Sardou's Cleopatra — page 34: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SARDOU’S CLEOPATRA, — 19 CHAPTER II. THE VICTOR VANQUISHED. A look of triumph flashed across the handsome face of the triumvir. So! this haughty queen had been forced to obey his commands. With a gesture, he stopped the soldiers who were about to lead away the prisoners. Nearer and nearer, propelled by fifty oarsmen, swept the barge, until it reached the flight of marble steps that led down to the water’s edge. A magnificent sight it was! The stern of the superb galley was of beaten gold, the sails of the palest rose color, and all the cordage of twisted silk; garlands of flowers hung from mast to mast, and were strewn over the decks which were cov- ered with rare and costly cloths. Fifty Nubian slaves, with backs like gleaming jet, kept time with their silvered oars 'to the soft music.of harps and-flutes. Glistening censers sent forth their clouds of perfumed incense. Beautiful women, (EC 0) | } | ie comicbooks