“Her dignities remained, however, and no one had aspired to dethrone her as high priestess of the temple.  She evidently knew all the secrets of the organization, and I gathered that she was indispensable to the group who controlled it.

“Respecting Fire-Tongue himself, his origin, his appearance, she was resolutely silent, a second Acte, faithful to the last.  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.

“It had to end.  Sooner or later, discovery was inevitable.  One night I told Naida that I must go.  Over the scene that followed I will pass in silence.  It needed all the strength of a fairly straight, hard life to help me keep to my decision.

“She understood at last, and consented to release me.  But there were obstacles—­big ones.  The snow on the lower mountain slopes had begun to melt, and the water-gate in the valley by which I had entered was now impassable.  As a result, I must use another gate, which opened into a mountain path, but which was always guarded.  At first, on hearing this, I gave myself up for lost, but Naida had a plan.

“Removing a bangle which she always wore, she showed me the secret mark of Fire-Tongue branded upon the creamy skin.

“‘I will put this mark upon your arm,’ she said.  ’In no other way can you escape.  I will teach you some of the passwords by which the brethren know one another, and if you are ever questioned you will say that you were admitted to the order by the Master of the Bombay Lodge, news of whose death has just reached us.’