Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-05-09

! contents had been prepared for bak-
Ing. Con bent down to sniff at the
| open Jars. March and the Arab passed
on together, and Lexington waited,
! FEELING himself useless in such a con-
| ference. He was more interested in
| finding an exit.
| 10 the left was the passage leading
TO the foot of the slanting shaft He
noted long vine that came down over
the loose gravel like a guide-rope. Con
| climbed into the enlarging daylight to-
ward the top. Sunlight, the old enemy,
was beguiling. He was thinking that in
! Tau Kuan they have either too much
| sunshine or too little. The pale,
! haunted faces of the children below
troubled him. An intense light was
binding him from above. A flash of
desert days came over him oddly, a
! swift Renaissance of pain and thirst,
! gone in the space of one upward step,
| yet leaving a dryness in the throat
Con realized that the only trees within
a thousand miles were the half-grOWn
4 oaks outside the easements of the prin-
! cess.
Now the air changed in his nostrils
and he caught again the hot, sweeping
| currents of the sand. When the green
blots left his eyes he raised his head
above the level of upper earth and
| stared away. The city, less than a mile
distant, was shimmering behind heat
waves, at moments dimmed by clouds
of dust that rushed across the valley.
He squinted to find the path they had
| taken last night through the fog, with
| the sleepers rising to find them.
A dromedary with baskets and a
dr&er was coming out at the big gate
Out to the south was motionless
horseman, the sun flashing from his
silver and steel. He seemed to be
guarding the horizon. He was one of
the scores who sought trace of the
fugitives. But nearer, along the road
was a third rider, cantering between
the green squares. Cons heart beat
violently. He recognized the gray
cloak of his princess.
She rode under the full blaze of high
morning sun. The pony moved brisk
ly. The watcher was puzzled as to
why she came out in the great heat,
leaving the shelter of the palace tiles.
She was alone, save for the far figure
of the sentinel She was mounted per-
fectly, and this was comforting to Con-
who longed for more signs of her west
ern self. She reached the cut in the
hill, the head of the ravine, and there
drew rein. Vividly he recalled that it
was the point of their first meeting
where her uplifted right arm had
saved him, while with the left she con-
cealed her face.
He swore to himself that he was pre-
sumptuous in imagining she had rid
den there for any reason connected
with himself, unless she too was seek
ing to discover the white disturbers of
the empire and give them over to the
vizir. Con argued with himself that
she had gone to the ravine before she
knew he existed, that probably she
rode there each day for a constitution
al since there was nowhere else to CO.
Yet his emotions had their final say.
Lifting himself out at the mouth of
the shaft, he glanced up and around.
The sun was scOrching. If he attempt
ed to move along the face of the hill
he would draw the eye of the sentinel
and the end would come quickly. Cons
turban and blouse were white and he
felt that he must be glowing like
gem on the dun hillside. Greater than
this difficulty was the fear that Helen
would ride on or turn back before he
could reach her. Nothing short of
word with her would suffice, although
he could not recall that he had any
thing to say
The shortest way out of sight was
! I'M the hill and over the crest, and Con
began to worm upward as rapidly as
| nossible. The sand he loosened must
have made a long stream downward, a
perfect mark if the sentinel glanced
that way. At the top, Lexington was
GREATNESS, but not from exertion. He
was in furious excitement. Just a lit
tie way down the hill on the further
side, and he stood erect to look. Helen
was still at the head of the ravine. He
bolted for the road that led up to her.
When he was quite close, timidity
caught him, pleasant trouble. 1t was
the old gentleness where women were
concerned, the familiar fullness in the
throat and the shyest look that ever
comes into the eyes of an adult male.
But here was also a new driving force.
a reckless impulse. He would have
speech with her, princess or no. She
did not see him. The sun was liquid
silver upon her; and the next he was
aware that she did see him. They oc-
cupied the positions respectively OF
their first meeting, yet now the footing
was different. Con ran up the road to-
ward the pony. He crept up the side
Of the bank and found it convenient to
kneel beside q boulder. He bowed.
81 wanted to talk with you," he said.
"They are looking for you," she re-
piled.