He learned it all from
that old MS. he found, written by an Atlantean; and the Atlanteans, he
says, were adepts in every form of Occultism. I tell you, this chap
himself scoffed at it at first; and it was more out of curiosity, he
says, than because he was convinced, that he began to experiment. He
afterwards came to the conclusion that the Atlanteans were no fools. What they had written about the Occult was absolutely correct--there
was another world, and it was possible to get in touch with it. Now,
if Thomas Maitland was able to practise sorcery, why can't we? There
was a gap of close on twenty thousand years between his time and that
of Atlantis, and there's not much more than two hundred years between
his day and ours. But, of course, if you're going to pooh-pooh the
whole thing I won't trouble to tell you any more!" "Well, Leon," Kelson ejaculated, "magic and sorcery do seem a trifle
out of date, don't they? Could any one look out of the window at what
is going on in the streets below, and at the same time believe in
fairies and hobgoblins? Still the book made a bit of an impression on
me, so that I'm inclined to agree with you. Anyway, go ahead! Ed is
agreeable, aren't you, Ed?" Curtis gave a sulky nod. "I'm not averse to anything that may put us
in the way of a livelihood," he said. Hamar, somewhat appeased, briefly informed them of the tests and other
preliminaries necessary for the acquirement of the Black Art, and
without more ado proposed that they--the three of them--should form a
Syndicate and call it the Sorcery Company Limited. "To begin with," he
said, "we might sell tricks and spells, and later on tackle something
more subtle. Why, we could soon knock all the jugglers and doctors on
the head--and make a huge fortune." "That is to say if it isn't all humbug!" Curtis observed. "Well--do you or don't you think it worth trying?" Hamar cut in. "You
call me a Jew--but Jews, you know, have a tolerably cool head, and a
keen faculty for business. They don't touch anything unless it is
pretty certain to bring them in money. Will you try?" "Y-e-s!" Curtis said slowly; "I'll try." "And you, Matt?" Hamar queried. "We must have three." "I don't mind trying," Kelson replied. "I expect it will be only a
try." "That settles it, then!" Hamar cried. "Now, we'll get to business. To
begin with we're all wholly occupied with things of this world--money
chiefly!" "Sometimes music!" Curtis said sententiously. "And sometimes girls," Kelson joined in. "Music's a pose on Ed's part. I don't believe he really cares a bit for it. He's far too material." "Just what I want him to be!" Hamar laughed. "Girls are material
enough too--especially when you take them out to supper. Anyhow, money
is our first consideration, isn't it?" To this there was general assent. "The preliminary requirement is fixed then," Hamar said. "Now for the
week of wild oats! Lying, stealing, cheating--anything to counteract
the code of Moses! Let's take them in turn. Lying won't trouble us
much. Every one lies. Lying is the stock-in-trade of doctors, lawyers,
sky pilots, storekeepers--"

"And dentists!" Curtis chimed in. "And shop girls!" Kelson added. "All women--rich as well as poor!" Hamar went on. "Lying is woman's
birthright. She lies about her age, her looks, her clothes--everything. With a lie she sends callers away, and when she is in the mood,
entertains them with lies. Women are born liars, but they are not the
only liars. In these days of keen competition every one lies--every
editor, publisher, undertaker, piano-tuner, dustman--they couldn't live
if they didn't. Moreover lying is natural to us all. Every child lies
as soon as it can speak; and education merely teaches him to lie the
more effectually. Lying comes just as natural as sweating--"

"Or kissing," Kelson interrupted. "Or any of the other so-called vices," Hamar continued. "So we can
manage that all right. As to cheating--having nothing to cheat
with--according to instructions we've got to keep in with each other,
so present company is excepted--we must pass over that. Now--how about
thieving!" "Never done any yet, so can't say," Curtis exclaimed. "Nor I either," Kelson put in rather hurriedly. "Well, I didn't suppose you had!" Hamar laughed; "though, after all,
more than half the world does thieve--all employers steal labour from
their employés, all tradesmen steal a profit--the wholesale man from
the middleman--the middleman from the retailer. Every Government
thieves. Look at England--righteous England! At one time or another
she has stolen land in every part of the world. But theft is an ugly
word. When statesmen steal it's called diplomacy, when the rich steal
it's called kleptomania or business, and it's only when the poor steal
that stealing is termed theft. We who have every excuse--we who are
starving--will be content with--that is to say--we will only
take--just enough to keep us alive--a few lumps of sugar, a handful of
raisins, or a loaf of bread. How about that?" "I might manage that," Curtis said. "I might--but I don't want to get
caught." "And you, Matt?" "I don't mind stealing food so much," Kelson said. "In the face of so
much wealth--and waste too--it seems a bigger sin to starve than to
steal a loaf of bread." "The lying and stealing are fixed then," Hamar laughed. "What you have
to do, too, is to make the most of every opportunity you can find of
doing people--present company excepted--bad turns." "I don't see how--in our present condition--we can do any one much
harm," Curtis remarked. "We haven't even the means to buy a tin sword,
let alone a bomb or pistol. If we wish them ill, perhaps, that will do
instead." "Possibly--but don't be such an ass as to wish any one any good!" Hamar said. "Do your best to carry out the injunctions I have given
you, and we will meet here, this day week, to discuss the tests." CHAPTER IV

THE TESTS


Seven days later, Hamar again knocked at Curtis's and Kelson's door
and walked in. A faint sigh of relief escaped him. "I see we are all right so far," he said. "I wondered whether I should
find you both flown, or lying stretched in the icy hands of death. Have you experimented?" "We have," Curtis said. "We've done our best. In what way, we prefer
not to say." "Perhaps there is no need," Hamar replied, eyeing the mantelshelf
which bore ample testimony to a full larder, and glancing at Curtis's
feet which were encased in a pair of new and very shiny boots. (A
handsome overcoat that was hanging on the door also attracted his
attention; but that he had seen before, and concluded that it had been
there on the occasion of his last visit.) "But you had better dry up
now, Ed," he continued somewhat caustically, "or there'll be no chance
of forming the Sorcery Society; it will be dissolved before it's
started. There's no need to ask if you've tried to carry out
instructions as to thoughts, I see it--in your faces.