The King's Talisman — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

THE KING'S TALISMAN. 15 the sides of the mountain; and even to those who knew the way the inducement must be very strong ere they would venture upon the perilous ascent. But to this very exercise did the youth owe much of his strength and elasticity of limb, and the labor had become almost a pastime. Ihe sun had already dipped upon the desert-bound hori- zon when Noureddin reached the foot of the mountain, and for some twenty rods his path lay through a narrow defile, the sides of which were festooned by the oleander and tam- arisk which grew out from the crevices in the granite walls. The high rocks cast a deep shadow over the ravine, and as the youth entered it, the extremity almost seemed lost in gloom. His mind was busy with a thousand thoughts and emotions, and he hardly realized that he had entered the Eblian pass till he came near losing his footing in the dusky gloom. ‘The past ten years were laid open -like a scroll to his mind, and with a sort of inward satisfaction he dwelt upon the scenes therein contained; but through the whole he eould see no event that was fraught with bitter recollec- tion. Once more he drew upon the kindness of his father, and once again he digested the lessons of his aged tutor. There was a feeling of melancholy gradually creeping over his soul,-as he thought that he should no more be the.com- panion of Abdah Nazor; but then the assurance that he should yet receive occasional lessons somewhat lightened the burden of his mind, and again the image of the kind old dervise brought naught but pleasing recollections to his mind. | | - Noureddin had advanced two-thirds of the way through the pass, when he thought he heard a rustling among the shrubbery to his right, and partly from curiosity, and partly from the novelty of the circumstance, he stopped to ascer- tain its cause. ‘The place where the youth had stopped was more than three feet wide, save one small cove which made into the rock, and which was flanked by a few Eomichbooks €O