Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1923-05-16
YELLOW MEN SLEEP

And always in the city cellars the
precious store of roots grew and grew.
On the far edges Of the state the
essence Of these roots was bartered
or exchanged for silver Always the
yellow bowl in the apartment of the
future queen was kept filed with
dream potency The state religion
was perpetuated in the lower room,
which was so situated as to be symbolic
of its connection with the source of
all dreams, the mines themselves.
Thus Chez Ming wrought upon the
whole world the substance of his medi-
tations-the vfzir, whose thin eyelids
had never been touched and soOthed
and damned by one faint of koresh.
His web was spreading beyond the
sea. He chose the blood of princes
and Of queens, to blend at his leisure,
in his own Interpretation of right. The
old monzoul had become no more than
a warm silken bag of clay under the
skinny hands of his viZir. Chez Ming
was ready to rule the planet entire
Now in the caverns, the miners were
eating, wherever they stood, sticks
Aicking in and out of brown jars, the
women Sinking about in mortal fear
1t was long after midnight. March
drOpped down beside Lexington.
Surprising the riders do not come"
"They1l wait for daylight. They
have the four They fee! sure of us"
The two friends sat a little way off
from the swarm, and looked idly into
the gas-fire Con grew drOwsy with
the warmth in his face. After while
he said, "The green hair of -"
"YOu mean the gas?
eyes, the way it comes up and floats,
like something drowned in air. That's
the flowing green hair-rather fiendish.
I can't say what l mean"
eff the fire happened to go out" said
March. 1--WE should all go out with it,"
"From what depth do you suppose it
comes?"
March looked quickly at his comrade,
and smiled you are sleepy"
eyes. I'll take nap here. But do
YOU think the gas has anything to do
with the crusted seeds they dig out of
the pits here?
81 don't know. Nor can I tell you
how the koresh seeds, millions of them,
ever cot down so deep in the earth, to
begin with. The Arab says that there
are shafts as deep as wells, and from
these CHI. SINS the worker with torch
brings up seeds that must have laid
in the clay ever since the planet con-
densed and cooled; and the same seeds
will sprout in a months time when
planted on the surface and watered."
Something left over, preserved,
from the days of the giants and the
mastodons," said Con.
"T thought you were going to say
seeds from -"
"How do they extract the oil and
the incense?'
1.-THE oil is simply pressed out of the
full-grown root, and the incense is that
oil vaporized,"
"It got me-" said Lexington.
Sand there is a poison they make
from the seed itself; but that is death,
no dreams with it," added March.
A curious kind of notoriety came &c
Lexington while he dozed and rested.
The story of his battle with the Nubian
was spread about the caverns, and
many were the glances cast upon him,
not so unfriendly. The monkeys
choice in that struggle was taken here
as a good omen; it strengthened these
peoples faith in the white man.
Later March said, out of his somber
thinking: 81 cannot believe that my
Eithna is gone"
Lexington could make no reply. 1t
seemed that March remembered his
bride as she was eighteen years ago.
Time had no.. until now, touched that
sacred portion of his life.
'And they have taken my little
child, touched her eyes with the drug,
until she is no longer mine but theirs.
She refuses to go to America, my own
daughter. She has been made to for
get her mother"
Con was overwhelmed He stretched
out his hand and found March's arm.
1t was trembling
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