Grade of Elect of the Nine and the Unknown Elect

eyes without speaking, and leads him into the dark room, where he places him standing facing a table covered with a black carpet on which is a skull, on the left a lit lamp, and on the right a Carafe full of Water; in front of the head, a Dagger; behind, on an elevated spot, is a board on which is written Vengeance. The master, upon leaving the candidate, says: "Do not move from the situation you are in for a NB miserere a short duration/moment of prayer; after this time you shall unbind your eyes; follow my orders exactly under pain of never being admitted into the grade of Elu. Drink what you find." Then he withdraws and closes the door. An instant later he returns and tells him to take the head and the dagger. He leads him to the door of the lodge and strikes nine knocks; one answers inside in the same way, and asks what he wishes. The Master of Ceremonies answers: "It is a master who asks to be received as an Elu." The Warden asks: "Is he worthy of this grade?" One answers: "So much the more worthy, as what he has just done is alone capable of deserving it, if he had not already given proofs of zeal." This done, the Venerable says: "Make him Enter." The Warden opens the door and leads him to the West, and during this time the masters are standing. The Venerable threatens with his dagger, saying: "N.M." All the masters place their right hand on their forehead, saying: "Vengeance." After which the Venerable says to the Warden: "Make him advance by 3 steps." These 3 steps are made with Precipitation, as if one wished to strike a dagger blow on the head of a person, and at the 3rd, he lowers his head and kneels, always holding the skull and the dagger. He promises to reveal nothing of what has just been communicated to him and must, in the ordinary manner, and returns it to the Warden, saying to have him sit to his left. There is never more than one Warden. Then the Venerable gives the following speech: "What you have just seen and done is precisely, Venerable Brother, what was executed by one of the favorites sent by Solomon to avenge the death of Hiram. You have not forgotten that Solomon had no sooner learned that Hiram was missing, and, not being able to discover what had become of him, he stopped the works and said that no one would be paid until he was found, dead or alive. Consequently, the masters assembled and deputized a number to look for him. One of them, named Stokin, found him assassinated, as you were told at your reception as master, under a Branch of acacia. The corpse found was en-

-sevelied pompously. Solomon had an Edict published with a promise to reward the one who would discover the murderer and grace to the guilty, and to keep them in their Employments if they came to confess themselves. Much time passed without discovering anything. Solomon being with his favorites, his Captain comes to announce to him an unknown who wished to speak to him in private for a secret affair. Solomon entered his cabinet and, after having spoken with the unknown, he rejoined the assembly and said to them: "One has just discovered the assassin to me; I have been told the place where he retires. We will lead there those who wish to go to arrest the villain, to avenge upon him the death of the master of masters." Then all cried Vengeance and offered to follow the unknown on the spot. Solomon represented to them that it was not necessary that they should all be there; he halted the Zeal by saying to them: "That remarking in them the same ardor of Vengeance, he would choose none, but that fate would decide it." Then they passed to the ballot, in which were put all the names of the assembly, of the number of which nine were elected to go to arrest the murderer. They left on the spot with the unknown, who, by stopping after a long march, showed them a Cave at the foot of a burning bush where this monster was. Then one of the nine, having consulted only the desire to punish the Guilty, ran without reflection into the Cave, where he perceived by the light of a Lamp the traitor; opposite him was a dagger; he took it, threw himself, furious, upon Abhiram, and gave him a blow on the head from which he died, while pronouncing N.M., which signify Vengeance. Then the master who had just purged the earth of this monster (by too much Zeal) cut off his head and, having perceived a source of water in the Cave, quenched his thirst there. Still holding the head and the dagger, he went straight to Solomon, followed by the eight other masters, presented the head of the murderer to him to mark to him that the vengeance had been executed as he had ordered it, and that this traitor had not escaped. What I have just told you is your reception, which tells you incessantly that crime is never unpunished; never lose sight of it, and keep for your brothers the friendship that you owe them." — Here the very Venerable gives the Sash, which is worn as a Bandolier from the left shoulder to the right side, saying: "I remit this dagger to you, not for you to use it, but to remind you that it was employed to avenge the crime by punishing the criminal; it is with this view that we adorn you with it and that you must wear it." The Lodge opens and closes as has been said heretofore, if not when