Adventure Magazine Cover — page 38: what you’re looking at

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

32 not taught. I can ride through the air on cannon-balls, and whatever I wish for is mine the next minute. Look: I have one piastre. I wish for twenty. What do I do? I spin it in the air—catch it—d’you hear them? There you are—twenty! Count ’em ‘ if you like.” “A dervaish? A holy person? You? Where do you come from?”’ “TI was born in the belly of the South Wind,” answered Jeremy. “Where I come from, every shell-fish has a pearl in it and gold is so common that the cattle wear it in their teeth. I can talk three languages at once and swear in six, use sulfur for to- bacco, eat sardines without opening the can, and flavor my food for choice with gun- powder. : “T’ve been everywhere, seen everything, heard all the lies, and I found that big effendi in Jerusalem. I saw him first. He calls himself Ramsden, which is derived from the name of,a creature bearing wool, which in turn is a synonym for money. He’s on his way to supply Feisul with money, and I’m going to show him the streets of Damascus. Anything else you want to knowe” “Supply Feisul with money? That is in- teresting. American money perhaps? An American banker by any chance?” “Nothing to do with chance. He’s a father of certainties. Didn’t he give me that letter to keep, and didn’t I find a safe place for it between you and the cushion? Yes, I put it there. I’m an honest man, but I have my reasonable doubts about this other fellow. Ramsden effend: found him some- where, and engaged him as a servant with- out asking me. Perhaps he’s honest. Only Allah knows men’s hearts. But he hasn’t got an honest face like yours, and when pay- day comes I shall hide my money.” “So you know Damascus?” answered Yussuf Dakmar. “I hope you will come and see me in Damascus. I will you give my address. If Ramsden effendi has only en- gaged you temporarily, perhaps I can show you a way to make money with those ac- complishments of yours.” ‘“Make money?” answered Jeremy, prat- tling away like a madman. “I am weary of the stuff. I’m hunting the world over in search of a friend. Nobody loves me. I want to find some one who’ll believe the lies I tell him without expecting me to believe the truth he tries to foist on me. , 1 want to Adventure find a man as tricky with his brains as I am with my hands. He must be a politician and a spy, because I love excitement. That’s why I called you a spy.. If you were one, you might have admitted it, and then we could have been friends, like two yolks in one eggshell. But I see you’re only a shell without a yolk init. Who cleaned you?” “How long have you been in the service of Ramsden effendi?”? Yussuf Dakmar asked him. “Not long, and I am tired of it. He is strong, and his fist is heavy. When he gets drunk he is difficult to carry upstairs to bed, and if I am also drunk the feat is still more difficult. It is a mystery how such a man as he should be entrusted with a secret mission, for he drinks with any one. Aha! He scowls at me because I tell the truth about him, but if I had a bottle of whisky to offer him he would soon look pleasant _ again, and would give me a drink too, when he had swallowed all he could hold.” If he had really been my servant I would naturally have kicked him off the train for a fraction of such impudence. I didn’t exactly know what to do. There is a thoughtful motive behind every apparently random absurdity that Jeremy gets off, but I was uncomfortably conscious of the fact that my wits don’t work fast enough to fol- low such volatile maneuvers. Perhaps it’s the Scotian blood in me. I can follow a practical argument fast enough, when the axioms are all laid down and we’re agreed on the subject. However, Grim came to my rescue. He had his pencil out, and contrived to flick a piece of paper into my lap unseen by Yussuf Dakmar. “Jeremy’s cue is good,” the note ran. “Dismiss him for talking about you to a stranger. Trust him to do the rest.” So I acted the part of an habitually heavy drinker in a fit of sudden rage, and dis- missed Jeremy from my service on the spot. “Very well,” he answered blandly. ‘Allah makes all things easy. Let us hope that other fellow finds it easy to put you to bed tonight! Allah is likewise good, for I have my ticket to Damascus, and all I need to beg for is a bed and food at Haifa.” I muttered something in reply about his impudence, and the conversation ceased abruptly. But at the end of ten minutes or - so Yussuf Dakmar went out into the corri- dor, signaling to Jeremy to follow him. COmiclool C©@