The Washington times., 1911-08-02
CHAPTER TX.
Woman OF Vision?

IN ~@A NNN GIL a lltte NDlQIllh o
4 L white bscame visible In the dis
tance. Slowly It advanced alon,
Cle rocky way below, until II took OF
nRe form and action Of horse. A httl,
Iater Peeos2ized the pony. and utteret
shsht exclamation of pleasure.
had hardly done so when the snake
Sarmer lifted his head in warning
SiaPping himself upon the mouth ani
sestlcuIatng violently, l saw that
must make no noise. and so retired int
tos shadow OF a rock. as the Tibetar
n1d and was perfectly quiet.
o me horse was walking slowly, and
went directly PAST us without suspicion
Following at short distance were IN,
yaks, still putting. and throwing their
heads from side to side, on the lookou,
Tor danger. The Tfbetan stood like q
CLOCK Of marble in the shadow of tn.
rock
Inc instant the animals had gone by
ne, Jumped into the path again. motion.
ing Tor me to follow. At once he was
: al work upon the fire which he had tust
so carefully banked. Throwing off tine
. ort he drew the Goals back into the
ROAD, forming them into a thin line
across the trail. just as he had done
ABOVE There was the aroma of magic
tne uncanny thrill of witchcraft-in all
tns FELLOW did. l sometimes wondered
ne were hypnotist: but I had no
oouot or the reality OF the figure which
vas at that moment approaching.
following the yaks, like a herder
NTlNlng his cattle, there came up the
IkdL[oW footway most amazing object
f. woman OF extraordinary height and
11Shlty or movement wrapped in some
Ilmsy material of translucent white
ness,her mead turning slowly from side
70 SIDE as she advanced-was the thing
InaI confronted us.
When the snake-charmer caught sight
OF this, he fell upon the ground like
one that was dead. Even his incanta-
tions were powerless here. and l con-
{ess TO a thrill of terror quite different
from any / had ever known before
Walking directly through the fire with
OUT apparently seeing it, and without
uttering a word-indeed, without the
sound of a footfaIl-this creature moved
silently on ~
. When she had passed from sight the
Ilbetan got up and came toward me
\ saw that the fellow was trembling
and quite overcome with fear. I fuliY
sympathized with him. for anything so
apparently supernatural had never
beheld. AS l watched this receding
ngure in the pale light of the moon.
Iert I'a,,. mat II IT were not really an au-
partition, II must closely resemble one.
At last It was cut of sight, and the
9loetan drew 4 deep sigh of relief
Leaning toward me. one hand at his
mouth: the other pointing In the direc-
he whispered:
'Ya-ti, Ya-t.
What Ya-u meant. I had not the
hhghtest conception. but had no doubt
was a ghost, though there was that in
She mans manner that made me think
ne looked upon It as a thing more
fHshtful. Possibly some particular
sIlrit or evil that haunted that part of
There was something so mysterious in
hne return OF the cattle, in the moon
neht, ana in the strange figure that fol-
Iowed, that IL was several minutes be-
Gwynne. N'' "a
As for the snake charmer nothing
could induce him to go 70 the upper fire
th9ggh he, again offered to become our
guide to the lamasory This, of course
! declined, and was about to start un
Dre trail alone, whcn the fellow stopped
Diving again into the folds Of his
upper garment he brought out a dirty
parchment, and spread it before me-
Ihere was nothing on 1t that | could
see but n another minute he had pro-
duced small Chamois pouch containing
a reddish paint. Dipping his finger into
symbol upon the parchment and handed
81 &c me:
V-Bo-V-TE-Ke-nO-
It was impossible 10 ask what 1t
meant, is I didn't know how. and tie
Tibetan was too ignorant of English to
Inform me. I offered to return il to
him, but he wouldn't take 1t, Insisting
by word and gesture that | keep it.
communicate, but couldn't. ! gave him
back his knife, and he left me with 4
look Of anxiety as he took the down
ward trail, while / started off in the Op-
poSite direction
confess that felt more lonely than
ever when We parted. There was an in
eNpressible sadness in the awful soli-
tude that surrounded me, and the moon
light only added to the mystery and
gloom Of the great silent region that
us
I put the parchment in my pocket. re-
solved to show it to Gwynne If / could
ever find him, hoping he might be able
to translate it. or. at all events. to
guess it, meaning. The who'll thing
was utterly weird and uncanny, and |
had an indesCribablc horror of meeting
the strange lazy at the upper end Of |
the gorge. But there was nothing to |
be done, and ! hurried on alone.
w hen ] again caught sight of the |
glowing Goals spread over the road, a : |
the snake-cEarmer lad left them. saw |
HIS object. The cattle were huddIed TO- |
had passed the fire. 1t was clear that !
they We're safely Corralled between the |
two lines OF burning jo, and that moth |
ng would induce them to cross. was |
grateful for this, and felr that l had !
Ioue the fellow an injustice: but it was |
my first opportunity of testing his sin |
,eritN.
Gratifying as this was, I was strickcn !
With terror when | saw the white lady |
standing directly before me upon tho |
opposite side of the fire l had not |
'een her at first. my eyes being At !
racted by the yaks and ponies: but a !
brought her more fully into |
he moonlight, and l recognized her i'm |
Tediately.
l am not ashamed to confess that |
ny first impulse was to retreat, though !
am not In the habit of doing So
rom women. The fear of the super
natural is perhaps not more strongly |
developed in me than in others, but |
,elieve there are few who will not 3d
NIT that this fear is entirely different
rom other fears.
Doubtless the situation intensified the
ceiling in this instance. For a moment
was paralyzed with terror-a terror
hat sunk into my soul with awful
force. l was stunned, as
With blow.
Still under the shadow of the rocks,
realized that / had not been seen.