He swung round to show his red girdle and the amulet on his chest. Necks were craned; no eye missed these details. These were the insignia which soon were to cause an ancient dynasty to totter to its grave.
On the ground the neophyte lay steeped in the deepest unconsciousness. The crowd had reached the greatest proportions. Packed suffocatingly together, they watched every gesture and every development, chained to the spot by a subtle hysterical impulse. A keen observer might have said that they had long been waiting for this message. Wang the Ninth stood like the rest consumed with curiosity, until suddenly the neophyte on the ground slightly stirred. Now his eyes opened; he raised himself with a start; and then suddenly sprang to his feet as if possessed. He made a number of dramatic athletic gestures, as his leader touched him on the arm.
"I am born anew," he exclaimed loudly. "My body has received a spirit. I go to the Temple to receive my new name." Then, before most of them could see what had happened, the men with the blood-girdles, had forced a passage through the crowd, taking the neophyte with them to the Temple to receive his baptism.
That night in the stables Wang the Ninth sat up very late telling his mates what he had seen, and indulging in pantomime to demonstrate exactly what had taken place. The rites had strangely impressed him.
"The sword is held close to the eyes like that," he said, showing them with a stick. "Certain powers are given: otherwise how comes it that the sword draws no blood?"
The others had nothing to say. They were like children confronted by the unknown. They were mystified, and attracted as well. Yet all sensed danger; in their rough way they declared it "was not a good business," particularly for those in foreign employ.
The next day, at the first idle moment, they all sallied out to see if there would be any repetition of the demonstration. All in the foreign quarter were talking of the matter; for many foreigners' servants had witnessed what had taken place the previous day and were also dimly disturbed. But to their relief they learnt that the matter had been reported to the authorities, and that fearing disturbances the new brotherhood had been warned to keep outside the city limits. They were now practising, it was said, on the sands outside the city walls.
For some days nothing happened and the idle talk began to die down. Then one afternoon all the stable-hands were requisitioned to ride with their master; and Wang the Ninth went to riding a white pony.
They sallied out of the city after their wont in a compact body. That day it was the master's whim to ride far and wide—into the country where a whole valley is given up to the walled burial-places of princes and other great dead. It was evening ere they turned back, the master leading the way home on his big black horse.
Just outside one of the city gates they came on a group of men standing in a little knot. They had a banner with them stuck in the ground. Wang the Ninth instantly recognized what it was.