Argosy, Vol. 111, No. 1 — page 87: what you’re looking at

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

THROUGH RABAT’S EYES. “’ Morden!” ce Yes?” “ Are you still asleep?” “Ves.” ce Oh! ” : Seagrove inhaled fiercely, caught the eye over the blanket and grinned. Morden squirmed into a half-sitting posture. ‘“‘ Are you going to smoke?” “Yes, I think I will.” After fumbling beneath the robes Morden withdrew a case. Seagrove watched him light the cigarette. ‘“* Hog!’”” he commented. ‘Why? You have a cigar!” “ Yes, but—well, after being deprived of any civilized thing for so long — queer! When you can’t get something you want to corner the market more than ever!” ‘“‘'Yes.”’ Morden glanced very swiftly at the sleeping form on the other side of the ¥tent. ‘“ I—I’ve noticed that.” Seagrove saw the glance and smiled. They smoked in silence. ‘6 Perhaps I’ve—I’ve been rather hasty in —in judging you, Morden—I mean ’’—try- ing to squash an idea that he was about to go too far in sheer gratitude for two fifteen-, cent cigars—‘‘ I mean that if ’”—he nodded across the tent—‘“ and all that, perhaps I might have given you a chance to prove that you—you could make good if you really wanted to.” T§ I can.” Seagrove glanced at him anew, faintly surprised at a tone of decision with which he was unfamiliar in the previous knowl- edge of Morden in New York. ‘“H-m! Well, you haven’t yet. You merely made a mess of it. I mean more expensive than ever.” Again they smoked in silence. ‘‘ I don’t know about that, sir,” suddenly propounded Morden. “ I—I haven’t lots of money, but—well, it seems to me that what I’ve learned already since I—I’ve entered this extraordinary adventure—I mean that it’s worth much more than dollars.” “H-m! Romantic!” “Well, sir, isn’t this romance? Have you ever experienced such—such a new point of view, such new manners of living in your life?” TT “Yes,” snapped Seagrove. “In the movies!” ae ‘“‘Good Heavens!” exclaimed Morden, when a slight twitch of his robe startled him. ‘“'What’s the matter?” ‘““ Nothing!” asserted Morden, who had. seen a hand like a white mouse flit under the bundle which represented Eileen. ‘‘ I— J thought I heard something. Probably that guard man moving about. He jerked the cigarette through the tent door. ‘I think I'll go to sleep, sir. Good night!” “H-m! Good night.” Seagrove smoked on resentfully and be- gan to try to persuade himself to sign away the required money in the morning without further ado as the better way out of a fool adventure. Just as he pitched the cigar butt out of the tent and grunting disgusted- ly began to curl up in his communal portion of the mat, he heard the distant thrum of hoofs. He blew out the candle and grumbled the more at the adaptability of youth in adjusting itself to the circumstances. His eyes opened at the near-by yapping of dogs as irritatedly as if he were being disturbed by the removal of garbage cans in the morning. The thrum of hoofs was nearer. ‘What on earth ever possessed me to come to this fool country Heaven only’ knows!” he grumbled discontentedly. ‘“ If these confounded Europeans would only—”’ A pistol shot and the reverberating echo startled him. The three sat up abruptly. Followed a voliey of shots, violent yapping of dogs, and the thunder of galloping hoofs. The explosion of a rifle immediately behind the tent squeezed a scream from Eileen and an oath from her father. An unexpected silence save for the gallop of horses was shattered by a renewed outburst of yells and shots. Instinctively the three prisoners rose to their feet. ‘“* Morden!” whispered Eileen. ‘¢ Sh! dear!” He consoled her with his arm about her. “ It’s all right!” ‘“‘ All right be damned!” exclaimed Sea- grove. ‘“‘ What the—” Then above the shouts and noise rose a shout: ‘* Hello, ol’ chap!” comicloool. CO