The San Francisco call., 1908-05-24
q. I HANT
THOUGHT OF AwAH
SSE SAID At LAST :


they would do to her, II Gorlias failed.
She was only a weak girl. after all,
and once or twice. when she thought of
the pain. sharp little shiver ran down
her back to her very heels, and things
swan before her for an instant in the
deep sea of color: but that only lasted
for moment. and when she reached
the foot of the tower and went in un-
der the archway that led to the door,
she was thinking of Zeno again, and
Of nothing else.
1t was as Gorlias had told her. A
very different watch was set there
since the attempt Of the previous night
and she found herself face to face with
an obstacle she had not anticipated
The iron door was shut and was
guarded by two huge Africans in black
mail armor, who stood on either side
with drawn cimeter.
They looked over her head as she
approached them. and they seemed to
take no notice of her existence. She
hought she had never seen such ex-
pressionless faces as theirs; the fea-
lures were as shiny and motionless as
bronze. and the purple haze of the sun
set without filled the deep arch and
lent them an unnatural color which was
positively terrifying
II you please, kind sirs." Zoe began
as she stood STILL my mistress sends
some finc wheat bread and fresh cream
cheese to the wife of the captain"
She might as well have spoken to
statues; neither of the negroes paid the
slightest attention. But she was not to
be put of so easily.
If you please, she repeated with
pleading emphasis and more loudly.
my mistress
She stopped speaking in the middle
of the sentence. suddenly scared by the
irnmobiity of the two black men. and
by their size, and by the purple glare
that was reflected from their great
polished cimeters, of which one Noise
less sweep could sever her head from
her body They were like the genii in
one of those tales of the Arabian Nights
which Greek story tellers were then
just learning from the Persians, and
from the Tartar merchants of Samar-
cand and Tashkent. Zoe had listened
to them by the hour when she was n
little girl, and now she suddenly felt an
IRA tional conviction that she had
dreamed herself into one of them. and
that the imprisoned emperor was
guarded by supernatural beings.
However. she soon took courage
again and began to speak a third time.
IF you please she said, but she
gut liO luiltItf, 1oI she naQ gently
plucked at the mailed sleeve OF the
man on her right, to attract his atten-
tion, and he moved at once and bent
down a little.
He touched his ear with his left fore
finger and shook his head slowly to
show that he was deaf. and pointed to
his companion and back to his own
ear and shook his head again; and
then, to Zoe's horror. he opened his
enormous mouth just before her eyes,
and she saw it was empty. He had
no tongue.
Johannes was guarded by deaf mutes,
and Zoe knew Constantinople and the
ways of the palace well enough to un-
derstand that they were placed there
to make an end of any one, man or
woman. who should attempt to pass
She tried signs now. She took her
basket from her head and set it down
on the step between the sentinels, and
crouched on her heels to uncover ii
and show the contents. The men saw
and nodded. and then inclined their
heads to one side that peculiar way
which means indifference all over the
east. And indeed they did not care
whether the basket held cheese or
sweetmeats. and their faces grew stony
again as they looked outward, over her
head.
She covered up her little basket dis
consolately and rose to her feet The
glow was beginning to fade in the
courtyard. and she felt her heart sink
as the shadows deepened. It was alb
solutely necessary to the success OF the
dangerous enterprise on which she and
Gorlias had embarked that Johannes