There
was a wood fire in the grate, and on it a tin vessel containing the
prescribed ingredients. Somewhat unpleasantly conspicuous amongst
these ingredients were the death's-head moth, and the soil from
Satan's grave. As soon as the mixture had been heated three hours, the
vessel was removed, the fire extinguished, and the room made
absolutely dark. Then the three sat close together and waited. On the stroke of two every article in the room began to rattle, whilst
out of the tin vessel flew a blood red moth. After circling three
times round each of the sitter's heads, the moth flew back again into
the vessel, and the silence that ensued was followed by a soft tapping
at the window, and the appearance of something, that resembled a big
tube filled with a thick, pale blue fluid, made up of a mass of
distinct veins. This tube floated into the room, and passing close to
the three sitters, who involuntarily shrank away from it, disappeared
in the wall, behind them. A loud crack as if the branch of a tree had
broken, terminated the phenomena--the room again becoming pitch dark. But the three sitters, although they knew there would be no further
manifestation that night, were too terrified to move. They remained
huddled together in the same spot till the morning was well advanced. CHAPTER V

THE INITIATION


San Francisco possesses one great advantage--you can easily get out of
it. Leaving the pan-handle of the Park behind one, and following the
turn of the cars, one passes through a pretty valley, green and fair
as any garden, and dotted with small houses. An old cemetery lies to
one side of it; where unconventional inscriptions and queer epitaphs
can be traced on the half-buried stones, covered with a tangle of
vines and weeds. Still moving forward one reaches Olympus, and
climbing to its heights, one sees away below, in the far distance, the
Coast Range--like a rampart of strength; the blue waters of the bay,
sparkling and dancing in the sunlight--steamers flashing their path on
its bosom; and tiny white specks scudding in the breeze. Below is the
city, its houses, small, and closed in, like toy villages in Christmas
boxes; whilst the slopes around are green with fresh grass; and here
and there are thick clusters of eucalyptus and pines. The ocean is
partly hidden from view by a peak, which rises directly to the west,
and is separated from that on which one is standing by a deep and
thickly wooded valley. Descending, by means of a narrow winding path,
one passes through dense clumps of hickory, chestnut, mountain ash,
and walnut trees, whose strong lateral branches afford ample
protection from the sun, and at the same time furnish playgrounds to
innumerable bright-eyed squirrels. Further down one comes upon gentle
elms, succeeded by sassafras and locust--these, in their turn,
succeeded by the softer linden, red bud, catalpa, and maple; and at
the foot of the declivity, and in the bottom of the valley, wild
shrubbery, interspersed with silver willows, and white poplars. Still
following the path down the vale, in a southerly direction, one, at
length, finds oneself in an amphitheatre, shut in on all sides by
trees and bushes of a still greater variety; here and there, a
gigantic and much begnarled oak; here, a triple-stemmed tulip tree of
some eighty feet in height, its glossy, vivid green leaves and profuse
blossoms presenting a picture of unsurpassed beauty and splendour;
there, equally beautiful, though in marked contrast, a tall and
slender silver birch. The floor of the amphitheatre is, for the most
part, grass--soft, thick, velvety and miraculously green. The silence
is such as makes it wholly inconceivable, that so vast a city as San
Francisco can be little over six miles distant. Though one may strain
one's ears to the utmost, nothing is to be heard but the occasional
tinkling of a cow-bell, the lowing of cattle and the desultory note of
birds. It is the perfect quiet which Nature alone can give; and it so
impressed Hamar that he at once decided that this was the very spot
essential for the ceremony of initiation into the Black Art. The locality selected, the night had next to be chosen--and the
conditions demanding that on the night of the initiation there must be
a new moon, cusp of seventh house, and conjoined with Saturn, in
opposition to Jupiter,[16] Hamar and his confederates had to wait
exactly three weeks, from the date of the conclusion of the tests,
before they could proceed. Shortly before midnight, on the spot already described, Hamar, Curtis
and Kelson met; and, after searching thoroughly amongst the trees and
bushes in the vicinity of the amphitheatre to make sure no one was in
hiding, they commenced operations. On a perfectly level piece of ground a circle of seven feet radius was
clearly defined. This circle was cut into seven sectors; and an inner
circle from the same centre and with a radius of six feet was next
drawn. In each part of the sectors, between the circumferences of the
first and second circle, were inscribed, in chalk, the names of the
seven principal vices (according to Atlantean ideas), and the seven
most malignant diseases. Within the second circle, and using the same
centre, was drawn a third circle, of five feet in radius, and in each
part of the sectors, between the circumferences of the second and
third circles, were written the names of the seven types of spirits
most antagonistic to man's moral progress. [17]

Hamar had brought with him a sack--the same he had used to transport
Satan's corpse--and from out of it he produced a half-starved tabby,
that obviously could harm no one, owing to the fact that its head was
tied up in a muslin bag and its four legs strapped together. "It's a good thing there is no member of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals anywhere near," Kelson exclaimed,
eyeing Hamar resentfully. "Wouldn't a mouse or a rat have done as
well?" "No!" Hamar ejaculated, depositing the brute with a plump on the
ground; "the conditions are that the animal sacrificed must be a cat. I got the poorest specimen I could find, for I dislike butchering just
as much as you do." "How are you going to do it?" Kelson asked. Hamar pointed to a chopper. "The conditions say with steel," he said;
"only with steel, and I should bungle with a knife. You must look the
other way. Now help me with the fire." Besides the cat, the sack contained a dozen or so bundles of faggots,
well steeped in paraffin, several blocks of wood, a tripod, and a big
tin saucepan. With the wood, a fire was soon kindled in the centre of the circle;
and the tripod placed over it. Two pints of spring water were then
poured into the saucepan, and to this were added 1 ounce of oxalic
acid, 1 ounce of verdigris, 1-1/2 ounces of hemlock leaves, 1/2 ounce
of henbane, 3/4 ounce of saffron, 2 ounces of aloes, 3 drachms of
opium, 1 ounce of mandrake-root, 5 drachms of salanum, 7 drachms of
poppy-seed, 1/2 ounce of assafoetida, and 1/2 ounce of parsley.