turning towards Liola, he tenderly placed upon her head the historic mark
of royalty, saying in his own tongue:

"Now that the days of our sorrow have passed like the shadow of a cloud
upon a sunlit sea, we will be wed as soon as it is meet for us so to do,
and upon thy brow thus shalt rest the diadem of the first Naya, the
upright queen to whom Mo oweth her magnificence, her power, and her
present prosperity. Thou shalt sit beside me upon the Emerald Throne;
thou shalt be known as the Naya Liola."

Again he embraced her with ineffable tenderness, and with her handsome
head pillowed heavily upon his shoulder her breast heaved, and from her
deep blue fathomless eyes there fell tears of joy.

At last, having received the warmest thanks from my old companion through
many misfortunes and from the woman he loved, I turned and sought the
sage Goliba, to whom I told the good news of his daughter's safety and
betrothal to Omar.

Three days later the marriage took place amid the most gorgeous pomp and
the wildest popular rejoicings, the strange ceremony being performed by
the high-priest of the Temple of Zomara beneath the golden figure of the
Crocodile-god that hung suspended above the Emerald Throne. Feasts and
merry-making continued throughout a whole moon, and the mystic city,
decorated with flags and flowers, was agog by day and brilliantly
illuminated by night. Never in the long history of the ancient kingdom
had such costly banquets been served; never had the royal entertainments
been on such lavish scale; never had the sounds of revelry contained such
a true genuine ring, for never before had the people been so happy and
content. Though on the day of the marriage Liola was solemnly crowned
with the wonderful Rock Diadem of Mo, I, as keeper of the royal treasure,
allowed no word to go forth regarding the theft and recovery of the Sanom
jewels, which had already been deposited in their original hiding-place
beneath the lake. Samory's treasure was, however, given to Liola by Omar,
and she ordered half of it to be distributed to the poor, an act of
generosity that won for her intense popularity.

Her action was, she told me in confidence, a thank-offering to Zomara for
her timely rescue from a terrible fate.

CONCLUSION.

SAMORY, the truculent old Arab, escaped. By some means he eluded us in
the dark intricacies of that subterranean way, and groping along in a
similar manner to ourselves, he evidently fled t