San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-01-10


crowd, with one mind, painted like
a torRented animal to hear the
burning girl utter her first cry.
1t would break the tension.
Protesting voices, swaying
cleavage of the packed mass. What
was this? Heads turned. People
were uncertain whether to look
towards the stake or towards this
obscure yet violent disturbance.
The disruption continued. Some
one was lighting ncaulony pas
sage through the crowd, that Strove
to sunder before HIM win Suueals.
outcries, and the deeper voices of
jostling men.
"The young lordw A score of
Threats uttered it. Heaven save
us! It's the young lord"'
Sabine half rose. Hugh turned
his head as though something had
set its teeth in him, and spoke in
stantly to the nearest man-at-arms.
Up on the wheeled stage Marga-
ret laughed, caught hold of Anne,
choked, and hid her face on the
satin-clad bosom of the other Girl.
Nothing could turn Gervais. He
had known it, and it was so. The
people of the crowd were Just so
many herded sheep. There was the
strength of twenty in his shoulders
in his arms and hands. He saw
the smoke roll upward, mixed with
fiery sparks; he saw the small.
dark, lifted head of Sidonia, the
witch. All! Would they stop him?
He was at grips with cluster of
men-at-arms. But they were chill
dren in muscle measured with HIM
self. The bones of a mans fore
arm cracked audibly. Another,
cast heavily, lay where he had
fallen, grooming. The smell of the
smoke was sharp in the nostrils;
the heat of the fire was palpable.
The men-at-arms were ten against
one. Men of straw. His brain
was clear-a red clearness.
"Gervaisw
Out of the smoke, out of the
dragon-breath of the increasing
flames that licked up almost to
her feet, the girls voice came. A
clear voice, rather high-pitched,
unquivering.
If a magician'S word of power
had been uttered, the effect could
not have been more complete -
more sudden. The tangle of
struggling men relaxed, for the
young lord - the mailman - like
AN awakened sleeper who has
fought with dreams, looked in
stantly upward, passive, his chest
heaving, his bloodleSs face streak
ed with sweat, his body naked to
the waist save for few shredded
tatters of dark red. Sabine was
upon her feet. All those within
hearing of the voice from the
stake were speechless - incapable
of any action. What unprecedent-
ed thing was about to happen?
"GcrvaiS. There is no pain"
And there was not, though the
naked soles of her feet were set on
wood that had begun to glow and
shoulder beneath them, and sparks
We're mixed with her hair, and the
hot, pouring smoke was a partial
veil beneath her and the world of
men. She saw him even though
the wide, fearless eyes of her body
We're Semi-blinded, and her spirit
stopped to him and stretched out
quick hands. He could not be scpa-
rated from her-it only seemed to
him that he could. Her hands
caressed him as they had done in
the turret room and in the forest
solitude.
"Gervaisl Gervais! I dreamed
that your God had given me to
you. And it is truev
Overhead, without the least
warning, there was a crashing
shock of thunder that Jared the
stolid, well-bedded cobblestones
underfoot. The sky, from side to
side, was one momentary glare,
livid, gray-blue, scrubbed with
molten-white zig-zags. "A rush of
icy air swept across the open, and
with it slanting flood of rain,
mixed with sleet.
OF such suddenness was the
visitation that, like the blow of
divine fist, it left every creature
in the market square stunned and
silly-capable only of budding
like storm-struck cattle that lower
their heads and crowd close.
Sabine was down in her deep
cushioned seat, crouched upon her.
self animal-fashion, and the two
girls covered at the back of her.
Mothers dumbly shielded heir
children; all were pressed to "ether
in a conglomerate mass without
will or even sense; various MASTER
less dogs skunk through the partly
opened doors of the great church
to refuge, but the herd of men
and women with immortal souls
only swayed slightly under the
savage punishment of the violet
black sky, and there was a vague,
general moan.
Near the centre of the market
Sylvane, who was always thrown
into cringing panic by thunder,
whimpered between the arms of
Catherine, who turned her own
face skyward to the scOurging
rain.
A loud kissing rose from the
burning faggots that surrounded
the stake. The smoke drove every