Roy Norton

“ The last time the colonel or any of his fellows saw him was in the final charge at San Juan, when our men, with the goodly light of the fight in their eyes, and with dust and grime on their faces, went irresistibly upward. It was a new Barth they saw pass that day, not the one with the quiet face. A man transformed loped forward as if drunk with blood-lust and parched for one more draught of the battle's wine—a man whose turned-back hat-brim exposed a sweat-stained visage, and whose splendid muscles carried him with lithe, tiger-like springs. ”

“ I could not bear that he should know how fully I had been aware of his emotion, and took his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped them away even while he was recovering.
Still distracted, I returned to the window, closed it, and then the heavy shutters, as if to shut out into the darkness everything that might intrude upon this fine old man in his great hour. It was as if I were jealous of the night, or abhorred it as one who had crept stealthily up to stare curiously upon the secrets of Monsieur Périgord, who had so long and so bravely maintained them alone. ”

“ Here was one who had pulled the curtain from the alcoves of his mind, and exposed therein something so noble that it brought her, a princess, to her knees. A glimpse had been given her of a fair landscape beyond all that she had ever seen, fairer than she had ever seen, tenderly appealing, warmly alluring, like unto the dream of Parsifal. A land through which she might not pass save through nobility of spirit alone. She was crushed by a sense of littleness, of unworthiness. The American had arisen to his feet and she felt his glowing eyes. ”

“ Throbbing, rumbling, and grinding in a melody softened by distance, the roar of the Rattler’s mills became audible, as it brought the yellow gold, glistening and beautiful, from its sordid setting of earth. In the camp of the Croix d’Or a chorus was wafted faintly up as men sitting in the dusk sang: “Hearts that are brave and true, my lads, hearts that are brave and true!”
Silently, arm in arm, they gave a last lingering look at the shaft, the peak above, and turned down the trail to the camp which seemed all aglow with rosy light. ”

“ High overhead though it was, it made everything distinct; the great solemn salon; the marvelous frescoes; the Corinthian pillars at the sides; the dull pattern of the tiled and sweeping floors; the cabinets containing the valued and prized collections of his sole kinsman and—off to the side—that one which held the Crusader's Casket of gold. For but an instant she hesitated, and then with soft and hurrying feet urged him into haste that was almost a run as if a fairy had led him into a dance toward some long-sought goal. ”

“ Above us the clouds lightened to a pallid gray, and then in a moment more we leaped through them into a moonlit world. The fog banks beyond which we had passed had become a white and crested sea which rolled in stately, slow billows as far as the eye could reach. The stars seemed near and clear and bright. It was as if we had invaded a mystic realm of peaceful beauty and left war and its panoplies of horror or glory behind. The machine perceptibly righted and swung out toward the north, that north in which lay the legions of France—and friends! ”

“ I stumbled forward and slipped my feet from the thongs, and jerked off my mittens, and thrust my hands into that heated water poured forth from the fiery heart of the earth—or was it hell?—and caught up and let fall through them that lavish stream of gold.
It was there! Gold in greater abundance than I have ever seen! Gold that dripped from my wet fingers, and splashed back into the clear, warm water. Gold in such abundance that under my eyes lay a fortune. A stream almost paved with it, as if all the red gold of the world had been collected there to await my coming! ”

“ The northern sky grew lighter, a finger of flame appeared to stretch across it, to be followed by waving shrouds of white, like the vestments of an army of ghosts. They danced recklessly and rapidly across the vault of the night, and changed their colors to a riot of red, with here and there a somber spread of crimson and blue. They took fantastic shapes, as if rendering more unreal their dance of death. They threw, as if purposely, a background of light behind the three peaks above me, so that I might fully realize their dread presence, and see the cruel, malevolent, devilish face of rock. ”

“ The shaman turned to Madame Malitka, who stood quietly observant in the entrance of the great house, with a great loose mantle, magnificently barbaric, priceless in value, made of the rare sea otter's fur, thrown across her shoulders, its voluminous folds held like a drapery about her by her hands, and its high collar turned up to protect her ears, neck, and cheeks from the cold. Her blue-black hair, massed and beautiful, was carefully coifed as usual. Her fine eyes, dark, impassive, directed themselves from one objective to another, as if to observe all. ”

“ Hotels don't take burros as guests. That's why, as the dusk dropped down over San Bernardino Valley and the night was warm with beauty, as if God had mantled it with love and kindliness, a white-haired old man, bent and gnarled but very happy, tramped into the foot-hills to camp. And close at his heels, as if fearing to lose sight of him, trotted a tired little old burro, whose heart ached for the cabin, and the homely flowers, and the singing brook of Cresco Cañon. Tom and Jack were going home. ”

“ The steam was slowly clearing when I staggered to my feet and ran toward him in the stifling haze. As I stooped a stoker ran past me. Without straightening up I grabbed him by the leg and threw him to the floor. They began to dash out as if to run were their only salvation, and I jumped to the foot of the steel steps leading up to the mid-gratings and struck like a madman to drive them back, the impact of my fists against terrified, grimy faces spatting loud and sharp above all the hiss and hell that had been stirred up by the waves outside. ”

“ I clutched it with my hand, and gasped. The stars above had sharpened to leering, penetrating lights of mockery. The very trees of the forest behind seemed leaning forward to jeer at my distress. Life itself was an illusion, bitter and cynical!
I turned and staggered away down the trail, and that I stepped repeatedly from it and into the chilling drifts now gave me no thought, for I was miserable, and hope and ambition seemed to have been killed in one swift, unmistakable discovery. Elizabeth Wilton would never be more to me than a friend, and the youth and brilliancy of Kentuck had won. ”

“ Captain Josh lunged to the port side, clung to the rail and stared outward, releasing his hold only to brush away the trickle of blood that again troublesomely obscured his vision. He could see nothing. He seized the nearest shrouds and dragged himself upward until he perched on the rail; where he stood swaying and peering; but even from that vantage of height he could discern nothing living—only the tearing uplift of the sea, the spume-thrown crests of waves, the murderous swing of the waters. No man could live in that for many minutes, be he sound and strong rather than broken and inert. ”

“ And while the well-borer sought the heart of the earth, the Recoverer of Springs sought the heart of Mirandy. They passed long moon-lighted evenings on a hammock constructed from two hair riatas crossed by barrel staves, her head gently pressed against his whiskers, while from across the waste there was wafted to them the solemn strains of “A Boy's Best Friend is his Mother,” feelingly rendered on the saloon-keeper's harmonica. Mirandy's coy ear would wink forward as she listened to her hero's tales of dungeons deep and clanking chains. ”

“ Our running feet beside or behind the sleds stirred our blood.
At the entrance to the defile, bordered by the white gates, I looked backward. There lay the village, the solemn, forest-clad hills behind, the white peaks dimly upreared against the stars of the morning sky and, last view of all, the somber shape of the Great House, with its windows alight with morning lamps, but obscured as if by parting tears.
A crowd of natives ran with us until the shaman ordered them back. The sleds streamed through the natural gateway and swerved in an abrupt turn. ”