The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1920-12-23

out III uleu nefOre dark.
AT dawn they started again. 1ne
desert was less hllly, but great rocks
emerged from the sand. and here Nyare
slittering lizards in the morning light,
still asleep. The heavens were CLASSY.
wind held from the northwest, and
the nostrils OF the beasts were stung
to bleeding by the sand Grit had
slfted into Cons clothing, next to his
skin. and riding was hardship. Dust
grated In his teeth.
That night Andrew March lit the
watch-fire and 1t was Cons time for
sleep. Their world was empty, sound.
less, Infinite, unknown. March did
not call Lexington at two In the morn
lie, as agreed. but permitted his young
friend to sleep until dawn. None
could have known the reverles Of this
unusual man In the midnight hours
al hard to gage. He had loved life.
and the sweets Of II had been taken
from him long ago. II had been diff
cult for him to pass through Peking,
city of his birth and earliest influence.
The quest that had drawn his father
Stephen as boy, across the American
plains, onward across the Pacific, and
yet onward to China, Peklng and the
dread Sha Mo was wrought into the
very texture of the mind and soul of
the son, Andrew. The yearning of
his mother was woven there, also, as
she had hoped, loved, prayed. resented,
| and finally mourned for Stephen until
he returned, late by two years. This
Cobb desert mastered him. The heart
of China would not let him go. He
could not live down the terrors that
Peklng had stamped upon him in in
fancy. Now he looked long at Con,
sleeping beside the fire, relaxed, grace
full, breathing steadily, something boy
ish and pure about him. Andrew
March's eyes shut against sudden
tears, He arose silently and walked
out, away from the camels, so far that
the fire was only a red spark to him.
The night spaces whispered In vague
conspiracy, At daybreak the whole
world was without color, only dead
gray hills and gullies, rocks and
shadows and vacant air. Lexington
wakened. glanced up at Andrew, who
was making the morning tea; and II
seemed as II the air were powdered
with the delicate rooty aroma that Con
associated with John Lexington and
all manner of evil fate. Then he
realized that the faint spice of II was
clinglng about March. He said moth
ing but 1t was a black moment for
him.
They studied their map, and held q
field compass beside It. Their diff
Guilty was to hold direction, by rea
son of the twisted formation of desert
surfaces. Each crooked line of rise
or dip mlsled the eye, and the camel'
persisted in staying low, preferring tC
pass around hill rather than take
the safe straight line across 1t
March was watchful, usually silent
For their third camp they halted In {
little valley wedge, out of the gale
All night the sand sifted in upon them
like gray snow, but this was preferabl,
to facing the whip of II on the level
above.
The fourth day they saw dlfferen
formation of rock. Closer, 1t showed
to be the collapse of city, yet on
in no wise related to the villages the.
had left behind. for these building
had once been of solid gray rock
Strangely, through a crack in the mid
die of slab came the greenish-yelloy
line of flame. 1t was gas from tn
depths of the world, and II burne'
slowly, waving like Transparent
plume In the sheltered place OF al
that city of long ago. this eternal fam
remained.
The walls had been shaken dow
with terrible age; every block Of ston
was rounded smoothly by the BLOWN
sand. The original level of the cit
had been much below the present
Lexington shivered. He felt aroun
him the faded life of another tim,
lingering human shadows tied to tn
stones. March moved solemnly owe
the tumbled pile, pausing before tn
Ianguid green fire issuing from tn
rock. In the emptiness overhead the
saw a bird. high up and black, sailin
steadily, watching these two white II
truders upon his dominion. seeming
wait with perfect patience until the
should perish and leave to him ono
more the crumbllng. forgotten empire
Now. the black bag contained a sa'
Ing grace-the razor, holy INSTR
ment, keen with decency. Con rubbe
i bit Of fat over his jaws and scrape
with unction. Water was too precior
to waste In lather. The Oil was tole
able and cleansing. His cheeks wei
taut, the line of chin and jaw vivid
marked. Sometimes his though
seemed about to surprise the endir
Of the story that Bill the cook had n,
finished that night In Elopura harbo
Sometimes he talked to March of Il
mother he had never known. Year
ing came TO the surface, eagerness Il
far trails and nameless destinatio