The evening world. Newspaper, June 23, 1916, Page 19

OF PRECKUING CHAPTERG, x Patt at tad ai ace, sty Bl ertounded by ee na, Sauee Bae ak af i rn far eich Hh ia ae servant. wil un Shey are fanege to euch. store in & sbaletoat a Grove ih then Tuey, are Pe ean Re cite Tartbet Fa ity, fw men the natives ‘a ‘na ei imtale tun Beaks Match” "Rian™ Wulag ‘teint mario He » and it to be overpowered HOOT aunt dae vee chem “aR he Be starts with the xjon «Journey or owlate She i it AT onthe way rewrnee, Bilal t ioe ives Hh Te ashe when she Ungetle be ie jor marvelous beaviy, Thowgh Tived “for two thousand sears, that of «young woman net flowing vay" She snitences. tu. death. twenty semen tn tei ata, the ‘trangore eee en for thet SMith ae en Halters TS 7 CHAPTER XIX. Go, Woman! HEN followed a silence of a minute or so, during which She appeared to be plunged in a happy ecstasy, Sud- denly, however, a new thought struck her and ber expres- sion became the very reverse of angelic, “Almost had I forgotten,” she eatd, “that woman Ustane, What ts she to Kallikrates—his servant, or?"—— and she paused and her voice trembled. I shrugged my shoulders, “T un- €erstand that sho ts wed to him ac- “& cording to the custom of the Ama- I answered; “but I know Her face grew dark 04 a thunder- cloud, Old as she was, Ayesha had not outlived jealousy. “Then there is an end," she said; “she must die, even now!" “Nay, na 1 ed, “it would be a crime, and from a crime naught comes but what is evil For thy own sake do not this deed.” “May be there {s truth in what thou * she answered, “for in some sseth on my mind, If it may e this woman; for have 1 am'not cruel for the suke of cruelty? I love not to nee suffering, or to cause it. Let her come before me—quick, now, be- fore my mood changes,” and she hastily covered her face with its auzy wrapping. BAMparsed oul into the passage and called to Ustane. “Ig my lord dead? Oh, say not he end,” she cried, a he lives,” I answered. “She hath saved him. Enter.” and entered, and hands and knees, after the Amubagger people, She elghed deeply, in the presence of the dread She, i efgtard suid Ayesha, in her cold~ eat voice, “and come hithe Ustan beved, standing before her with bowed head. Then came a pause, which she broke. Who is this man?” she sald, polnt- ing, to the sleeping form of Leo, ‘The man is my husband,” she an- awered, in a low voice, ‘Who gave him tu thee for a bus- band?" “J took him according to the custom of our country, oh, Sh “Thou hast done e woman, in taking this man, who a stray He is not a man of thine own and the custom fails, Lt ¥ chances thou didst this thing through ignorance; the: woman, do I spare thee; othe thou died. iListen again, Go from hence back to thine own place, and never dare to apenk to or set thine eyes upon this man again, He is not for three, Listen a third time. If thou breakest this my law, that moment thou diest, Go,” But Ustane did not move, “Go, woman!" Then she looked up, and T saw that ind 1 love not leave him, t thou to make ime leave my hus! ‘Ayesha made a toyement so swift that I could sez follow it, but it seemed to at she Lehtly struck the poor girl upon the hair with her hand, i then stu a there upon her hair, right across h , were Lares fin snow, As for the had put her hands id, perfectly station ‘T she aid but ant fool,” woman, ¥ slay. Stayt there lies a mirvor he pointed ww Leo's round shating-glass that bad pad by yi other his portmant t to this wo ny Holly, r see that Which Hes across her hair, and whether or no 1 have power to reat ic ked up the glass and held It be- fore Ustune’s eyes. She gazed, then felt at her hair, U then sank upon fort of sob. ‘ow wilt thou go, or must T strike eecond time?” asked Ayesha, in kery. ‘Sce; I have set my seal pen thes, wo that T may know thee » gazed again, and n@ ground with @ By H. RIDER HAGGARD ah nS + Lol , fect silence. “Hallool” he said; The Evening World Dsily Magazine. Friday, June 23. 1916 AOA roe HARALD LALA OF A STRANGE, WORDLATHL WOMAN AND MYSTERIOUS AOVENTURES ttl thy hate ie al) ae white ae it If I nee thy face agein, ye A that thy bones ehali soon be than my mark upon thy hatr.” Utterly awed and broken dowe, the poor erature tows, and crept from Po the room, sobinng bitterly, ‘That nient I pamed in Lacs toom, but he slept through it Ike the dead, never once atirring | Then [ awoke much refreshed, At lant the hour drew near at which, ae- cording to Ayesha, Leo wan to awake, th iteame Hhe heraelf, ae ueual, non abalt wee, Holly,” she maids | mm “Presently eh ti he awake in hi ent | * mind, the fever having left him. Hardly “vere the words out of her! mouth when Leo turned round and stretched out his arma yawned, opened his eyes, and perceiving a f ‘ey male form bending over him, threw Dis arms round her and kissed her, mistaking her, perhaps, for Ustan becnuse, next minute, he said, tn) Arabic, “Ialoo, Ustane, why have , you tied your head up like that? hav you got the toothache?” and then, tn, English, “I say, i'm awfully hungry. Why, Job, where deuce bave we | got to now—eh?” “lam sure I wish I knew, Mr, Leo,” ld Job, edging fuspiciourly paat Ayesha, whom he atill regarted with | the utmost disgust and horror, being Dy no means sure that she wus not an animated corpse ut you mustn't talk, Mr, Leo; you've been very ill, and given us a great deal of hanxiety; and {f this lady,” louking at Ayesha, “would be eo kind as to move, I'll bring you your soup.” This turned Leo's attention to the “lady,” who wae standing by in per. 3 is not Ustane—where te Ustane?” Then, for the first time, Ayes spoke to him, and her first words were a lie. “She has gone from henoe upon a viatt,” she said; Tam here as thine hand On the following da almo' had eaten a hearty bre. journed into She's presence, She was, as usual, seated in what for want of a better term we called her boudoir, and, on the curtains ‘being drawn, she rose from her couch and, stretching out both hands, cam forward to greet or rather Leo; for I, as may be imagined, was now quite left in the cold, “Greeting to thee, m: un, stranger lord." she paid, tn her soft | est voles, “Right glad am I to thee upon thy feet. Helleve me, had I not saved thee at the last never! feet again. But the danger is gone, and it shall be my care”’—and she flung a world of meaning into tho worde—“that it doth never return! rain.” Leo bowed to her, and then, in aa best Arabic, thanked her for all her) Kindness and courtesy in caring for one unknown to her. “Nay.” she answered, softly, “ill could the world spare such @ man, Beauty 1s too rare upon it. Give ma no thanks, who am made happy by thy coming. CHAPTER XX. “Give Me a Black Goat!" IF conversation after this was of such @ desultory order that I do not quite recollect it. For some rea- son, perhaps from a desire to keep her identity and character in reserve, Ayesha did not talk free! she usually did. Presently, however, she informed Leo that she had arranged @ dance that night for our amusement, The dance was to be held in the open air, on the smooth rocky plateau in front of the great cave, and thither we made our way. About fifteen paces from the mouth of the cave we found three chairs placed, and here we sat and waited, for as yet no dancers were to be seen. The night was almost but not quite dark, the moon being not riven as yet, which made us wonder how we should be able to aee the dancing, “Thou wilt presently understand,” said Ayesha with a little laugh, when Leo asked her; and we certaluly did, Bear: touth when from every point we saw durk forms rushing up, bearing with them what We at first took to be enormous flaming torches. Whatever they were, they were burning furl- ously, tor tho tlames stood out for a yard or more behind each other, On they came, fifty or more of them, looking like devils from hell, with their Hamming burdens, Leo was the first to discover what these burdens were. ‘oat Heaven!" he shouted; “they are corpses on fire!" 1 stared, and stared again. He was perfectly Tl to light our entertainment nan minies from the ct Nero iJuminated tis gardens with lve Christians soaked in tar, and we were now treated to a similar spec- tacle, probably for the first time since his day, only happily our lamps were not living ones, Suddenly a great, powerful woman, whom I had noted a8 one of the most Vigorous of the dancers, came, made mad and drunken with unholy excite- ment, bounding and staggering to- ward us, shrieking out as she came “1 want @ black goat; 1 must ha a black goat; bring me a black goat! and down she fell upon the rocky floor, foaming and writhing, Insti nily most of the dancers came up, and got round her, though some still continued thelr capers in the ¢l bac! ot a Devil,” sung out one of thi Run and get a black goat Devi, keep quiet—keep quiet! You shall have the goat presently. Phey have Kono to fetch tt, Devil." And so on, till th t, taken from ring kraal, did at last are y : dragged bleating on to the ne by its horns Tho goat! the goat! the gont! Give me the blood of my black goat!" At this moment a terrified baht! announced that the poor goat had been sacrificed, and the next minute 1 woman ran up with a saucer of the b ‘This the pos suture, Who was then raving fouming hh wildest, seized drank, and was ingintly recover¢ thought the riainment. (# was how over, and, feeling rather queer, was about to ask She if we could’ rise, when suddenly what at firet 1 took to be a babboon came hopping ronnd the fire, and wan ine pice. ee A NUT oF KE You MAVEN” ENOUGH BRAINSTO EMPTY oi A Nim Born. You are Fi 1&6 Ger You SOMETINE 8°) Cop 3 IRED! 5 <=> YES, 1An 1% Jonny. MY WIFE DON'T WANT Me To GET My DON'T WoRaY DEAwE 1 Have A LETTER FROM MY OFFICE BOY To HIS FATHER WHOIS & SERGEANT SEE Tre Quarter HE IS LOOKING FoR a, Boor Keeper % Keep TRACK OF THE JS HRINKAGE oF EMPTY CANS IT'S THE SOFTEST SERGEANT Soe we REGineNT Hive you ever wondered haw many pulsing haman stortes lie hidden behind hospital walls? ROMANCE LOVE JEALOUSY HATE Enter Into “kK” By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART WEXT WEEK'S COMPLETE NOVEL IN THE EVENING WORLD Mystery adds to the absorbing Interest of this story of a Great Doctor and Rival Nurses there dead, and could ee no differ Janes, excapt perhaps, that tha bedy 6 the bier looked older Kew feature thay ware (he mame, aven the crop of little guiden ou which Waa Leo's mort wneommn beauty. I turned to enn what affect wae pro- ed upon Leo by thie aight of bia 4 self, and found it to be one of rtial atupefaction. He atood for of three minutes staring and nothing, and when at last he Ke it was only to ejaculate rit up, and take me away.” Nay, walt,” waid Ayesha, “Waits 1 would show thee something, that no tittle of my crime shall be hidden from thee. bo thou, oh, Holly, open the brenat of the dead obe: Presently hia broad chest wae bare, and there wpon it, rignt over the heart, waa @ wound, evidently indi- cated with @ spear. “Thou enest, Kallikrates,” ahe sald. “Hehoid, it was L who slew thee. In the place of life I gave thee death. I alow thee because of the Exyptiaa Amonartas, whom thou didat love. Thou seest thie body which was thine own. For all these centuries it hath been my comfort and my companion, but now I need it ne more, for I have thy Living pre ence, and it can but serve to stir momories of that which I had fain forget. Let it therefore go back to the dust from which I kept it. “Behold! I hi prepared against thie happy hour!” and going to the other shelf, or etone ledge, which, abe said, bad served her for a bed, she took from it @ large vitrified double- handled vase, the mouth of which was tied up with diadder. This she joosed, and then, having bent down and gently kissed the white forehead of the dead man, she undid the vase, and sprinkled its contents carefully over the form, taking, I observed, the greatest precautions against any drop of them touching us or herself, and then poured out what remained of the Mauld upon the chest and head. In- antly a dense vapor arose, and the @ was filled with choking fumes ume it was etanily met upon the other side by @ Non, or rather @ human being dressed in a lion's skin, then a nan wrapped in an o1 with the horns wobbling about in a After him followed @ biesbok, then an impala, then a koodoo, then more other animals, including @ girl ip in the shining, scaly hide of a boa-constrictor, trailed along the hind her. When all the collected they began to dance about in a lumbering, unnatural fashion and to imitate the sounds produced by the respective animals they repre- rented, till the whole alr was alive with roars and bleating and the hiss- ing of snakes, This went on for a ting tired of tho pantomime, I asked Ayesha if there would bo any objection to Leo and myself walking round to inspect the human torches, and as she had noth- it we started, Atte her hands, while Leo, not knowing the myself rushed to her—she was stone full terror of the into death b; or overwheliniug ‘ce Whereof the dread She had Kallikrates — rd, dead—blasted thou thinkest that I do position, merely amysterious age! Ml - for. and looked as silly es a in euch @ trap would nat- Then came a ludirerous way. For a moment Leo did not quite realize what had happened. But when he did his face was awful to see, With @ savage oath he rose from beside the corpse, and turning, literally sprang at Ayesha, But she had ing, and sceing him coming, stretched out her hand again, and he came stag - ering back toward me, ve falien had I not ¢aught him, Afterward he told me that he felt ag though he had guddenly re violent blow in the chest, and, what 4s more, cowed as though all the man- hood had been taken ou Then Ayesha spoke. ele said, softly, addressing have shocked thee with my Pl “Forgive thee, thou fiend,” roared his hande in hie rage and grief—"forgive thee, thou peipderets! By heaven, I will kill thea “Nay, nay!” ehe answered, in the same soft voice, “thou dost not under- stand—the time has come for thee to learn. Thou art my love, my Kall! my Strong! For two thousand years, Kallikrates, have I waited for thee, and now at Jength thou hast come back to me; ‘as for this woman,” pointing to the corpse, “she stood between me and thee, and therefore I have removed her, Kallikrates.” ‘It 1# an accursed lie!” screamed “My name is not Kallikrates! I my ancestor was least I believe he CHAPTER XXI. Triumph. HEN followed a moment of the most painful silence that I ever endured. It was broken by Ayesha, who ad- Greased herself to Leo, “Nay, my lord and guest,” she said in her softest tones, which yet had the ring of steel about them, “look Surely the sight was @ pretty one—the ieopard and the ta, and many been watch- not @o baabful long time, till, ‘Forgive moe, “Ob, bang it all!” said Leo in En Ush. ing to aay striking round to the left, looking at one or two of the flami @ were about to retur thoroughly disgusted with the gro teaque weirdness when our attenion was attracted by one of the dancers, a particularly ac- tive leopard, that had separated itself ite fellow beas whisking about !n our immediato neighborhood, but gradi into a spot where the shadow was darkest, equi-distant botween two of the flaming mummies. curtosity, we followed it, when sud- denly it darted past us into the shad~ ows beyond, and as {t did #o erected iuself and whispered, voice that we both recognized as that Without waitll , Leo turned ani followed her into the outer darkness. ing sick enough at heart, went ‘The leopard crawled on about fifty paces—a euflictent dis- tance to be quite bey the fire and torches—and then Leo or rather with “And thou, Ustane,” she went on, qr “Benolal “the: “surely 1 ehould bave passed thee by EDT are mine—even mine own Hght feet! L can remember when the stairs were fresh and level, but for two thou- sand years have I gone down hither day by day, and see, my sandals have worn out the solid rock.” Ayesha entered the spectac! e—8OO, taper burned down and all things end in darkness and in thoughtest it a fit time for love, Ustane, my servant—and L dresaning not that I could be disobeyed, thought “Play not with me,” moaned the wretched woman; “slay me, and let there be an end,” In due course we gained Ayesha’s Bhe addressed Ustane. ‘Hast thou aught to say, woman? Thou silly atraw, thou feather, who didst think to float toward thy pas- alon's petty ends, even against the great wind of my will! 1 fain would understand, this thing?” “I did it, ob, queen,” she answered, drawing herself up to the full of her stately height, and throwing back the panther kin off her head, “because my love is stronger than the grave. thou dost love this man thyself, and therefore wouldst thou destroy me who stand across thy path. Mine hejs, and though thy beau- ty ahine like @ sun ainong the stars anine shall he r here upon this earth ‘shall he look thee in the eyes and cail thee wife. Thou, too, art doomed, 1 see"—and Uke the cry of an in- spired prophetess; “ah, | see—~" Then came an answering ery of mingled rage and terror, my head, Ayesha had risen, and was standing with her outstretched hand pointing at Ustane, who had suddenly IL gazed at the poor ashes, So thou the tomb (for it was a tomb), and we followed her— “If you won't think me very fool- tery tah, I should Ike to say something y were the words out of her { I, for one, rejoicing that the m: lace wan about to be o! yet afraid to face its solution. CHAPTER XXII. The Dead and Living Meet. EHOLD the place where ying ‘i * Seen pti grin bind. 06 leh shirt on him, some- 2,000 years,” eald Aye- ohn, taking the lamp Sis ERE rok NE Greet, ONG '8 bit. of holding {t above her head, Its Tay® have gat) fell upon @ Ittlo hollow in the Moor, jorg where I had seen the leaping fart drea yards from the mouth of this ber ain Leo Vincey; Kallikrates—at "Ah, thou sayest tt, thine ancestor was Kallikrates, and thou, even thou, art Kallikrates come back—and mine own dear lord!" “I hate thee, murderess, and I do not wish to see thee, What ts it to me fair thou art? I hate thee, I Tell me, for d the light of but the fire was out now. upon the white form stretched there beneath ite wrappings upon ite bed and yet with a kind of satisfaction ¢ shining through him, ‘Job, ume's up, the tomb, and upon another shelf of te some and Me atid axpect to have wa ‘Yet, within a very little space shalt thou creep to my knee, and swear that thou dost love me," answered Ayesha, with a sweet, mocking laugh, “Come, there is no time like the present time; here, betoro this dead girl who loved thee, let us put It to the proof, “Look now on me, with @ sudden mouon she shook her gauzy covering from her, and stood forth in her low kirtle and her snaky zone, in her glorious, radiant beauty and her imperial grace, usped Leo; “Oh, my lord,” I heard her whisper, “so I have found thee. 1 peril of my life from ‘She-who-tmus! Surely the Baboon has thee how she drove thee? [ love thee, ny lord, and thou art mine according to the custom of the country. 1 saved Lion, wilt thom cast me off now “Of course not ten! Tam in of stone, upon the fretted carving o Main for thee, Kailikrates!" and her voice ran, ejaculated Leo, “I been wondering whither thow us go and explain: 8 to the queen,” y, hay; she would slay us. Thou st not her power; the Baboon he knowath, for he saw. Nay, there is but one way; ave to me, thou must flee with me marshes even now, perchance we may esc ‘or heaven's sake, Leo,” but she broke in. listen not to him, Swift—be death is in the air we breathe, Even now, mayhap, She heareth us," and without more ado, she proceeded to back her arguments by throwing herself into his arms, Aé she did so the leopard’s head slipped from her hair, I saw the three white fingor- marks upon it, gleaming fainuy in the realizing the desperate nature of the situation, 1 slept night b erations, witl thou a woman “A woman in truth-—in very truth stopped speaking, ~and thine oWa epouse, Kallikrates!" woman, and as I gazed upon her face that same woful, fixed expression of terror that I had seen once before when she had broken out into her wild chant, ivory arms toward him and emiling, ah, #0 sweetly! “If 1 have sinned, Jet my beauty answer for my ain. for love of thee; therefore, be put away and forgot- and once more she out her arms and whisper and then in another few secondg it I saw him struggle—1 saw but her eyes down which - upon her and accordingly w 1 her presence, Her eyes grew If | have sinned her nostrils dilated, and her Ups blanched, Ayesha said nothing; she made ro she only drew herself 1 out her arm, and, her tall veiled frame quivering like an aspen Ww leat, appeared to look fixedly at her Even as ghe did #o Ustane put her hands to her head, uttered one plercing scream, turned round twice, n fell backward with @ (hud prone upon the floor, Both Leo and all standing his heart) search these years, ou previous night, he did with more him even turn to fly; drew him stronger than tron bonda, and the magic of her beauty and con- and passion entered into him and overpowered him, "Perchance thou dost not belteve centrated will her hand upon shroud, and once more spoke. Ke not affrighte now, let the t Leo was not too strong- “Te- shall of a truth be for one ar ead and living and to one another? I will tell TAKE THE EVENING WORLD WITH YOU ON YOUR VACATION So that you will not miss any of the weekly nov may continue to enjoy the daily magazine, comic and other —oh, horror hear ent! Wish a sudden motion she drew the not Imnuortal, inde the cold form, and let not, but. so I looked, against the at For arrows shall gle round, and there wa with her Billa and two male mutes, nearly sank to the ground, for I knew that such a situa- tion must result in some dreadful tragedy. Ae for Ustane, she untwined her noms and covered her eves with the lamp-light play upon it, and then shrank back terrt ‘ there, stretched upon the stone bier of thy vigorous life as the sunb before us, robed tn white and perfetly glance from preserved, was what appeared to be mate with thee, for thou and T are Bie bay of Ten Vineay Patared from different, and the very brightness of special features. Include them in your summer reading. Order the Evening World Mailed to Your Summer Address some tremendous prepa- ration of that sort) did ite work. From ‘the apot where the body lay came a ree fiszing and cracking sound, ‘which ceased, however, before the We fumes had cleared away. At lest they were all gone, except a little cloud, which atill hung over the corpse. In delude thee, @ couple of minutes more this, too had and that I have not lived these many vanished, aud wonderful as it may ra, and that thou haa not been seam, it ls a fact that on the stone rn again to me. with T thee, and thee also, my Holly, ring there as tho of a truth thou hadst taken root this unkindly @oll. benoh that had supported the mortal who remains of the ancitnt Kallkrates for yh @o many centuries there was now In nothing to be seen but a few handfule Bear each one of of smoking white powder. Ayesha a lamp, and follow after me whither I shall lead ye.” Going to the end of her “boudot: she raised @ curtain and revealed a ttle stair of thi tooped down, threw it into the air, of calm solemnity, “Dust to dust! to the past! past aie o6 S04 = that we one i the dead! Kallikrates comm: caves OF. te dead, and te born again!” ‘Aw we hurried down the stair I ob- nole served that the ateps were worn in rocky floor, and we etood in awed the centre ¢o such an oxtent that gilence. some of Vicars bese. redtced £0 peven and a he en, at wi wloep if yo may. I must watoh and guessed their original height, to about think, for to-imorrow night we go sheee Bd SEAL AL tHe bottom of the hence, and the time te to staircase stood and stared at the ” w And @he, turning, saw me, “°° the path that we must follow: rent thou who! that have worn a The ashes floated noissleasly te the “Now leave mo,” she said, “and since I CHAPTER XXII. Job Has a Presentiment. T was 9 ofclook on the fol- lowing morning when Job, who atill looked scared and frightened, came to call on mo, to you," he began, “and that ts that 1 know {t t# the last country as ever I hall seo in this world, I had @ dream last night, and I dreamed that I snw my old father, with @ those folks wear when they want to bo tn particular full that feathery erase in his hand, which he may ered on the way, for I eaw of it yesterday about three hun- tly cave, Job,’ he sald to me, solemn Iike, me and hunt you out in this stone opposite the one on which the ‘ere place, Job. cuch ado as I have body lay, and eoparated from it by had to nose you up; tt wasn't friendly the breadth of the cave. “Here,” went on Ayesha, laying her hand upon the rock, “here have I night for all these gen- but @ cloak to cover It did not become me that | should ile soft, when my spouse yon and she pointed to form, “lay stiff in death, night have I slept in his ¢ company, till, thou atest, this thick blab, like the star: passed, has worn thin with the toss ing of my form—so faithful have been to thee even in thy espace of Kallikrates, And now, my love, mutes, and after th: 6 & wonderful thing— Ayesha unveiled and once more bade living, thou shalt behold thyscif dead for well have I tended thee duri Kallikrates, Art We made no answer, but gazed at courtesy required, each other with frightened eyes, the whole scene was @o dreadful and so head and looked him fully tn. the ‘Ayesha advanced and lad eyes, the corner of the krate: to give your poor old father such a run, let alone that a wonderful lot of bad characters hail from this Place “Come, come, Job.” I eald, seriously, “thts ts all nonsense." ‘a “No, st answored Job, in a tone 4 of conviction that Jarred on moe un- Here night Pleasantly, “it isn't nonsense, I'm a a doomed man,” Billet informed us that {t was Bho's pleasure that we should walt entered We were, as usual, shown tn by the had retired Leo embrace her, which rtwith. 4 of the alacrity and fervor than in strictness Bhe lald her white hand on bis Jost thou wonder, my Killi "she said, “when thou shalt call me all thine own, and w) we First, must thou be even as Lan for that aa I 1 tor, As yet Lemay not Lao, atanding there alive. to Lao lying ' nd endurance, tov thie very evening ahall @ wart henes, and by to-morrow'a dark, It ail goen weil, and the road to me, whieh to pray tom nd in the pl and thou sualt bath come forth glorified wan before thea; and th Kail. krates, shalt thou call me wife aad T will call thee husband’ Lao uttered something in answer to thin astonishing statement; I know what; and she laughed @ little At Bia confusion and went on: “And thou, too, oh, Holly; on also will | confer this boon, and of « truth shak though be an ever Green tree.” CHAPTER XXIV. Walking the Plank. preparations did not take ‘us very long. We put @ ohange of clothing apiece and some spare boots inte my Gladstone bag; also we took our revolvers and an express rifle each, together with @ good sup- ply of ammunition—a precaution te which, under Providence, we cubes quently owed our lives over and ov At the mouth of the eave we found’ @ single litter with six bearers, all of them mutes, waiting, and with them I was relieved to see our old friend, Billali, In @ few minutes we were stopping out sharply across the great cultivated plain, Next day the mutes awoke us be- fore the dawn. In five ininutes more we were once more on our way. We pressed on with such good will that by 3 o'clock in the afternoon we were at the foot of the vast wall of rock that formed the lip of the volcano, and which at this point towered up precipitously above us for fifteen hundred or two ecended from her litter, “doth our labor but commence, for here ¢o we | part with these men, and hercefor- ‘ward must we bear ourselves;"” and then, addressing Hiilail, “do thou and these slaves remain here, and abide our coming. Hy to-morrow at the mid- eb ehall be with thee; if not, “Ana this man, oh, Holly!” said She, pointing to Job; “best is it that he should tarry also, for if bis heavt be not high and his courags great, hance some evil might overtace im, Also, the secrets of the 4.ace whither we go are not fit for common 1 translated this to Job, who ine otantly and earnestly entreated me, almost with tears in his eyes, not to te leave him behind. I translated what eald to Ayesha who shrugged ber shoulders, and an- ewered, “Well, let him como; it ia naught to me; on his own head be it, ® end he will serve to bear the Tow plank, some aixteen feet long, © The mouth of @ cavern we Versod gave on to @ most ourlous and tremendous spur of rock, which jut- ted out in the gulf before us in mid. air for @ distance of some fifty yards. rs ; In a few minutes we had gome wey paces of this what depth it ended is more than can guess, Then we saw why the narrow which Job and I had dragged along between us, provided. Before us was au empty space, on the other aide of which was womething, as yet wi Oi Be eae what, for here—either owing te shadow of the opposite cliff or from some other cause—the gloom was that of night. “We must walt awhile,” Ayesha; “soon there will be light,’ At the moment I could not imagine what she meant, How could more Nght than there was ever come to this dreadful spot? While I wag gtill debating in my mind, suddenly, Ike ord of flame, @ beam from t ‘eon we lay, illuminating Ayesha's lovely form with an un- earthly splendor, ‘ And now, by this ray of light, wer saw what lay before us. Within eleven or twelve feet of the very tip of the tongueltke tock whereon we lay there arose, presumably from the far bottom of the gulf, a sugar-loag shaped cone, of which the summly Was exactly opposite to us. On the Lib of this summit rested a tremond flat stone is a nothiag more rr ing sto ur ‘ ture crat rim of a wit Meht that pla soe it osc Mrately balanced cone or minia- half-crown on the tos; for in the upon it we ¢ Nati e musts of wind, "Quick!" gaid Ayesha; “the planks we must cross whilegho light endures presently it will be gon I pusted the plank on to Ayesha, and she trod lightly but firmly acr the frail bridy ond was standit ing stone was on th beneath ands dlazy, and it see falling, and my self spraw stone, whieh rose and fell beneath me Ike a boat in a swell, cannot be expressed ia words, Then came Leo's turn, and, though r queer, he came at finding my- plank and yelled out, 1 shall fall inte Job," roared Leop “LE can't do it that beastly pla “Come, be & 1 “it's quite, on