THE SOUL WITHIN THE STONE 313 



while the men tore the bone buttons from the pants 

 and fitted them into their ears as they strutted foppishly. 



The dead eyes stared defiantly up into the sky, the face 

 whitened, and the stains of blood seemed to settle on it. 



A harsh sound came as an electric shock, and I heard 

 as from afar off Piln-goi shout : 



"You bin sleep long time, boss I Big low water. 

 We fella look out pearl-shell !" 



The scene had resumed everyday aspects. The sun 

 concentrated its rays on my head through a rift in the 

 jungle, and the stone, stained dull red, lay in its cell, 

 while rootlets fringed with tawny slime wavered over it. 



Had soul communed with soul on that illusive border- 

 land we range in dreams, the emblem of a deed of blood 

 eloquent to reveal its secret ? And now that the tale 

 is told, will it cease from bewildering the simple old men 

 of the soil who with one hand grapple the magical past 

 and with the other the realities of the present ? 



Piln-goi 's impatience drew me from the spot and out 

 on to the reef laid bare by the ebb. The beguiling pearl 

 still eludes him, but memory holds a rarer treasure than 

 all the fecund sea contains. 



BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND 



