The Argosy, August 1905 — page 115: what you’re looking at

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

tf ae : to look in on that Peninsular x ign, it was advisable to be about i Trenwyck could be brave enough in a pinch, but there was something so uncanny in the way a person slipped the _ Jeash, under the spell of those little - seeds, that the very thought of it gave him pause. As for Blinkers, he was in no wise perturbed by the bizarre workings of Tapscott’s prescription. Nothing in the nature of the unaccountable ever aroused his concern; only the humdrum and the ordinary could do that. He would as cheerfully have accom- panied 'Trenwyck to the Stone Age as to the Napoleonic era, despite his secret longings for the Nile and the times of Cleopatra. There was a mild excite- ment in being dogged by Zimmerman; whenever Zimmerman failed him, he fell back upon veiled hints cunningly caleulated to keep their main object fresh in Trenwyck’s mind. In the afternoon of the day of their arrival, at the Siete Suelos, therefore, Blinkers received with much delight Trenwyck’s announcement that the long-expected moment was at hand. With tingling nerves they set about their small preparations. A hamper, with materials for a hun- dred glasses of shandygaff, was not the least important part of Trenwyck’s per- sonal equipment; then there were a dozen note-books, a fountain pen and a quart bottle of ink; six 100-size boxes of Colorado Maduros, and a supply of matches, and a small bag of money in gold pieces of fifty pesetas. ‘These were all compactly packed for hand carriage. Upon ‘Yrenwyck’s person ‘were various articles, necessary and other- wise, including the major’s brace of six- shooters. Trenwyck did not inquire too search- ingly into the character of Blinkers’ odds and ends. He knew he had a brace of revolvers —42’s, like the --major’s—with cartridges to fit, ample materials for cigarettes, a rawhide riata—relie of his Texas days—a water flask with two collapsible cups, and other things. ed last moment Trenwyck * 4 oi o * - . ql ‘ a “= * * ‘ i aF P J 5 : . Ww — aed » : ae ol thought _ best to allow Blinkers con * _, : x 4 ey >.< * ae ’ # *, [a siderable latitude; then, if he landed at the beginning of the century unpro- vided for in any essential particular, he vale have no one but himself to blame OF th, A muleteer, an Asturian in a wonder- ful red panuela and answering to the name of Anselmo, was hired for what purported to be an ordinary ramble through the hills, and the paraphernalia was loaded upon the panniers of his patient beast. The hotel bill was not settled, the residue of luggage being left in lieu of the money. The muleteer desired to know their pleasure as to the course they should take. “Anywhere in the hills, Anselmo,” Trenwyck answered, and the little cara- van got under way. Slarting the beautiful gardens of the Generaliffe, they struck into a lonely mule path that wound upward through bleak hills along the bottom of a narrow barranco or ravine. It was a wild and rugged country, bare, desolate, and survestive of Dante’s Inferno. Anselmo, a picturesque object in his bright panwela, brigand-like cloak and laced alfargatas, was extremely lo- quacious. ~ ; He explained that they were on their way to the erest of the Mountain of the Sun, the highest elevation in the yicin- ity of Granada, and he was at great pains to point out the Chair of the Moor and other landmarks, and to give some account of the traditions connected with them. Blinkers chatted with the fellow in peon Castilian, but Trenwyck took no part in the conversation and listened only casually. Had the gay Anselmo been Mephistopheles leading them up the Brocken he could hardly haye been more heavily oppressed. They were passing from the nine- teenth century in a manner that -har- monized well with their extraordinary purpose. As they proceeded, ruins of ancient structures rose thickly about them. - Ahead and to the left Trenwyck took note of a stone tower in a tolerable state of preservation. His eyes were fixed on this tower when a clatter of hoofs from behind, and a startled ex- ; < j Vim et : ‘a “” ‘| ’ p a +y\- pee comicbooks.com