child would be?"

"Almost certainly blind," I replied; "beyond which my imagination fails
me."

"Then I will inform you, Mr. Knox. It would be a demon."

"What!" I cried, and was momentarily touched with the fear that this
was a brilliant madman.

"Listen," he said, and pointed with the stem of his pipe. "Why, in all
ancient creeds, is Hades depicted as below? For the simple reason that
could such a spot exist and be inhabited, it must be _sunless_,
when it could only be inhabited by devils; and what are devils but
creatures without souls?"

"You mean that a child born beyond reach of the sun's influence would
have no soul?"

"Such is my meaning, Mr. Knox. Do you begin to see the importance of my
experiment with the lotus seeds?"

I shook my head slowly. Whereupon, laying his corn-cob upon the desk,
Colin Camber burst into a fit of boyish laughter, which seemed to
rejuvenate him again, which wiped out the image of the magus
completely, and only left before me a very human student of strange
subjects, and withal a fascinating companion.

"I fear, sir," he said, presently, "that my steps have led me farther
into the wilderness than it has been your fate to penetrate. The whole