Page:The Yellow Book - 08.djvu/135

The Enchanted Stone

This is a true account of the Enchanted Stone, and of the strange circumstances by which it came into my possession.

The paper had been running eighteen months, when one November morning, among the manuscripts that arrived by the early post, I found one, written in a queer, square handwriting, and redolent of a pungent Eastern perfume. It was unsigned, but at the foot of the last page stood a symbol of irregular outline, about the size of a two-shilling piece. The surface was wrinkled, like the face of an old woman by Rembrandt, and also bore three dark markings, in appearance somewhat akin to sun-spots, seen through a powerful telescope. This disc was pierced by an arrow an inch long, scrawled over by some mystic letters. The manuscript, which was written in flowery language, began with these words—"Om!! Salutation to the Revered and Sublime White Queen, whose arms encircle the globe," and ended with this cryptic peroration—"I am not inconsiderate, like the grass-eating animals. I will repay. The earth and the mountains may be overthrown, but I, O Queen, will not rest till I regain the Enchanted Stone."

The body of the manuscript contained, so far as I gathered in ahurried