| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: might have found better employment, to instruct me in the use of
the lute, and on this instrument I must learn to strum. Others
there were also, who taught me letters, poetry, and art, as they
were understood among the Aztecs, and all this knowledge I was glad
of. Still I remembered the words of the preacher which tell us
that he who increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow, and moreover I
could see little use in acquiring learning that was to be lost
shortly on the stone of sacrifice.
As to this matter of my sacrifice I was at first desperate. But
reflection told me that I had already passed many dangers and come
out unscathed, and therefore it was possible that I might escape
Montezuma's Daughter |
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 The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: an' spread your beezer acrost your map."
If Billy had desired to arouse the ire of Detective Sergeant
Flannagan by this little speech he succeeded quite as well as
he could have hoped. Flannagan commenced to growl and
threaten, and presently again hurled himself against the door.
Instantly Byrne wheeled and fired a single shot into the arc
lamp, the shattered carbon rattled to the table with fragments
of the globe, and Byrne stepped quickly to one side. The door
flew open and Sergeant Flannagan dove headlong into the
darkened room. A foot shot out from behind the opened
door, and Flannagan, striking it, sprawled upon his face
The Mucker |
