Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 3 — page 89: what you’re looking at

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

CHINOOK WINDS. ‘Instead of which, you have found a new Eden?” quizzed Arthur. “No other Eve can compare with the American, so far as I have been able to dis- cover,” contributed Masters, unabashed. ‘Not even the French, or the Italian or the English?” laughed Winchester. Masters shook his head and smiled his wide, engaging, ingratiating smile. In that very moment of vigorous denial, he was caught in the romantic spell of the Far Kast. A pair of the most wonderful brown eyes that he had ever seen, with long, fring- ing eyelashes and arched brows, were gaz- ing into his over a yashmak from between the curtains of a sedan chair. Velvety soft, smudged in with purple shadows, they met his and clung, and Masters lived through an astonishing cycle of emotions, for he was sure he read appeal in their depths. He smiled. The eyes smiled back. He caught a vague outline of an oval face through the misty veil as the curtains of the sedan chair swung back into place and two coolies clothed in pure white started away at a dog-trot with the chair. Their droshky had been halted by traffic congestion. Droshkies, jinrikishas, motor- cars, sedan chairs, were all jumbled together here in the heart of Vladivostok, the East and the West come together. Masters felt a quickening of his pulses as the droshky rolled on. ‘There was some- thing about those eyes that disturbed him —it was the look of appeal which he had fancied he descried in their depths. was conscious Of an overmastering desire to see them again! Also of a surprisingly tender, -despairingly painful feeling that tugged sharply at his heart. What was the matter with him, he asked himself sharply? Was he idiot enough to fall in love with a little unknown shimmery- veiled oriental woman of some dark-skinned race, borne about the streets of Vladivostok in a sedan chair? He was sure only that she was not Chinese, for her eyes were brown and set straight. If he were falling in love, he told him- self, at least it was only with a chimera, a wraith of his own imaginings; as unattain- He 399 able as the stars or the misty substance of dreams—suggested to him by those beauti- ful eyes. It spoke pretty well for his imagination, he decided, when he could start a romance with only a pair of eyes as a foundation! The droshky paused in front of the Hotel Moscow, across from Government House, where they were to live while in Vladivo- stok. It was a surprisingly modern hotel —as indeed, was everything about Vladi- . vostok—electric lights, telephones, eleva- tors, and hell hops! During the ensuing days Alec and Arthur were busy to the point of distraction. Alec found an office next door to a Chinese re&- taurant, and possibly it was the sound of the weird Chinese music—the clashing of cym- bals, the beating of drums, the squeaking of wind instruments that kept a pair of brown eyes so persistently in his mind. Sleeping or waking, they haunted him. e Also during those days, while he was far- ing about the streets, he kept a sharp watch out for that particular sedan chair which had sheltered the owner of the eyes. But he did not see it again. The town was crowded—a standing population of a hun- dred and fifty thousand besides the floating visitors—the American soldiers stationed there—hundreds of refugees from various parts of southwestern Siberia. So it became a tantalizing quest! Per- haps she had returned to China, or wherever she belonged. Arthur invaded the room one night with an invitation. 3 “I’ve met those stunning girls that you thought were American, Alec. They are English, and their father is a wholesale grocer. We are asked out to their house— it’s in a charming suburb—lI’ve already been out there to luncheon. Let’s run out to-night. They said any evening.” Alec was climbing into his evening clothes. “Sorry, old top,’’ Masters replied. “ I’ve another engagement. Run along and culti- vate your English accent. I'll be glad to go another evening.” He did not explain that his only engage- ment for this particular evening, or for any other evening, was with a wraith, a dream CORMICLOOOKS (C@