The Monte Vista journal., 1916-08-12

down TO the coast.
They were in the midst of packing
when the storm broke. A distant muir
mur rose into yell. A mob armed
with swords came rushing through the
streets, burning and looting. The ma
tive servants had fed
Smith hurried his wife into the lit
tie garden. A glance showed them
that their escape was intercepted AS
the bearer of the hated tidings of an
other faith, he was marked for the
fury of the rioters. The crowd swept
through the garden gate At their
head, his eyes alight with fanaticism,
was the fakir, torch and sword in
hand.
xiii ! Kill !" the mob shouted.
Smith very simply placed his arm
about Mary's waist, and together they
waited for the end.
With yell the fakir raised his
sword and thrust. Smith saw his wife
fall, pierced through the heart. Red
swan before his eyes, and he rushed
upon the savage with clenched fists.
him, felt blow on his breast and, I'M
conscious of pain, realized that the
fakir was Withdrawing the hilt from
his own body. In a swoon he toppled
to the ground. And he remembered,
with strange incOngruity, that this
was Thursday.
He heard the yelling mob sweep on
ward, and with his last effort he
CROPPED toward his wife, found her
hand, and held it. And then con-
sciousness forsoOk him.
Somebody was bending over him,
strOking his forehead. He opened his
eyes. He saw his wife kneeling over
him.
"Thank God you are alive, Arthur"
she whispered. Are you hurt? Try
to rise"
He sprang to his feet, staring at her
in bewilderment. There was not
wound upon her; and, looking down,
he could see none on himself.
"Mary! What has happened?' he
cried.
81 don't know, Arthur" she an
swered, looking at him in equal aston
ishment. II thought l saw you
stabbed"
"And you?" he cried in wonder. And
then he realized that both had been
the victims Of the fakir's illusion; that
the man had saved them, either by
sleight of hand, or by accomplishing
some one of those illusions that the
fakirs perform for the entertainment
of their audiences.
They fell into each others arms. In
the distance were the dwindling cries
of the mob. Their house was unin-
jured. And, as they stood there, they
saw troop of cavalry ride down the
street, driving the mutineers before
them, cutting them down with their
swords.
'At least, l did not desert my post"
said Smith. And with sudden CRATE
fulness to the fakir he took Mary into
his arms again. They had never felt
so near to one another
Smith looked up with start. He
was back in his library, and before
his copper bowl and whining.
"You no give pice to poor fakir?"
asked the man.
Smith looked up over his shoulder.
When the man had entered the room
the clock had pointed to twenty min
utest past ten. Now it was still twen-
ty minutes past ten. And the sentence
that he man was speaking was the
same as that with which he had en-
tered the room.
In less than second the whole of
the episode had been implanted upon
his mind by the art Of the beggar be-
fore him.
He sprang to his feet. "Mary!" he
called.
"Dld you want me, dear?" an
swered his wife, entering with a placid
smile,
"How did this man get in?"
"Why, / just let him in. You know
you said you would see anybody"
Smith threw three pice into the cop
per bowl, and the fakir, saluting grave
Iy, turned and made his dignified exit.
Smith turned to his wife.
81 think, my dear" he said mildly,
''that in future we shall try-try to
get to know a little more about our
people instead of-of shutting our
selves away from them"
Bargain Hunter.
Patience-Your brother Is a great