Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1913-04-30

from within. Had the courier 70
| turned with tie Holy Yhiordes. IL 10
not Impossible that he wo,fic have I'D
| Grated them ell But now he dared
| not; he was rot far enough away. To
Bagdad, then, and as swiftly as the
exigencies OF desert travel would per
| NIT. One beacon OF hope burned in
his breast The Pasha might b. de-
posed. and in that case he could I'm
I mediately dispose OF bis own goods
and chatteis and seek new pastures.
1t would come hard. doubly hard. since
he never could regain the position he
was to lose.
Nine hundred pounds English. aac
: comfortable fraction over; the vel.
low-hafy>ed dog would have nothing
in the end for ois pains. II would be
what the Feringhi called n good joke.
A week passed. Christmas. And
| not one Of them recalled the day.
Perhaps 1t was because years had
passed since that time when IL meant
anything to them. The old year went
out a-lagging! neither did they take
note OF this. Having left behind civi-
,, lization, customs and habits were for
gotten.
Sometimes they rode all day and all
night, sometimes but half a day, and
again, when the water was sweet, they
rested the day and night. Never a
human being they saw, never n cara
van met or crossed them. In this
week, the secret mary-vls of the desert
became theirs. They saw IT CLEAN
and waver and glitter under skies Of
brass, when the north wind let down
and breeze came over from the Per
sian Gulf They saw IL covered With
the most amazing blues and greys end
green's. They saw il under the rarSst
azure and stately fleet OF billov,,
clouds; under the dawn, under the srf
OF sun, under the moon and stars
and unfailingly the interRinable
reaches of sand and rock and rcrubby
bush, chameleon-like, readjustcd its
countenance to each change in The
sky. George, who was a poet withoct
the gift of expression. never ceased
TO find new charms; and nothing
pleased his fancy more than TO gee the
cloud-shadows scud away across the
sands. Once, toward the latter end
OF day, Fortune cried out and pointed
Far away. palely yet distinc city, they
ssw an ocean liE>sr. She stood ont
against the yellowing sky az = magic,
lantern picture stands out upon tho
screen, and faded similarly. 1t wac
the one and only mirage they saw. o.
at least noticed.
Once another caravan, composed
wholly OF Arabs, passed What hope
the prisoners had was instantly
snuffed out. Before the stranger1
came within hailing, Mahomed hustled
his captives into his tent and sworo
he would kill either George or Ryanno
If they spoke. He forgot Fortune,
however AS the caravan passed shs
screamed. Instantly Mahomed clapped
his hand roughly over her mouth. The
sheik of the passing caravan looked
keenly at the tent, smiled grimly and
passed on What was il to him that q
white woman lay in yonder tent? His
one emotion was of envy. After thin
the prisoners became apathetic.
Upon the seventh day, they wit
! messed the deserts terrifying anger.
The air that had been cool, suddenly
grew still and hot; the blue above
began to fade, to assume a dusty, cop
perish color. The camels grew rest
less Quickly there rose out of the
horizon saffron clouds, approaching
with incredible swiftness. Little
whirlwinds of sand appeared here
and there, rose and died as II fer
want of air. Mahomed veered the car.
avian toward a kind OF bluff composed
OF sand and precipitous bouldeTs. All
the camels were made to kneel. The
! boys muffled up their mouths and
noses, and Mahomed gave instruc-
| tons to his captives. Fortune buried
| her head I'm her coat and nestled down
| beside her camel, while George and
| Ryanne used their handkerchiefs
| George left his camel and sought For
tunes side, found her hand and heS
! it tightly. He scarcely gave though.
what he did He vaguely meant "
! encourage her; and possibly he did
The storm broke. The sun becams
obscured Pebbles and splintera Of
rock sang through the pail Of whlrlinE
sand. A golden tone enveloped the
little gathering.
Had there been no natural proteo-
ton, they must have ridden on, blind
| ly and desperately, for to have TO
NAMED still I'm the open would have
been TO await their tombs II spent
its fury in half an hour; and tn
clearing air became cold again. The
caravan proceeded. The bair of ev.
cry one was dimly yellow. their fNaS
and their garments.
CTo BE CONTINUED)