The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1913-06-14

bility had left me incapable of quick
decision at this critical moment. And
now another opportunity r. become e c
onciled to Jacqueline had passed. had
raised one more barrier between us.
st. Hilary shouted sharply to the
gondolier. We came to n sudden stop.
We we're at the sixtieth palace, and
its facade was as bare as the sheet of
an unsigned hotel register.
$50 again we have come on a fools
errand." he groaned.
The gondolier leaned forward and
touched my sleeve. He had observed
our perplexity. He pointed to a palace
we had just passed.
"Ecco. signori. the House of the An
gel. II is not this one, 1t is the third
back"
THE third back?" | repeated me-
chanically. ! let my glance follow his
outstretched finger. With a twist of
the oar he had turned the gondola
again toward the Grand canal.
Behold. signor. the House of the
Angel-up there in the niche over the
door,
I raised my eyes duly. had no
idea what the man was talking about.
The palace at whose steps we had halt
ed was a magnificent structure of the
fourteenth century. so beautiful that in
any other city than Venice ii would
have been worth a pilgrimage to see.
Over the doorway was a triangular
niche, a Kind of shrine. A half figure
of an angel was carved in the niche,
and a kneeling child looked quantity
up into the angels face. The gondolier
pointed TO the shrine reverently.
THE angel is to drive away the evil
spirits, signor. The evil spirit of a
pig once dwelt in this beautiful palace.
| assure the signor that | am telling
him the truth, though there are many
hundreds of years since the evil soul
of the pig was conjured away by the
angel and the little child. The house
Is now sweet and clean of all evil and
is called the House of the Angel. But
look. signOr. you can see the unclean
pigs that were carved in the wall by
the wicked builder. Before they were
broken the house was called the House
of the Pigs"
We looked upward.
The house had a frieze made OF a
capriciously carved array of pigs. The
posture of each two of the creatures
was the same-the one recumbent, the
other erect. The heads and the feet aud
most of the bodies had bsen stricken
off.
1T is very simple.' cried st. Hilary
exultingly. Our husks of corn have
simply become the bodies of pigs. We
have found the second landmark"
He held the photograph of the back
ground of the second hour before me.
That background. 1t will be remem-
bered. was a hanging and on this
hanging a decorative scheme that we
had supposed to be husks of corn.
| forget my folly in passing Jacque-
line and her cold greeting. Here was
proof indisputable that we were really
on the track of the casket at last.
But why" queried st. Hilary. knit
ting his forehead in perplexity, should
1t be the .ffty-seyenth palace and not
the sixtieth?'
! opened the Bible and again read
the story. | saw our mistake immedi
ately. In our haste TO test this new
theory of mine we had not read the
narrative with sufficient care.
There is another verse that we have
omitted to read. Ii follows immedi-
atCly after | read ii aloud:
And within three days they could
not declare the riddle"
you observe the expression with
in'-that is to say, we were not to look
for the sixtieth palace. but for the ff-
~ty-seyenth. or the third within sixty"
".Ah. that is quite clear cried st.
Hilary with a sigh of relief. And