| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: and they were departing.
The minute of suspense--or was it but seconds?--seemed an eternity. But
it ended at last. Now I was at the door in the high wall that enclosed
the outbuildings at the back of the house, and there, by an inspiration,
pulled up the mare--glad enough she was to stop, poor thing--for it
occurred to me that if I rode to the front I should very probably be
assegaied and of no further use. I tried the door, which was made of
stout stinkwood planks. By design, or accident, it had been left
unbolted. As I thrust it open Hans arrived with a rush, clinging to the
roan with his face hidden in its mane. The beast pulled up by the side
of the mare which it had been pursuing, and in the faint light I saw
Marie |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: and this morning again. She came the third time about an hour ago,
and has been upstairs since."
"Do you know her, Mrs. Dolan?"
Mrs. Dolan grew embarrassed again.
"Well, Doctor," she said, wiping her eyes the while, "I DO.
And God knows he was a good lad, and I like a mother to him;
but she is not the girl I should have liked a son of mine
to take up with."
At any other time, this would have been amusing; now, it might be serious.
Mrs. Dolan's account of the wailing became suddenly significant, for perhaps
it meant that one of Fu-Manchu's dacoit followers was watching the house,
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: broken by spire and dome and minaret and tall, slender towers,
while the walls supported many a balcony and in the soft light of
Cluros, the farther moon, now low in the west, he saw, to his
surprise and consternation, the figures of people upon the
balconies. Directly opposite him were two women and a man. They
sat leaning upon the rail of the balcony looking, apparently,
directly at him; but if they saw him they gave no sign.
Turan hesitated a moment in the face of almost certain discovery
and then, assured that they must take him for one of their own
people, he moved boldly into the avenue. Having no idea of the
direction in which he might best hope to find what he sought, and
The Chessmen of Mars |
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 Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: Thy force against the left wing strongly bend."
This said, so brave an onset gave the knight,
That many a Paynim bold there made his end:
The Turks too weak seemed to sustain his might,
And could not from his power their lives defend,
Their ensigns rent, and broke was their array,
And men and horse on heaps together lay.
CXI
O'erthrown likewise away the right wing ran,
Nor was there one again that turned his face,
Save bold Argantes, else fled every man,
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