Argosy, Vol. 112, No. 2 — page 95: what you’re looking at

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

, oe 2.5 -? ee, ee EL ee = 3 ae THE VELLOW EMERALD. room. They could hear him, scuffing over the bare floor, pawing about the papers, muttering in perplexity under his breath. _, ‘“ Nervous, isn’t he?” said Smith. ‘‘ What do you suppose is on his mings He’s got his gold thing back again.” Before Tarton could answer the girl had _ reappeared, crossing their field of vision ~ with a loaded tray. She cleared a space on the desk and set it down. A chair scraped as the big man seated himself. ‘“ Ah!” he exclaimed. ‘“ How fine! Every- thing I like! You are a good girl, Zaida, after all. It is a pity that you know so much. I have been thinking. To-night I visit that inquisitive young upstart and square accounts. I get him out of the way. To-morrow I go back—back, back to the land I love, where the very air and the stones and the sand and sun belong to the souls of the departed that hover close above. I shall go to Karnak. Perhaps there I shall, after all, discover this answer which has balked us. If not I will stay there till I die. But, as I said, you have known all. It would be impossible to leave you here. I have been wondering what I could do. There is not much time, you see. I—” With a roar of fury he broke off. As Smith and Tarton in their rush, turned the corner into the hall, they heard him plunge to his feet. The girl, with a single scream, had rushed for the door at his first move. Two of his strides overtook her. His arm shot out and jerked her back. The door, swung furiously, slammed shut and locked under their chins. Unable to check their rush, they thudded against it, and as they stopped, mvoluntar- ily, paused to listen to what he was crying - out on the other side. - now, he later. “‘ So that explains the beautiful luncheon! Poison—in the coffee! Strychin is bitter, girl. Didn’t you know that? So you were going to save yourself, ah, while I—” “Tt wasn’t for myself,” she cried. “It was for him—he had done nothing to harm you. It was for that, too, that I brought the emerald back. I—” “Huh!” he snarled. “A love affair. Well, we will see. You shall both go. You It is a pity to have spoiled that supper. Let me see—”’ Smith thudded on the panels and looked at Tarton. ‘It’s solid,’ he snapped. smash it?” ‘The minute he hears us,” groaned the other, “‘ he’ll—that hellish hand of his—you - know I told you how he does it. Takes about ten seconds—” Inside Heldstrém was talking again. ‘“‘T shall not be cruel,” he purred. - You remember the story of that prince of India who burned sweet incense before his enemies till they became insane with its mystic fra-' grance? I have something here—a chemical, I got it years ago, in Persia, from a Malay upstart of a king. I shall place you in a chair, tie you so that you will be obliged to keep still, close the windows tightly, place a pinch of it = this plate, light it, and withdraw, “Tt will not kill you, Zaida, There is where I shall be more kind to you than you to me. But it will paint dreams for you, fill your mind with visions; it will show you, as realities, things your fancy never pictured. And at the end when it has burned out, you—you shall see—” Tarton’s face was horrified as he turned to Smith. “God!” he murmured. ‘“ What will we do? If we try to get in he’ll do the other—” Smith was smiling. ‘Don’t forget what he said—he’ll come out—in a hurry. When he does—” Tarton nodded. For five minutes there was cia quiet in the room. The little struggle that marked the capture and tying of the girl they did not hear through the thick wood, A tiny shriek or two, a grunt, was all. got a shang Smith, sniffing at the keyhole, odor. ‘In a minute now,” he breathed, and stood to one side. Suddenly the lock clicked; a vertical wedge of light appeared and broadened. The huge figure of the Norwegian bulked on the threshold. Pausing, he half turned and glanced back with an ironical word of farewell. | Tarton, from the left, stepped forward. His clubbed pistol rose and fell—once, thud- dingly, sufficiently, The great figure way- comic 200 261 “ Can wa. It is equally powerful, Tarton was at the other. ' " : a : a ks. ~ < Ue yy rs Y { > ‘4 { Dis ‘4 “te - ~ Bou in a "