Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 3 — page 92: what you’re looking at

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

402 now that the girl had danced. Calling the Chinaman who had waited upon him by the simple expedient of clapping his hands, he paid his check and wandered out into the brilliantly lighted street. He stood irresolutely before the restau- rant, extracted a cigarette from his case and lighted it. Never had adventure so called to him, never had his pulses leaped in this maddening fashion in response to the lure. eAs he returned the cigarette-case to his pocket, his fingers came in contact with the soft bit of linen and lace that the girl had dropped. The perfume that still clung to his fingers made his senses reel with the acuteness of his longing to hold that per- fectly rounded figure in his arms, to pene- trate back of the veil that concealed her face. His blood was molten lava that coursed hotly. As he turned slowly away and walked toward his hotel a feeling of reckless dis- satisfaction surged over him. This sort of love-making had its distinct drawbacks, he confessed, as he shook the ash from his ciga- rette and apologized to a woman whom he had nearly run over. Masters tramped along blindly, his feet racing now, in response to the urge of his tumultuous impulses. He was quite mad, he told himself grimly, and he had no re- mote desire to become sane. He felt quite unable to cope with a situation that held him in its octopus grip. All the clean, fine American fiber of him shrank from becoming entangled in any way with the girl and at the same time all the hot young adventurous spirit of him was for carrying on the affair—because it distinctly was an affair, even though the two had never spoken a word to each other. Somehow he reached his room in the Hotel Moscow, and out of the vortex of his whirling emotions there had been cast up one resolve—to see the thing through! He took the little handkerchief from his pocket and spread it out upon his knee. “Suddenly he bent closely over the thing. There was printing upon it, done in queer, crabbed, little hieroglyphics. But they were English letters and they spelled this mes- sage: “cc Help.” THE ARGOSY. Just one little word, but that word raised in his mind the most horrible conjectures. Was the girl held in duress by that fat, oily, old Chinaman? Was he really her father? If so, why did she wish help? What danger threatened her? Or was it simply a desire to escape from an irksome parental bondage? Whatever the reason, it was a call to which he must respond, if he were to obey the law of his nature. It occurred to him, as he slipped a gun into his pocket, that there might be some danger in pitting himself against the in- triguing East. He smiled, however, as he glanced again at the bit of linen and lace, and the scent of it rose like sweet incense to his nostrils. He might be a fool, but he meant to go back to the restaurant and investigate. It was against reason, against his better judg- ment, against all the brood of cautionary whispers, but he meant to do it. Suddenly, as he looked at the handker- chief, he was struck with the peculiar rusty brown color of the printing: It was *in English; for the moment he had forgotten that fact. This proved that the girl knew at least a bit of his own language. This was not surprising, as the young Russian had explained that her mother was white. But the rusty brown color worried him. Going to his dresser he made ready to try a little experiment. He secured a scarf-pin with a very sharp point. This he sterilized with the flame of a burning match, then plunged it into one of his fingers. Into the blood that he squeezed out he dipped another match, and made some marks upon the linen. With something akin to horror Alec saw what the girl’s expe- dient had been! She had written her appeal in her own blood. Evidently she was deprived of writing material. The Chinese woman usually has no use for these; she neither reads nor writes; her toilet and her babies are her only recreations. Ill. As Alec reentered the restaurant he saw that the place was practically deserted save CORMICLOO© S ~_ (Cc (C@)