{"product_id":"2940013707610","title":"The Red Road to Shamballah","description":"The American part of him was telling him that the flame was natural--\u003cbr\u003eit was magnetic, electrical, or just some new form of luminous gas.\u003cbr\u003eBut almost equally strong was his Oriental feeling that this was\u003cbr\u003eghostly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe little war-horse he rode was taking that blue light for no\u003cbr\u003eordinary fact at any rate. The animal had reared back on its haunches.\u003cbr\u003eShattuck could feel it tremble between his knees.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt first, there had been just that blue flame. It flickered in mid-air\u003cbr\u003eperhaps twenty paces in advance. Its evolution was swift. It became a\u003cbr\u003epillar of blue light resting on the earth. This expanded. And now, in\u003cbr\u003ethe center of the blue radiance, Shattuck saw the figure of a man.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShattuck stared.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the time of that childhood of his, passed at treaty ports up and\u003cbr\u003edown the Chinese coast, generally in the company of Chinese servants,\u003cbr\u003ehe had been in contact with various sorts of magic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat was this then--a ro-long?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMany were the tales he'd heard of ro-longs---those unfortunate dead\u003cbr\u003ebrought back to life--boys, girls, men and women--to serve the unholy\u003cbr\u003ewill of some vicious master.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWere such things possible? Sure they were possible!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut, even while this speculation, with a crowd of others, was racing\u003cbr\u003ethrough his mind, his eyes were telling him that this apparition,\u003cbr\u003ewhatever it was, would be unable to hurt him if he only kept his\u003cbr\u003enerve.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe quieted his horse. He took a mental survey of his surroundings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was in the midst of the Kara Kugen--the Black Hills of the Gobi. It\u003cbr\u003ewas a region with such an evil reputation for ghostly dangers that\u003cbr\u003eeven the wildest of the fighting nomads gave it a wide berth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBACK of him was Kara Koto, that \"Black City\" he had come to find.\u003cbr\u003eAhead of him there had been a battle in progress between rival\u003cbr\u003efactions of this lost city of the desert.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere was nothing to do but--face it out!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe could see now that the apparition before him--luminous, ghostly\u003cbr\u003estill--was that of a high--class lama. The head was shaven. The\u003cbr\u003eexpression of the face was pensive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE nobility of this head and face gave Shattuck his first inkling as\u003cbr\u003eto the identity of this ghostly visitant. It was a surmise almost\u003cbr\u003einstantly strengthened when he saw the stranger's robe emerge from the\u003cbr\u003eblue light-haze that enveloped it and become what looked like a tissue\u003cbr\u003eof woven gold.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The Living Buddha!\" Shattuck cried, with reverential awe, and he\u003cbr\u003eswung down from the pony's back.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068914122992,"sku":"2940013707610","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013707610_p0.jpg?v=1763584650","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013707610","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}