The Enchanted Stone
By Lewis Hind
His 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 a
hurried
By Lewis Hind
His 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 a
hurried