THE BLUE SASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22775, 8 July 1937, Page 21

THE BLUE SASH

COPYRIGHT)

MYSTERY AND ADVENTURE WITH THE FOREIGN LEGION

CHAPTER Xl.—(Continued) Lambert heard nothing to alarm him. The strummer on the guitar broke into song, again drowning the slight noises in the garden. But for the fact that he had distinctly heard that man in the shadows he would have been completely reassured —for what could seem less freighted with danger than that quiet garden, the girl o.n the verandah, and the guitar-plaver singing an old Moorish love-song? He remained uneasy, however, watchful, waiting for some further manifestation of that man in the shadows.

None was given. The song drew to its close. A little wind stirred in tho trees, and then very suddenly an alarm bell whirred in his brain. Ho had heard nothing, seen nothing, yet that strange intuition of impending danger which men have at times warned him that tho peril was not in front but behind him. But before ho could turn the peril materialised. Something crashed at the base of his skull. The blow was so heavy that it knocked him oif his feet. As lie fell he was aware of a great flash of light that might have been that of an exploding star, and there followed a dense darkness through which he seemed to be falling in infinite space. . . . When next he was aware of himself and of things about him, it was full daylight. He was in bed, and after staring for a little while at the high coiling, ho turned his head to take stock of his surroundings. The first person he saw was a girl in the garb of a nursing-sister, who at the sound of some slight movement he made, hurried to him.

" Monsieur, you must keep very still," she said warningly. " Why?" he managed to croak.

" And you must not talk. No!" said tho sister in a peremptory way. " It is forbidden."

" But —" he said as his mind grew more active .... "I must know . .. where 1 am." " You are in the Mamunia."

The Mamunia! That was tho native hospital of the city. He had been hurt then or overtaken with some sickness, and that realisation stirred his mind to further activity, making him intensely curious. " How did I come here?" " Monsieur!" The word was a protest. There was an almost tragic look in the girl's dark eyes. " 1 have said you must not speak. Le docteur will be very angry " Charles Lambert flung out an arm throwing aside the sheet which covered him. " Fetch him," ho said, " or I shall rise." ✓ Tho sister made a gesture of despair, and fled; presumably to seek help. Her patient closed liis eyes and lay quite still, his mind seeking to connect the present with a past that seemed to have slipped entirely into oblivion. But presently in the blank darkness a little picture formed much as an image forms on a photographic film in a developing bath. The outlines grew clearer, and then in vision he saw a girl standing 011 a verandah in the light of a Moorish lamp. "Catherine!" he whispered and lay quite still, his eyes still closed, his brow creased in an effort to remember. Details were added to the developing picture. There were orange-trees nearby where lie stood watching. Tho scent of the blossom " Mon Dieu 1" All the associated circumstances of the vision rolled in his mind in a swelling tide. Ho remembered everything, even to the sudden intuition of peril and the crashing blow which had sent him toppling into darkness; and he knew now why he was lying there in that white bed. He had been struck down in the garden where he had ■watched. Someone who had crept up to him secretly " But, nom de Dieu, how did I come here ?''

CHAPTER XII

Unconsciously he asked the question aloud with a vehemence that proclaimed unsapped vitality, and almost immediately the answer came. " You were brought by a friend, Monsieur Lambert!" Ho opened his eyes to find a pursy little man at the bedside. A pair of twinkling eyes regarded him through shell-rimmed spectacles. The doctor he guessed; and in the same moment ejaculated : "The devil, I was I Who was the friend ?" " A droll character, who gave the name of Hassan and in purest Parisian proclaimed himself a conjurer. Ho brought you here on his shoulders in the dead of night, demanded you should be cared for as if you were a prince, and when they would have put you with some sick Moors, he cursed my stall' for fools of the most besotted; and insisted that 1 should be fetched, threatening them with the wrath of the Administration if that was*not done immediately. "When I came he whispered certain things in my ears and—• here you are! Whilst I am the proud man to find you so well." " I was much hurt?" " A blow on the head; meant to slav you; but God blessed you with a skull that is no eggshell, and therefore you •escaped death." " Where is he —my friend, J mean?" The surgeon laughed. " He is in the ward of the convalescents performing his tricks and convincing my patients that he is a magician of the first water. For a day and a night he has been here " " It is so long since L was brought hero?" " Yes! And the only time he has been absent is when he went to see the Commandant. To perfoin his tricks by command he explained to the Moors, but having heard his whispers one can "uess the real reason for that visit . . . The Commandant, in person, came here afterwards, and talked with me, bidding me perform miracles." The man laughed and added with mock vanity. " The which I have done . . . When you have taken nourishment f think tiie miracle will be complete." " L want to see " The doe to i; lifted a hand. " A little patience, monsieur. 1 will not have the miracle ruined. . . . And I must send :i messenger to the Commandant who desires to see you at the earliest moment. But you will not be kept long from voiu friend. No! 1 promise you that. r Until the Commandant —if . you can sleep " " Sleep! That is not possible. I must see my friend at once. It is important, and 1 promise you, doctor, that if you 110 not send him I shall seek him mvself." The doctor made a gesture of connc despair. " legionnaires! They are nil mad!" Then lie laughed. " But since you will not let your mind repose, voii must have your way. 1 myself will bring the conjurer." He left the room and presently returned with Laurent who was still attired in character and bore a short

"1 can find it, 111011 Colonel."

By OTTWELL BINNS Author of "The Flaming Crescent," "The Cry In tha Night," "Random's Heritage,"

wand of bamboo. At the sight of Lambert wakeful and alert, lie tapped the bedrail with his wand.

" Presto! My fears depart, brother!" he said with a laugh. " From the doctor's account this morning 1 thought to find a corpse." " Sit down. Laurent, and tell me what happened—how you came to find me and bring me here." Jhe ex-priest squatted cross-legged o" the iloor and laughed again. " That," ho said, " is a simple talo and quickly told. When you suffered that little tap", that crowd, sure that you were carrion, carried you out of the place and dumped you in the street some distance away. And I who was at their* heels, lifted you on my back and brought you here. That is all." " No! You wore at their heels? How did you come to bo there?" " I was near the orange trees when ono dealt you that crack, brother Ahmed "

" You were in that place?" cried Lambert in surprise. And then understanding came to him in a flash. " Ah! the man in the shadows whom J heard! You were lie?" " 1 must have been. 1 saw no other until you appeared and when you stood by the orange trees 1 mistook you for one of ()u Ali's men and thought .1 was discovered. Not until you were stricken down did L realise that you might be a friend, and only when I heard a fat scoundrel who, was brought to look at vou speak vour name did I realise the truth." " A fat scoundrel " "Of the Chosen ILaco or of the Levant with oil sufficient for both. .1 saw him clearly as he stooped in the light of the lantern which one had brought. He hail the beard of Aaron—" "Jvyriakos!" cried Lambert. "Yes! He would he there!" "He most certainly was! And he was mean enough to kick ono whom he thought dead. I'll swear you have a bruise in the region of your right ribs, Ahmed. . . But 1 could do nothing. When two of them carried you forth I slipped through the gateway, and watched them plant you on a garbage heap well away from that house. When they departed, I approached. You had the look of a corpse; but the heart was beating, so I brought you hero and threatened to burn the place if you were set among the dogs of Moors. That little tub of a doctor has brains. When i whispered that you were an Officer of the Legion on a secret task, he understood and you were brought here. ... In the morning I sought the Commandant —"

"You told him of that house?" "But yes! When I saw him —for a long lino of fools stood between him and me." "And the bouse lias been found?"

Laurent shook his head. "No. They are still searching for it. Marrakesh is a large place—" "But you. Laurent, you could take them there?" "Alas! No. The crew that 1 followed made it by devious ways. In keeping sight of them, 1 lost the sense of direction. And you know the place—a veritable rabbit warren!. . . . And there are many houses with arched doorways, with doors studded with nails, and with entrances from a cul-de-sac." "But I can find it!"

"Praise heaven! That is great news. The Commandant will be the happy man. Name of God!. . . . He roasted me for a blind fool because of my inability to nose out the place. . But, diable! what would you? I was not born in this cursed rabbit-warren, and in finding the Mamunia 1 had to bribe a beggar to show me the way. . . The Commandant has no brains, or he would understand that my concern was for you, and —" Lambert lifted a hand. "1 understand, Laurent. I am very grateful; but it is well not to speak evil of dignitaries—particularly, when they are at the door." Laurent cocked his head sideways, caught the tones of a peremptory voice speaking in the corridor outside, and promptly scrambled to his feet. "Name of a Name!" he chuckled. "It is so much easier to play the soldier when one is on his feet." Then as the door opened he stiffened to attention and smartly lifted a hand in a soldier's salute.

A DESEHTKD HOUSE The Commandant was all anxiety for Charles Lambert's well-being, and not until he was assured that all was in the way of being well with him did he open out on the subject which had brought him from the residency to the hospital. "And this house where you suffered the . . . er . . . accident, tnon enfant?"

The Commandant laughed with a touch of excitement in his mirth. "Good! Then you were not drunk as Laurent there must have been —"

"But for Laurent 1 should not have been here, nion Colonel."

"The devil! No! But you must not expect me to be patient with a man who walks . Marrakesh with his eyes shut. My dear Lambert, I want those machine-guns, and more do I want the men who intend to use them . '. . .

Morocco is pacified. Yes. So was Fez when the outbreak occurred years ago. No Moslem country is ever really content under Christian rule. Always there aro fanatics thrusting a fiery leaven into the mass. And any crazy preacher or mad Mahdi might light Marrakesh like a firework. . . . Wo all know it! And Morocco would kick us into the sea if we gave the least favourable chance. Wherefore 1 must have those guns and tlie men. Laurent tells me that On Ali is in the game. He is a bad man." "There is a worse, nion Colonel." "Who?" "Si Bon I?boa!"

"That German devil who turned Berber and whose brother was with Abdt.il-el-Ivrim. . . • You are right! . . . He is here?" "Almost certainly." "At that house?"

"f should not be surprised!" " Then, my son, I shall have you carried on that bed through the streets of Marrakesh that you may show the way to the place."

" A donkey," said Lambert with a laugh, " would be less conspicuous."

" If you feel able to ride —" " Laurent at the bridle will see the creature does not bolt. . . . And we can he as the pilot fish to the shark without anyone in Marrakesh giving a thought to a pair of mountebanks." " l)iou r And that is true. . . In half an hour the donkey shall be here, and I will have men ready to follow. Si Bon Rhea and Ou Ali must not get out of Marrakesh with those guns. . . If they got them into the Atlas and an insurrection began, they could hold their place whilst the flame spread. 1 am not of those who think the pacification is eternal. That is not the way of things as the Knglish discovered in India in the Great Mutiny and as to-day they are busy re-learning. Morocco is at peace. Yes! The Atlas is subdued. Yes! And underneath the fire burns. And from every outpost we send watering parties of four score men together lest a lesser number should be surprised and their rifles and ammunition stolen. Peace!" The Commandant laughed in scorn. " Tt is war. always! In suspense at times, like a cloud above the hills, but when the cloud breaks what then? .. . And those guns may mean the deluge. . .

Si Ben Rhea and On Ali are a wicked combination. . . We must set to that house quickly, my son." " Yes! And in the meantime, watch the gates?" (To be continued daily)