The Dorado spent a portion of each day in this work-shop, and while employed at his labors of love, he either hummed or whistled the plaintive melody Kerœcia had sung for him.
The gold plates which Yermah had so dexterously contrived were put together on the principle of a screen, in four sections, containing three stones each, set solid. The first strip was of purple enamel, the second gold, the third blue, the fourth red. At the four cardinal points were squares of gold, with stone intaglios.
When folded, the east and west formed a clasp, which had a spring concealed on the reverse side.
As soon as Kerœcia received the tablet of stones, she dispatched Ben Hu Barabe and Alcyesta to Tlamco with a pair of golden eagles for Yermah. These birds were carefully trained in falconry, and were highly prized because of their sagacity, courage and skill. She also sent him the filmy muslin square with its broken and tangled threads, just as he had left it. With it went a diamond ring set with brilliants all the way around. She obeyed the request accompanying the tablet, and did not open it until the three days specified had elapsed, being careful, also, to observe the exact time named.
It was Yermah’s first attempt at telepathy; but as Kerœcia turned the key in the elaborately carved ivory box, she felt his thought distinctly. She spoke and acted as if he were actually present.
A delicate odor of jasmine filled the room, and Kerœcia was so eager and nervous that she fumbled clumsily with the neatly rolled maguey fiber, thin and soft as a spider’s web, on which the accompanying message was written.
“The book has two parts,” said Suravia, when Kerœcia uncovered a thick gold wheel having depressed spokes and a hub which acted as an upright standard. The representation was perfect, and on what corresponded to the felloes were the blossom and leaf of the siempra viva in an elaborately chased design.
“How thoughtful and delicate!” exclaimed Kerœcia, as she recognized the flower, and recalled the occasion of its choice.
“Press the spring in the clasp, and then my life is before thee as an open book,” she read, looking at the three uppermost stones in the closed tablet.
“This is the language of the genii!” she cried, “and has a pearl, an amethyst, and a garnet.”