wide, natural catchwater. I was thrown through these bushes by the force of the impact, and lay quite breathless, as my guards, wild with excitement, rushed to the point where my horse had fallen.

They were not more surprised than I; but they were a deal more unlucky. For a moment I lay still to get my breath. Then I arose as best I could and ran along, keeping behind the shrubs. A rifle snipped on the ridge above me. Its companion repeated the command, and blood trickled from my hand, for the ball went between my fingers. I ran on, bending lower. Soon I was out of sight. Resounding hoofbeats along the crest announced that my guards were hurrying around to head me off.

Then I turned about and went leisurely back up the cliffs to the spot where my horse had fallen. I crossed the road and went down on the opposite side of the ridge.

I use the word " leisurely" without flippancy. I could not have gone otherwise, and I found I could not go far even leisurely. I had done this much on the strength of desperation, and other strength I had not. Yet I stumbled on, looking only for a place to hide. My legs were benumbed by the thongs which had bound them; the blood ran easily from my hand. I did not care where I went - and I knew I was caring less each step I took. It was easier going down hill, and I went on somehow to the bottom, to the brook where Kepneff's servant and I had drunk. I saw an overhanging bank, crept under it, and thrust my hand wristdeep into the cold mud.

I was awakened by the monotonous thwack-thwack of a Quelpartienne's paddle, for these people wash their clothes on the stones of the brooks, beating them with boards. I was faint for want of food, it was coming on night, and I was worse than lost. I arose and followed the bed of the brook toward the resounding paddle. I would be very much safer in a Quelpartien hut that night than lying about the mountainside.

When the woman saw me, she dropped her paddle and ran screaming up the bank out of sight. I fancy I did look ghastly, though I had tried to wash the blood from my face and head. What clothes my captors had left on me (they had confiscated my coat and hat) were bright enough with gold and silver to attract attention. I had torn the lining from my heavy vest, and had bound up my hand. I must have looked like a warrior wakened from his sleep on a for

gotten mountain battle-ground. I did not blame her for running.

I went on to the path up the bank which the frightened woman had taken. But before I reached the top of it I was on the ground again. If I remember correctly I had not eaten since the noon of the day before, nor slept for a week, save my naps at Han Chow, at the legation, and on the horse to which I had been bound.

When I awoke again I was lying on a rush mat in an unlighted room. The smell of earth and the distant drip of water made me believe- as it turned out that I was in a cave. My eyes became accustomed to the darkness and I saw bowl of rice beside me. A woman began singing in a low monotone not far away. Presently she came to the matting which hung between the mouth of the cave and the rear of the hut built up against it, lifted a corner, and looked in. With the light behind her I could see only her figure. She was not dressed in native costume, and she was shapelier than any Quelpartiennes I had seen. She dropped the matting and resumed the song, probably thinking I still slept. From the moment I saw her I believed that it was she who befriended my servant and me as we passed this way before, and that now she had brought me to her hidden home to save me from my captors. The woman lit a candle, then two others joined her and an unsavory supper was eaten from wooden bowls.

I was just going to sleep again. The soft mat under me, the strange feeling of safety, the nourishing rice, and the woman's song made me content for the moment to stop thinking and to try to recover my strength for the journey to Keinning-I was confident that I was in the hands of friends who would see me through.

Then a rough, harsh voice brought me quickly to my feet, my hand at my beltless waist. The women screamed.

I knew that voice.

I knew what the screams meant. I backed mechanically against the wall of the darkened room, and cursed the scoundrels for having taken my sword. For I was ready to fight—yes, with the dark cave behind me I fairly ached to fight them. I groped along the wall. It was covered with matting. Then I cut myself on a sharp edge. I felt and it was a sword-blade. As I tried to take it down, another beside it cut me again. And beyond this were more each sharper than an adder's fang. What did this mean?

My question was answered. Some one

came to me in the darkness. Finding me by the swords, the girl led me back to my mat where I lay down again at a whispered word of command in an unknown tongue. Fast quarreling in the outer room had been succeeded by violent rummaging about. The noise came nearer and nearer. By this time another girl had entered the cave. She brought some glowing substance like phosphorus which the two divided between them. Then, side by side, they took their station just within the matting, a glittering sword in each hand.

. Then I knew I was hidden in a Quelpartien sword-dancer's cave. I was where no man had ever been before or would ever come again. The girls waited patiently, supremely confident in their magic power. They expected intruders, and intruders came.

Instantly, as by magic, the heavy mat curtains moved aside on the wire from which they hung. The girls, hardly visible to those without, were more plainly revealed to me. Their black, sequin-studded hair fell loosely down. A young tiger's skin enveloped each of them, thrown over one shoulder, caught together on the opposite loin, and hanging down on one side a hand's breadth below the knees. Their black hair was long, and was wrought into tiny snake-like braids which writhed about as the arms were put in motion, or darted off swiftly with the flames of the glistening swords which in an instant were whirling in their orbits.

Such a dance! My regiment could not have protected me more securely. A man's life was not worth even the weight of the dimmest ray that came from the swords. No battle-field ever was so deadly as the blazing zone through which those swords writhed and hissed. Though I had seen the secret of the illumination employed, nevertheless I utterly forgot my danger as the wild dance went on. It would have made any man forget anything.

Each broad sword was a flame of light; two thrown together with a practised hand wrought a sheet of flame; the four, when they cut the semi-circle together, sent blinding blasts of fire straight forward and straight back. Now a bolt of chain lightning fell from the right or left, seeming to cleave the ground. Now a flame poised overhead a second, then descended as the glittering blades came down. The fine black braids of hair curled lovingly about the round white arms, or, flying in the wake of the sweeping swords, stood extended. Often a descending blade severed them, and num

berless braided ends lay on the ground beneath the softly stepping sandals. Now a ball of fire rolled spluttering around each form as the swords were whirled on a finger; then each white face was surrounded by a flame of light, the dusky eyes flashing beneath a thousand wayward wisps of hair. I could not see into the room beyond. But all had become deathly still. The intruders now knew the nature of this hidden hut in the mountains. They knew they need not look for me in that cave, even had I dared to so much as approach it.

All this I read in the demeanor of the dancing girls. And as my baffled guards turned themselves into sight-seers rather than spies, the quick-witted dancers turned their cunning into an exhibition rather than a continuation of it as a menacing defense. They came back, sweeping the cave with light; they came forward in perfect unison and swiftly, throwing the great swords about them to a weird song which now became a feature of the performance. The new development of the fiery drama-the melody of the monotone and the more elaborate scenic display, the circles and squares of flame, the concentric circles and other nameless convolutions rendered the close of the exhibition as marvelous as the beginning. Next to the last service at the temple of Ching-ling, I shall ever remember the dance of Nsase, the sword-dancer, which saved my life on the mountains of Quelparte that night.

At the end came a tumult of applause from the delighted spectators, now utterly at the mercy of my friends. I saw at once they meant to stay all night; and I also saw, with disquietude, that they were being received with hospitality, to say the least. Perhaps anything else would have aroused suspicion.

Food was prepared for the visitors, and the jars of sul, or native beer, clinked as they were raised and lowered. There was more laughter than talk, and more sul than rice. The girls, still fantastically dressed in the scant raiment in which they had danced, led in the laughter and did most of the talking; and Nsase outlaughed and outtalked her sister. The soldiers answered with many a coarse guffaw, which grew louder for awhile-and then quite ceased.

I had grown despondent. I did not know what the strange carousal of the dancing girls meant. I feared what might happen when all became drunk. I took down a forbidden sword and lay quiet on my bed.

I must have dropped asleep, and I know

not when the scene changed in the other room, nor just when Nsase and her sister ceased playing the tragedy they acted so well. I awoke when Nsase aroused me by unclasping my fingers from the sword. She was dressed decently and heavily, as for traveling. She smiled as I sat up, and instantly helped me to my feet. I saw she intended to start me on my way. In a moment I was ready-but I paused and pointed to the sword. I wanted that. Nsase led me into the other room.

Her sister and the old woman were gone. By the light of a paper lantern we picked our way along by the overturned pots and jugs. Nsase paused as we neared the door, looked at me, and then looked behind her. She still held my hand, and now she pressed it. I looked over her shoulder.

The two Chinamen lay stretched on the floor. The color of the liquor was on their bloated faces-and another color, too! In searching for me they had found the sworddancers' hut, which no man may know, much less enter. And yet into it they had broken, rough and furious. They would trouble me and them no more!

Before we went out and mounted their horses, Nsase wrapped me in a long white robe, such as that she wore. She took the lead, and we pushed the horses on from ten o'clock until dawn. In this time we covered the distance the horses had traveled from daylight until noon the day before. As it began to grow light we were getting down deep into the mists of the Phan valley, and I knew that when they lifted Keinning would be in sight. When it became light enough for us to see each other, Nsase dropped back, and we rode side by side. Now and again I knew the girl was looking at me from between the folds of her white headdress. We had not spoken-for good reasons. And yet, amid all else I was thinking, I had not forgotten her; she was not a girl easily forgotten. In a hundred ways she had shown that she had seen the world and knew it. Where had she come from, that she should now be found in the mountains of Quelparte, a past master in the outlawed profession of sword-dancing? And now,

her wild lessons learned from the old woman with whom she lived (for Quelpartiens are known as unrivaled in this soldiers' art), what strange land would claim her, what cities praise her- Singapore or Rangoon, Lhassa or Port Said? Strong, handsomeOh, well; something set me to humming "Mandalay."

At last the mists did lift. And there was Keinning just at our feet. Nsase had come farther with me than necessary. But I think she would have gone farther - much farther.

She drew up her tired horse on the last range of foot-hills, and dismounted. She pointed to the distant city, then, with a sad smile on her face, up the road which she must return. I dismounted, too, to rest a moment. It seemed good to feel safe again. We stood still awhile by our horses. I was more grateful to her than I could ever tell, could we have spoken the same language. It was a relief not to be able to try.

After a while Nsase reached under her long robe (she had taken mine off) and drew out a long, beautiful scabbard containing a finer sword than many more exalted officers than I carry. With an attempt at laughing the girl surrendered to me, and then girt the belt around my waist. For a second she held the scabbard. She was very close to me, and looked away at the distant city. Then she dropped it and went to her horse.

I was greatly moved by the gift, remembering that she took a sword away from me as we left the cave.

Though now more deeply in her debt, I was utterly helpless to repay Nsase, however much I longed to show my gratitude. But I could not in any way, so I only pressed her hand as I gave her the bridle and bade her farewell. She sat quiet a little while on her pony, then, as I moved aside, she rode off slowly and never once looked back.

With aching heart I watched the still figure till it was lost amid the great boulders by the side of the mountain path. Then I turned to my horse in haste to pass Nsase's good favor on. My life was saved, but there- yes, the mists had just lifted from it stood the mound of the imperial mausoleum, where Dulcine lay!

As I descended into the great plain in which Keinning lay, my eyes rested steadily upon the conical mound of earth which enclosed the imperial mausoleum. No one

gazing from those heights could have overlooked that peculiar formation. If I ever had a hard problem to solve before in my life it was a kitten's plaything to this: How

could that mound, made impregnable by the best of human skill, be entered, and the prisoner released?

The mound was about fifty feet in height. The diameter of its base was equal to its height. Its gravel sides had been turfed with grass since the imperial funeral. The magic city which had been at its base had disappeared, with the army and the great concourse of people. All the temporary buildings had been taken away; but the Hall of Spices remained, for it was not temporary. It was to be the Temple of the Tomb where services to the memory of the queen would be celebrated. As I pushed my horse down from the hills I felt the fever of fear fill my veins. It was verily a tomb.

As I came nearer for I had to pass the mound to reach the east gate-I saw workmen on its summit erecting a diminutive temple roof to shelter the face of the great tablet. My spirits rose at the sight of these men, and I strained my eyes to catch a glimpse of a familiar form. For, during the ride from the sword-dancer's cave, I had decided that all my hope lay in one man -old Ling's son, Kim. Not until then had I thought of him and remembered his appointment as Secret Guardian of the Queen in his father's place. I congratulated myself on having kept my hasty promise to the father, for the more I thought of it the surer I was that Dulcine's life was in his hands but I dared not think what the grave youth would do or say. I knew the penalty of an attempt to enter that mausoleum. The body of the vandal would be divided among the capitals of the twenty provinces, and displayed in a public place.

If Kim could not help me, there was but one man left to ask. That was the king. Asking him would be to tell the whole miserable story of Lynx Island and Prince Tuen's victory. And yet, had not a week passed without the fulfilment of the terrible myth? Was the king not sane still, and the dynasty still secure?

And might not another week go by like this and many?

I pushed my horse on as fast as it could go, knowing each moment was an eternity to Dulcine. I passed within a hundred yards of the mausoleum. A score of men were at work upon the little temple roof. The material for it was being brought up on the very car and track upon which the golden sarcophagus had ascended.

As I looked again at these scenes so indelibly impressed on my memory, I thought

of the terrible experiences Dulcine had endured since she bade me that last farewell. How the poor girl must have waited and waited and waited in her narrow cell for the signal that had never come! How her exhausted nerves must have trembled! How her very life blood must have been wrung from her heart as the moments passed! Did she know when the service of the priests was over? Could she have known when she was placed upon the sliding car? Did she realize that she was beyond the Altar of Spices-beyond all human power to save? Did she feel herself being lowered into her tomb or had the stunning, deafening shock of the falling tablet first told her that her lover had proven faithless and had sent her to a living tomb after failing to bring back the real body of the queen?

I ached to hurry now to the mound, but I could not, dressed as I was. And so I pushed on into the city. But here another question arose. Where should I go? I could not go to the legation. Already Colonel Oranoff might have given out the news of Dulcine's absence, and of mine. Yet I was sure he would believe we were together, and that he would not quickly make public our disappearance. I could not help wondering if in all his diplomatic days he had ever faced a riddle more difficult to solve than this.

And so I turned toward the Japanese settlement, as I went into Keinning, and lodged at a Japanese inn. From there I boldly indited a letter to Oranoff. I said that for reasons which he would fully approve when we explained them, Dulcine and I had left Keinning together. I dated my note Tsi, the morning after the funeral, for I knew a boat had left then for Chefoo and Port Arthur.

Soon I was ready to return to the imperial. grave. A fresh horse took me over the three miles quickly, but it was only by the best of luck that I was enabled to approach the mound. I found the roadway thither guarded by soldiers, but the men knew me, and sent at once for their captain who ascended the mound with me. The moment my foot touched this, I was beside myself with excitement. Yet I went on with the officer, continuing my questions regarding Kim Ling. He did not know him, but we were near the workmen and the building they were erecting.

And then a man, dressed more conspicuously than the others, stepped to me with an affable "Good-morning."