SIROCCO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13497, 25 May 1907, Page 3 (Supplement)

SIROCCO.

(PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.}

BY KENNETH BROWN.

tALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

'COPYRIGHT.]

CHAPTER Xlll.—(Continued.)

From the crest of a small rise the Med!-1 terranean, sparkling with hope, shone before! his eyes. He clapped his heels to his horse i nd galloped recklessly down the other side. Up the next incline he tore, hating to lose t-ue sight of the water even for a minute, and at the lop he saw a town of considerable size in the distance, his road leading to it. This'was hardly what he desired, out a by-road branched off, some distance farther along, and led to an inlet of the sea, bordered by scattered fisher' men's huts. This road lie took. There would; be less danger of meeting any members of the Sultan's Guard in this ham let; and a fisherman's boat was just whai he wished to secure.

As ho neared the shore he saw two barelegged Siroccuns pushing a boat- into the water. He shouted to them, and urged his horse into the water. Luckily the animal did not baulk at it, but splashed alongside the boat, on which the fishermen were prertarins to raise the sail. - Throwing the stirrups from his feet Duncan scrambled into the boat before the Siroccans had made up - their minds just how to receive his advances.

"Take mo to,a steamer," Duncan said, and laid a gold piece on the seat by the nearest fisherman. . .

He saw. the Siroccana' eyes glitter ant their glances meet, and feared that ho hac made a mistake- in showing them so mud money. r These mere the descendants oi pirates, and keen knives were in their belts He pressed his arm against 1 the pistol undei his coat to make sure it was in place. > The boat sailed right out into the Medi terranean, and to both passenger and fisher men the meeting seemed 'fortunate; ; For more than an hour they sailed, the: American in the bow of the boat looking out for a . steamer to : take him off, and fighting against the sleepiness that was nearly overcoming him. ; The two Siroecans . talked 'together ;in low: tones in the stem.. *■. tA When the effort to keep his lids open was almost more than he could keep ? up, Duncan perceived a small steamer coming towards him, the welcome flag of England showing in the breeze. He said nothing to the; Siroccans till jhe . noticed that gradually they had' changed their course »6 as to avoid a near approach to the ; steamer. Then he pointed to it and said:

"I : wish to go aboard. I ! will give you another ■ gold piece when we get to it..'. .■ ,j | , The Siroccaris, without quite refusing to do. .as he - kept K on ; their way,.and the American'surmised"that they considered him and,his- gold pieces already as good as their own. : t The liberality of the first payment had led them astray. Gold instead of coercion from one of the Sultan's. soldiers seemed to them proof of powerless-. ness. ■'. ').'.-> "i '•'".' )/<).' .-.'. . : s ■-::'-'■■>■'.; :^: {v% J

: Duncan smiled as their mariner of reasoning passed through his mind. Leisurely he brought forth his pistol. He pointed it carefully at tho hand on the tiller and pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the wood an inch from the fingers that held the tiller and the boat came up into the wind as the Siroccan yelled and jumped away. ' > | "Take me to the steamer—and you 'don't get another gold piece either." . :.-■'.This Was talk and conduct the fishermen could understand. Assiduously they. sailed to intercept the steamer,;whose Union Jack made the little coasting steamer look safe as Gibraltar to the American.

% Duncan had seme fear lest the ] steamer might not- think it worth while to stop for a passenger from a fisherman's boat. ; He unwound his turban;. and waved it, and; as soon as he was within a long earshot, shouted in English, at the top of his lungs. The potency?of?thelanguage was quickly effective. The" steamer slowed down, and the sailors . threw a rope to the'; fishermen's boat, which had lowered its sail and edged up close to the steamer. vi The rail of the latter was crowded with curious faces,' par- ] ticularly of those y who marvelled to hear j good English come from one; wearing ai Siroccan uniform. '-.'. : ; j Duncan scrambled up the rope ladder that was let down over the side, and then, when safely i aboard and out of the Sultan's power, his "heart melted within him, arid he tossed another gold piece over the side to | the f Siroccan s fishermen, who 'deserved it asj little as might a shark upon whose unwilling back he had been borne to safety. Then he'straightened: up and shook his fist,' in a. far-reaching shake, across the waves of the Mediterranean ! and the wastes of Sirocco, low-lying ' blue upon the horizon, at the Sultan, in his place in Kub-hub-riol.' • ' ' • "I'll see. you later!" he cried—which would greatly have cheered the Sultan could he have heard it., J > CHAPTER XIV. , . a political rr/ix. ; ['\ . Someone slapped . Duncan oh the back with emphatic heartiness, as he stood giving his farewell shake of the fist atjthe distant Sultan, and he turned to see Sena-; tor Anderson, of Ohio.. . 7' .-::. " What under the blue canopy of heaveni are , you doing in .this rig?" the Senator; asked. "Anderson! And I thought I hadn't a | friend within three thousand miles. Anderson, if I had my pick of the whole of God's j green earth I would rather see ; you at this; present minute than any other man." . j "Well, that's good. "What can I do for you, old man?" j Suddenly, in his sense of safety on the British steamer, and' with the finding of his friend, a weariness descended upon Duncan that made the world turn black before his eyes. "Do for me?" he repeated vaguely. "Help me off with these boots and let me sleep." It was not the answer . the Senator, had expected; but he could see that it was not given in jest. '". - " Come to my stateroom. You do look a3 if you had been going the pace." Duncan staggered through the : crowd of curious passengers after the senator, hardly able to keep awake till he reached the stateroom. -;.,'. Yet, in spite of y iys fatigue, ..he could not lie down in they clothes of y;the dead Siroccan, which had served his escape so well. •

"Give me a white man's pyjamas," he muttered, tearing off his uniform, his eyelids already battened down over his eyes, r Before Senator Anderson closed the. door Duncan was asleep. As has..been told elsewhere, Anderson and Duncan , had been associated ir an enterprise of mutual benefit some years before, when Duncan had been young enough to inspire a fatal passion m Aurablis, Queen of the Anabezis, and before Anderson had gone into politics and become the man who! was said ; to stand nearer the President of the United States than any other. ' They i had first met in a sailing vessel, returning from Souths America;; and Duncan had run ; across the senator several times since, in!

various out-of-the-way.parts of, the earth. Anderson was 'a-' man with an intense desire to : know things at first hand. Cuba, the Philippines, "and both canal routes"i through the middle (of America, for example, had. been studied by him on: the spot, before most people 1 knew anything about them ; and the resali was that when | he spoke, the country listened. , His wanderings, however, were, not . limited to the (places that the world had its eyes upon: and when the world suddenly "discovered [the importance of' some lit fie island, or savage king, it was visually found that the .Senator from.. Ohio—.whose comparative youth was. often cast" up at. him by political enemies, under the opprobrious (term of "boy''—had ready seen it, or i known him. --'..;•■,'. *, ; .

After'many hours of Heavy slumber Dun. can came to himself, and with consciousness a beatific feeling of safety spread broach him—safety tempered by hunger. In ' those first delicious minutes,- when sleep, was loth to. relinquish its mastery, w lay and let- the memory of the hist fewdays drift through his" mind, till tha thought of the Sultan, becoming stronger, roused him from his quiescence. It was a question which held the less kindly feelings for the other, at this moment. Demean or the Sultan. The Sultan wished to bod Duncan in oil. Duncan " would. only have asked for ten minute* alone with: the Sultan,, man to man, forgetting that the Saltan was a potentate . and not a man. However, it seemed as if neither would have his wish. Duncan, stretching himself, and crawling stithy to the porthole of the cabin ', could not even see the shores of Africa; and the ''Sultan, "in bin palace in Kub-hub-nol,. when he was convinced that • the American had certainly escaped him—and,' by the connivance of Teehryk, the captain of the Guard, it appearedwent : into mi orgie of fury that ended in his putting the two lieutenants of his guard to death with lingering ingeniousness. ."-Each of the lieutenants had hoped to step into Techryk's shoes; but; absolute power makes rulers, capricious, and they died instead. '" - As Duncan stood gazing from the porthole, in the direction of Africa, the door opened softly, and the tentative head of J Senator Anderson appeared. • "Awake at last, are you?'* the Senator exclaimed, following his* head. "You've | slept nearly twenty-four hours. 1 cam© I to bed last night; and dressed this rooming, without arousing von. How do you | feel?" • .■. : , ,'' •,: ' " •'.-..'■■:'..:

'■ * " Hungry!" Duncan replied. Anderson laughed. "(Jet on your clothes, and come to cat."

I Duncan looked at his uniform with distaste, r— -: ■ ■■,-■ - •■' '-

"Senator, I look those clothes from a ' (.dead man, because I bad "to. X I'd rather j keep on these pyjamas than get into them again, though.. Haven't you some honest United States clothes you could lend me?" "If you aren't particular about the fit, I guess I can accommodate you." He pulled out. his steamer trunk. His coat was a little tight across the shoulders for Duncan, and the buttonholes of the shirt's neckband had to be slit out. . Otherwise, thft clothes were a fair ! lit, till i*i ■ came to the shoes. Duncan's feet were not the slender variety, of the Senator's. "I expect you'll have to .wear your own 1 boots, if you don't mind," Anderson said, • | after Duncan had vainly tried *to tKjueeio into his shoes. ■ ; ; .',.;..:,/. '

: " But I do mind,'' Duncan replied, » vision rising before him of the gruesomtt job of taking the boots off Techryk. "Let's ring for the steward arid - find i oat) if some *of the crew haven't feet ol the same heft as mine." -■ . •.-.'■

I • After Duncan had found some . shoes to fit. him, and had partaken- of a meal that j caused ' Senator) Anderson • to ; gazc_ at him with v amazement and ? alarm,' the.ctwo Americans ; went: into, the -bows Hof ?.' the. steamer,-. for .-a : smoke and ; the ■; talk that goes therewith. - • ..... \ 'r > ■ m "Now tell me all •about. it," Anderson said; •as the " smoke of a \ good! cigars was being : torn from 'his companion's lips by the envious wind. ;" -» J • ■- < *• ,

Duncan opened his • mouth and > spoke., He • told everything from the v time- the letter dropped at; his feet j' out of the Sultan's 11 aremlik, to the • moment ? when the • had clambered aboard the steamer. ■ '\' "Odd I didn't run across'you. I hav© just, come ronv Kub-hub-nol myself. When the Powers begin scrapping '-, over Africa the Sultan '"'MI Sirocco may become a person of some importance." Senator Anderson sat a while in silehco after .delivering this remark. :i : His 'cigar. had gone out in the interest he had felt, over his companion's story. He scratched, a?match carefully in the shelter, of the anchor and relighted his weed. "Sounds like a pipe dream," he commented. ' "You said nothing like that ten years ago, : when I told you about the South American stream of pitch," Duncan ( replied drily " but you made a wood thing out of your flypaper factory, just the same— and so did I," ho added. "That's true. I'm not doubting your word. ;, All s the . same, .you. do run up against the most improbable things. , But what do you propose doing now:, forming an offensive and defensive alliance, between. Brother Jonathan and John rescuing the fair damsel—and humbling the Sultan of Sirocco to the dust?"

i Duncan ruminated, without answering. "You can go to the "British at Malta ' and tell them what you know, * aid * • let" them do the rest." . j -J* <~.:.--.■, ?

Still Duncan did not,speak. , For ten minutes he pondered the situation! - Up to now the instant need of: things held his attention. Now- he had to .'plan for the future. Finally he turned to Senator Anderson: • '"What would the English do, if I told them —and they believed me?'!- : y v • Anderson rubbed his chin. •. • "I sea what you mean." v-'' Yes, they'd go ahead in their ; bullheaded fatihion, send a man-of-war to Sirocco to- threaten, its seaports, or land a force of marines and march to Kub-hub-nol. If the Sultan - became really frightened, the English girl's bones would rot I beneath some lemon tree, and the Sultan j would swear and all his Court, would i swear, that what I had ,1 said * was a pipe dream.".' * ; "That might , happen," Anderson ad •■ mitted, knowing the ways of the English and of Eastern potentates. . - - " Even, her letter is torn up. Her body was identified by ; her family, when she ; was supposed,.to have been killed by the lions. : Of course it would be 'something to have you vouch -for me. But i even "if, by some miracle,- they shouldn't think that I hud had a. touch of the s sun and, had imagined the whole thing they punished the Sultan on the 1 mere i; word .y of San American --- trader— •< would 4be • no miracle to 'bring back - Dalmera yyGrabame to lif<#." '■-'::;"•• ..».-. :■ '■■'- ' | "Then what are you' going to do about {it?" Anderson asked, believing that there [was nothing: else that could be do;je about jit. ' ; <

! "Play a lone hand, if you'll get me the iob of American J Consul at Kub-hub-nol. The place is vacant." Anderson 3 stared at Duncan. "Will you' take your coffin along with you?" he inquired, "or patronise the local i undertaker?" .-.,....-.

' Duncan 'laughed at the senator's tone of polite inquiry. " ' " * " Good God! man," Anderson went on angrily, "you probably don't know that Bumstead ;is the only American who ever stayed there a year— he's dead now. The rest of them either got "' out as soon as they had been there six weeks and had a look around; or else they wrote a letter or ;"two home about how things were managed, and then, strangely: enough, sickened and died." . .>"'"

; 'II shouldn't imagine the Sultan was a ; man who ' believed in ' the liberty of the press,'* Duncan assented ; " but; I sha'n't bother him that way. He couldn't exactly lup •';'' and : murder the American consul in | broad daylight, and after nightfall I shall jbe careful of my movements." ! 7 Anderson relighted his cigar, which ! again had gone . out. "Duncan, you're a bigger man than I, so I don't like to express my, opinion of you to your face; but dc you imagine that you can beat the Sultan ]> his own capital, surrounded by his army, his spies—his murderers \ ■ "Duncan shrugged, his shoulders. ~.-_.■ Anderson gave an exasperated sigh., ,1 suppose the gist of the matter. is that. you are in love with the girl." "I never saw her," Duncan • answered;. ''but I have some curiosity to ; :see", which' is the better, main, the Suitor-or I." ■. •' iVTo.bQ continued daily.) ,_., . V