Show ase STORY E 1 h u I 1 YZ L 1 THE M A 12 IIER 0 F MOONS by I 1 ROBERT W CHAMBERS illustrations by J J sheridan copi right G I 1 n s sons SYNOPSIS the story opens in new york roy car the story teller inspecting a queer reptile owned by george godfrey 0 of f riffa y a roy and harris barris and pierpont pont wo friends depart on a hunting trip I 1 to Zar cardinal dinal woods a rather obscure locaco local ty barris re baled tl ti e fact that he had joined the secret service for the purpose af running down a gang of gold makers maker prof lagrange on discovering the e pang a ng s formula had been my misterio sterio erlo sly killed led barris received a telegram of in he ire and pierpont set out to locate the gold making gang A valet re ported seeing a queer C anaman in the supposedly tup untenanted woods roy rent ent hunting he ile fell asleep in a dell on awal 11 ening he beheld a beautiful girl at a nail small lake A birthmark resembling a bragon s claw on roys roy s fo forel ead had bad a lyste lous fous effect upon tl IT e girl wl 0 sal sat I 1 her tier na name m e was ysonde suddenly s e d s appear appeared ed 1 ii teeing in terror roy beheld a horrible chine chinee e visage peering at I 1 im rom the woods barris and P erport re lui dined ned barra barr s exhibited a reptile lik like e that owned by godfrey A ball of sup posed gold he held suddenly became alive he told of the kuen yuin a CM CIA nese oese nation of sorcerers sor cerera numbering W and explained that tl ti e moon ma ter their ruler wl ose crescent symbol was a dragon claw was supposed to have recently returned to earth barris pier pont t and roy tailed failed to find ysonde s dell ff later er roy hunting came to the lul ul spot where he found ysonde S e old him I 1 ow her stepfather evidently a chinaman made gold and of his aus orus actions CHAPTER VI continued where Is this I 1 asked faintly ylan 9 1 I don dont t know it Is sweet with perfume ind the sound of silver IVA bells all day long yesterday I 1 carried a blossom of dried lotus buds from yian in my breast and all the woods were fragrant did you smell ita yes 1 I wondered last night whether you did how beautiful your dog Is I 1 love him lest yesterday erday I 1 thought most about your dog but last night last night I 1 repeated below my breath 1 I thought of you why do you wear the dragon claw 9 I 1 raised my hand impulsively to my forehead covering the scar what do you know of the dragon claw I 1 mut it is the symbol of yue laou and yue laou rules the kuen knell yuin my stepfather says my stepfather tells me everything that I 1 know we lived in fn yian ylan until I 1 was 16 years old I 1 am IS 18 now that is two years we have ined lived in the forest look see sep those scarlet birds what are there ere are b ads of the same color in ylan where is yian ysonde I 1 asked alth ith deadly calmness I 1 don dont t know but you have lived therea yes a very long time Is it across the ocean it Is across seven oceans and the great river wh WIT ch is longer than from the earth to the moon who told you that whoa my aly stepfather he tells me everything will you tell me his name I 1 don dont t know it he is my steffa ther that is all and what Is your name you know it ysonde yes but what other that Is all ysonde have you two names why do you look at me so Impatiently 7 does your stepfather make golda have you seen him make ra oh yes he ile made it also in ylan and I 1 loved to watch the sparks at night whirling like golden bees yian la Is lovely it if it is all like our garden and the gardens around I 1 can see the thousand bridges from my garden and the white mountain beyond and the people tell me of the peo pie ysonde I 1 urged gently the people of I 1 could see them in swarms I 1 ke ants oh ohl many many millions crossing and re crossing the thousand bridges but how did they looka did they dress as I 1 doa 1 I don dont t know they were very tar far away moving specks on the thousand bridges for 16 years I 1 saw them every day facin my garden but I 1 never went out of my garden into the streets of ylan for my stepfather forbade me you never saw a living creature near hy by in ylan I 1 asked in despair my birds oh such tall wise ool 1001 ing birds all over gray and rose color bhe leaned over the gleaming water end and drew her polished hand across the surface why do you ask me these ques lions she murmured are you yott dis pleased 7 tell mo me about your stepfather I 1 insisted does he look as I 1 do doa does lie tie dress does he speak as I 1 do doa Is be the american 7 american 7 I 1 don dont t know he does biot dress as vo i do and he does not 1001 as you do lie ile Is old very very old he speaks sometimes as you do sometimes as they do in yian I 1 speak also in both ri anners then as they do in yian ylan I 1 urgel impatiently speak as why ysonde why are you cring have I 1 hurt youa 1 I did not intend I 1 did not dream of your caring there ysonde forgive me see I 1 beg you on my knees heie at your feet I 1 stopped my eyes fastened on a small golden ball which hung from her N w alst by a golden cl a n I 1 saw it trembling against her thigh I 1 saw it change color now crimson now pur pie now flaming scarlet it was the symbol of the kuen euln she bent over me and laid her fin gers gently on my arm why do you ask me such she said while the tears glistened glistened on her lashes it hurts me here she pressed her hand to her breast it rains I 1 don dont t I 1 now why rhy ah ali now dour our ees are hard and cold again you are looking at the golden globe which hangs from my waist do you wish mish to know also what ni hat that Is isa yes I 1 muttered my e ees es fixed on the internal infernal color flames which sub sided as I 1 spoke leaving the ball a pale gilt again it is the symbol of the kuen knell yuin she said in a trembling voice why do vou you aska 4 Is it oursa Y ye where did you get ita it I 1 cne crie I 1 harshly my my steffa then she pushed me away from her with all the strength of her slender wrists and covered her face it if I 1 slipped my arm about her and diew her to me it if I 1 kissed away the tears that fe I 1 slowly between her fingers lt if I 1 told her how I 1 loved her how it cut me to the heart to see her unhappy after all that is my own business when she smiled through her tears the pure love and sweetness in her eyes lifted my soul higher than the high moon vaguely glimmering through the sunlit blue above my happ bapp ness was so sudden so fierce and overwhelming that I 1 only knelt there her fingers clasped in mine my eyes raised to the blue vault and the glimmering moon then something in the long glass beside me moved close to my knees and a damp acrid odor filled my nostrils I 1 cried but the touch of her hand was already gone and my i y 11 IVA flung like a corpse on my own threshold two clenched fists were cold and damp with dew ysonde I 1 called again my tongue stiff with nuth fright but I 1 called as one awakening from a dream a horrid dream for my nostrils quivered with ta tte e damp acrid odor and I 1 felt the crab reptile clinging to my knee why had the night fallen so swiftly and where was I 1 stiff chilled torn and bleeding lying flung like a corpse over my own threshold with ayou licking my face and barns barris stooping above me in the light of a lamp that flared and smoked in the night breeze like a torch faugh the chol ing stench of the lamp aroused me and I 1 cried out ybonne CHAPTER VII what the devil devils s the matter with hint muttered pierpont pont lifting me in his arms like a child has he been stabbed barrisa in a few minutes I 1 was able to stand and walk stiffly into my bedroom where hewlett howlett had p a hot bath ready and a hotter tumbler of scotch pier pont sponged the blood from my throat where it had coagulated the cut was slight almost invisible a mere pune ture from a thorn A shampoo cleared my mind and a cold plunge and aico alco hoi hol friction did the rest now said pierpont pont swallow your hot scotch and he lie down do you want a broiled woodcocks 9 good I 1 fancy you are coming about barns barris and pierpont watched me as I 1 sat on the edge of the bed solemnly chewing on the woodcock woodcocks s wishbone and sipp ng my bordeaux very much at my ease pierpont pont sighed his tel rel ef so he said pleasantly it was a mere case of ten dollars or ten days I 1 thought you had been stabbed I 1 was not intoxicated I 1 replied serenely picking up a bit of celery only jagged inquired pierpont full of sympathy nonsense said barris let him alone want some more celery roy it will make you sleep I 1 don t want to sleep I 1 answered when are you and pierpont pont going to catch your gold maker 9 barris looked at his watch and closed it withe with a snap in an all hour ou don t propose to go with mith us usa I 1 but I 1 do toss me a cup of coffee pierpont pont will you that s just what I 1 propose to do hewlett howlett bring the new box of s the mild imported and leave the decanter now barris III be dressing and you and pierpont pont keep still and listen to what I 1 have to sav say Is that door shut tights harris barris locked it and sat down thanks said I 1 barris where is the city of 1 nan ian aln n espre sion al in to terror flashed into barns barris ees and I 1 saw him stop breathing tor for a moment there is no such city he said at length have bane I 1 been talking in my sleep 9 it 1 la a city I 1 continued calmly where the river winds und r the thousand bri ages iges where the gardens are sweet scented and the air is filled with the mu ic of silver bells stop gasped barris and rose ng horn his chair he ile had biown ten years older roy inter ased pierpont coolly R what hat tl tie e deuce are you hat crying bar lis its fora I 1 looked locked at darns barris and he looked at me attar a second or two he sat down again go on roy he said I 1 must I 1 answered for now I 1 am certain that I 1 have not dreamed I 1 told them everything but even as I 1 told it the whole thing seemed so vague so onieal that at times I 1 stopped with the hot blood tingling in ears for it seemed impossible that sensible men in the year of our lord 1896 could seriously discuss such mat I 1 feared pierpont but he did not even smile As for barns barris he sat with his hand handsome come head sunk on his breast his unlighted pipe clasped tight in both hands when 1 had finished pierpont pont turn turned ed slowly and looked at barris twice e he moved his lips as it if to ask something and then remained mute yian is a city aid barris speak ing dreamily was that what you wished to know pierpont 7 he nodded silently yian is a city repeated barris where the great river winds under the thousand bridges where the gar dens are sweet scented and the air Is filled with the music of silver bells my lips formed the question where is this it lies said barns barris almost luerul 0 cisly oisly sly across the seven oceans and the river which is longer than from the earth to the moon what do you meana mean said pier flier pont ah ali said barris rousing himself with an effort and raising his sunken eyes I 1 am using the allegories of an other land let it pass have I 1 not told you of the kuen euln yian IQ I 1 the center of the knell Kuen Yuin it lies hidden in that gigantic shadow called china vague and vast as the midnight heavens a continent unknown im penetrable impenetrable repeated pierpont pont below his breath I 1 have seen it said barris dream ily I 1 have seen the dead plains ol 01 alack cathay and I 1 have crossed the mountains of death whose summits are above the atmosphere I 1 have seen the shadow of bangi cast across abad don better to die a mill on miles fiam lead and ater quedar than to have haie seen the white water lotus close in the shadow of bangi I 1 have slept among the ruins of where the winds never cease and the is wailed by the dead and yian I 1 urged gently there was an unearthly look on his face as he turned slowly toward me TO BE CONTINUED |