Analy High School - Azalea Yearbook (Sebastopol, CA)

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“You shall never see inside its cover; sieze him!” I quickly fled to the great open door of the palace, through which I could see the blue waters of a lake smiling in the sun¬ shine. “If you hut touch me,” 1 said, “I shall hurl it into the lake and you shall never see it again.” His old face grew suddenly very tired, and he said in a weary voice, “I am an old man; give me my treasure and go away.” My heart smote me, but I s,aid finally, “Tell me how I may open it.” He dropped his head on his wrinkled hands and said in a low voice, “Press the left eye of the little dragon.” Now I would know. Now my eye could feast upon the wonderful treasure. My han ds trembled in their eagerness as I touched the gleaming ruby. The lid slowly raised- “If you want yer supper you’d better hurry, it’s a-coldin fast.” The h,arsh voice rang in my ears and before my eyes the emperor and all his court grew very dim. Through the wide dorway I caught one last glimpse of white cherry blos¬ soms, and blue water. The sweet scent of the blooming trees faint and far away. Across the lonely sight spread the dingy walls of my room, shutting out that fair land and closing in the disagreeable odor of frying food. There in my hand lay the little box with the red-eyed dragon on its fast closed lid, glaring up at me in malicious triumph. The sulky voice of my landlady had broken the delicate thread of thought which bad held me in another fairer land, where spring laughed and sang and where a tired old man mourned for his treasure. Now I would never know what mystery the box held nor how it came from the l,and of cherry blossoms and springtime to a wet, muddy New York street.

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Then she told me. There was ,a little ebony box given to an emperor ages ago by a Japanese god. It was the greatest treasure of the royal family and each succeeding emperor jealously guarded it. He alone knew what it contained, but there were many surmises as to its secret. Some people said that there were precious jewels and gold in it, and others told tales of a little ivory god with flashing blue jewels for eyes and tiny feet of gold, who sat cross-legged on the velvet lining of the box. One very old wise man said it held the secret of eter¬ nal youth, ,and a very old lady said the secret of a child’s laughter was hidden in it. Many believed that there was noth¬ ing in the box at all and said the tales of jewels and treasure were just foolish rumors, but the emperor alone knew and smiled wisely to himself. She had been entrusted with the care of the box by the emperor’s daughter. It had only been for a short time, and in that time she had lost it and the emperor was very angry. If it was not found in one hour he would cut off her head. She had hunted everywhere for the box and no where was it to be found. She did not know where she had lost it; only that she had had it and then it was gone. As she told her story an overwhelming desire swept over me to know what w,as in the mysterious box. My hand sought my pocket and I never knowing how it got there! We went to the emperor’s palace. He was a little old wizened brown man with sharp eyes that continually shifted from place to place, watching every movement made. I fell to my knees before him and made respectful obei¬ sance. Rising I s,aid, “0, Emperor, if I could return the gift of the gods to you, what would you give me?” His skinny hands clutched at his embroidered robe, but he said scornfully, “Who is this mad creature who talks of my treasure?” “Look, 0 Emperor!” and I drew forth the little box. He reached forward his hands and cried, “It is mine, give it to me.” I drew back. “Not until I am rewarded for finding it.” “What do you ask for a reward?” Tell me the secret of the box and show me the hidden spring that I may open it and see the treasure with my own eyes. ’ ’ 18

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The Death Wind, Hell Delane By DON WALKER (Fourth Award) ( T A FONTAINE — ain’t that a bird of a name, DoctorT” asked Hell Delane, pointing with his great calloused hand down the long white slope to where several small ramshackle buildings were standing. “It’s French, you know. It means the fountain. No,” he continued, observing his companion’s surprise, “It’s merely a hell hole I’ve found¬ ed, reared and named — no, not after her.” He said the last quite sadly, and for ,a time following the two men stood in sil¬ ence and the dog teams licked the snow and rested on their haunches, waiting. The man Delane, who had spoken so, was a wonderful — ay, a beautiful, if such he might be termed — specimen of the human male, — physically beautiful and perfect. He was tall and, corresponding with his heiglitli, were his massive shoul¬ ders and frame — lean and straight with great sinewy muscles which moved beneath his furskin clothing like so many cords of straining inner-life. Bnt his companion did not harmonize. He was smaller, we,aker and physically inferior. “So there, Helbert,” began the little man suddenly, “lies the La Fontaine, eh, where I am to find a certain queer philo¬ sophy? May I - ” “You’re new to this land and its ways, Doctor,” inter¬ rupted the other. “You have told me many times that you hold that the mind is supreme when it comes to ergative and gov¬ erning abilities and that a man must first he a good animal, at least so in his intellect and his behavior, before he can justly be regarded as a m,an. I am just fool enough to disbelieve it. I claim that a man first must be a wild, vicious and freedom- loving animal, like the great white wolf, and that the survivor of this northern life must have strength and endurance and savageness, and thought afterwards. Hobart,” he continued, “we of the nortldand live through our actions; muscle, nerve ana fearlessness are the main ingredients of our compound known as life. And life to us — or at le.ast to me — seems cheap and at times almost worthless. I live and I love to live. And of death? Well, — death is one thing that cannot be avoided; we are born to die. Then why fear it ? For if we lived for ever 20