Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-08-31

/
and it was this very ring that now picked
up. lie had pulled it of in the paroxysm
Of his fever-at least, ! suppose Iso-and
flung it down upon the rock floor. Think
ing if left it about it might get lost, ]
slipped it on my own little finger, and then
followed Billali, leaving Job and Ustane
with Leo.
We passed down the passage, crossed
the great aisle like cave, and came TO the
corresponding passage on the other side,
at the mouth of which the guards stood
like two statues As we came they bowed
their heads in sautation and then lifting
their long spears placing them transversely
across their foreheads, as the leaders of the
troop that had met us had done with their
IVORY wands. We stepped between them,
and found ourselves In an exactly similar
passage TO that which led to our own
apartments, only this passage was, COM
paratvely speaking, brilliantly lighted.
\ few PAGES down II we were met by four
mutes-two men and two women-who
bowed low and then arranged themselves,
the women in front Of and the men behind
US, and in this order We continued our
procession past several doorways hung
with curtains similar TO those leading to
our own quarters, and which | afterward
! found opened out into chambers occupied
by the mutes who attended on she. \ few
PAGES more, and we came to another door.
way. facing Us, and not to our left like the
others. which seemed 10 mark the termi
nation of the passage. Here two more
white, or rather yellow, robed guards were
standing, and they, too bowed, saluted,
and let us pass through heavy curtains
into great ante chamber, quite forty feet
wide, In which some eight or ten women,
most of them young and handsome, with
yelowlsh hair, sat on cushions working
with ivory needles at what had the appear
ance of being embroi iery frames. These
women were also deaf and dumb. AT the
further end of this great lamp lighed apart
ment was another door way, closed in
with heavy Oriental looking curtains,
quite unlike those that hung before the
doors of our own apartments, and here
stood two particularly handsome girl
mules, their heads bowed upon their
bosoms, and their hands crossed in an at
| tude of the humbleSt submission. AS we
came up they each stretched out an arm
and drew back the curtains. Thereupon
Bllali did curious thing, Down he
went, that venerable looking old gentle
mau-for Billali is gentleman at the bot
tOm--down on TO his hands and knees, and
in this undlgnitied position with his long
white beard trailing on the ground. he be-
can to creep into the apartment beyond.
followed him; walking on my feet in the
usual fashion Looking over his shoulder,
he perceived it.
Down, my son, down, my Baboon
down on thy hands and knees. We enter
the presence of She, and if thou art not
humble, of surety she will blast thee
where thou standest.
halted and felt scared. Indeed, my
knees began to give way of their own
mere notion but reflection came to my
aid. | was an Englishman, and why, l
asked myself, should | creep into the
presence of some savage woman as though
! were a monkey in fact as well as in
namel / would not and could not do it,
that is, unless was absolutely sure that
my life depended upon It, If once |
began to creep on my knees, should al.
ways have to do so, and it would be a
patent acknowledgement Of inferiority.
SO, fortified by an insular prejudice against
"kotouing", which has, like most of our
so called prejudlces, a good deal of com
mon sense to recommend it, | marched in
boldly after Billali | found myself in
another apartment, considerably smaller
than the ante-room, of which the walls
were entirely hung with rich looking cur
tains of the same make as those over the
door-the work, as ! subsequently, dis
covered, OF the mutes who sat in the ante
chamber and wove them in strips, which
| were dllcINdIu scNeu together. Al>Ot
here and there about the room were settees
of beautiful black wood of the ebony
tribe inlaid with ivory, and all about the
floor were tapestries, or rather rugs. AT
the top of this apartment was what APP.
peared to be a recess, also draped with
curtains through which shone rays OF
light There was no one in the place eX.
cept ourselves.
Painfully and slowly old Billali crept up
the length of the cave and with the most
dignifed stride that | could command
followed after him But felt that it was
more or less of "a failure. To begin with
it is not possible to look dgnified when
you, are following in the wake of an old
man writing along on his stomach like q
snake, and then, in order to 60 sufficiently
slowly, either | had to keep my legs some
seconds In the air at every step, or else &c
advance with a full stop between each
strida lilo Mary Oman of Spoffs roino A.,