Thomas County cat., 1890-01-16

kE1H34 EiSSSSS breast! f1OW OedOly ldl
1s.N-= she seemed in the fain
H - Eght-thiS woman thu
@E= story Of whose beauty
u and whose sin shall outlive the
lN'Y solid mass of mighty pyramid thai
lowered over us! The heaviness of hel
swoon had smoothed away all the false
ness of her face, and naught was left
but the stamp divine of woman's richest
loveliness, softened by shadows of the night
and dIgnified by the cast of deathlike sleep.
gazed upon her and all my heart went out
to her; it seemed that l did but love her
more because of the depth of the treasons
wherein had sunk to reach her, and be
cause Of the terrorS we had Outfaced TO-
gether. Weary and spent with fears and
the pangs of guilt, my heart sought hers
for rest, for now she alone was left to me.
She had sworn to wed me Also and with
the treasure we had won we would make
Egypt strong and free her from her foes,
and all should yet be well All! could |
have seen the picture that was to be, how,
and in what place and circumstances, once
again this very woman's head should be
laid upon my knee, pale with that cast of
death! An! could l have seen!
chafed her hand between my hands. I
bent me and kissed her on the lips. and she
woke. She woke with little sob Of fear
a shiver ran down her delicate limbs; and
with wide eyes she stared upon my face.
''Ah, it Is thou!" she said Il mind me
thou hast saved me from that horror
haunted place!' And she threw her arms
about my neck and drew me to her and
kissed me. "Come, love-" she said, 'let US
be going l am sore athirst, and-ah
SO very weary The gems, too, they chafe
my breast! Never was wealth so hardly
won! Come, let US be going from the
shadow Of this ghosLly spot! See the faint
lights glanclng from the wing of Dawn !!
How beautiful they are, and how sweet to
behold! Never, in those Halls of Eternal
Night, did think to look upon the blush of
dawn again! All! l can see the face of
that dead slave yet, with the Horror hang
ing to his beardless chin Betnink thee!--
there he'll SIT forever-there-with the
horror! Come; where may we find water!
! would give an emerald for cup of watern'
'At the canal at the borders of the titled
land below the temple of Horemku-it is
close at hand,' l answered. "If any see
us, we will say that we are pilgrims who
have lost our way at night among the
tombs. Vail thyself closely, therefore,
SleOpdlTd, anu beware leSC tuOu QOSI snow
aught of those gems about thee"
SO she vailed herself, and lifted her on
to the ass which was tetbered close at hand.
We walked slowly through the sand till we
came to the place where the symbol of thu
God Horemku. fashioned rs a mighty sphinx
(whom the Greeks call Harmachis), and
crowned with the royal crown of Egypt,
looks out in majesty across the land, his
eyes ever fixed upon the East. Even as we
walked the first arrow of the rising sun
quiverud through the gray air, striking
upon Horemku's lips of holy calm Then the
light gathered and grew upon the cleaning
sides of twenty pyramids, and, like prom
Use of Life to Death. rested on the portals of
ten thousand tombs. Then from his horizon
bed Royal Ra rose up in pomp, and it was
day.
And passing the temple of granite and of
alabaster that was built before the days Of
Chufu, to the glory of the majesty of Hor-
emku, we descended the slope and came to
the water of the canal. There we drank;
and sweeter was that draught of muddy
water than all the choicest wine of Alex
andria. Also we washed the mummy dust
AM CRIME from our hands and brows and
made us clean. Aud as she bathed her
neck, STOPPING over the water, one of the
great emeralds slipped from Cleopatra's
breast and fell into the water, and 1t was
but by chance that at length found it in
the mire. Then, once more, l lifted Cleo
patra on to the beast, and slowly, for was
very weary, we marched back to the banks
of Sihor, where our craft was. And having
at length come thither, seeing no one save
some few peasants going out TO labor on the
dc / srr,- nod = snn %t,o<
field where we had found him, and we
boarded the craft while the crew were yet
sleeping. Then, waking them, we bade
them make all sail, saying that we had left
the euuuch to sojourl awhile behind us, as
in truth we had. So we sailed, and the
gems, with such of the ornaments OF gold
as we coulC. bring hither, we hid away
Four days and more we spent in coming
to Alexandria, for the wind was for the
most part against US: and they were happy
daysl AT first, indeed, Cleopatra was
somewhat silent and heavy at heart, for
what she had seen and felt in the womb Of
the pyramid weighed her down But soon
her imperial spirit awoke and shook the
burden from her breast and she became
herse1 agalu-now gay, now learned; now
loving and now cold: now Queenly and now
altogether simple-ever changing as the
winds OF heaven, and, as the heaven, deep,
beauteous and unsearchable!
Night after night for those four unhappy
nights, the last happy hours / ever was to
know, we sat hand in hand upon the deck
and heard the waters lap the vessels side,
and watched the soft football of the moon
as she trod the depths Of the Nile. There
we sat and talked of love, talked of our
marriage and all that we would do. Also
drew up plans of war and of defense against
the Roman, which now we had the means
to carry out; and she approved them,
sweetly saying that what seemed good to
me was good to her. And so all too swiftly
passed the days. . those nights upon the
Nile! their memory haunts me yet! Dead
are those dear nights, dead is the moon
that Lit them and lost in the wide salt sea
are the waters which rocked'us on their
breastl For all things end in darkness and
ashes, and those who sow in folly shall reap
in sorrow. All! those nights upon the Nilei