SIROCCO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13455, 4 June 1907, Page 3

SIROCCO.

I [PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.] I

' BY KENNETH BEOWN. U:'"V, [ALL 'RIGHTS RESERVED.]; •• [ ■■,■ ' [COPYRIGHT. •* CHAPTER XXIII. BORROWING FROM THE ENEMY. ; The distaste for canned-'goods is not a lofty motive, yet with Duncan the distaste 'for canned goods helped him more in his fight against the Sultan than all his chivalrous desire to free Dalmera Grahame had yet done. v As Anderson ; had ; predicted, [Duncan very soon came to loathe the, very sight of his two hig tin trunks, with their hygienic contents. An invalid often revolts [at his food'; and its healthful germlessness, and an invalid's vital forces are at a low ebb: Duncan had the blood of a well ( man bounding through his veins, and he ; felt himself little leas than degraded at being condemned to slops. He had been used to expending his energy in travels and hard journeys, and now was cooped up. in this city life that was only aggravated, hardly relieved, by the horseback dashes he allowed himself. :' , . Cm one of his rides he met his old enemy, Abrack, whom : he had not ; seen since, the encounter in the bazaar, but who t as he imagined, had been very actively interested in his affairs of late. And the sight of his [tall figure in the long grey cloak, with the deep hood, and the strip of cloth tied across I his face just beneath his eyes, after the fashion of a woman, gave Duncan an' idea that he put into execution the same day. The cloak, though of unusual trichness,, was not uncommon an Sirocco, and Duncan found no difficulty in having Ben buy him one like [it. He himself bought a strip of grey cloth and a pair of Siroccan shoes. All these he concealed carefully in one of his trunks, where his appetite, though waning, had made room for them among the provisions. That very night, after .Desevere had [ gone away, he brought forth v his disguise, and with the glee of a child upon a forbidden pleasure, dressed himself' up in imitation of the Sultan's physician. ■■•It': was not difficult. i They were of the same height,! and though a trained observer would have noticed that Duncan walked with the selfcontained carriage • of an athlete, and that his sinewy figure was broader in the'shoulders than the Siroccan's, to the ordinary man [they were indistinguishable in the disguise of the hooded cloak; and when Duncan had fitted the strip of cloth his face and uncomfortable he .found •■< it at first | it would have been a clever person that could have told them apart at night. "| ■ Duncan's first act, in his disguise, was to go to a little shop near the caravansary I where he kept his camels, and buy some fruit. Without speaking a. word—the dumbness of Abrack was most convenient to Duncan now—he- pointed out what he wanted, and tendered a. com in payment. He was waited on with the most flattering promptness, and 1 was surprised to see how much change was returned ■ to him. Evidently, the reputation of the physician was sufficient 'to guard him against extortion. Duncan walked off into the darkness, out of range of the fruit-vendor's, torch, and ate the fruit with more ' pleasure \ than he remembered ever to have felt in eating before. It was the first.food, except that from his trunks, that he had eaten free from.apprehension and of late he had confined himself strictly, to his prepared"foods -. When he was gorged with fruit he went for a -walk—the -first he j 'had! dared take for many days.' Latterly dangers had seemed so to thicken about 'him that he had contented, himself with his short horseback 'excursions. - Buoyantly he strode but, somewhat hampered, it is time, by the long cloak, and a little lazy from his inordinate eating, but still with a' sense of exhilaration he had not felt for a long-time. , He came to -~ one .of; the city gates, ;> and:. the soldier squatting in front of his. sentry-box rose and fainted ■respectfully when ; the cloaked figure with the strip of cloth'across his face' came within the light of his torch. Duncan: passed l him and went out into' the open. His heart beat high at the success of this last test to the "perfection of / his disguise. ■■ He .; gathered up ".■::. his robe about - this■*;; waist and '; set : out hot-foot for a good run. He could have shouted in glee, had he not been afraid that the spectacle of the Sultan's deaf and dumb physician shouting through the night would be too much >for anyone he might chance. to meet; and he contented himself with a good breather out into the desert. ;. ; Duncan did not return till ; near morning, and slept the best part'df next day with a supreme sense of comfort. ■ ' ,'r . This was the beginning of a better state of affairs for the American. The strain on his nerves had become intolerable. A man who has lived his life in the open and in exercise cannot understand "nerves" in another, nor the possibility of it in himself, until something happens to deprive him of his accustomed air and exercise, and to keep him under some nervous for a length of time. Then the is worse off than the man who is used to meeting the problems of life in a revolving chair at a desk. Duncan had needed relief, and now he had found it. .The work before him seemed less impossible, more in the natural'course bi events, after he had sweated off his" nervousness, when he' had felt the joy oi stretching his leg muscles, of feeling his bungs crack beneath the strain of a five-mile run.. ' Parading the city and the. country became a regular custom of his. He would no! even wait for darkness, but would go out at dusk— he could escape the eye Desevere— prowl about the city, with an impunity that after a time made him reckless. ; And; although he did not know it, this habit gave fresh honour and mysterj to the man of medicine in the minds of the populace for. it was not long before the superstitious Siroccans noticed that there was more than one Abrack abroad, or rather that Abrack had the power of being a more than one place at once, and their awe of him increased accordingly. .There were none who tried to probe the mystery; it was easier and' safer to believe and to marvel,.and they did both heartily. : Whether Abrack himself knew of the American's borrowing of his appearance, Duncan did not know. Perhaps he, did. or perhaps it was pure accident that one night, as Duncan turned away from the little fruit-stand by- the caravansary, he saw his counterpart watching Him from the shadow. ~ .-' ' . ; .- , t ',> .Duncan threw back his head. and laughed, and the laughter was a challenge and a be trayal ; for the Siroccan does not laugh as the European laughs. The little man whc kept the shop looked up at the laugh, and saw the other figure fading away in the gloom, and he shuddered, having a good healthy, superstitious mind. But neither did he seek to probe the mystery. In unobtrusiveness there lies safety in Sirocco; anc he turned back to. his fruits, hiding ever the shudder that assailed him. Had Duncan not laughed he might have hidden his identity from Abrack. He might have been some other Siroccan, and the resemblance between them accidental; but instinctively Duncan felt that Abrack knew who he was! Nevertheless, this did not affect him. He went: for his /usual walk, careless whether his course was dogged 01 not; but if Abrack followed him, Abrack was a tired man when he returned. CHAPTER XXIV;; ' ■■■■....■'■: A BTTIXET-PROOP MAN". _. The Vizier was calling on Duncan. Outside the door Duncan's servant, Desevere, listened eagerly, his eye at the keyhole. Nt cap hung on the door knob, to his intense satisfaction. A conversation overheard is more gratifying when "overseen as,well. Until one has merely listened to words, one does not appreciate how much sight helps the comprehension.*, ... ;-, ' Desevere was not,, to use a colloquialism, stuck on his" job; f He had reported to Abrack and the Vizier* that he had/repeatedly put poison into the food of the American, first in one dish and then in another, and thai the health of the-American remained- as good as ever, although the food was always more or less consumed ; when he came in: after the meals to clear away the table. This sort of thing was not to be understood by a simple man, and might portend evil./; A man whose cup of coffee

was empty after breakfast, containing, though it had, enough poison for ten men (Desevere; in his zeal did not -stint the doses), and who smacked his -lips as Be watched his servant clear away the remnants of the, meal, was a : fearsome man. Duncan was moved this evening to impress the Vizier, and his own peeping servant, for whose more especial benefit he acted. " Suppose, now," Duncan said tentatively, "that I told you I was, the seventh son of a seventh son—" "Ah!" the Vizier exclaimed. '"";>:; "And that I was able to feel many things that you could notthe presence of water in the desert, for example, farther off than a camel can discern it." Duncan looked up into his curling cigar smoke. " Suppose I felt the body of my enemy, Techryk, • at the bottom of the Sehgiz Cleft, while I v\»as sitting here in my chair— remember I j told you about it ? Suppose I could '/ feel [ the presence /of poison ir« my food—and could tell who put it there?" Duncan spoke with careful distinctness. "Suppose if /on turning into a street I was aware of daggers in the hands of assassins at the other end? [Suppose "I should tell you that when I [came into your .city for the first time I felt that a Christian girl was being detained here against will?" ■''*''■ Duncan ended with- a: rising inflection that implied the possibility 'of supposing many other : things, though in '■;■. truth y. his invention, 1 like the venom fin a~X serpent's tooth, after it has struck, was temporarily exhausted. He gazed up in the curling smoke, his face, grave, but near to laughter. : Primarily, /he wished Ito get • back at Desevere for his daily.... poison. ' He was not taking it seriouslyit was a humorous by-play : in: a game that had become tedious—and he was surprised;to see how much the Vizier, : for all his English education, was impressed. It came on the Vizier j with/the greater i force from a ; matter-of-fact Anglo-Saxon. The superstition in this cultivated Siroccan was al- [ ways liable to volcanic eruption. Nevertheless, with the instinct '■; of -. the diplomat, the Vizier sought to lessen the portehtousness of Duncan's remarks., : v " There was verry long rope found beneath the window" of the Sultan's haremlik, and bars removed from the window," 'he said 'softly. ' "Why did you take so many troubles, if/your, second-sight informs you that the attempt would be of a futility?"- - . ■-.' .. ■~ "Very true," Duncan assented, wagging his head. "As you know, in my country, we/do not esteem these/gifts as highly [as they deserve," nor do we practise them. 1 I have regulated .my life very little by them, until - the ,: last * few days. •}"■ Besides," he ./ added -; solemnly, -as the fabrication popped into his head, "lam not a, perfect seventh son. : I was twins, and that I make? it more difficult for ..me to exercise them"": I "Were you, or your brother, fortunately born first?" the Vizier asked eagerly. j "We came together," Duncan answered; Ithat's: the' trouble. -~ Fate is -therefore ! not ..to be /.blamed for not knowing just | what :to do about ; the matter. ■ ; But since [my =: brother: died at birth, it would • seem as if I might have : all the powers that were .■• coming to both •. of - us. I have travelled in many lands, and,, undergone dangers to which these here are nothing, and always I escape because treachery to me is : : an .open. book,, and recoils, on .the head, of him who practises it against me." (Outside the door the cold sweat broke out on Desevere.) "Poison dropped into my cup burns afterwards in the veins of him who dropped it. The - bullet sent, at my back rebounds on him; who fired the shot. Do you wish to try.it?" Duncan took his revolver from his hip pocket and handed it to the Vizier. . " Fire full at my '■) chest," •he said, squaring himself.''"/, : ■;;.';.;.. ■■'■' ,/'.£/fi . ~/"-v. \ :/../ The Vizier looked dubiously at the revolver, and waved it;away. "I am not amorous of - your . death,' he ; said, and spoke truly. ; For the moment all desire to measure 'himself against the American had departed.,/.;'.. "Indeed! I will show you myself, then."- ■' . ' ■' :/. Pointing the muzzle at his own chest, Duncan fired. '' ' ' , The bullet flattened against the bulletproof garment he had on, and remained sttckhrg cloth of his. cßat. *'*'He' picked it out,coolly/and. held it out to the Vizier. "' , The Siroccan shrank back , from the bullet with horror. ■■;) "Of course it ! couldn't recoil on me, when I had fired it /at myself," Duncan explained kindly. • " ' - The Vizier rose, to his feet unsteadily. His nerve"'■'. was- gone for the evening. "Good.night!" he said huskily. "I would rather have you for - good friend than for enemy,;, and may Allah -preserve me from such magic as I have seen this -evening!" :When ' : the'»■ wavering • footsteps : of .;■ the Vizier were/no longer * heard , outside a figure crawled through the . doorway on Imnds and knees, , its yellow ; skin waxen and drawn with fear. * — "I- have 'heard and seen all, my master, and I am /as an insect in the hollow of your hand. Already the poison that I have/been/ putting into your food begins to burn in my veins.. Oh! cruel one, to permit me to keep on day after day, in order that my torments might be • the greater."/ ;• /,.-,■ #■■.',-',;■ •'—' ■ / /" Desevere began to writhe on the floor, and groan, in an agony Unmistakably real as it was imaginary. "Woe! woe is me Desevere moaned, "that I obeyed Abraek in this, when I had already seen how you defied 'him in the bazaar, as no man on earthnot even the Sultan ever dared to do before. I must die!" he shrieked, "but be / merciful, my . master, and let me die quickly. Let not the unbearable griping at my insides continue. Ah! Abrack was cruel but he killed;. quickly!" As Desevere shrieked, illumination came to Duncan as to where he' had first seen the slave. This was he who had been with Abrack in the bazaar, at the time of their first encounter. And the importance of this conquest he, had made through his occult horseplay flashed over him at the : same time—its importance., that is, -if the man did not die before his eyes of superstitious terror. .Duncan had seen enough of black fear among the ; ignorant and superstitious : not to underestimate its potency. : He: leaned quickly forward, and snapped his fingers in Desevere's face; then made a' few Soothing passes- over, his head. "The poison ,is now stilled," he said, with certitude. "It will rest inactive in your veins so long as you ; are faithful to me and obey me in everything, even if I should command you to go to the Sultan and slay him. But::beware. of trying to deceive me! I may be leagues away; I may be across the ocean; but the poison is always in your veins, like a panther lying <at - night on > the - branch, of a tree ; and when you play me false it will waken to life and avenge me to the uttermost." 1, The agony gradually passed . from Desevere's the contortions from his limbs. He lay,.. utterly relaxed, breathing heavily, insensible almost, from the terror, the suffering, and the relief. He was limp as a,lump of wet clay—clay in the potter's hands. (To be continued daily.)