Guy Boothby

“ It was a common-place little affair and deep black in colour, and covered with Chinese hieroglyphics in dead gold. Attached to it at one end was a piece of frayed gold ribbon, much tarnished and showing evident signs of having passed through many hands.
He handed it to me, and when I had received it I examined it carefully.
“But if this stick were originally stolen,” I said, “you will surely not be so imprudent as to place yourself in the power of the society with it in your possession. It would mean certain death.” ”

“ He has no notion, or rather he will not be able to give you any description, of what his Heaven is likely to be He has all sorts of vague theories about it, but though it is part of his religion to believe beyond question that there is such a place, it is all wrapt in shadow of more or less depth. To sum it all up, he believes that while, in his opinion, such a thing as—shall we say Theosophy?—is arrant humbug, the vital essence of man has a second and greater being after death. ”

“ Wetherell anything at all to do with the work in hand?”
“More than anything,” he answered. “It is the key to everything. Originally there were only three of these sticks in existence; one belongs, or rather did belong, to each of the three heads of the sect. For some unknown reason one of the trio left the monastery and came out into the world. He died in a mysterious manner, and the stick fell into the possession of the abbot of the Yung Ho Kung, in Pekin, from whom it was stolen by an Englishman, known as China Pete, who risked his life, disguised as a Thibetan monk, to get it. ”

“ It's of course just possible you may think I over-estimate the importance of what I am about to tell you, but let me say this, if once it became known to certain folk in this town that I have obtained possession of the stick in question, our lives, even in Shanghai, would not be worth five minutes' purchase. Let me briefly review the circumstances of the case connected with this mysterious society. Remember I have gone into the matter most thoroughly. It is not the hobby of an hour, nor the amusement of an idle moment, but the object of research and the concentrated study of a lifetime. ”

“ When that was done I think I may say without boasting that, with the exception of three men—who, by the way, are not at liberty to divulge anything, and who, I doubt very much, are even aware that a world exists at all beyond their own monastery walls—I know at least six times as much about the society in question as any man living. ”

“ For if he be devout, does he not tell you that he firmly believes that when the body dies the soul goes to Heaven, which is equivalent to Olympus, Elysium, Arcadia, Garden of Hesperides, Valhalla, Walhalla, Paradise, or Nirvana, as the case may be? ”

“ To obtain certain information of which I stood in need, I have tracked people all over the world. When I began my preparations for inducing Wetherell to relinquish possession of the stick I had followed a man as far as Cuyaba, on the Bolivian frontier of Brazil. During the earlier part of his career this person had been a merchant buying gold-leaf in Western China, and in this capacity he chanced to hear a curious story connected with the doings of a certain sect whose monastery is in the mountains on the way up to Thibet. ”

“ But if I were to describe to you the curious things I have myself seen in different parts of the East, and what curious information I have collected first hand from others who have also witnessed, I venture to think you would believe me either a wizard myself or an absurdly credulous person. I have witnessed things that would seem to upset every known law of nature. Though there was occasionally trickery in the performance I am convinced in the majority of cases the phenomena were genuine. ”

“ Of course both are very easily accounted for, even by one who has dabbled in the occult as little as you have. But though you call it hypnotism in this airy fashion, can you give me an explanation of what you mean by that ambiguous term?”
“Simply that your mind,” I answered, “is stronger than mine, and is able to dominate it.” ”

“ Nikola turned to another page.
“After skipping 500 years,” he said, “we find another mention of them; this time by Feng Lao Lan, a well-known Chinese writer who flourished about the year 1500. On this occasion we find them making themselves a source of trouble to the kingdom in general. From being a collection of a few simple monks, installed in a lonely monastery on the way to Thibet, they have now become one of the largest secret societies in the East, though the mystic powers supposed to be held by them are still limited to the three headmen, or principal brothers. ”

“ The society became cognisant of its loss and sent men after him. In attempting to obtain possession of it one of the Chinamen was killed off the coast of Queensland, and China Pete was arrested in Sydney on a charge of having murdered him. Wetherell defended him and got him off, and not being able to pay for his service the latter made him a present of the stick. A month later I reached Sydney in search of it, but the Chinese were there before me. We both tried to obtain possession of it, but owing to Wetherell's obstinacy neither of us were successful. I offered Wetherell his own price for it ”

“ It is affirmed by those credulous in such matters that their power in medicine is greater than that of all living men, also their power in witchcraft, of which the most marvellous tales have been told. It is said, moreover, that they possess the power of restoring the dead to life and of prolonging beyond the ordinary standard the days of man. ”

“ Here two of the original trio died, while the remaining one and his new confrères built themselves a monastery, set to work to gather about them a number of peculiar devotees, and established the practices of their religion. Though the utmost secrecy was observed, within a few years the fame of their doings had spread itself abroad; and that this was so we know for we find constant mention made of them by numerous Chinese historians. One I will quote you.”
Dr. Nikola rose from his chair and crossed the room to an old cabinet standing against the farther wall. ”

“ Once more I followed him down the main passage of the bungalow into the front veranda. Arriving there we shook hands and I went down the steps into the street.
As I turned the corner and made my way in the direction of the place to which I was proceeding I saw a man, without doubt a Chinaman, rise from a corner and follow me. ”