All-Story Weekly, March 1, 1919 — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

sat ae w= -~ —and all who are here!” she cried. _I, the priestess of the Shining One, take, as es es everybody’s merry and bright! I turned sick with dread. Yolara’s hand > beside her; and once more he gripped her hand. His eyes grew fixed—he crooned: - And through the sleeping silence his feet must track the tune, _ When the world is barred and speckled with silver of the moon— When the world is barred and speckled with silver of the moon.” He stood, swaying, for a moment, and then, laughing, let the. priestess have her way; drained again the glass. And now my heart was cold, indeed— for what hope was there left—with Larry mad, wild drunk! The silence was unbroken — elf women _ and dwarfs glancing furtively at each other. ~ But now Yolara arose, face set, eyes flash- ing gray. ~ ‘‘ Hear you, the council, and you, Lugur “ Now is my right, my mate. And this is-he!” She pointed down upon Larry. He glanced _ up at her roguishly. ‘““Can’t quite make out what you say, Yolara,” he muttered thickly. ‘ But say anything—you like—I love your voice!” _ He laughed, glanced at Lugur, now upon his feet, forced calmness gone, volcano- seething. “ Don’t be such a skeleton at the feast, old dear!” cried O’Keefe. ‘“ Every- body’s merry and bright here—sure— >? stole softly upon the Irishman’s curls caressingly. He drew it down; kissed it. “You know the law, Yolara.’”’ Lugur’s voice was flat, deadly. “ You may not mate with other than your own kind. And this man is a stranger—a barbarian—food _ for the Shining One!” Literally, he spat the phrase. “No, not of our kind—Lugur—higher! ” Yolara answered serenely. ‘Lo, higher even than the Ancient Ones—a son of Siya and of Siyana!”’ ‘A lie!” roared the red dwarf. “A lie!” “The Shining One revealed it to me!” said Yolara sweetly. ‘“ And if ye believe not, Lugur—go ask of the Shining One if it be not truth!” a a There was bitter, nameless menace in those last words—and whatever their ae ad ~ ALL-STORY | WEEKLY. resumed his place and his silence. den message to Lugur, it was potent. He stood, choking, face hell-shadowed — Von Hetzdorp leaned out again, whispered. The red dwarf bowed, now wholly ironically; And again I wondered, iey-hearted, what was the power the German had so to sway Lugur—what was it that he had said to O’Keefe?—and what plots and counter- plots were hatching in that unscrupulous brain? “What says the council?” Yolara de- manded, turning to them. Only for a moment they consulted among themselves. Then the woman, whose face was a ravaged shrine of beauty, spoke. “The will of the priestess is the will of © the council!” she answered. Defiance died from Yolara’s face; she — looked down at Larry tenderly. He sat swaying, crooning. She clapped her hands, and one of the cuirassed dwarfs strode to her. “ Bid the priests come,”’ she commanded, then turned to the silent room. “ By the rites of Siya and Siyana, Yolara takes their son for her mate,” she said; and again her hand stole down possessingly, serpent soft, to the drunken head of the O’Keefe. The curtains parted widely. Through them filed, two by two, twelve hooded figures clad in flowing robes of the green one sees in forest vistas of opening buds of dawning spring. Of each pair one bore clasped to breast, a globe of that milky crystal I had seen in the sapphire shrine- room; the other a harp, small, shaped some- what like the ancient clarsach of the Druids. Two by two they stepped upon the raised platform, placed gently upon it each _ their globe; and two by two crouched be- hind them. They formed now a star of six points about the petaled dais, and, si- multaneously, they drew from their faces — the covering cowls. I half-rose from my feet — youth and maidens ‘these of the fair-haired; all young; and youths and maids more beautiful than any of those I had yet seen—for upon their - faces was little of that disturbing mockery to which I have been forced so often, be- cause of the deep impression it made upon = = va tate | é \onla'v "A Ne Shae aed} FA ee pik NiO