Argosy All-Story Weekly, August 9, 1924 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

POOR LITTLE PIGEON. cago before we received any direct evi- dence of the working out of his plans. Then a telegram was handed to him aboard the Burlington-Denver train. He read it and handed it to me. I scanned its lines. Advise stopping at the Moctezuma while you and your party are in Nogales. Happon. Bryce read it over my shoulder and grinned. ‘“ Wired him for information by way of announcing your arrival, did you?” he inquired. Dual retrieved the message and placed it in his pocket. ‘“‘ As a matter of fact, we know very little of his plans at present. But if Semi-Dual wires him for hotel ac- commodations for himself and party, why should it greatly excite comment?” he re- turned. ‘““ Why, indeed?” Bryce said, and winked. And that night, as he and I sat on the ob- servation platform, with his inevitable cigar a red point in the flickering shadows, he referred to the subject again. ‘ Semi- Dual and party. We're a high-toned bunch of tourists —that’s what we are, m’son. After we get down there it wouldn’t sur- prise me to see him stick on a turban’ an’ start Dan runnin’ around after him with a prayer rug over his shoulder. Not so bad, no; not so bad. Who’d ever think of a bloomin’ oriental campin’ on the trail of a bunch of hop peddlers nowadays?” “Well, he could do that and not be out, of character, as it happens,” I replied. Be cause Dual was actually a blend of the Orient and the Occident in himself—son of a Persian noble and a minor Russian prin- cess—a, fact which I sometimes thought ex- plained his absolute insight into human na- ture, wherever he found it, even as I knew it accounted for the peculiar silken quality of his well-trimmed beard. Jim chuckled softly. ‘ That’s just the point,” he agreed. ‘‘A Persian prince droppin’ off to see the country, stoppin’ at the best hotel. Talk about a chance for a look around. Say—TI don’t know a thing about social conditions down there, but if there’s any life of that sort, it’s a safe bet that inside of a week they'll be invitin’ 171 him to a flock of receptions. Semi-Dual and party. That’s some wheeze.” But whatever Dual’s intentions actually were, he gave no intimation to Bryce or myself as our journey lengthened, and the higher Rockies gave place to the increas- ingly arid region of southwestern Arizona, with lower hills of a lava formation, a Sparser vegetation of cacti, mimosa and sage. In the end we reached Nogales in the swale between its flanking sandy ridges and the Hotel Moctezuma. There Dual regis- tered “ Semi-Dual and party ” at its desk, and demanded a suite. He bestowed largess on the boy who conducted us to it, and, when we were alone, said: ‘“‘ And so, my friends, we are arrived.” “ And havin’ arrived, what next?” Bryce questioned. “Wait,” said Semi-Dual. ‘“ Mr. Had- don has waited. And it is in my mind that he has also watched. Let us, therefore, remove some of the signs of travel against his appearance, which will doubtless not occur before a seemly interval has elapsed.” As a matter of fact, it was something Over an hour before Haddon rapped on the door which Danny opened, and came in as completely self-poised, as calmly collected, as cool in appearance in his suit of khaki- colored whipcord, his soft collar and shirt, as on the day I first met him in New York. “Ripping,” he said, shaking hands while his dark eyes lighted. “ Perfectly ripping to see you all again like this. I got your wire, Mr. Dual, and I saw at once that you understood. So I suggested the Mocte- zuma—I’m stopping here myself. Unlike Cesar, I came out here, saw what there was to see, or what I was meant to see, per- haps, and then, as a golfer might put it, I rather topped my drive. As to that, my hand was forced in a measure, however, and I wrote Glace as the best way of pro- viding myself with an out. venience I shall be glad to give you the details I omitted from my letter.” “My convenience is yours, Mr. Had- don,” Dual replied. ‘Now, if you like, after we have first checked two or three details which my study of the data you sent me has convinced me are in a measure At your con- ° GoMmiilGebaoo (©