Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-04-11

SLduuluS erect De1OTe Tie pIISOucI-
guest, and showing his smooth stupid
gray face, muscular neck, animal eyes,
and thick ears. Con fumbled in his
white garments for a pocket, for
coin.
The slave wished him to follow, and,
without being able to inquire what
might be expected of him, the white
man obeyed, down a rock stairway to
the courtyard, onward amid the arches
and low stone fences, beyond another
fountain. He wondered where March
was, and if they would be able to es-
cape.
He followed on through a dim hall
way, where the scuffle Of many slip
pers was echoing, and the soft chink
of bangles, moving always inward
along dim, dusky corridors. Standing
at intersections were bowls of ala
baster, each with a swimming, flaming
wick in oil. Many other figures in the
semi-darkness appeared to be going
in the same direction. Racial char
acteristics puzzled him.
He found himself in a great vaulted
chamber, inside a lofty pyramid of
glass. The gray slave made abase-
ment previous to entry, repeating the
gesture every five PAGES. All others
of inferior cast did likewise as they
proceeded deeper into the room.
Huge silken curtains were swaying
in the breeze. The lower walls were
indistinct with rich, deep tapestry
covering bare rock. He heard purr-
ing like the echo Of many distant bells,
wind-horne. A hundred censers of
jade were clouding the royal twilight.
Human ngures, grouped in back
ground along a further side, seemed
insignificant. Levington's boyhood
dreams were freshened before his eyes.
He forgot he was prisoner. His at
tendant guided him around the border
of dragon-rug toward the waiting
group of men. He saw that they were
/ warriors in council.
They had forsaken the leathery gear
of the desert, and were clearly ap-
pareled in silken tunics, but they re-
tanned their swords. He glanced in
stinctively in the direction in which
all eyes were turned, and noted large
dais, it's canopy reaching out above.
He was standing before a throne.
Three heavy chairs were upon it,
narrow and high-backed, with carven
dragons for their arms. The central
throne was vacant. A human form &C.
cupied the place of state on each side.
The one, a prince, sat motiCAless,
his black hair woven with stran is Of
silver, a green diadem upon his fore
head, from which jewels shone like a
far cluster of stars. His face was
narrow, yellow as wax, and blank.
Long, tapering hands rested upon the
dragon-heads. His robe was worked
with silver and emeralds, and the
royal sandals were bright upon a mat
of raw silk.
But Lexington was looking at the
other figure, a princess, who likewise
waited very quietly upon her throne
with hands folded in her lap. The
brown tresses that yesterday had
streamed down the gray cloak Of the
supposed sentinel were now bound
high and stuck with ieweled pins. Her
throat was closely wound with dia-
monds. The body of the princess was
small. Upon her countenance was an
expression Of untried powers, or so
Lexington imagined, for he could not
look away from her face, which was
dark but not yellow. Her eyes, which
seemed all the while to study the rug,
had no upward line, although her
brows slanted delicately. She was
very unlike the prince-unlike any one
else The white prisoner was troubled.
He had an impulse to cross the marble
tagging and kneel at her feet.
From a further portal Andrew
March was brought in, and halted
near his companion. The group Of
warriors stood behind the prisoners,
who had no opportunity for exchange
of words. Then a stiff sudden whisper
passed over their heads, followed by a
sharp silence. Chez Ming had entered
the room.
In his pearl-broidered robe, which
was more voluminous than that of any
other person in audience, he carried
himself with solemnity before the
assembly, bowed with feeling at the
foot of the dais, until, at the faint
stirring of the princes hand, he
Strengthened himself, mounted the first
level of the dais, and began to speak.
He disregarded the princess. Leving-
ton thought of the night Chez Ming
had served the coffee in the Wedger
dining-room, and Of his first impress
sion Of that small head, stony face,
and lean, everlasting body. Cecil
Wedger, in his gold-tipped ignorance,
had seen nothing more than Chinese
coolie who could cook. Now the same
thin arms were gesturing before roy
atty, and seemed much more at home.
The talk was meaningless to Leving-
ton, although it bore upon his fate,
for the speakers glance turned again
and again to the slender, dark prin-
cess. Once-or was it only a trick
of his sun-racked vision?-she lifted
her eyes to meet his, and her lips