| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: for - to a long mythical spell of adverse wind conditions, and
told truly of our landing on the farther foothills. Fortunately
our tale sounded realistic and prosaic enough not to tempt any
of the others into emulating our flight. Had any tried to do that,
I would have used every ounce of my persuasion to stop them -
and I do not know what Danforth would have done. While we were
gone, Pabodie, Sherman, Ropes, McTighe, and Williamson had worked
like beavers over Lake’s two best planes, fitting them again for
use despite the altogether unaccountable juggling of their operative
mechanism.
We decided to load all the planes the next morning
At the Mountains of Madness |
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 Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: safe on the high seas - I and my man Tom. But ye took my ship,
gossip, and I'm a beggar; and for my man Tom, a knave fellow in
russet shot him down. 'Murrain!' quoth he, and spake never again.
'Murrain' was the last of his words, and the poor spirit of him
passed. 'A will never sail no more, will my Tom.'"
Dick was seized with unavailing penitence and pity; he sought to
take the skipper's hand, but Arblaster avoided his touch.
"Nay," said he, "let be. Y' have played the devil with me, and let
that content you."
The words died in Richard's throat. He saw, through tears, the
poor old man, bemused with liquor and sorrow, go shambling away,
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