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Page 105
"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.
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