“my awakening was as strange as anything which had befallen me. i lay upon a silken bed in a pavilion which was furnished with exquisite, if somewhat barbaric, taste.
“a silken shaded lamp hung upon a golden chain near to my couch, but it was dimmed by the rosy light streaming in through the open door—a light which i believed to be that of dawn. i ached in every limb and felt weak and ill. there was a bandage about my head, too, but this great physical weakness numbed my curiosity, and i just lay still, looking out through the doorway into a lovely garden. i could form no impression of what had happened, and the ceaseless throbbing in my head rendered any attempt to do so very painful.
“i was lying there, in this curious and apathetic state, when the curtains draped in the doorway were pulled more widely aside and a woman came in.
“gentlemen, i will not endeavour to describe her, except to say that she was so darkly lovely that i doubted the evidence of my senses; tall and lithe, with the grace of some beautiful jungle creature.
“when she saw that i was awake, she paused and lowered her head in confusion. she wore a gossamer robe of sheeny golden silk, and, standing there with the light of the dawn behind her, she made a picture that i think would have driven a painter crazy.
“i am supposed to be an unimpressionable man, and perhaps it is true; but there at that moment, as the glance of her dark eyes met the wondering look in mine, i knew that my hour had come for good or ill.
“this is not the time nor the place for personal reminiscences. i am here for another purpose. one of those accidents which are really due to the hand of fate had precipitated me into the garden of the house of naida, and she in her great compassion had tended me and sheltered me, keeping my presence secret from those who would have dealt with me in summary fashion, and, indeed, who were actually on the look-out for my arrival.
“yes, so naida informed me. to my great surprise she spoke almost perfect english, and that sort of understanding sprang up between us immediately which, in the case of a man and a beautiful woman thrown together as we were, can only terminate in one way.
“she was some sort of priestess of the temple which i had seen from the top of the cliff. what else she was i very shortly learned.
“in accordance with one of the many strange customs of the city of fire, her personal servants, or rather slaves, were blind mutes! gentlemen, i warned you that my story was tough. doubtless you are beginning to appreciate the fact that i spoke no more than the truth.
“naida, for such was her name, told me that the brahmin, vadi, who had acted as my guide, was one of the followers of the prophet of fire, to whom had been given the duty of intercepting me. his failure to report within a certain time had resulted in two of the priests of this strange cult being sent out to obtain information. that these were the yellow-robed mendicants who had passed me in the mountains, i did not doubt.
“their reports, so naida informed me, had led to a belief that vadi had perished with me; but as an extra measure of precaution, that very night—indeed, shortly after i had passed that way—a guard had been set upon the secret entrance. therefore, even if my strength had permitted, i should have been unable to return by the way i had come.
“but indeed i was as weak as a child, and only to the presence of much foliage upon the acclivity down which i had rolled, and to the fact that i had fallen upon soft soil in a bed of flowers, can i ascribe my having failed to break my neck.
“in this way, gentlemen, i entered upon a brief period of my life at once more sweet and more bitter than any i had known. next to that strange, invisible prophet whose name was fire-tongue, naida held unquestioned sway in this secret city. her house was separated from the others, and she travelled to and from the temple in a covered litter. to look upon her, as upon fire-tongue himself, was death. women, i learned, were eligible for admission to this order, and these were initiated by naida.
“as the days of my strange but delightful captivity wore on, i learned more and more of the weird people who, unseen, surrounded me. there were lodges of the cult of fire all over the east, all having power to make initiates and some to pass disciples into the higher grades. those who aspired to the highest rank in the order, however, were compelled to visit this secret city in the indian hills.
“then at last i learned a secret which naida had for long kept back from me. these followers of the new zoroaster were polygamists, and she was the first or chief wife of the mysterious personage known as fire-tongue. i gathered that others had superseded her, and her lord and master rarely visited this marble house set amid its extensive gardens.
“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.’
“‘but,’ said i, ‘how can i hope to pass for an oriental?’
“‘it does not matter,’ naida replied. ‘there are some who are not orientals among us!’
“gentlemen, those words staggered me, opening up a possibility which had seemed only shadowy before. but naida, who had tremendous strength of character, definitely refused to discuss this aspect of the matter, merely assuring me that it was so.
“‘those who have successfully passed the ordeal of fire,’ she said, ‘are put under a vow of silence for one month, and from moon to moon must speak to no living creature. therefore, once you bear the mark of the fiery tongue, you may safely pass the gate, except that there are certain signs which it is necessary you should know. afterward, if you should ever be in danger of discovery anywhere in the east, you will remember the passwords, which i shall teach you.’
“so i was branded with the mark of fire-tongue, and i spent my last night with naida learning from her lips the words by which members of this order were enabled to recognize one another. in vain i entreated naida to accompany me. she would allow herself to love and be loved; but the vows of this singular priesthood were to her inviolable.
“she exacted an oath from me that i would never divulge anything which i had seen or heard in the city of fire. she urged that i must leave india as quickly as possible. i had already learned that this remote society was closely in touch with the affairs of the outside world. and, because i knew i was leaving my heart behind there in the indian hills, i recognized that this dreadful parting must be final.
“therefore i scarcely heeded her when she assured me that, should i ever be in danger because of what had happened, a message in the times of india would reach her. i never intended to insert such a message, gentlemen. i knew that it would need all my strength to close this door which i had opened.
“i will spare you and myself the details of our parting. i passed out from the city of fire in the darkest hour of the night, through a long winding tunnel, half a mile in length. i had protested to naida that the secret mark might be painted upon my arm and not branded, but she had assured me that the latter was a necessity, and this now became evident; for, not only three times was it subjected to scrutiny, but by the last of the guards, posted near the outer end of the tunnel, it was tested with some kind of solution.
“silence and the salutation with the moistened finger tips, together with the brand upon my arm, won me freedom from the abode of fire-tongue.
“from a village situated upon one of the tributaries of the ganges i readily obtained a guide, to whom such silent, yellow-robed figures as mine were evidently not unfamiliar; and, crossing the east of nepal, i entered bengal, bearing a strange secret. i found myself in an empty world—a world which had nothing to offer me. for every step south took me farther from all that made life worth living.”
