The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 143: what you’re looking at

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

THE THING THAT WAS CA‘SAR’S. He tapped the box that had accom- panied them in every misadventure since the day they left Manila. “Tt has not even been opened. Well — peace be to his ashes — Kow Lung paid for it. He must have gone through my- coat - pockets before we left the Futami Maru. I bear him no grudge. Let’s overhaul it and see if its con- tents are still all right.’ - Without waiting for his friend’s ac- quiescence, he drew his knife and cut the cord and emptied the contents upon the green felt table-cloth. The mass glittered gaily enough upon the somber cover, and the two men could not repress a sigh of delight as they realized what ease and luxury that lit- tle heap of precious stones meant for them. ‘“T move,” said Hemingway, “ that when we get to Hong-Kong we have the things appraised, and then we can divide equitably. What I wanted to ask you is this: Were you in earnest in offering to send me to Mexico for your firm to look after your oil. con- cession there? I tell you frankly it means a lot to me. Of course, I have made my pile now, as you Americans say ’’—he patted the pile of jewels— “but I simply cannot go home to England and settle down there. I would die. Die out of hand. I’ve got the habit. Don’t you remember? “For to admire and for to See, For to be’old this world so wide, It never done no good to me; But—I can’t drop it if I tried. “Tf I go home to London I can read the handwriting on the wall plain- ly. Il be a typical little Englander, spending my life between my lodgings and my clubs. I want to keep away from there till my mental muscles, so to speak, have adapted themselves to my changed fortunes. Do you take me?” ‘“T do. I do want you to go for us to Mexico. I feared I would have to go myself and—well, I’m not quite ready to go—yet. As I have told you, we The cord is still on the box. 613 have a very valuable oil concession near Tampico, and I rather fear that with affairs in their present chaotic condi- ation in Mexico, that if the new revo- lution that is headed by General Huerta is successful, the concession will be sold to the highest bidder. “If he succeeds he will need money, and he will not care how he gets it. He’ll grab everything that is held by Americans that he can. You see, we are not so quick at resenting injuries as England is. We need a man on the ground, and I shall be glad if we can count on having you go there for us.” “Tl go,” said Hemingway shortly. “You can count on me—absolutely.”’ He stretched out his hand across the table. “And now go on deck. I think some one wants you up there.” He grinned engagingly at Oakes as that gentleman found his way up the steps, but as soon as the door closed behind his friend he crossed his arms and sat with close-set lips and unsee- ing eyes, staring at the bulkhead be- fore him. There Wilson, the pay- master, found him when he came be- low, and the two took an observation— through the bottom of a tumbler. Later, as Oakes and Marjorie walked the deck, he told her of the recovery of the silver box. “T don’t like to avow a belief in such nonsense,” he said grimly; “ but I tell you right now that I will not feel really at ease until we get the thing in some other hands than ours. ‘It is merely coincidence, of course; but what that old Chinese priest told us on board of the Atlanta about it has certainly come true. It has brought nothing but ill-luck since the time we first saw it. I will feel safer when we land on the Hong-Kong Bund.” “T feel that you are right,” she said softly. “I wish we were in port now.” ' There were stilt other reasons why Oakes wished they were in port, and he urged them so successfully and so pointedly that when Marjorie was COMicdoo S CO@