My first piece of preparation caused me to smile inwardly, but it at least implied belief in a successful issue of my plan. It consisted in extracting a number of gems from various ornaments which had been bestowed on me for the decoration of my person, had I been so minded. From these I cautiously removed a quantity of sapphires, alexandrites and other precious stones, which I enclosed in a small leather bag attached to a stout gold chain round my neck. Without such a reserve of potential capital I scarcely relished the prospect of my return in the form of a pauper to my native Earth, where that ancient deity Mammon draws a conspicuous following in every cult, and is likewise the leading, if not the sole, guide of the irreligious. Without the possession of such a talisman, I knew I should be liable to exposure to many ills and indignities; and I congratulated myself on my forethought in this measure of precaution, and also on my retentive memory concerning the universal conditions of the Earth at the date of my removal. Having completed this minor preliminary detail, I proceeded to greater things. Now the sacred mountain stands at a considerable distance from Tamarida, and in no case would it have been possible for me (setting aside the existence of watchers and spies in the palace itself) to make my way thither within the few hours of darkness on which I was compelled to rely for the execution of my plan. I therefore decided to pay a visit to a nobleman named Lotta, who owned an estate that was bounded by the ravine separating the area of Mount Crystal from the mainland. For the mountain itself is a peninsula, washed on three sides by the sea, whilst the fourth side consists of a long narrow arid gully which is crossed at one spot by a viaduct. The precincts of Mount Crystal are, as I have already said, the property of the hierarchy, and nobody is permitted to enter this reserved domain save the councillors and their servants, who approach by this solitary bridge. In vulgar esteem the thick forests and rocky glens of the forbidden space are haunted by evil spirits, so that I felt sure no Meleagrian of the people would venture to scale its precipitous slopes, even by daylight; whilst no noble would naturally intrude on this sacrosanct spot. From these deductions therefore I concluded that the sole means of ingress, the viaduct, was not likely to be guarded with any great strength or vigilance, seeing how little fear of a trespasser there must be on the part of the custodians of the place. Having reasoned so far, I had also formed the opinion that, the bridge once safely traversed, there would be little to hinder my speedy arrival at the temple itself, beyond which my present calculations did not extend.