Adventure, February 1917 — page 82: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

n* 80 was in Ben Slade’s clear-cut opinion accountable for half the troubles in this rather troublesome world, Campbell, at Murua’s hint, pulled him- self together and stepped out into the mingled twilight and firelight of the glade. The moon, a. bright half-circle, was just showing above the jagged rim of the forest. Moon, dying day, and flame, made strange lights in the strange place. It seemed as if they were all moving in a dream. Old wanderers of Papua, do you re- member the dream of the bush, and how it followed you, day after day, till you scarce knew if your feet still rested on the soil of the spinning planet called Earth or had strayed through the door of some un- thought-of fourth dimension into a world that was, and was not, yours? Edith rose to her feet, the instinct of the London hostess coming uppermost under odd conditions, and came forward to meet the stranger. She wondered, as did Slade, whom ~-Murua had brought with her, but was not much surprised or concerned. She had half expected that somebody would come to look for them. “My dear Murua!” she said, kissing the young girl. “How good of you to come! But you see Mr. Slade and I have got down all right, though he hurt his foot and has to go on crutches or be carried. Won’t you introduce your friend to me?” “T’ll introduce myself, Mrs. Slade,” said Campbell, stepping forward. “I’m Cap- tain Campbell, your late husband’s cousin.” cat about Ben Slade; not assuredly in character, but in a certain light- ning rapidity of action and of stroke, Mentally he leaped on the enemy now with no more pause than a tiger-cat would make before springing at the claw that menaced its sleek, gold-eyed mate of the forests. “YT don’t know that I’m late,” he ob- served, taking the cigaret out of his mouth and holding it in one lean brown hand while he spoke. He put it back, and looked at Campbell. “Somebody seems to have been a little premature. And I don’t seem to recollect you as a cousin of mine, either. My fault no doubt. One may have mis- cellaneous-cousins one hasn’t met. Won’t you come along and have kai-kai? The boys have just made the tea, and we’ve a leg of wild pork; it’s quite good.” THERE was something of the wild- Adventure Campbell eyed him. Was this the “‘man at the ends of the earth?”’ And had he been concerned in the matter? By the quickness of his guard, it was clear that he knew some- thing about it. “Thanks,” he said, accepting the situation for the present. “I may be wrong, of course, but I did think I had the pleasure of meeting the lady who was married to Godfrey Campbell, and who some people supposed——’”’ He paused for Slade to fill the blank. But Slade looked at him with innocent curiosity. Edith, standing where the shadows of the flames fell dark on her face, said nothing. She looked a little bored; but then Edith, like most women who have been much in society, had rather a habit of looking bored. Campbell’s sentence hung broken on the air. Nobody spoke for a moment, and then Edith, moving with perfect dignity in her scant attire, seeming almost indeed to wear an invisible bodice and train, walked across the glade and signed to one of the deaf and dumb boys to serve tea. She brought it to Murua herself. Campbell, of course, sprang to his feet to take the tin cup from her hand and to forestall her by fetching his own. She did not speak. She had not spoken since Campbell fired his shot. That might, of course, be mere coincidence, but. Little Murua, watching them all with her serious gray eyes, drank her tea and said nothing. She understood that something was amiss and her innate good breeding prompted her to avoid all notice of the trouble. The boys spread the camp table, made anew every night from twigs set level across a frame on four uprights. They placed a length of trade calico on it—Edith would not eat her meals without at least the appearance of a cloth, though Slade was willing enough, in the bush, to do without even the table. Logs up-ended were placed for seats, and the odd meal began. Some malign spell seemed to have de- scended on the party. Campbell was staring boldly and unashamed at his two hosts and saying as little as he could. Edith made insipid remarks about the mountain tracks and the flowers in the bush, with a heart pounding so hard and fast that she,dared scarcely lift her tin cup in. her hand lest it should shake. Murua watched them all, and wondered. MICE OOOL<S 2 CORN (©)