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Grant's usually keen eyes were wandering somewhat abstractedly over the agitated and rustling field of ribbons, flowers and feathers before him, past the blazonry of banner on the walls, and through the open windows to the long sunlit levels beyond, when he noticed a stir upon the raised dais or platform at the end of the room, where the notables of Tasajara were formally assembled.
He was very thoughtful. Leaning on the balustrade, he looked out across the sunlit valley, turning his boldly chiselled profile to his companion. At last he spoke slowly, reflectively: "But if this were really so a mere blunder I see no sufficient grounds to threaten him with capital punishment.
He flung his arms about me, with a look of the South in his eyes, full of happy dancing lights, and the barren scene was like Italy made real for one instant of golden time. But if we had wandered momentarily, as if out of some quiet sunlit gallery of Monte Beni, I soon found it was into the frontier of our western border.
We look out over the flat, extended woody plain, to the sunlit church-tower of Maristad, which shines like a white sail on the dark green sea: we look out over the Venern Lake, but cannot see its further shore.
He looked at the earring in his hand, then, with a convulsive sweep of his arm, he tossed it out into the middle of the square. "There! Seven ounces of gold! Which of you wants it?" Some of the men eyed the circle of metal that gleamed brightly on the sunlit ground, but none of them made any motion to pick it up. "So." The commander's voice was almost gentle.
A huge canvas at the back represented a sunlit Indian landscape, and in the enormous space between the lowered curtain and the scenery, some black spots seemed as if dancing, strange silhouettes of the visitors in their dress clothes, standing out clearly against the yellow background like the shadows of Chinese figures. "It is very amusing; but let us see the greenroom," said the minister.
It is better to lie in the dark tomb and not to see the sunlit world than to be a poor man and be compelled to beg for money. I came home, where my family was waiting patiently for my return with bread. I said: 'Good Yomtov, weeping, for they looked scarcely alive, having been without a morsel of food that day. So we tried to sleep, but hunger would not permit it, but demanded his due.
I have also seen them, I might add in parenthesis, rising in sluggish columns of black smoke against the sky, hundreds of them, while those who had lived in them for years stood huddled together at a distance, watching the flames run over the dry rafters of their homes, roaring and crackling with delight, like something human or inhuman, and marring the beautiful sunlit landscape with great blotches of red flames.
Instantly his memory flew back to that day to the hushed little room over the sunlit gardens to the beautiful, gentle, sensitive girl who seemed to have so strange an interest in the Highlands to the wonderful thrill that went through him when she began to sing with an exquisite pathos, "A wee bird cam' to our ha' door," and to the prouder enthusiasm that stirred him when she sang, "I'll to Lochiel, and Appin, and kneel to them!"
Suddenly, the distant boom of artillery broke from the citadel and rolled along the sunlit valley and crystal river. A universal wail burst from the exiles! it smote it overpowered the heart of the ill-starred king, in vain seeking to wrap himself in Eastern pride or stoical philosophy. The tears gushed from his eyes, and he covered his face with his hands.
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