Page 123 - Adventure Magazine, 1921, July 18th

118 Adventure

"What on earth?" Lord Bob had de- Pay up. Personally I' m goin' on a polar
manded when he had stared uncompre- expedition or somethin'."
hendingly al my close examination. Jackma n, who from th e time I had
"Just curious," I told him. cracked him on the head by suddenly open-
"I'm curious too; but scralchin' it up ing the door until that very quart er of an
isn't goin' lo help. At least, not my curi- hour, had treated me with a sort of aloof-
osity. I got a jar when I thought it was ness, seemed at last to have decided that I
gold. should be fully pardon ed and had given me
"What the -- do you suppose is up? the a cup of boiling tea. I stood at the window,
It isn't a Chinese idol- never a joss like peering past the curtains at the dull gray-
that. I know 'em all. Saved heathens ness of the coming dawn and stirr ed the
from prayin' to 'em, you know." tea.
Jackman had decided that the engine It was of Hurgronje that I was thinking.
trouble was at last fixed, and we drove I let Lord Bob talk . He had amazing en-
away, and turned and twisted until we ergy, that boy. Even I was just a little
reached a short, dark street, where there weary, and I seldom feel tired, rar ely feel
was not a person in sight and not a light the need of sleep, however little of it I may
within half a block. Two-st ory walls rose get.
on each side, solidly black. I would have preferred quiet, but it was
The truck stopped, and Lord Bob not to be had while Lord Bob was around.
jumped off, fumbled about a moment with- He was as gleeful as a boy who has success-
out use of his flashlight, then waited . What fully robbed a miserly farmer of a hatful of
he had done was to locate the knot of a apples.
piece of string that ran through the build- The telephone rang. It was a queer time
ing and back into its interior. Attached to for a telephone to be ringing. We
the other end of the string were some Chi- looked at each other. Jackman came in to
nese chimes, and when he yanked the answer it.
knotted end the chimes sounded. The po- "Tell 'em I'm in bed. If it's the police,
lice could have broken into every door and tell 'em I've been in bed since eight o'clock
through every wall for a half block and last night, an' can't be disturbed." He
found them empty-and the rooms next to laughed boyishly.
those too; and largely because in breaking "For you, sir?" said Jack.man, with a
through they would have accidentally dis- hand discreetly to the mouthpiece as he
turbed the sensitive fish-line and set the glanced at me.
chimes to jangling warningly. "For me?"
Lord Bob, however, had known how to "Yes, sir. A lady and--"
give the cord a certain number of jerks at "Go on."
precisely the reassuring intervals; and pres- "And she is- Will you talk with
ently the door opened from an unlighted her?"
passage, and a half-dozen quiet shadows "She is what?"
filed out. But few words were exchanged. "Rather - er- insistent, sir, and-- "
They pulled the box off and passed inside. "And -- "
The door closed. We drove the truck about "Will you talk with her, sir?"
two blocks, jumped off and left it; then I look the phone. In an instant I knew
made our way homeward. that what Jackman had hesitated to say
was that the lady was ''e. -cited." he was.
"NOW what the -- will I say," It was Madame Guigane.
Lord Bob asked carelessly, sinking "Don? Don! They've just brought
almost out of sight in his favorite that girl in - to Sin Chang's--brought her
chair with a steaming glass ofof hot whisky in in a big yellow statueuc not an hour ago.
his hand "-what the - will l say if any What shall 1 do? Can you imagine?? 1 on,
of those cops ever spot me? 1 know. 1 '11 for -------'ssake say something! What shall
tell him that was my black-sheep brother. we do? She's half dead- unconscious.
He's a bad one, that brother o' mine. Saysomething!"
"An' how do you like bein' a smuggler, What I said I do not know. All I can re-
Don? It's the life, h? Two cents I can member is hanging up th receiver and
guess what you're thinkin' of? I lurgy. turning toward Lord Bob.