The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 14, 1902, Page 7

. THE @eed despalr, but the most painful anxiety, - “As thou must have observed,” began Meneeseh in reply, “for little I think escapes thy notice, we did not bargain with Manlius when we supposed him to rogue, but I am not lost to all sense of decency. I might kill a man upon neces- sity, but am not subject to that mania for taking life that so completely controls Tiberius. Besides, to kill you were at- tended with some danger of discovery be the representative of the Emperor. by the Emperor, for those four knaves Neither will we do Bo With thee, whom are not to be trusted too far, and I am we knowto be acting for thyself. Name not anxious to be thrown from 'his cliff thy terms.” upon the rocks below. Is it a bargain?” “I am disposed to be generous” re- _Joseph and I withdrew to one side and sponded the up from the ¢ngaged in an earnest discussion of our desperate situation. “Thou can'st trust him now, master,” whispered Julla, who had timidly ap- proached with Ruth. *“I understand his moods. He will make good his promise.” And so we decided to sign away all our wealth, abandon, in fact, in the hope of preserving our lives, the kingdom ot power we had so nearly conquered. Ma- nasseh seated himself, dipped my pen in the ink-horn, and made ready to write q‘n.mbler, lookin, which be held in his hand. “But 14 1 needlessly resort to hypoc- which I detest. The truth is, I am forced to do & generous act. Like berius, 1 am somewhat subject to the dominion of perstition, ough the power of my master begins and ends at the gaming table. My luck hath waxed with my friend Judas' fortunes, and I dis- like the thought of seeing it wane with their decline.” ” il tertli will not beggar iis name. n-?e:uxre-‘?fi Joseps. “Hold!" 1 cried, a sudden thought strik- “Yes, it will, for if I take that I take ing me. “Is Julla’s name and description ell. But I covet not your wealth. The in the list?” lody s all T ask.” Joseph replied that it was. “It must be removed. She is to ac- compa#y us as a free woman.” “And wherefore?”” sneered Pollio. “Because she hath trusted me, hath served me as woman seldom serves man; we echoed as if in one the lady. My intentions are But she is already a wife,” I‘cried. hath placed her life, well knowing the “So was Livia when she met Octavius risk she ran, in deadly jeopardy, for my Caesar. A divorce is a mere matter of saki Because she loathes and detests the I wil] die rather than consent.” 'And I will die with him rather than sign the document against his protest,” declared the friend of my heart in answer to an inquiring look of the gambler. hen die!” shouted Pollio, with a most ter: e heathen oath. “Think not that I fear to do the act because I spoke of the darger. The money sne earned ever brought me good fortune. 'Twas her price that enabled me to win back my houses, goods and slaves. Her service may, in a manner, counteract the evil effects of de- form to one who stands as near the Em- peror as I do.” “Enough shouted Manasseh, fairly hoarse with rage and indignation. “Thou art not master here. I demand that the orders of the Emperor be carried into in- n, and we permitted to de- g Pollio thrice clapped ur soldiers who had d body almost immedi- ' asked the gam- , @8 be careles: turned a handsome spoiling Judas, though I must consult et-ring upon his finger. the augurs on that point. Besides, the Flavius Po replied Lucius, to mald is fairer than I thought when I which anewer & ee comrades nodded possessed her. In fine, I am resolved to & quick, an eager ascent. have her back. Wilt sign?”’ © what extent? My comrade spoke no word, but his look Lucius pointed with his heavy sword of hering indignation was sufficient to the pool of blood the pavement, r. then polsed it as if making ready to de- Then Lucius must settle the dispute,” iver & stroke, wi tion was imitated and the gambler made ready to repeat the by the others. signal Tiberius had employed. He had “Tis wel raw. Thou raised his right hand for that purpose art mistaken, In the ab- when Ruth again produced and poised of the Emperor 1 indeed master aloft her dagger. Go on, my lady,” he said with mock ! die before I consent to such in- politene: “1 hav igned all claims sal assel e folded his upon thee; bave transferred my affections another.. Heed not the pavement, it is , spring- d to bloodstains. eater agony depicted on face than on that of Joseph Ma- as he watched the two uplified ds, whose descent meant to him the carthly happiness. “Master,” whispered Juliz ly drew me a.little apart, I am well content. the mood to ake gogd his threat.” “On no ount,” I answered firmly. iink’st thou 1 will consign thee to a 10 escape which Ruth 8 ready to ' We stand or fall fogether,” r not; 1 know a way to fofl him.” ne spoke a lufinous light, as 'twere cried Ruth, as she quiet- ‘bid -him sign; Be quick, for he is in ward Julia her eyes, a me for wis d no- , fair rather call her her bright soul itself, shone in-her trust- Miaas, Despite our d into them wful surroundings one entranced. Sud- h her? : to my intense astonish: y, s ment, she ve suffered de- threw her arms aboj 7 3 ; Z s about my n / o my temper, 80 I me fondly. e atars RAIET Her clinging grasp suddenly ill impale myself relaxed and, but for my , or my support, she orn of the @llemma, for must: nas t ¢ the luck of Tantalus, ave fallen to the floor. Placing couch T knelt beside her. 3 murmered, so softly that rce reached me. ‘“Dear — The gods have bidden While a smile of the and happiness the almost h * o : demand all we possess?” querled {he last sestertif, and I lose by the -3 1'21':41 * said the villain as he e parchment and began study- most perfect peace molded ‘her deljcate lips, avenly light faded from her y and her gentle spirit, joyful nmgkrplease from its fair but noné irksome prison-house, away to God. b L tly mposed her wear; folded her finely chiseled arme acror imt faithful, loving heart, kissed hep pale brow, and looked toward my companions, whose faces, even thet of Flavius Pojlig, were touched with awe. E Then, without speaking, I nodded to Manasseh, and saw him {ake and write, i Do he certainty of becom- hough from Manilus’ have to learn in the undying »ur pardon inkshorn, blissfuil 1 de: pen and das.” i him the articles he demanded, If for some time in ted for throw- guid a pen” he re s he returned Iy property, will serve. Sign the order I have here, Joseph Manasseh, and all ss will become mine. convey you all in my e, far from Rome, where e and can return at your BOOK IIL THE KING OF WRETCHEDNESS, I “‘Sleep peacefully, gentle sister, y, of tribulation are ended; enjoy ‘tkl’:yedr:)s: that thy brief but hard task.of Iiving hath so dearly and abundantly. earneq Sleep tranquilly,tbeloved one, whose life was 80 beset with fremblings and alarms, the cruelty of man will mo more affright thee; thy faithful .atms are folded. over a breast that will never again flutter with fear. Sleep contentedly, true woman, who " 5 : at assurance have we that 1t keep faith with ‘us?’ asked suspiciously. ““Fhine acts have wed, almost to the vanishing poiat, faith in thy benor.” forgive thee thy plessantry, friend Manasseh. 1 admit that I am:a shd preserved thy faith where all were false thy purity where all was foul and co: rupt; thou hast done well—better than many faithful ones whose names nd deeds are graven on the hearts of men. Sleep hopefully, noble soul, that quitted its falr habitation for the good of others, God 18 not the God of Israel, As I tearfully, fervently, uttered these words, a tribute that came spontaneously from my sorrowful yet trustful heart, as if to seal them with the approving smiie of heaven, a shaft of light, the first and best gift of God to man, shot from the bosom of the newly risen sun, swept over the wide expanse of roiling waves, and settled, llke a benediction, upon the open grave beside which we stood. The scene was wild, desolate, forbidding. To the northward the rising ground was studded with a scanty growth of trees, the gmarled apd twisted trunks of which seemed modeled dfter the tortuous roots that anchored them in the crevices of the rocks. A huge barrier of stone, a veri- table mountain, rose on the west in an almost perpendicular line, while to the south and east the horizon was boundgd by the seemingly illimitable sea, upon whose deep-blue bosom no object was visible save the distant white sail that was bearing the ship of Flavius Polllo back to Rome, The gambler had not broken faith with us; he had landed us upon a coast which, though bleak and desolate, was surely safe; more than that he -had not promised, Our hard bargain, which th eath of Julia had alone rendered possible, once consummated, no time was lost in carry- ing it into execution. In apparent com- pliance with my earnest demand, though more, 1did not doubt, to rid himself of an unpleasant and most inconvenient posse: sion, the body of my deyoted slave, who had ‘heard and heeded the voices of th gods, and died, no doubt, by poison, was encased in a double casket of lead and sandal-wood and carried, with all po sible secrecy, on board the waiting galley. Depressed as I was by the loss of my fortune, the untimely death of Jull whom I had come to regard almost as gister, and the reaction from the fearful mental strain to which I had been so long subjected, 1 believe that the final and complete shattering of the ambitious superstructure that I had yeared on such insufficient, such ‘intangible foundations, was still the prime cause of the despair that overwhelmed me in that awful hoéur. Like the serpent of Aaron, it seemed to have ‘swallowed all its fellows and .fat- tened upon the food. Yet deep as was my grief it was com- posure, gaiety, ‘almost, in contrast to that of Joseph. His name affixed to the docu- ment that made us beggars, he seemed to collapse, physically and mentally. At &;s( he fairly raved, but soon settled into moody, aimost dogged silence, that seemed far more foreboding. He seldom spoke, but sat with bowed head, his band clasped in that of Ruth. A feeling akin to shame took possession of me as I d upon him. I knew every fibre of his noble heart, and realized that grief for the loss of my fortune, not his own, was the cau of his deep dejection, Pollio appeared to have lald a strong curb upon his loquaclous tongue, though several times, de- spite our changed relations, he addressed me as he was wont to do before our visit to Capreae, and once he so far forgot himself as td challenge me to & game,_of dice, Propelled by favorable winds, for two days our ship drove onward to the north and west. The third morning, just at daybreak, we were disembarked on the barren coast already escribed. The glaves bore the heavy casket some dif tance bck from the sea, well out of the reach of the highest waves. Here, at their master's command—I forgave him some portion of his cruelty for the kind- ness—they dug a deep grave. This done, they landed a basket of provisions, a sack. of wine, and the clothing we had brought with us from Rome, and hurridly set sa. ‘When all that the bright spirit of Julla had left behind in its flight was covered by the earth, to which ft now belonged, we withdrew sorrowing from the' spot. ““The ‘fool. and his money are :soon sepa- rated,” said Joseph bitterly, as he seated himself .upon a.flat-sione:thatvprojected from the ground. 2 4 ““What matters it, JosepH? I hastened to ask. “We s have outh, . health, strength—"" N “And a most inviting. fleld for exercts- SUNDAY . CALL., . “ITY ETES WERE LITERALLY UAZZILED BY TRHE BRILLIAMNT PAGEAT™NT THEY ' BIERes ENCOUNTER] ‘worse than squandered thy patrimony. ‘I have shown thee the world, given thee a taste for its luxuries and ‘pleasures, aroused amibition in thy breast—and landed thee here.’ It was. an evil day for thee when, at the riek of thine own life, thou saved'st mine. Better for thee, better for me, had'st thou permitted the crooked-legged tallor to complete his work!” ., in tones of emember thee!' he repeated. “I am not forgetting. With fraud written upon my face and lies upon my tongue, I awakened love in thy heart, lured thee from thy home, wrecked thy life. I am ot forgetting, Ruth, would that I could.” 1Byt thou lov’st me in return; thou low'st me still?” The sudden flash in Manasseh's eyes left no doubt on either point. He cast upon her a look of deepest tenderness, then burled his face in his hands. Making a signal for me to follow her, the distressed woman walked away from the spot. '‘Oh, Judas!" she began, when we were beyond his hearing, ‘“‘what- should we, what can we do ;“He will be quiet himself soon,”” I an- swered, reassuringly. y heart sadly misgives me, Judas. I »ifear the worst. Where are we? “I cannot say with ‘certainty, but think we must be in Gaul.” % “What did Pollio tell thee?” “Nothing on_that point, and I scorned to emcourage his lying tongue by .ques- tioning him. He said, however, that there was a fine town at a short distancesfrom the sea, which contained a recent, but most thriving Roman colony, planted hefe as the nucleus of a great city. ‘You will meet rare and most congenial spirits,’ were his partinggwords. “We must r ive Joseph from these surroundings, or see his noble mind en- tirely overthrown.” % ‘“We are saved! We are saved!” . These words, shouted in tones of the most extravagant joy, turned our steps toward Joseph, who was upon his knees, intently scrutinizing the sand before him. “Manlius was right,” he went on in a lower though not less. excited key. *Brave Manlius; I hail thee. and thy ods EUWrat 1s 1t, Joseph?” T asked, laying hand soothingly upon his shoulder. ‘Am I not confronted with a fate worse i than death?” bl “It would seem so,” I answered, bent 5 on humoring his fancy, though I shud- dered as I thought that my words might prave all too true. “There is the sign of my, of our deliv- srance. The unclean beast promised by Milp Manlius is here—hath crossed my path!” Bending downward I saw, through tears that I could not restrain, the footprints of what I concluded to be a wild boar. “It would seem so0,” I answered almost mechanically, marvellng at the weird phantasy that possessed his one-time vig- orous mind, yet fearful of crossing it. “Fool, fool that I am!” cried the almost frenzied man, as he sprang to his feet and began waving his arms about his head. “Kven heathen gods will not re- veal the future of one who uses false ce! Rl “But the mark is there, Joseph,” said I, pointing to the imprint in the sand. "El'hi mark of Cain, the beguilement of the devil! See it change, note how It broadens. It is the sign of our utter un- doing, the track of Caesar’'s cloven-footed horse! MAIDVENS, “Ever Caesar,” he continued, shaking (=) off with maniacal strength the hands with T ODFA which I sought to restrain him. ! ! ‘Who can hope to eseape his cruelty, ] .evade paying tribute to his all-absorbing : eed? We are doomed! Manlius—what's anljus but an accursed Caesar?—Man- lius hath deceived me. We are but dice, the playthings of fortune, marked by him for death, and thrown by Pollio’s treach- " erous this bleak coast. The N \ beast will have my life. Its flery breath ‘,, scorches my face; its fearful look blinds il mine eyes; its sharp and horrid hoofs are N ‘ ,J tearing at my heart! \ = Poor Joseph; his sufferings could scarce ~ p have been more intense -had his wild fan- cles been realities. A look from Ruth told me_that she wished to be alone with him, and I ascended the rocky -hill, bent on collecting ‘my thoughts and exploring our - surroundings. 5 As_I ‘advanced a sense of mingjed de- pression and fear, altogether - indescrib-- o, pOSsessed -my. hedrf. Theexciting TR DAUGHTER oOF PELEG FAIREST AMONGST, THE i ing them,” he interrupted, looking sadly around, him.. ‘'Pride indeed goeth before - destruction.. I'fancled myself ‘inWncible, and awful experiences through which I yet fell in thé first real encounter. I,'who had so recently set myself up as thy guide, called myself . of sleep and neglect of food, imparted to thy friend; what: have I done? Beguiled - Manasseh's ravings a strange, almost {r- thee from- a happy home, the ‘best of’ resistible power, and I began to fear assed, coupled with loss that mine own reason was deserting me, Misshapen trees and thunder-blasted ollards assumed the forms of mytho- ogical monsters and historical wonders. In one, Apollo was dispatching a huge python, another showed Perseus in the act of cutting off Medusa’s snake-crowned head, while a third disclosed a 'winged Pegasus - striking his hoofs upon the ground, as if to open a.new fountain of bitterness to quite overwhelm my already struggling soul. In one dwarfed tree I discoyered tRe outlines of Samson dis- mempbering a_lion, while a ray of sun- light imparted to anqther the glow of ver- {table burning bush, from behind which I half expected to see emerge the reproving face of an offended Deity. Snakes crossed h, but nothing suggestive of a ray nt, nothing offering a of hope, met my distorted vision. ““Hail, all hall, noble and generous sir! Diogenes most humbly greets theel™ Almost convined that one of the inani- mate objects which my exaggerated fancy endowed with personality was speaking, 1 withdrew mine eyes from the desolate desert that stretched out before them, and saw, almost beside me; the legless wretch 1 had encountered in tha Campus Martius upon the morning of my arrival in Rome. Save that his face was more uaggard, his eyes hungrier; he had changed nothing in appearance. = He rocked himself merrily in his wooden bowl, rubbed his huge, mis- shapen hands gieefully together, and smiled, or rather leered, with ‘apparent pleasure as he critically surveyed me. Somehow my heart was touched with a_pity it had not felt upon the occasion of our first meeting, and forgetting that Lucius, the cruel headsman of Tiberius, had velieved me, in common with Joseph, of my iast coin, I thrust my hand witnin the folds of my toga. “Nelthér so hauguiLy nor so wealthy as when we last met,” Sneered he, laughing hideousiy at my evident embarrassment, 1 + have noted that pride and riches seldom part company; they come and go together. But give the matier'no thought; I accept thee as a sub- Ject without a fee.” “*As a subject?'' I repeated, stammering in spite of myself. “'Se I sald. Thou art within my domin- ions; this is my kingdom.” “Thy Kkingdom,” 1.faitered, thoroughly "“mystiiled, 1ot the face of the cripple now Wile a most serlous expression. “Thou hast the right word; the: king- dom of wretchedness, I am monarch here, though, like all other potentates worthy the name, [ recognize the supremacy of Kome aud acknowiedge fealty to Caesar. The question of tribute Is still under con- siaeration. “Hast great possessions?” I asked this question to humor the luck- less wight, whose mind, I could not well doubt, ‘had gone astray, like that of the dear friend 1 had just left in such a dis- tressing plight. “Not 8o large as to lead me to despise thy coming, nor, so small as to render thee of very considerable importance,” re- plied the self-styied king, with a shrewd “Whence._came the sad name . of thy kingdomi?"” “yrom the sad fortunes ‘of my sub- Jects.” “Their plight will surely not compare with thine?" * The glee of DXOFEHE‘ seéemed to far sur- pass his power of expressing it in words. Striking his huge, horny hands upon the ground, he caused himself to revolve as rapidly, almost, as a child's top. The an- cient cynic philosopher of Greece never more sorely taxed the strength of his tub, than did his latest namesake and suc- cessor.in the art of sneering the bowl that took the piace of his missing legs. “Thou hast tickled my vanity in its ten- derest -place,” he roared, as he brought his strange vehicle to a state of Test and wiped the sweat from his face and the tears from his eyes. “I am a king by reason of mine own modesty and the vanity of others. When It was decided that the most miserable amomgst us should ascend the throne, I offered myselt as a candidate. Not one would admut himself so ill-favored by the gods, hence I was the unanimous choice. Haye I not the wizdum and diplomacy of which kings are made? I must not, however, claim too great credit, for the circumstances that | had a ready-made, though some- what lowly throne, wrought strfongly in my favor.’ . The hideous monster broke into'a series of. low chuckles and began ting - his bowl and pseudo-throne . with erceness that ‘would have excited the envy of his famous ‘prototype, the pupil of ‘Antisth- en 'hus,” he went on when his merri- ment.-had exhausted itself, “like all my brothers of the crown and séepter, I rose to the dignity “of ‘the royal purple; not through any merits of*mine own, but by reason -of the _vanity,- and consequent weakness.of my fellows. i ‘“Where-are thy subjects?”’..I.asked, for *the .strange, antics ‘and mysterious rav- ings that had, for'a moment, diverted my mind from its crushing load of troubles, were becoming intolerabls. “Thy dress is scarce fitted for the oo= casion, ‘but give the matter no thought, ’twill improve with time and bad weath- er, Come thou with me. I somewhat reverse the usages of courts, and take my throne to the palaces of my subjects.” Without speaking further he started his bow! in motlon, handling it so dextrously among crevices, rocks and roots, that [ was obliged to exert myself to keep up with him. He 'made directly for the huge wall that bounded our vision to the west- ward, and stopped before a low cavern which the cankering teeth of time had eaten into the rock. “The palace of my'Pflmo minister,” he announced gravely, th a condescending wave of his huge, knotted hasd. Distracted by the sad reflection that Jo- seph’s malady might roon reduce him to like miserable hallucinations, I stooped down and looked into the cave. 'Seldom have I received a greater shock. Bither Diogenes was far saner than I had thought, or mine own mind was becoming possessed of demons, mine eyes were see- ing things that had no actual existence. Perhaps my interlocutor and guide was but a creature of mine own wild fancy. A glance at the grinning, cynical face be- side me, banished all such fears-and I looked again, and more searchingly. Against. the furthest wall of the shal- low opening leaned the emaciated body of an old man, naked, but for a few flithy rags that encircled his loins. At his feet lay two equally revoiting objects. They ‘were women, or had once been such. One, old, withered and toothless, apparently conscious of our presence, was endeavor- ing to raise herself to a sitting posture, moaning and croaking, the while. The other, less repulsive for the touch of the destroying angel, lay mute and motionless beside her. ‘‘Bread, water,” gasped the old man, re- leasing his hands from the tangled white hair at which he had been tugging, and extending them in a supplicating manne: which words and action the woman a tempted to imitate. “Horatius, a favorite slave of the first and greatest of the three Caesars, and his wife and daughter,” announced Dio- genes, after the manner of a royal herald. “I fear he is neglecting the affalrs of state. Look to thy duties, friend Hor: tius, or look to lose my royal favor, Rals not thy pelty troubles above those of the kingdom. Come."” Stunned, overwhelmed, unable to com- prehend the situation, or assert the supe- riority of mine own intelligence over that of my self-appointed mentor, I followed his siiding, gyfating bowl-throne from the sickening scene. “‘Here we have Artemesia, once queen of the pleasure courts of Rome, and her suite,"” announced my guide, as he looked into a second opening in the rocky wall. “We are a trifle late to see her at her best. Had she known of thy coming she would have saved a smile for the score of wretched, - emaciated creatures lay upon the rocky floor of the cavern. Some raised their heads at our approach and feebly asked for bread, while others prayed the gods to send them death. Nearest to us lay the form of a woman whose clenched teeth, staring eyes and pain-drawn face, spoke of her hard death. She still retained traces of what must once have been great beauty. I needed not to be toid that this was what remained of Artemesia, of whose fame, or rather infamy, I had often heard during my visits to the nether stratum of Rome. A naked, wailing, starving babe, was try- ing to draw sustenance from her cold and rren breasts. Unable to walk steadily, fairly reeled from the spot. Determine: to rid myself of a presence that had be- come Insupportable, I rushed aimlessly forward, stumbling over stones and roots, and more than once falling to the ground. Suddenly I stopped as if transfixed by 2 bolt from a cross-bow. I had survived much that was horrible, but the climax had surely been reached. Human nature, such as mine, at least, could scarcely su: vive such a shock. Not far in advanc of me, a huge wild boar, doubtless the one whose foot-print had so excited Jo- seph, was voraciously deVouring & human body. Sick and fainting I must aave fall- en but for a bush—the veritable head of Medusa, It seemed to my distorted imag- ination—which 1 seized for support, “Don’t be alarmed.” sneered the legless Diogenés, whom I thought I had shaken off, but who was now evidently beside me. ‘“It's only one of the royal scaven~ gers at his auotted ;?lk" The most revolting and .repulsive scenes sometimes come L0 DOsSSess a strange, al- amost irresistible aitraction, much as dead- ly serpents are said to fascinate and ren- der defenseless, their intended victims. It was with what seemed .a. super effort, that I withdrew mine eyes from the ghastly work of the “royal venger"’ and fixed mftm upon the suegring faee of royalty, itself. . “Primitive, it must be admitted,” was