We
must hang on to each other at all costs." So saying, he slipped his
free arm through that of Curtis, and the three stood linked together.
Hamar clung on to the other two, until his hands grew numb, and
the sweat stood on his chest and forehead in great beads. As figure
after figure stealthily and noiselessly approached them, Kelson and
Curtis writhed and shrieked; and, at times, it seemed as if the
chain must be broken. But alarming as were these harrowing types of
Vice-Elementals--_i.e._, nude things with heads of beasts and bodies of
men and women; grotesque heads; malevolent eyes; mal-shaped hands;
headless beasts, etc.; none had so dangerous an effect on the unity of
the trio as the alluring types of Vice-Elementals, _i.e._, shapes of
beautiful women that smiled seductively at Kelson, and resorted to
every device to entice him away with them. It was then that Hamar was
taxed to the utmost, that he exhausted voice, strength, and patience,
in holding Kelson back.
He was about to give in, when to his astonishment these Vice-Elementals
vanished, and a phantasm, the exact counterpart of Karaver, only much
taller, appeared before them, and commenced giving them instructions
as to Stage Two.
"You," he said, addressing Hamar, "will possess the property of second
sight, _i.e._, the power to see, at will, earthbound spirits,
conditionally, that you fumigate your room, for ten minutes every
night, before retiring to rest, with a mixture composed of 2 drachms
of henbane, 3 drachms of saffron, 1/2 oz.
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