The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1919-07-30

swift accommodating glance In my d.
rection--a glance which apparently
had but deepened his attention and
increased the dignity of his demeanor.
Remembering that he was not mere
ly royal but pious also, made my sal
utation at once courtier-like and sane
timonious.
"Good day to your majesty" said /;
Gods good, God looks after his serv-
ants"
"De Lord Is merciful," he answered
gravely; "God takes care Of his chill
dren. Be seated, sar. and please ex-
cuse my not rising; my rheumatism Is
a sore affiiction to me-"
I was not long In getting to the sub
ject Of my visit. The old man listened
to me with great composure. but with
a marked accession Of mysterious I'm
portance In his manner.
ats true, sar." he said. when had
finished. " could and II for you. i
could find II for you. sure enough; and
I'm de only man In all de islands dat
could. But I should have to 60 wild
you. and It's de Lords will to keep me
here In dis chair wild rheumatics. De
rods has turned In desc old hands
many a time. and 1 have faith In de
Lord dey would turn again-yes. I'd
find 1t for you; sure enough I'd find
1t II any man could-and 1t was de
Lords will. But mebbe can see 1t
for you widout moving from dis chair"
"Do you mean, brother, that the
Lord has given you second sight?"
dat am I'll Glory to his name, hal
lelujahw he answered. II look In a
glass ball-so; and IL de spirit helps
me I can see clear as a picture far
under de ground-far, far away over
de sea. It's de Lords truth, sar-
blessed be his name!"
I asked him whether he would look
into his crystal for me. With a burst
of profanity, as unexpected as it was
vivid. he cursed "dem boys" that had
stolen from him priceless crystal
which once had belonged to his old
royal mother. who, before him, had
had the same gift Of the spirit. But.
he added-turning to a table by his
side, and lifting from II large cut
glass decanter Of considerable capac-
ity. though at present void Of con-
tents-that he had found that gazing
into the large glass ball Of It's stopper
produced almost equally good results
at times.
First he asked me to be kind enough
to shut the door.
We had to be very quiet. he de-
clared; the spirit could work only In
deep silence. And he asked me to be
kind enough to close my eyes. Then
I heard his voice muttering, In a
strange tongue, queer dark gobbling
kind of words, which may have been
ancient African spell-words. or sheer
gibberish such as magicians In all
times and places have employed to
mystify their consultants.
/ looked at him through the corner
OF my eye-as doubtless he had antici-
pated. for he was glazing with an air
of inspired abstraction into the ball of
the decanter stopper. So we sat silent
for suppose some ten minutes. Then
heard him give another deep sigh.
Opening my eyes I saw him slowly
shaking his head.
de spirits don't seem communicable
dis afternoon" he muttered fitting the
decanter slightly on one side and OBJ
serving 1t drearily.
"Do you think, your majesty" I
asked with as serious a face as I
could assume, 'the spirits might work
better-if the decanter were to be
filled?"
'Mebbe, sar; mebbe. Spirits is Gu
rious things; dey need inspiration
sometimes, just like ourselves"
"What kind of inspiration do you
think gets the best results, your maj
esty?"
"Well. sar, can't say as dey Is very
particular, but Use noticed dey do
seem powerful 'tached to just plain
good old Jamaica rum"
'They shall have It," said.
1 had noticed that there was sa-
loon few yards away, so before many
more minutes had passed l had been
there and come back again, and the
decanter stood ruddily filed, ready for
the resumption of our seance. But be-
fore we began of course accepted the
seer's Invitation to join him and the
spirits In a friendly libation.
Them having closed my eyes--we
began again, and II was astonishing
with what rapidity the thick-eoming
pictures began to crowd upon that In
ner vision with which the Lord had en-
dowed his faithful follower
or course was inclined now to take
the whole thing as an amusing impos-
ture; but presently, watching his face
and the curious seeing expression of
his eyes, and noting the exactitude of
one or two pictures, began to feel
that, however much he might be In
venting or celebrating. there was some
substratum of truth In what he was
telling me.
Gro BE coNTINUED)