The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-08-14

End herr That philosophy winch sue
had inherited from her father. that
Quiet acceptance OF the inevitable,
was he one thing which carried her
through her trials sanely. An ordi.
nary woman would have died from
mere exhaustion.
Bruce, indeed! At that very mo
ment he was rushing out OF kumar'
presence, wild to be Of toward the
road to Alfalfa, since Kathlyn had NOT
been seer upon 1t. He found where
Rajah had veered of into the jungle
again, and followed the trail tireiess'
ly. But It was to be his misfortune al
ways to arrive too late.
To Kathlyn the day passed with
nothing more than the curiosity OF the
natives to disturb her. They brought
her cotton blankets which b ar
ranged in the sarcophagus. There
were worse beds in the world than
this; at least II shielded her from the
bitter night wind,
She ate again at shutdown n buiid-
ed high the sacred fire and tried TO
plan some manner Of escape; for she
did not propose to be a demi-goddess
any longer than was necessary. From
Pundita she had learned many words
and a few phrases In Hindustani. n
she yentured to speak them to Inc
holy men, who seemed quite delight
ed. They could understand her, but
she on her part could make little or
nothing of their jabbering. Neverthe-
less, she pretended.
Finally the holy men departed, after
having indicated the sacred hre ana
the wood beside 1t. This fire pleased
Kathlyn nightly. While it burned
brightly the lion would not prowi In
her Immediate vicinity. She won
dered where this huge cat had come
from, since she knew her natural his
tory well enough to know the African
lions did not inhabit this part Of the
globe. Doubtless it had escaped from
some private menagerie.
The fire, then, giving her confidence
she did not get into the sarcophagus'
but wandered about, building in her
fancy the temple as it had stood In It's
prime. The ceilings had been mag
nificently carved, no two subjects
alike: and the walls were of marble
and jasper and %porphyry, A magic
continent this Asia in it's heyday.
When her forefathers had been rude
barbarians, sailing the north seas or
sacrificing In Druidical rites, there
had been art and culture here such as
has never been surpassed. India, OF
splendid p~ageants, or brave warriors
and gallant kings! Alas, how ~
mighty had fallen! About her, perjury,
meanness, hypocrisy, uncleanliness'
thievery, and unbridled passions. !,
What was that? Her heart missed q
beat. That pad-pad; that shining
noise!
She whirled about, knocking over
an idol. 1t came down with q crash
and. being of clay. lay In shards at
her feet. Unfortunately 1t was the holy
Of holes in this tepple.) How she
gained the shelter Of the sarcophagus
she never knew, but gain 1t she did,
and covered down within. She could
hear the beast trotflng round and
round, smiling and rumbling in his
throat. Then the roaring OF the pre-
ceding night WAS repeated. The old
fellow evidently could not find those
other lions who reared back at him SO
valiantly. Evidently fire had no ter
rors for him. For al hour or
he patroied the portico, and all this
time Kathlyn did not stir, hardly dar-
ing to breathe for fear he might I'M
dertake to peer into the sarcophagus.
Silence. A low roar from the inner
shrine told her that for the present
she was safe. Tomorrow she must
fly, whittier did not matter. Toward
four o'clock she fell into a doze and
was finally awakened by the sound OF
voices raised in anger.
Poor sheep! They had discovered
the shattered idol. 1t did not matter
at all that the return OF their ancient
goddess was to bring back prosperity.
She had broken their favorite Idol.
Damnation would come in a devils
wind that night.
The holy man who had missed the
chance Of claiming the miraculous ap-
pearance of Kathlyn as a work Of his
W now saw an opportunity to re-
habilitate himself in the eyes OF those
who had made his holiness a COM
Portable existence. With q piece Of
the idol in his hand he reused kath.
Ign and shook the clay before her
face, jabbering violently. Kathlyn un-
derstood readily enough. She had un-
Willingly committed a sacrilege.
The natives gathered about and
menaced her. Kathlyn rose, standing
in the sarcophagus, and extended her
hands for silence. She was frightened.
but 1t would never do to let them see
1t. What Hindustani she knew would
in this case be Of nj manner Of use.
But we human beings can. by facial
expression and gesture, make known
our messages with understandable
clearness. From her gestures, then.
the holy men gathered that she could
recreate the god. She pointed toward
the sun and counted on her fingers.
GRO BE CONTINUED)