The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1915-04-10

kathIyn Becomes the vestal in the
Ruined Temple.
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 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 UNI
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
NiHu tildl night
The holy man who had missed the
chance of claiming the miraculous APP.
pearance of Kathlyn as a 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 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 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.
The premier holy man, satisfied that
he understood Kathlyn's gestures,
| turned to the Justly angered villagers
| and explained that with his aid their
| priestess would, in five suns, recreate
Vishnu in all his beauty. Instantly the
| villagers Frustrated themselves.
| FtDopr. tbipoef'' ,,o,tr,,,,roJ Kotb1,,p
The holy men sent the natives away
| for it was not meet that they should
witness magic in the making They
| then squatted in the clay court and
curiously waited for her to begin.
| There was well in the inner shrine.
To this she went with caution. The
| lion was evidently foraging in the jun
gle. Kathlyn filled the copper vessel
with water and returned. Next, she
| gathered up what pieces of the idol
she could find and pieced them to-
gether. Here was her model. She
then approached one of the fakirs and
signified that she had need of his
knife. He demurred at first, but at
length consented to part with it. She
| dug up square piece of clay. In fine,
she felt more like the Kathlyn of old
than she had since completing the
leopard in her outdoor studio. 1t &C.
cupied her thoughts, at least part OF
them, for she realized that mayhap
her life depended upon her skill in
reproducing the hideous idol.
AS the two old hypocrites saw the
clay take form and shape and the
mockins face gradually appear, they
were assured that Kathlyn was in
deed the ancient priestess; and deep
down in their souls they experienced
something of the awe they had often
inspired In the poor, trusting ryot.
Kathlyn had talent bordering on
genius. The idol was an exact replica
OF the originl one; more. there was a
subtle beauty now where before there
had been frank responsiveness. 1t
satisfied the holy men, and the I'M
yelling was greeted by the villagers
with such joy that Kathlyn forgave
them and could have wept over them
She had made god for them, and
| they fell down and worshiped it.
| Five more days passed. On the af-
ternoon of the fifth day Kathlyn was
feeding the fire. The holy men sat in
the court at their devotions Kathlyn
| turned from the fire to see them rise
and flee in terror. She in turn fled,
for the lion stood between her and the
sarcophagus! The lion paused, lash
Ing his tail. The many recent commo-
tons within and without the temple
had finally reused his ire. He hest
tated between the holy men and Kath-
lyn. and finally concluded that she in
the fluttering robes would be the most
desirable.
/ There was no particular hurry;