SIROCCO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13451, 30 May 1907, Page 3

SIROCCO.

[PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ABRIDGEMENT.)

BY KENNETH BROWN.

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] > , — . f [COPYRIGHT.] CHAPTER XIX. A HORSE AND A LETTER. [That Duncan and his doings were the subject of close attention to the Sultan and his friends the American was to learn in the few following weeks, although to his surprise he came upon no proof of attempts: to poison him, the little dogs whom he fed on portions of his meals retaining the best, of health. , •

• The very day after the Vizier's last visit a horse and a letter came to Duncan. The letter caused him immoderate amusement and subsequently some profit. The horse gave him food for thought. -

Just after breakfast Ben stumped stolidly into his room, and touched knee, breast, and forehead, in sign of respect and fidelity.

" There „is a horse below that" comes of the purest desert stock. His" l mothers' names are written on parchment for three hundred years." . (The , purebred Arabian traces his pedigree only through his dams.)

i Duncan looked out and saw a magnificent grey, standing in" the street below, motionless, as if of granite. A man, immobile as | the horse, held the bridle. It was a sight to gladden a horseman's heart, especially one who might have to* ride for his life. Dissembling his pleasure, as becomes a horsetrader over all other traders, Duncan asked: "How does he ride?"

"I am no horseman, also the owner will not let me mount him. He says the master alone shall ride—and judge for himself." Duncan went down and circled the horse, who held his head proudly as if knowing that no blemish could be found on him, not the tiniest :.;plint on cannon bone, or suspicion of windgall on his perfect ankles, Duncan ran his hand over him,' more from the horseman's habit than because he was not already • satisfied. Still, the stallion stood immovable, not flinching or offering to kick. Yet there was a little tension of his ears, as he stood there quietly; they were drawn slightly,backward; and a thin rim of white showed around the brown of the eyes. "Take off the saddle," Duncan commanded. He.had the faintest, intangible feeling that there was something wrong with the horse; and the saddle of Sirocco, placing'the rider, as it does, inches above the horse's baek, with short stirrups, which permit no feel of the legs along the horse's flanks, did not appeal to him, used as he was to the long leathers of a stock saddle. He felt safer bareback. He loosened the chain of the severe curb bit. too, before he mounted. Instead of straddling the horse, ho merely threw his weight across his back, to see how quiet he was. In the world of horses there are rears and rears. Sometimes a well-bred colt, mounted carelessly by a person who has not the grace ' to make his approaches with due formality, will flop over on his back as swiftly as an alderman hurrying across, a banana skin. But that is in the nature of things. The horse that Duncan halfmounted was not one rearing casually. The fame of his'accomplishment must have been such as to travel far beyond his Bedouin tribe, in this land of gentle horses — and high, even, as high as the ears of the Grand Vizier of Sirocco. ' For alert from his vague suspicions as Duncan was, and in a position to slip off most easily, he only just escaped being caught beneath the horse as he fell over backwards, crashing against the ground. Had he been in the saddle, or even astride, he could hardly have thrown himself to one side in time.; ' ;

Duncan- scrambled to his feet dazed at the suddenness of it all. He first considered it an accident; then the thought burned through his. brain that the horse had been brought for the purpose of killing or crippling . him. , He. .turned, .savagely -on -tbe groom, "holding flie reins of the'(stallion, who again stood immobile as a statue, the only evidence of his- recent escapade being his dusty back and a slight widening of the white around the brown of his eyes. Duncan, turned on the groom, but before he had said a word he remembered that after all this man was an underling, a tool —possibly an innocent one— would willingly be sacrificed by those who had inspired his acts, especially since they had [failed: ■ : , :.— '::

• The American turned coolly back to his inspection of the horse, as if nothing in the least unusual; had happened, and in the end announced, in a matter-of-fact tone, that the horse did not suit him. He turned and walked up the stairs to his rooms, from a window of which the face of Desevere disappeared. Does not a servant always take an' interest in the horse-buyings of his master? ■ . -

The letter which completed Duncan's experiences for the day arrived after dark. Duncan had been to' call on Cunningham. He yearned for the society of a " white man," even of one more or less under the influence of liquor. Going out after dark I was not prudent for the American: but he took the risk. He was sore over the horse episode of the morning. . Though ho had been expecting covert attacks ever since his return, to the Sultan's capital, This one wounded him in his pride. He had known I bad horses. He had conquered the Bazjeu pony of India, which none before had ever ridden except when they were nearly dead from starvation find partially crippled. He had seen men killed by horses in the West; but it had been in the deliberate venturing of the devil in the man against the devil in the horse. His experience this morning had been almost a blind falling into a trap laid before the feet of one who was on his guard. That he had escaped was due to luck, more than to anything else. He was hurt in his pride of horse-knowledge, which is one of the deepest of men's vanities. As .he was mounting the steps to his! rooms a slave-woman thrust a letter into his hand, and disappeared into the night. " H'm!''.' Duncan, grunted.' " Mysterious veiled lady and everything complete. I'm right in the swim." In his room he read the superscription, in a small, pointed, slanting hand"Mr. Duncan, Esq." " Very polite, indeed," he commented, and opened the-letter. "Dear Mr. Duncan, kind friend,— • " I am writing this to inform you how I have changed my mind. I find in my husband all excellent qualities, such as'make perfect man and Royal ruler, and most delicious husband. I have sorrow for trouble I have made you before- Please do not communicate with my blood relatives. They would make great disturbance, and I am only wishiul for peace to. joy. my blessings and all comforts of home. -~-.. "Your obliged friend,, j "Miss Dai.meba Grahame." ! Duncan read the epistle once, and then: again, and the laughter which it evoked; made him more cheerful than he had been since entering the domain of the Sultan. "Pretty good for the Vizier!" he chuckled, " especially that ' all comforts of home' j that's a good 'touch." ; He went to bed in ■ excellent humour. J I " This is a horse on the Viz-ier," he mut- j tered, as he was sinking off into sleep, " if the grey did come pretty near being I a horse on me." CHAPTER XX. BLACKMAIL. ! Although Duncan was expecting another! visit from the Vizier soon, he had not anticipated receiving one so shortly as the following night. "He has swifter camels than I had," the American thought to himself when he saw the Minister come in.

The talk veered from one polite topic to another. It is not etiquette in Sirocco to approach any point too precipitately, and the Viziei was irreproachable in his! 'manners. Indeed, the American trader wondered if his: own were not acquiring a perceptible polish through his continued | intercourse with him. He's better than a course in parlour conversation from a 1 correspondence school," Duncan said, and i weighed every speech of the Vizier's the more carefully for he knew that although the Siroccan was a polished gentleman, his tongue was in his head for use and not for ornament. , . - ... ■ ....

'Have you yet found a horse to suit you?" the Vizier asked casually, when other topics -were talked 0ut..., "I heard that you were searching for one." I The directness of the question nearly took Duncan's breath away. It was most admirable, if indeed he had inspired the sending of the grey stallion the day before. Duncan had supposed that horses would be ■ the last animals the Vizier would touch upon. Placidly the Siroccan continued, before the American had opened his mouth for an answer: "You must miss the exercise > —you Anglo-Saxons are so fond of exer-1 cise." If there was any latent irony in the Viziers mind not a trace of it appearedli in his smooth voice. I "One was brought for me to try yesterday morning," Duncan replied to" the imperturbable official. He reared badiy and ,-came near killing me. You are like as; i you try to sell strangers the worst horses, j jit is wonderful the speed with which the I new* that a man wants to buv a. borse! spreads through the land—even as it does with us. In time 1 shall find one to suit : me. I should be glad if I could get one as swift as the camel of your servant." "My sen-ant?" the Vizier repeated. " Yes, the one who has just been to the' Sehgiz Cleft. Did vou find friend Tech- ; : ryk, as I told you?" ■ j J A barely perceptible smile lurked in the I iVizier's. beard. Every diplomatic instinct! in him enjoved Duncan's keenness, as.the] skilled tenuis player' enjoys the perfect strokes of his opponent. The Vizier was a broader man than most Siroccans. He had taken into account the possibility that | Duncan might be speaking the truth in telling him where Techryk was, and had I sent to investigate. He acknowledged that the ordinary Siroccan bungled his diplomacy by lying' all the time; thus the European was' often able to deceive him. One may not be able to discover the truth from Siroccan lips, but one can at least know one thing that is not truth ; and this helps ! in the delicate process of elimination., The: Occidental method of giving a liberal; admixture of the truth is most efficacious it would speedily ruin the grocer to sell pure sand as sugar. "Techryk was indeed discov' where you said, and I have made great profit of it with the Sultan/' the Vizier answered, with engaging frankness. "I instruct' three slaves in sweat' that Techryk was endeavor' to escape to the English to betray secret of young kiddy. I send them after him, and frighten him into the desert, where they follow him in divious flight, until he made final stand at the Sehgiz Cleft, and was stab' and drown' by my faithful servants." : , • " Wasn't it hard to make the time appear probable— a month now?" Duncan asked, as if he were listening to the simplest matter. ' ' . "They displayed, • cut-off head as best proof, and the story was learned with many cares. Also the Sultan does not weigh and sift, like American. He flies into anger, or sits cold and .unmoved, and refuses to think about things. You feel much pleasure at what I have done; for my master's' passion, was for a time diverted from you to Techryk." • Reminiscently, the Vizier added : ," Techryk was verry useful man."; "" ■ " " v,oc ..!;..« «„ ,u.j T'wi -~...—:_-j !

"Yes—alive or dead. I'nj surprised you didn't send his hoofs to the"glue factory." "The glue factory?"" The Vizier was genuinely puzzled. • "He served, the. Sultan well in the past," Duncan went oh, not explaining hi 6 American humour; " but.; didn't you work him too hard? A racehorse can't win every day, even if he is a stake horse." "I. ,do, not understand your talk about horsed: Teohryk was no horse." ' ''Yw, expected Techryk to chase a lively American man like me, and : bring me back to the Sultan, 60 that I ; might be boiled in oil, or something like thatand catching me is no fool of a job," Duncan said, with, deliberate boastfulness: "and then you also expect to catch English girls that the Sultan wants, and place dead bodies of other.-; women in .their places, in order to deceive their friends. We believe in a division of labour in my country." The* Vizier was frightened,-.. and for a fleeting instant he showed it, I -controlled though he was. Where had this remarkable American obtained his knowledge? The Vizier, the Sultan, and Techryk alone had known the manner of Dal- ' kidnapping; yet this Consul, this trader*-*'' blacksmith, or amulet-dispenser from over seas appeared to know the de- ! tails as well as himself. •

Duncan broke in upon his thoughts: By the way, you said you would reward me for anything——from "Dalmera Grahame," he said tentatively. Did I not pay you,well for news of Tecliryk— even though he was dead?" the Vizier asked.

Yes, .1 got a rake-off, though you seem ,v) have worked 'the::graft most for. yourself." ; : ■ :.*"■ . ••;;;; ■ ,: ::' '•

"I am willing to "pay for anything," the Vizier said gently, v. "A letter, now—'' •

The Vizier watched him covertly: " Yess." !"v.'. . ;'■;'.■■■:> "'". -

"What;would a letter from a certain young lady be worth?" •. The Vizier drew from his fingers two turquoise rings. : "Would these do?" "Very well,''' Duncan answered. He took from his pocket the bogus letter from Dalmera Grahame, which he had received the day before, and banded it to his guest. With the return movement of his hand, he swept the two rings from the table. Eagerly, with line pretence, the Vizier read the letter.. "Ah!" he said, with an accent of satisfaction. And.the. accent was

riot'entirely simulated for here was. proof additional to the finding.of Techryk that the American spoke the' truth "only; further proof'also that Duncan had riot received any other from the girl which he could show/ to the English, if he were not bought- off or put out of the way bv* the Sultan. He felt at this';instant that he held Duncan in the hollow of his hand. .'••,_■" ; (To- be continued daily.')"!-;'->T: J :V'.