Ayesha | Page 8

the body and to be given the power to follow. We passed swiftly
eastward, over lands and seas, and--I knew the road. At one point she
paused and I looked downwards. Beneath, shining in the moonlight,
appeared the ruined palaces of Kor, and there not far away was the gulf

we trod together.
"Onward above the marshes, and now we stood upon the Ethiopian's
Head, and gathered round, watching us earnestly, were the faces of the
Arabs, our companions who drowned in the sea beneath. Job was
among them also, and he smiled at me sadly and shook his head, as
though he wished to accompany us and could not.
"Across the sea again, across the sandy deserts, across more sea, and
the shores of India lay beneath us. Then northward, ever northward,
above the plains, till we reached a place of mountains capped with
eternal snow. We passed them and stayed for an instant above a
building set upon the brow of a plateau. It was a monastery, for old
monks droned prayers upon its terrace. I shall know it again, for it is
built in the shape of a half-moon and in front of it sits the gigantic,
ruined statue of a god who gazes everlastingly across the desert. I knew,
how I cannot say, that now we were far past the furthest borders of
Thibet and that in front of us lay untrodden lands. More mountains
stretched beyond that desert, a sea of snowy peaks, hundreds and
hundreds of them.
"Near to the monastery, jutting out into the plain like some rocky
headland, rose a solitary hill, higher than all behind. We stood upon its
snowy crest and waited, till presently, above the mountains and the
desert at our feet shot a sudden beam of light that beat upon us like
some signal flashed across the sea. On we went, floating down the
beam--on over the desert and the mountains, across a great flat land
beyond, in which were many villages and a city on a mound, till we lit
upon a towering peak. Then I saw that this peak was loop-shaped like
the symbol of Life of the Egyptians--the /crux-ansata/--and supported
by a lava stem hundreds of feet in height. Also I saw that the fire which
shone through it rose from the crater of a volcano beyond. Upon the
very crest of this loop we rested a while, till the Shadow of Ayesha
pointed downward with its hand, smiled and vanished. Then I awoke.
"Horace, I tell you that the sign has come to us."
His voice died away in the darkness, but I sat still, brooding over what I

had heard. Leo groped his way to me and, seizing my arm, shook it.
"Are you asleep?" he asked angrily. "Speak, man, speak!"
"No," I answered, "never was I more awake. Give me time."
Then I rose, and going to the open window, drew up the blind and
stood there staring at the sky, which grew pearl-hued with the first faint
tinge of dawn. Leo came also and leant upon the window-sill, and I
could feel that his body was trembling as though with cold. Clearly he
was much moved.
"You talk of a sign," I said to him, "but in your sign I see nothing but a
wild dream."
"It was no dream," he broke in fiercely; "it was a vision."
"A vision then if you will, but there are visions true and false, and how
can we know that this is true? Listen, Leo. What is there in all that
wonderful tale which could not have been fashioned in your own brain,
distraught as it is almost to madness with your sorrow and your
longings? You dreamed that you were alone in the vast universe. Well,
is not every living creature thus alone? You dreamed that the shadowy
shape of Ayesha came to you. Has it ever left your side? You dreamed
that she led you over sea and land, past places haunted by your memory,
above the mysterious mountains of the Unknown to an undiscovered
peak. Does she not thus lead you through life to that peak which lies
beyond the Gates of Death? You dreamed----"
"Oh! no more of it," he exclaimed. "What I saw, I saw, and that I shall
follow. Think as you will, Horace, and do what you will. To-morrow I
start for India, with you if you choose to come; if not, without you."
"You speak roughly, Leo," I said. "You forget that /I/ have had no sign,
and that the nightmare of a man so near to insanity that but a few hours
ago he was determined upon suicide, will be a poor staff to lean on
when we are perishing in the snows of Central Asia. A