Evening star., 1924-09-11
CONTINUED from Yesterdays Star)

.Ae oouHoS OIL hT. LOTlIneT mag is
tracy to the exclusion of all other
sypsies and throve nightly in con-
sequence.
He had been at pains to commend
himself to Teresa Penhale, but had
only partly succeeded. She was the
principal land owner in the valley
where he wintered and it was neces-
sary to keep on her right side.
The difficulty with Teresa was that
being of gypsy blood herself. she was
proof against gypsy trickery and ex-
ceeo1ng suspicious of her own kind
lie tried to present her with a pair
OF barbaric gold earrings. by way OF
throwing bread upon the waters. but
she asked him how much fhe wanted
Tor them and he made the fatal mis-
take of saying nothing"
Nothing today and my skin to-
morrow? she sneered. "Outside with
you,"
Pyramus went on the other tack
pretended not to recognize her as a
Romni, addressed her in English,
treated her with extravagant defer
ence and saw to it that his family
did the same.
1t worked. Teresa rather fancied her
self as ''lady"-though she could
never 60 to the trouble of behaving like
one-and it pleased her to find some
BODY who treated her as such. 1t
pleased her to have the great King
Herne back his horse out of her road
and remain, hat in hand. till she had
passed by; to have his women drop
curtsies and his bantlings bob. 1t
worked-temporaril Pyramus had
touched her abundant conceit. lulled
the Christian half of her with fiat
terry, but he knew that the gypsy
half awaEa and GUARD The
situation was too nicely balanced for
comfort: he looked about for fresh
weight to throw into his side of the
scale.
One day he met. Eli wandering up
the valley alone, f1intlock in hand. on
the outlook for woodcock.
Pyramus could be fascinating when
he chose; 1t fabricated the wheels of
commerce. He laid himself out to
charm Eli; told him where he had
seen brace of cock and also some
snipe; complimented him on his viii
famous old blunderbus; was all
cleaning teeth. geniality and oil.
He could not have made greater
mistake. Eli was not used to charm
and had instructive diStruSt of the
unfamiliar. He had been reared
among Doors. who said their say in
the fewest words and therefore dis
trusted a talker. Further. he was
his fathers son. Penhale of Bosula.
on his own soil. and this fellow was
an Egyptian. a foreigner, and he had
an instructive distruSt of foreigners.
He growled something incoherent,
scowled at the beaming Pyramus.
shouldered his unwieldy cannon and
marched off in the opposite dlrec-
ton.
Pyramus bit his fieshy lip. Moth
ing to be done with that truculent
bear cub. But what about the
brother. the handsome dark boy?
What about him-eh?
He looked out for Ortho, met him
once or twice in company with other
lads, made no overtures beyond a
smile, but heeled his mare and set her
caracolng showiiy.
He did not glance around, but he
knew the boys eyes were following g
him. A couple of evenings after the last
meeting he came home to learn that
young Penhale had been hanging
about the camp that afternoon.
The eldest Herne son, Lussha, had
invited him in, but Ortho declined,
saying he had come up to look at
some badger diggings. Pyramus
smiled into his curly beard; the bad
ger holes had been untenanted for
years. Ortho came up to carry out
a further examination of the badger
earths the very next day.
Pyramus saw him, high up among
the rocks of the earn. his back to the
diggings, gazing wistfully down on
the camp, it's tents, fires and horses.
He did not ask the boy in, but sent
out a scout with orders to bring
word when young Penhale went
home.
The scout returned at 3 o'clock.
Ortho, he reported, had worked
stealthily down from the earn top
and had been lying in the bracken at
the edge of the encampment for the
last hour, imagining himself in
visible. He had now gone off to-
wards Bosula. Pyramus called for
his mare to be saddled, brushed his
breeches, put on his best coat,
mounted and pursued. He came up
with the boy mile or so above the
farm and brought his mount along
side. caracoling and curveting.
Ortho's expressive eyes devoured her.
man." Pyramus called. showing his
fine teeth. Ortho grinned in return.
wind gone back to the east; we
shall have a spell of dry weather, I
think" said the gypsy, making the
mare do a right pass. pivot on her
hooks and pass to the left.
"Yeh," said Ortho, his mouth wide
with admiration.
King Herne and his steed were
enough to take any boys fancy; they
were dressed to that end. The gypsy
had masses of inky hair, curled mus
taches and an Assyrian beard, which
frame of black served to enhance the
brightness of his glance, the white
hi 4f hiG emilia He
dressed in the coat he wore when
calling on the gentry-dark blue.
frogged with silver lace, and buff
spatter-dashes. He sat as though
bolted to the saddle from the thighs
down. The upper half of him, hinged
at the hips, balanced gracefully to
every motion of his mount. 1.-THE as
a panther for all his 4S years.
And the mare! She was his pride
and deIight-black, like himself;
Arab, meddlesome,
fine boned, pointed of muzzle, arched
of neck. Unlike her mates, she was
assiduously groomed and kept rugged
in Winter so that her coat had not
grown shaggy. Her long name rlppled
like silken threads, her tail streamed
behind her like a banner. The late
sunshine twinked on the silver
of her bride and rippled
over her hide till she cleaned satin
like. She bounded and pirouetted
along beside Ortho, light on her feet
as a ballerina, tossed her name,
pricked her crescent ears, showed the
whites of her eyes, clicked the bit In
her young teeth-a thing of steel and
swansdown, passion and docility.
Ortho's eyes deyoured her. Pyra-
mus noted it, laughed, and patted
the glossy neck.
"You like my little sweet-eh? She
is of blood royal. Her sire was given
to the Chevalier Lombez Muret by
the Basha Of Oran in exchange for
three pieces Of siege ordnance and a
Ginning clock. The dam of that sire
sprang from the sacred mares of the
AIahauaaf-fha mares fhot