Ayesha:The Return of She

t possible to walk upon the surface of the snow. Learning from the monks that at this season ovis poli and other kinds of big-horned sheep and game de

confinement and needed exercise, having by the teac

rest, offered to guide us. So, having manufactured a rougri tent from skins, and laden our old yak, now in the best of condition, with food and garments, on one still morning we started as soon as it was light. Under the guidance of the monk, who, notwithstanding his years, walked very well, we reached the northern slope of the p

as it happened, on our way back to the cave we came across a small herd of ewes feeding upon the mosses in a sheltered spot where in summer a streamlet ran. Of these we were so fortunate as to kill two, for no sportsman had ever come here

e, he liked mutton. Then we turned into the tent and huddled ourselves together for warmth, as the temperature must have been some degrees below zero.

avourable, our companion returned to the monastery,

the deep, frozen snow made climbing easy, so that by midday we reached the top. Hence the view was magnificent. Beneath us stretched the desert, and beyond i

y dream so many years ago," mutte

s the fiery l

;" and he pointe

now," I answered, "an

ain, reaching the cave about sunset. The next four days we spent in the same way. Every morning we crawled up those wearis

ntly, because he wished it, so I left him alone. I could see, indeed, that he was in a strange and irritable mood, for the failure of our search oppressed him. Mo

d by Leo shaking me and saying -"Come he

l our garments. He led me to the mouth of the cave and pointed northward. I looked. The night was very dark; but far

ke of it?" he a

, dawn - no, it is too northerly, and it does not break for three hours. Something bur

f we were on the peak we should see the

ot, and cannot get

we must spend

rnation," I answered with a laugh

t has faded;" and there at least he was right, for

t back to the tent, for I was sleepy and incre

nd found breakfas

t early," Le

sked. "How can we

ut I am going. I

e both must go. But

imb, it can foll

oid slopes of frozen snow in which, on our previous ascents, we had cut footholds with an axe, for up these the laden animal could not clamber. Reaching the summit at length, we dug a ho

, for without the warmth from its shaggy body I believe that we should have perished, even in our tent. For some hours we watched, as indeed we must, since to sleep might mean to die, yet saw nothing save the lonely stars, and heard not

f the intervening peaks, appeared a faint sheet of fire and revealed against it, something black. Whilst we watched, the fire widened, spread upwards and grew in power and intensity. Now against its flaming

ymbol, as from the flare of a beacon, or the search-light of a ship, one fierce ray shot across the sea of mountain tops and the spaces of the desert, straight as an arrow to the lofty peak on which we lay. Yes, it lit upon the snow, staining it red, and upon the wild, white faces of us who watched, though to the right and l

s he said the words the breath caught in his throat -"how the ray of light was sent to us in farewell, and to show us a path of escape from the Place

; that our parts were written and we must speak them, as our path was prepared and we must tread it to the end unknown. Fear and doubt were left behind, hope was sunk in certainty; the fo

hirling snow-storm, that made us deaf and blind. For we knew that those lives were charmed. We could not see or hear, yet we were led. Clinging to the yak, we struggled downward and homewards, till at length out of the turmoil and the gloom its

ay the door, but not yet might we set that key within its lock. For between us and these stretched the great desert, where the snow rolled

alling from them, but rain, and we found the old monks preparing their instruments of husbandry, as they said that the season of sowing was at hand. For three days it rained, while the snows melted before our eyes. On the

ppy here? Do you not make great strides along the Path, as may be known by your piou

, "and when we see mountains in

at merit is gathered by hiding the truth from an old man, for such concealments are separated from fal

go yonder in the library you ma

said, holding up his hands. "W

I answered. "But, as it chances, your story is very much our ow

he said, muc

re I told it while he sat opposite to us swaying his head

upon our darkness. Do you not find this story won

u liars who, from the moment my eyes fell upon you, knew you to be true men? Moreover, why should I hold this tale so

ed yonder. Why not? In this there is nothing impossible to those who are instructed in the truth, though the lengthening of her last life was strange and contrary to exper

be sprinkled with the dust of change and death, that sinful spirit must be purified by sorrows and by separations. Brother Leo, if you win her, it will be but to lose, and then the ladder must be reclimbed. Brother Holly, for you as for me loss is our only gai

nswered. "Where water falls, life c

I seek love that I may live. I believe that all these things are ordain

empted you, and you fled with her afar. And there what found you? The betrayed and avenging goddess who slew you, or if not the goddess, one who had drunk of her wisdom and was the minister of her vengeance. Having that wisdom this minister - woman or evil spirit - refused to die because she had learned to love you, but waited knowing that in your next life she would fin

are sworn to a tryst, and

of your desire will run red like blood, and that in its drinking you shall find neither forgetfulness nor peace. Made blind by a passion of which well I

e last Nothingness. Ah! you do not believe me now; you shake your heads and smile; yet a day will dawn, it may be after many incarnations, when you shall bow them in

ousness may be swallowed up at last in some void and formless abstraction called the 'Utter Peace.' I would rather take m

ell? Moreover, what is the use of reasoning? Leo, we have no choice; we fo

hted wisdom that is given to such as he, oppressed me deeply. He promised us sorrow and bloodshed beyond the mountains, ending in death and rebirths full of misery. Well, it might be so, but no

royal Amenartas, with whom he fled, seduced him from the goddess to whom he was sworn. That this goddess incarnate in Ayesha - or using the woman Ayesh

destiny to fulfil. In truth, writing now, when all is past and done with, I find much to confirm me in, and little to turn me from that theory, since life and powers of a quality which are more than human do not alone suffice to make a soul divine. On the other hand, however, it must be borne in mind

r of the outraged Isis, and with her, that other woman who wrought the wrong? And if so, would the dread, inhuman stru

thought at leng