The Tupelo journal., 1909-02-26

before them In helpless fight; raD.
bits sprang from their forms, weasels
| glided away like flying shadows. What
remained of the forest creatures rose
and fled from the loathsome invasion.
/ heard the squeak of a terrified hare,
| the short s~tampcding Of a deer and the
numbering gallop of a bear; and all
the time | was choking, half s~uffocated
by the poisoned air.
Then, as | struggled to free myself
from the silken snare about me, l cast
a glance of deadly fear at the sorcer-
er below, and at the same moment I
saw him turn in his tracks.
Halt" cried a voice from the
| bushes.
"Barris." I shouted, half leaping up
in my agony.
! saw the sorcerer spring. forward,
| heard the bang! bang! bang. of a
revolver, and as the sorcerer fell on
the waters edge, ] saw Barris jump
out into the white glare and fire again,
once, twice, three times, into the
writhing figure at his feet.
Then an awful thing occurred. Up
out of the black lake reared a shadow,
a nameless, shapeless mass, headless,
sightless, gigantic, gaping from end
to end.
A great wave struck Barris and he
fell, another washed him up on the
pebbles, another whirled him back into
the water and then-and then the
thing fell owe him-and | tainted.
This, then, is all that I know con-
corning Yue-Laou and the Kin. / do
not fear the ridicule of scientists or of
the press for | have told the truth.
him is alive to-day, in the Lake of the
Stars, while the spider-like satellites
roam through the Cardinal Woods.
The game has fled, the forests around
the lake are empty of any living crea-
lures save the reptiles that creep when
the Kin moves in the depths of the
lake.
Gen. Drummond knows what he has
lost in Barris, and we, Pierpont and
|, know what we have lost also. His
will we found in the drawer, the key
of which he had handed me. 1t was
wrapped in a bit of paper on which
was written:
Yue-Laou. the sorcerer, is here in the
Cardinal Woods. l must kill him or he
will Hill n He ma1p and Oaya fn me-
the woman / loved-he made her-I saw
him-he made her out of a white water
lotus bud When our child was born, he
came again before me and demanded
from me the woman l loved. Then, when
l refused, he went away, and that night
my wife and child vanished from my
side, and l found upon her pillow a white
lotus bud. Roy, the woman of your
dream, Ysonde, may be my child. God
help you if you love her, for Yue-Laou
will give-and take away, as though he
were Xangi, which is God. l will kill
|Yue-Laou before 1 leave this forester
he will kill me.
FRANKLIN BARRIS.
Now, the world knows what Barris
thought of the Kuen-Yuin and of Yue-
Laou. / see that the newspapers are
just J becoming excited ove the
glimpses that Li-Hung Chang has af-
forded them of Black Cathay and the
demons of the Kuen-Yuin. The Kuen-
YUM are on the move.
Pierpont and l have dismantled the
shooting box in the Cardinal Woods.
We hold ourselves ready at a mo-
ment's notice to join and lead the first
government party to drag the Lake Of
fh0 Cfarc on6 n1ooncn tho fnrncf of tho
crab reptiles. But it will be necessary
that a large force assemble, and a we'll
armed force, for we never have found
the body of Yue-Laou, and, living or
dead, l fear him. Is he living?
Pierpont, who found Ysonde and
myself unconscious on the lake shore,
the morning after, saw no trace of
corpse or blood on the sands. He may
have fallen into the lake, but l fear,
and Ysonde fears, that he is alive. We
never were able to find either her
dwelling place or the glade and the
fountain again. The only thing that
remains to her of her former life is
the golden serpent in the Metropoli-
tan Museum and her golden globe, the
symbol of the Kuen-Yuin; but the lat
ter no longer changes color.
David and the dogs are waiting for
me in the courtyard as l write. Pier
pont is in the gunroom loading shells,
and Hewlett brings him mug after
mug of my ale from the wood. Ysonde
bends over my desk-I feel her hand
on my arm, and she is saying: Don't
you think you have done enough to-
day, dear? How can O write such
truth or foundation"
THE END.
HIS TERRIFIC WASTE OF TIME.