"No."

Watson was nonplussed, but he concealed the fact.

"Are you sure?"

"Quite, my dear sir. The Spot of Life was watched continually from the moment the Rhamda left us."

"You mean, he and the Nervina?"

"Quite so; she followed him after an interval of a few hours."

"I know. But you say that no one came out ahead of me. Who was it that guarded this--this Spot of Life? The Rhamdas?"

"They and the Bars."

"Ah! And who are the Bars?"

"The military priesthood. They are the Mahovisal, and of the Temple of the Bell. They are led by the great Bar Senestro."

"And there were times when these Bars, led by this Senestro, held guard over the Spot of Life?" To this Geos nodded; and Watson went on: "And who is this great Senestro?"

"He is the chief of the Bars, and a prince of D'Hartia. He is the affianced of the two queens, the Aradna and the Nervina."

"The TWO of them?"

Whereupon Watson learned something rather peculiar. It seemed that the princes of D'Hartia had always married the queens. This Senestro had had a brother, but he died. And in such an event it was the iron custom that the surviving brother marry both queens. It had happened only once before in all history; but the precedent was unbreakable.

"Then, there is nothing against it?"

"Nothing; except, perhaps the prophecy of the Jarados. We now know--the whole world knows--that we are fast approaching the Day of Life."

"Of course; the Day of Life." Watson decided upon another chance shot.

"It has to do with the marriage of the two queens!"

"You DO know!" cried the Rhamda joyously. "Tell me!"

"No; it is I who am asking the questions."

Watson's mind was working like lightning. Whether it was the influence of the strange drink, or the equally strange influence of ordinary inspiration, he was never more self-assured in his life. It seemed a day for taking long chances.

"Tell me," he inquired, "what has the Day of Life to do with the two queens and their betrothal?"

The Rhamda throttled his eagerness. "It is one of the obscure points of the prophecy. There are some scholars who hold that such a problem as this presages the coming of the end and the advent of the chosen. But others oppose this interpretation, for reasons purely material: for if the Bar Senestro should marry both queens it would make him the sole ruler of the Thomahlia. Only once before have we had a single ruler; for centuries upon centuries we have had two queens; one of the D'Hartians, and the other of the Kospians, enthroned here in the Mahovisal."

Watson would have liked to learn far more. But the time seemed one for action on his part; bold action, and positive.

"Rhamda Geos--I do not know what is your version of the prophecy. But you are positive that no one preceded me out of the Spot?"

"I am. Why do you persist?"

"Because"--speaking slowly and with the greatest care--"because there was one greater than I, who came before me!"

The Rhamda rose excitedly to his feet, and then sank back into his chair again. In his eyes was nothing save eagerness, wonder and respect. He leaned forward.

"Who was it? Who was he?"

Watson's voice was steady as stone.

"The great Jarados himself!"

XXXIII

A LONG WAY FROM SHORE

Once more Watson had taken the kind of chance he preferred--a slender one. He took the chance that these people, however occult and advanced they might be, were still human enough to build their prophecy out of an old foundation. If he were right, then the person of the Jarados would be inviolable. If the professor were prisoner, held somewhere in secret, and it got noised about that he was the true prophet returned--it would not only give Holcomb immense prestige, but at the same time render the position of his captors untenable.

Chick needed no great discernment to see that he had touched a vital spot. The philosophy of the Rhamdas was firmly bound up with spiritism; they had gone far in science, and had passed out of mere belief into the deeper, finer understanding that went behind the shadow for proof.

Certainly Watson inwardly rejoiced to see Rhamda Geos incredulous, his keen face whitening like that of one who has just heard sacrilege uttered--to see Geos rise in his place, grip the table tightly, and hear him exclaim:

"The Jarados! Did you say--the Jarados? He has come amongst us, and we have not known? You are perfectly sure of this?"

"I am," stated Watson, and met the other's keen scrutiny without flinching.

Would the game work? At least it promised action; and now that he had the old feeling of himself he was anxious to get under way. Any feeling of fear was gone now. He calmly nodded his head.

"Yes, it is so. But sit down. I have still a bit more to tell you."

The Rhamda resumed his seat. Clearly, his reverence had been greatly augmented in the past few seconds. From that time on there was a marked difference in his manner; and his speech, when he addressed Chick, contained the expression "my lord"--an expression that Watson found it easy enough to become accustomed to.

"Did you doubt, Rhamda Geos, that I came from the Jarados?"

"We did not doubt. We were certain."

"I see. You were not expecting the Jarados."

"Not yet, my lord. The coming of the Jarados shall be close to the Day of the Judgment. But it could not be so soon; there were to be signs and portents. We were to solve the problem first; we were to know the reason of the shadow and the why of the spirit. The wisdom of the Rhamda Avec told that the day approaches; he had opened the Spot of Life and gone through it; but he had NOT sent the fact and the substance." Watson smiled. There was just enough superstition, it seemed, beneath all the Rhamda's wisdom to make him tractable. However, Chick asked:

"Tell me: as a learned man, as a Rhamda, do you believe in the prophecy implicitly?"

"Yes, my lord. I am a spiritist; and if spiritism is truth, then the Jarados was genuine, and his prophecy is true. After all, my lord, it is not a case of legend, but of history. The Jarados came at a time of high civilisation, when men would see and understand him; he gave us his teaching in records, and imposed his laws upon the Thomahlia. Then he departed--through the Spot of Life."

And the Rhamda Geos went on to say that the teachings of the Jarados had been moral as well as intellectual. Moreover, after he had formulated his laws, he wrote out his judgment.

"What was that?"