Produced by Suzanne Lybarger and the booksmiths at http://www.eBookForge.net [Illustration: "Hurled headlong into the flaming mouth."--_Page 179._] THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN A TALE OF . . TREASURE AND TREASON . . . BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX AUTHOR OF "ZORAIDA" "THE GREAT WAR IN ENGLAND IN 1897" "A SECRET SERVICE" ETC. . . John F. Shaw & Co., Ltd., _Publishers_, 3, Pilgrim Street, London, E.C. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I.--A ROMANCE 1 II.--OMAR'S SLAVE 8 III.--OUTWARD BOUND 18 IV.--A STRANGE PROMISE 25 V.--THE GIANT'S FINGER 31 VI.--THE ROYAL JUJUS 37 VII.--SAMORY'S STRONGHOLD 45 VIII.--THE SECRET OF THE QUEEN 52 IX.--CONDEMNED TO THE TORTURE 59 X.--ZOMARA 65 XI.--THE HUMAN SACRIFICE 72 XII.--IN THE SACRED GROVE 81 XIII.--THE WAY OF THE THOUSAND STEPS 88 XIV.--FOES 96 XV.--A NATURAL GRAVE 102 XVI.--WORDS OF FIRE 111 XVII.--A SALUTE OF BULLETS 122 XVIII.--THE MYSTERIOUS REALM 131 XIX.--THE CITY IN THE CLOUDS 138 XX.--THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN 143 XXI.--A FIGURE IN THE SHADOW 154 XXII.--TO THE UNKNOWN 162 XXIII.--UNDER THE VAMPIRE'S WING 169 XXIV.--THE FLAMING MOUTH 180 XXV.--LIOLA 191 XXVI.--THE FIRST BLOW 201 XXVII.--BY THE NAYA'S ORDERS 208 XXVIII.--THE FIGHT FOR THE EMERALD THRONE 218 XXIX.--A MYSTERY 229 XXX.--TREASURE AND TREASON 242 XXXI.--A SPY'S STARTLING STORY 255 XXXII.--WAR 264 XXXIII.--THE HAREM SLAVE 271 XXXIV.--LIOLA'S DISCOVERY 287 XXXV.--INTO THE MIST 303 CONCLUSION 308 THE GREAT WHITE QUEEN. CHAPTER I. A ROMANCE! IT is a curious story, full of exciting adventures, extraordinary discoveries, and mysteries amazing. Strange, too, that I, Richard Scarsmere, who, when at school hated geography as bitterly as I did algebraic problems, should even now, while just out of my teens, be thus enabled to write down this record of a perilous journey through a land known only by name to geographers, a vast region wherein no stranger had ever before set foot.