From a chamois wallet he took bits of assafœtida, alum, and sulphur, and threw them on the heated coals. As their combined fumes permeated the air, he touched a spring in the side of one of the marble basins, and a thin, smooth slab slipped out. Hastily covering it with a chamois skin, he produced writing materials from the jar which had contained the robe he wore, and prepared to write. He had scarcely seated himself on an overturned stone before he was entranced. “Thy Brother in Lassa, on the Brahmaputra, sends thee greeting! “All save the high regions of the Himalayas, where our monastery is situated, are sorely pressed by raging flood. “The heavens have opened. The plains with their chains of mountains, rivers, lakes and inland seas, have been suddenly heaved up. “Fire lurks in the hidden depths, and the beds of the sea vibrate and tremble. Its waves hide islands and continents in its abysses. “The sun’s rays drink up the scattered waters, and pour them down again, mingling with the rivers and the ocean. “They cover the plains, filling the valleys, roaring around the fire mountains, hollowing out the slopes, and surging up to their summits. In it are swallowed flocks and pasturage, forests and wild beasts, fields and crops, towns and hamlets, with myriads of mortals.” Akaza held the rod to his forehead, and sent an answering message, detailing fully all that had happened here. “Sign and seal thy parchment, and restore to its hidden place. The spirit of fire hovers near thee. Prepare to go out in peace. Thy pilgrimage is at an end. “Thou art in the place of destruction, and Truth will hide her face there until thou art again incarnate. May thy birth into light be speedy and joyful. “Accept the love of thy brother and servant, “Kadmon the Patriarch.” Akaza put the manuscript into a jar and sealed it, and with infinite pains closed the steplike opening through which he had entered Gautavita. Then, realizing that he had received his last summons, he laid him down peacefully to sleep.[13] CHAPTER TWENTY THE DORADO FACED UTTER NEGATION OF SELF In returning to Iaqua from the temple, Yermah stopped to inspect the work being done by a company of warrior-priests on the cracked and broken wall surrounding the public gardens. These men had already restored the aqueducts, so that danger of a water famine no longer threatened Tlamco. The still terrified populace were totally incapable of consecutive action. Not one of them doubted that the destructive agencies at work would blot them out. All of the secular temples were crowded constantly, and the voice of prayer and supplication rose above the low rumblings still going on in the earth.