Having surmounted my first impulse of awe, I watched these
proceedings, curious yet disdainful, as one who watches the
mummeries of an enchanter on the stage.

"If," thought I, "these are but artful devices to inebriate and
fool my own imagination, my imagination is on its guard, and reason
shall not, this time, sleep at her post!"

"And now," said Margrave, "I consign to you the easy task by which
you are to merit your share of the elixir. It is my task to feed
and replenish the caldron; it is Ayesha's to feed the fire, which
must not for a moment relax in its measured and steady heat. Your
task is the lightest of all: it is but to renew from this vessel
the fluid that burns in the lamps, and on the ring. Observe, the
contents of the vessel must be thriftily husbanded; there is
enough, but not more than enough, to sustain the light in the
lamps, on the lines traced round the caldron, and on the farther
ring, for six hours. The compounds dissolved in this fluid are
scarce--only obtainable in the East, and even in the East months
might have passed before I could have increased my supply. I had
no months to waste. Replenish, then, the light only when it begins
to flicker or fade. Take heed, above all, that no part of the
outer ring--no, not an inch--and no lamp of the twelve, that are to
its zodiac like stars, fade for one moment in darkness."

I took the crystal vessel from his hand.

"The vessel is small," said I, "and what is yet left of its
contents is but scanty; whether its drops suffice to replenish the
lights I cannot guess--I can but obey your instructions. But, more