Himera

“ At Himera in Sicily occurs in the fifth century for the spiritus asper, and is followed by the HH form, which in the West is employed down to about 400 B.C. On the early coins of Poseidonia (Paestum) the form of Σ is found (550–480 B.C.) , being also characteristic of Corinthian vases of the sixth century ”

“ An elderly woman—no doubt his mother—had opened an upper window in the small two-storeyed building; and she was haranguing and scolding him with an unheard-of volubility. What it was all about, neither Käthchen nor Mary had the least idea, for the old woman was rating him in Gaelic; but John, seeing the young ladies approach, grew more and more roseate and embarrassed. Of course he pretended not to hear. He gazed out towards Heimra Island. Then with his stick he prodded at the mass of seaweed by the roadside that was waiting there to be carted away. ”

“ A fearful big place, Castle Heimra—if you had seen the dingeons, and the towers, and the windows, and everything——"
"Oh, bigger than Ardvreck?" Mary said, with fallen face. And instantly John perceived that he had erred.
"Aw, no, mem," said he quickly. "Mebbe it was bigger nor Ardvreck at one time—that is a long time ago, before anyone about here can remember; but Castle Heimra?—aw, no!—a smahl place, a smahl place, indeed! There was nothing but the road out to it, when the loch was not too high flooded; and then the archway, and the dingeon, and the tower. ”

“ Hiram stood, his arms hanging at his side, his lower jaw drooping, his eye shuttling from face to face evasively.
“Kind o’ makes you drop your tail, Hime—that, eh?” jeered Amazeen from his place in the crowd.
As Hiram still drooped there, Uncle Buck ran his cane into the fallen hat, lifted it with a deft toss, ran his elbow around its nap, and set it on Hiram’s head, standing on tip-toe to do it.
The man never moved or blinked.
“There’s your plug hat, Hime,” he said. “It fell off, and pride goeth before a fall.” ”

“ Nay more: might not her motives be misconstrued? What would the third person, the interpreter, think of these shamefaced inquiries? That the mistress of Lochgarra House was moved by an angry jealousy of that poor wandering waif? That Mary Stanley and Anna Chlannach were in the position of rivals? Her cheeks burned. Not in that way could she find the means of hurling back Purdie's monstrous accusation.
The white daylight broadened over land and sea; and away out yonder was Heimra Island, shining all the fairer because of the black and slow-moving wall of cloud along the western horizon. ”

“ At the sound of the lifted latch and of Hiram's entrance he turned his head, and when Hiram saw his face he stood suddenly still as though turned to stone. The face, marvelously altered and changed as it was, was the face of his stepbrother, Levi West. He was not dead; he had come home again. For a time not a sound broke the dead, unbroken silence excepting the crackling of the blaze in the fireplace and the sharp ticking of the tall clock in the corner. ”

“ Far, far out he swam on the new wings he had built for himself—and for Naia. Naia? He smiled. In Himyra she was perhaps flying by day even as he was flying now—flying as he had taught her to fly in body and soul; teaching others to fly for the strength of her nation, as he was flying for her nation and his, to make it strong and secure. For a moment the thought gripped him, and he flew on in a sort of waking dream, until the flare of a hundred leaping fires directly beneath him brought him back to the matter in hand. ”

“ You’re Cap’n Klebe Willard, ain’t you?” inquired Hiram, affably. And a wordless shout answering him, he said:
“Yes, I know you and I know the mark, because I put it there myself for good reasons.” He looked around at the little group of spectators with an air of secure triumph.
“And you threw my poor old father over his own fence, you coward, when I wasn’t there to defend him. Now, Hime Look, you’ve got to meet a man and not a boy.” ”

“ Castle Heimra!—aw, it's a smahl place was Castle Heimra."
"And do you suppose it could be built up again?" she asked—but rather to see how far his complaisance would carry him.
"Quite easy!" said John, without a moment's hesitation.
"Why, how do you know?" she demanded. "Are you a builder?"
"The stons are there," John pointed out. "And if they were pulled down, it is easy to put them back. What has been done once can be done twice."
"Ah, but it would not be Castle Heimra," Mary said to herself, rather sadly, as she went on her solitary way. ”

“ Closing his eyes and fixing his mind on the red-walled city of Aphur, he brought all his will to bear upon his one desire, and projected his astral entity to Himyra in a flash.
It lay beneath him as he had seen it the first day he came to Palos, a far-flung circuit of walls—the farther lost in a heat haze until it appeared no more than a ruddy shadow through a shimmering veil—spread out on either side of the river Na, inside its banks of cut stone, its quays, whereon at night the fire-urns flared red at the foot of the terraces and shone redly on the yellow waves. ”

“ It's a terrible rough place the west side of Heimra," said Gilleasbuig Mor. "And where the big white stone is, it is fearful high."
"Mamie," said Käthchen, turning to her friend, "wouldn't it be better for you to send Archie out with some young lad who is used to the coast, and they could put the flowers on the grave for you?"
"I wish to place them there with my own hand," said Mary, simply. "But you needn't come, Käthchen." ”

“ He hit Hiram so hard over the head with the piece of dragon that he knocked a hole in the papier-mâché, and, just as Hiram freed himself of the encumbrance, and straightened up to get his bearings and swoop down on his assailant, an egg smashed in his face and effectually blinded him. ”

“ A bountiful harvest has been gathered in. With a charming chorus and dance the reapers celebrate their first harvest festival.
Hiram's power has grown immensely; he has fostered the people's superstitious dread by forbidding them to approach the temple of Moloch at night, as death would be the inevitable fate of any mortal, wo should dare to be present at Hiram's nightly converse with the god. ”

“ And then they turned to seek the island of Heimra—out there on the mystic and sombre plain—under that far-trembling and shining canopy.
"Well," said Käthchen, with some vehemence of indignation (for her Highland blood had mounted to her head) "I know this, Mary: scapegrace or no scapegrace, if I were the young fellow living out there, I know what I should do—I would kill that factor! Isn't it perfectly clear it was he who goaded your uncle into pulling down the old castle and draining the loch?" ”

“ The contents were a mass of flowers, all of them white; and Mary herself saw them taken out and carefully placed in water—for the pale wax-like buds of the tuberoses were hardly yet opened. Then she went to Kate Glendinning.
"Käthchen," she said, rather diffidently, "don't you think it is rather a sad thing, the lonely grave out there?"
"Do you mean at Heimra, Mamie?"
"Yes. It seems so hard that no one has ever a chance of showing sympathy—either with the dead or living. I have sent for some flowers; do you think we could go out and place them on the grave—without being seen?" ”

“ Once they were settled in the sleeping-car, Hiram began to feel better, though it might be noticed that he eyed every person who came aboard as though he more than half suspected the revengeful Marsters, baffled in securing the wonderful invention for his firm, might assume some marvelous disguise in order to be near the traveling genius, so as to rob him on the road. ”

“ Hiram undertook to supply materials for the work. Solomon had written to him that he should command “that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants; and I will give thee hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt say: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Zidonians.” Hiram was delighted to carry out the wishes of his royal friend with regard to the cedar and cypress woods.
Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph. ”

“ All kinds of small things are constantly happening that seem to offer confirmation——"
"I will bet you twenty pounds to five shillings," said the young man hotly, "that if we go out to Heimra to-morrow, and stay to luncheon, we shall find sea-trout on the table. There may be no fishing on the island—that is quite possible; but I tell you there will be sea-trout in Ross's house. I dare you all to put it to the proof. It is a fair offer. We can run out in the steam-launch if the sea is as calm as it is now—Mamie, you can come too, and Miss Glendinning ”

“ Hiram obeyed, and brought out the poor little landscapes, sticking them one after another on the easel in the light. There were the Thousand Island sketches, and the New York lakes, and the White Mountains, and a few pine-clad glens and dingles among the Tyrolese uplands and the lower Engadine. The stranger surveyed them all attentively through his double eyeglass with a stony critical stare, but still said absolutely nothing. Hiram stood by in breathless expectation. Perhaps the landscapes might fare better at this mysterious person's unsparing hands than the figure pieces. ”

“ And here were the two ladies from Lochgarra House, hastening along to be in time: why should they not also join in the general excitement? But just as they arrived at the pier Mary Stanley suddenly stopped short: the very first person she had caught sight of—among that straggling assemblage—was the young laird of Heimra Island.
"Mary, you are not afraid of him!" said Käthchen. ”

“ And away went Alan, with a will, eager to earn the sixpence that he foresaw awaiting his return, while the young laird of Heimra, having nothing else to do until Big Archie should put in an appearance, seated himself on the gunwale of the dinghy, with his eyes turned towards the sea. Not once had he glanced in the direction of Lochgarra House. ”

“ Ross bringing his friends with him." And therewith she went away; and presently they heard her sharply calling on the lad Calum, who had come up from the slip, and was hanging about, to be in readiness if he were wanted.
And now as the proud young host led forth his fair guests on an exploration of these winding shores, and tumbled crags, and steep precipices, this island of Heimra looked infinitely more cheerful than it had done on Mary's previous visit, in the bleak April weather. There was an abundance of rich colour everywhere. ”

“ She’s ready for fun, soon as she knows it is fun,” said Hiram, “I can see that.”
“Well,” said Arctura, briskly, “I’ll say one thing for her, she don’t tell how hard she’s been worked, or say anything but what’s pleasant about the Manser Farm folks. She seems fond of ’em all, and yet I kind of think she holds back something, for once in a while she’ll start to tell one thing or another, and then stop and bite her lip.”
“I know one thing, sure,” said Hiram, firmly, as his sister stepped out of the barn, “that little thing’s no hypocrite, nor no cheat, or my name’s something beside Green! ”

“ Let it here be noted that Hiram stands first on the list of heroes who have waged war against the servants of God with the honorable weapons of clubs, tar and feathers, and you may well suppose that characters thus depraved were not very willing to embrace the truth—yet there are some precious souls in Hiram who have and will own the Savior before men. ”

“ Hiram, the Universal Agent, might be translated Vita the power eternally building and unfolding the bodies of man. The use and abuse of energy is the keynote to the Masonic legend; in fact, it is the key to all things in Nature. Hiram, as the triple energy, one in source but three in aspec t, can almost be called ether, that unknown hypothetical element which carries the impulses of the gods through the macrocosmic nervous system of the Infinite; for like Hermes, or Mercury, who was the messenger of the gods, ether carries impulses upon its wings. ”

“ Wherefore I desire thee to send some of thy subjects with mine to Mount Lebanon, to cut down timber; for the Sidonians are more skillful than our people in cutting of wood. As for wages to the hewers of wood, I will pay whatsoever thou shalt determine.”
When Hiram had read this epistle he was pleased with it, and wrote back this answer:56—
HIRAM TO KING SOLOMON.
“It is fit to bless God that he hath committed thy father’s government to thee, who art a wise man and endowed with all virtues. ”

“ When they got there, Hiram, now quite at home, pointed out even more accurately than ever the exact homes of each individual mink and ermine. So the men worked away eagerly at their task till the evening began to come over. Then Hiram, all aglow with excitement and wholly oblivious of all earthly considerations, became suddenly aware of a gaunt figure moving about among the dusky brushwood and making in the direction of his friends the trappers. 'Hello,' he cried to his new acquaintances in a frightened tone, 'you'd best cut it. Thar's the deacon.'
The Canadian laughed a short little laugh. ”

“ Hiram’s eyes flashed.
“Lord,” replied he, “I will tell thee everything, but I abjure thee by thy crown, by the shade of thy father, not to discover the secret to any one. This is the greatest secret of the Chaldean and Egyptian priests, and even of Phœnicia. On it depends the future of the world.”
“Well, well, Hiram,” answered the pharaoh with a smile.
“To thee, O pharaoh,” continued the Phœnician, “the gods have given wisdom, nobility, and energy, therefore, thou art on our side. ”