The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1898-08-11
!. iiro,r,,dulxa fell d heavy curtain nernr.

i IIOTndyke felt q neavy curtain DeTOTl
him. He paused abruptly. not knowing
/ what to do. Bernardino felt of its tex
ture, perplexed for an instant.
Draw it aside. 1t seems to hang
acYoss the corridor she said.
He obeyed Der, and only a few yards
farther on they saw another curtain.
with bars Of light above and below it.
They drew this aside and found them
selves on the threshold of NEST beau.
tiful apartment
In the mosaic floor were pictures cut
in colcfed stones, and the ceiling was q
silken canopy as flmy and as delicately
blue as the sky on summers night.
!. The floor was strewn with. richly en-
broidered pillows, couches. rugs and OF.
i toasasss, and here and there were palm
trees and beds of flowers and grottoes.
A solitary light, representing the moon,
showed through the silken canopy, in
whose folds little lights sparkled like
farof stars.
Thorndyke looked at the princess in
i uuiringly. She was bewildered.
Il
murmured. 81 am sure have never
been here before, but there is another
apartment beyond. Listen! | hear
cries. !"
! 'sSome one in Distress he answered,
/ and he drew her across the room and
Ethrough door into another room more
| beautiful than the one they had just
left. Here, huddled together at win
dow overlooking the court, We're six or
eight beautiful young women. They
were staring out into the darkness and
moaning and muttering low cries of de-
spair. s.
"It is my fathers ladies'" calculated
the princess, aghast. "He would be an
cry if he knew we had come here. No
one but himself enters these apart
ments. st.
Just then one of the women turned a
lovely and despairing face toward them
and came forward and knelt at the feet
of Bernardino.
"Oh, save us, princess!'' she cried.
"Be calm, - said the princess, touch
ing the white brow of the woman.
"The danger may soon pass. This por-
ton of the palace is too strongly built
for them to injure it, Then she turn
ed to Thorndyke: "We must hasten on
and find our way down. It would never
do for us to be seen here" Then she
turned to the kneeling woman and said
gently: 81 hope you will say nothing
to the king of this. We lost our way in
trying to get down from the roof
81 will not" gladly promised the
woman, and seeing that Bernardino
knew not which way to turn she guided
them to a door opening into dimly
lighted corridor. cit will take you out
to the balconies and down to the audi
ence chamber she said. ,-..
The princess thanked her, and she
and the Englishman descended several
flights of stairs. Reaching one of the
| balconies, they met the denser darkness
of the outside and the deafening clang
and clamor of the multitude. There was
no light of any kind, and Thorndyke
and his charge had to press close against
the balustrade of the balcony to keep
from being crushed by the mad torrent
of humanity.
Now and then strident voice would
rise above the din:
'tDown with the palace! Death to the
kingl'' & j.
The trumpet in the tower sounded
again and again.
''It is my father trying to attract
| their attention, explained the princess.
Something very serious has happened
for once. In speaking of the time the
sun went out before, he told me that he
had made an invention which in such a
crisis would instantly restore confidence
| to the people. I cannot understand why
| he does not use it. Oh, am afraid they
will kill him!''
Thorndyke tried to console her, for
he saw that she was weeping, but just
then there was strange 1ull in the
general tumult. What could have hap
| pened?
"The dawn---the ideal dawn!'' cried
Bernardino, pointing to the eastern sky
| Thorndyke looked in wonder. A purpls
light had spread along the horizon, and
| as it gradually softened into gray and
slowly turned to pink the noise of the
populace died down. No sound could
now be heard save the low groans of
| wounded men and women. What a
sight met the view as the rose light
| shimmered over the city The dead and
| dying lay under the feet of the crowd
| Almost every creature bore some mark
of violence. Eyes were bloodshot, cloth
ing torn, limbs were bleeding, and min
gled fury and sudden hope struggled in
each ashen face. The young trees and
shrubbery had been trampled underfoot,
and walls, arcades and triulnphal arches
had been thrown down. The fragments
of statues lay here and there, and the
bodies of human beings filled the basins
| of broken fountains.
1t is not the sun, explained Ber-
nardino, but the invention my father
spoke of. He is doing it to calm them. =
Thorndyk Ike made no answer. He stood
as if transG1ed, gazing at. the horizon.
The rose light had spread over third
of the sky when gradually there APP
peared in its center bright circle Of
yellow light The yellow light faded,
leaving a perfect picture Of the throne
OF the king, and as the now silent masses
looked at the picture a curtain behind
the throne parted, and the king himself
4 = -