Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1900-03-08
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THE SECOND ACT
By Owen Oliver.
a' ~ N ~ ~ NJ

story i'm any other way"
lie pushed his papers aside, leaned
back in the coy reading chair and
folded his hands. The scene haunts me
vel. His dark, grave face, with its raven
hair aud long, pointed beard; his soft,
weary voice; the chirping of the BIRDS
the humming of the bees, and the hare
breaths of summer air, stealing in
through the barred windows remem-
Der them all. This is the story;
-Four thousand years ago, when men
worshiped God under the name Of Osiris
and Isis. was Amenemhat ", king in
Kem-which you call Egypt. My con-
Quests and my learning are craven upon
the great tablets, but the scribes left
unsaid what should be unsaid. There
fore Won will seek in vain for mention Of
Numidea, the slave.
Felix. the trader, brought her from
over the Mediterranean. When she
stood before me with flushed checks
and tears in her pale blue eyes, the cum
ming knaye refused to name price.
The world is thine, o king" he said,
land the maid, if it be thy will. Give
TO me only what she seemeth worth TO
thee"
SO l gave him nome-or province
and dealt somewhat niggardly with
him methought. Then took her to the
palace to be queen, under the name OF
Sebek-nefru-ra, which is on the tablets.
The people murmured, yet none dared
10 complain 10 my face, but Numidea'
the blue-eyed slave, with her soft looks
and her frightened voice, was Drawer
than they.
"Kiu me, if thou wilt, oh king" she
said, tauntingly, "for in truth love
theenot at ALL" Awhole month l wooed
her, disdaining force, and she said no
more. Then she cast her eyes upon IA
les, the captain of the guard, and cared
/ less than ever for me.
I sent Kales on a journey beyond the
seas. l would have slain him, but he
was brave man, and we had played and
fought together as children. And then
! Numidea struck me with her small, soft
hand.
Take her.to the deathsmen," l COM
handed; "in the morning she shall
die" Lest L should break king S
word I rode to the great temple far
away. But I could not sleep for the
thought of her great blue eyes, wide
with fear. So l rose and bade them
harness the swiftest horses to the light
est chariot, and Charmicles drove for
me. whose hand was the lightest upon
the reins. All the night we sped in the
moonlight with the sand flying in long
clouds behind us and the great pyra'
mids scowling upon us from affair."
"If thou lovedst slave, Charmicles,
7 asked him. "and she loved not thee|
IfI loved her a little" he said, HAP
II she would perish, oh lord"
"And if thou lovedst her much? ?" lie
looked at the moon fleeting through the
clouds for long time, and his face
grew sad,
"If loved her enough, oh king-per
chance l should set her free"
1 covered my head in my robe anc
said nothing. Was 1 not racing the lily
ing hours to open her prison doors?
Ra, the sun-god, sprung up, anC
laughed upon the land, and Charmicle
.wiDed the sweat from his brow ant
ceased to strike the horses as they pant
ed and struggled to the base of tn
great pyramid. where the prison was
And behold they had tortured her
and she had died in the night!
drew my sword upon myself, bu
= Charmicles stayed my hand. "Shall the,
!, write unon the tablets that Amenemha
II Of the holy line died forlove of a slave?
he said.
r So I went back to the temple an
5 dwelt. Presently I made a spell, fro1
u nv arts, that 1 might be reborn whe-
she was reborn, and another spell tina
I died, and none knew why. So fe
., asleep, and my sleep was 1000 years
? When I was newborn child l kne'
none of these things; but one by on
- they came back to me.
y. One evening my father held me upo
* his knee and showed me a quaint pr
ture book. and l trembled with vagu
remembrance.
u This is how people drew in EgyI
ar thousands o. yesterdays ago." he sal
"The lines are all straight, because the
-. we're cut upon stone. See. these 81
w urchers, and these are horses, and tn
nc looks Ike a big bull"
" touched the figure of Apis reveren
~ with my hand.
- This" said, 'is god"
Another time they took me to m
e scum, and l stopped by carven sa
e. cophagus and would not move ava
There were things craven upon it th
- 1 seemed almost to understand, al
se- names that were half familiar.
S9 When l went back to school stoC
aloof from the games to dream OF IL
=. ing spears and racing chariots. n
", playfellow-I will call him Rupert
It was always in the memories with m
!" Often when we wrestled together Il
playground seemed to swim away. l
stead there came vision of yello
~ sand and blue skies, and dark, blac
% haired playmates around, and shot
ing of "Well striven, little king!" ono
III, when he had been i'll for a long TIN
m and I went to see him, a name sprul
MP almost to my lips-the name W
- forgotten, but knew it had been l
u. name long before.
~ After leaving school devoted mys'
to Egyptian antiquities. They seem
90. to-present no difficulty to me, and