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with the "Black Pullet." There is a method of
describing a pentagram upon a doorstep
which is infallible. The first person who
crosses it receives a shock which may drive
him insane, or even kill him. A magician
would naturally be suspicious if he found
anything of this kind on his front doorstep,
so Arthwait cleverly determined to paint the
pentagram in Gum Arabic, which would
hardly be visible. Accordingly he went [161]
to the Butterfly-net at dead of night, armed
with this means of grace, and set to work by
the light of a candle-lamp. He was careful
to make the pentagram so large that it was
impossible to cross the bridge without
stepping over it. Absorbed in his inspiring
task, he did not notice, until the last stroke
was in place, that he was himself hemmed
in between his pentagram and the door of
the villa. He crouched in terror for the best
part of an hour; then a hint of daylight
made him fearful of discovery. He was
forced to make a move of some sort; and he
found that by careful sidling he could
escape to the parapet of the bridge. But he
was no climber; he overbalanced and fell
into the chasm, being lucky to escape with a
severe shaking. On his limping way back to
Naples he was overtaken by an icy shower of
rain; and as he got into bed, too late to
avoid a nasty chill, which kept him in bed
for a week, he had the irritating reflexion
that his pentagram must have been washed
away.
But he had not become known as the
most voluminous of modern pedants without
perseverance. His literary method was that
of the "tank." It was not agile, it was not
versatile, it was exposed to artillery attack;
but it proceeded. He was as comprehensive
as the Catalogue of the British Museum --
and almost as extensive. But he was not
arranged. Such a man was not to be
deterred by two failures, or forty-two.
Indeed, but for the frank criticism of Gates,
he would have counted them successes.
For his third experiment he chose "The
Wonder-working Serpent," whose possession
confers the power of attracting love. The
appeal lay in the failure of Abdul to make
any impression upon Lisa, whom he had
courted in characteristically local manner
by appearing, guitar in hand, below the
terrace where she had been dedicated to
the moon. He caught her [162] there alone,
and called her by her name. She recognized
him instantly; she had been violently
attracted to him at the ball where they had
originally met; and, until she had seen Cyril,
regretted constantly that she had missed
the opportunity. The memory of that
thwarted desire sprang vehement upon her;
but she was at the white heat of her passion
for Cyril. Even so, she half hesitated; she
wanted to keep Abdul on ice, so to speak,
for a future occasion; such action was as
instinctive with her as breathing. But her
obligation was still fresh in her mind; she
was pledged not to communicate with the
outer world. She ignored him; she turned
and left the garden without so much as a
gesture; and he went back to Naples in a
black fury against her. "The Wonder-working
Serpent" was, therefore, an operation
entirely to his taste. Gates thought the line
of attack hopeful; he was totally sceptical
of Lisa's virtue, or any woman's; and he had
lived on women long enough to make his
view arguable, within the limits of his
experience. He bade Abdul try again. Good --
then let magic aid!
In order to possess "The Wonder-working
Serpent," it is necessary, in the words of the
Grimoire, "to buy an egg without haggling,"
which (by the way) indicates the class of
person for and by whom the book was
written. This egg is to be buried in a
cemetery at midnight, and every morning at
sunrise it must be watered with brandy. On
the ninth day a spirit appears, and demands
your purpose. You reply "I am watering my
plant." This occurs on three successive days;
at the midnight following the egg is dug up,
and found to contain a serpent, with a
cock's head. This amiable animal answers to
the name of Ambrosiel. Carry it in your
bosom, and your suit inevitably prospers.
Arthwait put this scheme into careful
rehearsal, [163] and having got the
conjurations and ceremonies perfect -- for
the egg must be buried with full military
honours, as it were -- he reached the third
day without mishap. But at this point a
spirit appeared -- a guardian of the
cemetery -- and, dissatisfied with his
answers, took him to the police-station as a
wandering lunatic. A less other-worldly
master of the dark sciences might have
bribed the official; but Arthwait's self-
importance once again stood in his way. He
got in deeper, and in the end it was Gates
who offered to be responsible for him, and
persuaded the British Consul to use
influence for his release.
As so many workers of magic have done,
from the Yukon and Basutoland to Tonga
and Mongolia, Arthwait attributed his
defeats to the superior cunning and
wickedness of his opponents.
Gates himself had varied his pleasures by
a much more serious attempt to create a
magical link with the garrison. From his
tower he had observed many pigeons upon
the hillside, and he began to tame these,
spreading corn upon the tower. In three
days they were eating out of his hand. He
then trained them to recognize him and
follow him from place to place. A week
later he found a moment when the garden
was deserted save for a single patrol, and
threw his grain over the wall. The pigeons
flocked to it and fed. Now it so happened
that the patrolling magician was
unsuspicious. He was aware that the benign
influence of the house made its gardens
attractive. There flowers bloomed brighter
than elsewhere; and all Nature's wanderers
seemed to look to it as their refuge. They
felt instinctively the innocence and goodwill
of the inhabitants, and thronged those
hospitable terraces.
When Gates moved on, the pigeons
followed his next throw; round the first
corner, he placed the remains of his supply
of corn in a small heap on the [164] ground;
the pigeons unsuspectingly approached, and
he threw a net over half a dozen of them.
This was a great point gained; for the
Black Lodge was in possession of living
things that had come from within the
guarded precinct; it would be easy to attack
the inmates by means of sympathetic magic.
As it chanced, two of the birds were male;
but pigeons being of the general nature of
Venus, it was decided to try to identify
them with the least male persons of the
garrison, namely the four women and the
two boys. Accordingly, ribbons were tied to
the necks of the birds, and the names of the
intended victims inscribed upon them.
Magical ceremonies were now made, Gates,
who took a real interest in the experiment,
being the leader.
When he considered the identification
adequate, he placed red pepper on the
tongues of the birds; and was rewarded the
following morning by seeing Sister Clara
turn upon one of her girls with a gesture of
rage; he could even hear faintly the tones of
anger in her voice.
But Brother Onofrio had not failed to
observe the same thing; and he divined
instantly that a breach had been made in his
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