The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-11-07
VOL. XXVII.-NO. 1.

tendants and rushed through hall and cor
ridor to my Atma's chamber. She lay
upon her couch, her head high upon the
pillow, with pallid face and a glazed eye.
On her forehead there blazed single
angry purple patch I knew that hell
mark of old. 1t was the scar of the white
plaugue, the sign-manual of death.
"Why should | speak of that terrible
time? For months | was mad, levered,
delirious, and yet | could not die. Never
did an Arab thirst after the sweet well as
| longed after death. Could poison or
steel have shortened the thread of my ex-
istence | should soon have rejoined my
love in the land with the narrow portal.
| tried but it was ofno avail. The accursed
influence was too strong upon me. One
night as lay upon my couch, weak and
weary, Parmes, the priest of Thoth, came
to my chamber. He stood in the circle of
the lamplight, .and he looked down upon
me with eyes which were bright with a
mad joy.
why did you let the maiden die ? he
asked "Why did you not strengthen her
you strengthed me ?"
az was too late,' | answered. "But l
had forgot. You also loved her You are
my fellow in misfortune. Is it not terrible
to think of the centuries which must past
ere we look upen her again d? Fools, fools,
that we were to take death to be our enc
my!
"'You may say that, he cried with a
wild laugh; the words come well from
your lips For me, they have no meaning.
"'What mean you? | cried, raising my
self upon my elbow. Surely, friend, this
grief has turned your brain His face was
ahame with joy, and he writhed and shook
like one who hath devil.
"'Do you know whittier | go?' he
asked.
"'Nay,' l answered, Il cannot tell. 10
"'I 90 to her, said he. She lies embalm-
ed in the further tomb by the double palm
tree beyond the city wall
"'Why do you go there?' | asked.
'''To die 7 he shrieked, to dier am
not bound by earthen fetters.'
"'But the elixir is in your blood, l
cried
az can defy it, said he; 4 have found
a stronger principle which will destroy it.
1t is working in my veins at this moment,
and in an hour | shall be dead man. |
shall join her and you shall remain behind.
Gas l looked upon him | could see that
he spoke words of truth. The light in his
eye told me that he was indeed beyond the
power of the elixir.
'.'You will teach me = | cried.
"'Never : he answered.
"I implore you, by the wisdom Of
Thoth, by the majesty Of Anubis :
"'Tt is useless, he said coldly.
'''Then | will find it out | cried.
"'You cannot, he answered; it came
to me by chance There is one ingredient
which you can never get. Save that which
is in the ring of Thoth none will ever more
be made.
In the ring of Thothr l repeated;
where, then, is the ring of Thoth !?
"'That also you shall never know, he
answered You won her love- Who has
won in the end? He turned upon his heel
and fled from the chamber In the morn
ing came the news that the priest of Thoth
was dead.
"My days after that were spent in study.
| must find this subtle poison which was
strong enough to undo the elixir. From
early dawn to midnight bent over
the test tube and furnace. Above all,
collected the papyri and the chemical TASKS
of the priest of Thoth. Alas they taught
me little. Here and there some hint or
stray expression would raise hope in my
bosom, but no good ever came of it, Still,
month after month, struggled on. When
my heart grew faint would make my way
to the tomb by the palm trees. There
standing by the dead casket from which
the Jewel had been rifed | would see her
sweet presence and would whisper to her
that | would rejoin her if mortal wit could
solve the riddle.
"Parmes had said that his discovery was
connected with the ring of Thoth | had
some remembrance of the trinket. 1t was
a large and weighty circlet made, not of
gold, but Of a rarer and heavier metal
brought from the mines of Mt. Harbal
Plantinum, you call it. The ring had, I
remembered, hollow crystal set in it, in
which some few drops of liquid might be
stored. Now, the secret of Parmes could
not have to do with the metal alone, for
there were many rings of that metal in the
temple Was 1t not more likely that he
had stored his precious poison within the
cavity of the crystal | had scarce come
to this conclusion before, in hunting
through his papers, came upon one which
told me that it was indeed So and that
there was still some of the liquid unused
''But how to find the ring? TWAS not
upon him when he was stripped for the
embalmer. OF that | made sure. Neither
was it among his private effects. In vain
| seached every room that he had entered
every box and vase and chattel that he had
owned. siited the very sand of the de-
sert in the places where he had been wont
to walk; but, do what | would, | could
come upon no traces of the ring of Thoth.
Yet it may he that my labors would have
overcome all obstacles had it not been for
a new and unlocked for misfortune.
GA great war had been waged against
the Hykson, and the captains of the great
King had been cut off in the desert, with
all their bowmen and horsemen. The
shepherd tribes were upon us like the
locqsts in dry year, From the wilder
ness of Shur to the great bitter lake there
was blood by day and fire by night, Aharis
was the bulwark of Egypt, but we could
not keep the savages back. The city fell.
The Governor and the soldiers were put to
the sword, and |, with many more, was led
away into captivity.
"FOr years and years l tended cattle in
the great plains by the Euphrates. My
master died and his son grew old, but l
was still as far from death as ever. At
last | escaped upon a swift animal and
made my way back to Egypt The Hyk-
SOS had settled in the land which they had
conquered, and their own King ruled over