Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 42: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER VII “Carry on, boys!” “83, WE, who had gone forth that night but a party of three, returned a twenty- man platoon, dumping our prisoner at the jailen route. They lugged him like a corpse with heels trailing, and he hardly recovered -. consciousness before being locked up, which __was a good thing for him as well as us, for _ he began acting like a caged wild animal at once, yelling as he wrenched at the cell bars, setting both feet against them, crack- ing huge shoulder-muscles in the effort to » break loose. There was almost a mutiny when Grim insisted on six of Ali Baba’s gang offering themselves at once to Dr. Cameron for a body-guard. “Ask him to come soon, and you hold. that Egyptian while he attends to him.” “But Jimgrim, why? Surely such a man is better dead! And he is cunning. Later, when the rage has left him he will make plans and talk to the other prisoners through the bars.” Grim laughed. “And give away the secret of the fire-gift, eh? Tell ’em you _ haven’t it any longer? Too bad!” eS bars, thus!” “One might go in there and kill him, as if it were by accident,” suggested Mahommed ben Hamza genially—he who had done the damage in the first. place. “Or I could strike him through the “You for the gallows if you dare!’ Grim answered. “There’s a row of old cells below-ground. Some of you men go down -_ and clean out one of them thoroughly. I'll have him put down there after the doctor’s - through with him; then, if all’s well and you all play the game straight, he shall be taken to Jerusalem.”’ All except six of them and Ali Baba trooped down-stairs with the easy familiari- ty of old frequenters of the place. They knew where the brooms and buckets were -—whom to ask for soap—where to draw water; the whole routine of that establish- ment was at their finger’s ends. But Ali Baba and the six who went to _ offer their strong service to the doctor had to cool] their heels. He was at the Govern- ~ orate to breakfast, and had brought the nurse with him—a big, raw-boned Scots virgin from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer _ Hebrides, where they call fish “fush” and “7 = Ps a : »” = —— . Fs 0 oe - ne _ » _ NS hg en ee ee Ie, ese a ee Adventure 3 the girl who can not. do the work of two southron men is not thought much of. I think she could have licked that Egyptian single-handed. She and Cohen were al- ready in an argument about religion, and just as we came in she was telling him he would better mend his doctrine while there was time. “For hell’s an awful place!’ ““Maybe you know?” he suggested. ‘Tell me some more, miss.” She talked to him about fire and brim- stone all through breakfast without any kind of malice but a perfectly sincere desire to scare him into Christianity. “Ain’t you afraid you'll get killed before night?” he asked, trying at last to turn the subject. - But she was not afraid of anything except bad doctrine, and only of that in case it should get by her unrebuked. As Cameron had said the day before, she was a good lass; she would stand. “Tell me about heaven,” sighed Cohen. “T’m tired of hearin’ about hell.” : “Man, man! You may be in hell before bedtime!” she answered and Grim laughed aloud. “She’s quite right, Aaron. Initiation takes place directly after breakfast. Third degree follows, and hell tonight!”’- ‘ All through breakfast there were inter- ruptions. De Crespigny had to keep leaving the table to interview local notables, who called to complain that the city was grow- ing more turbulent every hour and they could not fairly be held responsible. Jones swallowed a few mouthfuls and started off alone to look alert and confident in the swarming suk, since to appear the reverse of afraid was about the only avail- able resource, though that seemed limitless. And just as breakfast finished there came once more the splutter and bark of a motor- cycle down-street. “Can you beat that?” asked de Cres- pigny, coming in and handing the dispatch to Grim. They let me look at it; in fact, it was passed around the table afterward, although the envelope was stamped SE- CRET as usual in enormous letters: } Your message of yesterday received. Troops here are busy. Governors of outlying places are expected to carry on accordingly. A demonstration will be made by airplane fromsLudd this morning; the pilot will be expected to report whether all is quiet or otherwise. in the event of his reporting all comicbook . - °,7 - Pe ws “< ‘ Se le a we . . ‘- ; = — ov", * + ~~ a ~ ag - a ~ ~~ a # aad om © ~ _ i a oy PN eee = > o>