Any one can do it, who knows how." One of the men approached the fire again.

He sat down on it, and went through the motions of bathing himself in the white-hot flame, turning his head repeatedly to grin at us.

Then, lying down full-length, he rolled from end to end of the furnace, and walked away at last as casually as if he had come out of a bath.

It was perfectly astonishing stuff to watch.
"If this isn't superstition, or mesmerism, or deception of some kind, why do you insist on all this mummery of soot and ashes for my friend and me ?" King demanded.

"Why do you use a temple full of Hindu idols to conceal your science, if it is a natural science and not trickery ?" The Gray Mahatma smiled tolerantly.
"Can you suggest a better way of keeping the secret ?" he answered.