Dragon's blood

ld in his fretful pony. Rudolph stood bending a whip viciously. They two had fetched a compass about the town, and now in the tw

lph, trembling,--"I do not wis

our mind. Only"--he looked down at Rudolph with a comic, elderly air--"let me observe, our yellow people have that rather neat proverb. A hen's head, dear chap,--not with a battl

d innuendo? Let him go, then, let him canter away. He had seen quickly, guessed with a diabolic shrewdness, yet would remain on the surface, always, of a mystery so violent and so profound.

ng--though the dawn stirred cool and fragrant as all dawns before--the "boy" laid out Rudolph's white tunic, slipped in the shining buttons, smeared pipe-clay on his heaviest helmet; and Rudolph, looking from his window, saw that on the river, by the same instinct, boatmen were stretching up their bamboo awnings. Bre

f the world, the beat of hoofs in cool silences, the wide lights of creation over an aged, weary, alien empire. Their ponies whinnying like old friends, they met, by chance or appointment, before the power of sleep had lifted f

m. Quivering bamboo swept behind them; the river, on their other hand, met and passed in hurrying panorama. They had no time for words, but only laughter. Words

ow lucky we came this way!

d, her gesture was not for him, but for th

nd crumbs of vivid green, speckled all the nearer water. On some of these storks meditated,--sage, pondering heads and urbane bodies perched high on the frailest penciling of legs. In the whole expanse, n

ing. "Are you all excuses, lik

ed Rudolph, and with truth, after the dash

here and hurry away. Mr. Nesbit was too lazy to try; Dr. Chantel wearing his best clothes. Maur

oisted with a terrified wrench of the shoulders, in the same moment that hind-legs went down as by suction. The pony squirmed, heaved, wrestled in a frenzy, and churning the red water about his master's thighs, went deeper and fared worse. With a clangor of wings, the storks rose, a streaming rout against the sky, tr

up, knee-deep, well out from the bank. With a splash, Rudolph stood beside him among th

" she mocked th

through. He tore off his coat, flung it across the saddle, waded out alone through the tus

ed wonderfully the quaggy bank and parched grasses. He lurched ashore, his feet caked with enormous clods as of melting chocolate. A filthy sc

mal--a rabbit dying in a forgotten trap. Faint as illusion, a wail, a thin-spun thread of sorrow, broke into lonely whimpering, and cease

-he understood. This bowl, a tiny crater among the weeds, showed like some paltry valley of Ezekiel, a charnel place of Herod's innocents

tir, even before he spied, under a withered clump, the saffron body of an infant girl, feebly squirming

s he carried her down the bank, and waded out through the sludge. To hold the squalling mouth above water, and swim, was no simple feat; yet at last he cam

, and let Mrs. Forrester canter up to joi

ure of fun! But what can you have br

ce, at the child. He had some foolish hope that she would take it, that his part was ended. Like an outlandish doll, with face contorted and t

ncredulous cry. Her face, all gay curio

"Oh! Such a nasty little--Why did-

d, like a man caught

," he explained heavily.

n ordered. "Cover it up.

he obeyed; then looked up, as if

were having such a good ride together, and now I've spoiled it all, with this.--Poor little filthy object!" She

his jacket, he felt that he had foolishly meddled in things inevitable, beyond repair. She was right. Yet some vague, insurgent insti

bundle and all, and turned

r the first time, unwit

lled. "You foolish b

eir escape at dawn, and as close bodily, but in spirit traveling distant parallels. He gave no thought to that, riding toward hi

en petulance. "The hospital's more out of funds th

with a queer smile, half r

ismounting, "I will r

Red-Haired so beplastered and sopping. A few pointed at his bundle, with grunts of sudden interest; and a leper, bearing th

ng them sharply. An uneasy light troubled the innoc

ly. "It's just what might be--Your litt

A cooler fringe of veranda, or shallow cloister, lined a second court. Two figures met him,--the dark-eyed Miss Drake, all in white, an

that grave yet happy, friendly composure which had the virtue, he discovered, of being

unfolded

chi

rl raised her arms and received it gently, without haste,--the saffron body appearing yet mo

had hardly altered; and yet Rudolph, for the first time in many days, had caught the fleeting brightness of compassion. Mere light of the eyes, a half-imagined glory, incongruous in the sharp smell of antiseptics, it left him wo

pith,--and walking along beside, listened shrewdly to his narrative. They paused at the outer gate. The padr

tood erect as

ain!" he cri

place apart, in a raucous voice fille

. Earle. "He says we steal children, to

ng his wide

w. Come see us, when we're not so busy? Goo

on. But without looking at him, the young man took the bridle from the coolie. There had been a test. He