Page:The Quest Volume 13 (1921-22).djvu/115

 I saw the stranger bend forward and kiss the Rev. Dr. Haselmeyer's forehead, and I heard him say: 'Beloved Bride!' A long sentence followed, but too low for it to reach my consciousness.

Then, suddenly, the Rev. Magister Wirtzigh was in the middle of the following apocalyptic utterance:

"And before the throne was a sea of glass like unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne and round the throne four beasts, full of eyes before and behind And there came forth another horse, which was yellow, and he who sat upon the horse was called Death, and Hell followed at his heels. Unto whom power was given to take away peace from the earth, so that they should strangle each other; and unto him was given a great sword."

"Given a great sword," echoed the Rev. Dr. Zagreus, when his eye chanced to fall upon me. Thereupon he paused and asked the others in a whisper whether I could be trusted.

"He has long since become a lifeless piece of clock-work in my hands," the Rev. Magister assured him. "Our ritual prescribes that one who has died to this earth, should hold the torch, when we meet in council. He is like a corpse, carries his soul in his hand and believes it is a smouldering lamp."

Fierce scorn sounded in his words, and a sudden terror paralyzed my blood when I realized that in truth I could not move a limb and had become as rigid as a corpse.

Again the Rev. Dr. Zagreus began to speak: "Nay, the 'Song of Songs' of Hate is aroar through the world. I have seen with my own eyes him who sits upon the yellow horse and behind him in its thousands the army of machines, our friends and allies. Long