Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 26, 2025
With one leap I was upon the floor; almost at the same second he landed beside me. Twice I struck savagely at some obstructing figure, and in five strides was at the side of Eloise. One shrill cry of warning from the lips of Naladi echoed through the chamber, and was answered by the yell of the warriors. I was already clasping Eloise against my breast, and speeding toward the opening.
I trust not to have seen the last of so fair a vision as this Queen Naladi." He was twirling his moustache, such a look of complacency upon his features I could only stare at him in bewildered surprise. "You appear reconciled to our situation with marvellous good grace," I managed to say at last, in a tone which made no attempt to conceal my disgust at his coxcombry.
"She would do honor to a more pretentious court with her wit as well as beauty. What did you call the title she bore?" "'Daughter of the Sun' was the name given in the altar-house yonder; later she made use of the word Naladi." "Ay! that was it. 'T is a name fitting her well to my taste, and I boast of some experience with the sex. Sacre!
Yet even as he poised for the leap downward the woman's scarlet arms struck, and he went over like a stone, crashing into a huddled heap on the rock floor. Naladi laughed, leaning far out to look down, like a gloating devil. "Fight, you poor fool!" she exclaimed in French. "Sacre! who struck hardest?"
I exclaimed in new interest. "Have you been with your wife?" He stroked his moustache, gazing at me in apparent surprise. "Nay, friend Benteen; you must be the very soul of innocence to make such hasty guess. I rested beneath the same roof with her, so I was informed, yet she who spake thus regarding the plight of the Puritan chanced to be the fair Queen, Naladi." "Naladi?
"I felt called upon to aid her in escaping from your grip." "Ah, indeed? Would you kindly, señor, tell me how you proposed performing such a miracle? It remains in my memory some such effort at release has been made before," her eyes hardening like diamonds. "Down yonder stands a blackened post which tells how Naladi deals with those daring to mock her will."
Yet I am somewhat weary from the night, and, if you have talked enough, will seek rest to dream of Naladi, trusting she may send for me ere long. Did you note the beauty of her eyes?" "I marked their cruelty." "Le Diable! I ever admired spirit in a woman; 'tis the greater pleasure to watch them take on softer light. In such orbs love shines the clearer, once awakened."
Yet, as I ventured to look again, they were there before me in the flesh Naladi all in red, a wondrous figure amid that spectral glow, tall, straight, with proud, imperious face, crowned by the brilliant hair, radiant and sparkling in the flame.
I could now look above, perceiving nothing except the black shadow of the house. If Eloise was within, and if this door led to her prison, it was scarcely possible that it was unguarded. Naladi had special reasons for looking carefully after the safe keeping of this captive, and was not likely to forget.
"Does she bide with you?" "If I so will it, yes; if not, no. Who are you, hunter, to dare question Naladi after she bids you cease?" she exclaimed, her cheeks crimsoning. "Now go; go ere I am tempted to show you I possess power to enforce my will. Another word, and you will long regret it." She was a tigress now, her eyes burning into mine with the fierceness of a wild animal scenting blood.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking