Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-07-19
This He Appeared to Be Reading With
Great Solemnity.

hitg, through enormous goggles
though thought l caught slde-glln
Of his eye, as though he had taken &
swift accommodating glance in my di
rectlon-a glance which apparently
had but deepened his attention ant
Increased the dignity Of his demeanor
Remembering that he was not mere
ly royal but pious also, made my sal
utation at once courtier-llke and sane
timonlous.
"Good day to your majesty" ! said
Gods good, God looks after his serv.
I ants"
"De Lord Is merclful," he answered
grayely; "God takes care Of his chill.
dren. Be seated, sar, and please ex-
cuse my not rising; my rheumatism Is
sore afIllctlon to me-"
was not long in getting to the sub.
Iect Of my visit. The old man listened
to me with great composure, but with
marked accession Of mysterious Inn
portance In his manner.
'It's true, sur" he said, when I had
finished, II could find 1t for you.
could find II for you, sure enough; and
I'm de only man in all de islands dat
could. But should have TO go wild
you, and it's de Lords will to keep me
here In dis chair wild rhenmatics. De
rods has turned In desc old hands
many a time, and | have faith In de
Lord dey would turn agaln--yes I'D
find II for you; sure enough. I'd find
II II any man could--and it- was de
Lords VIII. But mebbe l can see Il
for you widout moving from dis chair"
"Do you mean, brother, that the
Lord has given you second sightr
"Dat am ltl Glory to his name, hal
leluJahl" he answered. 81 look In a
glass ball-so; and II de spirit helps
me l 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 namel"
| asked him whether he would look
into his crystal for me. With n burst
OF profanity, as unexpected as Il WIS
vivid, he cursed "dem boys" that had
stolen from him a 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-turnlng to a table by his
slde 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 bah OF its stopper
produced almost equally good results
at times.
First he asked me to be kind enough
to shut the door.
We had 70 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
| heard his voice muttering, in
strange tongue, queer dark gobbllng
kind Of words, which may have heen
ancient African spell-words, OF sheer
glbberlsh such as magicians in all
times and places have employed to
mystlfy their consultants.
! looked at him through the corner
OF my eye-as doubtless he had anticl-
pated, for he was glaring with I'm 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 | 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 II drearily.
"Do you think, your majesty" |
asked with as serious n face as |
could assume "the spirits might work
better-if the decanter were TO be
fllcdf"
"Mebbe, sar; mebbe. Spirits is Gu
rious things; dey need inspiration
sometimes, lust like ourselves"
"What kind Of inspiration do you
think gets the best results, your mai.
estyY
swell, sar, can't say as dey Is very
particular. but Use noticed dey do
seem powerful 'taehed to just plain
good old Iamnlea rum"
''They shall have H." said.
! had noticed that there was a sa-
loon few yards away. so before many
more minutes had passed l had been
thefe aud come back again. and the
deeanter stood ruddlly filled. ready for
the resumption of our seance. but be-
fore we begnn Of course accepted the
seers Invitation TO Join him and the
spirits In friendly lIhatlon.
Then-I having closed my eyes-we
began again. and It was astonishing
with what rapidly the thlck-comlng
pictures began to crowd upon that In
ner vision with which the Lord had en-.
dowed his faithful fOllowerl
OF course was inclined now 20 take
the whole thing as an amusing lmpOs-
tare 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