[*] Yet to this hour I have found
no answer to the problem, for it is beyond my guessing.
[*] Recent discoveries would appear to suggest that this
mysterious "Fire of Life," which, whatever else it may have
been, was evidently a force and no true fire, since it did
not burn, owed its origin to the emanations from radium, or
some kindred substance. Although in the year 1885, Mr. Holly
would have known nothing of the properties of these
marvellous rays or emanations, doubtless Ayesha was familiar
with them and their enormous possibilities, of which our
chemists and scientific men have, at present, but explored
the fringe.--Editor.
I suppose that, in preparation for her conquest of the inhabitants of
this globe--to which, indeed, it would have sufficed unaided by any
other power--the manufacture of gold from iron went on in the cave
unceasingly.
However this may be, during the few days that we remained together
Ayesha never so much as spoke of it again. It seemed to have served her
purpose for the while, or in the press of other and more urgent matters
to have been forgotten or thrust from her mind. Still, amongst others,
of which I have said nothing, since it is necessary to select, I record
this strange incident, and our conversations concerning it at length,
for the reason that it made a great impression upon me and furnishes a
striking example of Ayesha's dominion over the hidden forces of Nature
whereof we were soon to experience a more fearful instance.
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