Page:Old ninety-nine's cave.djvu/85

 charge was asleep; so drawing an easy-chair beside the bed he settled himself for a nap. One by one each familiar object in the room fades from sight and he is in a foreign-looking city of narrow streets, dimly lighted by the soft glow of Chinese lanterns. The streets are thronged with Celestials weaving back and forth. Even Reuben is fascinated by the substratum of actual sin around him. It is a panopticon of strange sights; little rooms in which are huddled together groups of odd-looking women making shoes; eye and ear doctors busily operating on meek-faced patrons; unknown fruits and vegetables, costly wares and curious trinkets; omnipresent female chattels and moral and physical lepers jostle one another. One peep into an inner chamber, and with the sickening fumes of opium in his nostrils Reuben seeks the outer air. But hark! in this fantastic jumble surely he hears familiar voices. Following the sound through a seemingly endless maze of dark alleys, he suddenly stops in a small room gaudy with Oriental hangings. Even in the