The King's Talisman — page 143: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

134 THE KINGS TALISMAN. The old man alighted from his’ horse, and soon disap- peared through a narrow archway which led into the right of the temple, and while Noureddin still wondered at the event, the heavy brazen doors creaked upon their hinges, and in afew moments more the tramp of horses echoed ~ through the lofty arches of the place, which had been shut to the world for fifty long years. Upon its pedestal of porphyry still stood the gigantic golden bull, but upon his back was reared the cross! ‘‘Here we may rest in peace and safety, my daughter,” said Abdah Nazor, as Noureddin led Selina forward and ex- plained to her that the old man was his tutor and guide. ‘‘Ttis a strange place for our lodging, but it is secure.” Selina gazed about her, but the single taper which the dervise had lighted revealed nothing beyond them save the golden bull, which stood like a giant spirit of the race that had gone. Poor Miriam caught the beams that were re- flected from the gilded god, and the simple, benighted mind _ could see there adeity. Shedared not fall upon her knees, but clasping her hands, she uttered a silent prayer, and in her heart she felt happier. Her soul comprehended not the invisible—her mind could dictate no prayer to a power which was not made visible to the eye. Selina grasped her young preserver by the hand, and led him toward the pedestal of Taurus. He followed the direc- tion of her eyes, and they rested upon the cross. In a mo- ment he comprehended her meaning, and together they knelt at the shrine, and poured forth their young hearts’ thanksgiving and prayer to their God. That prayer, so simple, so heartfelt, offered up at the cross which Christianity had reared upon the heathen god, might have exorcised forever the last pagan memory that clung to the place. Gomicbooks (Ele)