashing of the lightning of heaven; but 
 it was not destined to last very long. Soon in the deep dark- 
 ness there was a noticeable lightening which continued to in- 
 crease until the whole interior of the Sagum was illumined 
 by a lurid glow which rendered every object clearly visible. 
 Like the other, it seemed not to emanate from any particular 
 point, but as if the entire atmosphere were like red-hot iron- 
 self luminous. The next instant I observed that the faces of 
 the Lothins had assumed an exceedingly ghastly hue, blood- 
 less in appearance as are the countenances of dead men. Their 
 pallor was soon explained, however, when my eyes fell on the 
 brazen censer standing in our midst. The gaze of every brother 
 was fixed with unwavering intensity upon a small globe of 
 blue fire which rested on the fire-pan. I noticed also that the 
 self -luminosity of the atmosphere was gone, and that the light 
 
280 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 from the blue globe cast shadows. Although in size it was not 
 larger than a filbert, yet its intensity counteracted the lurid- 
 ness of the air. It was beautiful in the extreme, but not 
 dazzling. On the contrary it was cool and calm, resting the 
 eyes. Evidently the light was the same as the positive naming 
 of the Vis Naturae with which I had seen the Tchin envelop 
 himself. It trembled and quivered like a globule of molten, 
 boiling metal. 
 
 Such absolute silence reigned, not even a sound of breathing 
 being audible— that I turned a quick glance on my friends. 
 Except for the glitter in their eyes as they gazed on the blue 
 light, every one would have seemed only a perfect but non- 
 vital semblance of a human being. Then my gaze reverted 
 to the object which centered the common attention. It had 
 been growing, and, now of a size of half a dozen inches, was 
 gloriously beautiful. Although I had seen no human agency 
 concerned in its creation, yet I felt that it was produced by the 
 occult knowledge of which I had witnessed so many other man- 
 ifestations. Mind over matter. Marvellous, novel— all this 
 to me, but I knew it was not miracle, although magical. ' ' What 
 is magic?"— do you ask? Magic is the comprehension of laws 
 not ordinarily possible to grasp by means of physical experi- 
 ment, because their phenomena in general lie higher than the 
 physical realm ; just a little lower than mental or psychic opera- 
 tions, and partaking of the last to a major extent. 
 
 As I watched the blue globe, I gradually became en rapport 
 with the mental condition of the Lothins about me. Instead of 
 wondering what were to be the perfected dimensions, and what 
 the object of this glowing ball, I contentedly watched it, with 
 a sense of perfect knowledge of its ultimate size and use. But 
 this intuition aroused in my mind no train of disturbing con- 
 jecture. I thought of nothing, absolutely nothing, taking^ no 
 thought for the morrow, or the next moment. My intelligent 
 friend, try this once; try to think of nothing; to have no 
 thought, not even the one that you are not thinking. I doubt 
 your success in the attainment of such a state of mind; but if 
 you are, happily, successful, you will remember to. the end of 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 281 
 
 your allotted years on earth how great was the sense of rest, 
 of peace, of perfect joy, felt— not thought of— in that mo- 
 ment. Could you attain and then retain such a mental state 
 for half an hour, you would become clairvoyant and clairaudi- 
 ent during that time, and both see and hear across the leagues 
 of earth ; aye ! and be conscious of futurity, so that a prophecy 
 then made by you would be found to come true in every detail, 
 though its scope was over years mounting to centuries. You 
 must perceive, then, what a beautiful condition the Lothins 
 enjoy:— the whole present, and each way, from the present 
 almost to eternity, is theirs to know. These states of mind are 
 protracted with them, and in the quiescence which is theirs at 
 such times, they find themselves en rapport with the architect 
 of the world, and know His ways. Like Job are they then:— 
 hearing of Him by the hearing of the ear, their eyes also be- 
 hold Him.* Some few of God's works they can do, many more 
 of them they can understand, laying the line on the founda- 
 tions of the earth; entering the springs of the sea, knowing 
 where light hath its way, and the place of darkness and the 
 bounds thereof; yea, in this still time of their souls God opens 
 to them even the gates of death, through which they go and 
 return. But though they know all this— and so, friend, might 
 you, too— yet it is because the Creator shows them the paths 
 unto the place thereof; and He will show you if you enter the 
 occult door through which Christ has gone unto the Father. 
 Follow Him, and greater things than these shall ye do. 
 
 Mendocus, Master, now perceived that the lurid glow of the 
 atmosphere had been neutralized by the light of the blue 
 sphere, which, full twelve inches through, rested motionless 
 in completion, its glorious, radiant center of entrancing love- 
 liness. He raised his hand slightly, as if giving an unspoken 
 command. Upon this the sphere of light rose to a height of 
 perhaps eight feet from the floor, where it hung without visible 
 means of support. Again the hand waved in command, and 
 the sphere moved horizontally over our heads to a point 
 about fifteen feet from the center of the chamber. Here it 
 
 ♦Job xlii— 6. 
 
282 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 was permitted to remain. Although every one present was 
 intuitively aware of all that was about to occur, I will describe 
 every incident for the benefit of my readers. FolJowiug the 
 pure blue light came a sphere of intense indigo color upon the 
 brazier, its process the same as that of its predecessor, ami 
 when complete it was assigned position thirteen feet from its 
 neighbor, on the same eight-foot plane. Next came a sphere 
 of violet, of equally intense "brilliancy, differing only in color, 
 not size. Then followed a globe of pure red, then one of 
 orange, another of pure yellow, and lastly one of glorious 
 green. Every one was at the same height from the floor, an:! 
 equidistant, approximately, from its neighbors. Any attempt 
 at describing the extreme beauty of these iris-hued spheres 
 would indeed be futile, as they hung, motionless, above our 
 heads. 
 
 Once again the Master gave silent order, and the spheres 
 began to move horizontally around their common center. Slowly 
 at first, gradually the speed increased until persistence of 
 vision presented them to the sight as a great circle of light 
 ninety feet in circumference; nevertheless the orbital revolu- 
 tion did not in any degree merge the colors into becoming 
 white light. And now an additional feature of beauty was 
 presented:— as the seeming ring sped around, from each of its 
 compound globes a shaft colored like its parent was simul- 
 taneously projected horizontally to the center, when, from 
 the junction a perpendicular column of light of purest white 
 went forth, upward and downward, the one to the great quartz 
 crystal in the ceiling overhead, the other to the carpet of gray 
 below, for the censer had been removed from underneath. 
 Thus was presented the spectacle of an enormous wheel, axle, 
 spokes and rim, revolving at great speed, and all formed of 
 imponderable light. Though it rested on the carpet, there was 
 no scorching, for this was but Viviant Fire— positive, not the 
 negative Yis Mortuus. Buddhism symbolizes the latter ele- 
 ment as "Siva"— the destroyer; it is the Fire of Death, the 
 one wherein I had seen the moth perish and the stone disap- 
 pear. There is an esoteric Buddhism as well as an-exoteric, or 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 283 
 
 religion of the masses, and the names of Siva and Vishnu, 
 which to the exoterist are names of personal Gods— of the 
 Destroyer and the Preserver respectively— are to the esoterist 
 merely the terms distinguishing the obverse and reverse as- 
 pects of Nature, that is, growth and statiety, change and de- 
 struction. 
 
 Would power like this of the Lothins ever be mine? It 
 seemed to me that if Mendocus, Master, had come to such 
 wisdom, he, being but a man, could not do more than I— we 
 were both souls. The wondrous temple in the heart of the 
 mountain ; the lighting of the darkness ; the lifting of the great 
 stone at the entrance; the Vis Viva and the Vis Mortuus— all 
 this that I had seen and was to see, was only the work of men 
 who had, in their calmness of soul and purity of heart and 
 body, done these things because the Christ-Spirit, in the pure 
 of heart, is perfect human and extends unto the Father. Could 
 I not hope to attain the power of doing likewise! I asked 
 myself, and knew that I could, for I was then in the peace of 
 clairvoyance. Yet I saw not all that must intervene— not all 
 the events of the nearer future, nothing of them, in fact, but 
 only the more distant perspective of my soul's destiny. 
 
 ' ' Verily, ' ' said Mendocus, ' ' but not now ; not until a time of 
 trial be past. To thee, as to all other occult neophytes, will 
 come moments of darkest doubt, and thy very soul will w T eep in 
 the agony of despair. No, thou will not doubt the truth of her- 
 metic wisdom at any time, but thine ability to acquire it oniy. 
 Study, then, the principles of truth, not its phenomena only. 
 For its own sake it is more to be desired than its works, and 
 though usually less attractive to neophytes. Thy doubts will 
 be born of an imperfect conception of thine own self— a want 
 of perception of symmetry ; giving undue proportion to certain 
 facts, and upon finding these of less importance than thy con- 
 ception of them originally painted, thy heart will fail thee, 
 for in themselves they are great, and if comparison declares 
 them small, what power shall grasp the greater? Then will 
 it be that thou wilt fear thou art but finite, and these things 
 infinite, and thou wilt say to thy soul: "My weakness is to 
 
284 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 these things as packthread wherewith to draw leviathau. ' ' But 
 this is not so, for no creature is more than the Creator, and 
 thou art of the Father and joint Creator with Him. What shall 
 prevail? Only Faith like that of the Spirit that over lighteth 
 Jesus and all them that triumph over time. Woe unto thee if 
 thou shall faint while buffeting the billows of doubt. Miserably 
 indeed is the lot of such a one, for, debarred from the society 
 of the Brothers because of his faint heart, he is yet possessed 
 of a knowledge of something purer, better, higher than the 
 ordinary ambitions of humanity. After his glimpse into the 
 greater possibilities of his being, he disdains to resume his 
 former sense-relations with the world. He can not descend 
 to the world's level, nor raise his fellow man to his own height. 
 So through the rest of his life on earth he is alone. My friend, 
 there is no solitude so drear as he hath who is in the world, 
 but not of it. Wilt thou venture onwards, braving this peril? 
 At this point there is yet a chance of return without incurring 
 the danger which follows when further advanced. Set not 
 thy hand to the plow if thou canst not go to the end of the 
 furrow; it is long and difficult to follow. The world hath not 
 so hard a task as this to impose in all its power. I offer thee 
 option. ' ' 
 
 Mendocus now watched me as I pondered the proposition. 
 I felt that I could not in any event resume the old life ; within 
 me the fire was already alight, and the Sword of the Lord 
 had cut off the old from the new, so that I felt it was between 
 me and the past. No; "Onward, Christian Soldier," must be 
 my song leading to victory. I was decided in my mind, though 
 I had not as yet said so ; but I had no need to utter aloud my 
 decision, although, forgetting this fact, I was about to do so, 
 when Mendocus said : 
 
 "Thou hast, then, decided to go onward. I am sorrowful 
 because of it. For though thou shalt come forth at last as gold 
 burned in the fire, yet the ordeal confronting thee is fierce. 
 But I will not allow that thy feet go alone ; for that were un- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 285 
 
 wise. I will so do for thee that the step be not irretrievable, 
 lest it perchance be as I fear. 0, Brother! I fear me woe is 
 thine!" 
 
 After this decision I was required to take vows of secrecy, 
 whereby I was bound not to reveal any part of what I should 
 learn in any manner which might give the hearer of my words 
 practical use of what I told him. I might drop a hint which 
 might be followed as a clue to the Voiceless Silences to where 
 blooms the Flower of Life; but, beyond a hint, my friend, I 
 can tell you nothing. Of hints I have given many. Nor, were 
 I to disregard my word, and divulge secrets of immediate work- 
 ing value, would you thank me. No, rather would you curse 
 me. Why? Suppose we wit an instance: Suppose I were to 
 reveal the secret of the Vis Mortuus, would you thank me? 
 It is, I remember, that force which may be projected in all 
 its fatal strength to any distance and which is personified in 
 the famous poem, "The Destruction of Sennacherib" — in the 
 line: 
 
 "The Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast. " 
 
 Suppose I revealed that secret? How long w T ould it be ere 
 the world would find that the unscrupulous amongst men were 
 using it to work undetectable murder ? And its uses are many 
 besides— for it is the principle in nature which governs trans- 
 mutation, disintegration, decay, destruction, death. All these 
 but never does it build anew— it is Siva, the Destroyer. Used 
 aright, it is a beneficent force, for without it there would be no 
 progress in nature, because no change could occur— there could 
 not even be retrogression, but utter stagnation. Its sign is 
 Much as that means to me, it can be but a hint to you. Study it 
 if you will, and one day it shall be revealed to you. In reason 
 you can no longer ask why occult matters are so imperatively 
 secret, for it must be evident that this fair earth w^ould be 
 made by the unscrupulous into a very hell of misery and crime, 
 were they not thus secret. For a time those who chose to sub- 
 vert their knowledge would seem to thrive and prosper, even 
 though the world about them suffered. But subversion of the 
 law is violation, and the penalty at last visited is in tenfold 
 
286 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 degree upon those who went astray in their blindness and sin. 
 It would cause them to curse the giver of such wisdom. Nine- 
 tenths of the people of this world are unable to govern them- 
 selves well ; they cannot in saneness expect to be made sharers 
 of such awful knowledge as Siva represents. Men and women 
 are really not following the Christ until every part of their 
 own nature is held in an iron grasp of merciless subjection to 
 high principles. But study, my friends, study. Christianize 
 the money power of this world, so that capital shall not work 
 harm to men but good, and from good thus born the karma of 
 the world will lead to the goodness of heart which gives calm- 
 ness of soul; in that calmness your study will bear fruit, and 
 then it will not be a mockery, in seeming, of your hopes for me 
 to say "Study!" I rejoice in those earnest workers whose 
 motto is:— "Look up, not down; look out, not in; look for- 
 ward, and not back, and lend a hand." Only this: the occult 
 student gazes in, and not out! But these are not esoterists. 
 Their name shall one day be great in the world, and though 
 you who desire to study and know occult truths now may not 
 see your hopes fruit in your present incarnation, yet in coming 
 lives you will grasp these truths which elude you at present. 
 Follow Him. 
 
 Before me, Mendocus, Master, had opened a view of life 
 so radically different from the old, restless existence, that 
 my heart grew warm, regardless of his prophecy that bitter 
 woe was perhaps to be my portion ere I could enter the haven 
 of my desires. The fact was that my optimistic nature de- 
 ceived me with a hope that somehow I could manage to avoid 
 the threatened sorrow, and, having escaped its menace, could 
 go happily onward. Alas, poor me ! I knew nothing of karma, 
 and in that day knew nothing of Zailm of Poseid. Else, had I 
 known, I would have trembled when the Master expressed his 
 fears for my sake. I saw before me a great ocean of wisdom, 
 flashing in the light of truth, its horizon defined only by the 
 voyager's temporary inability to go farther, its' depth measur- 
 able only by that of the Universe. Free from the dogmatism of 
 cramping creeds, and of superstition, that ocean -reaches out 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 287 
 
 into the eternity which enshrouds the stars as well as the dust 
 in mystery— that mystery which veils the Creator from the 
 created— veils it from the joint Creator, man, too, just so long 
 as his soul shall lean to creation instead of to the Creator, his 
 Father. Veils it until the aeons of time shall be swallowed up 
 in eternity— beyond the stars, Earth, Venus, and Mars, when 
 man shall cease to be man in becoming more than man, and Life 
 the Less be gathered into Nirvana, sum of all the parts. I 
 repeat it— sum of all the parts— for it is not in any wise that 
 horrible cesation of being which Sanscrit scholars have inter- 
 preted the word " Nirvana ' r to mean. They have miscon- 
 ceived the facts ; it is not the end of life, except Life the Less— 
 any more than the statement "God is nothing" (that is, not one 
 tiling, but the sum of all things) should be construed as a 
 denial of the being of God, the Eternal Father of Life. 
 
 A change had come over the Master. Up to the present his 
 attention had been that of one controlling a process. Now, 
 with his back to the shaft of the wheel of light, he stood 
 beside the censer, looking upward, his gaze like that of one 
 beholding a sight pleasing, yet absorbing. At last he bowed 
 his head and said: 
 
 "Welcome Mol Lang, friend and brother !" 
 
 I saw no one, but was aware that the person addressed 
 could not be one of the Sach. Mendocus, Master, turned to 
 the brazier by his elbow and struck it lightly with his outspread 
 fingers, whereupon the fire pan became red hot. Then he 
 thrust his hand into a pouch depending from his waist and 
 drew it out filled with a white powder, which he cast on the 
 fire plate, producing a dense white smoke. I regarded this as 
 a mere ceremonial offering of incense, and thought it savored 
 of superstition, for I had now lost my intuitive perceptive 
 power, and could only depend on conjecture. This idea was 
 scarcely formed ere abandoned, for the cloud of smoke rapidly 
 took the human form, into which the solid appearance of 
 genuine personality was introduced as the incense consumed, 
 until upon the glowing stand stood a man of commanding 
 presence. 
 
288 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Some men seem to be not of any distinctive nationality, but 
 very citizens of the world, or, even more largely, representa- 
 tives of the race, and one feels that they might be of this 
 world or of any other capable of supporting human life. Such 
 was the man before us. He was addressed by Mendocus as, 
 Mol Lang, of Pertoz;— and though I knew no such country, 
 I unquestioningly accepted this appellation. 
 
 His deep-set eyes, under massive brows, and a head of similar 
 contour to that of the philosopher Socrates; his snowy hair 
 and long, white beard, together with a soldierly erectness oL' 
 person, made Mol Lang, the Pertozian, the very personifica- 
 tion of occult wisdom, from my point of view; nor was I far 
 wrong. His turban, which in fact was blue, mottled with 
 brown, seemed, chameleon like, to assume different colors as 
 the vari-colored spokes of the wheel of light passed by, not 
 through him, but he through them. He wore a long, gray 
 robe, depending from the shoulders and belted at the waist. 
 On his feet, of goodly, delicate shape, were sandals. 
 
 The Pertozian stooped and put his hand on the shoulder 
 of the Master, making some remark, the import of which I 
 did not catch, then stepped to the floor with a light bound, 
 and with Mendocus went to the divan and sat down, engaging 
 in an earnest conversation, which they held secret from the 
 knowledge of the others. Do you ask where our clairaudient, 
 mind reading ability was, that this converse should have been 
 unknown to any of us? Unless one who knows that mind 
 readers present are apt to exercise their ability, desires to 
 have them share his thoughts, they can not. He preserves as 
 an almost unconscious habit the mental desire of having his 
 thoughts remain impenetrable, and to such a will no human 
 power can pierce the barrier it sets. 
 
 At length they returned to our circle, and Mendocus seated 
 himself with us. The visitor then said : 
 
 "Though the men of Lothus have known others of my fellow 
 Pertozians, few heretofore have known me; none, indeed, bu 1 , 
 thy Master. I am come to induct one of thy number into the 
 land of the departed, while another I take home with myself. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 289 
 
 To you, Lothins, I need not say that the body is like unto a 
 coat, to be put off or on at pleasure — by those who know how. 
 I say this only for him known in the world as Walter Pierson— 
 but unto me as Phylos. And some day the world will hear of 
 him as Phylos the Thibetan, yet shall he not reside in Thibet 
 in Asia, but shall be so called because he shall for a time live 
 on the soul plane of the occult Adepts of Thibet. Unto thee, 
 then, Phylos, I say when thou shalt be free of thy mundane 
 body, then if thou wouldst go to any sphere of heaven, unto 
 Neptune, or any planet or star, thou hast but to desire such 
 transference of thyself, and it is accomplished. Wilt thou 
 go with me this night, which is now nearly morning?" 
 
 Where was this I was asked to go? I knew not clearly 
 whether he meant the soul realm, or in fact just where he 
 did mean to go. But my faith was strong, and I replied : 
 
 ''Whither thou goest, I go also, for I have faith in thee that 
 thou wilt do me no hurt." 
 
 The faith inspired in that hour by the gentle dignity and 
 kindly love I saw beaming from those deep-set, calm gray 
 eyes, has known in all these subsequent years no cause for 
 regret; nor for the action which my faith then inspired me 
 to make, has this heart any but a feeling of supreme thank- 
 fulness that the Christ-Spirit then put it into my soul to 
 have that faith. I fancy I hear some reader, timid at the pros- 
 pect of trying the unknown— which might for all I knew at 
 the moment iuclude my corporeal death— saying: "How 
 came it that you felt so sure of Mol Lang; did you not fear 
 he was a devil?" No, I did not, for I was under the protec- 
 tion of goodly men, into whose midst no demon could enter 
 more than night can reign beneath the noon-day sun. At 
 least one of my protectors (Mendocus) had arrived at a finality 
 so far as earth's present cyclic age can teach; the physical 
 nature had no secrets from him; but the illimitable realms of 
 the Father hold many "mansions" besides the universe of 
 matter and the house of light, or the dwelling place of dark- 
 ness. In this mansion of the material universe nothing re- 
 mained for Mendocus to gain; he stayed but to give. Death 
 
290 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 had no power over him; he was supra-mundane, and until 
 himself otherwise elected, he must live ; only the word of God 
 (the true Logos) by himself invoged could " loose the silver 
 cord. ' ' Would you, protected by such an one, fear demoniacal 
 influences ? One other query of the multitude you may desire to 
 ask, I will answer. You enquire how these highly favored ones 
 of God can be certain of the truth of their intuitive percep- 
 tions—and I answer: the man who lives in his spiritual nature 
 does not believe, but knows that his being is one with God 
 the Father— the Great Parent. And his spirit speaks by the 
 voice of intuition, informing him by a single flash of that 
 which otherwise he would be long years in learning by external 
 methods of investigation, if, indeed, externality could ever 
 impart the knowledge. His spirit gives him from its own 
 source— the Father— an effortless, instantaneous perception of 
 facts, principles and things. I am reminded of the words of 
 Mol Lang to me in this connection: "Phylos, some day thou 
 wilt comprehend this:— Earth is a letter in a seven-fold alpha- 
 bet; the stellar universe is but one book; its pages truly are 
 myriad, its chapters legion, yet, besides this book, the library 
 of the Creator is of endless number." 
 
 It occurred to me that we were the ones who should thank 
 our visitor, and he not thank us at the conclusion of his re- 
 marks, for it seemed to me a lecture of wonderful power. A 
 few minutes later he turned to me and said : 
 
 "Phylos, art thou ready to go with me now?" 
 
 I replied affirmatively, as did Quong, whom the visitor 
 called Semla, when the same question was put to him. 
 
 Gravely the Brethren arose and took the hands of the Tchin 
 in their own, as one by one they said to him,— as to one going 
 into a far country to return not for years, and perhaps not 
 forever — " Semla, may the peace of God attend thee evermore; 
 fare thee well." Then Mendocus, Master, said:— "Semla, my 
 peace I give unto thee. ' ' 
 
 I noted the difference in valedictory, and at another time 
 asked of Mol Lang and received the explanation that while the 
 Brethren could not give peace, not yet themselves perfectly 
 
THE DIVIDING OP THE WAY. 291 
 
 possessing it, Mendocus, Master, having it himself could give 
 it, especially to one who, like Semla, was so near its attain- 
 ment. To all these Semla said, quietly: 
 
 "Peace do I wish thee." 
 
 To me no such farewells were accorded, for they said "We 
 shall see thee here again." This to me was unpleasant, in the 
 frame of mind I was in, but I concealed my feelings as well as 
 I was able, and replied as kindly as they spoke. Then Mol 
 Lang said "Come." 
 
 He started forward to the door of the Sagum, and I should 
 have followed without looking back, had it not seemed as if 
 some one touched me. Imagining that some Brother wished 
 to speak with me and had thus called my attention, I turned 
 and saw that which will never fade from the tablets of mem- 
 ory! Lying on the long, soft silk of the carpet was a human 
 form. Looking more closely I saw that this was my own 
 physical form— my body, my materiality, in short. In the act 
 of raising it from the recumbent position were four of the 
 brethren— two on each side. Others were doing a similar act 
 for the corporeal shell of Semla. It was my consciousness 
 that something was being done to my earthly body which I 
 had mistaken for a touch. It had not occurred to me that I 
 was divested of my mortal casket, so easy had been my dis- 
 embodiment. 
 
 "Death is, after the agony of illness for those long sick, 
 as easy and pleasant an experience," said Mol Lang, in answer 
 to my mental reflection. "If thou wert not to re-enter thy 
 corporeal body again, this would be death for thee,"— he added. 
 
 I was so greatly amazed at this last phenomenon that I stood 
 still, saying nothing as I watched the bodies being removed 
 from the main apartment and laid on couches in a smaller 
 room. Mol Lang then remarked: 
 
 "Essentially this is death. Behold then, body death is 
 but a casting aside of the grosser forms of life, which have 
 served their purpose. As thou wilt return, this is not abso- 
 lutely death for thee. Semla will not return. His body is 
 therefore dead. When real death takes place, the gross body 
 
292 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 is cast oft', and the sword of the Lord $» cuts it off, and Siva 
 
 takes possession of it and distributes it to the elements, 
 in order that Vishnu may receive it for new uses from 
 Brahm Q the Creator. Then the soul is free for a great 
 length of time, compared to that spent on earth. Though the 
 astral shell can come into spiritualistic circles and manifest 
 through mediums, yet the I AM comes not into any earthly 
 condition until it returns for reincarnation; and then always 
 on a higher, never on a lower plane of progress, still exists a 
 penalty of sin, or, what is the same thing:— incomplete sever- 
 ance of one 's self from desires for earthly experiences. Will ye 
 prefer Earth to Life? 
 
 "We go not immediately to mine own home, but into that 
 realm where those go who have died from earth into devachan— 
 that is, heaven, or the Summerland' of the 'Spiritualists,' or the 
 'Land of the Obb River,' or, again, to 'that bourne from whence 
 no traveller returns. ' Phylos, the sect known as ' Spiritualists ' 
 are in error when they speak of 'spirit communion,' and re- 
 gard it as they do, for no ego returns out of devachan except 
 it be forced, and this is harmful and vastly unjust to the ego* 
 The astral soul and animal principle may thus return, but the 
 
 1 AM never. To the latter there is no past earth state— mind, 
 I do not say for it, but to it. That is, it has no consciousness 
 of anything earthly or of anything occurring on the earth. 
 We can go to them, but they can not come to us. Let us, 
 then, go." 
 
 The mind works quickly, and ere we had reached the bronze 
 door, my consciousness had mastered the truth that death is 
 not in itself agony; that it brings no startling changes, and 
 does not invest the soul born into the hereafter with any won- 
 derful power of foresight. In fact, there is but freedom given 
 from the earthly body, and a few concomitant powers be- 
 stowed; nothing remarkable, considering that earth has no 
 more hold on the soul. I speak of those who in mundane de- 
 cession seek disenthralment from earth, having but little love 
 for its conditions, though much love for its children. Such as 
 
 *I Samuel xxviii, 14-15. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 293 
 
 these have worked for their brethren and accumulated a good 
 and high karma which takes them away from the prisoning 
 conditions of earth. 
 
 Mol Lang here interrupted my reflections, saying 
 
 "One thing else; let us leave thy second self, that part of 
 thee which perceives earthly things and preserves earthly 
 memories. This in order that no disturbing comparisons may 
 arise between that state into which thou goest and the earth 
 behind thee, which thou shalt not see more than they can who 
 really die. But between thee and earth will I preserve a vital 
 link formed of thy second natural principle, so that it shall 
 not be death to thee." 
 
 Then he said: "I believe I have no further use for this 
 transient form." 
 
 Had an uninitiated observer then been present, the aston- 
 ishing, not to say terrible, spectacle would have been pre- 
 sented to him or her of a man dissolving into smoke, for Mol 
 Lang liberated the bonds of his smoke-form and it floated 
 away in formless cloud. 
 
 Mol Lang laid his hand on my head, and as he took it away 
 I no more remembered anything of the world. I dimly saw 
 before me the bronze door of the Sagum ; I knew that Mol Lang- 
 opened it, and that we three stepped forth, not into the long 
 hall of the temple, but into an open expanse of green, sunlit 
 meadow or prairie land. But it was no surprise, for I remem- 
 bered nothing of any special features of earth life— I only 
 knew that I was I, and that I was in a pleasant land— it was 
 much like a vivid dream ; no one in viewing a dream landscape 
 is conscious of any other belonging to and seen only in waking 
 hours ; the faces in dreams are natural, not novel, not strange, 
 and when seen are not compared with those known during 
 wakefulness, for knowledge of the latter state is blotted out 
 during sleep. 
 
 Mol Lang spoke : 
 
 1 ' Thou hast come through the portal ; lo ! physical nature and 
 laws do not reign here; they reign in the objective world, but 
 not here, for this is the subjective world, in no sense physical or 
 
294 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 existent, nor perceptible to senses belonging to matter. Yet 
 it is real, for Spirit is real, and subjective states, no less than 
 objective ones, are born of the Spirit of the Father. This is 
 another of the Mansions in His House. It is farther from the 
 earth than the farthest star of the sky, because in no wise of 
 material nature. Things of earth to the inhabitants of this 
 world are but dreams, and vice versa. To either, the other 
 seems unreal. This we are in is the 'Far away home of the 
 soul.' " 
 
 I listened to Mol Lang and had ears to hear, so that I under- 
 stood. Earth, of which he spoke, was vague, and knowledge 
 of it as an almost forgotten dream. And the vagueness was 
 because that principle of my terrene nature— which was the 
 seat of earthly sensing and of memories of things perceived 
 — was left with the body. This principle might visit a spiritist 
 medium and it would be called me. Yet it would not be me, 
 but my shell, my link of connection between my spirit and my 
 corporeal body. Friend, you will agree that an author is re- 
 flected in his autobiography; but that book is not the author. 
 No more is that which has its "actions, passions, beings, use 
 and end" in the body the MAN. Yet that book may live and 
 guide men to action. So may the astral shell of a man or 
 woman who is dead. And the vitality of the medium may 
 galvanize that shell so long as its influence governs any living 
 earthly man or woman. Hence we see the phenomena of the 
 "circles" of believers in spirit communion. There is no return 
 of the ego (the I AM) to circles, neither communion from their 
 plane down, though sometimes from your plane up to theirs. 
 And yet you persist, my spiritist friends, in saying that I am in 
 error. You say that what I call "shells" can not be such be- 
 cause they tell of events after death. Yes; they do, I admit. 
 And they do because they are but records of the ego which 
 for a few brief moments at death is sometimes highly prophetic, 
 and sees forward over every detail— frequently for coming 
 centuries. Or again, the departing soul catches a glimpse of 
 its own self-conceived devachan, and the record of this is im- 
 parted to the shell, which carries such views to the spiritist 
 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 295 
 
 medium. Witness the often absurd description given of the 
 character of the "spirit-world," and that through honest me- 
 diums, too. They give none of CHRIST, save where two or 
 three are gathered in His name. 
 
 Mediumship is true; its ordinary explanation is false. The 
 medium goes into a trance, his or her vital force is transferred 
 to the "control" which is but a shell, and not the true spirit 
 or ego. Then the hearers enjoy a "communication." Like a 
 reader of a book of record is that medium ; events of the past 
 are retold, and more or less accurate prophecies made; the 
 shell lives for the nonce a galvanic life ; just as Poe lives anew 
 in the person of an elocutionist rendering "The Raven," from 
 the rostrum. Just so long as the "Commentaries" influence 
 mankind, just that long will the "spirit" of Caesar control 
 mediums; and while the Book of Mormon retains its hold on 
 the deluded masses of Utah, so long will the "Prophet Joseph 
 Smith" influence sensitives. But I grow prolix. Let us there- 
 fore turn to the world of effects, and see what it presented to 
 our psychic perceptions. Will you come with us and see what 
 we three saw as we went forth across the plain which con- 
 fronted us at the door of the Sagum? 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PAYING LIFE'S REWARDS. 
 
 "Phylos,"— said Mol Lang— "thou shalt now presently be- 
 hold a man, all in a world of his own. He may not come to 
 us, but we will go to him, and enter into perception of those 
 things which he sees, and because we enter into his perception, 
 therefore we shall be fellow spirits with him, not mere images of 
 his conceptions. Then shall his environment seem as real to us 
 as it does to him; nevertheless his world is (except for such 
 
296 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 visitors as ourselves, and those few, or perhaps many other 
 souls who are on his identical plane) merely a world of his 
 own conception; it exists not for him who is his neighbor, 
 who will be, as we shall see, on a different psychic plane. Both 
 persons will be existent in the Mansion of the Father, who 
 thus giveth His beloved rest. 
 
 ''Let us enter into the state of that man; he is an inventor 
 from the world of cause, and all about him shall we find evi- 
 dences of his inventive dreams— which here seem to be real to 
 him. On earth, he in imagination beheld multitudes of his 
 fellow beings using his adaptations of mechanical and natural 
 forces. He had motor railways which were free to the public ; 
 none indisposed to pay were obliged to do so. And he had 
 designs of coin, which the mint (owned by himself, as he had 
 desired while on earth, so that he might correct abuses) minted 
 free for use by the people. So also with all other things which 
 he had hoped to see realized on earth. Yet he died without it, 
 and coming to the world of effects, finds it all (to him only) 
 a fact. We will walk across this plain to the grove yonder, 
 a mile." 
 
 For some time after this we walked in silence, each content 
 to note the beauty of the scenery. Gurgling brooks meandered 
 through flowery meadows, groves dotted the perspective, while 
 far away on the horizon was a line of blue hills. When we 
 came to the grove designated by Mol Lang I saw that we were 
 at a station, where cars of strange appearance stood on a net 
 work of tracks. People were coming and going past this cen- 
 tral point in all directions. The cars had immense spidery 
 wheels, many yards across. A light flight of metal stairs led 
 to the top of a tower; the tower was also an elevator, so that 
 while some people walked up, others were hoisted to the top, 
 where, several rods from the ground, they stepped into the 
 body of the car ; then an engineer on the car manipulated cer- 
 tain machinery, and the immense wheels began to revolve, 
 swifter, swifter, and yet swifter; until the great, light vehicle 
 could be seen moving at an amazing speed across the country, 
 up and down hill or around curves with equal facility. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 297 
 
 ''Let us take a ride"— quoth Semla. So we walked up the 
 spiral stairs, and there found a pleasant man in uniform, who 
 asked if we would pay or not. 
 
 "Yes," said Mol Lang— "I will, but my friends will not." 
 Thereupon he produced a coin of gold, and while the official 
 was making the entry in his book, Mol Lang handed the coin 
 to me to look at, and I saw that it bore a face of a man, and 
 around the edge the superscription: 
 
 "MERTON FOWLER, THE PEOPLES' FRIEND." 
 
 "What conceit!" thought I, whereupon Mol Lang smiled 
 slightly, took the coin from me and paid it over. The official 
 asked where we would go, and for answer Mol Lang said:— 
 "To the Falls." The official knew of no such place, but said 
 that he would put us on a car, the engineer of which would 
 know. He conducted us to a car on the other side of his plat- 
 form, and having entered, we were soon speeding away like 
 an arrow for swiftness. The stops which we made were numer- 
 ous, all for the purpose, so the engineer explained, of comply- 
 ing with Merton Fowler's rule that all who rode on his cars 
 must inspect his many inventions. The variety of these was 
 bewildering to me, and so many of them seemed to be in opera- 
 tion solely for the purpose of demonstrating peculiar mechan- 
 ical principles, that I will not consume space for description. 
 At length, after travelling across half a world as it seemed, 
 though not taking a tedious amount of time, we arrived at a 
 splendid group of buildings. Then the engineer confessed that 
 he knew nothing of the Falls, except that he had heard his 
 master speak of them as existing. He would go to him. Ac- 
 cordingly the car ran up before an edifice which looked like an 
 office, and there he put us in charge of another person with 
 directions to take us to Merton Fowler. 
 
 That gentleman we found in a palatial environment, where 
 things were of great beauty, but where all seemed to be me- 
 chanical contrivances, and to exist for that great underlying 
 principle of the designer— the systematization of his knowl- 
 edge, and the putting of it to more or less utilitarian uses. It 
 was a very paradise for a machinist, but I was not a machinist, 
 
298 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 and it fatigued me. The number of people was amazing. Moi 
 Lang said that not all of these were mere ideals of that prolific 
 mind, Fowler, but that on the contrary, many of them were 
 real personifications, a few of whom were media like ourselves, 
 but the majority " dead"— that is, disembodied souls who were 
 on the same plane of invention and realization as the real mind 
 in control— Merton Fowler. He was the chief here, the others 
 similars. I asked where the Falls were situated, and the in- 
 ventor, Fowler, replied that a certain author of his acquaint- 
 ance lived there, and had the pleasure of listening to a mam- 
 moth pipe organ made for him by the inventor— " By myself! 
 All men whatever," said this egotist, "are beneficiaries of mine, 
 and recognize me as the chiefest of human kind, and greatest 
 of all living people ! ' ' 
 
 I turned away in contempt of such mammoth conceit and 
 vanity, and as we left, Mol Lang said : 
 
 "That man is arranging his concepts of a Christless life as 
 gained on earth. When all is assimilated, he will recarnify on 
 earth, and from his early childhood self conceit and self ad- 
 miration will be his ruling characteristics. In his last life on 
 earth he sowed the seeds of the one to come. Here, he enjoys 
 Mie growth of those seeds. Here, too, will the harvest mature, 
 and when all gathered, he will take it to earth again to replant. 
 Thou mightest ask what good cometh of perpetuating such 
 vanity. I would reply: "First, 'tis the law of God. Secondly, 
 out of his future egotism will arise self confidence. His spirit- 
 uality of temperament is large, his animal qualities well bal- 
 anced and strong, and the good of all his conceit will manifest 
 itself next as a governor of those forces which will lead men 
 forward. Ere he died on earth he was a retiring man, timid, 
 feeling himself never appreciated. When he next appears 
 there will be a strong soul, and a leader of men to higher levels 
 of life." 
 
 "Truly,"— I said— "all things under the hand of God work 
 together for good!" 
 
 The Falls were in the devachanic realm of an author, who, 
 while on earth, was a very pleasing writer, albeit extravagantly 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 
 
 hopeful in his imaginative excursions and thought plays. This 
 was, indeed, doubtless the reason of his popularity as an 
 author. His mind dwelt on the sublime in nature, and on the 
 good, the true, and the beautiful. Here in his heaven he lived 
 his books, and found all about him the characters, the emotions, 
 the delicate imagery and the sublime beauty which made his 
 pages seem real to their readers, and over which tears of sym- 
 pathy were shed by most perusers. To him also, these things— 
 figments of his imagination when penned, were here become 
 what his desire had always painted, realties, and he enjoyed 
 the seeming actuality, nor knew it but as a dream of his life's 
 night time. "Of what use, since it was only a dream?" I 
 answer— these glorious creations of the imagination all make 
 for that high spirituality, that keen sympathy of soul which 
 shall soon bring about the universal Brotherhood of Mankind- 
 it shall dawn with the dawning of the new century, creedless, 
 boundless, asking nothing of any affiliate except high, unfalter- 
 ing aspiration and action. And this author, who has been in 
 his soul-home these many centuries, shall be one of its prophets, 
 recarnified. 
 
 We found the Falls in a vast gorge, deep as the Royal Gorge 
 of the Arkansas river. It connected two great lakes of rare 
 loveliness, not the Scottish lakes, or Lake Champlain are more 
 beautiful, though either were as great as Nyanza. Over a cliff 
 half a mile high, and, in the form of a double horse-shoe, each 
 more than a mile wide, were two magnificent falls of the river, 
 separated in the center where the middle points of the two 
 curves met, by an island. From this cliff rose three tall conical 
 needles of rock, up, up, up into the air, over a thousand feet 
 each one. Around each was a spiral stairway chiseled in the 
 enduring granite of the stream, and from top to top of each 
 swung a suspension bridge. From the one overhanging the 
 falls ran two suspension bridges swung on great cables, miles 
 long, reaching as they did the shores on either side of the river 
 by a diagonal course. I felt sure that the inventor— Merton 
 Fowler— would have conceived no such bridge, because his 
 mechanical training would have told him such lengthy bridge- 
 
300 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 cables would break from their own weight. But this author, 
 who was no engineer, saw no such difficulty, and consequently 
 his concept found no bar to execution in his imagination. As it 
 was not objective, but subjective, it existed for him, and as we 
 were temporarily on his plane, and perceiving through his 
 senses, we also saw them and found them real ; and to all on his 
 plane they were real — subjectively real. But earthly eyes 
 could not have seen them, for they see nothing except objective 
 realties. And both states are real, but to those on the respec- 
 tive planes only. If the things of the spiritual are foolishness 
 to the natural man, so are the things of the natural world to the 
 devachanee. But I digress. The myriads of people, creations 
 of the author's mind, used his bridge ; they lived in a Utopia of 
 his creation, and the whole was a very heaven. It all nurtured 
 his spirituality, his reverence for God, his constructive sense 
 even, as well as his sense of sublimity. His soul has almost 
 assimilated the whole of these "steps toward God" and it is 
 almost ready to recarnify as one of the deeply artistic, con- 
 structive, reverential souls of earth ; one of the nobly beautiful, 
 Godward turning leaders of the race. Is he not a worker for 
 the Father? "By their works ye shall know them." And 
 while and because he leads, he himself will draw nearer with 
 every passing hour to God; nearer to Nirvana, that glorious 
 resting time of all the lives, out of which the spirit of man shall 
 awake to find itself more than Man, find itself one of these 
 sublime World-Spirits whose glittering forms fill the skies of 
 night ! Or servers of the Father in some other untenable way. 
 
 The fact must be sufficiently obvious that the life between 
 the grave and the cradle— life in the world of effects— is a life 
 of assimilation of results due to causes set in operation while 
 on earth— the world of casuality. It is the character forming 
 realm, where effects are so arranged as to present them as 
 causes in the succeeding earth life; not in the shape of segre- 
 gate influences, but as traits of character, giving rise to well 
 defined policies in life on the part of individuals. Like attracts 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 301 
 
 like, and if parents have certain influences governing their 
 lives at critical times, the soul in devachan, which is perforce 
 seeking re-birth on earth, will seize the opportunity presented 
 of finding its similars— similars at that time, though perhaps 
 at that time only, like itself, but never so before, possibly never 
 to be so again ; suffice it if there be a concordant trinity at the 
 time. There is no accident, no chance, in the Universe; all is 
 immutable law, cause and effect. Zerah Colburn, whose pre- 
 cocity in mathematics while he was yet a little boy amazed the 
 world, did not inherit his powers of calculation. Mozart did 
 not inherit what neither of his parents possessed, though it is 
 true that the maternal mind did provide attractive mental simi- 
 larity by her own love for music, prenatally experienced. Ata- 
 vism has been invoked to explain these cases of infantile pre- 
 cocity when it has been well known that neither parent had the 
 traits which seem to have been passed to the offspring. But 
 atavism will not wholly suffice. The question of heredity is a 
 deep one ; parents are moved by special influences, and children 
 of that time are souls attracted from devachan to their mental 
 similars. Such was the young Zerah Colburn; such the infant 
 prodigy, Mozart. Zailm Numinos might have told you that 
 Colburn was a noted Atlantean mathematician had he not neg- 
 lected it in his history of Atl. And Mozart was Alcman, the 
 poet and lyrist of Spartan Greece. 
 
 Night seemed to be coming on; the air was pleasantly cool, 
 and we found ourselves, after a long sail on a lovely body of 
 water, standing on a shore whose sands and pebbles were of 
 agate. Bamboo fringed the lake margin, and many graceful 
 houses in quiet nooks dotted the varied landscape. The coun- 
 try bore some resemblance to the land of Japan, and indeed we 
 found that we were in the concepts of an American who had re- 
 sided for many years in Japan ere his entrance to devachan. 
 
 We went into a spacious veranda of a house of fine appear- 
 ance, which in architectural style was a general combination 
 of things, most comfortable. Contrary to Japanese customs, 
 
302 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR 
 
 , ^,J- V} 
 
 we found easy chairs instead of mats or rugs, and in these 
 chairs we took seats, Mol Lang saying we would be welcome to 
 do so. Ere long a servitor in Japanese costume appeared, and 
 placed a table before us, and upon it laid covers for five per- 
 sons. Presently a handsome, elderly man, with a young girl, 
 who z I judged, was his daughter, came out of the residence, and 
 exchanged salutations with us, after the manner of true gentle- 
 folk. This was, as Mol Lang afterward explained, the real ego 
 about whose imagery all things in this place clustered. The 
 lake, the tropical vegetation, the remodeled Japanese people 
 whom we met— in short, all effects here, were arranged in 
 accord with this man's ideals. In them he saw realized his 
 dreams of a quiet, care-free, hospitable life, and because he saw 
 them, we also saw them, for Mol Lang had insinuated our per- 
 ceptions into this man's soul plane. With him we partook of a 
 generous supper. Liquors were not on his table, nor could any 
 have been found in all that soul land, for the man was a total 
 abstainer. Of course, the people whom he believed he saw, and 
 who, for him, resided in this, his country, used no liquors more 
 than he, for they were either his imagination's concepts, or, 
 if real individuals, were in sympathy with the master mind — 
 else they had not been there with him. But all this he knew 
 not any more than one who in slumber dreams, knows at the 
 time that the vivid dream personages and places exist solely 
 for himself. Sometimes, truly, a night dreamer really goes 
 away with another harmonious soul, the two being real souls 
 on a psychic journey, it being no dream, but a fact. 
 
 This man, in all of his princely extravagance, his artistically 
 beautiful buildings, the richness of raiment of the people whom 
 he conceived, the statues, fountains, groves, all things— was but 
 quaffing imagined joys, wholly unconscious the while that they 
 were subjective creations. They were all conceived for a single 
 purpose, pursuit of which formed his chief joy— that of caring 
 for the happiness of his daughter. She was his idol, his joy, 
 his reason for being, he would have said. And she was a pretty 
 girl, though not to my mind beautiful. She was engaging, 
 witty, well educated, and accomplished. But I have, seen many 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 303 
 
 such, and thought of her as only one of hundreds I had known. 
 We were invited to stay indefinitely in this home, and, upon 
 Mol Langs' suggestion, accepted the offer. Days passed rap- 
 idly in this paradise, of which our host's home was the central 
 attraction. He had great parks, and gave splendid entertain- 
 ments to scores of happy people. His house was a palace in 
 itself. The libraries, the art gallery, with thousands of fine 
 paintings, all this, and more, made life so pleasant that several 
 months had elapsed ere our party of three bade him adieu. In 
 it all we saw that the gay life was for the sake of the daughter, 
 and held little pleasure for the father. The art gallery, too, was 
 added to his home for her sake. The libraries were for both, 
 and, as he said, he thought he took more pleasure in books than 
 she did; to him books were sacred treasures. But it was in 
 music that his soul found ecstatic rest. Such divine melodies 
 and such exquisite technique and feeling as he exhibited in 
 his rendition of fine music I had never even dreamed of, much 
 excellent music as I had heard. It was as the fable of Orpheus 
 come true. Hour after hour he played for me, while Semla 
 was away with Mol Lang, and my soul responded in a thrill 
 which swept it with sublime joy, until it seemed as if my being 
 had become a personless, throbbing, sobbing stress of harmony, 
 that could flee on the winds and set the souls of men pulsing, 
 beating in unison ! I knew that the player was a companion to 
 me in it all. We were two souls on the same plane, reaping 
 identical experiences. 
 
 At last a day came when Mol Lang said:— " My friends, let 
 us go hence, for other things claim our attention. A few hours 
 here must suffice us. We will go where the daughter of this 
 man really is." 
 
 My friend had, I thought, spoken of the months of our tarry- 
 ing in this paradise in a figurative sense when he said "a few 
 hours. ' ' But he had not ; it was really only a few hours as the 
 people on earth had counted the safe interval through which 
 we had so recently passed. Time is, after all, only a measure 
 of so much done by or to him who experiences its lapse,— 
 myriads of people have lived a whole century during ten min- 
 
304 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 utes of other people's time. Mol Lang's remark about our 
 being ready to go where the daughter really was I could not 
 comprehend at the time, nor did I know for years— all because 
 my own astral had been left behind in the Sakaza on earth; I 
 had no means of comparison of ideas. The place I was in was 
 the only place existent for me— that is, it and the country of 
 the author and that of the inventor, Fowler. These I know of, 
 and for them a memory shell had been formed by me as I went 
 through them ; not that I was conscious of such a process of crea- 
 tion ; I was only aware of the memories which were retained for 
 me, and which seemed part of myself. But Mol Lang explained 
 only that the American really had not his daughter with him, 
 but only his ideal of her ever before him. 
 
 On our departure we went down to the lake and got into a 
 boat, and as we traveled, somehow it seemed as if, without my 
 knowing just how or when, we had left the boat and the lake, 
 and were in a garden, walking amidst a profusion of flowers. 
 It was unaccountable, but did not particularly surprise me, 
 nor long occupy my attention. No one is ever astonished at 
 anything in the psychic realm. 
 
 It was a city garden, and, situated on an eminence, the resi- 
 dence of the owner commanded the view of a great city, ex- 
 tending in all directions. The house was evidently the home 
 of a person of refinement, and while evidences of wealth were 
 numerous, these seemed to be adjuncts of comfort, instead of a 
 display of riches. No person could long be amidst the influ- 
 ences of that home, to which Mol Lang admitted us, without 
 feeling that the owner believed herself to have a great and sac- 
 red mission in life. 
 
 1 ' This is the daughter, ' ' said Mol Lang. ' ' The girl whom we 
 saw in the other home was the daughter, as the father imagined 
 her to be when he died, leaving her at that age. See how dif- 
 ferent is the woman from his conception of her. I bring thee 
 here that thou mayst see what difference exists between the 
 devachanic conceps of the soul and the objects conceived of. 
 It illustrates the saying that 'heaven is what we make it/ 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 305 
 
 At that moment a lady entered the room, evidently on busi- 
 ness; her manner was full of power. She seemed not to per- 
 ceive us, and after a little I coughed slightly to attract her 
 attention. Mol Lang smiled in amusement, as he said : 
 
 1 ' Phylos, thou mightest cough long, and she would not know 
 of thy presence. Why? Because we are temporarily on the 
 earth, and I have given thee power to see earthly conditions— 
 that is, while we are on the earth— for it might be all about us, 
 yet if we were in a different psychic condition, the earth would 
 not be near, but vastly remote from us. This lady has not yet 
 come to the change called death. She is one who labors to 
 place woman on the proud basis of independence— proud, be- 
 cause rightfully hers. But woman will never attain to it until 
 she does so by self -effort; nothing is won worth the having 
 except by self-effort. When she so wins it, she will be by the 
 side of man, not above him, for woman is not man's superior; 
 neither below him, for she is not his inferior; but beside him, 
 for man and woman are equal in all things. It will be a blessed 
 day for humanity when this time comes. This lady and her 
 sister workers are now guiding those dwellers of the earth 
 who have not such clear understanding of the needs of the 
 times ; and they will succeed, more or less, during this century, 
 but not brilliantly, since no great reform, nor anything greatly 
 good, can succeed in any century, decade or year nominated by 
 the number nine. Hence, human hopes will wax or wane, will 
 seem to go forth to victory, but will meet only failure until the 
 new century. Darkest of all the years will that be which is 
 just before the dawn. This brave leader we see here will see 
 Hope set in that last year like a star in the west, and she will 
 die then, despairing, though hoping, with prophetic Mackay, 
 that 'Ever the truth comes uppermost, and ever is justice 
 done.' " 
 
 For a considerable time after this we were silent, for Mol 
 Lang seldom spoke without definite cause, and it now served his 
 purpose better to be silent. I spoke next : 
 
 "What good can it be, what good can be achieved through 
 such bitter disappointment? Such heartache V 
 
306 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 ''That which cometh ever from all things. "Man never is, 
 but always to be blest/ is wholly true. And it is not form the 
 hopes we are able to bring to realization in earth life that our 
 devachan, our heaven, is made ; but from those hopes, longings, 
 aspirations and determinations which through life are our dear- 
 est desires because we have never been able to satisfy them. 
 They have the most happy heaven whose high-soaring souls 
 have ever been forced to be content with the mere view of 
 Caanan from their mountain lookouts. Let no poor, disap- 
 pointed soul on earth mourn because of life's unsatisfied long- 
 ings, for we do not know to-day whether we are busy or idle. 
 In times when we have thought ourselves indolent, we have 
 afterward discovered that much was accomplished and much 
 was begun in us. These beginnings are fruitful, indeed, for 
 they bestow upon us our longed-for aspirations, 'over there' 
 if we will, in His way. ' ' 
 
 During this discourse of Mol Lang I had glimpses of the 
 whole— both of earth and of heaven. A thing which struck me 
 with a feeling of peculiar anguish was that that gentle soul who 
 thought he lived for his daughter, really had not that daughter 
 with him, but only his self-created image of her. I had not 
 thought of the fact that even on earth we do not have our 
 friends, but only our concepts of them; that our supposed 
 friend may really be our secret enemy, but if we know it not, 
 we remain happy in our ignorance. Mol Lang observed the 
 feeling on my part, and said, as he turned and placed an arm 
 around me as we walked onwards : 
 
 "Phylos, beloved son, feel not so! When the day cometh 
 when this lady shall enter the devachanic life, then whenever 
 and wherever she has ideals and concepts like those of her 
 father, or he like hers, then will they two be really together, 
 ' two souls with but a single thought. ' It is the same on earth ; 
 only identity of thought makes nearness of souls. As the grand 
 march of souls following after Christ draws nearer unto God, 
 those planes where all souls are together in the thought and 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 307 
 
 concept will be the planes mainly occupied by humanity, till at 
 the glorious last, none shall be apart from any other, or from 
 the Father." 
 
 The room and its earnest worker had faded from view. In- 
 stead of it we found that in front of us was a monastic edifice, 
 set on a lofty mountain peak which arose from a lake. Dim 
 vistas of water, of wooded shores and silvery, shadowy isles 
 were in perspective. Over the tower which rose from the mon- 
 astery was a flashing crescent of purple light. I asked what 
 place we were now come to. The answer was : 
 
 ''The Lunar Temple,— a part of devachan, but having noth- 
 ing to do with the moon. Here, where many occult students 
 come after laying aside the earthly body, is a holy place of rest. 
 Here are many theospohic adepts and neophytes ; they saw them 
 with eyes of spirit, hence had then, as now, much the same 
 concepts of life; devachan to them is not, therefore, on the 
 same plane as with other mortals, any more than their objec- 
 tive life was. Here Semla takes leave of us, to appear no more 
 on earth until after fifty centuries of mundane time. He will 
 then incarnate, not as a Tchin, but as a member of the Ameri- 
 can Nation of that far distant day, because his life has been 
 mostly spent in that land this time. But now he enters into 
 rest he has earned ; this is his devachan. ' ' 
 
 There, under the flashing purple light from the monastic 
 tower, Semla took his leave, invoking upon us the peace of the 
 Father. 
 
 Through ability conferred by Mol Lang, I had seen the nature 
 of the life after death. For a few moments my soul was able to 
 compare the newly gained knowledge with my old time ideals 
 of nature. I thought— "If all this is but a dream, what is a 
 dream f If this which seems real matter is not such— " 
 
 "Nay, my son,"— interjected Mol Lang, as I thought upon 
 the nature of matter— "this is real matter. Why, what is mat- 
 ter, dost thou think? Matter is a One Substantially, having 
 not a single quality which any human sense can cognize. But 
 
308 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 force also is one of the creations of the Father. And force hath 
 two polarities— the positive and the negative— absolute oppo- 
 . sites, f Now man on earth hath certain senses ; seven are these 
 [ senses— sight, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, intuition, and 
 one innominate. These last are not yet evolved, for the full- 
 / ness of days is not come ; the Fifth Day is ; but the Sixth and 
 the Seventh are not. With the last, man becometh greater than 
 he hath ever been. Only they that have ears that hear shall 
 * solve this saying. Five senses cognize the positive dynamic 
 affections of matter by Force— and behold, man senseth the 
 earth and some of the stellar bodies. But all these are of the 
 positive, and hence are in the Father's Mansion of Cause. 
 These five senses are what the Apostle Paul called the 'Natural 
 mind.' But 'In my Father's house are many mansions.' And 
 this— which is the briefer life after the grave, is His Mansion 
 of effects, and it is the result of matter affected by negative 
 force. Here the first five senses call all things pertaining to 
 1 devachan 'mere dreams;' even wise Hamlet asks, 'What dreams 
 I may come?' But I say unto thee— both earth (cause) and deva- 
 chan (effect) are material; both due in their every phenomena 
 to force— but either state is cognizable only by senses special 
 to it. Man in one hath five special senses, and these know the 
 earth, but call heaven a dream; and Man in the other hath 
 other seven special senses, and these know of devachan, but 
 call earth a dream. Yet both states are really material, and 
 similarly, both are unreal, except to the Father. So Man is 
 constantly dying from the one state and being born in the 
 other, back and forth, and only that state where he is, is real 
 to him at any time. Myriad times does he repeat the process, 
 incarnifying and discarnifying, and each time of rebirth on the 
 earth finds him ever on a higher plane, until at last the concrete 
 condition miscalled life is over, and the conditionless 'long 
 devachan' (Nirvana) is attained. Then man and his Father 
 are together and at-one. Man came from God ; unto Him must 
 he go. But only a few have done this as yet, and of these Jesus 
 Christ of Beth-le-hem is so far the only One who can truly 
 say, ' I and my Father are one. ' " 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 309 
 
 Mol Lang had no desire that I should continuously retain 
 the memories of the experiences just passed through ; the sepa- 
 rate facts were to become quite as unknown as if never ob- 
 served. All was solely for the purpose of surrounding my 
 soul with influences calculated to force me upward and onward, 
 out of earth life, or desire for it, until at last I would come to 
 realize that- 1 had known something higher, and must return 
 to the plane of the spiritual nature. Yes, the word is MUST. 
 
 After leaving Semla, with the new life open to him, Mol Lang 
 and myself sought the lake, and after taking our seats on a bit 
 of sandy shore, I asked questions as to the appearance of the 
 scheme of creation to occult perceptions. It seemed to me that 
 life must have a wider significance to him than to me. 
 
 "Phylos, it hath. Grand as the vision of life seemeth to the 
 ordinary man, made up, as it is, of his few years on earth, sup- 
 posedly followed by unending existence in heaven, to me it is 
 infinitely more sublime than even earth 's loftiest vision can pre- 
 sent it! Man's ideas are full of error; they involve the child- 
 ishness of admitting that in the life on earth the multitudes 
 who 'make in their dwellings a transient abode' are in the 
 course of such a finite time, able to set in motion infinite causes 
 which shall be carried out in psychic effects eternally. Only 
 through the Great Master are any so able. 
 
 "I have so willed, my son, that the features of this visit to 
 devachan shall be withdrawn from thee, and thou wilt remem- 
 ber them only as a vague, delightful dream, which shall have 
 influence in leading thee to the pinnacles of the Father, and 
 the summits of the soul. It is easy to erase these memories; I 
 have but to disassociate the astral body here formed by thine 
 experiences, and thou wilt thereafter know this state only when 
 that astral shall control thee as its medium. I will take thee 
 to mine own home in Hesper, and there thou wilt come to know 
 my son, whose name is Sohma, and my daughter Phyris. Yet 
 that knowledge also will I dissociate, after the time of it, and 
 thou wilt forget it all; yea, even me wilt thou forget, and know 
 only through the same mediumship, because thy karma orders 
 for thee long years yet to eome on earth, and atonement for 
 
310 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 evil works which have cried unto God for redress, lo ! a century 
 of centuries, and longer. Christ hath said:— 'One jot or one 
 tittle shall in no wise pass from /the law till all be fulfilled. ' 
 Save thou be re-leased to Him. , 
 
 "But thou hast asked a question. Hear the answer: — I sow 
 a seed, and it shall grow, and blossom and fruit, and though 
 the sower be forgotten, the plant will not be. Thou wilt re- 
 member my words forever, nor forget them for one hour, for 
 such is my will— yet for get me wholly. 
 
 ' ' Besides the heavenly world, there are many more which are 
 imperceptible to men. Yet matter and force compose them 
 all. Many of them are worlds of Cause, but no merely human 
 being is in them, nor can any earthly sense cognize them, or 
 know of them. They are peopled, but by beings of whom some 
 are good, and some are evil ; in the sight of the Eternal Cause, 
 relatively good or evil. That which exists under laws inimical 
 to man is evil to man, though not in itself evil. But these 
 ' mansions ' are set apart from one another that they may not 
 interfere. There is that which is astray, but in itself not evil, 
 for in all the creation there is no evil eternal, for God is per- 
 fect. 
 
 ' * The worlds of human life are seven in number ; yet four of 
 them are invisible, unknowable to earthly senses, and this not 
 because of remoteness, but the kind of force-affection of their 
 constituent matter. Mankind occupies but one planet at a 
 time, for like its present dwelling place (earth) the human race 
 is but a letter in the Divine Library of Being. To be exact, the 
 more advanced, occult souls do inhabit Venus, which I have 
 called Hesper, and which was by the ancients of the Earth 
 termed ' The Garden of the Hesperides. ' 
 
 "Yes, Phylos, life does mean more to me than to thee. I look 
 at its stately march, and I see the battalion of being wherein 
 I am but a corporal, progressing around its appointed seven 
 spheres, whereof only Mars, the Earth and Venus are matters 
 which terrene perception can know ; I see the human race pro- 
 gressively incarnating on each of its peculiar planets as it goes, 
 every individual ego about eight hundred times, approximately, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 311 
 
 on each world each time the race comes to it, which is seven 
 times also, making forty-nine world-carnate epochs. Each ego 
 thus hath incarnation and discarnation periods to the number, 
 more or less, of forty thousand. It is in these, that beginning 
 as an irresponsible creation, far from human, as thou wouldst 
 define the word ' human, ' and ending as a Perfect Man entering 
 into Nirvanic rest— that the scheme of the Eternal Uncreated 
 Father is perfected. Yea, verily, man sins, but as his incarna- 
 tions progress, he atones for every jot, every tittle. Karma is 
 penalty for evil doing, and it is the law of God; it knows no 
 abatement of payment, accepts no vicarious price, but is faith- 
 ful gaoler over that prison which is life-action; whoso is cast 
 therein shall not come out till every farthing is paid. Beware, 
 then, of doing wrong, for thou must bear the penalty, only 
 thou. Verily, life is long enough to make payment ; 'tis better 
 to have none to make !* 
 
 4 'We go now to a view of the truth that the spirit came from 
 the Father, and returneth to Him after it hath fulfilled the law 
 and the prophets ; it liveth in the worlds of cause a short span, 
 but in those of effect a long span, for passivity is to activity as 
 about eighty to one, and the lives are many, strung like beads 
 on the one cord of the individual ego. 
 
 "Lastly, the ego coming from the Father hath no sex; it is 
 not man, neither woman, but sexless. When it entereth upon 
 life it becometh double, so that in the earth there is a man, and 
 there is a woman, and though the bodies and the animal souls 
 and the human souls be different in the twain, yet behold, their 
 spirit is one and the same. Now sometimes the two, being of 
 one spirit, are also husband and wife. Yet more often, they 
 are not, for the age of harmony is not yet at hand. But it is 
 of such singleness of spirit that the Bible saith, ' What God hath 
 joined, let no man put asunder.' There is no man who could, 
 if he would, so sunder. But that saying is not of the carnal 
 marriage, but of the spirit unit only. And the latter hath no 
 lust. But when the twain shall, after the millions of years 
 which lie between the non-esoteric Christian and Nirvana, come 
 
312 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 to know all the law of life, then will the union be as it was be- 
 fore the separation. Thou canst not really comprehend the 
 truth now, but when thou shalt at last be done with earth life, 
 thou wilt then recall it and know. And knowing it, thou wilt 
 then tell the world of it. But not now. Now is this true— 
 Mates in the Lord can not know each other as such, until they 
 both will to live after the rule of His Highway. And the lat- 
 ter hath nothing carnal. 'Straight is the Gate and narrow is 
 the Way that leadeth unto Life, and few there be that find it.' 
 Until they find it they find not each other ; neither release from 
 incarnation in the flesh." 
 
 Mol Lang arose after this long discourse, wherein he had 
 briefly described the works of God. He said : 
 
 "I have answered thee. Come, let us go hence, and thou 
 shalt know my son, and my daughter, and my home. ' ' 
 
 He laid his hand upon my brow, and I seemed to sleep ; when 
 I was again conscious we were in an immense garden, and 
 before us I saw a house which at once impressed me as being a 
 real home. This I say because somehow occult study had 
 seemed foreign to home life and influences. How entirely com- 
 patible the two are will appear nearer the end of this history. 
 
 I found on acquaintance with it that it bore out my first 
 impressions perfectly, for it was the most genuine home that 
 could well exist, and typified all human life in this world of 
 Cause— Hesper. It was a home of human glorified beings, of 
 occult students incarnate in exalted casual life. 
 
 Do you ask me how any portion of the human race came to 
 be so far in the van as the Hesperian contingent ? The answer 
 is that their septune natures had been so far perfected by the 
 trials to which the study of occult adeptism subjects its initi- 
 ates, that they had become enlightened, responsible beings; 
 they had drank of the cup concerning which Jesus inquired 
 of the children of Zebedee if they had the ability to drink it. 
 And in consequence there had come to them the keys to that 
 realm of spirit which no natural mind can understand. They 
 had learned the seven-fold character of their natures— that man 
 is a composite being, having seven principles, viz:— the I AM, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 313 
 
 or ego ; the body of the spirit, or spirit-body ; the human soul ; 
 the animal soul; the astral reflection of the two lowest princi 
 pies— by name, vital force and the earthly body thereby ani- 
 mated. Thus far, I regret to say, the mass of mankind is not 
 developed much beyond its animal soul; a minority have the 
 human soul shining forth; but only occult adepts have the 
 Sixth or spirit-body developed, while none of whom the world 
 knows except Jesus and Buddha are perfect in the Spirit of 
 the Father. 
 
 With Mol Lang I stood, looking upon his home in Venus, the 
 world to which Terre's children will come, leaving it deserted 
 until another round shall return them, although on a higher 
 plane— that of perfect love. "The greatest thing in the 
 world. ' ' But now Hesper is the planet of this Christ-like love, 
 its home in the course of nature and man's development. Ye 
 will not all come, alas ! 
 
 "Phylos,"— said Mol Lang— "my son is of nearly thine own 
 number of years; my daughter Phyris is of the same age as 
 thyself. Both will tell thee of occult truths, as I have done, 
 yet they nor I, nor aught but the intuitions from thine own 
 God-given Spirit can teach thee. If a soul hath not in itself 
 perception of God and His works, no man can teach it, for 
 having ears to hear and eyes to see, he heareth and seeth, but 
 comprehendeth not. To me it is given of God to show thee 
 and tell thee of those things which many prophets and right- 
 eous men have desired to see and to hear, but have not. 
 Blessed are thine eyes, for they see, and thine ears, for they 
 hear. Yet, nevertheless, thou wilt go again to earth, and 
 wilt forget, and restlessly long for a better state, yet shalt/ 
 not find it again for long years. Phylos, my son, would 
 that thou couldst even now know ! But karma pursueth thee, 
 seeking repayment. And karma shalt have its dues, and 
 thou wilt then go free. Let us pray unto God now, for I 
 speak no more of these things; I have spoken already. Here- 
 after Phyris shall tell thee and show thee in my place." 
 
 Then, in that Hesperian garden, we knelt together, and 
 Mol Lang repeated that eloquent voice of the ages, so old, 
 
314 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 yet ever new— the prayer of our Savior. I think tears were in 
 our eyes when we arose. Turning, I beheld a lovely woman. 
 
 "Phyris, my child, he is come! Phylos, this is my daugh- 
 ter, of whom I told thee." 
 
 It had so surprised me to hear a man who had so much of 
 what untaught fancy calls God-like power speak of his chil- 
 dren that Mol Lang had said to me, in comment: 
 
 "Phylos, thinkest thou that because I have wisdom which 
 thou hast conceived only God to possess, that I am not hu- 
 man? My son, I am more wholly and truly human because 
 thus near unto God. But the mass of people on earth are 
 not fully developed even yet in the human principle— their 
 lives, actions, passions, are centered in the Fourth or animal 
 soul, and only the more exalted are come to the development 
 of the human within them. When mankind shall come fully 
 into its humanity, then Earth can no more be its planet; 
 they must come here. Bear in mind ever, that all thou seest 
 in Hesper is but human, and so thou wilt know more of 
 what Man is, how glorious a being he is. Man is only par- 
 tially human, and not filled with the Father, nor come into 
 his Spirit body, and he must therefore marry and live in 
 marriage, else the race would cease to reincarnate. Each 
 ego must pay its debts. But many will die debtors to Him. 
 
 We three, father, daughter, and myself, went into one of 
 the wide porticos of the brown Parthenon like mansion, and 
 sat down, being where we could see over the profusion of 
 flowers in the great gardens. So beautiful was the scene, 
 both near and far, that I was content thus to remain, un- 
 moving. Here was no devachan, no scene of effects, but 
 an active life in a world of cause. 
 
 This life differed from that upon earth in being broader, 
 more perfect, more glorious than terrene conditions can pro- 
 duce in the present round. Ordinary life in Hesperus is all 
 that the highest form of life can be on earth; and thus has 
 all the wonderful development which exists in the midst of 
 the secret occult brotherhoods of Earth. It is impossible to 
 express adequately what perfection of physical life exists 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 315 
 
 in Hesperus. But it is a perfection of the physical nature, 
 amid ideal surroundings, all of which prepare the animal 
 man to work for the human man, and he for the Spirit man 
 —the I AM, or ego. Thus does the ego progress through 
 matter. Is it not a sublime thought that reincarnation does 
 not mean transmigration of souls? The first leads man ever 
 up; the other— which is false, even in theory, merely a per- 
 verted notion of the first— might mean progress, but more 
 often would mean retrogression, and in alL this Universe 
 there is no retrogression. Reincarnation is but a chance to 
 expiate the errors of life, chiefest of which is not overcoming 
 and containing self, Will ye not pay? Then are ye doomed! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 HUMAN LIFE ON VENUS. 
 
 ''It is good to be at home again,"— said Mol Lang,— "I 
 love my home because here are my friends, and here is the 
 congenial atmosphere of spirtuality. I see about me the en- 
 virons of my last objective incarnation— this present. For 
 me there is no more birth, and no death of the body except 
 through transition of the Logos. Here I passed the ordeal of 
 the crisis and am become androgynous, for in me now are 
 the feminine and the masculine; I am whole, not half, and 
 I and my egoic mate are one individual. We twin are one, 
 and have come unto the Spirit in the sense uttered by the 
 Saviour when He said, 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as thy 
 Father is perfect/ And thou, my son Phylos, wilt surely 
 come into this same glory, for by thy karma it is so fixed. 
 Yes,"— said he, reverting to his first thought,— "it is good to 
 be at home." 
 
 The old man arose from his seat and paced with stately 
 erectness up and down the veranda. "Old?" Yes, as earth 
 counts age, for Pertoz he was just in early prime, not yet come 
 
316 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 to his two hundredth year by some forty-eight months And 
 age could never affect him more, for he was come to deathless- 
 ness; to bodily immortality. Of him, as of many, are the 
 words of the beloved apostle, John.* At that moment he was 
 in his astral form, his physical body being in his sleeping 
 room, where he left it, in order to cross interplanetary space 
 for me. Curious thought ! An inhabitant of Venus able to 
 visit earth at will! Yet it is not really difficult. It merely 
 involves the leaving of the physical body and plane at one 
 point, and entrance to the astral, or psychic plane. From 
 this latter it is as easy to return to the state of cause at any 
 point— be it Alcyone, chief of the "Pleiads, glittering in their 
 eternal depths," or even further, beyond ken of the telescope 
 —as it is to return to the place departed from. The whole 
 difficulty is in leaving the physical plane at all, and for the 
 advanced esoterist this is as nothing, because the normal state 
 of his soul is always in the astral or psychic, instead of the 
 physical. The difficulty with a student is in the repugnance 
 he feels to the thought of returning to an inferior state of 
 being, like life on earth. But the Life of Love is: "I serve." 
 So we return. 
 
 That we were in the astral, disembodied state was no hin- 
 drance to Phyris' perception of us, for like all Hesperians 
 she had the sight of the soul as you have ordinary sight— a 
 mere commonplace power. Her eyes, as indeed those of all 
 souls on this high plane of being, have psychic clairvoyance 
 as a normal possession, though not the less endowed with 
 ordinary physical vision on this account. As in the long ago 
 of Earth, her eyes were still the same clear, calm gray— the 
 kind possessed by Jesus of Nazareth. They were windows 
 for her pure soul, which seemed to be just behind them, gazing 
 out. This slender, graceful girl was no devachanic ideal, 
 although not gross enough to be visible to eyes used only to 
 perception of objective, earthly states of matter; her sweet, 
 grave demeanor, her light laugh at something said by Mol 
 Lang, her perfection of physical life— all breathed the fact 
 
 NOTE.— Kindly see St. John xvii, 21-26 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 317 
 
 of her objective being, and bore evidence to the truth that 
 her rule of life was obedience to the law. And yet I doubt 
 if your eyes, my friends, could have seen her at all. No tele- 
 scope will ever reveal human life on Venus; not that it is not 
 there, but its forms are of the One Substance effected by a 
 range of force rendering them imperceptible to earthly eyes. 
 You will not think the air any less material, or electricity any 
 less real, because your eyes cannot perceive them. Your eyes 
 are very limited in their visual range; if the One Substance 
 vibrates more or less rapidly than an exceedingly small length 
 of time, producing correspondingly minute force wave- 
 lengths, your eyes cannot cognize such vibrations. It is the 
 same with your ears and hearing. If your eyes and ears were 
 not thus limited, you would see every sound and hear every 
 sunbeam. Every rainbow would be vocal, while heat, which 
 now you only feel, would furnish amazing wealth of sound 
 and vision. So it is with the Hesperian people— their per- 
 sons you could not see, their voices you could not hear, yet 
 they would not be similarly limited in regard to your persons 
 and voices. But so long as you fancy that because you have 
 eyes you can see all that there is to be seen, and that your 
 ears hear all that is worth hearing, so long will you depend on 
 these organs, and gain that sort of false ideas of the Universe 
 which must arise from entire ignorance of all except the tiny 
 bit of creation you occupy. So long, too, will you depend on 
 the telescope to reveal truths about other worlds; you will 
 hunt for evidences of human life on the nearer planets, but 
 you will never find any until you cease to expect that matter 
 will reveal soul; it can not do it, for the finite can not reveal 
 infinity. Turn it about; ask of the soul revealment of itself 
 and of matter also, and all worlds will draw near to you, 
 show their teeming vitality of life, and all nature will un- 
 cover such treasures as the hungry soul of science has never 
 found before. 
 
 Phyris was able to look over all my past— over the other 
 lives which I had yet to attain the power of re-collecting. 
 She knew every deed, thought and motive of it all. Had she 
 
318 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 cared to examine this history? No fear existed in my mind, 
 for I did not know of such a past myself, and my ignorance 
 preserved my peace of mind. I did not try to analyze the 
 reason for my eager desire to win this maiden's good opinion. 
 If I had, I should have railed at myself for a presumptuous 
 fool. As it was, I was happy in the knowledge of my purity 
 of purpose. 
 
 Though dissociated from earth life, my soul development 
 was but little more than before. Therefore, to me, Phyris 
 seemed a sort of goddess; and to have estimated only as per- 
 fect human, herself and her wondrous occult powers, would 
 have been an impossibility with me. To have found that I 
 was in love with her would have frightened me. I am glad 
 that I was then prevented that thought. But deep in my soul 
 it was true, nevertheless, and the leaven was working. Closer 
 knowledge was not to have the effect of detracting from her 
 exalted position; but it to raise me to the understanding that 
 these psychic powers were attributes of human nature, for in 
 itself human nature is essentially God-like. 
 
 By the way, what is the mundane idea of God? You say 
 that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal. Very good. 
 But the earthly idea of these things is very narrow. Concep- 
 tions can never rise higher than their source, hence God is, 
 although a noble ideal, not nearly so great to the world as He 
 is to Hesperus. Do you say that I am inconsistent, denying 
 my own high claims for Man, and that I am virtually negativ- 
 ing the statement that conceptions can rise to the level of 
 their source? I reply that the Father limits the height of 
 the source. "What do I mean?" I mean that He speaks to 
 the but partially developed human soul on the earth plane 
 from the level of human principle in Himself, but from no 
 higher plane. Hence, the terrene conception of Him is that 
 of a perfect Person, all-powerful, ubiquitous, eternal, but a 
 person; whereas He is impersonal. But to the Hesperian, 
 God speaks of Himself and His works from the level of 
 Spirit, which is above soul — it is the level of the Over-Soul of 
 Emerson. I hope you will study that statement, for nothing 
 I have said means more, is more important in all this book. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 319 
 
 I have said that the earthly conceptions of omnipotence, 
 omnipresence and eternity are narrow. It is true. The first 
 means only the most extravagant exercise or suspension of 
 known laws, but scouts the existence of fearful, wonderful, 
 unknown laws. Omnipresence means to the non-occult mind 
 a variety of vague, impracticable ideas, only the few recog- 
 nizing it as immanency and constant self insertion and crea- 
 tion. Finally, eternity; the mind readily agrees to unlimited, 
 endless time, yet is aghast at a mere decillion, almost refusing 
 credence. Yet one is to the other as all to nothing. 
 
 At the time I first met Phyris my ideas of God were simi- 
 larly limited, and when I saw her exercise powers which no 
 terrestrial man ever dreamed that even God could possess, I 
 was truly aghast. Love her? Not then. Respect her, adore 
 her, as a Hindoo does an image of his God— yes. But the 
 seed was sown; it groweth sure. 
 
 Mol Lang left me in the large parlor of his home, whither 
 we three had gone, and when only Phyris was here besides 
 myself, I immediately was constrained by a diffident fear of 
 my gentle hostess. Although she soon dispelled this feeling 
 I nevertheless felt relieved when a young man entered and 
 she introduced me to— 
 
 "My brother, Sohma." 
 
 As I looked upon the two, and remembered Mol Lang's ap- 
 pearance, I thought:— "What splendid physique these people 
 have— how graceful and perfect every line ; it is as if the body 
 were moulded upon the soul, and perfect in its every physical 
 contact.' ' 
 
 "Yes, thou art right in thy thoughts," said Sohma. He 
 had replied to my thought, as Mol Lang and Phyris had: 
 "Thou art right. We make our physical lives correspond to 
 our rigid adherence to law, though that adherence is to us 
 a second nature, not onerous, nor even in its exercise con- 
 sciously applied. Excesses, intemperance, indulgence of that 
 nature so pleasant to the animal senses— these have no attrac- 
 tion, but instead are utterly repugnant. Vegetarians strictly, 
 
320 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 never taking life for any selfish purpose— is it wonderful 
 that our material frames conform to our soul shapes V y 
 
 " Truly not"— I replied— "but in my case how could con- 
 formity to law change the appearance of an unhandsome 
 maturity? My body is already grown, completed in obedi- 
 ence to laws not wisely nor very closely kept. I see you 
 possessed of occult wisdom, but I am not, and find it hard to 
 remember what I have heard of it; as for making the knowl- 
 edge practical— impossible !" 
 
 "Phylos, my brother, the occult adept, is born, not made. 
 His or her knowledge is from within, not from without. 
 Unto thee shall be given the key of the Spirit, and behold, 
 the All Knowing will enter into thy soul, and though no man 
 shall teach thee, neither any book, yet shalt thou become 
 aware of all things, for all things are of our Father, and 
 that is the Spirit.* But ere the Spirit come in, the house 
 must be swept, and, my brother Phylos, I would that thou 
 wert not destined to endure this ordeal. Yet the occult that 
 knoweth all things is born of many lives, and in these has 
 been evil. Thou art so born; it is karma." 
 
 Mol Lang had now returned clothed in his material body, 
 and I alone was in the astral, yet not solitary in the sense 
 of loneliness, for my friends were not separated from me as 
 a result of our diverse physical conditions. True, I could not 
 array myself in material form, for I was in Venus, and my 
 body was in a distant planet. This condition was the reverse 
 of disabilty, however, for in going from place to place I had 
 but to desire to be in the more distant, and I was there, though 
 this power enabled me to have such freedom only in Hesper, 
 and a sense of restriction consequently arose. Discontent was 
 growing in my soul; I felt already a stranger on this high 
 soul plane whereto my friends were born. Though I knew 
 nothing of earth because my earthly self was in the Sach in 
 the care of Mendocus, yet I had most uncomfortable feeling 
 
 *St. John xvi. 13. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 321 
 
 of foreignness; a feeling that some other and previous con- 
 dition, somewhere, was not strange, and I had longing to be 
 again in its familiar environment. Poor me ! 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 AN INDIRECT ANSWER. 
 
 An eminent author has said that "literary themes are neces- 
 sarily limited; that authors can not create as a fiction that 
 which has no counterpart in fact." And this is absolutely 
 true. Literature is restricted to ringing the changes on love, 
 hatred, hope, despair, greed, indifference, envy— the gamut of 
 our human emotions, in short. When these are presented in 
 their threefold aspects— tragedy, comedy, or serio-comic— the 
 scale is run, and the only further variations possible are the 
 lights or shadows of faintness or intensity of emotion. 
 
 Perhaps the thought arises that in this history some new 
 phase will appear, that Theo-Christianity has some new phases 
 to present. Such an idea is doomed to disappointment. In- 
 deed, the occult will be found to exclude even certain potent 
 earthly factors of literature— all those of the lower animal 
 nature, because these have no place in human life. Envy, 
 greed, hatred, have no place in a nature which is close 
 kin to that soul of love— Jesus. Indifference, sloth, 
 despair, these can have no room in a soul which scans so 
 absorbing a vista as that open to Mol Lang, yet so loving a 
 soul that— like Jesus and Gauama— perfect willingness existed 
 to turn from such sublime reward in order that they might 
 lead their least brethren thither also. You may say that such 
 love as this is not animal, when I say it is not human. Right. 
 But it is spiritual; it is that love which only those know 
 who have begun to tread the Path, knowing within the soul 
 the advent of the Spirit. If any of you come to feel that 
 you will not shrink, though karma demand you also to show 
 
322 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 that "Greater love hath no man" than that he "give up his 
 life for a friend"— then brother, sister, you have known the 
 birth of the Spirit within you. Blessed are you then. 
 
 No one can rightfully expect that by the relation of weird 
 things I shall give him a half hour's amusement; such is not 
 my aim. This book is a work of love, done for a sacred pur- 
 pose. The second coming of Christ is upon the world, not 
 only as a time simultaneously arriving for all, but also unto 
 each human soul as it becomes ready to receive Him in the 
 heart, and do His work.* He is at hand now in the sense that 
 if you will open your soul to receive His spirit, He is there 
 to enter in. Truly, of the moment He comes to His own no 
 man can tell the day or the hour; yet I say, tarry not for 
 Him as a man or an external spirit, but as the Christ Spirit 
 entering into your very being. And He shall not wait to 
 come as a man, but come as the Spirit of Divine Love, just 
 so soon as you are ready to make that your rule of life; 
 and as the Christ and Father are One, so therefore shall you 
 that hear and attend be glorified, and presently arise, depart 
 from this world, and go unto the Life. Who hath ears to 
 hear, let him hear. Likewise He shall come as a person at 
 the last.** 
 
 I certainly have strange things to relate, but nothing, 
 weird, unreal or sensational. That which I say is from my 
 Father, and can lead the earnest hearer into the Path whither 
 the Cross Bearer led the way. What I say concerns a larger 
 measure of life— Hesper, the planet of Divine Love. I hope to 
 reveal some further idea than I have hitherto of the extent, 
 kind and duration of occult life. Heretofore I have given 
 only rules— now I give the result of faithfulness to them. I 
 hope to show what a glorious being man becomes through 
 heeding occult law, the law of the Spirit whereof I testify- 
 upward through all the ages, with never any descent, Man 
 pursues still the glorious march which shall eventuate in 
 making him one with the Father— more than Man finite— Man 
 infinite ! Angelic ! 
 
 *Luke xxi, 34, 35. 36. 
 **St. Mark xiii, 26. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 
 
 But my pen is years ahead of my visit to Hesper. I must 
 return to that time lest my words become merely words, 
 erected like modern buildings— fourteen stories high. 
 
 My desire to investigate the occult truth did not diminish, 
 because of the rapid growth of my desire for a life more fa- 
 miliar. Yet ever and again I caught myself studying whether 
 psychic truth might not be pursued where,— ah!— amidst— 
 well, some set of conditions less rigorous to the animal in- 
 stincts struggling within me, and setting me so far below my 
 friends. As well hope to mix oil and water as to study the 
 occult amidst unspiritual, earthly influence ! 
 
 As preceptor, Sohma contented himself with telling me of 
 principles, and not of marvels— lest in pursuing wonders I 
 should lose sight of causes; the fruit of a tree is apt always 
 to be more attractive to the ignorant than is the tree itself. 
 Here is a chief truth in guidance to occult study— pay small 
 heed to the marvels, or to magic, and all heed to laws, for 
 the laws are the tree. The marvel worker is the least of the 
 brethren, understanding not the laws of the Father to any 
 profitable extent. Know the law, know the marvels inci- 
 dent; know not the law, but only the marvel, and you are 
 not following Him, nor shall you inherit His kingdom, 
 though you could do more magic than the Tchin, Mendocus, 
 or even Mol Lang. It was their possession of least value ; may 
 you regard it likewise. 
 
 During a stroll in the garden, I asked Sohma concerning 
 his remark that though I should be given the key to occult 
 wisdom, I should not be taught details. "Sohma, you say 
 details are omitted, and effects also, and only general laws 
 are to be taught me. Now, my nature seems incapable of 
 learning much in that way. I seem to feel a different method 
 necessary, a method born of— of— " here I passed my hand 
 across my brow in perplexity, for earth memories were not 
 supporting me. "Well, I know not exactly what; I seem 
 to have some vague idea of a past life, somewhere, in which 
 other methods of learning were in use. I do not know now, 
 brother. I am lost. ,, 
 
324 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 "No, not lost, Phylos; misplaced— ahead of thy common 
 place in life. But thou makest reference to the analytical 
 philosophy, which reasons from effects back to a common 
 cause. It is not a sure process, as witness the status of 
 chemical science in that vaguely remembered life of thine. 
 Chemistry is a proud science, though handicapped by clumsy 
 analytical processes. It cannot tell what a grain of sand is." 
 
 Suddenly my chemical learning returned to me, in obedience 
 to Sohma's will, although the environing circumstances of 
 its acquirement were prevented. But with the return of the 
 knowledge itself I became immediately argumentative, and 
 I replied to Sohma:— 
 
 "Pardon me, but chemistry can tell that. Sand is silica- 
 silicic acid, and it is composed of the element silicon and 
 the oxygen of the air, in the proportion of two of the latter to 
 one of the former." 
 
 Precisely. But thou hast not really told anything; thou 
 art as far from a finality as before. Thou say est sand is com- 
 posed of two primary elements?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "And being primary, cannot be reduced farther?" 
 
 "No, they cannot,"— I said, yet, remembering certain won- 
 derful things I had already witnessed, I was beginning to be 
 nervous. 
 
 "No! Art thou sure?"— he queried, persistently, and I, 
 both from a feeling of stubbornness which his manner 
 aroused, and a determination to be true to my science at all 
 hazards, replied: 
 
 ' ' Assuredly ! " 
 
 "Phylos, if it were not that thy stubbornness were tem- 
 pered with an admirable fidelity to principle, I should say 
 that wisdom will die with thee. But, my friend, thy system 
 of chemistry, with its sixty odd 'primal elements ' and its 
 'monads, dyads, triads' and so on; its simples, binaries, terti- 
 aries and the like numerous compounds, is nothing but a 
 fine working hypothesis— well adapted to producing the result 
 it has produced, but because it is not the whole chemical 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 325 
 
 truth, not capable of ever attaining that wholeness of re- 
 sults which marks the sublime constitution of nature. So 
 far from conducting to the truth these theories have just the 
 opposite effect; they teach the multiformity of matter, 
 whereas its unity is the truth. As I said, though, the chem- 
 ists of the earth have a good working hypothesis, one which 
 will do until the better method of truth is found." 
 
 Sohma paused, whereupon I asked what the better method 
 was. He did not answer me in direct words, but instead he 
 put before my mental vision a workshop, wherein were many 
 kinds of instruments and machines in states either of com- 
 pletion or approaching completion, lying upon tables and 
 benches. I saw here a clock, there watches, there again an 
 old style typewriter; there were time locks and combination 
 tools, besides many intricate mechanisms that even the sight 
 of suggested no use for. At a little distance upon a table lay 
 a confused mass of parts of machinery not put together. He 
 said: 
 
 "Phylos, canst thou put these things together? In this 
 pile are portions of clocks, typewriters, locks and so forth. 
 Thou sayest thou art not a machinist, hence cannot deal 
 with these things. These things are not unfamiliar to me, 
 who am a machinist. With all the parts before thee thou 
 couldst not construct a clock or other mechanism. But sup- 
 pose thou shouldst take carefully apart a clock now in run- 
 ning order, and study carefully all its relations, and do so by 
 not one only, but by several of these instruments, then the 
 whole would become familiar to thee, and while merely taking 
 one clock apart would not be apt to teach thee, doing so by 
 many would enable thee to put them all together again as 
 they were. That is the process of analysis, deduction and syn- 
 thesis; it is the same, practically, in physics, or in mechan- 
 ics or enemies." 
 
 "But my friend,"— I said in dismay, "I cannot do these 
 acts, not having opportunity to thus experiment." 
 
 "That is my point, Phylos. I will show thee the better 
 method of which I spoke. Here before us is an invention of 
 
326 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 my own; practically I am its creator, and therefore do I 
 understand it. Here also is another identical machine, but it 
 is in separate state; its parts are a confused pile. Now thou 
 knowest nothing of constructive mechanics; I do, and I will 
 point out to thee the principal parts of the machine, which 
 is in running order. Observe !" 
 
 Sohma went up to the machine— which stood, a marvel of 
 mechanical beauty, its burnished brass and silver wheels, 
 springs, cogs, chain belts, etc., showing through the quadran- 
 galar glass case. He spoke into the mouthpiece, explaining 
 the machine to me the while. He said that he would remain 
 near the mouthpiece, so that his words should be reported 
 and printed and bound in book form. As he spoke he loosened 
 a set screw. Then he said : 
 
 "A microphonic diaphragm sets strong currents of elec- 
 tricity in operation. These act only as my tones impinge on 
 that vocal diaphragm, whereby, as thou seest, carbon discs 
 close other circuits, and operate levers carrying type upon 
 their extremities. Observe that this vocal diaphragm is made 
 of sonant steel cords, like those of a piano, and there aiv of 
 these just as many as experience has demonstrated that ther<- 
 are vocal tones and octaves. Hence there is in one alphabet 
 just that number of letters, and our written language consists 
 in the proper sequential arrangement of these letters, either 
 type, if printed, or symbolic chirography, if written. Along 
 with our spoken tones, then, if near such an instrument as 
 this, we can 'utter' a printed volume. The congregate tones 
 affect each its own chord; this in vibration compresses the 
 carbon discs, sets going the instant electric current, the type 
 lever does its work, the paper is carried a space forward and 
 the next type strikes, and so on till the voice ceases utter- 
 ance. The spacing between words even, is automatically 
 done, for, so long as one is talking connectedly there is a 
 utilization made of the return of the carbon disc from its 
 compressed active state, whereby a spring moves the paper 
 carriage one space for every minor pause in the voice, and 
 two for periods, but it is not sufficient for more than a dou- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 327 
 
 ble spacing motion. I am done speaking, nearly, and will 
 move this lever up, thus releasing the stored force which 
 arose from the motion of the parts— especially of the heavy 
 balance wheel. No more printing will be done, but the re- 
 serve force will fold, cut and bind my speech, and when this 
 is done, the last of the force stored— equal in all cases to 
 the special work— is exhausted entirely by the ringing of a 
 bell which signifies the end. 
 
 Though Sohma ceased to speak, the instrument still worked, 
 and almost quicker than this sentence will be put in 
 type, the bell rang and behold! Sohma 's words in book 
 form dropped into a little box at the end of the case. The 
 instrument stood motionless in its case, and for the first time 
 its compactness struck me— it was but eighteen inches high, 
 by two feet in width and three in length, yet it had done ail 
 that marvelous work. 
 
 "Couldst thou take apart this instrument and put it to- 
 gether properly again ?"— was the startling question, start- 
 ling because I thought he intended me to do it! "No, my 
 brother; but as its creator, knowing all its most obscure 
 points, my comprehension of it and of other machinery, and 
 of truths not mechanical as well, but scientific physics, is a 
 veritable spirit of knowledge, and observe— this spirit I 
 will to enter into thy mind, at least so far as concerns this 
 mechanism. Behold it and know it." 
 
 Strange to relate, I, who previously knew almost nothing 
 of such things, seemed on the instant to understand the whole 
 of the delicate apparatus, as a watchmaker does a watch. 
 Sohma, perceiving this, said: 
 
 "Such, Phylos, is that key to all wisdom whereof I spoke. 
 God, creator of all things whatever, shall one day enter into 
 thee. Then thy spirit, which is a ray of His Spirit, shed into 
 the darkness of life by Him, shall reunite with Him. And 
 because He creates by constant Logos all things and states of 
 Being, and is immanent in it all, knowing it all, so when He 
 entereth thy soul, thou shalt know all things likewise, and, in 
 less measure, truly, create also. Thou shalt know that, in 
 
328 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 chemical sense, only one element exists, operated upon by 
 Force. Then all " elements," as thou knowest them, shall 
 be seen to be but different speeds of the molecular forma- 
 tion of the One Element by varying degrees of the One 
 Force— and light, heat, sound and all solid, liquid and gas- 
 eous substances will be seen to be different not in material, 
 but in speed only. 
 
 "That knowledge underlies all life— physics, chemics, 
 sonants, calorics, chromatics, electrics and all and every possi- 
 ble aspect of nature. Such is the supreme law of God, and He 
 is nature, though Nature is not conversely God. Another law 
 is that of compensation ; may I tell thee of it ? " 
 
 I replied that I should be but too glad to listen, for his words 
 revealed God in all things, whether high or low. So he con- 
 tinued : 
 
 "This law, then, not only governs all matter, but that of 
 which matter is the reflection— Spirit, and the soul realm. I 
 need state but a single brief instance in material nature— the 
 screw plane. As the plane of a screw is greater or less in its 
 inclination, so will its action be either rapid or powerful, but 
 never both at once. If the thread be slight in pitch, the screw 
 bar will progress through its nut very slowly, but— as exerted 
 in a screw press— the crushing force will be enormous. Vice 
 versa ; if the pitch be steep, the screw bar will progress rapidly, 
 as to-wit: The screw nail, which may be driven into wood 
 with a hammer, and revolve as it goes in. 
 
 "Now, in the soul realm, if a human being is content with 
 the gradual, easy pitch of the God-ward ascending plane of 
 pure daily life, daily temptations to work in error, and too 
 often fall, progress upward will be slow, but very sure. But, 
 on the contrary, if eager to learn rapidly, it must meet in a few 
 hours all the crushing force of temptations to err and to sin 
 which the ordinary man meets distributed through many, many 
 incarnations, covering ages, aye, aeonian time. In the one case 
 the Father giveth sufficient of the daily bread of strength unto 
 men to enable them to progress very slowly, but with certitude. 
 In the other, all the splendid reserve of resistant force of a 
 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 329 
 
 very God is needed, for all the power of Lucifer— that high 
 nature spirit who was incarnate in the planet which disrupted 
 into the solar asteroidal belt, upon the lapse, the failure of its 
 Soul— all of his glorious power sufficed not to carry him to 
 victory, so he fell. GOD-CHRIST in thee can alone win this 
 struggle. Truly, no mere human, so long as he remains Man, 
 can have such a temptation; not thyself, not Mol Lang, my 
 father, hardly Gautama were subjected to such a severe test 
 as was that sublime world soul, Lucifer, except relatively. I 
 say relatively, for consider this : that if a fly or an ant be sub- 
 jected to all it can endure, then its pain at that point is as 
 severe as that of a man at his breaking strain. But as Jesus 
 and Gautama were tempted to the utmost and did not fail, 
 therefore their victory was greater than Lucifer's failure, and 
 when thou shalt come to a trial like his, thou 'It doubtless suc- 
 ceed ; though, again, thou mayest fail. There is but one Guide ; 
 follow and win ; follow not, and fail.* It is a new conception 
 to thee to learn there is an animating ego, a world spirit, inma- 
 teriated in each star, each planet, every stellar body, just as 
 there is an individual soul in each human, animal or plant body. 
 Yet this is true. True also it is that the spirits of men will 
 progress; will face the supreme ordeal, and, if they pass vic- 
 torious, will enter that long rest, heaven, devachan— call it as 
 thou wilt— Nirvana. But that is not the end, for life had a be- 
 ginning—it hath also an end. And the perfect human ego 
 emerging eventually from Nirvana, that long devachan of all 
 the incarnations, emerges not as Man ; it does not live, but It Is, 
 and Its post-viviant existence is a state of Being which no hu- 
 man mind could understand, except inferentially it do so 
 through the knowledge that that state is to Life as the senior 
 to the junior. But ere then is the trial of transfiguration ; to it 
 my father hath come, I have not. If we fail, then that is the 
 second death**, but meet it we must, humanity must-. But it is 
 long ere then, for it cometh not until the essaying soul be per- 
 fect, and be ready to leave the pupaceous state of Human Life, 
 
 ♦John xvi, 13. 
 **Rev. xx, 13-15. 
 
330 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 to be judged according to (its) works for Him who made all. 
 Do I weary thee, Phylos ? ' ' 
 
 I replied that he did not, though it did seem that I grasped 
 his meaning only to lose it again. None the less I was eager 
 to have him go on, fancying I understood, just as every person 
 you or I know is fond of thinking his or her comprehension of 
 abstruse subjects perfect. Sohma smiled and said in reply 
 that, when he was done, all that I would have gained would be 
 the psychic bent favoring my progress, for I was destined to 
 forget the very ideas I fancied I was gaining. But he con- 
 tinued, observing that a favorable prejudice was a worthy 
 thing, calling for his best effort for me. 
 
 "I wish thee to observe also this: that if thou thinkest the 
 judgment day, when according to its works thy soul is ar- 
 raigned by thy spirit, which is God in thee, if thou thinkest that 
 because that day may be in remote aeons ere it come, and there- 
 fore thou hast ample time to lag, to err, I counsel thee it is a 
 fatal mistake. For if at the great trial any man fail it is be- 
 cause, day by day, as the lives were run, he neglected his 
 chances, either by omission or commission. Then shall such 
 suffer the second death, be cast into the 'lake of fire'— in other 
 words, their Spirit will depart from the soul and go unto the 
 Father, while the soul will be gathered into the sum of force— 
 the 'Fire' element— that which is sum of all lesser force forms, 
 out of which springeth life, heat and vibration. But this will 
 not be until the erring one hath passed from his soul into his 
 spirit. So the 'second death'* is not of the sinner; it is the 
 cutting off of all his, or her, spoiled work, and a chance to 
 begin again, to build better ; our Father damneth not His child, 
 but only the imperfect work, the sinning soul. In our library 
 thou canst see a book brought here to Hesper from the Earth, 
 a book which speaketh of the order of the Rosicrux, wherein 
 this supreme Fire is written of. ' Tis also that Fire once called 
 in the Earth the Maxin. 
 
 ♦Rev. xx, 13-15. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 331 
 
 "Phylos, thou wilt suffer the ordeal of the Crisis before other 
 men ; whether thou shalt succeed or fail no man knoweth save 
 those who have passed heretofore." 
 
 When Sohma ceased speaking, I looked around me, and 
 found that while the clocks and typewriters, and locks and 
 various instruments, were gone, the vocal printer was not gone ; 
 it was an actuality— the rest only concepts which Sohma had 
 willed me to see. My mind was not trained sufficiently well 
 to continue on a special line of thought so long, and while I 
 fancied that I possessed a clear idea of all my companion had 
 said, and was pleased by the notion, yet had I tried at that 
 moment to recollect his meanings, I should have been chagrined 
 to find that I had nothing beyonl vague ideas. Still, I did not 
 try the experiment, but, content with the supposition of pos- 
 session, my mind wandered to a new theme, and I asked Sohma 
 if Hesperians had not found aerial vessels possible among so 
 many triumphs. He turned toward me and looking behind me, 
 smiled as he answered: 
 
 "I Will leave Phyris to tell thee that; I must go elsewhere." 
 
 I was pleased at this new event, yet shyness at once asserted 
 itself, and though vexed at this fact, my vexation seemed only 
 to increase my diffidence. Taking, as I supposed, no notice of 
 this diffidence, she said: 
 
 4 'We rarely go, except we go astrally. We care but seldom 
 to avail ourselves of our aerial vessels; but we have them. It 
 may be that thou— or shall I say 'you' to lessen thy— your— 
 shyness of me?"— and Phyris bent a pair of laughing eyes upon 
 me, a gaze that, while it gave most delicious pleasure, effect- 
 ually confused me, past recovery, I feared. 
 
 " Perhaps "—she continued, after gently laughing at my 
 piteous abashment— "perhaps you think we Hesperians can 
 transport our physical bodies here and there by some occult 
 process, or other. For instance, as all forms of matter are but 
 divine ideas clothed in the One Substance, it is possible to dis- 
 integrate the material form, but preserve the psychic idea and 
 transport that as other thoughts move, by effort of will, then 
 rehabilitate it in matter. Thus it is, articles can be brought 
 
332 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 from the earth here to us. But if you think we can do this by 
 our own bodies you err, for ourselves are the ideas embodied. 
 Truly we can emerge from these bodies, and travel in one brief 
 instant from one to any other star. But we can not have two 
 corporeal bodies at once. If we leave the one we have, we can, 
 by putting it in a cataleptic trance, leave it in fit state to re- 
 occupy upon our return. But if we leave it and make around 
 ourselves a new one, like in all respects to the other, and abide 
 in it, the deserted temple will perish. We could do it; but we 
 have no need to, and consequently do not. All about you is 
 matter— every breath is matter, differing only from iron in 
 its molecular speed. The air is matter ; electricity is matter. I 
 will show you. See, I wish a plate, several plates, cups, saucers, 
 knives and forks, so I image them— (imagio— I create) in the 
 mental or psychic form. Do you see them? Eyes of Earth 
 could not ; thou hast for a time Hesperian vision. ' ' 
 
 Before me was a pile of delicate table ware, with the pattern 
 upon each piece of a different kind. 
 
 ' ' These articles are really only thought forms ; no eye unable 
 to preceive a thought could see them. But now look, I gather 
 to myself the higher rate of speed, the extra force which makes 
 air of the One Substance, and the force which I leave is just 
 that of the various minerals of which I desire my ware to be 
 'made' — observe that one plate is a ruby, the real crystal alum- 
 inum; and another is a pearl— others are of various gem stones 
 —as that cup and saucer— crystal carbon, diamond each one. 
 On the Earth those dishes would be valued into the millions 
 of dollars, yet here they are valued for their uses and their 
 beauty only. Do you see, Phylos— I know the terms of your 
 language and what ideas are conveyed by your words. But 
 now I, like Sohma, must go, for I have a dinner to get, a use 
 for my plates, cups and saucers, which I have made, as well 
 as more yet to make. Quite like an ordinary mortal, you say? 
 Indeed, and why not? Do you think an occultist is always 
 rapt in abstruse speculations? You err, Phylos, you err, in- 
 deed. You may go into the library, where you may find some- 
 thing to interest you." 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 333 
 
 To the library, therefore, I went, and if you will, you may 
 go with me, in a mental way, and see something of it. Do not 
 object that these Hesperian objects were unreal, just because 
 I have said that no one with ordinary terrestrial eyes could see 
 any evidences of life on Venus. Reality does not necessarily 
 imply terrene solidity. 
 
 At least forty thousand volumes lined the shelves; many of 
 them were plainly, but some richly bound. On my first intro- 
 duction to this apartment I had found that the books on the 
 shelves were all in the phonetic print of Hesper. But I saw 
 on a table one whose cover bore in Anglo-Saxon in gilt letters 
 the title and name of the publishers, and as I looked, for a 
 brief time the memory power of Earth returned. The inscrip- 
 tion was : 
 
 "A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE/' 
 
 By Miss A. B. Edwards. 
 
 Published by 
 
 Longmans & Co. 
 
 1876. 
 
 That volume had been brought all the many millions of miles 
 across inter-planetary space along the "currents"— just as 
 Phyris had done when she "made" the tableware, only in the 
 case of this book she had not created the thoughts in the book, 
 but had disintegrated the matter, preserving the astral— the 
 only reality about an object— and after bringing it from Earth 
 to Hesper, had reclothed it in matter after its journey. I looked 
 about, and found other volumes— one entitled : 
 
 "THE ROSICRUCIANS." 
 By 
 
 Hargrave Jennings. 
 
 I found copies of Milton's works, of Tennyson's earlier 
 poems, of Moore, and a pile several feet high of other standard 
 works; on top of all lay the "Essay of Emerson"— upon which, 
 as I gazed, appeared a piece of white paper, and as I looked, 
 the words seemed to form as if precipitated from the air : 
 
334 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 "Phylos, these books I have brought for you from the dis- 
 tant earth. I did so that you might contrast them with our 
 Hesperian works. Finally, consider this: that we who are 
 illumined by the Spirit of the Creator do little with books or 
 such crude methods of learning, caring only for them as speci- 
 mens of the work of souls on certain planes. To read them we 
 have no need, no desire— they serve only as texts, for when we 
 would learn, we retire within our souls and listen to the All 
 Knowing Spirit." 
 
 That message was signed by Phyris. It was written in Eng- 
 lish. Written? No, precipitated, and as soon as I had read it, 
 it disappeared as it had appeared— with no hand to remove it, 
 no person save myself in the room. With its disappearance I 
 also ceased to retain memories of the world whence I came. As 
 I stood, considering what next to do, Phyris came in and said : 
 
 "Here is an invention by Sohma which will render thy de- 
 light greater; I know it is always great where books abound." 
 
 She picked up a book from Earth— Shakespeare— and placed 
 it in an instrument which turned the pages automatically, and 
 a strong electric light being cast on the visible pages, its beams 
 reflected upon a metallic plate. Unseen wheels revolved within 
 a case, and a voice issued from a funnel shaped mouthpiece. 
 To my pleasure I heard the reading of page after page of the 
 great English literary gem, in appropriate tones for the various 
 characters. While I listened, absorbed, Phyris withdrew, and 
 it was some time ere I noticed her absence. I think I should 
 then have gone in search of her, or of Sohma— Mol Lang had 
 gone to a distance, on duty bent, leaving his body asleep in his 
 room— but as I was about to go out of the library, a hand— 
 a woman's hand— reached over my shoulder, and a soft voice 
 said: 
 
 "Put these over your eyes." 
 
 It was Phyris, who gave me a seeming pair of spectacles. 
 They were indeed spectacles which all the fortunes of earth 
 could not obtain. How thoughtful she was of my pleasure ! As 
 I put them on, all the shelves of books disappeared, and a 
 book being placed in my hand— as I know from retrospection, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 335 
 
 for I did not know then— I found myself seemingly amid scenes 
 of most familiar aspect. All the mental pictures conjured up 
 by vivid perusal of Scott's famous poem, "The Lady of the 
 Lake"— all the voices of its characters became seen and heard, 
 as if I were on the spot where all was said to have transpired. 
 For the time I was transported by means of those magical eye 
 pieces into the mental world of Walter Scott, which, while he 
 wrote,— 
 
 "Lay around ihim like a cloud, 
 A world he could not see. " 
 
 —except with the vision of the creative imagination. 
 
 The whole was presented in a few moments, for thought is 
 swifter than the senses, and when the King threw his golden 
 fetters over Malcolm's neck and laid the chain in fair Ellen's 
 hand— without waiting for the rest, Phyris withdrew the won- 
 derful spectacles from my eyes, and said : 
 
 "These would banish material surroundings, and let the 
 reader directly into the author's realms of imagery, whatever 
 the book, but not whoever the reader— for only fine, develop- 
 ing human senses, none that are controlled by the animal, can 
 enjoy the use of them. And this because they are a species 
 of sensitive magnet, linking psychic facts, but not material 
 things. But there, I do not know much more about them, and 
 you must ask father of them if you would learn more. I am 
 only a girl, and must learn to be more ere I can assume to teach. 
 And I should dislike to fail in offering you an explanation. 
 Your good opinion of me would lessen, and that would be mor- 
 tifying, for I treasure it— I, well, never mind,"— she said, as 
 a delicate flush spread over her face— "come with me; I think 
 it is well not to be too long a time amidst any one set of influ- 
 ences—as literary environs." 
 
 Much, aye, most that I saw in Hesper had been unfamiliar. 
 But that delicate blush— it set me thinking— my own ideas 
 meantime in a confused, ecstatic whirl. What did it mean? 
 Did it denote reciprocal affection? 
 
 "It does in truth,"— she said, in reply to my unspoken query. 
 "But the significance of it is beyond thy knowledge. Thou — 
 
336 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 nay, you!— see me a maid of not many years. Your love shall 
 behold me a woman. Do I speak a riddle? Only time can 
 solve it. You are with me, and I with you, and our ages dif- 
 fer not greatly. You have little understanding ; I have more ; 
 both are imperfect, yet the Spirit shall make us whole. If I 
 asked you now, 'What is will power?' you could not answer 
 it truly. Yet I tell you, and my words shall sink deep, and 
 guide you to me. I said erroneously that you are with me, and 
 behold, you are so only in the sight of our Father in the be- 
 ginning, but not now. Yet one day shall come, and when I 
 shall ask, 'What is will?' you shall say of your own knowl- 
 edge:— 'Will is the fiat of consciousness.' If it be will of the 
 animal soul, its result will be only a subjective thought which 
 shall energize muscles to do an objective reality conforming 
 to the subjective plan. If it be of the human soul, it will be of 
 greater intensity, and nobler, but still the brain, and through 
 it the muscles, must render its fiat into material form. But if 
 the will be the fiat of our Spirits, and trained, we shall say to 
 any material force, 'Obey me,' and it shall obey. Because our 
 Spirits are of our Father and one with Him, and the Will of 
 the Spirit shall need no mediate brain nor muscle, but shall 
 find every natural power its direct servant, and this is the 
 faith whereof Jesus spoke. So, Phylos, my own, I have told 
 you, and yet you, hearing, hear not. Why not? Because our 
 Father is not yet manifest in you. But when you, having 
 heard, understand, then shall we twain be one, for it is so 
 written in the Book of Life. 
 
 As she ceased speaking we came into a plot of ground wherein 
 grew the fruits for table use. Of these she gathered some, but 
 of others desired, none were growing. Stooping, she drew on 
 the soil a figure which looked familiar, although I could not tell 
 where I had seen it previously. It was this 0; and the reader 
 will remember that it is the same that I described the Tchin 
 as making when he caused the Yita Mundi to flame as he stood 
 within it. It was also creative fire in Phyris hands, though it 
 had not been so as exhibited by Quong. In the space Phyris 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 337 
 
 planted seeds, and then, completing the symbol, the flames rose 
 above the area sown. 
 
 "Behold, Phylos ! If I have but the seed, the herb shall come 
 forth after its kind.* But if I have not the seed, my poor, 
 human soul wisdom could not make that herb grow. Mol 
 Lang could, being transfigured. Having seed, I can bring 
 Gods Viviant Fire to aid its germination— see! it sprouts; and 
 again watch it— it grows visibly." 
 
 I was astonished to see, mounting up as fast as evening shad- 
 ows lengthen— green tendrils, and buds unfolding even, as the 
 flowers of primula spring forth, flowers, blossoming, blossomed ; 
 seed scarps forming, formed; and the matured fruit hanging 
 in clusters in the radiant flame of the Vita Mundi, as high as 
 my head from the ground, where erst there had been but vacant 
 soil. And this girl, who declared herself not a grown woman, 
 exercising such magic as this and thinking it only ordinary! 
 This was an inherent power of the Human Principle, my 
 friends, and will be common to you also when you become de- 
 veloped in the Human. Earthly man is yet only in the initial 
 of his humanity in a few favored cases, but is very largely in 
 his animality. Most of mankind is merely animal, not human, 
 save by courtesy. Yet the dawn of the glorious new era is at 
 hand, and in its fullness of days Christ shall come again to it 
 and enter into the hearts of his own ; and it shall be the Father 
 that shall enter, and by Messiah. Be yet then prepared for the 
 coming of the Spirit, for no man knoweth the day nor hour 
 thereof. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 "THE DESERT IS BEFORE THY FEET." 
 
 So the days passed. It was over two weeks of the local time 
 that I had been in Hesperian environs. And during this inter- 
 val the longing for the past life grew ; the few occasions when 
 
 •Genesis i, 12. 
 
338 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Mol Lang, Sohma or Phyris had recalled the vivid memories 
 of Earth had been seized upon by my Pertozian astral, and thus 
 each such event renewed the certitude of my having had a 
 past in which all my surroundings had been familiar. It sad- 
 dened Phyris to know that every time I was left alone my 
 thoughts yearned with increased longing for that past. At 
 times a strong effort of my own will would successfully bring it 
 before me— bring, in fact, my earthly astral from Earth to me 
 — that astral which was the sum of my experiences and memor- 
 ies of Earth. Then, being in Venus, I yet knew myself a man 
 of Earth, and a stranger, and my yearning grew strong for 
 America, my "ain countree." That was home to me, oh! so 
 much more home, although I had no relatives living— all gone 
 to devachan's rest— and no friends comparable to those I had 
 so strangely found in Hesper. My friend, it is the soul that is 
 chained, not the body of man. Unchain thy souls, oh, brethren, 
 and seek to know the things of heaven, of the high life with 
 God, and all things else shall be added unto you— yea, even to 
 the ability to explore the stars in person. Mine was bound to 
 Earth by love of home and native land. Then these moments 
 of knowledge of Earth would cease, because my will power 
 was not strong enough to hold the astral summoned, and it 
 gravitated to its own level, which was the world. Again I 
 would be left unconscious of the Earth life, and brooding over 
 the puzzle, until some of the family banished the mental state 
 producing it ! No, I was a soul not at home except on Earth ; 
 I was here on a higher plane ; I might be born after devachan 
 into the level of the Hesperian, but the fact ever obtruded with 
 increased emphasis that as yet I had not been so born. 
 
 It was a pleasure to me to sit at table when my friends took 
 their simple repasts, for though I could not eat, nor indeed did 
 I need food, it was agreeable to be with them when they col- 
 lected thus together. 
 
 The next day after I had seen Phyris grow the fruits to eat, 
 I was at supper with the family when Mol Lang, speaking to 
 his son, said: 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 339 
 
 "Sohma, is it wise to tell our guest so much philosophy as 
 thou and sister have done and contemplate doing ? ' ' 
 ' ' Wherefore keep secret the truth, my father ? ' ' 
 
 ''Because, son, Phylos must return to Earth; it is so fated. 
 He can not know these things, for hearing is not knowing, nor 
 is seeing. He hath no faculties developed whereby to know 
 them, and thou nor I can not permanently enter our knowl- 
 edge into his soul. Jesus of Nazareth, except He entered into 
 the souls of His hearers as into a temple, could tell them noth- 
 ing. Caiaphas, the High Priest, and all the Israelites heard the 
 Savior with their ears and saw His doings, yet were blind and 
 deaf and comprehended not. But unto those who were His dis- 
 ciples and followers, He entered, and they saw and heard and 
 profited. That was the Spirit which the Master awakened in 
 them and they followed the Word, even as Jesus followed it. 
 But the world has had to read the printed Word for these 
 many centuries, and though many have believed, yet none, no, 
 not one, has been illuminated by the Spirit like unto Paul. 
 What thou wouldst say to Phylos will come to him in astral 
 form when he begins to yearn for Hesperus, even as his astral 
 of Earth now comes to him as he yearns for Earth. And, hav- 
 ing forgotten Pertoz— forgotten us— he yet will utter these 
 bits of occult lore, and will suffer therefor. Suffer, because 
 some hearers will be mystified, others scornful, and none, him- 
 self included, able to explain or understand. ' ' 
 
 "Yea, my parent, thou speakest wisely. Yet let me say— he 
 will utter truth. Truth is mighty and will prevail. If, at the 
 time, it be misunderstood, not less must it cause some act in 
 both speaker and hearer. I need not say thoughts are things, 
 for all things are thoughts. Even a stone is a thought concept 
 of the Eternal Spirit, and the stone seen by ordinary eyes 
 is but the externalization of the idea. If, then, Phylos shall 
 think, and his hearers think on his utterances, that is an action, 
 making the actor responsible. If a small thought, then a small 
 act; it will doubtless finish its karma in the life of its utter- 
 ance. But if a great thought, or deed, it will make its doer his 
 or her own legatte, and then ? I speak to thee also now, Phylos 
 
340 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 —the inheritor of his own actions shall find the deed become 
 part of the great karma of the human race, and himself respon- 
 sible for its fruition, because, Till heaven and earth pass, one 
 jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be 
 fulfilled.'* Only thus can Phylos ever come to us again." 
 
 "Well spoken, my son!"— was Mol Lang's sole comment. 
 
 Sohma then said to me:— "Phylos, my brother, there is no 
 man or woman but hath in some past as well as present life 
 done grievous evil to one or more fellowbeings— man or animal. 
 Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. And our Father 
 hath ordained that in life, subsequent to the one witnessing the 
 greater sins, he that did them must also requite them. Must 
 do so by setting against the evil counter-balancing good. Not 
 else shall any one come into the Kingdom. This is the law of 
 karma. ' ' 
 
 On leaving the table I went with Sohma into his own rooms 
 to see a painting which adorned his wall. Its size was three 
 and a half feet by six feet, and it was framed with rubies, 
 sapphires, diamonds, pearls and other gems set in cement- 
 precious stones which on Earth would be each valued into three 
 period of figures. Not so in Hesperus, for they were produced 
 as Phyris produced the jewel-dishes. But the picture exceeded 
 the frame— a production of art magic which ail the wealth of 
 the world could not buy. 
 
 I saw a view of a boundless ocean, the billows lashed in 
 tempestuous fury, sea-birds skimming the crests or flitting 
 through the air above. It seemed a sunset on the great waters, 
 for the red beams shone through breaking clouds, lighting the 
 aftermath of the storm with a great glory. Close at hand- 
 so close that one could see the anxious intensity of mingling 
 emotions on their faces— two men and a boy clung to a floating 
 spar. One of the men was held by his mates as he wildly 
 waved his arms to a ship that lay— an acute silhouette against 
 the monstrous disc— right in the very middle of the vermillion 
 sun. 
 
 ♦Matthew v, 18. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 341 
 
 "Such a scene could not be worth so great a sum as I 
 named?" 
 
 Truly, it were idle to attach a figure to what no money could 
 buy. But what think you when I say that the pictured billows 
 rose and fell as does real water ? And the wind scudding along 
 caught the combing, breaking billows and hurled spray and 
 spume for what seemed hundreds of feet. The petrels and 
 gulls dipping their feet in the water left a momentary ripple 
 as they rose again. Clouds flitted across the horizon, and com- 
 ing athwart the great sun, were lit by its crimson, while, even 
 as I looked, the blazing orb sank its lower edge beneath the 
 waters. The tall ship had sailed to the edge of the shield and, 
 looking, I saw a flag raised and lowered as if in answer to the 
 men on the spar. Then a boat, a mere dot at the distance, was 
 launched. But the castaways were too near the level to see 
 these things, and as the sun sank wholly from view, one of 
 them raised his arms in wild despair, and slipped from the 
 spar to his grave in the depths. After a time the light of the 
 full moon replaced that of the set sun, the clouds cleared away, 
 and in the pale, silvery light I saw the approaching boat, 
 seeking the castaways. I saw them, now floated to one side of 
 the canvas, but the searchers at first did not. They rowed 
 here and there, and finally were successful. Lifting the per- 
 ishing man and the boy into the boat, they pulled away to 
 where the lights of their ship gleamed in the night. Then the 
 watery waste was left lifeless as the boat disappeared in the 
 gloom towards the ship, which, as I looked, sailed out at one 
 side of the picture, as if the whole scene was one beheld 
 through an open window, and the vessel had sailed behind the 
 window casement. The canvas slowly whitened, and presently 
 was perfectly blank of color or figures. 
 
 While I yet gazed, out from the side on the right of the frame 
 appeared a black point, coming slowly into view, and tossing 
 up and down. Waves grew in green sullenness across the 
 whole canvas, and Sohma said : 
 
 "See, it is about to repeat itself. By watching thou shalt 
 see the whole again. It is a scene of a shipwreck on the At- 
 
342 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 lantic Ocean, on the distant Earth. As often as it is all com- 
 pleted it turns white, and then is repeated. It is another 
 example of the power of an occult mind over matter; the 
 artist's will changes the speed of the color, and either re- 
 duces or raises it so that the vibrations making red are in- 
 creased and range up through all degrees of color-force— always 
 exactly in harmony with the astral image put on the canvas by 
 the creative power of the occult artist. 'Who painted this? 
 dost thou ask?' Phyris. She painted it ere thou earnest to 
 Hesperus— when thou didst rescue a woman from a life of 
 shame. This scene is prophetic. It is that of a time coming on 
 Earth— when that rescued woman shall be lost at sea, years 
 hence. But look at the picture." 
 
 I looked, and saw that though the storm was yet only a 
 menace, it was surely coming and would overtake the proud 
 vessel that now had appeared in full perspective, half a mile 
 over the waters from me, as it seemed. At the mainmast 
 floated the Stars and Stripes— Flag of the Union. The sight 
 brought my astral to me, and memories of Earth and home- 
 land filled my eyes with tears. But Sohma put away the sad 
 feeling, leaving me but partially conscious of the past. I 
 could see a sailor go to the ship's bell and ring "eight bells"— 
 see, but of course not hear— four o'clock in the afternoon. 
 The sailor had hardly struck the time ere a man came on 
 deck and seemed to give orders to "close reef." The men 
 swarmed into the rigging and obeyed— it was from their 
 actions that I knew what the orders had been. Then coming 
 back on deck, they battened down the hatches and put all 
 safe for storm. Not a moment too soon. First a cloud over- 
 cast the sun; then a black pall in the north, obscuring the 
 view— I could dimly see that things on shipboard began to 
 flap in the wind, and soon the noble vessel careened far over 
 to starboard under the white-topped rush of frightful bil 
 lows. Then the fugitive craft, with its mainmast hanging 
 over the side, began to flee before the demon of the storm. I 
 could see it as it rose and sank in the maddened swirl, while 
 it seemed as if the vessel was in rapid motion, giving the 
 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 343 
 
 effect of flight. Presently a squad of seamen made a rush 
 across the decks for the pumps, at which they worked with 
 the energy of despair. A woman came from the one hatch 
 left open for passage below decks, and winding the cordags of 
 the stump of the mainmast about her slight form, cheered the 
 men in their desperate toil. The foremast now snapped, and 
 was cut adrift. The vessel was filling faster than the men 
 could pump out the leakage, and a jump for the boats was 
 made. One by one these were lost— swamped as they touched 
 the water, till only one remained. Into this the captain ordered 
 his men. Two more men than there was possible room for in 
 the boat; and the captain and his mate, and the woman whom 
 the mate held in his arms, stayed. The boat was not seem- 
 ingly a hundred feet distant when the gallant ship pitched 
 forward, prow first, and went down. A spar floating by the 
 lone boat was the salvation of some of those in the frail shell, 
 which I saw overturned by the heavy waves— a moment I 
 saw white faces, for the boat was near in the foreground— I 
 saw the woman's face as she sank, and she was near enough 
 so that I saw, not terror, but a peaceful smile depicted on her 
 features. Then I saw two men and a boy, clinging to a spar, 
 and the scene was come to the repetition, for on that spar, 
 when two days had elapsed (in seeming) I saw them as at the 
 beginning of this description. "In seeming V Yes, because 
 the canvas depicted that night's blackness, the next day's 
 sombre light, another night and the second day. The whole 
 scene took about two actual hours for its rendition. 
 
 Sohma said no more concerning occult wisdom. He knew 
 that my mind, ignorant of the philosophy of this higher life, 
 was not in touch with its significance, and that I wearied of 
 it as a child does of studies at school; abstruse occupations 
 presenting to its limited comprehension no actual connection 
 with the facts of its little world. 
 
 Mol Lang taught me yet one thing more there in Hesper, 
 saying it was for my guidance, and that I would not forget 
 it at any time. We were beside the great river which flowed 
 past his abode at a few hundred yards distant. I sat on the 
 
344 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 gravel of the shore, Mol Lang sat above me on the bank, close 
 enough to touch me. He planted a seed, and over it held his 
 hands, palms downward. It grew fast, and soon stood mature 
 at the height of his head. Banana-like fruit hung amongst its 
 broad leaves. He plucked some of the fruit and ate it. 
 
 "See, Phylos— such is plant life. Thou hast said: 'Why 
 not take animal life to nourish our bodies,' and 'If it be 
 wrong to take life of animals is it not wrong to take that of 
 vegetable growths'. My son, where any form— mineral, plant 
 or animal— exists, there also is an entity created by the Spirit; 
 the matter-form is nothing but clothing to the astral, and this 
 to the soul. Now there are plant souls, animal souls, human 
 souls, all children of our Father, but not evolutionable one 
 into the other in any given period of planetary activity; but 
 all progress towards the Creator as plants draw sunward. No 
 man can make even a plant soul exist; but if he know the 
 law, he can find a plant soul and give it a body of plant shape, 
 if the body be a higher type than it had before. He can— I 
 can incarnate such a plant soul. It is a simple experience ; it 
 begins by sprouting of seed, by growth of the young plant 
 body, by maturity, budding, flowering, fruiting and ripening 
 more seeds— seven simple actions. I can hasten these, and 
 crowd them all into a few minutes. Then have I given the 
 plant soul its little experience. Left alone it would have no 
 others, but would die— the last experience in its incarnation. 
 Very well; I take its body, but cut off no needed process. It 
 is as virtually my body as my own flesh, for I made it and 
 loaned it to the plant soul. Out of me went strength to do it. 
 Reverse the process, eat the plant, into me returns my strength. 
 But no man could foresee the experiences which each day, hour 
 and minute bring to an animal soul— each and every one nec- 
 essary, for it is growing toward the Eternal, and each experi- 
 ence is a responsible link, making it a karma which shall bring 
 its animal soul into a next incarnate life. Kill it, and thou 
 canst not compensate it for its opportunities; but to a plant 
 thou mayest. Compensation is God's law. If thou doest a 
 thing and can not compensate for it— that is sin; but if thou 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 345 
 
 art able to make proper balance, it is no sin. Hence the Master 
 of Nazareth did no sin in the matter of filling the fisherman's 
 net; but thou wouldst have sinned in doing likewise, for in 
 thee the manifest Spirit is not made One with thee. As thou 
 canst not compensate an animal soul for its bodily life, thou 
 sinnest in killing. And the flesh is accursed by reason of that 
 sin. Behold, I say truly, if thou shalt do such sin, thou shalt 
 reap the penalty; no butcher can see God in His Kingdom; 
 he must cease to be a butcher ere he can have hope of knowing 
 the occult realm which is His Kingdom." 
 
 Mol Lang arose, and I did also. He put his arm about me 
 and said : 
 
 "My son, the desert is before thy feet. Its hot sands will 
 scorch their soles, yet heed thine own intuition* which reveals 
 God unto thy soul, and thou shalt come out of that desert, Be 
 thou faithful unto death, and thou shalt have a crown of life 
 from our Father. God be with thee and keep thee ; I, also, will 
 guard thee." 
 
 My friends, years elapsed ere I again saw Mol Lang— weary 
 years of sorrow and trial. He left me there by the river, and 
 there Phyris found me not long after. 
 
 Soon gathered about us other people, mostly young per- 
 sons, even some children. In Hesper, the Seventh Principle has 
 a fair beginning of growth, while as for their physical per- 
 fection, any Hesperian has an almost God-like beauty and 
 grace. But to illustrate how great is the height of that plane 
 above anything earthly, and how many seemingly miracu- 
 lous powers have there become characteristic of humanity, so 
 as to be common inheritance of every ego thereon incarnate, 
 instance this:— A little child, only four years of age, but very 
 mature in demeanor, while essentially child-like in many things, 
 came and stood beside me. Though the little one laughed and 
 chatted with me, if I had at first been disposed to think her 
 babyish, I soon regarded her differently. Young as she was, 
 and of course unacquainted with any deep occult laws, yet as 
 
 St. John, xvi, 13. 
 
346 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 child of a branch of humanity advanced to the perfect human 
 plane, and upon the threshold of the spiritual, she herself was 
 fitted to be there by untold previous incarnations. As heritage 
 of these many lives the little maid possessed astonishing powers 
 which earthly men and women must acquire by the slow process 
 of study through years. 
 
 Study first to conquer the animal nature, then meditate on 
 the principles which, for those who have the will to know, are 
 in these pages. Do only as they teach. Follow the Way. One 
 shall guide all who earnestly ask Him, even before the Day 
 of Man. 
 
 Apparently satisfied regarding my appearance— remember 
 that I should have been invisible to non-clairvoyant eyes, but 
 was not so to her inherited psychic sight— the little one re- 
 marked in sweet confidence : 
 
 "My father hath often told me of a numerous branch of 
 the human race, compared to which we Pertozians are as the 
 leaves of a single tree to those of a forest. He hath pointed 
 out the planet where these dwell; I have never seen any of 
 these lower human beings until now I see thee. Is it not 
 strange? And they tell me, too, that neither thou, nor the 
 mass of people are yet come to have knowledge of the karma, 
 nor other occult powers— do foolishly scoff at it, indeed. It is 
 strange. Still thou, and they also, will grow in knowledge. 
 God demands it. Then thy personal appearance will become 
 more pleasing. " (!) 
 
 I was wholly abashed. To hear a mere child talk thus, and 
 conclude with the remark that I would grow, well, grow to 
 grace, was most astonishing. It was pleasing, too, for though 
 it exhibited the vast gap between the Earthly man and the 
 spirituality of Hesper, yet it showed the vista of human possi- 
 bilities with a clearness which nothing else had done. Man 
 needs comparisons to enable him to judge of relative values. 
 St. Peter's Church at Rome is the greatest building the world 
 now knows. But these vast buildings must be set about with 
 others— themselves large— to enable the human mind to com- 
 prehend how vast they are. So with spiritual truths— until 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 347 
 
 this little child revealed it, I had not had anything but a vague 
 conception of the exalted truths I had heard. Mol Lang's 
 marvelous actions; those of Sohma and Phyris even, had 
 impressed me as acts of a superior being, whose side I could 
 never gain as an equal. Truly, Mol Lang said he came there 
 by study, and, further, faith in the Father. But my eyes saw- 
 not his progress— they but saw his attainment; neither had I 
 seen this child acquire her position, but my soul could recog- 
 nize the fact of her growth being still in progress. In place 
 of vague desires, I began to feel the thrill of hope, and a 
 knowledge that I also might grow. Until that moment I had 
 accepted the statements of my friends that I could grow up to 
 them. Faith was now replaced by knowledge. Through this 
 little one my life was lifted, and linked to the higher life of 
 Pertoz,— that of man perfect. I was ready to say in earnest- 
 ness,— "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 The dozen or more friends present asked me to tell my life 
 story, in order that hearing the living voice, they might study 
 me as I spoke. I complied. At last I finished. I had told of 
 my hopes in life, and they were lofty, noble hopes, like those 
 which throng the breast, subduing the animal nature, when one 
 listens to music whose chords thrill the soul to do and dare 
 for the high reward of hearing Him say:— "Well done, thou 
 good and faithful servant." 
 
 To me then spoke Phyris, slowly, but how sweetly only one 
 can know who puts away all that sullies the human soul. 1 
 noted that she no longer used the ordinary personal pronouns, 
 but in this last conversation reverted to the solemn style though 
 using the familiar English language. 
 
 "Phylos, thou hast related of thy life all that thou knowest. 
 I know much more, and I will tell thee also, though thou goest 
 to Earth, forgetting us, forgetting me." 
 
 "Phyris, say not so— I can never forget you !" I said sadly. 
 
 "Yea, Phylos, thou wilt forget me, because only thy Hes- 
 perian memory knoweth me, and it must yield to thine Earthly 
 astral when thou hast returned thither. Yet it will but sleep, 
 not perish, until the time again cometh for it to govern thy 
 
348 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 life. When the years of karma are flown, thou wilt once 
 more come hither, and then thou wilt no more yearn for Earth, 
 as now. My twin, I fain would keep thee here ; I can not, for 
 karma is set against me, and karma is the Christ law, saying— 
 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' Though 
 forgetting Hesper, yet thou shalt have an astral record, and it 
 will at times come to thee, even as thine earthly record cometh 
 here, disturbing thee, and it will be a strange thing, for it 
 will seem as thyself, yet thou shalt not recognize its words 
 as thine own history, so it shall seem also some one else. 
 
 "Thou hast told thy life so far as thou knowest it; but back 
 of it thou hast heard that thou hast had myriad other lives. 
 And in these I have been involved. Naturally so, for my spirit 
 is also thy spirit— though our souls are not now near together 
 as they have been in other times. I could tell thee much con- 
 cerning this eternity past, which thou hast had and known, 
 but forgotten page by page as the Angel of Death turned the 
 leaves of thy book of life. But I will not tell thee, Phylos, 
 though I could remember it from that living, eternal record 
 of cause and effect, of the mutual action and reaction of the 
 forms of life and of matter; 'tis the astral record, the Father's 
 'Book of Life.' Memory is but the power of the soul to read 
 this great astral record. I have that power, thou hast it not, 
 but I will not tell thee, but leave thee to find all this thyself; 
 to know this past from thine own coming wisdom. Then thou 
 shalt know me as one with thyself. And I will in that time 
 write the long history of our lives from the remote days when 
 thou and I lived in old Lemuria, days ere the Earth had known 
 the continent of Atlantis, or the glacial epoch of geologists— 
 'twas the golden age. But we will know farther back than 
 that, even to the time when Earth did not exist, nor Venus 
 nor Mars, neither the sun nor any star. But of this I will not 
 try to tell the world all, not that it might not be told, but no 
 reader could comprehend that state wherein Man that is, was 
 a race not become Man as yet. When I say Man I say also all 
 associate animals, for every sort of being that lives on the 
 Earth is Man— there being men and animals— lessor men. No, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 349 
 
 they who heard the words could in nowise comprehend beings 
 neither animal, plant nor mineral, which nevertheless lived. I 
 will therefore deal solely with the later time which came ere 
 the last glacial epoch, and still later with the time of Zailm, 
 and when of him, of thyself— for my Phylos is but Zailm rein- 
 carnate, returned from devachan." 
 
 I raised my head, which I had kept bowed while Phyris 
 talked. We were alone, the others of our party having with- 
 drawn. Phyris continued: 
 
 "I will write of Anzimee, and so of myself; and I will write 
 of others also. But now I speak of ourselves. 
 
 "When Man was born into the earth from Ma^, as he is 
 
 eventually to be born from the Earth into Hesper— that was 
 the basis of the allegory of Adam and Eve, but back of them 
 came all their lesser brethren— the animals of land, sea and 
 air. And back of the Race birth were the Race lives on Mars, 
 and ere then lives on two other planets, neither of which 
 are of matter which the Earthly eye could perceive. There 
 is in them now no life process— for these world souls are 
 resting, and so also is Mars. Thus have I spoken of four of 
 the seven planets to which the human race makes cyclic visits, 
 going from One to Two, to Three, to Four (which is the Earth), 
 to Five (Hesper), to the one to which Man will go after his 
 years on Hesper, and thence to the Seventh or Sabbatic world. 
 These two last, like the two first, are imperceptible to the eyes 
 of man on Earth. Seven are the worlds, and seven times the 
 race of Man circles them— three times aleady hath Man circled 
 the series and arrived en masse at the fourth of the number in 
 this, his fourth round. So, Phylos, I speak of all these many 
 Race-lives ; of Earth, of Hesper, of Mars, and all other human 
 planets, after the ordinary sense. But whosoever wills may 
 go with our Great Master, escaping the Rounds, and of that 
 Life, no words can tell. But such will is rare, and few there be 
 that find that Way. Yet here are some of the signs along that 
 Path; hear them, heed, and thus find— me. Use all things as 
 
 -fr? 
 
350 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 abusing none. Drugs, as d^ugs; food, as not gluttonously; 
 drinks, as not bibulously; society, as a study; marriage* as a 
 Way, but continency as His Highway. The most of our race 
 must go by the lower path, for the Cliff-brow Way is too dizzy ; 
 none can walk it, save He holds their hands, and few there be 
 that will to let Him, for desires tempt them. But they that 
 refuse that Life now, how shall they find it again? They 
 will not, and so shall cease with the world. Then will have 
 come true that which is written— 'There shall be time, and 
 times and half a time.' Alas that it should be so. A message 
 of this judgment shalt thou render in a day not afar off. Begin 
 in the middle of its sojourn upon the Earth, the race is half 
 through an experience of life that hath engaged it for a 
 period of time too vast for thy real comprehension." 
 
 "Will you not tell me?"— I inquired. "I am curious." 
 
 "Tell thee? Yes, and in words thou canst understand, yet 
 the figures can convey but vaguely to thee, who know not 
 what all the period hath seen transpire. These are the figures" 
 —and Phyris solemnly counted a period of time which my 
 mind confronted as one helpless, lost in thought. "But see 
 thou convey to none other this knowledge, until our atone- 
 ment hath recurred. Such is the lapse of Time since the Uni- 
 verse was without form and void, and darkness was upon the 
 face of the deep. Each man we see, except those who have 
 been transfigured, is but a semi-ego, and each woman the 
 same— two of these having one spirit. When the perfection 
 time cometh, all the halves shall unite, each with its own— 
 and lo ! this is the marriage made in heaven. But first comes 
 the Trial— the Crisis of Transfiguration." 
 
 "And if"— I asked— "if a soul pass not, why not, and what 
 will happen, and if one half, one mate, shall fall, shall the 
 other also?" 
 
 "Oh, my twin! If a soul pass not, it will be because the 
 waywardness of its many lives hath clipped the wings of its 
 strength so that it can not fly above the concentrated tempta- 
 tions of that trial. Such a fate is the portion of all failures. 
 
 ♦I Cor. vii, 1 to 9; also 29, 31, 32, 36, 37 and 38. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 351 
 
 in this supremest trial. And lastly, personally, if thou dost 
 fail?— Thy soul shall go into the Second Death, and because 
 of that, so also shall mine, for we, and all egoic mates fight 
 this last fight with our combined strength. On me thy eternal 
 life depends ; on thee my hope rests ; but upon the Spirit rests 
 all our hope. And we can not find It if we follow not the 
 Path shown us by Christ ; if we seek It not, It will not seek us. 
 Save Christ is ours and in us we must fail in that fearful trial. 
 But come, Phylos, and see the Earth as it was in the days of 
 Zailm and Anzimee, and seeing that time, behold it now." 
 
 Thus speaking, she arose and touched me, and I perceived 
 for the first time that she, like myself, was in astral form. I 
 seemed to sleep momentarily, yet was conscious of motion, the 
 sort of motion that one experiences when passing from deep 
 sleep to full wakefulness at once. This was the passage from 
 Hesperus to Earth. The sensation was due to the fact that 
 my present astral was in some sort material ; as I had not eveu 
 an astral when coming from the Earth, and so nothing material, 
 therefore I could not be conscious of that transition. The 
 sleeping unconsciousness was now due to Phyris— who wished 
 to draw my attention from her words and— herself. 
 
 Once more all the scenes of Earth appeared. I saw the broad 
 waters of the Atlantic. Phyris said: 
 
 "Names are appropriate; see here is the Atlantic Ocean 
 where was the Atlantean Continent. And now we descend 
 into it; above are its waters, and around us. They harm us 
 not, for our psychicality is superior to their psychicality. Be- 
 hold the psychic record of the past, the concrete history of the 
 world, imperishable until Time shall be no more. Wouldst 
 thou read of a first destruction of Poseid? Seek it in thy 
 Bible, and find it as the Noachian deluge. This was before 
 the age of Zailm, or of history which they knew, many thou- 
 sands of years. Wouldst learn of the destruction of Lemorous, 
 that great people who were in the Earth before the Age^of Ice, 
 when the world knew no cold, nor snow, nor frost; who ante- 
 dated Poseid by countless ages ? Turn to the Book of Job and 
 
352 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 read of how the 'deep boiled like a pot'— and reading, thou 
 shalt learn that Lemuria perished of fire from out the inter- 
 planetary depths. So one cycle of mankind dieth of fire, and 
 the next of water. And again, the next dieth of fire. The 
 races of Earth to-day shall come— afar off as is yet that day— 
 to perish of fire, and the Earth be blasted and rolled together as 
 a scroll— find thou its prophesy in the second Book of Peter 
 111-10. Yet knowledge of all this is not from my telling. I 
 have spoken. And now, my other self, I take thee yet awhile 
 to fulfill the law and the prophets and thy karma. And I will 
 abide thy coming again unto me; we part— see, here is the 
 Sagum, there Mendocus. Aye, beloved, we part, but it is for 
 a little while, and then for eternity we shall be one together. 
 Let some dim perception of me awaken in thy mind, and 
 sweeten thy life, and lead thee ever upward. My peace, so 
 much as it is such, be with thee, and keep thee ! ' ' 
 
 She put her arms about me, and held me long, while our 
 eyes looked into each others souls. Then her lips met mine in 
 one ecstatic throb, and— she was gone ! 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 OLD TEACHERS TAUGHT OF GOD. 
 
 I awoke. The place was in one of the smallest rooms of the 
 Sagum; it seemed not unfamiliar, although I had theretofore 
 been only in the greater apartment. Mendocus sat by my side. 
 There was a sense of having lost something ; I knew not what, 
 but the loss made me inexpressibly sad. I felt hampered, as 
 if my freedom had contracted. Otherwise, too, I felt weak, as if 
 long ill. But Mendocus put his hand over my eyes, and I 
 slept. 
 
 The next conscious moment came, and the weariness was 
 gone, but not wholly so the sense of loss— of restricted 
 freedom. It was one thing to lose prehension -of memory and 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 353 
 
 events; to have entirely forgotten Hesperus and Phyris, and 
 Mol Lang and Sohrua, as I had done; but it was a wholly dif- 
 ferent and impossible thing to forget or in any wise put away 
 the growth of my soul during my five weeks of absence from 
 the Earth. Yes, five weeks, for despite the seeming months in 
 devachan, and the time in Pertoz, all but one part in a thousand 
 of my time of absence had been spent in Hesperus. Five weeks 
 of Earth time. 
 
 It would have been impossible for me to have remained in 
 Pertoz and been happy. It would be impossible for you, my 
 friends.. Why? Because it was a plane of soul life so exalted 
 above our familiar Earth, that only growth can introduce the 
 soul there— long, slow, oft times painful— but growth. To 
 me, then, or to you now, irrevocable transference to such a high 
 plane of life would be fearful punishment; all our ordinary 
 powers of life, all our present selves put away, and an 
 entirely different set of sensibilities and a new, unknown, 
 untried self in their place — knowledge in the use of ail which, 
 amidst wholly strange phenomena and unlearned laws— the 
 misplaced soul would have to acquire through long, unhappy 
 years. It is a divine blessing to humanity that sudden transi- 
 tion from one plane to a higher is as impossible as is any real 
 retrogression. 
 
 I sat up, and then stood up, Mendocus assisting me— for I 
 was weak and dizzy. I remained at the Sach until several 
 days had elapsed, learning of various occurrences and making 
 various decisions and resolutions. Asking for Quong, I was 
 told he was dead, and knowing now nothing of the past five 
 weeks, I accepted the news with keen regret. 
 
 Mendocus told me that I was a man yet possessed of earthly 
 appetites and passions, although I had lately been where hu- 
 manity was of the heavenly order, as measured by terrestrial 
 standards— where no sensuality ever invaded, although the 
 people were not austere, nor was life there devoid of pleasure. 
 I assented for the sake of courtesy, without knowing anythiug 
 of whom or what he spoke, more than an untra veiled commoner 
 
354 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 of a great city knows of interior Africa. He saw my ignor- 
 ance and became silent. 
 
 His remarks about social sin I felt inapplicable to myself, for 
 although I mingled with the people of this world, I did not sin 
 in the meaning of the term as he applied it. Perhaps from en- 
 vironment, I was not free, but free of these errors I was, and 
 without any pharisaical self-praise. 
 
 Speaking of the fallen, however, where was the really sweet, 
 noble girl I had tried to raise, and who, seconding my efforts, 
 had gone to Melbourne? Life interests were again claiming 
 me. The animal soul was reasserting itself, and warring as 
 strongly as its feeble self-hood allowed with the human soul 
 and the stirring spirit which cannot sin nor err, because it is 
 one with the Over Soul, and so ever draws the human soul 
 upward, whilst the animal pulls it downward. 
 
 Then said Mendocus to me. 
 
 "Mr. Pierson, the sins thou dost condemn in thy fellow- 
 creatures were once thine, and, if thou shalt condemn the 
 doer, may become thine again. That thou judgest, thou art 
 not past danger of committing. 
 
 "Judge not, lest thou be judged. But in thine inner soul 
 these past five weeks have placed a light— a lamp from God. 
 Hide it not, but let it so shine that it give light to the sinful 
 who have no light. Pity them, deplore their error, but if 
 thou condemn them thou wilt not follow Him who said 'neither 
 do I condemn thee ; go and sin no more. ' ' ' 
 
 Mol Lang had set a proper estimate on my powers in refus- 
 ing to make irrevocable my ascent to the Hesperian plane. 
 I had stood ready with the torch of desire to fire my earthly 
 ships. If I could have known of my escape I would have felt 
 thankful. As it was, Hesper was become an unmeaning name, 
 and the ships were not burned. Pleased as a child I had gone 
 to the devachanic plane, where all things that the child in ex- 
 perience desired, although it wished never so foolishly, seemed 
 to occur. Now the child having confronted the sober fact 
 that inexorable laws govern all the reign of being, had become 
 stricken, broken-hearted at his failure; had returned to his 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 355 
 
 own sphere, and— blessed mercy — was enabled to forget it all 
 until such time as the five weeks' leaven had leavened the 
 whole, and return was possible in the circumstances of one 
 coming to his own. Friend, never assume the attitude of 
 childishness toward the sublime— you may not escape as lightly 
 as I did. Count the cost, or else plod along with the common- 
 place masses. Both roads lead to the goal, one short but inex- 
 pressibly severe, the other long, and, alas ! quite severe enough. 
 It is no paradox to say that the shortest road is the longest; 
 life is not always measured by years— some lives are but a 
 few short years— but oh; the bitterness and not impossibly, 
 sweets, too, crowded in them would require a thousand years 
 of other and less marked lives to essay. 
 
 Before I left the Sagum, Mendocus laid down esoteric rules 
 for my guidance in the days to come, days when sole depend- 
 ence must be stayed on my knowledge of these rules, since no 
 esoterist would be near to counsel me. 
 
 "Mr. Pierson"— said the grand old sage— "I have here a 
 Bible. Lo ! I have read it, the Old Testament, eighty-seven 
 times ; the New, even more times. Yet I see ever new beauties 
 in the Book. I have here the Books of Manu, and also the 
 Vedas. All are authored by the Christ-Spirit, under different 
 human names, truly, and in different ages. All are more or 
 less allegorical; all require His Light to interpret; without 
 it, serious errors may arise as they have arisen heretofore in 
 the world with sad frequency and fearfully long lived per- 
 sistency. 
 
 "I will therefore declare unto thee a guidance from them. 
 Knock, and it shall be opened unto thee. But see thou knock- 
 est with the will of the Spirit, for although the mind knock 
 forever, the Way shall not be opened. 
 
 "Ask, and it shall be given. But although the animal man 
 ask ever, no answer shall be given, for this meaneth also except 
 the request be made by the Spirit in thee for the Truths of 
 God, and not for earthly things; these last follow as shade 
 the sun. 
 
356 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 "Whatsoever is asked of the Father in the Christ's name, 
 that shall He grant. But consider that asking in the name 
 of the Christ is asking for the things of His Kingdom. With 
 the gift of these things all lesser things shall be added— food, 
 raiment and all else the body hath need for. This is hard for 
 the natural mind to comprehend. He will not let thee perish 
 though thou die of hunger. 
 1 ' ' Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. This is 
 karma and the law, and every jot of it must be fulfilled. Man 
 ijs a creature of many incarnations, each earth life one per- 
 sonality, strung on the unbreakable string of his egoic indi- 
 viduality, which reacheth from everlasting to everlasting, from 
 the East unto the West. 
 
 "No demand of karma may be ignored— all must be paid in 
 the course of the lives. 
 
 "Then 'do unto others as thou wouldst be done by/ and 
 remember, as thou doest unto the least of thy fellow creatures, 
 in that manner and measure is it done unto our Savior, and 
 unto the Father, and shall be done unto thee again. 
 
 "Keep all the commandments; thou shalt so come to ever- 
 lasting, where is all wisdom.' ' 
 
 That evening I went out of the sacred precincts and back 
 to the town. 
 
 There I learned of things various. My mining partners were 
 now willing to buy my share without further parley. From 
 that sale I received approaching three hundred thousand dol- 
 lars, paid in installments— seven quarterly payments of nearly 
 forty-three thousands dollars gold coin, each one. 
 
 The arrangement having been made for depositing these 
 sums, as they fell due, with my bankers in Washington, D. C, 
 I was overcome with a desire to travel ; this and my ability to 
 gratify it took me to nearly every civilized land. Yet no object 
 except unrest prompted this nomadism. 
 
 Almost two years had passed since I left City, the 
 
 scene of my esoteric experiences. I was in Norway, away 
 from the wide, wide world, in a little hamlet close to a cele- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 357 
 
 brated fjord, where I had arrived the previous day. My guide 
 and general utility man spoke English sufficiently well to make 
 himself readily intelligible. He proved to have been a sailor 
 on the ship in which I took my first voyage, and had returned 
 to his native land to minister to the wants of travelers, in 
 which service his knowledge of Anglo-Saxon did him good 
 stead. He was delighted to see me, a feeling which I recipro- 
 cated. His name? Certainly— Hans Christison. 
 
 Hans said that four or five other summer travelers were 
 staying in the village— "One ish ein young leddy; she haf a 
 crazy for paint und brushes— ish ein nardist, I think so." 
 
 A week elapsed before I met this "purty leddy"— and mean- 
 time Hans guided me, equipped with gun and fish rod, he 
 rowing our light skiff. One afternoon I took the skiff and 
 went off alone to a rock jutting out of the fjord, whereon 
 grew several birch trees of graceful beauty. I tied the skiff, 
 and then climbed out and sat down to read the letters for- 
 warded to me from New York. 
 
 While reading these I heard a little sound behind me as of 
 some person else on the tiny island. Turning my head I saw 
 a woman, and then I laid down my paper and sprang to my 
 feet. I was too much surprised to raise my cap or even to 
 speak, and she seemed equally astonished. Then I said the one 
 word : 
 
 "Lizzie!" 
 
 "Mr. Pierson!"— she replied. 
 
 "How came you here?"— was our next exchange. I told 
 her of my aimless wanderings, and she related her life since 
 
 we parted in City. From Melbourne she had gone to 
 
 New York, and thence to Washington. There she bought a 
 residence and established an art studio, assuming the name of 
 Harland. People were told little and learned less of her ante- 
 cedents, and were allowed to suppose that she was a young 
 Australian widow of moderate wealth. Each of the two sum- 
 mers after her advent to life at the Capital had been spent 
 abroad, and this, the third summer, she was spending in Nor- 
 way. Her pictures had sold well, and she had made up the 
 
358 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 entire sum which she had used from what she called my 
 ' ' loan. ' ' This she insisted on giving back to me, but I laughed, 
 and tentatively agreed, saying, "Before I leave, if you insist." 
 I staid four weeks there; staid until I learned from a ehance 
 remark that she was going away in a few days for a little stay 
 among the Scottish lakes. Then without saying anything to 
 Mrs. Harland, I bade Hans take me by night to the steamer 
 which visited the little port once a fortnight, and was then 
 due, and going on board, paid Hans, adding a douceur. As the 
 ropes were being cast off, I said: 
 
 "Hans, let the 'young leddy' know that I am gone ; tell her— 
 if she asks— I am going to St. Petersburg. Good bye, Hans." 
 
 To the Capital of the Czar I went, and was there a week. 
 Then back to Paris, then to London, and in another week I 
 sailed for New York, thence to Washington. 
 
 A year passed. One afternoon as I strolled up Pennsylvania 
 Avenue, I came face to face with Elizabeth Harland. We 
 stopped, spoke, and then I turned and walked with her. The 
 old memories surged over us; I remembered the days in Cali- 
 fornia; then more tenderly, the peaceful month in Norway, 
 when I had come to really believe I loved this girl, not only 
 for her radiant beauty and sedately sweet womanhood, but for 
 her tremendous effort to triumph over error, and her success, 
 wherefore she was come forth from the fire, pure gold. 
 
 Before we parted I learned her address, and resolved to 
 call as soon as an opportunity offered. 
 
 Next evening a bank messenger came to my apartments, 
 and left a packet. It held two hundred bank notes of the 
 value of one hundred dollars each, and a letter. This I opened 
 hastily and read: 
 
 Sept. 3rd, 1869. 
 "Mr. Walter Pierson:— 
 
 "Enclosed find the sum of my indebtedness to you, and 
 accept my heartfelt gratitude for the same. And we will be 
 friends; you are ever welcome to come to the home of 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 Elizabeth Harland." 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 359 
 
 I pondered the situation, and when the moment of deci- 
 sion came, made up my mind very suddenly. The money 
 which she had returned I put into my pocketbook, took my hat 
 and being in proper attire, I went down the street until I 
 found a cab. Entering this, I gave directions to the driver to 
 take me to No. — , Street. 
 
 It was a pretty place. When I rang the bell it was answered 
 by Mrs. Harland herself. Her manner was cordial, but I 
 fancied somewhat constrained. 
 
 On the wall of the parlor hung a picture of rare merit. A 
 man whose face and mien was as expressive of divinity as it 
 lies in the power of paint and brush to depict, stood looking 
 on a woman whose face was hidden by her hands. In the dust 
 at his feet were characters written. The environment was that 
 of the architecture of the Holy Land. Under the painting, 
 which was half life size, were the words, "St. John, VIII— 11." 
 
 I sat down in a proffered chair, and for a moment silence 
 reigned. My hostess broke this, saying : 
 
 "You received the money, Mr. Pierson?" 
 
 "Yes." I drew it out of my pocket and following my 
 resolve, and waiving all prefatory remarks, I said: 
 
 "Except you give me yourself with this money, I will not 
 take it out of the house. Will you be my wife, Elizabeth?"— 
 I asked as I knelt by her side. 
 
 Her eyes gazed into mine a moment, and she said: 
 
 "For myself, because you love me, and veil the past with 
 the success of the present?"— tears in her eyes, tears in her 
 voice as she spoke. 
 
 "Yes, darling!" 
 
 With a convulsive sob she rested in my arms, and cried as 
 if her heart would break. At length she said, tremulously: 
 "All the world is less worth than this true love." 
 
 Our wedding was quiet, and after it we went for a brief trip 
 abroad, going only to England, and in a short time returned 
 home. 
 
360 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THEY WHO HEED HAVE PEACE. 
 
 Once during the wanderings before my marriage, and while 
 I was in Hindostan, I met an old man of unprepossessing figure, 
 whose faded eyes no sooner rested on me than he said : 
 
 "You are he of whom Mendocus told me, and charged me 
 concerning, saying 'tell him certain things for me.' This I 
 will do. Young man, your life shall be sad and bitter on 
 Earth, but sweet after that. Things will transpire because of 
 which your animal soul shall embrace itself and say, 'This is 
 joy.' But immediately the still voice of the human soul in 
 you shall say, 'This joy is but a Sodom apple,' and in that 
 moment you will know that it is so. Hence you wiU have ever 
 a war between your animal soul, which is innate depravity, and 
 your spirit, which is of God, Brahma, the One. See in it the 
 allegory of Adam and original sin; it pulls your human soul 
 down to death ; the other, the Spirit, draws the human upward. 
 Attend then its sayings; I will render them for you: 
 
 "Before your eyes can see God they must be incapable of 
 shedding tears for any suffering of your own. Before your 
 ears can hear, they must have lost sensitiveness. Your voice 
 may not speak eternal wisdom until it has no power to wound. 
 Before your self can stand in the presence of the Eternal, its 
 feet must have been bathed in the blood of suffering, penance, 
 restitution. Then kill the ambition to excel in the poor paths 
 of Fame. Cease to regard this life as your best possession. 
 
 "Then work for God as earnestly as others work for Mam- 
 mon; and respect thy life as those respect life who treasure it 
 most, and be happy as those who live for happiness. In the 
 hearts of all is the source of all error, in disciple as well as 
 in the man of desire. Study a plant of mustard— witness it 
 grow and bud. But if thou shalt hew it down so that it never 
 beareth seed, behold a strange thing— it will sprout again 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 361 
 
 and grow through the years, if it never bearetb. And this 
 although it is only a material form. Now, therefore, if a 
 human soul shall not be cut down, yet shall not enter into 
 life as a creator by reason that it wills not, then the Spirit of 
 life everlasting shall go into it, and it shall contain itself, and 
 therefore live forever. Study the truth of mustard life. Only 
 the strong in God can act upon this teaching and hold the 
 lower nature. The weak must wait its maturity and then will 
 come their struggle. It will strive to keep the feet from the 
 Path; and may succeed. But if once all its power be wiped 
 out; if once thou doest the will of the Father earnestly, as 
 His obedient child— that is the atonement, for it shall give 
 strength to do every work of the Creator of Being. It will 
 seem to take the very life. That is because it takes the animal 
 soul and throttles it. But the human soul will recover, and 
 the Spirit come into it. This is the time of the Silence of the 
 Soul. Then it shall be clear to you how dark are the lives of 
 those who are around you and have no goal of union with the 
 Spirit towards which to race. And you will see and know 
 karma. Also you will see that because of your past incarna- 
 tions your karma is inextricably interwoven with the karma 
 of the world. This is that saying which the Nazarene answered 
 when it was asked of Him 'Who is my neighbor?' If, Walter 
 Pierson, you shall once be able to know the Peace of Silence, 
 you shall then learn of all things about you, for the Earth is 
 Brahm's, and all in it teaches His works.' ' 
 
 I was surprised at being called by name, and also of being 
 told of Mendocus. The old man said further:— 
 
 "If your soul once knows this Peace, no storm of sin or of 
 sorrow can ever more ward you far aside from the Path, for 
 its knowledge is an abiding wisdom. Heed also th- words of 
 Mendocus, read your Bible, read the Vedas, read Manu ; and 
 study. It shall all be a staff to your hand and a lamp to your 
 feet. Peace be with you." 
 
 "And to you, peace."— I replied as he turned and walked 
 away into the crowd— for we had stood by a public drinking 
 fountain. 
 
362 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Now that Elizabeth was found and was my wife, I pondered 
 deeply these things I had heard of the occult lore. Not that 
 she had connection with it. But because, as the years went by, 
 I found she knew and cared little about these abstruse studies, 
 which I did. So our lives drew apart. But she was oblivious 
 of this fact, and I was glad because she was. She had her 
 churchwork and I aided her in all her sweet charities. To us 
 came two lovely little daughters— the greatest treasures of our 
 lives, and oh, so carefully taught regarding life and shielded 
 from its dangers. So long as these little ones were with us, I 
 was content. And yet I felt, in an ill-defined sorrow, that 
 Earth's experiences were but Sodom apples. 
 
 Sometimes I found my lonelier hours disturbed by a strange 
 voice which whispered to my inner consciousness. As time 
 passed it grew stronger, and one day it appeared before my 
 sight as a wraith. The Shape talked. What it said made me 
 eager to hear more, so I cultivated it. It became thenceforth a 
 regular visitor, and from that to being always present when 
 I was otherwise alone was but a step. It spoke of having 
 been on a distant planet which it called "Pertoz," sometimes 
 "Hesperus," again " Venus. " It spoke of persons whose 
 names were strange, calling one "Mol Lang"; another 
 "Sohma" and a third "Phyris." Then it described these peo- 
 ple, and I listened eagerly. Who were they, and what human 
 soul was this which had gone to Venus? The ghost looked 
 marvelously like myself. But my slumbers at night were as 
 sound as if it visited me not. 
 
 I called it my ghost. How unconsciously true It told of 
 everything related to my being with Mol Lang, and in Venus ; 
 it drew my mind's eye to the psychic scene in the bed of the 
 Atlantic. It told of a visit to the sun with Sohma— of which 
 I neglected mention in sequence. Briefly, Sohma went with 
 me to the sun, and showed me that it was a vibrant body of less 
 size than astronomers believe, but of enormous density. I 
 saw its oceans— they were heavier than Mercury. But 
 it had no life forms which I took as such. „Yet life of some 
 
 i 1 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 363 
 
 sort there is everywhere. Perhaps, indeed, not animal, nor 
 vegetable, but from the high standpoint of those who know 
 much of the works of the All-Father, forms that no earthly 
 man would call life, are such, nevertheless. But the sun is 
 force of such fearful vibrative pulsing that even my subtle 
 astral body was not unaffected. Sohma said of it: 
 
 "See the immediate center of our solar system. Thou 
 wouldst call it a dynamo, the great dynamo of the system. 
 Right wouldst thou be, and wrong also. The attempt to define 
 the sun as an analogue to a dynamo-electric machine has much 
 to support it. But to define it as identical is erroneous. The 
 trouble with that theory is the trouble which lies at the root 
 of and weakens all other theories to account for sun-heat and 
 sun-light. It is that science does not assign a sufficiently high 
 value to the sun. The combustion theory is invalid; the solar 
 mass contraction theory is but partially tenable and meteoric 
 showers do not account better than the first two. Neither does 
 the electric-dynamo theory. Truly, the latter explains how 
 sun-heat and sun-light may coexist and not be inharmonious 
 with the awful degree of cold between earth, the planets and 
 the sun. It explains that which denies the simple combustion 
 theory so completely— viz.— that the farther one goes from the 
 earth center, either in a balloon or on a high mountain, the 
 colder and darker the air gets— so that inter-stellar space is 
 several hundred degrees below zero, and black as midnight, 
 with the sun a luminous disc, without rays. But the dynamo 
 theory does not explain the solar spectrum, nor the bands of 
 spectra, nor coronal 'flames,' nor 'sun spots/ nor solar nor 
 lunar eclipses.' ' 
 
 The above statements were made by Sohma, as will be re- 
 membered by the reader, while I was still in the Hesperian 
 astral state and for the time was unconscious of a previous 
 terrene existence. I had therefore no memory of the mundane 
 knowledge and was unbiased in my judgment of the remarks 
 of my friend. He had ceased to speak after uttering the 
 word "eclipses." I waited for him to continue, but as he 
 
364 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 did not, I finally interrogated— "Well, what does explain all? 
 What is the truth ? ' ' Thus questioned, he resumed : 
 
 "I have said that the value accorded by astronomers is too 
 small. Seeing a fire, they would seek to explain by its means 
 the sun. Finding this untenable, and aware that a contracting 
 mass gives off heat, they next essay explanation on that hy- 
 pothesis. But this will not do, nor will meteoric showers, nor 
 any hypothesis based on facts now known— all are too low in 
 aim; the Infinite cannot be explained by the finite, nor will 
 less explain greater; fire is energy, and electricity is energy, 
 and God is energy. But fire will not solve the query, 'What 
 is electricity?' nor will electricity answer 'What is God?' but 
 God will explain both the others, for the sum of the parts is 
 equal to the whole. But as man does not know the full number 
 of the parts, the partial sum he does know will not explain 
 God." 
 
 Sohma ceased again. But I, filled with some vagrant earth 
 memory, allowed no time of pause; I was too eager to wait, 
 and I said 
 
 "But this does not tell me what the solar puzzle is." 
 
 ' ' Thou art impatient, my brother ; know then, what was at one 
 time known upon the earth, but is now for ages forgotten ; that 
 Nature has a dual aspect— is double— is positive and negative- 
 that the great positive side is the side known to mundane 
 science, while the other or negative, or 'Night Side,' or, as it 
 was once known in the earth by the men of Atla, 'Navaz,' is 
 a side all unknown, and scarcely guessed in the most exceed- 
 ing flights of speculation, left unbroached, secretly kept by 
 a few, who know not that they entertain an angel,— an angelic 
 wisdom that in a century more— yea, less time!— shall over- 
 turn much of the face of terrene things— shall bestow aerial 
 vessels, and all else once known to those men of Atl of whom 
 I spoke. Thou dost not yet understand?" 
 
 I said that I did not; that I thought he referred to some 
 domain of the physical forces not yet known; but what had 
 this to do with the sun? 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 365 
 
 ''This: the suns of systems are centers of forces of the 
 Night Side of Nature whereof I spoke— and are force, and 
 matter of a higher value than are planets and satellites — just 
 as water above a cataract is water, truly, but being above and 
 mobile, flows over and down, developing energy. In other 
 words, out of the cold, dark, negative side, or 'night side,' force 
 emerges, drawn to the positive polarity which constitutes in 
 its outgoing flow that termed Nature, and develops in its fall, 
 magnetism, electricity, light, color, heat and sound, in order 
 of descent, and lastly solid matter, for this latter is a child 
 of energy, not its parent. When the Navaz forces drop to 
 light, if the light waves enter a spectroscope, they will emerge 
 as colors; these correspond to the various spectrum bands, 
 and will, as the descent progresses, give the noted lines of the 
 solar spectrum— as the great 'B' line of oxygen, the conspic- 
 uous 1474' line, and the brilliant 'H' and 'K' violet bands." 
 
 I thought I now saw the truth; but I saw only a part; a 
 grand vista was yet to open. I saw it when my companion 
 resumed : 
 
 "Thus the evidence of flames, and metals on fire, and all 
 that leads astronomers to think sun and stars flaming hells. 
 But their 'fires' will not decrease — for the Father is immanent, 
 and the forces of 'Navaz' are perpetually fed by Him. The 
 graphic picture of a 'burned-out sun' is a dream, never to 
 be fulfilled. A day will come again in the earth when instru- 
 ments will be made which Atlantis once well knew— when 
 the prismatic rays from a spectroscope will be found to be a 
 source of heat, and of sound, so that the so-called 'flames' of 
 the sun, and of the stars will produce music, harmonies divine.* 
 Yea, further— for going on down, the dark green solar spec- 
 trum of iron will be made to yield iron for use in the arts, and 
 so with the other bands and lines— the intense greens, blues, 
 and blue-greens give copper, lead, antimony and so on. It is 
 by these Navaz currents that the circulation in the universe is 
 kept up, as blood in a man's arteries. The suns are the sys- 
 temic hearts. But thou art tired, my brother, or I would 
 
 *Job xxxviii, 7. 
 
366 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 explain yet more— that the planets which receive all these 
 currents, must return their equivalent. And thus would an 
 other vast field open before thy sight. This last would explain 
 that which so worries science on earth— the molten terrene 
 interior. That also is something of an error. All the phenom- 
 ena which seem to declare the earth to be in a melted condi- 
 tion inside do not prove it so in truth; all point to the return 
 currents— the positive; all exhibit the venous currents of our 
 universe, back to its hearts.' ' 
 
 Sohma concluded with an apostrophe to the leading minds 
 of the Earth which was beautiful indeed : 
 
 "0 Science of Earth— in thee is the hope of the world, when 
 thou shalt become handmaiden of God. Look up, value His 
 works highly, and thou shalt read clearly many things which 
 now puzzle thee sadly. Thou art the Joseph, and Religion the 
 Mary, and ye twain shall show forth the Light of Life. Blessed 
 art thou." 
 
 When my " ghost" retold me this conversation I seized my 
 hat and went out to look sunwards and marvel if all were true, 
 and astounded, reflect again, "Who is this Sohma?" 
 
 The puzzle grew, and my discontent with life grew— the 
 lump was becoming leavened. The more I studied the truth of 
 the mustard plant, the clearer grew my perceptions, and I knew 
 that never in my present body, could I attain much progress, 
 for in our union Elizabeth and I had passed by the mustard 
 unheeding, writing another karmic chapter. 
 
 For a time my "ghost" was amenable to my will as regarded 
 its comings and goings; but it now seemed to have entered 
 in and coalesced with me. I no longer heard or saw it, but 
 instead was often one with it, and saw and heard its visions 
 and perceptions as if they were my own; and indeed, as you 
 know, this was a fact. It was in verity the record of my visit to 
 Pertoz, and was a true east in all ways of my life there. 
 
 Ofttimes my soul was torn by steadfastness to the duty of 
 life as pointed out by Mendocus. And then my only escape 
 from trouble was to allow myself to rest in the Hesperian 
 astral to the exclusion of that of Earth. At suc*h times I was 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 367 
 
 living again the life with Phyris and the loved ones of Pertoz. 
 Elizabeth sorrowed over this aberration, as she thought it; 
 and my blessed little daughters grew to regard "papa" as 
 "funny" and I was held in awe. Not a pleasant experience, 
 my friends. My wife would look at me sadly and I know she 
 wept when alone because I often absently called her "Phyris." 
 Indeed, Elizabeth was my closest realization of the Phyris of 
 whom I knew but could not find on Earth. Under all this I 
 grew thin and pale, and aimlessly wandered about possessed 
 of a huge disgust for worldly interests or amusements; filled 
 with sorrow for the sorrow I saw the world held, and yearning 
 for the high plane which I at last knew was not a fantasy, and 
 where Phyris was, and Sohma, and Mol Lang. But I could 
 not get there; and they came not to me, therefore I studied 
 the rules of the Path, because torn with crazed regret when 
 the lower nature triumphed and I fell in sinful error, but 
 although I fell, I rose again. Then the effect this had on my 
 sweet, loving wife came home to me. Was this doing as I 
 would be done by? No. So I set my will in firm resolve and 
 subdued my own sorrows, and made my nature a tool for my 
 soul, not a master over me. 
 
 Then once again I smiled, and the color and flesh came 
 back to me. So Elizabeth was happy once more; and I? I 
 had found the true Path at last. Service. I no longer wept 
 for myself; my ears were no more sensitive, my tongue no 
 longer wounded any one with its morose utterances— chief est 
 triumph of all, my feet were bathed in the life blood of the 
 animal nature, so that I lived unselfishly, my whole being bent 
 on doing my best, living as happily as if solely for happiness, 
 as earnestly as if for ambitious motives. Then it was that the 
 Peace of the Silence came, and I waited for the Savior to take 
 me and fight in me and do His work with my hands. The 
 Paraclete was come into my life. 
 
 It was a sad blow when my little daughters died of epidemic 
 scarlatina in the year 1878. Thereafter I used my life to com- 
 fort the sweet woman whose vital breath nearly died in that 
 cruel loss. I think Elizabeth never cared for anything in life 
 
368 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 after that, except my loving devotion. And I gave it, for I 
 knew Phyris would have me do so, and I waited on Earth now 
 only to make it tolerable for the woman I had sworn to cherish. 
 She waited in anticipation of rejoining her children in heaven, 
 and meanwhile devoted all her time and energy, with feverish 
 application, to doing all the good she could— using our unlim- 
 ited money for the purpose. How exultant I was that the 
 money was drawn from the gravel of the mines, and not come 
 to me from harrassed debtors. 
 
 It was less than two years after Dora and Maydie— our two 
 little girls— had gone to the Summerland, ere Elizabeth fol- 
 lowed after them. 
 
 I felt the need of a radical change in living methods for the 
 sake of my health, and so, under an assumed name, secured a 
 situation as mate on an American sailer— a splendid vessel. 
 My purpose was to expose myself to the toil of a sea life for a 
 season in the idea of recuperation coming from active duty. 
 
 Nothing would satisfy Elizabeth, except going as a pas- 
 senger on the same vessel— she refused to leave me out of her 
 care. The captain knew her relation to me, so did the crew, 
 so that her being a passenger was natural. 
 
 Near the Bermudas a terrible storm came up, and I ordered 
 the sails close reefed, then the squall struck, the mainmast 
 went over, the vessel sprang a leak, the pumps were inade- 
 quate, and the boats were swamped— all but one— as fast as 
 they were lowered. Into that went the crew, and I would 
 have put Elizabeth in, but the men, seeing the boat full, 
 pushed off and left her, Captain Washburne and me to our 
 fate. Hardly five minutes elapsed when our noble vessel 
 pitched bows on under the engulfing waves, carrying us with it. 
 
 I had lashed myself to the deck cleats to avoid being washed 
 overboard. So now I was doomed to die— and was glad. As 
 the waters swept overhead, I called out in my soul:— " Phyris! 
 at last ! at last I come ! " I saw Mendocus as I lost conscious- 
 ness, and when I next came to knowledge, I found myself in 
 the Sagum in California. Yet my body drowned off Bermuda's 
 coast ! Here was Phyris, and— yes ! Mol Lang. It was not long 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 369 
 
 ere I again bade Mendocus farewell, and with Phyris and Mol 
 Lang went home to Pertoz— home now— my own attained 
 plane, and "Earth with its dark and dreadful ills" left be- 
 hind forever, but not Earth with its mighty secrets of life. 
 Yes, Terre is, if insignificant, a point whence the Human soul 
 reaches out into the boundless sidereal universe and formulates 
 its laws, knows them, and is greater than all. I was come to 
 leave the Earth where so many incarnations had known me. 
 
 1 ' 'Twas a time 
 For memory and for tears. Within the deep 
 Still chambers of the heart a spectre dim, 
 Whose voice was like the wizard tones of Time 
 - Heard from the Tomb of Ages, points its cold 
 And solemn finger to the beautiful 
 And holy visions that have passed away, 
 And left no shadow of their loveliness 
 On the dead waste of life. That spectre lifts 
 The coffin lid of Hope and Joy and Love." 
 
 Earth ! point in the heavens, yet type of all the stellar uni- 
 verse. 
 
 Shall I descend a moment to figures ? Shall I speak numbers 
 almost inconceivable? I will. Just for a moment think of 
 what we have come to know in the schools of Earth— think of 
 our human civilization that permits us new comprehensions— 
 see the parallel of how we measure time and distance compared 
 to the Indian who measures one by "moons" and the other by 
 "looks"— one being the interval between one full, or new 
 moon and the next; the other being how far he can look and 
 distinguish a man. Civilized man measures by years and by 
 miles, and science by "light-years." How much is a light- 
 year ? In the time of one second light travels one hundred and 
 ninety-two thousand miles, approximately. In one year there 
 are thirty-one million, five hundred and fifty-six thousand, nine 
 hundred and twenty-nine seconds— hence the distance of a 
 light-year is the multiplied product of one figure by the other 
 —briefly, the inconceivable distance of sixty trillion, five hun- 
 dred and fifty-three billion, ten hundred and fifty thousand 
 miles. All that, and yet we see a star in the northern heavens 
 said to be one hundred and eighty-one light-years distant from 
 
370 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 the earth around which our own sun revolves, one 
 of its satellites, as the moon is satellite to the 
 earth. Such is the material universe, an infinitude, one of 
 God's Works, but only one, and yet it is a comprehensible 
 mechanism, not, from the material point of view, comparable to 
 the value of one soul of Man. Why do I thus digress ? Friends, 
 to let you know what proud place Man occupies. Think of all 
 that nearly interminable distance to Arcturus, and then reflect 
 that that bright member of the constellation Bootes is only a 
 little way out in the boundless universe! That vast bulk of 
 matter, capable of being seen nearly one hundred and twenty 
 million times farther than the distance between the earth and 
 the sun. How great is that bulk? Estimated by comparison 
 it is more than half a thousand million times larger than the 
 combined mass of the Earth, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Neptune 
 and Mercury. And yet the human mind reaches into this almost 
 infinite thing called the universe and grapples understanding^ 
 with its problems of matter, force, time, space, eternity, in- 
 finity ! Laus Deo ! Thus Arcturus is our yard-stick in the 
 siderial universe, which in itself is in the House of our Father 
 only one mansion! Besides it are "many mansions' ' and, 
 friends, there is one mansion of the many to which I have called 
 your attention— that of the Soul. The Soul is not material, 
 and one loved one who shall go away out of your home into 
 the "Unknown Country" is farther away from you than Arc- 
 turus, for it is in another condition of being. Wondrous privi- 
 lege—you stand on the threshold— for you are embodied chil- 
 dren of the Creator. You can learn His Ways, and go unto 
 the loved ones gone before; or you can leave matter behind 
 and go into the psychic mansion, and re-enter matter whereso- 
 ever you will; be in the World one instant, in the astral the 
 next, and in Arcturus the next,— I speak no idle tales— who 
 hath ears to hear, let him hear. 
 
 Now I had left the world for a new life— a new vantage 
 point. So far I had lived a life purely one of sacrifice to duty 
 and that duty one to Elizabeth, all the later while knowing 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 371 
 
 myself, through my other astral, to be far from home and 
 Phyris and knowledge. And now the release had come; my 
 sacrifice to Elizabeth was completed, my charity had covered 
 a multitude of sins— oh! many more than I knew at the time 
 of the completed sacrifice. And yet, I had not quite atoned 
 for all the weary errors of past incarnations. Almost free, 
 however, almost free ! 
 
 While yet living with Elizabeth, my obedience to the rules 
 of which I have spoken and others of which I have not spoken 
 —all from Mol Lang and Mendocus— had given me insight 
 into somewhat of the past. Thus I had learned a little of the 
 dead personality known to the reader as Zailm of Poseid. I 
 knew that Zailm 's spirit, human soul— his individuality— were 
 also mine— that I, Pierson, had been Zailm. I was able to 
 form a fair remembering of Zailm 's life; and of its events 
 and his friends. I knew that the acts he did and the sins he 
 committed, were my inheritance, and that I was responsible 
 for them— because though his personality was not my per- 
 sonality, his individuality was, and is, mine. Although I 
 knew not who Lolix was, or that she lived, yet, for Zailm 's 
 (my) sin with her and for her tragic death, I must atone. To 
 whom ? Anybody in the Earth whom I could serve as CHRIST 
 had said in declaring, "Even unto the least of these." I served 
 with the sacrifice of my living happiness the duty I contracted 
 to Elizabeth, by living for her, and dying on my ship that she 
 might have the chance to escape. I had rescued her from a 
 
 nameless sin of life in City, and brought her to saving 
 
 faith in JESUS, THE CHRIST. If as Zailm, I-the Me-had 
 tripped with Lolix,— I, as Walter Pierson, had arisen with 
 another (?) soul to salvation. So karma balanced there. 
 Karma— self made fate— binds the soul to make reparation in 
 some life or lives for its sins in others. It bound me ; I paid 
 the debt. It binds you for debts contracted sometime, some- 
 where, and will you not follow the Path, and after paying the 
 debt, be with the free forever more? Charity is great: its 
 
372 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 least worthy aspect alms giving, for although I give all my 
 goods to feed the poor, and have not (that) charity (which is 
 love) it profiteth me nothing." 
 
 I have said that my wife, Elizabeth, cared little for my 
 esoteric studies. But to infer that she cared nothing 
 would be wrong. She once found me in my library, using an 
 occult needle. This was a steel bar seven inches long, square, 
 and one-third of an inch thick, pointed quadrimidally, with 
 gold tips. It swung in a glass case suspended by a hair, over 
 the symbol. 
 
 Could you have been gifted with clairvoyant sight, and have 
 looked upon me as Elizabeth found me, you would have seen 
 that needle hanging motionless, and all about it a golden light 
 or aura. From either end went a beam of this odic luminosity 
 —one to me, and one to a distance. Looking along the latter 
 you could have seen at its end a man, standing beside a dining 
 room sideboard; in his hand a glass of brandy. That man 
 wan a dear friend of mine, with but one grave fault— inebriety. 
 As he poised the cup to drink, I said firmly : 
 
 "No! 'Touch not, taste not, handle not!' Neither now nor 
 henceforth ! Heed my voice, or you shall not enter the King- 
 dom of Heaven. " 
 
 Willis Murchison, the would be drinker, let the glass fall 
 to the floor, where it broke to fragments. A day or so later 
 I met him, and he related that he had had a vision, and heard 
 a voice from God, saying that he should no more drink lest 
 he lose his chance of heaven. He never did touch liquor again. 
 He heard the mysterious? voice and heeded; yet he had not 
 heeded his friends. By the occult secret of that aurant tipped 
 needle whose power enlisted the service of spirits not human, 
 I held mesmeric power over him. Herein is the peril of letting 
 the masses know these things,— for had I been unscrupulous, 
 lawless, a sorcerer, I could as easily have moved Murchison 
 to any crime. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 373 
 
 Elizabeth asked what I was doing there in the dark. Having 
 achieved my purpose with my friend, I said to my wife— "Let 
 me tell you certain things." I told her of the law of karma, 
 and much besides. When nearly through, I willed the gold 
 pointed needle to connect her mind psychically with mine. 
 Between us the line of light was established. I whispered then : 
 
 "Look! See your past life on earth, and know it. Then tell 
 me, nor forget what you learn." 
 
 She was silent for a few moments, then her breath came as 
 in sleep. Presently she said : 
 
 "A noble, wonderful man is guiding me. I see him seem- 
 ingly uncover a remote age of the world; it is the day of a 
 mighty nation, who sail the air in what they call 'Vailx.' A 
 splendid city is about me. Now I am in a vast temple ; the in- 
 terior of it is ornamented with real stalactites. I stand by a 
 large cube of crystal quartz, and on this is a strange flame 
 which burns without fuel. I see a young couple whom a grave, 
 priestly man is uniting in marriage. Ah, it seems as if I loved 
 the one to be wed better than I love life ! I implore the one in 
 the assemblage who seems to be a ruler of the nation to prohibit 
 the wedding. Then the priest turns to me— now he looks at 
 me, and— oh ! my God !— his look chills me in death ! I seem to 
 rise above the scene and yet my body still stands in a stony, 
 
 petrified rigidity. Now it seems some time elapses, and I 
 
 see the young man who was to be wed. I see the Monarch, too, 
 and they are both in the temple. Now the young man lifts the 
 —my body of stone,— and lets it drop into the Light on the 
 great quartz cube, and it disappears instantly. But a foot was 
 broken off, and this the young man hides in his mantle and 
 carries away. It seems all this was due to some evil done by 
 him, and by me through love of him. I ah h h !" 
 
 Elizabeth sighed and then awoke to her surroundings. I 
 lighted the study-lamp, and she watched me curiously. Sud- 
 denly she said: 
 
 "Why, husband, that young man I saw was— was you! Oh, 
 I believe now in all these things you have told, but which I 
 never believed till now I have seen this." 
 
374 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 This experience had a great effect on her, so that she 
 looked more and more into the strange learning, and as a result, 
 redoubled her efforts to do good in the world. Thus did she 
 observe the Scripture, — "Be ye doers of the word, not hearers 
 only" for strange though this learning seemeth, it is not so 
 to Christian Esoterists, but only to mere hearers, and in a less 
 measure, to doers on the exterior plane of Christian service. 
 Thus had I, who led Lolix astray, led Elizabeth back into 
 His deeper Path. But I first had to travel in it somewhat 
 myself, ere I could guide her. This occurred only a few 
 months before her last voyage with me— the Bermuda trip. 
 But she had learned enough to know we were both doomed 
 on the occasion of the wreck, and when I would have placed 
 her in the boat, she said: 
 
 "Husband! Walter! I will not go into that boat, for out 
 of the past I know that now we change. I have come to know 
 that in esoterically doing His word, and not hearing it only, 
 is there alone Life. Now I see again into a past age. And 
 you and I are together, and a little babe is before us, wailing 
 to us. You take it bleeding, into your arms, and me also 
 you clasp. Then, you ask God for mercy. Generously you 
 took all the blame; yet I, too, having broken the law, had to 
 share the penalty. Then said One who was verily the Christ, 
 although then we knew it not— Therefore in a far day thou 
 shalt gather a sorrowful harvest of woe, and repay all thou 
 art indebted. When thou art come again, also she with thee, 
 and again are ready to go into Navazzamin, thou wilt find 
 thyselves free of Earth forever. My dear, dear friend, it 
 must be that we both die now ; I fear not, for we will of neces- 
 sity meet again. Farewell, my love, till then ; kiss me. Is not 
 my karma paid in full, so far as Lolix 's error is? More even, 
 possibly? And Christ,— shall He not receive me now?" 
 
 And I said: "Yes, dear wife, it must be! Good bye, and 
 God bless you, for we will truly meet again, beyond the great 
 deep River, with Him." And so in death I held her close. 
 
 Do you longer marvel at her contented smile in the photo- 
 graphically true picture of the death scene ^executed by 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 375 
 
 Phyris? And I, friend? Was not the special crime of Zailm 
 atoned for, in that I brought her to know God's law, karma, 
 and in making my life a living sacrifice for, and at the last 
 dying in an effort to save her to happiness and enlightenment, 
 was that score not requited, fulfilled, and Jesus the Christ 
 obeyed? Sins, evil deeds, lies, thefts, adulteries, murders even, 
 are in themselves only the shadows of lives turned to face away 
 from God into outer darkness; they are weak places in the 
 chain of character; unsymmetrical places in what Christ our 
 Lord would have perfect, even as He is perfect. For in Him, 
 the Perfect One, are none of these things, nor shadow of turn- 
 ing. He beseeches us, saying, "Be ye likewise perfect." "Come 
 unto Me, all ye weary, and I will give you rest." So, in His 
 divine love He proposes Himself to take all these (to Him) 
 shadows that to us are so horribly real. Of ourselves we can 
 do nothing, for as we undo through the lapse of ages, we 
 also do fresh evil. Not shadows to us. But He is the Light 
 of the world. So the glooms we see while we look from His 
 way, will cease to be if we turn to His following. If we have 
 kept all the laws from youth upwards, yet, that is but doing 
 no sin of commission, behind is an unrequited eternity. And, 
 brethren, friends, the time is short: (Cor. vii-29.) He will 
 take these sins, and it shall be to us as if we took a boxful 
 of shadow from a cellar and opened it out in the noontide rays 
 of the sun. But while the sins are all by Him atoned; while 
 when the days mount to years, the one robbed or lied about, or 
 otherwise injured, finds the Father's laws have made it all 
 up to him, if he only also knows that Father too, still, we have 
 a work. Jesus, the Great Master, took all when we, a weary, 
 asked him. But— we, while doing these crimes, walked in dark- 
 ness. The tree of our lives could grow nothing but sickly 
 growths, pale leaves, dwarfed buds, blighted fruits, in that 
 darkness of the soul. We may have ever seemed righteous to 
 others; may have even cried, "Lord, Lord"— with our lips. 
 But if our deeds knew Him not we were growing our life-tree 
 with fair bark, but decayed wood. So, after He has taken 
 on Himself our sins, and they are ceased, yet with our faces 
 
376 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 to Himwards, we see our tree of character, pale, sickly, with 
 few leaves, and no fruit, standing in God's karmic light. Will 
 we work to make green leaves, and fruit in plenty? If we fol- 
 low Him, yes. For He always said in language unmistakable 
 to those having ears to hear, that only those who obeyed the 
 Father's law, God's Will, could hope to win salvation. He 
 will remove our burdens; will mediate and atone, but we 
 must undo the errors with the strength He gives; we must 
 take each our cross and follow Him, and He, the Good Shep- 
 herd, will lead us Home, to the immortal heights, where is no 
 more death, nor sin, nor suffering, neither parting. In Him 
 we have, all of us, time, strength, opportunity to undo, after 
 He has atoned and shown us the way. He is that Way. And 
 we, letting Him dwell in us, make our life the Path. There 
 can be no homegoing till, in Him, we become our own Path. 
 If there was another way, I would tell you. For I am come 
 before His second coming. It is near. Beware, lest night find 
 you idle. Say not I knew Him not, either as Zailm, or as 
 Pierson. To know Him by lip service is one, to know Him by 
 life lived as He bade us, is another. Having lived, now I speak. 
 Be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 AFTER THE YEARS, RETURN. 
 
 Sparing details, what was the appearance of Phyris after 
 the flight of the years? When I left she was a bright, beauti- 
 ful maiden, in the budding days of womanhood, having the 
 divine, spiritual glory which characterizes the higher race of 
 the perfect Human grade. How looked she now? Different 
 only in the maturity of rounded womanhood, the prime which 
 in Yenus withers not with age, because there the animal is 
 subdued, and there are no excesses, indulgences, nor any of 
 that feverish grasping after unattainable things which stamps 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 377 
 
 the "children of a larger growth" who dwell in the human- 
 animal plane of Earth today. Phyris, the dark-haired, starry- 
 eyed girl, who was yet more than a girl, was a woman divinely 
 fair, was again before me. Again I beheld the sweetly natural, 
 dignified mien that reminded me of the first time I ever saw 
 Mol Lang— that air of quiet, but marvelous power. Enhanced 
 by this appearance, as is a gem by its setting, her sweet, pure 
 selfhood shone forth— that sweet spirit which in Phyris was 
 divine, yet had lost none of the human characteristics which 
 have rendered Jesus so dear to mankind. The spirit was 
 there— the perfect human, also, but the animal, the nature of 
 Man on Earth, was reduced to its pla.^e of servitude. When 
 I met the fair, beautiful woman I was abashed. At that 
 moment the tide of the years overflowed my soul, and awed 
 me. Sometimes I had known of Phyris when the Hesperian 
 astral controlled me. But far oftener of later years— the 
 years of duty— this astral did not come, and then I knew 
 Phyris only as an ideal, and with the attributes of that ideal 
 I tried to endue Elizabeth, and the failure was agony to me. 
 
 Wonderingly, wholly delighted, I looked on Phyris now, 
 nor deemed it lack of propriety that she should kiss me and 
 whisper, "Home again"— her eyes lighted with the peaceful 
 joy reflected from my gaze. 
 
 No passion was in me, no prompting to be sentimental— no, 
 that was gone with Earth's feverish dream. 
 
 How familiar all things appeared when at last I was come 
 home. For six Hesperian months* I did nothing but wander 
 in my psychic form in this Elysium— this stellar garden of the 
 Hesperides. In the other time most of my visit was spent in 
 the company of Sohma or Mol Lang. But now Sohma was 
 otherwise engaged. Mol Lang, too, was occupied in the work 
 that attracted him— that of guiding, teaching and helping 
 mankind, en masse, as well as individually; that portion of 
 our race yet on Earth. Unconscious of his agency, or of how, 
 with others equally great, Mol Lang was influencing the affairs 
 of men— these men on Earth went on with their doings, fondly 
 
 ♦About 112 terrestrial days. The solar year of Venus is 224.7 earthly 
 days. 
 
378 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 thinking that themselves were doing all. How little humanity 
 on Earth knows that it is thus guided. Yet our Father gives 
 it to His occult children to lead their lesser brethren, just as 
 He gave it to Jesus,— one of the Sons of Light, higher than 
 any other, who was an incarnation of the Christ. Perhaps 
 human acts were not, are not, guided individually, as a rule, 
 although exceptions exist. But just as shot, running in 
 grooves, is checked by the leaden pellets before and behind, 
 so the acts of one man depend on the acts of others ; these on 
 others still, until finally it appears that the mass is influenced 
 in the whole, and every individual in the mass has his or her 
 acts unconsciously controlled by what are termed circum- 
 stances — fates — adverse or propitious — inexorable — the 
 grooves in which they run. That is to say humanity is ordered 
 in its action by what may be named the Universal Karma. 
 So long as men grope in the dark, ignorant of occult laws, so 
 long must they produce this inexorable karma. It is fate, self- 
 made, running from life to life, incarnation after incarnation, 
 unavoidable, for it is born of the infraction of the laws of the 
 Creator. Even Mol Lang, before he passed and triumphed at 
 the Crisis, to which I was soon to come, and which he experi- 
 enced a century ago, was controlled by the great, Universal 
 Karma. But in passing that ordeal he passed from finite life 
 to everlasting, and became a law unto himself. And th*)n, 
 free of karma, he returned to minister to those bound by cir- 
 cumstances. Mol Lang was become more than man. He had 
 taken of the Tree of Knowledge, also of the Tree of Life.* 
 Such as he utilize the elementals— those non-human, non-em- 
 bodied powers of the air. They find in mankind the tendency 
 to sin, and use it, so that the erring ones mount the ladder on 
 rungs, each of which is a conquered fault. The great religious 
 movements, wars, and the fields of commerce, all furnish 
 experiences for mankind. Do some seem cruel, evil?— yet each 
 is a part of the scheme of the Creator, each is a tool in the 
 hands of His ministers, and all teach that except a man, as part 
 of the Eternal Whole, works for that Whole, subduing the 
 
 Revelations xxii. 14. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 379 
 
 selfish animal in himself, he can in no wise come to the Father. 
 " Except by My Path," says the Savior. 
 
 If Sohma and Mol Lang could no longer be with me as com- 
 panions, who then could? Phyris. She became my tutor, my 
 guide, and led me farther on towards the point where soon I 
 must take the Key and enter alone on the dread struggle, 
 with only my faith in God to sustain me. 
 
 One day Mol Lang said— "Phylos, come with me." 
 I went to his special apartments. There he said: 
 " Hitherto thou hast but an astral body, but now thou needest 
 a physical body as a base of action, for now must thou learn 
 of thine own self. Sleep, that I may gather material atoms 
 about thine astral." 
 
 I immediately slept, as I lay on the couch where he had bid- 
 den me recline. When I awoke he was regarding me, and, for 
 a moment forgetful, I sat up. 
 
 "Arise,"— said Mol Lang. I obeyed, and found myself 
 clothed in flesh. Thus I became a Hesperite. I was now of the 
 same apparent age as Phyris, and was thereby seemingly dis- 
 possessed of some twenty-five years. Before any lengthy period 
 there came to shine in me somewhat of the Spirit-nature, and 
 as the same ego shone in Phyris, so therefore we grew into 
 similitude of each other. Because of this indwelJing Spirit, 
 Nature was become an open book, and occult wisdom addressed 
 me from all sides. Soon I could leave the body at will. Other 
 steps succeeded, and I grew with marvelous rapidity to know 
 many of the minor things reserved by our Father for His 
 aspiring children. 
 
 With me now was abiding a Voice,* and as it demanded 
 of me, I answered and knew. It said : 
 "What is heredity?" 
 
 And I answered from my spirit, knowing this thing : 
 
 "Heredity is the sum of experience which the souls of men 
 
 carry from one life through devachan into reincarnation. It 
 
 is in nowise transmitted from parent to child, but its leading 
 
 trait is attracted by the like trait in the parents. The lesser 
 
 *St. John xvi, 13. 
 
380 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 traits are educed by cultivation, or else lie dormant, according 
 to environment. ' ' 
 
 Again the Voice said: 
 
 "It is not well; thou who hast reaped, must now sow. I am 
 the Eternal Spirit in thee; obey me. Thou art now able to 
 stand in my presence ; able to see ; able to hear ; able to speak ; 
 conqueror of desire, attainer of self-knowledge. Thou hast 
 seen thy soul in its bloom, heard the voice of Peace. Go thou 
 and read my writing in the Hall of Learning, which is My 
 Works. Read : 
 
 "To stand— is to have confidence. To hear— is to have 
 opened the door of thy soul. To see— is to have attained per- 
 ception of My Works. To speak— is to have gotten the power 
 of helping others. To have conquered desire is to have ac- 
 quired control of self. To have self-knowledge— is to have 
 come unto Me, whence thou art able to impartially view the 
 personal man that was thyself. To have seen thy soul in its 
 bloom— is to have had a momentary glimpse of that transfigura- 
 tion which shall eventually make thee more than Man. 
 
 1 ' Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou lightest, 
 be not thou the warrior. Look for Me, and let Me fight in 
 thee. Obey My orders for battle. Obey Me as if I were thy- 
 self. My orders thy desires— for I am thyself, yet 
 infinitely more than thee. Look for Me, iest in the 
 fever of battle thou pass Me. I will not know thee if thou 
 knowest not Me. If thy cry come to Me, lo ! I will fight in thee 
 and will fill the void in thee. Then shalt thou be unwearied. 
 Without Me thou shalt fall; with Me thou canst not fall, for I 
 am the Spirit. 
 
 "Listen now to the song of life in thy heart. Say not 'It is 
 not there.' Listen deeper. This song is in every breast; it 
 may be obscure, yet it is there. Not the most wretched out- 
 cast but it is in him, for all are children of the Father, which 
 is I. Listen to My Song, for while thou art yet but man, I 
 shall not speak continually, and thy strength must sometimes 
 be in memory of Me. Inquire now of the Earth-matter; of the 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 381 
 
 air, of the water, the wind, and seek the treasures of the snow. 
 My Peace I give unto thee." 
 
 At last I saw; I heard; and, my friend who readeth this,— I 
 speak. My words go to the multiplication by types, and then 
 by myriad copies through the world, to be known by those 
 that " seeing, see and comprehend." And with each copy 
 shall go my love and greater, mine eye shall note each hun- 
 gered seeker for the truth, and, be it in the palace or cottage, 
 there, too, will I be, not figuratively, but my Spirit. 
 
 I had gone into a lonely mountain spot to hear this Voice, 
 and now as I walked, a Being not Man joined me. Its pres- 
 ence was one of light and glory and goodness. With it came 
 Mol Lang, saying: 
 
 "This is one of the Beings of Good. Behold, Phylos, our 
 Father's House hath many Mansions, and in these are Beings 
 created by Him, and endowed with volition like as Man, yet 
 they are not human, never were, nor ever will be. Man shall 
 be perfect when the Spirit of the Father entereth him. Then 
 shall he know all things, and be perfect. What is perfection? 
 Absolute harmony with His Infinite Creation. So there may 
 be perfect men; also perfect Beings which are not Men, as this 
 one with us. This is a Good Being. But there is an opposite 
 in the Things of the Creation. There are perfect Evil Beings, 
 which likewise are not, never were, nor ever will be human. 
 What are these? They are in perfect harmony with the laws 
 of their existence, but those laws and their conditions are 
 absolutely opposed to ours, and to good. Hence such are 
 inimical to our life and so— evil. Yet this sort seek us not, nor 
 we them. In the scheme of Creation evil and good are evenly 
 balanced. What disturbs harmony with us, therefore, dis- 
 turbs them by disadjustment of balance. Hence they seek 
 not our harm. But Satan, know ye him? He was an Angel 
 of Light, fallen, and come to so much the greater fall in that 
 his height was so lofty.* He is a rebel, and out of harmony. 
 
 "Life, Phylos, is limited, for it is but the action in the Man- 
 sion of Human environment. But existence is not limited. 
 
 •St, Luke, xii, 48. 
 
382 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Hence this Good Being with us is not Life, but of Existence. 
 See, It goes. This is Its symbol, and the name of Its Man- 
 sion ^. And when thy trials are thickest, draw about thee 
 on the ground that figure and stand in it; go not out, but call 
 on the Father. He will send His ,A Beings to aid thee. 
 Peace go with thee." 
 
 Mol Lang disappeared, and I was alone. 
 
 Men dread most those insiduous diseases, which attack not 
 openly, but the weakest, most unguarded point. So, in the 
 last, final Trial of the Crisis, I should be likewise insiduously 
 attacked by the Satanic hosts. Earth has tried me during many 
 lives; now was to come a trial greater than Earth. The at- 
 tacks of mere human error differ from that of the well organ- 
 ized, intelligent assault of those to whom evil has become nat- 
 ural—to Lucifer and his fellow-rebels. 
 
 Of what nature is this Trial of the Crisis ?* It is the deciding 
 whether in the long series of incarnate lives the soul has im- 
 proved its opportunities for good; if it, in the main, followed 
 the Path which Jesus pointed. If so, it has or will have 
 strength to cope with the best efforts of the Satanic foe. If not, 
 it must fall and die the second death.** His incarnate life made 
 the soul forgiving of all wrongs, forgetful of selfish interests, 
 helpful to those having less light, more gloom, misery and sin 
 to encounter— a self-contained nature? Has it become like the 
 Man of Sorrows— full of faith, hope and charity? Then it 
 hath heard the Voice, and will not fail. But if the soul is 
 not like that, then, although it have the prophetic sight, and 
 knoweth all things, though it have faith to removing moun- 
 tains, yet shall it be only the more like Satan, and the worse 
 its fate. 
 
 " Go into the Holy Place."*** 
 
 And I, knowing obedience, went into a room built of stone, 
 apart from the house. Then was I in the Presence where I 
 had been as Zailm when Priest Mainin was blasted. It was 
 the Presence of the living Christ. It was Man, yet more, for it 
 was the Spirit ; as much more than Man as the sun is more than 
 a glow worm. Then a wondrous Voice said : 
 
 *St Luke, xx. 35-36. **Rev. xx. 15. ****St Luke, iv, 2. 
 
-# . * 
 
 SYMBOLIC PICTURE IN THE "HOLY PLACE. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 383 
 
 "Be not afraid; it is I." 
 
 Around that Holy Place were forms of fire. Ink and paper 
 can give little idea of the semblance. Yet look at the picture 
 and try, with my aid, to see. The bolt blazed as a thing of 
 flame, so also the Great Star and all the lesser ones. The Leaf 
 was as life, and the cross the open Way, to the House thereof, 
 while the Ring, I knew, symbolized the Eternal One— endless, 
 beginningless. The Book was the Word, and it blazed with 
 scintillant crimson flame. But over all— a Personified Presence 
 —was the Eye, the Eternal, sleepless, omnipotent, omniscient 
 Supervisor. So stood I in the presence of the Father, made 
 manifest for me. As I remained, I knew all things of His 
 Works, for the Spirit entered in. But not to abide, for as yet 
 the Trial was not come to pass. 
 
 For weeks I staid in the Holy Place, and came not out to 
 eat nor drink, for I was wholly sustained by the Spirit. At 
 the day of the Great Peace this Spirit must enter in and I be 
 in It and It be in me forever more. But no guide could exist, no 
 law for the Trial, except my strength of ages. Even the Spirit 
 would be veiled in that ordeal. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 TEXT: ST. MATTHEW IV. 
 
 [ To be, or not to be: that is the question. 
 
 —HAMLET. 
 
 That was indeed the question when I arose one morning, and 
 knew that the event of the Crisis would that day decide 
 whether or not I had Eternal Life— whether I was for the 
 Spirit, or the Second Death. 
 
 I arose and went forth into the wilderness of the mountains, 
 accompanied only by a pet animal, somewhat resembling a 
 fawn, which went with me everywhere. In a woodland moun- 
 
384 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 tain meadow I traced with my staff the symbol ^ , and it in- 
 stantly became crimson fire, which leaped and rose and fell, 
 unbroken, continuously. I was inside, the pet animal grazed 
 on the meadow. After making the symbol ^, the Good 
 Being introduced to my knowledge by Mol Lang was with me, 
 and it spake much to me, and I to It. It said: 
 
 "Lo! Thy time cometh when I f± must leave thee, al- 
 though I /^ would do for thee, but it is so that no being 
 can endure for another the fierce Trial, neither help them in 
 its midst. Yet I A say unto thee, I ^ believe thou wilt 
 win, for have I not known thee, lo ! many ages ? But now is 
 that Trial come for thee, when thy past, in all days and lives 
 thou hast ever had, shall rise up and thou shalt be judged 
 thereby, whether thou shalt become perfect, and thy name 
 be Phylos ■$§!, or whether thou shalt fail, and have again all the 
 bitterness of life to go through during ages to come. The 
 Father saith through the Spirit 'Every idle word that men 
 speak, they shall give an account thereof— how much more 
 then of their actions?" 
 
 I listened mutely, for what record was against me ? It might 
 be evil, or good, or, worse, that lukewarmness which the 
 Spirit will not entertain, but rather heat or coldness of na- 
 ture. 
 
 "Fear not,"— said Ovias ^\ "for not in vain hast thou 
 lived. Neither expect a record written concerning thee. For 
 know this— that the principles inculcated by the Christ-Spirit 
 which overshone Buddha and all the mightiest of the Earth, 
 incarnating in each, and Itself being Son of God, not they, until 
 by union of It they became Sons of God— know that if thou 
 hast made these principles both warp and woof of thy char- 
 acter, thou hast no need to fear. For this sort of fabric is 
 strong, and was that which Jesus meant when He said, and 
 says ever— Timeless One that He is— "Lo, I am with you 
 always even until the end of the world." Not one individual 
 act shall be brought forth to accuse thee, but each, all and 
 every greatest thought, and least, and word or deed, in all thy 
 many incarnations — these have formed thy character. Is 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 385 
 
 that character, then, woven of the woof provided by Christ, 
 and shown forth in the Divine personality of Jesus, and illum- 
 inating Buddha, and Zoroaster, Moses, Manu and other Salva- 
 tors? If that be the cloth, then indeed shalt thou prevail, 
 though no one sustain thine arm. But if not that weaving, lo ! 
 thou shalt fail, and not even 1 A could save thee. 1 A go. 
 Be thou brave, and may the Comforter be in thee. Peace." 
 
 All that day I stood there, and was not weary. Night came. 
 About the midnight hour my pet cried out in terror, and came 
 leaping toward me. As it came I warded it from the A flame, 
 and it stood outside, trembling. But I saw nothing to alarm 
 it, save Mol Lang, approaching over the level around me. He 
 hesitated not, but seemed about to cross the line of fire, as he 
 could, but mindful of my perilous position I said: 
 
 "Stop! If thou art Mol Lang, then come. But if only a 
 tempting shape, woe unto thee if thou shalt cross that line, for 
 ^ It shall punish thee as only an immortal can punish." 
 
 He came not ; instead he ceased to appear as Mol Lang, and 
 was another sort. This tempter said 
 
 "If thou art proof against me, who so seemed thy loved 
 preceptor that thou really knew not, then thou art conqueror 
 over death and sin. I have no power over thee, and thou art 
 free to enter eternal life, wherein shall no more incarnations 
 occur. I go." 
 
 This Shape withdrew, but the Voice in my soul whispered : 
 
 "Beware yet awhile." 
 
 I stayed on unmolested until I caught myself napping, and 
 knowing this to be the fatigue of the flesh, I regretted that I 
 had not met the Trial in astral form. 
 
 "Not so,"— whispered the Voice— "all thine elements, both 
 physical and psychic, must attend thee here." 
 
 But again I dozed, and quickly aroused myself, for the scene 
 all about me was changed. The mountain meadow was gone, 
 and in place of night seemed day. I gazed, seemingly, on a 
 scene where all the races of men and immortals were gathered 
 under the sweep of my prescient eye. I seemed to be taken 
 
1 
 
 386 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 over this realm, and a fair, god-like being in appearance was 
 my guide. Yet in caution, I sheathed myself from head to foot 
 in the ^ flame as in an armor, at which my guide smiled, but 
 said nothing. He took me with the speed of thought, so that 
 we seemed to go from star to star, now crossing vast inter- 
 stellar spaces, now come on fresh realms. All these realms 
 were inhabited by creatures of human shape, or at least they 
 had human attributes. Before me they all bowed and wor- 
 shipped, for my guide said to them:— " See thy master." Other- 
 wise they were all engaged in pursuit of pleasure. The multi- 
 plex passions of man on Earth were indulged without fear of 
 penalty. My fair guide said : 
 
 1 'These are souls in whom I created certain passions and 
 appetites, and shall I punish them for indulging, without stint, 
 traits I have given? Now, tell me, why should all creation 
 not have free license to get pleasure as it may? My creatures 
 do. There is no sort of restraint placed by me on their free 
 pursuit of carnal things, lusts, appetites. See, they are happy ! 
 For a time I am giving thee control of them. Through indul- 
 gence of their passions they beget a sort of vital magnetism, 
 and as their present ruler, it thrills thee like new wine." 
 
 As my guide said, the sight and sensing of all this license 
 did thrill me ecstatically, and was affecting me with a delirious, 
 carnal joy. I put it away and refused to feel. Whereat the 
 beautiful Being said 
 
 ' ' Oh ! thou art blind ! Behold, thou shalt have these realms 
 for thine, and have absolute authority, so thy word shall be life 
 or death to these people, if thou wilt. Here, too, into this 
 eternal joy, thou may est bring Phyris, and lo ! forever thou 
 shalt with her do thy will, and hers, and no penalty be exacted. 
 Wilt thou take this gift of supremacy? It is free; I ask no 
 return for it all. Only take it." 
 
 Oh! where was my knowledge, gained from the many lives, 
 and from the Voice f Gone ! Gone, else I had known at once 
 not to accept the alluring gift. I was offered all this free, 
 thereby violating the divine law, which never allows some- 
 thing for nothing. But I gathered my A armor about me, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 387 
 
 lest this Being, who seemed so fair and good, were uot so, and 
 if not good, its touch might be fatal. Then I said : 
 
 "It must be that thou art arrayed in the livery of heaven 
 to serve Satan better. Demon, thou offerest that which sub- 
 ordinates all other beings in these realms to my will. This 
 realm is governed by pleasure, passion, appetite, lust— all 
 selfish ; and no penalty set upon wild license. These carnalities 
 would conquer me, too, if I accepted— me, who am otherwise 
 about to be become immortal— more than Man, karmaless. 
 These are selfish. Pleasure so gotten is the essence of selfish- 
 ness. Truly, thou must be creator of it all, since it is selfish. 
 It is thine. It could be mine ? Yea, but only because over me 
 thou wouldst reign. I am not now thy subject; nor will I be. 
 Only the Unknown God is my Master. Get thee hence, behind 
 me!" 
 
 The scene slowly faded, like mist in the sunlight. There 
 came a lull, and I hoped the battle was over, for I was weary. 
 But I stood on the meadow again, with the ^ fire leaping, 
 quivering in crimson pulses around the lines. Nothing could 
 break that guardian flame, for it was a symbol of the perfect 
 state of being of another, but non-human, race. Only perfection 
 could avail against it. Perfection of good might; so, too, per- 
 fection of evil might; but the latter had not yet come against 
 it. I even doubted the existence of any perfection of evil. 
 What offer, after all, had been made but of the things which 
 were mine by reason of the divine Sonship ? God giveth his chil- 
 dren control over each other for good, and for evil also, through 
 mental influence. What more absolute sovereignity is there 
 than love, exercised as He hath ordained. None. While I re- 
 flected, a soft and lovely vision came, and lo, Phyris stood 
 before me. 
 
 "Art thou Phyris !" I asked. 
 
 "Could any but Phyris disregard the A flame about thee V 
 she replied, penetrating the barrier, and sinking by my side. 
 This seemed truth, for Ovias A was perfect being of Its 
 own condition. Only perfection can stand with perfection. 
 
388 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 At last I heard her sigh softly, sadly. Her eyes brimmed 
 with tears. 
 
 "Why this sorrow, Phyris?" 
 
 "Phylos, thou enquirest? I reply. Because of my confes- 
 sion to make. I, too, am on trial as thyself. A sad story of sin 
 is mine. Woe is me if thou shouldst spurn me for it." She 
 hesitated. 
 
 "Speak," I answered, apprehensively. 
 
 "This, then. In a far Poseid day, when I had a personality 
 called Anzimee, and thou hadst one called Zailm— thou knowst 
 the day? Aye, and with sorrow e'en yet! When thou 
 hadst gone in thy vailx, fugitive from memory of Lolix, I sor- 
 rowed intensely. And I knew not thine abode then. When 
 thou returned not, crazed, I went to Mainin the Incalix. He 
 marvelled at my frenzy ; then said : 
 
 " 'Lovest thou Zailm, Rainu?' 
 
 " 'As my own soul, Incalix.' 
 
 "■'I marvel thereat. But never mind. Aid thee to find him? 
 What if I love thee— I who am a vowed celibate? What if, in 
 my ability, I say Zailm shall no more come back?' 
 
 "Then, Phylos, I begged for thee as for my own life! I im- 
 plored his mercy. At last the stern lines of his face relaxed, 
 and he kindly said: 'I would not keep thee apart; I was but 
 testing thy love for him. Yet my aid must receive compensa- 
 tion. Not money, nor jewels, nor power— these have I in abun- 
 dance. One only thing in thy gift will I have ; listen : in other 
 days, when I came to knowledge of Nature's deeper secrets, I 
 was curious to experiment, and I sought the aid— all confident 
 of my power to subdue my servant — of the host of Satan, one 
 demon. But my power I overestimated, and I was subdued, a 
 victim. So one day coming my soul is forfeit to Lucifer to 
 pay my debt and its ever growing size. One only way can I 
 avert this— by delivering another, although less experienced 
 soul, in place of mine. Ere this night a maiden and her lover 
 will seek me at the hour of worship, that I may solemnize their 
 marriage already long published. But I shall Be gone, pur- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 389 
 
 posely. Thou wilt be there, and except thee, only those two. 
 Now. they are weak, but have never sinned. 
 
 "Their natures incline to error. All I ask of thee is that 
 when they ask for me, tell thou them I am gone, but say, ' Thou 
 art come to be wed?'— then smile and say, again, 'Only the 
 simple folk publish their matings ; the wise are never wedded, 
 yet are wedded in verity.' Say no more. If they take that 
 mild hint, they will sin, and lose their souls, but I, the great 
 Incalix, shall be saved. I will in any event bring thee Zailm 
 again, for perchance thy hint will not be acted upon.' 
 
 "Mainin ceased speaking. I recoiled in horror. Yet even 
 as I was about to refuse, he said, 'Remember, only thou canst 
 save Zailm.' 
 
 "I thought him a fiend. Then I thought— it is but natural 
 for him to wish to save his own soul, even at another's cost. 
 And oh ! I so desired the return of my Zailm ! Tearfully sob- 
 bing, my soul whispering the wrong of it, but my heart plead- 
 ing me to be blind for that once to wrong or right, I yielded 
 and said, 'Even as thou requirest, so will I do.' 
 
 "I did so. But false to Incal, Mainin was false to me, and 
 he brought not Zailm back. When Rai Gwauxln told me of 
 Zailm 's death, I, too, died of shame and a broken heart. The 
 man and woman took my hint, and died after years of well 
 concealed, direful crime. But I, Phylos? In my consent to 
 Mainin 's will, I sold my soul to the Arch Fiend, Mainin 's 
 master. So my life is forfeit unless I can be helped. Forfeit* 
 much though I know, and hard as I have striven to do right and 
 atone— all in vain! Yet, my twin soul, thou art able to save 
 me. If thou savest me not, then shall the Eternal Law cause 
 me to die the second death. My soul will be annihilated, my 
 Spirit, which was unable to unite with my soul, shall go back 
 to the Source— our Father. And then, being a soul, but thy 
 Spirit also my Spirit, thou must also perish. Save thyself then 
 as well as me." 
 
 "How?"— I queried, soul-sick to the depths, and suffering 
 such intensity of misery as almost of itself to cut off my life. 
 Sick, because I felt Phyris, my other self, my pure angel, to be 
 
390 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 in mortal danger, herself in a fatal mire, and threatened with 
 soul death. And because she was, I was also, for our Spirit 
 was the same. 
 
 "How?" — I again queried, whispered. 
 
 "Thus! The man whom, as Anzimee, I led astray, hath in- 
 carnated several times since then, each time worse and worse, 
 until now, a man on Earth, he is about to confront a tempta- 
 tion which, if he fall, will aim his course ever henceforth for 
 evil, and final death of his soul. If he yield not now, he may 
 or may not at last escape— but the delay will put him beyond 
 use to us, and we shall surely die, whether he does or not. Aye ! 
 we shall if thou actest not now. If his soul is now made forfeit, 
 we shall surely escape ; so saith Mainin, who is blasted and in 
 outer darkness, yet owneth me; 'tis an only, though slender 
 hope. Phylos, think ! think ! ! On the one hand eternal life, 
 brightness, and a chance to atone for all our sins— perhaps 
 even rescue this man at last— but on the other, death, blasting 
 into outer darkness and eternal demonhood.' ' 
 
 In the calm night she stood before me and besought me to 
 act for her, her hands elapsed, her eyes streaming, her agony 
 fearful to see. Act for her whom I loved better than life, and 
 for myself; save our lives that all might be well. How? By 
 using my occult power to whisper to a man, already sin-sodden, 
 —on a distant planet— a man who might not conquer his tem- 
 per even though I withheld my influence. Do what? Influ- 
 ence him to sign his name as Governor of a great state to a 
 denial of pardon to two men about to die for murder. Yet 
 they were innocent. I knew it ; the Governor knew it, because 
 he had already sinned horribly in using his office, money and 
 power to weave a net of circumstantial evidence which would 
 hang his two enemies for a murder committed by his own hand. 
 He would, in an hour more, sign or not sign the fateful paper, 
 for at the last his courage was faltering. All I needed to do 
 was to occultly encourage him. Already so sinful, was it 
 likely he ever would turn from evil ways to good? Barely 
 possible. But I was to psychologize him to pass this oppor- 
 tunity and complete his double murder, in order to-save Phyris, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 391 
 
 whom I so loved, whose Spirit was my Spirit, whose soul's de- 
 struction meant my soul's destruction also. It. was so easy to 
 do! " 
 
 All crimes are easy. But while the agony of despair numbed 
 me, a ray of hope came, and the question arose— would this 
 act not save us? Had not God said— "Thou shalt not kill"; — 
 and would not the double murder be on me as much as on the 
 Governor. Then I arose, and said, calmly,— Oh! how fright- 
 fully, despairingly calm!— 
 
 "Lo, then. If we shall both die into outer darkness, yet 
 will I never do this thing. Thou, who art more precious than 
 mine own life, must not ask this! Saith not our Father: 
 'Whoso shall do evil, of him will be exacted the penalty, of 
 some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred fold?' And if I— 
 we— shall consign a soul to darkness, thinkest thou, oh! my 
 spirit mate, we shall not the more surely go thither ourselves? 
 Then, although these words seal thy death— and mine— yet 
 will I refuse to sin. I will not do thy will. I have not erred 
 so but that I can put forth my hand and, by the aid of the 
 Christ-Spirit, cut off the progress of thy sin, and thou mayest 
 go back to the time, place, where thy soul was ere thine error, 
 and recarnify on Earth so often as needful to expunge and 
 atone this sinful act. And I will await thee where my soul is 
 now progressed, during the years, though they be tens of thou- 
 sands, until pure, thou mayest rejoin me. I will guide thee, so 
 that thou wilt sin no more during expiation. Aye, except that 
 I must stay to so guide, I would go again into the life of Earth 
 with thee ; but I must stay that my light be clear. All this will 
 I do, or if vicarious atonement were a possibility in the Uni- 
 verse, I would go for thee, and let thee stay. But condemn the 
 man on Earth, and ourselves with him, no ! I can not so sin." 
 
 With a convulsive shudder, and a despair in her starry eyes 
 that smote me so that I cried aloud to God in my agony, Phyris 
 said in a mournful wail, as of a lost soul : 
 
 1 ' Phylos, think well ; for it might be that thou art hedged 
 about with that sort of righteousness that maketh the Angels 
 to weep and the Fiend to smile!" 
 
392 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 "Phyris, beloved, I have spoken! I alter not." 
 
 She moved away with her hands covering her agonized face, 
 sobbing in her intensity of despair. When she came to the v — „ — * 
 fire she said: 
 
 "Phylos, I could enter. My power is fled, and I can not go 
 out; put it aside." 
 
 I looked from where I lay almost dying in my pain of an 
 immortal hurt, and found that I too was too weak to lower the 
 barrier. Then I looked within my being, and I saw that no 
 more was the Light of the Spirit within me, but gone forth. 
 And then I knew what that awful appeal of Jesus of Nazareth 
 meant— that He, too, in the fearful strain of his Human trial 
 of the Crisis had beheld the Spirit in Him wane— when He 
 cried out:— "Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabacthani." Like Him I cried 
 out tcTthe Father, and in that instant the Light returned, and 
 with a roll as of mighty thunder the darkness broke, and the 
 night which had been around me fled, so I saw that the sun was 
 high in the heavens, and I alone had been in a local gloom. 
 The ^ flame paled, and "Phyris" knelt before me and im- 
 plored mercy. Then I knew that Phyris had not been near. I 
 knew that God the Father was entered in me to dwell forever, 
 and that the perfection of evil had failed in its last, most subtle, 
 horrible and isidious attack, its last attempt to open the door 
 to downwardness for me. My strength out of all the lives had 
 withstood, and, all fainting, I was come unto Christ. All the 
 weary way of woe I had journeyed, atoning as I came. And 
 now my karma I had blotted out, and in me was Life Everlast- 
 ing. Gloria in Excelsis ! Laus Deo ! The song I heard was the 
 song of the starry hosts of God. 
 
 Then the Voice spoke : ' ' Thy trial is over ; I am well pleased. 
 It is written in sacred Scripture, 'Ye must be born again, of 
 water and of the Spirit.' Even so hast thou been born now. 
 Of water, which is the world of matter. And of the Spirit, 
 which is I entered in. But the death of the carnal body, and 
 rebirth in the new, is but night after day, and day after night. 
 To these successive days and nights of the soul, that Scripture 
 refers not. Thou hast been born in the Earth many times, and 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 393 
 
 each time thy carnal body hath died. But the rebirth was not 
 that rebirth of the waters and of me. Those incarnations did 
 but prepare thee out of the waters of materiality for Me. But 
 now thou art born of that and of Me, and become a Son 
 of Light, and at one with the All— Father— and like unto the 
 Nazarene. Carry thou My Word unto all men, that all may 
 come likewise unto Me who will, even as thou, following the 
 first Man who came unto Me, have thyself also come." 
 
 Now when I saw Phyris come, I knew that it was she in 
 verity. She, too, had had her Trial, and equal temptations had 
 been offered her, and been withstood, ninety centuries of years 
 before, however. How say ye: "I thought twin souls must 
 fight the final fight together, and now you say nine thousand 
 years were between?" Behold, friend, time is but measure of 
 energy exerted. We wrought the same work, so were together. 
 Is Paul more saved than the latest regenerated soul? Yet 
 Paul knew Jesus Christ near two thousand years earlier. It 
 had seemed to us both that the Great Crisis had occupied cen- 
 turies. Unto us, as we stood clasping each other, came a glori- 
 ous vision, and the Voice spoke, saying : 
 
 1 ' Behold. Look back over the mighty past. And when thou 
 hast so done, look on Earth, and see how there to effect the work 
 of giving the people of Earth thy life history. That shall take 
 but a moment for thee, but that moment shall seem years to 
 thine agents on Earth. Then again, look ; I am thy Voice and 
 thy Spirit. Thy souls shall unite. Behold, thou shalt presently 
 hereafter have no more two bodies, but one only, and it thy 
 Spirit body. Mine, for without Me thou art nothing. Peace is 
 thine f orevermore. ' ' 
 
 Friend, thou mayest have trouble in understanding this 
 strange union. Yet, ponder it deeply, for it is to be thy ex- 
 perience some day if thou art true to thy Savior and follow 
 Him, drinking of the cup which He drank, and triumphing at 
 the Critical Ordeal. 
 
 End of Book Second, 
 
394 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 BOOK THE THIRD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 YE SHALL REAP AS YE HAVE SOWN.-THE PERCEP- 
 TION. 
 
 Suppose the struggle had proven me wanting, and the ver- 
 dict had been, "Mene Mene Tekel Vpharsin"? Then my— 
 our fate would have been that of Mainin of Caiphul. To me 
 who know the dread meaning of this fate, it is more utterly 
 frightful to contemplate than it can be to thee. It means being 
 a brother to devils, and subjection to Satan who could so cun- 
 ningly, awfully tempt as we were tempted, and when suc- 
 cessful, make a servant of the victim, ever to pile up fresh 
 karma. And such karma as Satan's service makes is worse in 
 a moment than the wickedest man could pile up in a long life- 
 time. It means such servitude until— when? Forever? Until 
 the end of material things. Then, when the heavens are rolled 
 as a scroll and melt in fervent heat, Satan (Lucifer) shall, with 
 his minions, be cast into that lake of fire which is the second 
 death:— which meaneth that the force, the energy of the 
 rebels, that which has made them distinct, potent souls through 
 all the past, shall become depersonalized, and disindividualized, 
 cast into the sum of the Fire of Elements, which form the 
 forces of Nature — the winds, odic and magnetic and electric 
 forces. But annihilation there is not, death there is not, though 
 there be such a change as constitutes the destruction of the 
 union between soul and Spirit, the return of the first to the 
 great impersonal Vis Natura, the return of the other to Him 
 who created life. Then, after millions of years the Father will 
 gather the fervid elements into nebulae, star-plasm, worlds, 
 suns, systems, and a "new heaven and a new earth" shall come 
 forth. Then will the depersonalized rebel host b-eo-in to rein- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 395 
 
 carnate in protoplasmic life, and thence evolutionize up, up, up 
 along the myriad incarnations, until after an eternity of mat- 
 ter, they come once more to human conditions, to another Crisis, 
 to win or fail, and either, like Sisyphus, run again the weary 
 course, or else inherit hard-won entrance to unconditional 
 being. There is, nor can be, any death of the Spirit, but of the 
 individuality only. Study this well, my friend, for such is the 
 fate of evil doers who sell to Satan, because such is Satan's 
 portion. Our Father hath provided a Way. It is the sharp, 
 knife-edge Path, whereon all things so evenly balance that 
 there is turning neither to the right nor left, but steady, even 
 pursuit of the Path, wherein all who travel that way, contain 
 themselves in all things, in eating and drinking, in sleeping and 
 all those things which cause the cares of this world. Those 
 who shall be accounted worthy, without further incarnation, 
 to obtain the resurrection from the body of materiality neither 
 marry nor are given in marriage, but must receive the King- 
 dom of God even as if still little children. Yet whoso doeth not 
 so, it shall not be eternally counted against them, but on'/ 
 till another incarnation. It must be that the things of sensa- 
 tion which are an offense unto the Spirit occur, but karnib 
 woe will attend the offender, until he finds the Path and travels 
 therein. Hear, if hearing and understanding be in thee, for 
 these are the words of the Master. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 JOB XXXVIII-7. 
 
 Contemplating the victory in us of the Father, we chanted 
 a song in answer to that of the Sons of God who were our 
 fellows. Perfect at last, in rapport with all the law fulfilled— 
 karmaless, immortal, beside Jesus, no more need to incarnate, 
 Life was ended, but Being just commenced. Paradoxical? In 
 all the aeons of time we had Life, but Being, which hath no 
 
396 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 beginning, neither end, and is not under the dominion of Time, 
 every ego hath ever from the Father. But Life hath beginning, 
 so also it must have end; it hath end. If its conditions are 
 strong enough to enchain for aye, then the soul is diverted 
 from its ego to the tracks of Life, and is then heritor of death. 
 Only if a soul forfeit not to Life its hold on Being— on its 
 ego— shall it not die. Sin is the error of turning from Being 
 unto Life, whereof the shadow is death. The soul that sinneth 
 and turneth not away from finite life and the conditions 
 thereof, it shall die. 
 
 Down all the realms of light echoed the paeans of praise, as 
 when the "Morning stars sang together and the Sons of God 
 shouted for joy." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "Fair forms and hoary seers of ages past, all in one mighty 
 sepulchre. ' ' 
 
 For a little while yet Phyris and I were not wholly one 
 entity. But we were come to retrospection. With arms clasp- 
 ing each other, we walked slowly onward, till by the banks of 
 the babbling brook we seated ourselves. Then I said: 
 
 "My twin, let us scan the past; let us draw aside the cur- 
 tain of bygone ages, and see the record of the Book of Life- 
 mirror of all events, sights, sounds, shapes, all things. We can 
 do this, because we are karmaless, deathless, and are at one 
 with the Father of Being, seeing, knowing as He knows, because 
 He is in us." 
 
 We pondered the scenes of our Atlantean life— lives— 
 and I saw ill-fated, sweet Princess Lolix, to whom I had 
 been her ideal. Where had her sad soul gone when Mainin 
 petrified its clay? In the imperishable record we saw where 
 her life-line crossed ours. In her Poseid devachan she had 
 found her dream of life seem realized. Reborn into activity, 
 again her life-line crossed mine— her heritage pursued her— 
 and she conquered it, for Lolix 's individuality was Elizabeth's 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 397 
 
 (my wife). Her crime in Poseid was expiated, and so, too, 
 was mine. Karma was fulfilled there. 
 
 Man's course upward to God is so blind, so untaught— in- 
 stinctively like the sunward turning vine. I had so confidently, 
 in the Sagum, taken a step irrevocable, except for Mendocus; 
 and then had fallen again into blind darkness, despair, but 
 instinctively true to law and to Elizabeth, the object of my 
 efforts— so upward, till at last I had gained the immortal 
 heights. So had my alter ego— Phyris. Down below were 
 the deserts of life, and fair appearing fruits,— apples of Sodom. 
 These ashes are good, for they cause the soul to essay the 
 heights. . 
 
 Poseid, and all the lives, had meted us a large share of gall 
 fruit, but our errors required it, and Karma is a sure pay 
 master. 
 
 Sin begot karma and karma had exacted pay. Thus had I— 
 for I am not relating Phyris' history— given up hopes, hap- 
 piness, as one gives his open veins in the Sahara to quench the 
 thirst of his friend. By this abdication I had lost my life and 
 found it again. Karma, as the long record showed, was not 
 always requiring pay ; for every good act I had ever done I saw 
 that I had been fully paid in kind my every jot. These were 
 providences and benefices of life. There is no accident in life ; 
 allow that a man may die "by accident" and no man could 
 be sure whether the ensuing night might not find the earth 
 dropping into, or else away from the sun; or, seeing the sun 
 set, could feel sure it would rise again. All things, small or 
 great, are ordered. Not always from any pre-existent incar- 
 nation; sometimes from one's last year's, or yesterday's action 
 the fruit springs. In short, I— we— saw that the lesson of life 
 was "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" — 
 cause and effect. There are those who will make cavilling argu- 
 ment, contend that "accident does exist, and all is not order." 
 I argue not, for "they that have ears to hear" will under- 
 stand. One cannot see over a mountain range save he stand 
 on a taller peak. To the greater vision accident is but an arc 
 of design, and disorder is but an arc of order. 
 
398 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FALL OF ATLANTIS. 
 
 Again we looked over Atlantis, and saw many things else. 
 The Zailm time possessed a peculiar interest. I saw that dim, 
 distant past, a past old in the earth and ancient when Earth 
 was yet a babe in the cradle of time. Atl, chiefest of the pre- 
 historic races, numbering at home in Poseid, and abroad in the 
 colonies, almost three hundred millions of souls; Atl, known 
 through the olden earth as Atlan, Queen of the Seas, ' ' and her 
 people as "Children of Incal— i. e. "Of the Sun," and 
 as the "Sons of God." How are the mighty fallen! 
 For now I behold her ancient site as part of the bed of the 
 restless sea, covered with ocean ooze and slime, and to be 
 known as the haunt of man only through the clear vision of the 
 perfected eyes which scan astral records. Again the scene 
 was presented so that we saw it as the eyes of my poor, weak, 
 and pitifully mortal personality of Zailm had seen it. There 
 was stately Caiphul, the Royal; and there, far away, and not 
 so stately, Morzeus— its towers and turrets and chimney- 
 stacks and lofty buildings marking where had stood the great- 
 est of Atlan manufacturing centers— where the machine shops 
 and the mills had been which supplied Poseid with valix, and 
 naims, and all sorts of machines and instruments; with the 
 products of the- looms, the cereals and endless articles 
 of use, and of art. Over a million artisans there by day, 
 but by night scarce fifty thousand— all gone by car or vailx 
 to their homes anywhere from fifty to a hundred miles away— 
 a few minutes' ride. And all this to perish because of man's 
 iniquity, a few short hundreds of years later. Here and there 
 I caught glimpses of canals, distributing either natural rivers 
 or streams, or the product of aqua-aerial generators, such as 
 Zailm had a small model of in his last days in Umaur. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 399 
 
 We saw the world as Zailm saw it— Suern, with its millions 
 of people; Necropan, with its ninety odd millions; Europe, 
 then a barbarian land, only about one-sixth its present area; 
 and Asia, not so large in extent then as now, but containing 
 over a half million of souls. But the sparkling, brilliant civi- 
 lization which was more than peer of even proud today— that 
 was glorious Atl ! Eleven hundred millions of people, civilized 
 or but semi-civilized; and as many more scattered over the 
 continent and islands of the seas who were utter barbarians- 
 such was the world of Zailm, generally viewed. The numbers 
 of the human race, and especially their increase during several 
 generations, has appalled the pessimists. But the greatest of 
 pessimists, Malthus, need have felt no alarm had he but known. 
 Because : 
 
 ' ' The world goes up, and the world goes down, 
 And the sunshine follows the rain. " 
 
 There are a varying number of people always in the world; 
 now more, now less— for as a soul comes to Earth (having been 
 in devachan) a soul passes from Earth into devachan. But now 
 two come while one goes, or two go while one comes— relatively. 
 Wherefore the world is apparently encroaching upon the 
 sources of supply, or again the supply of all things exceeds 
 demand. But only a fixed number of Human Rays went forth 
 from the Father, and only so many have Life, or ever will 
 have. But these come and go as the tides ebb and flow, now on 
 Earth, now in Heaven. Malthusians need not fear. 
 
 Zailm had been my personality. 
 
 Thirty centuries later, approximately, we saw again this 
 land. But how changed. Now had Caiphul lost something. 
 Not the tangible matter visible to earthly men— no, this was 
 not gone. But the men we saw were not the high, lofty, noble 
 souled men known to Zailm and to Anzimee. And when man- 
 hood suffers decadence, degradation, all nature with which he 
 has to do also sensibly alters for the worse. Marzeus, the city 
 of manufacturing arts, was no more ; it had gone down before 
 corruption. Art had not suffered so much as had science. But 
 the science which drew upon the mysterious forces of nature- - 
 
400 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 the "navaz"— this had so far disappeared that air ships were 
 forgotten, or at most were semi-mythical history. So were 
 many other instruments which Zailm had known— the naima, 
 those wonderful, wireless combined telephonic and photo- 
 graphic image transmitters. And the vocaligrapha, the calori- 
 veyant instruments and the water-generators— all were lost 
 in the night of time. But the men of the twentieth century 
 shall find them all again. Twenty-eight decades of centuries 
 hath Day now here continued, and soon it shall be proclaimed, 
 ''The evening and the morning are the seventh day." Ye who 
 hear all my message are the men and the women of this new 
 day, and shall inherit all things from our Father forever. And 
 the full even-tide of that day which cometh shall behold you 
 caught up "into the heavens" to escape the end of all things, 
 when the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be 
 burned up.* 
 
 But I should deal with the past, not with the future. The 
 seeds of corruption sown in the hearts of men by the Evil One, 
 master over Mainin, germinated and throve, and then began, 
 some centuries after the time of Gwauxln and Zailm, a long, 
 steadily downward course which weakened the self-respect, 
 manhood and womanhood of Poseid— a loss revealed in count- 
 less ways, culminating in national depravity and ruin. 
 
 It was upon one of these phases of ruin that we next gazec*. 
 We saw a woman upon whose face rested a light almost divine 
 in the power of its transfiguring beauty. Her slight figure 
 seemed not so much of Earth as of Heaven. The loose robe 
 of gray which she wore fluttered in the breeze, the long tresses 
 of brown hair, unrestrained, swept back from the glorious face, 
 on which sat pity and despair, yet mingled with a wonderful 
 radiance of appealing, entreating, agonized hope that some 
 might hear and turn away from the course they were follow- 
 ing. Her appeal assumed that most perilous form— for the 
 champion— which an appeal can assume, that of sharp denunci- 
 ation. She denounced the hideous system of blood-sacrifice in 
 religion as being at diametrical opposition to right to God, to 
 man, and as responsible for the corruption of the people. At 
 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 401 
 
 this, the priests among the crowd uttered hoarse cries of rage. 
 In a vnip.p, the astral rep.ord of whi<*h rmgs ypt, and forever, 
 for those who have ears to hear such psychic tones, she cried, 
 from her high place on the pedestal of the monument, twenty 
 feet from the ground and the upturned faces below: 
 
 1 ' Oh, ye ! Think ye that Incal will accept the blood of inno- 
 cent animals for your crimes? Whoso sayeth this doth lie! 
 Incal, God, will never take blood of anything, nor symbol of 
 any sort which placeth an innocent in a guilty one's stead! 
 And the Incalithlon, and the Holy Seat, and the Maxin Light 
 are dishonored whenever a priest layeth an animal on the Teo 
 Stone, and striketh a knife to its heart, tears it out and tosses 
 it as sacrifice into the Unfed Light. Yea, the Unfed Light doth 
 truly destroy it instantly. But think ye because of this that 
 merciful Incal is pleased ? ye brood of vipers, ye priests that 
 are charlatans and sorcerers !" 
 
 An angry Incali stooped as she uttered this, and picked up 
 a jagged bit of stoneware. In front of him was a litter borne 
 by sad-visaged slaves. On this, reclining amidst soft silken 
 cushions, was a woman of languorous beauty— the very im- 
 personation of shameless abandon. In the warm, tropical at- 
 mosphere she lay, innocent of any covering, except that the 
 heavy waves of the hair of her beautiful, if wicked, head 
 partially concealed her nakedness. The shameless sight did 
 not attract notice because of its shamelessness ; the only atten- 
 tion bestowed by the dense and wrathful crowd around her 
 was that of sensual admiration from one or another. Such 
 sights were all too common in these last days of Atl. Seeing 
 the priest pick up the sherd, this woman said : 
 
 "What wouldst thou with it?" 
 
 "Naught/' answered the priest. 
 
 "Naught, forsooth! I know thou wouldst throw it at yon 
 blasphemer, if thou hadst courage !" 
 
 "Courage, I lack not," was the sullen reply. 
 
 A voice in the surging crowd now called out that the blas- 
 phemer of religion ought to be sacrificed on the Teo Stone, and 
 her heart given to the Maxm. 
 
402 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 "Listen to that! The people and the Incali would be with 
 thee," said the wanton. "Throw the piece, and see if per- 
 chance thou mightest not reach the game." 
 
 The ecclesiastic raised his hand back, and poised the missile, 
 while the crowd nearest him gazed with eager eyes. Then the 
 cruel bit of pottery hurtled through the air towards the fair 
 speaker overhead. Her temple was presented, and the missile 
 she might have avoided had she noted its coming, struck full 
 on the dainty mark. With a cry of pain she threw up her 
 hands, reeled, and then fell outwards, downwards, the twenty 
 feet to the hard pavement below. The crowd, which had 
 hushed an instant, now uttered fierce growls, and those nearest 
 ran to the victim of the coward-priest. Several of the sacer- 
 dotal caste picked the poor body up, and carrying it by the 
 feet, arms and hair, quite as if the assault had been precon- 
 certed, instead of being the work of one miserable fiend, started 
 off to the Incalithlon, whose vast pyramid loomed not far away. 
 
 "See!" said Phyris, "the first human sacrifice in Caiphul! 
 Me, even me, they slew, for trying to stem the tide of depravity 
 and ecclesiastical criminality. I repeated to them the prophecy 
 of the Maxin, and they heeded not, but slew me. For that 
 woman was my personality when I re-incarnated, three thou- 
 sand years after thou, as Zailm, did leave me, as Anzimee. ' ' 
 
 With a strange ecstacy of crime, the priests, scarce an instant 
 pausing, placed the still unconscious victim on the Teo. Then 
 the chief priest, still called the Incalix, stepped from the Holy 
 Seat, as it once had truly been. By the side of the victim 
 he stopped and profaned not God, but Man, by a prayer to 
 God ; for no man can injure God except through injuring Man. 
 Then he threw open the gray robe and bared the white breast. 
 Swiftly he raised aloft the keen-edged knife, then smote. A 
 shudder shook the reviving victim, who was about recovering 
 consciousness. The murderer then tore out the quivering 
 heart and cast it into the Unfed Light, where it disappeared 
 and made no sign. Then the flesh was divided piecemeal 
 amongst the murderous crowd, together with the blood-stained 
 garments. But the most of the blood had run into a depression 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 403 
 
 in the Teo, made for sacrificial blood. To this the priests 
 added liquor, and in maddened frenzy quaffed the mixture 
 from golden goblets. The scene was sickening, and I felt my 
 very being revolt ! And that poor murdered woman, a virgin— 
 who had given her life to rescue her nation from sin— that was 
 she, who had long centuries before been Anzimee, and now was 
 Phyris, part of myself, and I part of her being, for our Spirit 
 was one, re-united. I could forgive the crime I looked back 
 upon, for the criminals knew not what they did. And they 
 have suffered for it, and yet shall suffer, for it is their karma. 
 When Death, the conqueror of all mortals, garnered his harvest 
 in Atl, these souls, which had sown sin, and grown tares, were 
 reaped by the Great Reaper, and the tares were sown with the 
 good wheat when next those souls re-incarnated. And they 
 have had to glean and uproot as they could, and so must con- 
 tinue to tear up the evil weeds till every one be uprooted. 
 Then will they have atoned unto God. There is time enough, 
 lives enough, but friends, none to waste ! 
 
 After this human sacrifice the thirst for blood which the peo- 
 ple manifested became unappeasable. They demanded the life 
 of the priest who struck down the woman— for they were not 
 yet accustomed to the rights the Incali had so newly arrogated 
 —those of human sacrifice. They claimed that he had really 
 murdered the woman— that they were unprepared to go so far, 
 that therefore he who threw the missile must die. The tumult 
 became so violent, and insurrection seemed so imminent, that 
 the wretched priest was dragged out and offered by his fellows 
 as the woman had been. But now came the denouement. When 
 the high priest turned to cast the heart of the last victim into 
 the Maxin, he staggered as if struck, his hand fell by his side, 
 the heart dropped on the pavement, and the stricken man fell 
 forward unconscious! The tall taper of the Unfed Light was 
 gone— the Maxin book was gone ! In its place stood a human 
 form— that of a Son of the Solitude. In his left hand was a 
 sword, in his right a pen. 
 
 "Behold, the day of destruction is at hand which was fore- 
 told ages ago ! Atlan shall soon be no more beheld by the sun 
 
404 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 in his whole course, for the sea shall swallow you all ! Attend 
 ye!" 
 
 Then the dread apparition vanished. But the Unfed Light 
 came not again. The people fled, shrieking, leaving the priest 
 who had fainted lying on the floor. It was as well, for when 
 venturesome ones came into the Incalithlon many days later 
 he still lay as he fell— for he was dead. In his greater knowl- 
 edge, for wicked as he was he yet was chief, and knew, sor- 
 cerer that he was, that there really was a power of right which 
 was destined to bring the corruption of Poseid low, and uproot 
 the hideous mockery of sin enslaving the nation. And in his 
 knowledge his soul had gone forth from his body in desperate 
 fear, to return no more. 
 
 But the stupid sensualism of the masses, finding that after a 
 few years nothing terrible occurred, gradually lapsed till worse 
 than before— for human sacrifices became common, lust, glut- 
 tony and drunkenness ran riot, and the moral night's deep 
 darkness closed in yet more blackly. 
 
 One man and his family who lived apart partook not of the 
 general wickedness. True, he and his mate, like the ordinary 
 people about him, were not married, save as the higher animals 
 monogamize. Nor were his sons and their wives any better. 
 But blood sacrifice he nor they would do. And when the mon- 
 arch proclaimed that all must worship according to the new 
 standard, and sacrifice babes and women, these men, giants in 
 stature, and far superior, any one of them, to a dozen of the 
 corrupt slaves of the Rai, refused to obey the mandate. Fruits 
 and treasure they offered, but not blood. In his seclusion the 
 father^ Nepth, had a revelation. It came from the Sons of the 
 Solitude, who were nowise altered from the ancient high stand- 
 ard, but Nepth thought it direct from God. The revelation 
 was but a repetition of the prophecy of doom, but the knowl- 
 edge of that prophecy having been centuries neglected, bore 
 to Nepth all the force of a new revelation. So he came to know 
 of the coming destruction of Atl— he and his sons. And they 
 considered how to escape. Vailx were unknown.- Nepth and 
 his sons were unskilled builders. But they received instruc- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 405 
 
 tions from the befriending Sons of the Solitude, who came to 
 them in astral shape. And so these better men of Atlantis 
 began to build a great vessel. It was clumsy, but secure, and 
 had room to receive several of all kinds of useful animals found 
 in Atl, and to simple, ignorant Nepth these constituted every 
 animal on earth, for he knew nothing of other lands across 
 seas— scarce knew of the provinces in Incalia or Umaur, for in 
 these last days communication was not closely kept up. His 
 neighbors and friends jeered and reviled him as a blasphemer, 
 and he and his sons as men crazed. But the years lapsed, and 
 the great ark of refuge grew, until one day it was complete. 
 Then Nepth and his sons provided it with ample stores, and 
 they took the animals from the pens wherein they had placed 
 them as they captured them in years past. Indeed, most of 
 these animals had been born in captivity, and were tame, so 
 long had Nepth carried on all works together, not knowing 
 just when the dread prophecy was to be fulfilled. The final 
 preparations were none too soon completed. Only a few days 
 elapsed ere the earth shook and trembled in a frightful man- 
 ner. Rivers left their beds, or sank through vast crevices in 
 the earth ; mountains shook till they were left as hills, and 
 
 ''Bowed their tall heads to the plain." 
 
 A crevice opened close by the vessel of refuge, and the river 
 which, half a mile wide, had flowed past to the ocean, fifty 
 miles away, now poured with a mighty roar into the opening. 
 For three days this awful turmoil continued. A man 
 came, beseeching for admittance. But Nepth said: 
 1 ' Nay, thou wouldst never believe in other days. I , told thee 
 then this land should sink under the seas, and thou didst revile 
 me. Now go thy ways and tell all thou dost meet that 'Nepth 
 spake truly.' " 
 
 Three days of horror, and three nights. Death stalked 
 through the land, for the mountains fell on the plains, and 
 floods swept unrestrained. But the worst was to come. On the 
 morning of the fourth day it seemed as if the rains of heaven 
 would drown all, yet the thundering and turmoil was not les- 
 
406 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 sened. The gates of heaven and of the great deep were yet 
 to be broken, and the continent, yea, much also of the world 
 to be drowned. The people not yet destroyed were myriad, and 
 were gathered in the high places. Suddenly it seemed as if the 
 foundations of the world were withdrawn, for by one fright- 
 ful, universal motion the lands left unflooded began to sink. 
 With never a pause to the hideous, sickening sensation, all 
 things sank, down, down, down— one, two, a dozen feet! Then 
 a period of rest. The rains, which came in sheets, instead of 
 drops; the wild blasts of furious wind; the sinking motion— all 
 ceased while men might count a score. One score, two, three, 
 yet no resumption. The wretched people, hidden in such poor 
 shelter as they could find and dared avail themselves of, began 
 to breathe easier— perhaps the fearful ruin was at last stayed ! 
 But, no! A slight tremble, scarcely noticeable after the mad 
 three days— and then with one swift leap down to death the 
 great continent of Atlantis sank as a stone sinks in water! 
 Not a paltry dozen feet, nor even a hundred, but almost a mile 
 it sunk at one horrible bound ! 
 
 Nepth? In the middle of the third day his vessel of refuge 
 had floated to the ocean on an outgoing rush of the floods, and 
 there the winds had carried him until, when Atl sped down to 
 death, he and his storm-beaten ark were a couple of hundred 
 miles away. A very few other people had been similarly forced 
 seawards, and these, after weary weeks, at last came around 
 the southern promontory of Africa, and drifted northeasterly, 
 to land on the west coast of Umaur. Here, too, the destruction 
 had left but a few miserable survivors. But the few hundreds 
 thus left founded the race which— repopulating that land- 
 was found by Pizarro after many centuries upon centuries had 
 elapsed. And a few thus became many. They would not per- 
 mit blood sacrifice, but yet, like Nepth, offered fruits to Incal, 
 and retained the name, slightly modified, so as to be Inca, a 
 name bestowed upon their rulers. A few survivors landed 
 further north, and repopulated the land conquered by Cortez, 
 the Spaniard, a few short centuries ago. But these heeded not 
 the lesson, for no sooner were they landed on the desolated 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 407 
 
 shores than they slew a woman as a thanksgiving for their 
 escape. But Nepth? For many days his vessel drifted over 
 the silent seas, with only the ceaseless roar of rain upon the 
 roof to break the stillness. At last the vessel grounded. He 
 knew not where he was, for he was an ignorant man. But the 
 aspect of things was changed wholly. When at last he de- 
 scended, and let loose his living freight, though he knew it not, 
 he was in Asia. This land had not suffered as other lands, but 
 yet floods had covered all the western part of Asia. The 
 eastern portions, and what there was of Europe and America, 
 had not remained inundated after the quick subsidence of the 
 enormous tidal-wave, which, thirteen hundred feet in height, 
 swept outward from Atlantis ' site upon the recoil of the engulf- 
 ing ocean. Thus closed the scene for us; the great deluge 
 was over. 
 
 Then Phyris and I turned to other phases of the mysterious 
 past. These, though not less interesting, may not enter these 
 pages. Rai Gwauxjn was come to be Mendocus, while Rai 
 Ernon of Suern was with us now— Mol Lang. Sohma was that 
 Son of the Solitude whom I took on my vailr, when I was 
 Zailm, away from Suern. So we saw the interweaving of the 
 life lines. Then we saw the course of the lost soul, Mainin, 
 from remote ages when Atlantis was not known in the earth, a 
 sin-laden man then, until we found him, serving Satan, an out- 
 cast from human ranks, blasted thence by that Son of God— 
 " first fruit of them that [had re-incarnated] slept." 
 
 Looking, we saw that early Rai of Poseid— him of the Maxin 
 Stone and the Unfed Light— the Law-giver. We knew him 
 for the Christ, illumining man then, and later as Buddha, and 
 again overshining that greater than Buddha, the Nazarene. 
 "Before Abraham was, I am." Whosoever the Christ-Spirit 
 entereth into and abideth in, becometh a Son of God, and equal 
 with Gautama ; but into no one will it enter who doth not travel 
 the Path. That mighty One blasted Mainin. Yet we saw that 
 because Mainin had crossed our life then, I was thereby made 
 the instrument of mercy to him by Christ, and that occasion 
 was yet to come. 
 
408 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 Back to the time of Zailm we gazed upon a scene on the great 
 continent of Lemuria, or Lemorus. We saw a great house 
 built of stone, standing on a grassy sward, a plain, over which 
 roamed herds of cattle, and queer little horses, having three 
 toes to each foot and high shoulders. Far to the east was a 
 blue mountain range, beyond that a great ocean. But between 
 the manse and mountains flashed a silvery lake. Within the 
 house were many people, servitors all to two people— a woman 
 and her son. Gloom overspread all faces— the gloom of blood. 
 To a chief among subordinates the son gave orders. This slave, 
 grim, ferocious, a very incarnation of cruelty, attracted my 
 notice. His brown skin was swarthy, his hands talon-like. 
 Only a breech-cloth apparelled him. Receiving his orders, he 
 disappeared, but soon came again, pushing two manacled peo- 
 ple, plainly of a different race from any there. One was 
 a youth, lithe, erect, rather haughty of mien, his hair brown, 
 his features symmetrical— that individuality of twenty-three 
 thousand years ago is now Sohma. The other captive was a 
 fair girl, sister to the youth, it seemed. Her beauty was deli- 
 cate — but voluptuous. The fierce, cruel eyes, gleaming like live 
 coals from under the shaggy brows of the master of the house, 
 lighted with admiration as he saw the girl. His heavy-set fig- 
 ure, his coarse jaw, thick neck, and round, shaven head— all 
 fitted him to be master of the brutish crowd around him. This 
 man extended his hand as if to touch the captive maiden. She 
 shrank away, and drew her figure erect in a queenly scorn. 
 
 ''Ha! Unyielding as ever!" quoth the master. "We shall 
 see." 
 
 He nodded to the chief slave, who threw the captive boy on a 
 sort of altar beside him. He bound him. But the victim said 
 firmly : ' ■ Sister, yield not ; die first. ' ' Her eyes shone with an 
 awful light of horror. 
 
 "Stop his voice," exclaimed the master, and the slave, noth- 
 ing loath, cut out the poor boy's tongue! 
 
 "Beast !" hissed the girl to the master. 
 
 "Ha!" he replied, "I will prove that true," and he struck 
 the bared breast of the tongueless lad with his own dagger, 
 

THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 409 
 
 and tearing out the heart, threw it at the sister's feet. A gob- 
 let of the blood was caught and the master's mother, a priest- 
 ess, who stood by the block, took it and gazed into it. Then 
 she said: 
 
 "The gods say that the girl also must die." 
 
 1 ' Say they so ? By all the powers I will not obey, ' ' shouted 
 the master. "Not though my troops of war fail, and the King 
 fails!" 
 
 "My son," said the priestess, "thou mayst not avoid this 
 sacrifice and live, say the gods." 
 
 "No? Then the gods be served. Give me that knife. He 
 felt its keen edge, and then asked, without taking his eyes 
 from the weapon, "Say the gods yet so?" 
 
 "Even yet," said the priestess. 
 
 "Bind the maid," and his orders were obeyed, though the 
 girl had fainted. The executioner laid his ear to her breast; 
 a faint smile relaxed his features, and he said in his soul, ' l She 
 is dead " ; he laid his hand on her breast, stood erect and said : 
 
 "Accept, ye gods, this sacrifice." 
 
 An instant the knife glittered overhead, the next he had 
 buried it in his own heart. So had the heart that knew no 
 mercy yielded to love ; the stern warrior was dead. The gods 
 must have blood, he thought, but he gave his own. What per- 
 sonality was he— was the girl, dead from horror? Myself!— 
 and Phyris! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 "MAN'S INHUMANITY TO MAN." 
 
 Again the dead past revealed another scene. I saw myself in 
 the person of an ill-fed, ill-treated slave— ever hungry, 
 wretched, too much so to feel resentment. I died hungry, and 
 then had a devachan of seeming realization of my wants. Then 
 again re-birth, and through a karma not here to be explained, 
 the new man had ease, wealth, plenty. But a physical karma 
 
410 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 pursued, and he was ever hungry in the midst of plentitude, 
 and lazy when action was necessary. This state begot disease, 
 and the product of— [in his previous life] —"man's inhumanity 
 to man"— was afflicted with cancer of the stomach. This 
 killed the ferocious appetite, and the sybarite, free of this, set 
 to work to cure himself. Finding he must fail, he sought com- 
 fort in religion, and went forth to the wilderness to become a 
 religious hermit. Now, a hermit's life is one of uselessness to 
 mankind. In that lone state my individuality lost opportuni- 
 ties to cultivate moral strength by worldly contact, and behold 
 me after death come again to life as Zailm, weak enough to sin 
 with Lolix, and beget then a karma that lasted, with newly got 
 vigor, till only a few years ago, punishing me more bitterly 
 than death, as thou, friend, knowest. If Zailm had sorrow, thou 
 knowest he had also joy. So every life-karma is made up of 
 sunshine and shadow. "A tooth for a tooth?" Yea! But 
 also "for a kiss a kiss." 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 WHY ATLANTIS PERISHED. 
 
 Looking along the line of life's yesterdays the reason became 
 apparent why all the wondrous attainments of Poseid had 
 ceased and left no sign— why Atla, which metaphorically 
 held aloft the world into the light of science— had sunk be- 
 neath the waters and gone down into deep, mysterious caverns, 
 to be hidden in an ignorance greater than that which shadowed 
 Pompeii and Herculaneum from subsequent centuries. 
 
 Natural decadence tells the story. As the centuries succeed- 
 ing the time of the great Rai Gwauxln lapsed, ten, fifteen, 
 twenty and more, the nation came to a greater glory of mechan- 
 ics, of science, and of physical condition than even Gwauxln 's 
 time had known. One by one the scholars found that those 
 things which had always been possible only through mechanical 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 411 
 
 contrivance, were more easily accomplished by purely psychic 
 means ; they learned it was possible to divest themselves of the 
 flesh, and in astral body go whither they would and appear, 
 instant as the electric current, at any distance. They learned 
 that they could perform material actions when they had thus 
 projected themselves. Then it was that the cruder methods— 
 vailx and naim, and all else similar, was suffered to lapse 
 into that semi-forgetfulness of the Suerni— and exactly as they, 
 so the mass of Poseidi depended on the priesthood for all these 
 things. For only the few exalted minds could thus reach out 
 into the deeper night-side of Nature— the many must remain 
 in the lesser places. Inevitably then came corruption of power ; 
 the few were masters, and the many had no recourse, because 
 the master of psychics is invulnerable to the laws of physicality 
 when wielded by men less than he. 
 
 Then, indeed, was the day come when ripeness was on the 
 land and on the people. The ripe pear can not keep perfect, 
 but at the heart begins a decay that spreads from core to cor- 
 tex, and lo, the end. So in Poseid, at the core began the out- 
 ward-spreading rot. That core was the education of the peo- 
 ple. Whenever earth's nations shall cease to educate the com- 
 ing generation, decay shall begin for the people. In Poseid the 
 few had attained such exalted knowledge of natural forces that 
 the many could not hope to overtake them. Then, discontented 
 with the comparatively poor education themselves had, they 
 suffered all its marvels to wane. Thus, ere thirty centuries 
 after Gwauxln the Poseid race was as Suern, but more corrupt, 
 and lust, appetite, passion and power had laid fatal grasp on 
 the proudest people the earth has ever known. How little dost 
 thou realize when thou readest in Hebrew Scriptures of the 
 destruction of the cities of the Plain it is the account of the 
 doom of Marzens and Terna, destroyed by the Naraz forces 
 they had forgotten how to control. That destruction heralded 
 that of the continent, nine centuries later. Aye ! Poseid arose 
 to an altitude which the wildest dreams of science have not pre- 
 dicted for the modern world , arose, flourished and decayed, in 
 the fullness of cyclic times. And America is Poseid come again, 
 
412 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 reincarnated, and shall see its scientific people repeat, but on a 
 higher plane, the attainments of Atla. As the centuries pass 
 it shall see the successive enfleshment of those souls which in 
 Atla made that land proud, prouder, proudest. But it shall do 
 more, for America hath developed that soul-element which, 
 when her people were Poseidi, was first faintly traced. So, 
 though repeating, it shall do more— it shall have all Atla's mar- 
 vels wedded to the glorious soul foreseen for mankind by Him 
 of Nazareth. It shall flourish so, and then, in the fullness of its 
 time, decay. But that shall not be for four and a half centurial 
 decades. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE TRANSFIGURATION. 
 
 I might give many more life scenes. Let these suffice. 
 Turn now to our present. 
 
 The reunion of the semi-egoii is one in which, after the 
 mighty ordeal of the Great Crisis, the souls of the feminine and 
 masculine elements become on the same plane; both are per- 
 fect. This is the marriage made in heaven. Become so that 
 each thinks, wills and expresses itself the same in all ways 
 simultaneously, the two alter egoii are then one, having a fem- 
 inine—negative, and a masculine— positive— aspect. Then 
 these two potentials unite and receive the Spirit, or I AM., 
 which was always undivided, and which illumined each soul 
 of its pair equally. So is this last union. Thus Phyris is me, 
 living, being, immanent, and speaks this message with me — is 
 I, and yet, mysterious truth, is herself! Likewise I am her 
 and yet again, myself. I speak, and it is she; she speaks and it 
 is I— for we are one being, one spirit, androgyne, perfect. Yet 
 not perfect as our Father is, for He is perfect as Conditionless 
 Being, but our perfection is that of a part, because we are all 
 of God, but not He of any one of us. Indeed, were this not true, 
 then our attainment of perfection, Jesus attainment of it, or 
 any child of the Father^ would find in its realization annihila* 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 413 
 
 tion. But only the soul that sins is cast into the second death, 
 fated to the Sisyphic round till it does succeed. Perfection may 
 be conditionless in all respects save that it is not that of the 
 whole. And because we each are parts, therefore are we for- 
 ever attracted to the Father, who is sum of all parts, and this 
 attraction is to onward Being. And we are ever attracted to 
 the other parts, both those which are peer and those which are 
 less. It is because the part is forever drawn to the sum that 
 there is no death, save in defying and abandoning all hold on 
 the Whole. Perfection of a part but draws it nearer to the 
 Whole, and perfection of the Whole compels It to depend on 
 each of Its parts. There may be change, there is no death. 
 And there may be extinction of personality, the erring soul may 
 perish, and itself and deeds be annihilated, but the Spirit from 
 the Father dieth not. If for thy soul thou wouldst have eternal 
 life; if thou wouldst not see thy soul, that product of untold 
 ages of time, lost in the second Death, and thyself, oh Spirit, 
 child of our Father, doomed to recreate another soul to lay as 
 acceptable offering before our Lord, then subdue it, subdue thy 
 soul, at-one it to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, by recog- 
 nizing that it is His, given Him by God, made by thee to serve 
 the Creator. If thou make thy soul serve thee in His service, 
 thou hast it eternally. But if thou serve it thou shalt lose it 
 and have to make another during coming aeons. 
 
 Wilt thou follow the Path, even as I have pointed out to thee 
 that it leadeth to the Kingdom? Be sure of thyself ere thou 
 dost embrace occult learning, lest it prove a veritable Bridge of 
 Mirzah, full of fatal pitfalls for thy feet. Better shun the 
 Secret Wisdom than fail, for strait is the gate and narrow is 
 the way that leadeth unto Being, and few there be that find it. 
 
 Knowest thou me? A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, 
 but a corrupt tree. Wilt thou hew me down and cast me into 
 the fire, who testifieth concerning the Spirit? "Not every one 
 that sayeth Lord, Lord, shall enter into Heaven, but he that 
 doeth the will of my Father in Heaven. The time is brief. 
 
 I have spoken. Peace be with thee. 
 
 The End. 
 
414 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Friends, thirteen years have become past time since the 
 words of this book were dictated; purposely hath publica- 
 tion been delayed unto the end that statements then made 
 might acquire weight through the coming to pass of many 
 of the predictions to be found within these covers ; predictions 
 which at that time were wholly unverified, and were, moreover, 
 regarded by science as chimerical. Prophecy would be im- 
 possible in a God-less universe ; and were it not that vibration 
 is the law of laws, no mind could come into unison with the 
 Creator or any of His ministers ; each living being is minister 
 to the creature immediately inferior. Today witnesseth the 
 faith of those who have believed in my words swallowed up in 
 knowledge : the predictions have numerously been realized ; all 
 will be. So it is that today, in the middle of the final year of 
 the century I add 
 
 THE MIGHTY CAP-STONE : 
 
 —The Division of the Way Hath Come ; the Midnight Hour of 
 the Cycle Which, More Than Any Other, Formed Life's Great 
 Divide, Hath Struck. When first I dictated for this book 
 there lacked, as it were, yet a few seconds to the closing of the 
 Sixth Day. But now for some seconds hath been fulfilled the 
 initiation of that saying of Him who sitteth upon the throne : 
 —"Behold! I make all things new." The Hour hath struck. 
 And now presently ' l the one overcoming shall inherit all things 
 and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." This is for 
 those who did set their hands to the Plow and their feet to 
 Furrow, and looked not back, while yet the Sixth Cycle was. 
 "But as for the cowards [a halt between two opinions] and 
 the unbelievers [in aught above earthly, finite things] and the 
 abominable, and takers of life, and passion and lust-servers, 
 sorcerers, idolaters and swervers from truth, their portion is 
 the [Great Karma of the World], the second death." While 
 the foolish ones were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came, 
 and they who were prepared entered with him to the feasts, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 115 
 
 and the door was shut. When the foolish returned the door 
 was not opened unto them. Beloved, remember these words 
 which were spoken by the apostles of the Christ; that they 
 said that in the Last Time before the end of the Age "there 
 will be mockers walking after their own impious lusts (10). 
 These indeed blaspheme what things they do not understand; 
 but that which they know naturally, as do the irrational ani- 
 mals, in these things they are corrupt (19). These are they 
 who separate at the Dividing of the Way, going in the finite 
 direction, not having the Spirit (7), and are placed as an ex- 
 ample, to endure the retributive justice of an age-ending fire." 
 Many have been my references to America as being Atlantis 
 come again ; much hath in a general way been said of the be- 
 ginning, rise, growth and destruction of that ancient prototype ; 
 a hint hath been here and there given, rather by inference 
 than by specific statement, that while America should be peer 
 and even more than Atl, just because she is Atl returned on a 
 higher plane, she must endure the woes as well as retrace her 
 pre-carnate glories. The penalty visited upon Poseid was the 
 crowning sentence of that Age. Century after century in the 
 majestic march of Time hath passed since the sun looked down 
 upon a wild waste of ocean waters where but a few days before 
 had been the regal Island-Continent. Another cycle hath 
 reached its end, and its last hour hath chimed. All that which 
 is imperfect in the now-closed Sixth Day is come, in stately, 
 measured but inexorable way to face judgment by the stand- 
 ard, Truth. Spot nor blemish can not hope to stand nor con- 
 tinue before it. Neither can aught be amended so as to now 
 escape its karmic penalty, for the seal of its full time is set 
 upon it. "The one acting unjustly, let him be unjust still; and 
 the filthy one, let him be filthy still ; and the righteous one, let 
 him righteousness do still, and the holy one, let him be holy 
 still. Lo, I come speedily, and the reward of me is with me, 
 to give back unto each one as the work of him shall be found." 
 The Great Karma unfailingly setteth each evil-doer back to 
 the point attained ere the animal forces in riot obtained con- 
 trol over the human. Wherefore those who in the Sixth Cycle 
 
416 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 lost supremacy over their lower selves won no place in the 
 Seventh. In the closing years of the spent cycle one deserted 
 his helpless wife; verily, he really deserted his birthright in 
 the New Age. Another sought, being weak-willed, to drown 
 worries in wine; he but drowned his soul's advanced merits. 
 A wife was faithless to her wedding-vows; the Door of the 
 New Time is fast against her. A thief stole— what? His own 
 life's rewards. One there was who deprived another of phy- 
 sical life; he also erased his own name from TO-DAY'S roll- 
 call. One swore to keep a vow, but broke it often; in this 
 New Day, after the grave shall claim his physical being, he 
 shall not again awaken, having lacked will to live. A man 
 was buried with high honors who at merciless cost to his fel- 
 low-men enriched his bank-account ; a gravestone near as costly 
 as pure gold rears above his mortal, aye, and under it is also 
 the dead hopes of resurrection. She sold her body; purchased 
 and purchasers form an unhallowed company in Yesterday's 
 catacombs, whence they shall not emerge to see the light of 
 To-Day until, cycles afar hence "death and hell give up" their 
 inhabitants. Such is a brief glimpse into a Closed Record. 
 Turn the page. Another did deeds of love; love and doers 
 thereof live through all the days, forever. One smiled when a 
 smile was heroic and cheered faint souls; one visited the sick 
 and prisoners; one clothed a naked stranger; and one gave 
 half of her last crust, though only to a starving dog. Verily, 
 all these shall receive their reward in the Day now dawning. 
 The bad are not all bad, neither the good wholly good. She 
 who lived a life of shame, yet ever kept hope of better things 
 burning in her inmost heart, and longed for death to release 
 her, since man would not : 
 
 "Looked beyond the shadow of the late unhallowed years, 
 To the far, far distant upland, where yon glimmering light appears. ' ' 
 
 Verily, she shall be chastened, and made new, in the glory 
 of To-Day; but the chastening is a weary ordeal, and slow. As 
 the Great Karma handles her, so handleth it all others, for it is 
 Christ's mercy, which healeth every soul's-hurt. 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 417 
 
 During many, many centuries prophecy hath looked forward 
 to the end of the Age as a time of awful woe, and has pictured 
 dread scenes of terminal horror. Am I come to say that all 
 these predictions shall fail? Is the book of the Apocalypse 
 mere allegory? Would it were! But as the Poseid age was 
 stricken, this one must also be which has just passed. Shall 
 America, the Glorious, together with the rest of the world, 
 meet similar woe? Alas, worse, though not by water but by 
 lire. Shall all be wiped out of existence, leaving a planet in 
 ruins? Unto the end of full obedience and the coming into 
 harmony with divine law shall the lash be applied ; words may 
 not portray the scenes. This is the Message of the End of 
 the Age : 
 
 1 ' The day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my 
 redeemed is come nigh"— Isaiah. "Behold, the day * * * 
 that burneth as an oven."— Malachi. 
 
 The Hour hath struck. And yet in all of this there is no 
 mystery, no supernatural penalty, no capricious infliction by 
 an offended personal God, and nothing of "man's necessity, 
 God's opportunity." It is all of Man's own doing. He hath 
 wandered from the Way, and hath for the God-nature in him, 
 which he should have revered and nourished, substituted 
 worship of Self and of Mammon; hath cast out Love, and 
 placed violence, lust, greed and all the riotous animalism in 
 him in command of his life. Man is his own judge and execu- 
 tioner. Man is the type and the universe is the print; Nature 
 patterns after Man, not Man after Nature. He, a being of 
 free-will, hath brought all coming woes of judgment to be in- 
 evitable; he must endure; as he hath sown, so must he reap. 
 Man, forgettor of Love, of Mercy, of Right; breeder of Hate, 
 of Cruelty, and of the inhumanity that hath and still doth 
 make countless millions mourn, is it possible that thou hast 
 been blind to the handwriting on the wall? Alas, yes, thou 
 hast! Rampant is the Spirit of selfishness, of greed, of merci- 
 less gain; its hand guides the trains and steamers, clicks the 
 telegraph keys, operates the telephones and cables, makes a 
 mockery of free speech, shackles the press so that it dares to 
 
418 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS ; OR, 
 
 utter only that which cannot offend its master; every human 
 enterprise, all national policies and international comities, all 
 things, even the churches, are willing vassals to this fienl, 
 SELF. What then? Ruin is on all sides, the human race and 
 all lower creatures its victims. Masons at work on a high wall 
 shout as a brick falls : ' ' Stand from under ! ' ' 
 
 Aye, stand from under ! A world is falling ! Pile no higher 
 the racial and individual misdeeds now biding expiation ; weary 
 enough the awful reckoning of the Great Karma without addi- 
 tions to its terrible length that even now stretches ahead, a 
 seeming eternity. Frenzied millions of men and women, boys 
 and girls, no longer free save in name, are menaced with star- 
 vation. Hungry, cold, half-clad, shelterless only too often, 
 denied the chance to work, however willing they may be, cor- 
 poration-owned machinery their competitor; monopoly and 
 trust-ridden, sleeping or waking. This inhuman picture is the 
 rule, not the exception. Thou knowest this full well. I state 
 nothing new in this regard, and the awful facts are under- 
 drawn instead of exaggerated. All of this, although in far, far 
 less degree, has been so at the ending of every age, was so in 
 Poseid and is therefore now repeated. But it can never be so 
 again after this, for HERE THE WAY DIVIDES. Poseid 
 survived ; so also shall they of the Sixth Age. In the full time 
 by fire the Reaper shall reap, and no place be found for physical 
 safety by the unchanged of heart. But the time of it shall be 
 foreshortened, else no flesh could remain alive. Stand from 
 under ! The roar of armed hosts must succeed the thunderous 
 mutterings of the times. No more is there any chance to pre- 
 vent the coming retribution (albeit it may seem unduly de- 
 ferred), for the causes have had their way. Too late is it to 
 even modify the result of the misguidance of that Spirit whose 
 hand sways the helm. A short, but sharp conflict, sanguinary 
 past belief, even now reddens on the horizon. The trained 
 armies, millions of men active or in reserve, that are now en- 
 gaged in conquest, fevered with war, will but little longer, com- 
 paratively, submit to having themselves and lovad ones ground 
 under the heel and strangled by the hand of that organized 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 419 
 
 thing, Capital, which, itself merely the natural fruit of selfish- 
 ness, none the less is a riotous animal principle, compelling the 
 few to be masters of the many, denying the God-born declara- 
 tion that all men are created free and equal, and warping it to 
 seem a giant lie. Soon millions of trained soldiers will turn 
 upon the visible representatives— the wealthy and worldly 
 prosperous, who in reality are not more responsible than wili 
 be their assailants— of that Relentless Force behind all human 
 enterprise. Later they will break up into lawless bands bent 
 on satisfying Ishmaelitish tendencies, each self -server's hand 
 weaponed against his fellow creatures. Then will the pent-up 
 hate, the savagery and selfishness begotten by ages of selfish- 
 ness ruled by unbridled animalism break in a storm such as the 
 world hath never yet seen— no, not during all the ages I scan, 
 ages forgotten for untold thousands of years. That loveless 
 conflict will initiate that which, Nature completing, will leave 
 living but one where now are many. Hard and fast after the 
 human conflict will come pestilences unparalleled, sweeping the 
 wide earth over— for in that day none will pause to bury the 
 slain until the evil is wrought, nor then, for the dead of the 
 plagues will be as thousands for every one by violence. And 
 all this because the love that should grace and soften men's 
 hearts, each for all and all for each, dried up and became a 
 mockery in the close of the ended cycle, leaving but scattered 
 oases, few and far between. Nature follows Man. Wherefore 
 the waters of Earth will dry out, rains be withheld, cyclones 
 sweep, and an earthquake come such as was not since a man 
 was on the earth ; aye, I am mindful of Poseid ! But all of this 
 will occur only through natural causes, and in consonance with 
 the selfishness, lust, greed, anger and general depravity of the 
 Type. As these blaze in the human breast, so shall the air, dry 
 and vaporless under brazen skies, develope solar heats more 
 fierce than history ever knew. A parched earth, furnace-like, 
 piling all flesh mountains high ; pestilences stalking unchecked. 
 Ye! Blind to the Handwriting on the wall, which flickers 
 still, though writ for a spent cycle. Turn now and read, while 
 yet the last midnight stroke reverberates. 
 
420 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 The disciples asked the Great Master, saying: " Teacher, 
 when will these things be ? " And He said : ' ' * * * When 
 you see surrounded by encampments the Jerusalem, then you 
 may know that has come near the desolation * * * . For 
 days of vengeance these are, to be fulfilled of all the judg- 
 ments. ' ' 
 
 Friends, know ye the meaning of the name Jerusalem? That 
 it meaneth " Vision of Peace?" Verily, so it doth. One by 
 one during the years all the signs of the end of the Age but 
 one were fulfilled ; but these were ' ' only the beginning of sor- 
 rows", for still the Spirit of Liberty abode here and there in 
 the breasts of lovers of their fellowmen. That Spirit wrapped 
 itself in the glorious folds of the Stars and Stripes and pro- 
 claimed the imperishable declaration of human equality, grant- 
 ing unto all that freedom which Americans for themselves de- 
 manded. But now the "Vision of Peace" is finally encom- 
 passed by armies, the last gap being filled with blue-coated 
 soldiers forcing Mammon's commercial shackles upon alien 
 peoples in tropical islands. Ah, the Starry Flag droops mourn- 
 fully low above the freedom-birthright sold for a mess of pot- 
 tage. My People, my People! As ye have sown, so must 
 ye reap. The Vision of Spiritual Peace is wholly clouded by 
 the dust of armed camps, and no gap is left unobscured. ' ' Then 
 shall the end come." A Son hath continually called from on 
 High : 
 
 "Stand from under! Get into the shelter of that Cross." 
 In all the expiatory time must indeed those who thought no 
 wrong suffer? Ah, thought no wrong. In every life, whether 
 theist's, atheist's or merely one ignorant of any doctrine of 
 belief, there comes a time when the inward Spirit beseeches 
 the soul to go up higher. It pleads again and again and yet 
 again so long as faintest hope remains. ' Omission too, hath 
 its penalty; "How shall we escape if we neglect so great sal- 
 vation?"— echoed throughout the past Age. Fire burns a 
 babe's fingers as badly as it does an adult's. There were and 
 are those who lived and live the Cross. These shall not suffer, 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 421 
 
 not even though bodily death overtake them; they have no 
 Karma to expiate. 
 
 What is the Cross? What is Christ? I have said, long ago, 
 but I will re-state it:— the Divine stream of Life, the Indefina- 
 ble God— that is the long arm of the Living Cross. Directed, 
 purposed Human Will is the short arm. This will-power is 
 our call upon His Name that is never denied. Jesus, the Man 
 of Nazareth, gave us pattern. He sacrificed self for us. He 
 said:— "Follow me." Also:— "If any man will come after me, 
 let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." 
 This self is the lower self ; it is the animal. All animals are in 
 man concreted. No hyena is so treacherous, no tiger so feroc- 
 ious, no hog so brutish, no weasel so destructive; no animal 
 creature of any sort is so perfect in its own peculiar nature 
 as is the man who suffers any or all of these animal character- 
 istics within him to run riot; and this is because his human 
 soul is enslaved to the animal. Animal is only force undirected, 
 whether it exist in a body or not. Directed, guided by will, it 
 ceaseth to be animal. But in yielding to that guidance it must 
 give up its free lawlessness, something never pleasant and often 
 painful. It is sacrifice, always. Its symbol is the Cross. He 
 sacrificed self for us on this same cross of the Causeless, Divine 
 Stream which containeth all thing and floweth no man knoweth 
 whence nor whither. I would not minimize Calvary ; it is very, 
 very real and the one great fact forever! "Follow me." On 
 that same Cross, day by day, aye, moment by moment, em- 
 ploying our wills, as He directed, that we may grow unto His 
 likeness, we also, following, must sacrifice self, sacrifice the 
 animal in us,— that is, in God's service we must never cease 
 to direct those vagrant forces which in running riot turn 
 Earth into a veritable hell and supplant Love with Self. It is 
 written that ' ' a little child shall lead them. ' ' Verily the ' * little 
 child" of the Spirit in the New Time shall be ruler over the 
 menagerie within the man, and that man shall therefore be 
 able, even as Quong, the Tchin, to rule any animal outside of 
 himself. A vast power, this. And because of it in the New 
 Time no longer shall any beast, whether in human form, or in 
 
422 A DWELLER ON TWO PLANETS; OR, 
 
 lower animal body, or merely apparent as a raging tempest 
 or a disease, be free to do evil. 
 
 When the Spirit in Man cometh fully to its own, "he shall 
 rule them as with a rod of iron," this riotous throng. Rule 
 them to their own good ; cut them off suddenly, even as Quong 
 cut-off the puma from furthering its own will. He shall destroy 
 that theretofore unbridled animal, by the Cross converting it 
 into a servitor to the Father. All things must become new 
 TO-DAY, because conditions will soon so differ that they who 
 would hold fast to the old will find nothing either in Nature 
 or elsewhere that will longer yield to the old powers. 
 
 And now here, of all places, I would indeed not be vague in 
 expression. The Seventh Cycle is that of the Spirit. TO-DAY 
 existence will demand a spiritual eye, and ear, and that every 
 sense be raised to the Heights. The very means of dealing 
 with Nature will be no longer gross, but become as in Hesperus, 
 manageable only by those who, using the Cross in their every 
 life-act, swerve never to either side of the way, never, either 
 in least or greatest deed doing error, even that good may 
 come, knowing it can not bring aught but pain and penalty. 
 
 Not one can be lost, finally, of the evil-doers, for God wastes 
 nothing. He converts all things from lower into higher, in- 
 exorably, surely. Some must endure the retributive justice of 
 the Great Karma, aye, the majority must experience more or 
 less of this fire of transfiguration; the wrath of God is Love's 
 severity. 
 
 Then will be those times when "all things are made new" 
 what now, think ye? Shall not America, and the rest of the 
 world, be more glorious than ever thou hast dreampt? Aye, 
 truly. She shall not indeed have the great population census- 
 takers imagine. There shall be few where were many ; tens re- 
 placing thousands. But not in numbers is there greatness or 
 magnificance; remember the Saldans and Rai Ernon; which 
 was greater, he or that ill-fated host? Yet never shall a soul 
 be lost ; God hath place for everyone. 
 
 It is written that after a thousand years- Satan shall be 
 loosed for a little season. That is well. For the Race possess- 
 
THE DIVIDING OF THE WAY. 423 
 
 ing such amazing powers, though few, will be the people, yet 
 will there be some who will have attained these powers through 
 mere intellect; they will abuse their privileges, having not the 
 Spirit, and these sinful ones will the Perfect in Evil assail, that 
 karma shall overtake them. Having had much given unto them, 
 of them shall much be demanded, wherefore their karmic atone- 
 ment will be more intense than words can depict. 
 
 The wrath of God is love's severity. All shall be converted 
 from lower into higher. 
 
 "A glory shines across the coming years, 
 The glory of a race grown great and free. 
 'Twas seen 'by poets, sages, saints and seers, 
 Whose vision glimpsed the dawn that is to be. 
 A shining shore is by the Future's sea, 
 Whereon each man shall stand among his peers 
 As equal; and to none shall bend the knee. 
 Awake, my soul, shake off your doubts and fears; 
 Behold the hosts of darkness fade and flee 
 Before the magic of the Morning's face; 
 And hear the sweet and wondrous melody 
 That floats to us from far-off golden days- 
 It is the choral song of Liberty 
 It is the anthem of the coming H&ce." 
 
ERKATA. 
 
 Page. 
 61. Fifteen lines from bottom read "augmenting" for "augmenta- 
 tion. ' ' 
 83. Eleven lines from bottom read "martial" for "marital." 
 
 104. Third line from bottom read "Xio" for "Xie." 
 
 105. Seventeen lines from bottom -read "Suernis" for " Suerins. " 
 130. Sixteen lines from bottom read "understood' for "understand." 
 162. Four lines from bottom read "Atla" for "Alta." 
 
 211. Fourteen lines from bottom read "not seen" for "seen." 
 216. Six lines from bottom read "me" for "he." 
 231. Seven lines from bottom read "Numinus" for "Wuminus. " 
 233 . Nine lines from top add ' ' not ' ' after ' ' was. ' ' 
 
 236. First line of footnote read "Jesus" for "Jews." 
 
 237. Next to last line read "cerebrations" for "celebrations." 
 243. Next to last line read "fainted" for "painted." 
 
 271. Seventeen lines from top "striatum" for "straitum"; and in next 
 
 to last line read "uninfluenced" for "influenced." 
 279. Invert order of two top lines. 
 290 . Third line read ' ' invoked ' '. for J ' invoged. ' ' 
 300. Two lines from bottom read "causality" for "easuality." 
 307. Next to last line read "substantiality" for "substantially." 
 312. Twelve lines from bottom read ( '' causal" for "casual." 
 321. Eight lines from bottom read " Gautama " s f or "Gauma. " 
 
 
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