The Land of the Changing Sun

looking at?" And the American slowly

back and watched Johnston's face as he l

a splendid city-a city built on undulating ground with innumerable grand structures of white marble, with turrets, domes and pinnacles of gold. Wide streets paved in polished stone and bordered with lush-green grass interspersed with statues and b

ng a narrow balcony outside. It had a graceful balustrade, made of carved red-and-white mottled marble, and on the end of the balcony facing the city sat a great gold and silver jug, te

way out, treading very gently at first. Johnston followed him, too much surprised to make any comment. From this po

selessly, as if the wheels had cushioned tires, and the st

oking machine, carrying half-a-dozen passengers, rise like a bird with wings outspre

head nor tail of it. We were on an isolated island, the Lord onl

in the world we were born in," re

shman, "you know it did wonders

er was clearer. The very atmosphere is peculiar. The

e way I feel," was

how transparent it is. You can look through it for miles and miles. It is bec

he line of separation was marked-so marked, indeed, that it seemed a vast, rose-colored billow rolling, widening and sweeping onward like a swell of the ocean shoreward. On it came rapidly, till the whole landscape was magically changed. The flowers, the trees, the grass

bleeding ball of fire slowly rising a

t; their shadows were as clearly defined and black as silhouettes. "How do you account for that?" conti

his remark held it back into the shadow of the window-casement. "By Jove!" he exclaimed; "there is not a particle of warmth in it. It is exactly the sam

light. "I believe you are right," he

tired in a suit of scarlet silk that fitted his athletic figure perfec

ey had occupied, and found a table holding a sumptuous repast. The boy gave them seats and handed the

the palace of your king to-morrow,"

were rising from the table, they heard footsteps in the hall outside. The door opened. It was

ptain said smilingly. "It is our invariable cust

se, but Thorndyke watched his movements with phlegmatic indifference. He stood erect; threw back his

n slightly aback. "You must bare your breast over your heart and lungs," he said; and while Thorndyke was unbuttoning his

only affected the ear of the hearer but set every nerve to tingling. The medical man stopped the sound by laying his hand upon the bell. To a tube in the top of the bell he fastened one end of a rubber pipe; the other end was finished with

nston saw that he had turned pale, and

"it will be over in a minute; now, be p

ts. Thorndyke felt the rubber tube quiver suddenly and writhe with the slow energy of a dying snake, and then

stepped to the bell and insp

sped the Englishman

ent from Thorndyke's flesh; "it is as regular as mine; you are very lu

lishman, but he sank into a

e," said the medical man,

the latter, as he stood up and awkwa

rusqueness; "it has nothing to do with the body except to dominate i

ly and forsaken in his life. From his childhood he had entertained a secret fear that he had inherited heart disease, and like Maupassant's "Coward," who com

the worst from the uncanny instrument that had just tortur

im that every nerve and muscle in his frame was withering through fear. H

Johnston was further humiliated by having Tradmos

body and that fear is its prime enemy. Five minutes ago you were eating heartily and had your share of physical strength, and yet the mere thought that you a

e as if charged with electricity. The American held his breath. A sound as of water being forced through channe

ness of your heart and it has, on that account, become so. You must banish all fear from your thoughts. You perhaps know that w

ang a bell on the table. Thorndyke looked up sleepily, as an attendant entered with a c

e no reply, for the captain had opened the parc

n and one of light blue to Thorndyke. "We shall leave yo