“But,” she replied, “I know not what to ask. Teach me from the beginning. Thy city is planted in the midst of an impenetrable desert, and thy people seem few in number, and yet thou sayest thou wilt make me queen of the world. How can this be?” “Power,” he replied, “does not lie in numbers. We have weapons unknown to the rest of the world. The secret of our strength I will explain.” “Then,” she continued, “I would fain know by what spell all thy fellows are kept in such perfect obedience. And strange words of thine run in mine ears,—of death and sleep, of a king above thee in power, and of vice-regents whom thou canst consult. Even in this glaring sun the air seems laden with foreboding. If thou wouldst gain my love and confidence, clear away all these mysteries; for they seem to me in many respects contrary to nature, and certain in the end to bring down the wrath of the immortal gods.” CHAPTER XV. THE DOOM OF THE FIRST THOTH. “The immortal gods,” said Thoth, “are but the vague memories of great men, distorted in passing from generation to generation.” Daphne shuddered. “Dost thou not fear to speak thus?” “I fear not,” he said, “to speak the truth. But listen and judge for thyself if the first Thoth, who was born more than two thousand years ago, is not greater and more to be feared than any god recorded in Grecian fables. Thou seest yonder the roof of a large building into which thou hast not yet entered. In that structure sleeps the first Thoth, surrounded by many generations of his direct descendants. Consider this well, for what I say I mean in all its fulness. This king and his vice-regents are not dead, but sleeping. Thou hast heard of the custom of the Egyptians of embalming their dead. That is but a foolish ceremony, the reason of which has long been lost,—it is the husk of the kernel of Thoth’s reason. He discovered a perfect method of suspending life for an indefinite period, and in the prime of his life his son and vice-regent, in accordance therewith, laid him down to sleep. He and his brethren also, at the appointed age, were clothed with the appearance of death, and a new vice-regent appointed. For one day in every generation our great father is roused from his sleep, to invest his vice-regent with authority. I myself was so invested; I myself have spoken face to face with this most ancient one. Never on this earth was any solemnity practised by man so calculated to ensure reverence and obedience. From the middle of the throng of deathlike sleepers this man rises up, and in a short time feels again the full tide of life in his veins. He listens to the progress made in the achievement of his plans, and the growth of the power of his race. He commands his latest descendants to obey the new vice-regent, and having for one day put in force his reason and will, he again surrenders himself to sleep.”