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fC 1 W viv\ 15-i' ', & i' '. 5U* 5 M-i #1 !|l jti y" 7* ,? :ii. I !|f 1 ?•, •,V c- ?. II ll iil'l: t, Jpr •w #i ki't' U*\ fs •:ffl 1 WlrlfaWBBWMBIiSiiililfaiRirii 11 •••Hiiwiw'UBMii'iiwiiinoiiii' nmn,i.ni.i*nM/ LADY VI Sibyl Smith was one of England's typical new women. Seven and twenty years of age, rich, handsome, gifted, the niece of a duke and sister of a viscount, she played innumerable roles with distinc tion, and the craze of one week became the aversion of the next. She had been suffragette, teetotaller, Socialist, antl vaccinationist and anti-vivisectionist, vegetarian and sandal wearer but now she was bent upon becoming a Mormon. It was the first time that her whim had taken a religious turn, and her uncle, the duke of Surrey, was greatly distressed. "If only it were anything else," he 6aid to Doctor Immanuel, "I wouldn't care. I know it would wear off in the course of time, but when the poor child wakes up in Utah, to find her self one of a happy family of fifty wives, what are we going to do for her?" The old duke, who was a staunch adherent of the Low Church party, held rigid and perhaps exaggerated views about many subjects. Mor monism was one of them, and he was leading the agitation for the expul sion of the Mormon missionaries from England. Doctor Immanuel and I had met him at the annual garden party given by Noureddin Bey, the Turkish ambassador, with whom the Greek physician had been intimately ac quainted in his earlier days at Athens. "The trouble with the modern wom an is that there are not enough hus Lands to go round," said Immanuel thoughtfully. "England has, I be lieve, a million and a half more wom en than men. In consequence, in stead of finding her activities in her home, the Englishwoman is forced into men's sphere of action." "O, come, doctor, you aren't going to propound those old-fashioned ideas in the twentieth century, are you?" asked the Turlcish ambassador jok ingly. Nevertheless he secretly agreed with him. Educated at Ox ford and Heidelberg, and the husband of one of the most popular society matrons in London, he nevertheless felt in his heart that the old customs of his race were best. "If we don't take care," said the old duke, "we shall evolve a race in which the female will be predominant everywhere, as with the bees." "And, like the bees, they will mas sacre all the males every autumn," answered Doctor Immanuel, "but about Lady Sibyl—" he continued, drawing the duke aside. "I am sor jry to hear that her mind is made up." "Unfortunately it is," answered the old gentleman. "She has fallen un der the influence of Axel, the Mor mon missionary, and sails with a party of converts for Utah on Satur day week. Nothing that we can say has the least influence over her. I even went so far as to attend one of Axel's Sunday assemblies at the Kensington Tabernacle. The man is a magnetic personality, a wonderful speaker. The plain truth is that he has hypnotized her. I wonder—" he hesitated—"I wonder if you could help us, doctor. Of course I don't pretend to believe in this reincarnation the ory which you preach so relentlessly, but I do know that you have accom plished some wonderful things. You seem to have a kind of power over people. Damn you, sir, for all your crazy notions you have established your power over me. Can't you help the poor child, doctor?" the duke con tinued more seriously. "She must not sail with Axel. And she says she will sail. Hello, my dear!" The last words were addressed to no other than the Lady Sibyl herself, who suddenly appeared, radiant un der a large picture hat, immaculately gowned and shod. "Why, Sibyl—you have met Doctor Immanuel, I believe, my dear?—as I was saying, Sibyl, how about the san dals? I thought you were never go ing to wear shoes again." "My dear uncle," said the young lady, patting the old man condescend ingly upon the arm, "I still believe that shoes are contrary to the laws of nature. But there ar6 too many more important things in life for me to spend my energies in a crusade against them. No! So long as war continues and nations massacre each other in the name of justice—" "Hello, Sibyl! Are you anti-militar ist now?" "Yes, uncle, I am. Mr. Axel has shown me the horrors of war. He has convinced me that only the spread of the faith can bring peace among men. When all nations are of one belief—" "The Mormons, Sibyl?" "The Saints," answered the girl with a look of mild reproach. "But see we are drifting round to the old topic and that, uncle, is naturally a painful one, so I will not detain you." With that she was gone, and pres ently we saw her engaged in earnest conversation with the Turkish ambas sador's wife, who was always sympa thetically inclined toward any new propaganda. "This Axel seems to have stirred -1 i*'.' ta TheTracer of Egos Chronicles of Dr. Phileas Immanuel, Soul Specialist Bp VICTOR ROUSSEAU MR. AXEL'S SHADY PAST Vf London," said the Turkish ambassa dor a little later. We had foregath ered again somehow each one of us felt an interest in kindly, erratic, im pulsivo Lady Sibyl. "Yes," answered the duke in tones of deep disgust. "But I never before heard that universal peace was what his people sought. I should say their aim is to stir up strife." "He has evidently played upon her anti-militarist convictions to secure a wealthy convert," put in the ambas sador. "No, I wouldn't say that," said the old duke, with a reluctant fairness. "I think the man is sincere. But he's one of those men who can persuade themselves that anything they want is true—a most dangerous condition of mind. Some of our Radical statesmen have it," he continued. The duke was violently Conservative. "Then," I suggested, "if Lady Sibyl is drawn toward the Mormons be cause she thinks they will establish peace, why not provoke Axel into combativeness in her presence?" The duke stared at me but did not answer. He was deeply distressed, and my words had passed him by idly. "It is curious," said Doctor Imman uel, "that the true meaning of Mor monism is not apparent. May I say without offense to you, Nourreddin Bey, that the Mormons are simply the ancient Mohammedans come back to earth?" "O, you won't hurt my feelings," answered Noureddin Bey, laughing. "But I confess that I don't see the parallel." "You mean that Mohammed was reincarnated as Joseph Smith?" asked the duke. "It is fascinatingly prepos terous." "On the contrary, the paralled is so close that I cannot see how any rea sonable man can doubt it," Immanuel answered. "It holds in every instance. Mohammed came, as Smith came, at a time when the old beliefs were break ing down. Each taught a creed com posed of a hodge-podge of Judaism and Christianity. Each had a special revelation from an angel, who gave him the text for his sacred book. Each was said to be epileptic. Each was driven out of his home town into a desert country and established a militant nation there. And mark my words, gentlemen, in MormoniBm America and the world have to face the greatest peril that the next cen tury will bring." "And each taught polygamy," said the duke thoughtfully. "But I un derstand that the Saints have ceased to advocate that doctrine. Confound it—my poor Sibyl! Once they get her to Utah God knows what they'll do with her. The fanatic who masquer ades as a reasonable man of the world is the hardest type to deal with." "Your theory is very interesting, doctor," said Noureddin Bey. "Can't you come to the rescue then? Can't you hypnotize this Axel and show him up as a desert savage reborn? I con fess that in a loose white robe and a turban he would present a picture not calculated to inspire his latest con vert." Immanuel did not answer, but pres ently he managed adroitly to bring me into conversation with the object of our solicitude. "I hear you sail for America short ly I said to her. "Yes," she answered. "For Salt Lake City, the headquarters of the propoganda." "Lady Sibyl," said Immanuel very earnestly, "do you understand the real meaning of Mormonism? My dear girl, you are dreadfully deceived. The Mormons are nothing but the early Mohammedans reborn on earth. There was some use for them in the seventh century, but there is no earthly use now. They are essential ly a throw-back, an anachronism—" "O, I've heard of your doctrines," laughed Lady Sibyl, "and you can't hurt my feelings. Mr. Axel is a peace' lover. He is sadly misrepresented. He wants to bring all the world under his faith, to establish peace, liberty and justice—" "Your Mr. Axel," answered the doc tor brusquely, "is, I have every rea son to believe, a certain Hajid, who, in the year 689, was sent to make converts of a Christian tribe living in the Lebanon, and, facing to win them, ruthlessly massacred seven hundred men, women and children, in cold blood. He was a smooth, plaus ible—" "That's quite enough, Doctor Im manuel," answered Lady Sibyl angrily. "If you Tiad ever come to our meet ings—" "Well, I'll mako a bargain with you. I'll come to your meeting next Sunday if you'll allow me to offer you evidence as to the truth of what I have said. Are you open to convic tion?" "I am always open to conviction," answered Lady Sibyl. "And I hope you are. Do come, doctor, and join our party for Utah on Saturday week." 'v -. No more was said, but that eve ning, as we sat in bur rooms, Doctor Immanuel outlined to me his r,an "It is a desperate chance," he said, "and I confess I am pot altogether sanguine of success. But it is worth trying. I fancy that the main trouble with Lady Sibyl is that she is an ideal ist she knows nothing of life, with its crudeness, its cruelties, its passions. She has always lived in the exalted region of the intellect. If she could see this Axel as an infuriated savage I think the shock would produce an intense reaction. Now I have been" to his meetings, for the psychology of conversion has a great attraction for me. He is a magnetic speaker, one who is what we call 'carried away.' When he preaches he 1b ac tually self-hypnotized. He says that he speaks as the spirit directs him, and I have not the slightest doubt that he is, at such moments, largely dominated by his former self—or role, rather, for the self does not change. Do you know the Kensington Taber nacle?" "No," I answered. "It is a large room, fitted up for meetings of a religious or secular character. It occupies the central portion of the building, and radiating out of it are numerous smaller rooms, which are also rented for the night to scientific and learned societies which bold their regular meetings there. Now here is my plan: if we can rent one of these rooms and make it the setting for our drama, and bring Axel in there while he is still under the emotional influence of his sermon, self-hypnotized, that is to say, it is possible that we may cap ture the elusive Hajid, bring him to the surface, and so display the eal man to Lady Sibyl." "There wasn't much peacefulness in Hajid," I said. "No, and there isn't in Axel. But there's more to come. I have been talking with Noureddin. I recollect that, when we were in Athens togeth- awfeaaaraaaaas^ THE HOPE PIONEER "HAJIDl" SAID THE DOCTOR AGAIN, BUT NOW IN ENGLISH, "YOU HAVE BEEN HIDDEN TOO LONG COME FORTH!" er, he used to own a famous old sword, said to have belonged to the prophet Mohammed himself, and an heirloom in his family. I asked him where it was and he tells me that it is in Paris, with some of his stored property. Now if we can get that weapon in time to make it the piece de resistance for our little drama— think of it, a sword which Hajid him self had doubtless often seen, which must have impressed itself indelibly upon his memory!—he may remem ber it. Are there not old Greek stories of heroes who recognized swords hanging in tempies which they had wielded in former lives? One doesn't forget a sword when one has been a soldier. Anyway, Noureddin is sending one of his secretaries to Paris with an order for it this eve ning, and there is every hope that by next Sunday we will be able to have It in place. And now, excuse me, for I must write to the Tabernacle to hire a room." It was not Doctor Immanuel's habit to talk much while his plans were maturing, and from the absence of any further discussion of the subject I drew favorable conclusions. It was not until the evening of the following Saturday that he alluded to the mat ter again. "Well," he began, removing his pipe from his mouth, "the sword has ar rived and is now safely housed, or rather suspended from the wall in Room 17 of the Tabernacle." "Good," I answered. "You have the stage setting completed?" "Everything. It is the exact repro duction of the interior of a Syrian house in the time of Mohammed, with divans, skins—loaned for the occasion by our friend Noureddin—pillows, antique vessels from the ambassa dor's house, and, last but most im portant, the sacred sword, which hangs suspended by a skein of cam el's hair over the couch of honor. It is crude, but it is good enough for a hypnotized man, who is ready to swear that a chair is a steamship if he is told so." "And who will be present? The duke?" "No. He says he has had enough of Axel and has done all he could, and feels no further responsibility if his niece chooses to make a fool of herself. You and I and the ambas sador and Lady Sibyl, who, by the way, is as ignorant as Axel of the trick we propose to play." "And the plan is—?" "To bring them into the room im mediately Axel has finished his ser mon. It is to be his farewell address, you know, for he sails for America today week, and he will be wrought up, no doubt, and in prime condition for the experiment. By the way, Lady Sibyl will be waiting for us to call at her rooms on Sunday evening and es cort her to the meeting." "Rooms? She doesn't live with her folks then?" "O dear, no. She is a member of some sisterhood now, pledged to im prove the world. Poor child she is thoroughly unpractical in everything." At seven o'clock on the Sunday night we called for Lady Sibyl. We found her housed, in a large building, the headquarters of the humanitarian association with which she was con nected, and about ten minutes' walk from the Tabernacle. She was not alone, however, for there was a young man present, and I had an unmistak able impression, when I entered, that there had been something of a scene between the two. "Allow me to introduce Mr. Car ruthers," said Lady Sibyl to us. "An other of my well-wishers," she added acidly, and I perceived that the acid ity of her tones was meant to con ceal some strong emotional stress. "Mr. Carruthers, like my uncle, wishes to dissuade me from going to America." "I would to heaven I could," burst out the young man in passionate JKWW tones. Of a sudden I became aware, as though Lady Sibyl herself had told me, that he was her lover. I gathered that she had broken the engagement in order to follow Axel to Salt Lake City. As we started toward the Tabernacle young Carruthers fell into step with me. "Do you know this Axel he asked. "Do you know what he preaches?" "He is a regular Mormon mission ary, I believe," I answered. "Are you in sympathy with this project of Lady Sibyl he asked earn estly. "No," I said, "I am not. Why?" "Because," he answered, "I am go ing to see him tonight, and when .he has finished his meeting, which I don't want to disturb, I am going to take him by the throat and shake his tursed head off his counfounded shoul ders." "Ah—well, we are going for much the same purpose," I answered. "So don't do anything rash, because we may succeed by milder measures." He looked at me hopefully but did not ask what our measures were. Soon afterward we were at the doors of the Tabernacle, and I presently found ourselves accommodated, with several other disciples and converts, upon the platform from which Axel was to speak. In front of us were long lines of benches, which grad ually filled with attendants. They were poor people, for the most part, and had in their eyes that look of pa tient, hopeless misery which one meets among the lower classes of London. To these souls, struggling against the hard material tyranny of their dally lives, unillumined by any spark of hope, it was evident that the gospel of Axel had come with the Force of a stunning revelation. I could easily imagine such people con verted into fanatics and martyrs, ready to shed their blood for the cause he preached, anxious to build up the new commonwealth, the new heaven on earth in the alkali wastes of Utah. Lady Sibyl was the only person there who was even moderately well gowned. I began to understand now how much her belief meant to Axel, not necessarily from a worldly point of view, for, to do the man justice, he was quite sincere, but as a bell wether for his precious flock. Then Axel came in from a private room, and when I set eyes on the man I knew that I was in the pres ence of one of those who are the mainstay of every cause the men of intense will,. purpose, and conviction who make martyrs and prophets. He might have stepped out of the desert and put on modern clothes, for he was brown and muscular as an Arab, his closely cropped hair was of a deep, lustrous black, and his black beard, ragged and uncombed, swept down, over his breast. He moved as though he were "strung" it was evident that he was prepared to make a thrilling appeal and .challenge to his auditors and as he entered and stepped light ly on the platform, acknowledging the greeting of those present by a curt, absent-minded nod, I heard mur murs of worship from the sordid fig ures upon the benches and saw the sunken eyes grow bright and the bent figures straighten. Then he was upon the platform and the services had be gun. It is no part of my task to deride the Mormon service. Except for the shocking incongruity, as it seemed to me, of introducing the name of Jo seph Smith into the hymns, it might have been any religious service and was conducted with perfect decorum. But, the prayers ended, Axel began to speak, and though I have heard many speakers I have never heard one who impressed me so forcibly. It was not elegance of diction, for his grammar was as free as his elo quent gestures it was not that he had the gift of the great orator rath er it seemed to be some magnetic force proceeding from the man. It almost carried me away. I closed my eyes and listened with rapture. I could well understand how be could bend Lady Sibyl to his sway, to say nothing of those others. He an nounced the end of his missionary campaign and pleaded, pleaded with his auditors to renounce the world and follow him and his band to far off Utah, to build up the nation of peace and righteousness. Immanuel said something which sounded like Amen. But it was not Amen. The sound seemed to sting the speaker as a whip stings a nervous, high-spirited horse. He started,, cast a glance at the doctor, and then pro ceeded with more abandon than be fore. His words poured like a lava torrent from his mouth. In the next interval Immanuel spoke again. This time there was no mistaking his word. They were "Allah il-Allah." And Axel seemed to lean toward him he swung round, facing him, and thumped his fist upon the desk and flung his arms aloft, as an an cient prophet might have done, de nouncing Baal. I understood the doc tor's purpose. He was beginning to recall to him the scene which was afterward to be burned into his brain, for the purpose of awakening his for gotten self. Axel ended in a thunder of ap plause. His auditors sprang from their seats and cheered, ran forward, sur rounded him. Lady Sibyl looked at me with brimming eyes. "Isn't he wonderful?" she said. "O, doctor, can't you believe now? Who else is he but a prophet of God?" Then I saw that. Immanuel had arisen and was standing immediately in front of Axel, staring into his eyes. It was a strange contrast the preacher, built in the mold of a hero, and the little Greek doctor, with his face upturned, and his mild brown eyes, just now fixed sternly upon those of the other. "Come!" said the doctor, and he placed his arm within the preacher's. He said something more, but it was too low for me to catch the words. Whether it was English or Arabic I do not know, but I felt that their two wills had met in combat and that the doctor had conquered. It seemed as though Axel were actually in a hyp notic condition, for he followed Im manuel without seeing any of his ad mirers, brushing them away, and went like a lamb in the direction of Room 17, and we all followed. Then Immanuel threw open the door and we trooped in, and somebody—Car ruthers, I think— closed it, and we were inside a Syrian house. It was like one of those little repro ductions of foreign scenery that one encounters at expositions it was at once genuine and yet unreal. The couches, with their Oriental cover ings, were such as might have been seen in any home the rugs were from the ambassador's own reception rooms, where I- myself had seen them the leopard skins, too, that strewed the floor, were such as one sees in furriers' shops. It did not im press me as spectacular—it was mere ly grotesque and ornate. Above our heads the sword, the yataghan of the prophet, Bwung with a slight oscillating movement from its support of woven camel hair. I saw Lady Sibyl look at the room in surprise Carruthers glanced at each of us, not understanding the Turkish ambassador, whom I had rec ognized on the platform, attired In rather rough clothes, and evidently desirous of concealing his identity, smiled slightly at me, as though in deprecation of the stage setting. But the next moment we were all looking at Axel. Doctor Immanuel, standing on tip toe, had placed his hands upon the great fellow's shoulders, and the mis sionary was swaying backward and forward, and staring into the doctor's eyes. "Hajid!" said Immanuel, and then followed some Arabic words whose meaning I did not know. Axel stopped rocking and his whole body became rigid as steel. His hands fell to his sides, his arms stif fened. "Hajid!" said the doctor again, but now in English. "You have been hid den too long. Come forth!" "What is the meaning of this tom foolery?" exclaimed Lady Sibyl in dignantly. "Mr. Axel—" "Speak to him, madam," said Im manuel blandly. "You will have hard work to find him." He addressed the figure again. "Hajid! I command you to come forth. Where have you been all these years?" The syllables fell haltingly and gut turally from Axel's lips. "To the Beni-Mizroum, of the Great Mountain," he answered heavily. "They would not embrace the faith taught by the prophet. Therefore I fulfilled my master's command." "What did you do, Hajid??" asked the Greek doctor. "I slew them—five hundred of them, grown men and children." "And the women?" "The women we carried away for wives." "You monster!" exclaimed Lady Sibyl's indignant voice. "Mr. Axel, I mean—what are you saying? O, he has gone insane!" "Look up, Hajid," said Doctor Im manuel, "and tell me what you see." He raised his head and his eyes fell upon the yataghan. Instantly, it seemed, pandemonium was let loose. He sprang for the blade, seized it, and brandished it, shouting unintel ligibly in Arabic. With his dishev eled clothes, his sweeping beard, his bloodshot eyes and fearful yells, he seemed like a demented man. He sprang at Lady Sibyl, clutched hei by the hair, and, still flourishing the sword, began to drag her round the room. Carruthers leaped at him Imman uel seized his arm and shouted, but he was beyond the reach of words. We fought all round the room, stum bling over the rugs and tije couch coverings, bruising ourselves against the walls his strength was about equal to the combined strength of us all, and the most we could achieve was to prevent him from wounding any of us with the sword. At last we had released Lady Sibyl and had him down, pinned under our united weight. Just at that moment the door was flung open and two policemen ap peared. "It's Mr. Axel, the missionary. He has gone mad!" panted the Turkish ambassador. I' recollect that he was seated on Axel's head, and I remem bered that that is what we do to horses, to keep them still when they have fallen. They got his hands into the hand cuffs, and somebody procured an am bulance. The crowd outside the hall filled the street The evening news papers brought out special editions which were shonted all over London. When at last we found ourselves alone Lady Sibyl collapsed into Car ruther's arms. "What a terrible experience!" she moaned. "O, Raby, can you ever for give me? To think that I was so near to sailing with a maniac! Why, he might have murdered me. And' he pulled out a great handful of hair, and mine is none too thick," she sobbed. To my mind this tardy awakening to the virtues of beauty was the most hopeful sign of Lady Sibyl's conver sion. "But that proves nothing, Imman uel," said the Turkish ambassador the next day. "You hypnotized him and told him he was an Arab—that's all. You can't prove that he was an Arab, you know." "The proof," said Immanuel blandly, "rests with you. I have pragmatical ly proved my case, for I have saved Lady Sibyl. Do you think she'll fall into his clutches again when he gets free?" "Not if Carruthers knows it," an swered. Noureddin Bey. "I fancy, too, that the man is thoroughly discredit ed now. To be taken raving to an insane asylum would discredit any prophet in the modern world. Be sides, don't you know that Lady Sibyl is growing enthusiastic about the mixed nut diet?" (Copyright, 1917, by TV. G. Chapman.) Look Out for Fire. If you camp on state lands or a na tional forest reserve, be sure to look up the local regulations concerning fires, as they vary considerably in different states. Violators are subject to ar rest, but the good camper will keep strictly to the letter of the law and avoid trouble. Above all, be sure that all fires are extinguished before leaving camp, even for the day. Smokers should be particularly careful not to drop a lighted match or cigar butt, or even the hot dottel from a pipe. Hor ace Kephart says, speaking of forest fires: "The person whose carelessness starts such a holocaust is worse than a fool—he is a criminal, and a disgrace to the good earth he treads." These are strong words, but well deserved.— Outing. Gum Arabic. Gum arable naturally exudes from the bark of Acacia Senegal, a tree nu? tlve to North Africa. Other species of Acacia nre drawn upon, though yield ing a slightly Inferior product. Trnga canth is from shrubs of Astragalus, a native of Asia. While Astragalus is common in western America none of them seems to be of value for traga canth. The most shrubby local spe cies is A. Braiintftnll. I