Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 247, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1920 — Yellow Men Sleep [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Yellow Men Sleep

By JEREMY LANE

v CHAPTER XIII. —l6— /; Th* Ape Repay*. When he wakened some time later, his first link of consciousness was that the altar-fire was out, the air changing; and he knew without looking that Helen was no longer on the-otber side of the walL The same green twilight suffused the top of the tunnel. He recalled as from months ago how the party of dwarfs had drawn aside to permit him to pass on into this maze below the palace. Con wondered vaguely If the -whole world were honeycombed. Then he managed to rise, and his feet at first were like diving weights. Nothing less than bi* Intensity of emotion lifted him up the notched barrier again, pis arms were shaking, his eyes dim.- Again the greenish glow in hi* face. The chamber whs empty now, save for one drugged mandarin, lying full length in his blue robe, one gaunt arm touching the floor. The altar was dead, and only* an oppressive feeling in the air remained of the koresh. The wooden door at the further side was not quite closed. * She had come down to this pit of royal -iniquity because he was making her unhappy. Con knew this. She had come to dream in semideath under fingers from the yellow bowl. Yes he was not so fatuous as to believe that' it could be her first communion with the darker gods. In fact, the dais here resembled that in the throneroom—a permanent affair. Con was side at heart Heedless of the sleeping Chinese, he drew himself up and across the wall. The exertion seemed to bring back his strength. The space at the roof of the tunnel was small. He slid through and dropped down on the other side, bear the altar. The yellow bowl, too, was gone. The bowl of jade gave an opalescent light close up, - itself a dream, with the ceaseless dry pouring of the gas. Con glanced at'the prone figure—a face of smooth putty, no eyes, a white mouth, nerveless. It was the symbol of all that ailed Tau Kuan. Levington grasped the iron ring in the door, and pulled back. Softly it swung to him, with a gush of better air from the black passage beyond. The darkness was damp and thick. He moved into it and the door, dosed after him. He stumbled upon the lowest step of a stairway. The ■tones were wet and worn. A feeling of oil was about the place. He began to ascend, carefully, taking no reckoning. Nothing mattered bnt tills Inner draw, the great master passion. Perhaps if his brain had been clearer he would have questioned himself, perhaps held back from this rashness. But he was burning Inside. He lost count of the ascending steps. He had no thought of bravery. Presently another door at the top. another iron ring. sMore. important' than any material surroundings was. the fact that he was making her unhappy. At first he had

felt secret exultation because of the confession. It measured the poeslbilwui? aSTa flit to the reverse side of it her side——the pain, the uncertainty, the new giddy whlrlrwwkl nf Kar fdriltmifh Tear imw*AMniMAirail fhn anrnnd tian rln* , t nr*riiß _ — w-u mi* I their brushing leaves. ■. f ; .; < ~< ' ’ J No one appeared in the corridor outside the apartment of the the mines. Was a mile to eastward. He

perfume of the' procession that had passed. Con Imagined the borne hammocks with the silken sleeping burdens, especially one. He moved into the hall, keeping dose to the inner wall. He came to the familiar door. There was no time to knock. The victrola was still there. With a little cry of dismay the servant of the princess arched his back and ran forward. quite hideous in baste and hate. Levington stopped him and picked up the knife that fell from the yellow hand. There was further brief business of wadding the mouth of old Fu Ah and securing his enraged members. Then the white man, bis heart pounding, ran to the raised couch. She was t>ere. He closed his eyes a moment, because of her loveliness, his own relief and the strange hurt. Her face held the calm of that shadow of sable wings. Con knew the satiny black beneath her eyes. In fact, the yellow bowl had been left here within her reach when she wakened. He bent over and stared into her face. A “Helen,” he whispered. "Helen, wake up! They are giving you death. I do not mean to make you unhappy. Do hot sleep, it is poison, you must not! I want you to live.' Oh, princess, there is America—’’ ' He did not know what he was saying ’ tp her. Her arms and shoulders were limp as he touched her, lifted her a little from the colored cushions. Without opening her eyes, she smiled faintly, and it maddened, him to think that she was pleased with some phantasm In a subtler world, perhaps entirely unaware of bis own presence. The deep shadows about her eyes seemed to stab him. He raised her closer to him. He was pleading. He smoothed her temples. His hands shook, as he breathed the full story of his heart. The universe was only this —that she lay faint in bls arms, that, her white beauty possessed him, that he could not reach her, a web always between, delicate yet unbreakable. She sighed, as a child who enters a new depth of rest, and it punished him. She had not opened her eyes. . ■/

The leaves'rustled outside the casement From a silver vase on a taboret 'white rose petals drifted down to the rug. Curtains swayed gently in the movement of the air. Afternoon sunlight crossed golden through the oaks. Out of the age-old secrets of the heart Levington knew the mystery of high desire, as if a race of men, stalwart, tender, true, had gone before him, lived and loved and perished, that he might breathe the same air with his princess In this hour, might feel the softly rushing storm withjn himself, and pjedge his sill to the beauty of one who did not speak.' - \ ?: Again he leaned over her, and whispered rapidly—only the great hazards mattered now —“Tell me, tell me—” Helen’s throat 'trembled, beneath the smooth skin a ripple of effort, but she did not unseal her lips. Con covered his,eyes with his arm.

Out of this moment of intense quiet he heard footsteps, great leaping faUs. He turned, crouching.. A Nubian, a giant, passed, his dagger steady as bronze, his eyes red. He rushed, and Levington stepped aside. The fray must be led away from Helen. The negro also reckoned on this. Con made sure of the knife he had taken from the servant, Fu Ah, who was still • tightly bandaged, lying near the door. They faced each other. The great black rushed again. Levington grappled, parried, and they swung around. He could do nothing with his knife. ’Another wild down thrust from the Nubian, a lunge with lion power in it. Gray foam stood out upon the negro’s lips. A mighty hinge of ebony was closing upon Levington, who felt his legs giving way, and the borrowed knife pried steadily out of his band. His head was gradually being forced back- , ward. Catlike, he writhed loose his right arm, and flashed a blow to the black neck, but tt was like hitting a rug. The African was mouthing hotly. For all that life meant, Oon*lung to the dagger-arm. He was lifted cleaof the floor, to enable the black to adjust him at his leisure for the dual stroke. AU the agony of life’s untasted cup came to Levington as ne thought of Helen. He could see her. Suddenly the Nubian cried out and from him. He was screaming and stamping. Upon his shoulders clung a small white-faced monkey, his teeth ssa Con drove the dagger twice below the ribs, and the giant toppled into silence, white the little beast bit and bit, doubtless repaying black cruelty and white friendship at the same time. Besur tainted Inquiring eyes up io Levington, who had no time to express thanks. Betgtoing the fled down the corridor. There were rundown. 'J • lAlts A* vans w

their talk in the open near her mother’s grave. Almost before be expected, he saw Andrew March, who was searching for him. Many were' with the elder American, Including the interpreteE, f “How far did you go?” “Far enough to hear the oak leaves blowing outside her window.” “You cross—nor queried the Arabian. "Yea” ‘ He recounted their morning meeting; his return to the mines ; the strange, silent malice of the dwarfs who bad allowed him to go on into the fumes from the devotional; what he had seen over the rim of the wall; the blackness that had fallen, and then the events beyond the stairs. “You have profaned the holy of holies,” said March. "They have no higher religion. There is no end to your crimes.” March was smiling gravely. Oddly, it did not seem tc

Levington that he was talking to the father of his princess. March seemed to forward no such parental claim. "What arrangement have you made here?” “For today we are secure. After that It depends upon what disposition is made of the four who were taken away this morning on our account” "It is a gift” said the sailor. "He means our lives.” explained March. “He cannot always influence his men to think a* he does. They are not inclined' to make much of American aid.” "Wlll they give us up?” asked Con. "Today no,” replied the Arabian, grinning In the torchlight. To Con, in his present mood, today was forever. In his health, and the power of new love, he could not think of life coming to an end, ever. He felt invincible. To March he said: "Today we not only escaped from their big walls but fooled their wise serpent, and even returned to the palace, to the apartment of their princess.”

“The same boy,” mused March, with something like despair in his voice. “That’s the spirit that brought you up the cut in the- road when the riders were coming down on us; and you were going like that, one night in Cincinnati.” , ' “Things are just beginning,” said Con, rather absently, as he walked abreast of his friend, while the Arabian with the torch followed, with his hobbling workers. The latter were talking softly. “What is It they sayF Con had turned sharply. The Arab ex-ceilor smirked uneasily, then said: “They want their four brothers.” "Where are they?” -In the city, perhaps to die, because you.” r There was a murmur from the background, as if the broken-bodied human creatures knew the meaning of the English words. ’ Levlngtpn saw that they could scarcely be expected to sacrifice four of their own to save two fugitive strangers. “You have more men here ground, than they number ip the city," mM Con. to the foeeman. “Yes.” ' ’ “Then say to your men that tomorrow we will go and got their four fa* . •V-”’ ** '•■iv -Nor cried the Arab. . Levington, with assurThe seaman turned to his men with I ■ CHAPTER XIV. < '— ■ J The Prince Rides Out. The ardbr* if the oast day and night I __a_A ’ * ~ ■ ,0 r - O-jx aS. will t A pyupt* UrnA TP’S K* CmCO vUC ODCC UI

the night, and then merely to relax into deeper rest again, noted that the spaces in the eaves were seething with little ugly men, whose twisted spines bobbed in a light that was sickish and cold. The crowd seemed to grow as the hoars passed, as if the innermost crevices of earth were giving up their human ants. More hoelike weapons were brought, to add to the rusty knives. There were tube* for blowing darts, containing now a long accumulation of the dust of peace. In fact, the present generation could not recall a day of revolt hi their subterranean history. The Arabian sailor rushed about all this night like one possessed, his old hopes ignited. Primitive military system prevailed. The horde was grouped into units. There were lieutenants. " The white men when wakened would rank a* colonels, with no less a person than the Arab as their generalissimo. The miners seemed lost in a dull glow of excitement Within their lives nothing had occurred tn interrupt the next day’s labor. The seizing ot their four brothers had not seemed unusual, but the effect promised an Infinity of new turns. There was no thought of sleep. The old humors of an uprising seemed at last about to be fulfilled. The hour was near, their lot cast. Every tortured heart was eased somewhat of its burden of hate in the prospect of action. They had never before attempted to express their loathing of the city, of their masters.

They bad been born to pain, toil, silence. Home, shop, and grave were one to them. There were no families. From some warrior’s house In the city, reach man-child returned to the pits crippled forever, its spine an arch of horror. There was seldom any way of identifying the broken creature of ten or twelve. All thought of parentage was lost When, by chance, kinship was re-established, such meeting was but a renewal of bitterness. And always in the city cellars the precious store of roots grew and grew.. On the far edges of the state the essence of the-e roots was bartered or exchanged for silver. Always the yellow, bowl in the apartment of the future queen was kept filled with dream potency. The state religion was perpetuated in the lower room, which was so situated as to be symbolic of Its connection with the source of all dreams, the mines themselves. Thus Chee Ming wrought upon the whole world' the substance of his meditations—the vizir, whose thin eyelids had never been touched and soothed and dinned by one taint of koresh. His web was spreading beyond the sea. He chose the blood of prince* and of queens, to blend at his leisure, in his own interpretation of right. The old monzoul had become no more than a warm «Hken bag of clay under the skinny hand* of his vizir. Chee Ming was ready to rule the planet entire. Now in the caverns, the miners were eating, wherever they stood, _ stick* flicking in and out of brown jars, the women slinking about in mortal fear. It was long after midnight. March dropped down beside Levington. "Surprising the riders do not come.” “They’ll wait for daylight They have the four. They feel sure of us.” ; The two friends sat a little way off from the swarm, and looked idly into the gas-fire. Con grew drowsy with the warmth In hl* face. After a while he said. "The green hair of ” “You mean the gas?” < “Yes, the way it comes up and floats, like something drowned in air. That’* the flowing green half— rather fiendish. I can’t say what I mean.” “If the fire happened to go out” *aid March, “we should all gb out with It” “From what depth do you suppose It comes?”

March looked quickly at bls comrade, and smiled. “You are sleepy.” "Yes. Hl take s nap here. But do you think the gas has anything to do with the crusted seeds they dig out of the pits herer < . “I don’t know. Nor can I tell you how the koresh seeds, millions of them, ever got down so deep in the earth, to begin with. The Arab says that there are shafts as deep as wells, and from ‘these chasms the worker with a torch brings up seeds that must have laid in the clay ever since the planet condensed and cooled; and the same seeds will sprout In a month’s time when planted on the surface and watered." “Something left over, preserved, | from the days of the giants and the said Con. . “I thought you were going to say coeds from j ” -How do they extract the oil and “The oil is simply pressed out of the “It got me." said Levington. -And there Is a poison they mate n °A d curious"lSd lt of to was spread suout rue caverns, and j a atfMMi Amim * tt tliaaa ! (TO BE CONTINUED,

"Helen," He Whispered. "Helen, Wake UpF! They Are Giving You. Death."

They Faced Each Other.