Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-25

front in defiance Of time high above the tawn,
sands OF the desert. The night was very sultry
even here on this high and roomy summit
The broad. deep slab Of granite was still warn
with sunshine gone away, and gave out hea
like dying furnace. The steep and arduou
ascent had taxed her strength, and unloosins
her robe as turned to examine more miuutel,
our strange quarters on the top Of this loft,
tomb or temple, she sank to rest half recIinins
on her arni, her chin in her upturned palm
her face lifted away toward the rising moon.
Half dozen PAGES to the right saw two tai
and ponderous columns of granite standing in
line with those that supported the great slat
on which she rested. Evidently these grand
and solitary columns had also been topped b,
granite slabs. But these had fallen to the
ground under the leveling feet Of many cen.
turtles and now lay almost swallowed up in the
sea OF yellow sands below. / put out my foot
carefully, trying to reach the broad top of the
nearest column of granite, but it was beyond
me. Stepping back couple Of PAGES and
quietly removing my boots l gathered up my
strength and made q leap, landing almost in
the center of the columns top A half steu
backward, another leap-who could resist the
challenge Of that lone and kingly column that
remained? / landed securely as before, then
turned about. Her face had not lifted an in
slant from the awful majesty of the orient
Slowly, YEARLY. the immense moon came
shoulderIng up through the seas OF yellow
sand. These pillows OF sand seemed to breathe
and TO move. The expiring heat of the de-
parted sun made them sclntlllate and simmer
in a soft and uudulating light. And yet 1t was
not light; only the lone and solemn ghost of a
departed day. Yellow and huge and startling
stood the moon at last, full grown and fearful
in its nearness and immensely, on the topmost
lift OF yellow sands in the yellow seas before
US. Distance seemed to be annihilated
The moon seemed to have forgotten her
place and all proportion. Looking down into
tba IIan n la h..
less chasm. And it seemed SO far awayl And
the moon very neari
Black as the blacklist Egypt rolled the
somber Nile down and on and ON through this
world of yellow light; this light that was not
light. Silence, desolation, death Law on all
things below, about. above. The west was
molten yellow gold. faint and fading it is true;
but where the yellow sands left off and the
yellow skies began no man could say or guess
save by the yellow stars that studded the west
with an intense yellow.
Yellow to the right and yellow to the left,
yellow over head and yellow under foot, with
only this endless chasm Of Erebus cleaving the
yellow earth in halves with its bottomless pit
of endless and indissoluble blackness
After time-and all the world still one sea
Of softened yellow torn in two by Charon's
chasm Of black waters-1 silently leapt back
replaced my boots on my feet and then held nv
breath. For i had seen. or perhaps felt an
object move on the lifted levels of sand be-
tween US and the moon.
Cautiously / sank down on my breast and
peered low and long up the horizon. l saw,
heard nothing. CHANGING around TO where NV
companion lay, saw that she still had not
stirred from the half-reclining position she had
first taken, with half-lifted face in her up
turned palm.
Then she had seen nothing, heard nothing.
This, however, did not argue much Her life
had not been of the desert. She had spent her
years In the study of men and women l had
spent mine with wild beasts. / could trust her
TO detect motives III men, give the warning note
OF danger from dangerous men; but the wild
beasts and wilder men Of the border were mine
to watch and battle with not hers
She had seen nothing. Evidently she feared
nothing, and 20 was resting, resting in mind as
III BODY. And as l glanced again over nv
shoulder and saw how entirely content she
seemed, / was glad Surely she depended en-
tirely on me; on my watchfulness and my cour-
age. And this made ME more watchful and more
resoluts and stout OF heart. A man likes to be
trusted. A true man likes a true woman's
trust much indeed. strong man likes to be
leaned upon. 1t makes him stronger, Drawer,
better. Let women never forget this. Admit
that she, too. has her days of suengt tn and en-
durance. and admit that she, too, has her pecu-
liar fortress of strength aud courage. and these
also man respects and regards with piteous
tenderness. But man, incapable of her finer
and loftier courage and endurance resents her
invasion Of his prerogative.
1t IS only a womany man who can love a
manly woman. But to continue. Looking up
a third time to this woman at my side saw
that she had let her head sink low on her lean
ing arm. She surely sleeping. Now, l
liked her trust and her faith in me- And how
l liked her courage, too, and her high quality
of endurance. 1t her courage that had
brought me up here this night to the contem-
plation of awful and all glorious Africa.
silently and without lifting finger she had
shown me a world of FURNISHED gold l had
surely seen God through her. We stood nearer
together now than ever before. This single
hour of undesirable glory should forever
stand as an altar IN the desert. Our souls had
melted and flown and tided on, intermingled
like mo-, gold in the golden atmosphere and
the yellow scene that wrapped us round about,
ana no word had been said. When God speaks
so audiblv let man be silent.
must have looked longer on the sleeping
and trustiul woman at my side than ought to
have looked, for on turning my eyes Eaiu to
the horizon there distinctly, on the yellow
sand and under the yellow moon moved
as cat yet graceful and grand
the most klngly beast i ever beheld He did
not look right nor left, but moved along with
huge head In the air slow and stately and tri-
umphant In his fearful symmetry and strength