my hearing, had become most abnormally acute. A whisper far away

was now to me like a loud remark made in a room.
Bickley's reflection, for I can scarcely call it more, set me

thinking. Yva had said that Oro sent me medicine which was
administered to me without Bickley's knowledge, and as she

believed, saved my life, or certainly my reason. What was in it?
I wondered. Then there was that Life-water which Yva brought and

insisted upon my drinking every day. Undoubtedly it was a
marvelous tonic and did me good. But it had other effects also.

Thus, as she said would be the case, after a course of it I
conceived the greatest dislike, which I may add has never

entirely left me, of any form of meat, also of alcohol. All I
seemed to want was this water with fruit, or such native

vegetables as there were. Bickley disapproved and made me eat
fish occasionally, but even this revolted me, and since I gained

steadily in weight, as we found out by a simple contrivance, and
remained healthy in every other way, soon he allowed me to choose

my own diet.
About this time Oro began to pay me frequent visits. He always

came at night, and what is more I knew when he was coming,
although he never gave me warning. Here I should explain that

during my illness Bastin, who was so ingenious in such matters,
had built another hut in which he and Bickley slept, of course

when they were not watching me, leaving our old bed-chamber to
myself.

Well, I would wake up and be aware that Oro was coming. Then he
appeared in a silent and mysterious way, as though he had

materialised in the room, for I never saw him pass the doorway.
In the moonlight, or the starlight, which flowed through the

entrance and the side of the hut that was only enclosed with
latticework, I perceived him seat himself upon a certain stool,

looking like a most majestic ghost with his flowing robes, long
white beard, hooked nose and hawk eyes. In the day-time he much

resembled the late General Booth whom I had often seen, except
for certain added qualities of height and classic beauty of

countenance. At night, however, he resembled no one but himself,
indeed there was something mighty and godlike in his appearance,

something that made one feel that he was not as are other men.
For a while he would sit and look at me. Then he began to speak

in a low, vibrant voice. What did he speak of? Well, many
matters. It was as though he were unburdening that hoary soul of

his because it could no longer endure the grandeur of its own
loneliness. Amongst sundry secret things, he told me of the past

history of this world of ours, and of the mighty civilisations
which for uncounted ages he and his forefathers had ruled by the

strength of their will and knowledge, of the dwindling of their
race and of the final destruction of its enemies, although I

noticed that now he no longer said that this was his work alone.
One night I asked him if he did not miss all such pomp and power.

Then suddenly he broke out, and for the first time I really
learned what ambition can be when it utterly possesses the soul

of man.
"Are you mad," he asked, "that you suppose that I, Oro, the

King of kings, can be content to dwell solitary in a great cave
with none but the shadows of the dead to serve me? Nay, I must

rule again and be even greater than before, or else I too will
die. Better to face the future, even if it means oblivion, than

to remain thus a relic of a glorious past, still living and yet
dead, like that statue of the great god Fate which you saw in the

temple of my worship."
"Bastin does not think that the future means oblivion," I

remarked.
"I know it. I have studied his faith and find it too humble for

my taste, also too new. Shall I, Oro, creep a suppliant before
any Power, and confess what Bastin is pleased to call my sins?

Nay, I who am great will be the equal of all greatness, or
nothing."

He paused a while, then went on:
"Bastin speaks of 'eternity.' Where and what then is this

eternity which if it has no end can have had no beginning? I know
the secret of the suns and their attendant worlds, and they are

no more eternal than the insect which glitters for an hour. Out
of shapeless, rushing gases they gathered to live their day, and

into gases at last they dissolve again with all they bore."
"Yes," I answered, "but they reform into new worlds."

"That have no part with the old. This world, too, will melt,
departing to whence it came, as your sacred writings say, and

what then of those who dwelt and dwell thereon? No, Man of
today, give me Time in which I rule and keep your dreams of an

Eternity that is not, and in which you must still crawl and
serve, even if it were. Yet, if I might, I confess it, I would

live on for ever, but as Master not as Slave."
On another night he began to tempt me, very subtly. "I see a

spark of greatness in you, Humphrey," he said, "and it comes into
my heart that you, too, might learn to rule. With Yva, the last

of my blood, it is otherwise. She is the child of my age and of a
race outworn; too gentle, too much all womanly. The soul that

triumphs must shine like steel in the sun, and cut if need be;
not merely be beauteous and shed perfume like a lily in the

shade. Yet she is very wise and fair," here he looked at me,
"perchance of her might come children such as were their

forefathers, who again would wield the sceptre of the dominion of
the earth."

I made no answer, wondering what he meant exactly and thinking
it wisest to be silent.

"You are of the short-lived races," he went on, "yet very much
a man, not without intelligence, and by the arts I have I can so

strengthen your frame that it will endure the shocks of time for
three such lives as yours, or perchance for more, and then--"

Again he paused and went on:
"The Daughter of kings likes you also, perhaps because you

resemble--" here he fixed me with his piercing eyes, "a certain
kinglet of base blood whom once she also liked, but whom it was

my duty to destroy. Well, I must think. I must study this world
of yours also and therein you may help me. Perhaps afterwards I

will tell you how. Now sleep."
In another moment he was gone, but notwithstanding his powerful

command, for a while I could not sleep. I understood that he was
offering Yva to me, but upon what terms? That was the question.

With her was to go great dominion over the kingdoms of the earth.
I could not help remembering that always this has been and still

is Satan's favourite bait. To me it did not particularly appeal.
I had been ambitious in my time--who is not that is worth his

salt? I could have wished to excel in something, literature or
art, or whatever it might be, and thus to ensure the memory of my

name in the world.
Of course this is a most futile desire, seeing that soon or

late every name must fade out of the world like an unfixed
photograph which is exposed to the sun. Even if it could endure,

as the old demigod, or demidevil, Oro, had pointed out, very
shortly, by comparison with Time's unmeasured vastness, the whole

solar system will also fade. So of what use is this feeble love
of fame and this vain attempt to be remembered that animates us

so strongly? Moreover, the idea of enjoying mere temporal as
opposed to intellectual power, appealed to me not at all. I am a

student of history and I know what has been the lot of kings and
the evil that, often enough, they work in their little day.

Also if I needed any further example, there was that of Oro
himself. He had outlived the greatness of his House, as a royal

family is called, and after some gigantic murder, if his own
story was to be believed, indulged in a prolonged sleep. Now he

awoke to find himself quite alone in the world, save for a
daughter with whom he did not agree or sympathise. In short, he