TESCULIPOCA AESCULAPIUS

"Now, if we remember that the presence of a diphthong in the transformation of names implies a lost consonant, we see that the names are virtually the same, the O C A being the Mexican suffix, and the I U S the Greek. To go a little further in our identification, mythology informs us that aesculapius is the son of Apollo. We are also told that the Tower of Babel was consecrated to Bel, but that the upper story was devoted to aesculapius. This is significant, from the fact that Apollo and Bel are forms of the same deity. Thus we find that immediately after the Flood, those who escape on one side of the great Ocean proceed to build a temple to aesculapius, while on the other, in the home country, they build a new pyramid, a _teocali_, in which to worship Tesculipoca. Are you satisfied that aesculapius was originally an inhabitant of this continent?"

"It certainly seems so."

"Seems so? It is so! And in that fact, Leon, abides a secret which has been of vast importance to me, and shall be to you. Few men know what I am, or whence I came. Let me tell you that the high priests of these _teocali_ were all lineally descended from the great physician, and to this day there are many who still blow upon the embers of the old faith, down in the forest fastnesses of Mexico and Central America, secure from the prying eyes of white men. I inherited the right of priesthood at my birth."

"You? You a Mexican priest?" Leon started up amazed.

"By inheritance, yes! But early in life I made a discovery of vast importance. By deciphering some old hieroglyphical writings, I learned that, somewhere in the North Country, the first _teocali_ had been built. That in the topmost chamber of it, as in the tower of Babel, the G.o.d himself had dwelt. In the dome which surmounted that temple, he had sculptured hieroglyphics, which recorded all the vast knowledge which he possessed. I even found some fragmentary copies of these sculptures, and I learned enough to make me determined to seek, and to find that lost temple."

"You succeeded!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Leon, much excited.

"I always succeed," said the Doctor, with significant emphasis. "It has been the rule of my life, from which I have never deviated. Yes! I succeeded! I discovered the dome of the temple, buried beneath the earth. For years I have spent many hours of otherwise unoccupied time, deciphering the sculptured records of the lost past. Lost to the world, but found by me, Emanuel Medjora, whom men call Wizard!" There was a flash of triumph in the Doctor's eye, as he uttered these words.

Leon looked at him, but did not speak.

"Yes! The knowledge garnered by aesculapius has been inherited by me.

This it is, that I mean to bequeath to you. Is it not better than money?"

"You mean that you will take me into that chamber, which you have found?" Leon was incredulous, yet hopeful of receiving an affirmative reply.

"That is what I will do, but not to-night. The hour is now late. You must retire to rest. To-morrow night, I will give you proof of what I have told you. Now, good-night, and remember that I have intrusted you with a secret more valuable than all the world. Beware of betraying me."

"Doctor!" expostulated Leon, much hurt.

"You need not speak so, Leon. If I doubted you, I would never have confided in you. Once more, good-night."

"Good-night!" And Leon turned to leave the room.

"Pleasant dreams," said the Doctor, and Leon had no suspicion that there was a studied purpose in the utterance.

After the lad's departure, the Doctor sat alone, musing upon the situation. He did not go to rest, because his work was not yet complete. He recalled the night on the Fall River boat, when he had endeavored to hypnotize Leon, and had failed. To-night he would try again. For months he had been arranging all the preliminaries, and now he was confident of success. The object which he had in view was this: He desired to teach Leon more rapidly than the lad could learn in his normal condition. This he hoped to accomplish with the aid of hypnosis. By gaining control of Leon, in this manner he expected to utilize the marvels of suggestion. He would instruct him, and then charge him to remember all that he had been taught, and the result would be that the mind would obey the injunction, and thus acquire knowledge more rapidly than by ordinary study.

But, for the present, he believed it to be of vital importance that Leon should not suspect what he was doing. To this end he had arranged his mode of procedure with the caution of a master of psychology. In the first place, he had prepared Leon's mind for the rapid progress of the future, by telling him that the drug administered would increase his mental powers. This was false. What he had added to the usual tonic draught, was not a poison, as he had claimed, but a powerful narcotic. In order, however, to make an impression upon his mind, he had relied upon the chemical reaction, and the changing color, which has been described.

Then he had related to him enough of the history of aesculapius and of the secret chamber, so that if on the morrow Leon should remember the visit to the dome, where he meant to carry him presently, he would easily account for it to himself, as a dream. To make sure of this, he had suggested dreaming to him as they parted.

So, as he reviewed his arrangement, the Doctor was satisfied that he had taken all necessary precautions, and with patience he awaited the time which he had set for further action.

The minutes crept by, until at last a little door in the front of the great clock opened, and a silver image of Vulcan raised a tiny hammer and brought it down upon the anvil before him with force enough to draw forth a sharp ring from the metal. Then the door closed again. It was one o'clock.

The Doctor arose and went to a closet, whence he brought forth a pair of soft slippers which he put on instead of his shoes. Leaving the room, he climbed the stairway as noiselessly as a cat, not a board creaking as he slowly lifted himself from one step to the next. He had no fear of arousing Leon, but he did not wish to attract the attention of any other one in the house. Soon he was in Leon's room, standing beside the bed. Leon lay sleeping as calmly as a babe. Dr. Medjora knelt beside him, and listened to his heart beating. He felt his pulse, and seemed satisfied. From a couch he took a heavy slumber robe, and without hesitation lifted Leon from the bed and wrapped him in the robe. Next he raised him in his arms and carried him from the room. At the end of the hall he paused long enough to open the door which led to his laboratory, which occupied a wing of the building, and pa.s.sing through he closed the door behind him, and laid his burden on the floor.

Next he lighted a small lamp which shed but a dim light, and stooping, felt along the floor until he found a secret spring which he released, and then slid aside a trap-door, exposing to view a flight of stairs.

Down these he descended, the ruby-colored shade of his lamp throwing red rays upward as he disappeared. In a few moments he returned without the lamp, which, placed somewhere below, still lighted the opening with a dull glow. The Doctor took Leon in his arms, and carried him down the steps, until he reached the same door through which he had taken young Barnes on the memorable night of the fire. In rebuilding upon the property, the Doctor had purposely placed his laboratory over his secret underground chamber.

Having entered the remains of the temple of aesculapius, he laid Leon upon a comfortable ma.s.s of rugs which covered the central stone.

Taking from his pocket a small phial, he opened Leon's mouth and poured the contents into it, holding his nose until, in an effort to breathe, the drug was swallowed. This accomplished the Doctor retired behind a screen, which had been formed by him in such accurate reproduction of the walls of the chamber, that one would not readily suspect that it was not a part of the original structure.

"Within ten minutes he should awaken," mused the Doctor. "But when he does, and his eyes rest upon the scene about him, he will surely think that he is dreaming of the temple of aesculapius. Then, while his brain is heavy with drugs, and his mind mystified, he will yield readily to hypnotic influences."

The ten minutes had barely elapsed, when the sleeper moved. A moment later, Leon opened his eyes, and as the dim light from the little lamp enabled him to see the dome above him, he lay still, regarding it with some surprise. A few moments more, and he rubbed his eyes with the knuckle of his forefinger, and the Doctor knew that he was wondering whether he were awake or dreaming. Not fully satisfied, Leon sat up, and gazed about him. He was becoming more thoroughly awake, and very soon he would know that he was not in dream-land. But the Doctor no longer delayed his plan of action. Ere Leon could recover from the surprise of his first awakening, and as he gazed directly in front of him, Dr. Medjora touched an electric b.u.t.ton with his foot, and instantly a blaze of light appeared upon the wall. A hundred tiny incandescent lamps, arranged in the form of radiating spokes from a wheel, placed before a brightly burnished silver reflector, with thousands of facets upon its concaved surface, shed a light as dazzling as a sun. Leon closed his eyes to protect them from the glare, but when he opened them again another surprise awaited him. By touching another b.u.t.ton, the Doctor had started a motor, which, with a dull humming sound, set the wheel of lights in motion, the reflector revolving rapidly in one direction while the fixture which contained the lamps turned swiftly the opposite way. The scintillating rays were so dazzling, that it was impossible for Leon to gaze upon it more than an instant. He turned his back upon it, bewildered, but immediately before his eyes there appeared on the wall confronting him another similar wheel of light, which began to revolve also. Again he turned his eyes away, and again, and again, and again; but wherever he looked, the rapidly moving electric suns burst forth, until a dozen of them surrounded him.

He stood a moment with his gaze upon the floor, trying to recover control of himself, for his astonishment was such that he felt as though he were losing his mind. But all in vain. As much as he dreaded those fiery suns, as well as he knew instinctively that to look upon them was to be lost, he could not resist the temptation. Slowly, as with an effort, he raised his eyes and stared at the scintillating suns before him. For a brief time his eyes turned from one to another, but finally they became fixed and he gazed only at one. In a moment all the others were turned out, and that one revolved faster and faster. Two or three times it seemed as though he tried to withdraw his gaze, but eventually all resistance to the influence of the dazzling light ceased. Leon sank back into a partly sitting posture upon the rugs, and in a few moments the eyelids closed heavily, the head sank upon the breast, the body quivered, and the limbs hung limp.

Leon was pa.s.sing into a hypnotic, sleep, caused by the ingenious mechanical device coupled with the skilfully prepared surprise which the mind had received.

The Doctor pressed a b.u.t.ton, and the last wheel was extinguished and stood motionless. Once more the only light was from the little lamp, which now, by contrast with the recent glare, seemed like a glowworm.

Dr. Medjora came forth and placed himself in front of Leon. With the palms of his hands on the lad's temples, he rubbed the eyeb.a.l.l.s through the closed lids, with his thumbs. After a short time he spoke.

"Leon! Leon! Are you asleep?"

There was no reply.

"Leon! You are asleep, but you can speak!"

An indistinct murmur escaped from the sleeper.

"Leon! You are asleep! But you are also awake! Open your eyes, but do not awaken entirely! Open your eyes!"

In response to the command, authoritatively given, Leon's eyes opened slowly, and he stared before him, as though seeing nothing.

"Look! You can see me if you try! You can recognize me! You can speak!

Speak to me!"

The sleeper gazed at the Doctor a while, but said nothing.

"Do you not hear me? I tell you that you can speak! You must speak!

Speak! I command you! Speak!"

"Doc-tor Med-jo-ra!" was the reply uttered in separate syllables, with a pause between each, and in hollow tones.

"Good! You see you can speak if you will. You will find it easy enough directly. Look about you now, and tell me where you are."

"I think I am in the temple!"

"You are correct. You are in the temple of aesculapius. Do you understand?"

"The temple of aesculapius! I understand!"

"Do you know how you came here?"

"No!"

"Do you wish to know?"

"No!"

"I brought you here. Do you understand that?"