Adventure Magazine Cover — page 101: what you’re looking at

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100 anyhow as if some other unexpected danger might come upon her. At the doorway into the next room they paused, silent in a long, tense embrace. Then, ‘‘Oh, I do, do, do love you!” she said in a low, broken voice; and there were tears running down her cheeks. ' They went on into the next room, but did not close the door behind them. Quietly they went on toward the maids’ room. When it seemed reasonably safe I slipped from behind the curtain, made one swoop toward the dead man’s pocket and caught up the letter I had seen and heard him speak of, and softly passed out of the door into the hallway and down the stairs to the second floor from where I took the precau- tion of dropping off a fire escape. CHAPTER V A ee next day Lord Bob tried to avoid me by staying in bed until I should have gone out. But I showed no indication of going out at all. When I had come in the night, or morn- ing, before, Jackman, with a prominent lump on his forehead, sat dozing in a chair with a burned-out cigar between his fingers and a magazine half-slipped from his knees. He had not heard me come in. I am not naturally a noisy person, and with a little attention to the matter can be rather quiet. I did not know how he felt toward me for the bump, or what explana- tion Lord Bob had given, and saw no reason for waking him up to inquire. I went to my room and locked the door. Then I examined the envelop I had taken from Cantello’s pocket. It was a large, stout envelop with a heavy wax seal on the flap, and very little in it. With care I pried off the seal without breaking it except slightly around the edges. There was no address on the envelop, no mark to indicate for whom it was intended. I opened the envelop—tore it open, for since there was no handwriting to duplicate and only a seal to restore, I saw no reason to waste time in being careful with the flap when I could buy a similar envelop at any stationery-store. So I tore it open and read a message that I did not understand. It was a short message, and addressed to no person. The black, large, cabalistically engraved “H”’ at the top of the white, ex- pensive paper—wholly unlike the Manila Adventure envelop—gave the only indication of the writer. None other was needed. I have mislaid, lost, I suppose, the copy I made of it; and though I remember very well what it said the exact phrasing would have ~ been worth repeating. It was at once formal and confidential, very cautiously worded; that is, diplomatic. Perhaps Hur- gronje had, in spite of the seal, mistrusted Cantello. It set forth to Sin Chang that though he, Hurgronje, was aware that the Red Moon was among the most valuable of the world’s stones, though generally regarded as myth- ical; yet the | price défmanded by Sin Chang, and agreed upon, was surely in excess of the ruby’s value; a fact that he mentioned again only to remind Sin Chang that immediately after its payment there was the other and more important matter to be arranged be- tween them. Naturally I wondered what under the sun Hurgronje could offer that would be in ex- cess of the value of a ruby so distinguished as to be called a “red moon.’ That he would gladly give up his soul for it was be- lievable; but that his soul was worth any- thing to Sin Chang was questionable. “The other and more important matter” —and I doubted if Hurgronje did consider it the more important—treferred, I supposed, to opium, Sin Chang was said to control almost the entire opium importation into America; and he had—so underworld gossip, seldom so in- accurate as upperworld gossip, said—an in- calculable bank-account. I could not begin to imagine just then what Hurgronje could offer. It seemed to be part of his delight, anyway, to pay with fraud for all that he bought. But here was evidence of a defi- nite, specific bargain; to be followed by an- other and “more important” bargain, or agreement, or arrangement of some sort. My thoughts were then scattered for a time that night by the arrival of Lord Bob. I snapped out the light ‘and listened. Jack- man had evidently awakened, perhaps re- lighted his cigar and been waiting. I heard him, in reply to a rather excited inquiry, say that I had not come in; but I heard nothing more, for the two men went to Lord Bob’s room. The next morning Lord Bob was reluc- tant about showing up. He perhaps was reading the papersin bed. Ireadthemina chair almost squarely in front of his door. I Eomichbooks.co