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


tured out Of mist Here and there the
heavy dews. touched by the moor
%lauces. flung back flames OF sapphire
cold and sharp To Kathlyn the tenn
ple was OF marvellous beauty. She
urged Raiah toward the crumbling
portico
Il wag a temple In ruins, like many
In Hind Broken pillars, eXquisitely
carved, lay about, and some Of the tall
windows Of marble lace were DunCtur'
ed, as II the fist Of some angry god
had beaten through. Under the de-
Cayed p0Ttico stood an iron braZier.
Near this reposed Il cracked stone
sarcUphaRuS. an unusual sight In this
part OF the world. 1t was without Its
lid But one god now br0oded here.
abouts-Silence. Not a sound any,
where. not even from the nearby
trees. She saw a nOiseless lizard slide
Jerkily across a patch Of m%Oonshine
and dissolve into the purple shadow
beyond.
What vas this temple? What gods
had been %worshiped here. And why
was II deserted? She had heard her
father tell of the ruined city Of Chitor.
Plague1 Kathlyn shuddered.
Sometimes villages, TO the last soul In
them, were brushed from existence
and known no more to man, And this
might be n Of them. Yet Indications
of q village were nowhere to be seen.
It was merely a temple. perhaps miles
from the nearest village. deserted save
by prowling Wild beasts, the winds, the
sunshine, and the moonshine. She
looked far and wide for any signs OF
human h~abitation.
She commanded Raiah TO kneel. SO
held by the enchanting picture was
Kathlyn that the elephants renewed
restlessness land he had reason, as
will be seem passed unobserved by
her, Dc came to knee. however. and
she got out OF the howdah. Her legs
trembled for a space, for her nerves
were In a pitiable condition, Suddenly
Rajah's ears went forward. he rose,
and his trunk curled angrily. With a
wbun he wheeled and shufiled off to-
ward the Jungle out OF which he had
30 recently emerged,
Halt" cried Kathiyn. What had
he heard? What had he seen? Halt"
But even as she called the tall grass
closed In behind the elephant. What
water and food she had disappeared
with him.
She paused by tho brazier. catching
hold Of It for support. She laughed
Historically: II was 30 funny: It was
all so out Of joint with real things,
with everyday life as she had known
It.. Weird laughter returned to mock
her astonished ears, q sinister echo,
And then she laughed at the echo, be.
ing in the grip Of a species Of madness.
In tho purple caverns Of the temple
she suddenly became conscious Of an.
| other presence. A fash as Of moon.
light striking two ch~rysoberyls took
the madness out OF her mind. This
torsaken temple vas the haunt Of a
leapord or a tiger,
She was lost, That magnetism
which ordinary was hers was at its
nadir. She hesitated for a second,
then climbed into the empty sarcopha.
gus, crouching low. Strangely enough,
as she did so a calm fell upon her;
all the terrors OF her position dropped
away from her as mists from the
mountain peaks, She had, however.
gotten into the hiding place none too
soon. She heard the familiar pad.pad,
the whifr.whtf of a big cat. ImmedI.
ateiy into the moonlight came an
African lion, as out Of place here as
kathryn herself; his tail slashed,
/ there wal a long, black streak from
his name TO his tail where the hair had
risen. kathryn crouched even lower,
The lion trotted round the sarcopha.
gus, smiling. Presently he lifted his
head and reared. The echoes played
battledore and shuttlecock with the
sound. The lion roared again, this
dme at the insulting echoes. For q
few minutes the noise was d~esfenlng.
A rumble as OF distant thunder, and
the storm died away,
by and by she peered cautiously.
She saw the hon crossing the open
space between the temple and the Jun.
gle. She saw him pause. bend his
head. then lope away In the direction
taken by Rajeh,
TO Kathlyn 1t seemed that she had
no longer anything to do with the body
OF kathlyn Hare, The soul Of another
had stepped into this wearled flesh of
hers and o directed It's physical
manifestations, while her own spirit
stood gratefully and passively aloof.
Nothing could happen now; the world
had grown still and calm. The spirit
drew the sleeves Of the robe snugly
about her arms and laid Kathlyn's
head upon them and drew her down
into n profound slumber.
Half a mile to the north OF the
ruined temple there lay. all unsus-
pected BY Kathlyn. a village--a vii
lase belonging solely to the poor, most
y ryots d tillers OF the soil. The
poor In Asia know but two periods Of