That
the ends of this cult were not only religious but political, she
did not deny, but upon this point she was very reticent. An
elaborate system of espionage was established throughout the
East, Near and Far, and death was the penalty of any breach of
fidelity.
"Respecting the tests to which candidates were put, she spoke
with more freedom. Those who, having reached the second grade,
aspired to the first, were submitted to three very severe ones,
to make trial of their courage, purity, and humility. Failure in
any of these trials resulted in instant death, and the final
test, the trial by fire, which took place in a subterranean
chamber of the great temple, resulted in a candidate whose
courage failed him being precipitated into that lake of flame
which I have already described--a dreadful form of death, which
by accident I had witnessed.
"Gentlemen, realizing what the existence of such an organization
meant, what a menace to the peace of the world must lie here,
what dreadful things were almost hourly happening about me at
behest of this invisible monster known as Fire-Tongue, I yet
confess--for I am here to speak the truth--that, although I had
now fully recovered my strength, I lingered on in a delicious
idleness, which you who hear me must find it hard to understand.
"I have the reputation of being a cold, hard man. So had Antony
before he met Cleopatra. But seven years ago, under the Indian
moon, I learned tolerance for the human weakness which forgets
the world for the smiles of a woman.
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