Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 236, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1920 — Yellow Men Sleep [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Yellow Men Sleep

By JEREMY LANE

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P R X Conti * He hObbled on ahead, and many Walked close beside the white men, but were as distrustful as they appea.ad in glances, they were for the moment persuaded by the Arab. Con smelled camels. There was a ledge where the walls sloped back to men were permitted to conceal themselves. Levlngton drew bls friend further into the narrowing space, and. at once the torches were gone. Silence came about the two as they waited. From beyond a Jutting waU the light from the gas fire faintly colored the, rock, leaving the hiding place to deep shadow. . * ? * “I talked with Helen about these men,” said March. “They are the sons of Captive toothers- and fathers. Their blood* ia pure, or' has already been duplicated in the city. That is their crime; they are not blended,, or necessary to the blend, and so, as outcasts, ■ are sentenced to the work here. The women are not all deformed, and the children are not always born dwarfs, but I understand that the-babies are taken to the city, to be raised im the houses of the war caste. 'The legs and backs of the male children 'are ‘spoiled.’ in order to nip any future revolt. The arms aYe left unhurt, for the sake of labor. It fs well thought out” . . , - "The devil’s own scheme,” said Con. “There are pure Japanese here, pure Persian, the Lord knows how many different elements not desired for the purposes of empire.” ? “But how did you begin to persuade them?" ' K “I thought of their grievances and made the most of that It appears‘that they have at different times cherished the idea of a revolution;'bur Arabian friend was one of the candidates tor leadership, years ago, he says* but his legs were too bad. They, had to give it up. Isn't that the bitterest humor I” “I won’t go anywhere again without learning the language,” said Con. < a “It was aluiost as if they had been looking for us,” added March. “I hope we can make good your *< hope they can protect us;" '"Curious game, isn’t it?” mused Levlngton. He was thlnkihg now bf Princess Helen. “You’re not much elated over our deliverance/’ objected the elder com-

rade. . , ~ “Walt Whitman-said that if a thousand perfect men were to appear before him he wouldn’t be surprised.” " "IB that the way you feel?” laughedMarch. - “Yes. That’s one book Hefen ought to have. Walt could show her what’s fife matter with Tau Kuan." - “You might do that youfself,” said the father, and the, conversation lapsed. _ * Distantly Levington heard the miners rousing the camels for another day’s work. - ' “It must be almost daylight,” said March. “ 4 £ “All the same down here, but I suppose they can track us in the daytime.” ~ J ' “Back at my desk, tn the days before I found Chee Ming," | "I was depressed, because f * felt Id should never reach the heart of the r - -Gobi. It had become the same as j heaven to me, and all my dream ladders had failed, toppled down. But i even In my younger days, I never imagined a world like ’ “That first b|g surprise stretched, me,” said Con, “When’we ran into the . green valley. The palace made me numb. and the apartment of your little* princess finished me—victrolas. apes and, If I had not seen my own father go down under koresh, I wouldn’t beUfeve that, either. But M it is, I think-nothing on God’s Footout into the great dlmwive. No daymnld ante Anlv thp noiseWUIU KUlcr viiijr luc uwiok. upon the further wall. At moments they could hear something of the activity of themtnore tn another section of the subterranean passages Then, ahruntlv the arch at the left was by large familial forms, the soldiers. it. —e * t'A th® hfir ■

t rches blab the soldiers waited, and act, one huge- rider caught its biacK length upon his scabbard and lifted it upon the ledge as hjgh as bis head. T Ve serpent might go Shere they could not re* to Ind then started upward. It did not come toward the white fugitives, but mounted the uneven walls opposite, until the leathern rope fa the hands ‘of the maa below was nearly played out. . Presently the serpent had circled the cavern and was nearing the Americans. Silently it progressed, from one shadow to the next. When the thong caught on a rocky point, the warrior below would whirl his end. of it, and the tether would go free. The snake paused with trembling rage at the dis- ; turbance, then went on. ' Levlngton had drawn his turban down over His neck* with face pressed .to the rocks. But he could not withhold a glance at‘ the approaching snake, and his heart beat heavily with terror. He steeled himself to hold perfectly still. The eyes of the reptile were Upon him, now within two yards of hta head. The long, silent-body slid up to him. Under its dusky skjn were* golden markings, like sunlight on stagnant water. A forked white tongue was flickering fa and out in ar kind of smile. . . \ “4 There was no hesitation. The snake war looping, gliding onward across the ledge.' Con’s soul was gripped in horror, but if the searching party had . reckoned on forcing. the fugitives to betray. themselves by some outcry dr sign of fear, they had failed. Neither 'American had so much as winked while the sinuous thing writhed past without striking. . ■“ The hunters passed on to the next cavern. 'Z

CHAPTER XL - > “You Are Making Me Unhappy." Con heard bls friend breathing once more, exhaling pent air. They waited >some time before moving out of the tight place. “A merry little worm, wasn’t he?” whispered Con. - * - - - \ - "Are you chilled?" asked March, whimsically. < "You are chattering, too," retorted the young man. - - , “I wonder if they left apy of those behind, for our benefit ?”_i ■ “I saw only the one, so I know It was real,” said Levlngton. “Gobi po- . Hee dog. PH never forget the glance he gave me—yellow diamond eyes. And, do you know—?” '"What?” - “He had a smell,” whispered Levlngton. ' March laughed qufhtly and said he did not doubt that . “There was « house In Dowagiac,” continued Levlngton, "a. very old house. The walls were full of murder, and worse. A poor lady Uved there, with a number < miseries, such as

jaundice and eczema. Her apron was always torn. She didn’t do the murder. It did her. I was small then. I remember the broken plaster that came down upon the beds, which were gray and active, jumpy—dishes under the stove and under the table—the cats whose fur was stiff with garbage, and the grasshoppers that bung on the parlor curtains. Well* in that house, there drifted this same coM, poisonous smell.” • ' Andrew Mandi was very grave now. ‘*l do not doubt that, either," he said. Levington worked his: Way further

jit honlr o nt—V fit th IA ' > .-■”/* ■ -\ ' j / - » ■■ JyX-”* . ® u UU4 vlUulvUli - , ■ a * - rys R'linn M “4pd the Russian” added March. had faith and lost It and regained and say. It is my duty To try, but I can’t say apy more than that.” *' Levlngton felt the curtate depression again fa his friend, an alarming weight . ’ .' The Arabian saildr appeared below them, grinning. - ' £ “You hold still r , “Like stone,” said Con, "She do not strike you A all?” _ “Passed both of us," said March. ./ “You are cherished of Allah,” declared the sailor. “They have taHm away four of us." -He grunted a world of meaning. The sailors were'punishing the miners for

Perhaps the tale of the White men’s “murder?* did not impressthe searching party. \ “What will they do to the-fdur?” “Break leg,” said the Arab. “Maybe starve.”' '7-- ; “ Andrew March shuddered, and the strange one below volunteered: “My men do not like.” - . ’ - Levlngton saw. that two strangers causing great trouble for the miners could not become very -popular. March also understood. He said simply: “Take me before your men.” ... 7 “Is there anything you .can say?” asked Con. • -.“Only what I told them before,” replfed Mar“We represent a nation that is as eager to punish Tan Kuan as these workers can be, if we can get back there to teli story. I can make that clear, at least” “They may not be in-amood to listen.” ’ - March smiled sadly. “Moods,” be began, but shook his head. The three men passed into the larger portion of the cavern, where the reddish roof was marked with the flare from the burning gas below. Several women cried out sharply at sight of the white men and fled like timid animals to their rock-pockets up the walls. 'Their skirts were brief and ugly. Several very young children darted after their mothers to the' safety of dark familiar haunts —too young to have been “spoiled.” It was only a 'period of months before they would be taken Into the city, to be molded into slaves in the houses of the soldiers, the circulation of their blood retarded, their very souls distorted. Returning to the mines a year or more after, they would-be lost and strange and as if orphaned, among their own kin. Their family life did not receive sanction of the state.

The frightened women left food behind them. Jars stood close tp the fissure from which came the fire. The contents had been prepared for baking. Con bent down to sniff at the open jars. March and the Arab passed on together, Levington waited, feeling himself useless in such a conference. He was more Interested in finding an exit , _ To the left was the passage leading Lto the foot of the slanting shaft. Be noted a long vine that came down over the loose gravel like a guide-rope. Con Climbed into the enlarging daylight toward the top. Sunlight, the old enemy, was beguiling. He was thinking that In Tan Kuain they have either too much [sunshine or too little. The pale, haunted faces of the children below troubled him. An intense light was blinding him from above. A flash of desert days came over him oddly, a I swift reminiscence of pain and thirst, oaks outside the casements of the princess. New the air changed in his nostrils and he caught again the hot, sweeping currents of the sand. When the green blots left his eyes he raised iris head .above the level of upper earth and stared away. The eity, less than a mile waves; at moments dimmed by clouds totad the path they bld token last night through the tn, with A dromedary With baskets and a driver was coming out at the big gate. Out to the south was a motionless silver and steel. He seemed to be the scores who sought a trace of the . - •»« —■— «- An । Was a tniru naer, cantering oetween

goal ed, her face. 1 ■ a * . « « . / i Hiere for any reason connected virir. Con argued with himself that knew he existed, that probably she rode there each day for a constitutional, since therewas nowhere else to go. Yet his emotions had their final say. < Lifting, himself out at the mouth of the shaft be glanced up and around. The sun was scorching; If he attempt-' Cd to move along the face of the hill he would draw the eye of the sentinel and the end would come quickly. Con’s .turban and blouse were white and he felt that he must be glowing like a gem qn the dun hillside. Greater than this difficulty was'the fear that Helen would ride on or turnback before he could rdach her. Nothing short of a word with her would suffice, although he could not recall that he had anyTOe shortest way out of sight was up the bill and over the crest, and Con began-do worm, upward as rapidly as possible. The sand he loosened must have made a long stream downward, a

perfect mark if the sentinel glanced that way. At the top, Levington was breathless, but not from exertion. He was in furious exdteihent Just a.little way down the hill on th e further side, and he stood erect to look. Helena was still at the*bead of the ravine. He bolted for the road that led up to her. When he was quite close, a timidity caught him, a pleasant trouble. It was the old gentleness where women were concerned, the‘familiar fullness In the throat and the shyest look tharever comes Into the eyes of an adult male. But here was also a new driving force, a reckless impulse. He would have speech with her, princess or no. She did not see him. The sun was liquid, silver upon her; and the next he was aware that she did see him. They occupied the positions respectively of their first meeting, yet now, the footing was different. Con ran up the road toward the pony. He crept up the side pl the bank and found it convenient to kneel beside a boulder. He bowed. *1 wanted to talk with you," he said. “They are looking for you,” she replied. ♦ “Ybur father is conferring with the Arab foreman and the miners.” “1 knew you were safe, for there has been no rejoicing.” “There isn’t going to be, on our account” ” - - < “I wondered where you were,” she said.

. Her voice was almost dreamy, a twilight in the midst of a blase of sun. Con was fascinated by the play of light beneath the brim of her hat, and she seemed not to rebuke bls glance*. ‘The gray cloak was of leather as fine as linen. _ Soft buff leather bound her ankles. The stirrups were no wider than three fingers. ? She .spoke again: -“You are resting upon the grave of my mother.” levington started, but she said hastily: “Do not arise. They will see I ’’•Thanks,” he mumbled, again undet the influence of the fact that she would shield him. In alt she said was the same colorless melancholy, as if the monotony of the desert shadowed her voice. She continued: _ _ “Eithna, my mother, has been lying here for five years. At first this was : a little garden, which the visir permitted me to make. There was a foun- [ tain then, beside that stone. I had j little green plants for her. She loved I a lotus. But the fountain could not live, either.” 7

Presently the Serpent Had Circled the Cavern and Was Nearing the Americans.

And Con Began to Worm Upward as Rapidly as Possible.