you propose to return to the earth from whence you came, and then cap the climax by offering to take any one of us along.”
We were still sitting together around the fire in the old stone tower when this conversation took place, for you may rest assured that after the astonishing statement made by Mr. Mirrikh with which the last chapter closed, we had no notion of letting him go until he had fully explained.
But could we have held him if he had chosen to depart?
If experience went for anything, most certainly we could not. I know now, as I knew then, that my friend Mirrikh could have left us instantly if he had so desired—left us in spite of all the bolts, bars or stone walls which we might have interposed.
Few of my readers—if indeed I ever find any—will believe that this is the simple truth; and yet it is so; and what is more, few who have traveled through India observantly will question it.
If a fakir can bring a dog down from a clear sky out of nothingness, or can climb a ladder held upright beneath the vault of heaven, and pulling it up after him, vanish ladder and all, why that which I claim for my man is but baby play. And these statements have been vouched for by unquestioned authorities. I have alluded to them before, but I bring them up again in order that, placed side by side with my claim for Mr. Mirrikh, I may have the right to demand at least equal consideration for both.
I remember well just how he looked at me; remember the curious, far-away expression upon Maurice’s face, which in the light of after events, seemed almost prophetic. Never shall I forget the utter contempt with which the Rev. Philpot treated his claims.
But nothing seemed to ruffle Mr. Mirrikh. In fact as I look back upon all our intercourse, I can now see that the only thing which ever did disturb him was the fear of disturbing others with the singularity of his face and the wild impossibility of his claims. His was the assured calmness and complete unity of purpose which we have been taught to look for in angels; and truth compels me to confess that when long in his presence I was as nothing; as an individual entity I seemed to have been annihilated; never until I knew this man had I been able to grasp the idea of the Buddhist Nirvana, where God is all and all is God. And
