274 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



of the air was perfect a combination little short of 

 divine. 



I rose and began to slowly perambulate the courtyard. 

 It was very still, and the servants' quarters seemed to be 

 unusually quiet. I could see the flickering glow of their 

 cooking fires beyond dark piles of arched domes. As I 

 passed, sauntering onwards, something shone white on the 

 moonlit paving-stones near the entrance to my quarters. 

 I halted. It was my rupee, lying exactly where I had 

 tossed it in front of my unbidden visitor that evening ; 

 and behind it, dimly outlined in the dark of the archway, 

 reposed the grotesque shape of the old chest. 



My temporary irritability had passed away, and hour 

 and surroundings alike were productive of the mood con- 

 templative. As I stood and gazed down at the shining 

 coin it seemed to assume fantastic shapes, to expand and 

 swell, until I was looking into a firelit hall. Once more 

 I heard the Atlantic's distant roar, and the soughing of 

 the firs ; again I saw the antlered walls of Alt-na-skiach 

 and the great skin of the Manjr6d man-eater, and gazed 

 on the keen and animated face of my dear old friend as 

 he leant forward in his chair, anxiously awaiting my 

 acceptance of his strange trust. Scenes long forgotten 

 took shape in the infinite picture galleries of the mind, 

 materialised, faded. Then they all vanished once more. 



But before me lay the moonlight, the coin, and the 

 chest. These remained. 



How long I stood there I do not know. Strange fancies 

 passed in succession through my mind ; phantasmagoria 

 into which the crouching figure of that wrinkled crone 

 would force a way. Suddenly I raised my head with a 

 start. It was late. I turned back thoughtfully through 

 the moonlit courtyard, and sought the cool sheets of my 

 bed ; lay there gazing up into the starry tropic sky. After 

 a while the cigar dropped from my relaxing fingers, and 

 J turned on my side. Thus came sleep. 



