| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: he was, without any more pride, or rightness, or feel-
ing, than to stoop to this business, and make himself a
shame, and his family a shame, before everybody. I
COULDN'T understand it no way at all. It was outra-
geous, and I knowed I ought to just up and tell him so;
and so be his true friend, and let him quit the thing
right where he was and save himself. And I DID start
to tell him; but he shut me up, and says:
"Don't you reckon I know what I'm about? Don't
I generly know what I'm about?"
"Yes."
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: roads and rivers, all the lakes and the coasts of America. Of course,
the size of the country made any close supervision impossible; but
these twin inventors had not before chosen secluded and unfrequented
spots in which to appear. The main highway of Wisconsin on a great
race day, the harbor of Boston, incessantly crossed by thousands of
boats, these were hardly what would be called hiding-places! If the
daring driver had not perished of which there was always strong
probability; then he must have left America. Perhaps he was in the
waters of the Old World, or else resting in some retreat known only
to himself, and in that case--
"Ah!" I repeated to myself, many times, "for such a retreat, as
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: concerning that apartment." Again turning to the General, he
said, "For God's sake, my dear friend, be candid with me, and let
me know the disagreeable particulars which have befallen you
under a roof, where, with consent of the owner, you should have
met nothing save comfort."
The General seemed distressed by this appeal, and paused a moment
before he replied. "My dear lord," he at length said, "what
happened to me last night is of a nature so peculiar and so
unpleasant, that I could hardly bring myself to detail it even to
your lordship, were it not that, independent of my wish to
gratify any request of yours, I think that sincerity on my part
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: them. Juan Lepe and Beltran, passing, saw the five bodies.
I do not think that Caonabo had less than a thousand
with him. He had come in force, and the whole as silent
as a bat or moth. We were to learn over and over again
that ``Indians'' could do that, travel very silently, creatures
of the forest who took by surprise. Well, Guarico was destroyed,
and Guacanagari and Guarin fled, and in all Hispaniola
were only two Spaniards, and we saw no sail upon the
sea, no sail at all!
CHAPTER XXVI
WE turned from the sea. Thick forest came between
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