one told of this temple. I studied it, and worked it out, until I located it. Then I came here and found this old house built over it. And I knew that it covered the greatest secret in all the world. But it contained another secret too. A simple, easy secret for a man like me to solve. A secret staircase, built by some stupid old colonist, to lead him down to a secret wine-cellar, which is on the other side of that stairway. But Providence would not permit the old drunkard to turn to the right, in digging for his vault, or he would have entered this chamber, as I have done. I found this staircase, and cut my way into this place, which I closed with that iron door. And you, you fool, thought that I did not know how to open a door that I had built myself." His laugh rang out again, and the piercing shrieks, coming back from the echoes, darted through Barnes's brain, confused by his pivotal turning on the stone as he tried to follow the Doctor racing around the chamber, and as the man now rushed at him screaming:
"Now! Now! You fool, you are mine! Mine! All mine!" Barnes felt as though something in his brain had snapped, and, tottering, he threw up his arms, and then sank down, to be caught by Dr. Medjora, who lifted him as though he had been a child, and laid him upon the floor. Placing his ear to his heart a moment, the Doctor arose to his feet with a satisfied expression and speaking low, said:
"He is now thoroughly frightened, but the shock will not kill him. When he wakes he will be mine indeed! I will play the little trick, and I can be safe without fear from this." He kicked the prostrate form lightly with his foot, and then lifted Barnes up and sat him upon the stone as he slowly revived, supporting him until he had sufficiently recovered not to need assistance. Then he placed himself in front of Barnes, and as soon as the young man seemed to have regained his senses he folded his arms and said sternly:
"Look at me!" Barnes obeyed for a moment and then turned away and would have risen, but the doctor called out authoritatively:
"You cannot get up! You have no legs!" Barnes reached down with his hands towards his legs, only to be stopped by the words:
"You cannot feel! You have no hands! Now look at me! Look! I command you!" Barnes gazed helplessly into the Doctor's eyes, and the latter continued, in a voice of peremptory sternness:
"Now answer me when I speak to you. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand. I will answer!" The voice did not seem to be the normal tones of the young man, and a smile passed over the Doctor's face as he went on.
"Do you know who you are? If so, tell me!"
"I am Jack Barnes!"
"And who am I?"
"Doctor Medjora!"
"Do you know where you are?"
"Yes! In the chamber of Æsculapius!"
"If I let you go from here, what will you do?"
"I would tell the police what I know!"
"Good! Now listen to me!"
"I am listening!"
"You wish to escape?"
"Yes!"
"I am your master?"
"You are my master!"
"You must obey my commands! You understand that?"
"I must obey your commands. I understand that!"
"You are asleep now?"
"Yes, I am asleep!"
"But if I give you a command now when you are asleep, you will obey it when I allow you to awaken?"
"What you command when I am asleep, I will do when you let me be awake!"
"You followed me to-day?"
"I followed you."
"You will forget that?"
No answer came from the sleeper. The crucial test had come. The contest of wills. The Doctor, however, was determined to succeed. Success meant a great deal to him, for he must either kill this man, or else control him. He did not consider the first expedient. Murder was not even in his thought. He stepped up to Barnes and took his two hands.
"You will forget that you followed me?"
Still no reply. The Doctor gently closed the open eyes of the sleeper, and rubbed them with a rotary movement of the thumb. Again he ventured:
"You will forget that you followed me? You – will – forget – that – you – followed – Dr. Medjora?" A pause, a quiver of the released eyelids, which opened slowly, allowing the eyes to gaze at the Doctor; then the lids closed again, a shiver passed over the sleeper's body, and the voice spoke:
"I will obey! I will forget!"
"You will forget that you followed me?"
"I will forget!"
"Repeat what I say. You will forget that you followed me?"
"I will forget that I followed you!"
"You will forget that you saw me and heard me speaking to a woman?"
"I will forget that you were speaking to a woman!"
"You will forget that there was a fire?"
"I will forget the fire!"
"You will forget the secret staircase?"
"I will forget the staircase!"
"The secret staircase!" The Doctor was determined to take no risk.
"I will forget the secret staircase!" said the sleeper.
"You will forget this room?"
"I will forget this room!"
"Finally, you will forget that you have been asleep?"
"Finally, I will forget that I have been asleep!"
"Good! That ought to be safe enough!" This the Doctor said to himself, but the sleeper replied:
"Good! That ought to be safe enough!"
"Pah! He is a mere automaton," said the Doctor.
"A mere automaton!" repeated Barnes.
At this last sally the Doctor burst out into uncontrolled laughter, so much heartier than before that it was plain that his previous laughing had been but a part of his scheme to overawe the strong young will of his companion, by raising up the affrighting echoes. The sleeper joined in with this laughing, imitating it almost note for note, and the answering echoes adding to the bedlam, made the place indeed like some dwelling-place of evil spirits. The Doctor's hilarity passed, and placing one hand upon Barnes's shoulder, in a voice of command he cried!
"Silence!" At once the stillness of death ensued, as though each gibbering demon had scurried back into his hiding-place. The Doctor took the young man's head in both hands, the palms open against the temples, and a thumb over each eye. Rubbing the closed lids gently, at the same time pressing the temples, he spoke in deep resonant tones.
"Sleep! Sleep more deeply! Sleep unconscious! Sleep oblivious! Sleep as though dead,
