The Wreck of the South Pole and Other Strange Tales — page 70: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Wreck of the South Pole. 63 him in compassing your destruction. If this were the case it would have been easy for him to have arranged for several of them to be on the island that day waiting an opportunity to kill you in a manner which could not be laid upon him. As he was with us, he knew we would be upon the alert, and would know that he exerted no power himself. Then if his friends could accomplish his purpose no charge could be made against him.”’ 3 “But if others were there on the island, how could they conceal themselves so effectually? You saw no one when the rock fell?” “You forget that they were all in their astral bodies, and that the astral body is invisible at will.” “To-day I will make an investigation and learn if any of the people I suspect were away on a journey to-day, and if so, will consider my suspicions correct.” The next evening Costa came to my room and said: “Mr. Wilding, six of the revolutionary society I spoke of were absent yesterday. This affair of yours has be- come so complicated that there is only one help for you. We must apply to the Great Dissembler. I will introduce you to him this evening.” Accordingly we sallied out and walked to a villa about a mile from the Costa residence. We found a man whose head and face denoted power more strongly than-any head and face I had ever seen. And yet the face was.a perfect blank, as to expression. It was a sphinx head. I could no more have told from it what the man was thinking of conniclooolk (CO)