ten o'clock
Their faces , however , had a peculiar , ashen-grey colour , very different from the healthy brown of my companion 's , and I observed , on stooping my head , that only the whites of their eyes were visible , the balls being turned upwards beneath the lids . In front of them upon a small mat lay an earthenware pitcher of water and half-a-loaf of bread , together with a sheet of paper inscribed with certain cabalistic characters . Ram Singh glanced at these , and then , motioning to me to withdraw , followed me out into the garden . `` I am not to disturb them until ten o'clock , '' he said . `` You have now seen in operation one of the grandest results of our occult philosophy , the dissociation of spirit from body . Not only are the spirits of these holy men standing at the present moment by the banks of the Ganges , but those spirits are clothed in a material covering so identical with their real bodies that none of the faithful will ever doubt that Lal Hoomi and Mowdar Khan are actually among them . This is accomplished by our power of resolving an object into its chemical atoms , of conveying these atoms with a speed which exceeds that of lightning to any given spot , and of there re-precipitating them and compelling them to retake their original form .