The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-10-02


was the one thing which carried her
through her trials sanely An ordi
nary woman would have died from
mere exhaustion.
Bruce. indeed AZ that very mo
ment he was rushing out OF kumars s
presence wild to be OF toward the
road to Alfalfa. since Kathlyn had not
been seen upon Il. He found where
RaJah had veered on into the jungle
again. and followed the trail tireless'
ly. But It was 70 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 she ar
ranged in the sarcophagus. There
we're worse beds In the world than
this; at least II shielded her from the
bitter night wind.
She ate again at sundown and build
, ed high the sacred fire and tried 70
plan some manner OF escape for she
did not propose to'be a demi-goddess
any longeS than was necessary. From
Pundita she had learned many words
and few phrases In Hindustani, and
she yentured to speak them to the
holy men, wAo seemed quite delight
ed They could understand her but
she on her part could make little or
nothing Of their iabberng, Neverthe-
less, she pretended
Finally the holy men departed, after
having indicated the sacred hre ana
the wood beside IT, This fire pleased
Kathlyn nightly. While II burned
brightly the lion would not prowl 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 Its
| 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 its heyday'
/ When her sorefathers had been rude
barbarians, sailing the north seas or
sacrificing in Druidical rites, there
had beeh art and culture here such as
has never been surpassed. india oI
/ splendid pageants, or brave warriors
and gallant kings! Alas, how the
mighty had fallen! About her, penury'
meanness. hypocrisy, uncleanliness,
thievery, and unbridled passions
What was that? Her heart missed
beat. That pad-pad that smiling
noise,
She whirled about knocking over
an idol. 1t came down with a crash
and, being of clay. lay in shards at
her feet. Unfortunately it was the holy
of holies in this temple) How she
gained the shelter of the sarcophagus
she never knew, but gain It she did,
and covered down within. She could
hear the beast trotting 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 roared back at him so
valiantly. Evidently fire had no ter
rors for him For an hour or more
he patroled the portico, and all this
time Kathlyn did not stir, hardly dar-
ing to breathe for fear he might un-
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 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 work Of his
own now saw an opportunity to re-
habilitate himself in the eyes of those
who had made his holiness COM
Portable existence With a piece OF
the idol in his hand he reused Kath-
lyn and shook the clay before her
face, jabbering violently. Kathlyn un-
derstood readily enough. She had un'
Willingly committed a sacrllege.
The natives gathered about and
menaced her. Kathlyn rose, standing
in the sarcophagus, and extended her
hands for silence. She was frightened,
but it would never do to let them see
it. What Hindustani she knew would
in this case be of no 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.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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