The Gilded Man: A Romance of the AndesSmyth, Clifford
Science
The Gilded Man: A Romance of the Andes
Smyth, Clifford
Andes Region -- Fiction; El Dorado -- Fiction; Science fiction
"You do not know," said Una eagerly. "A strange thing happened before.
It may be--how can I explain? It all sounds so improbable!--it may be he
is not himself."
Sajipona laughed ironically.
"Strange indeed! And it will be hard for you to explain. How can he be
not himself?"
"If he has forgotten--if he has lost his memory--"
"His memory? What riddles you talk! How does one lose one's memory? And
if he has lost his memory, can you bring it back to him then?" asked
Sajipona impatiently.
"I think he would remember me," said Una simply.
Sajipona's face showed her skepticism. "We shall see," she said.
"Then you know where he is? He is here?" cried Una.
But her question brought no direct response. Instead, Sajipona turned
to the old Indian who, during this brief colloquy, had shown signs of
uneasiness. She now placed her fingers to her lips and pointed with her
other hand to the apartment in the palace whence Sajipona had just made
her appearance.
"Yes," repeated the queen, "we shall see."
The three women turned to the open lattice window at the other end of
the portico. Objects in the room beyond were at first indistinct, but
as the eye became accustomed to the darkness the whole interior took on
more definite outlines. Una could see that the apartment was furnished
in barbaric luxury. Golden shields gleamed on the walls; hangings, rich
in color and material, were draped from the ceiling; massive cabinets,
ornately carved and encrusted with gold, stood in distant alcoves of the
room. But all these curious evidences of a bygone art were barely noted,
the attention being drawn to the one living occupant within. Lying on
a sort of divan, at some distance from the window, was the figure,
apparently, of a man. He was moving restlessly, as if awaking from
sleep. While Una looked, he rose and stood irresolutely in the center
of the room, one arm flung across his face to shield his eyes from the
light. Then, slowly walking to the window, as if looking for some one,
his arm dropped to his side and, leaning across the lattice, he called:
"Sajipona!"
It was David.
XVIII
SUBTERRANEAN PHOTOGRAPHY
At first he did not see Una. His glance wandered dreamily off in the
distance and then, recalled, as if by the sudden disappearance of some
idle fancy, fixed itself upon Sajipona. A smile of satisfaction passed
over his features as he came out to meet her.
"Why did you stop singing?" he asked, in a voice that was almost
inaudible. "I missed you."
"Some one is here to see you," she said, ignoring the question.
David turned to Una. One would have said that he had not seen her
before, although in her presence he betrayed a strange sort of
agitation. Their eyes met. He took the hand she eagerly stretched out to
him, then slowly relinquished it, perplexed, vaguely conscious of the
other's emotion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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