Adventure Magazine Cover — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

IO which differs quite a bit from that spoken around Jerusalem. ‘‘Who are these?” asked the man in bed, speaking hoarsely as he stared first at Jeremy and then at me. “‘Jmil Ras, a friend of mine,”’ swered. “‘And that one?” He didn’t like the look of me at all. West- ern clothes and a shaven face spell nothing reassuring to the Arab when in trouble; he has been “‘helped”’ by the foreigner a time or ~ Also Grim an- - two too often. “An American named Ramsden. a friend of mine.”’ “Oh! An Amirikani? <A hakim?” * “No. Not aman to fear. He is a friend of Feisul.” “On whose word?” “Mine,” Grim answered. Sidi bin Tagim nodded. He seemed will- ing to take Grim’s word for anything. “Why did you say a Jew stabbed you?” Grim asked suddenly. ‘So that they might hang a Jew or two. Wallah! Are the Jews not at the bottom of all trouble? If a'Greek should kill a Maltese it would be a Jew who planned it! May the curse of Allah change their faces and the fire of Eblis consume them!” “Did you see the man who stabbed your” Ves,”? | ‘“‘And was he a Jew?” , “Jimgrim, you know better than to ask that! A Jew always hires another to do the killing. He who struck me was a hireling, who shall die by my hand, as Allah is my witness. But may Allah do more to me and bring me down into the dust unburied unless I make ten Jews pay for this!’’ “Any one Jew in particularé” Grim asked, and the man in bed closed yi like a clam” that has been touched. He was a strange-looking fellow—rather like one of those lean Spaniards whom Goya used to paint, with a scant beard turning _ gray and hollow cheeks. He had thrown oft the gray army blanket because fever burned him, and his lean, hard muscles stood out as if cast in bronze. “But for the Jews, Feisul would be King of all this land this minute!” he said sud- denly, and closed up tight again. Grim smiled. He nearly always does smile when apparently at a loose end. At moments when most cross-examiners Would * Doctore Adventure p.4 browbeat he grows sympathetic—humors his man, and by following whatever detour offers, gets back on the trail again. ‘How about the French?” he asked. ““May Allah smite them! They are all in the pay of Jews!” “Can you prove it?” “Wallah! That I can!” Grim looked incredulous. Those baffling eyes of his twinkled with quiet amusement, and the man in bed resented it. “You laugh, Jimgrim, but if you would listen I might tell you something.” But Grim only smug more broadly than ever. “Sidi bin Tagim, you’re one of those fa- natics who think the world is all leagued against you. Why should the Jews think you sufficiently important to be murdered?”’ “‘Wallah! There are few who hold the reins of happenings as I do!” “Tf they’d killed you they’d have stopped. the clock, eh?” “That is as Allah may determine. I am not dead.”’ “Have you friends in Jerusalem? “Surely.” “Strange that they haven’t been to see you.” “Wallah! Not strange at all!” “TI see. They regard you as a man with- out authority, who might make trouble and leave other men to face it, eh?”’ “Who says I have no authority?” “Well, if you could prove you have——”’ “‘What then?” the man in bed demanded, trying to sit up. “Feisul, for instance, is a friend of mine, and these men with me are his friends too. You have no letter, of course, for that would be dangerous——” ‘‘Jimgrim, in the name of the Most High, I swear I had a letter! He who stabbed me took it. I——” “Was the letter from Feisul?”’ ““Malaish.* It was sealed, and bore a number for the signature. If you can get that letter for me, Jimgrim—but ‘what is the use! You are a servant of the _ British.” ‘“‘Tell me who stabbed you and [ll get you the letter.” ‘“‘No, for you are clever. You would learn too much. Better tell the doctor of this place to hurry up and heal me; then I will attend to my own affairs.” *No matter. CoOnmmiclbool C@