Adventure, November 1915 — page 30: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- out at the beac ‘need me particularly this afternoon, Archer, 2) ae Adventure The Arab’s eyes lit with intelligence and waiians who had thronged to see the steamer he unobtrusively moved off. “There’s a good man, Peggy,” he said. “That boy Selim of yours.” “He’s a jewel,” she answered. “I sup- pose you'll want to take him on the trip.” Winton came up with Miss Belmont. “All ready for shore?” he asked. ‘‘Where do we stop, Archer?” “The Royal. I cabled. It’s in town and they have separate cottages. We’ve got one to ourselves.” “Miss Belmont’s going to the Moana, »’ said Jim. “If you don’t Miss Belmont has promised to initiate me into the noble art of surf riding.” Addams gave him a swift glance. The sooner the fascinating Miss Belmont was left in the background, he thought, and the sooner they got to sea again, the more he would be able to realize on whatever use Winton was going to be to the expedition. But it was no part of his plans to antagonize the Belmonts, with whom he hoped to leave Peggy during the trip to the island. “Go ahead,” he said. “I wish I could join you, but I’m going to be busy all after- noon. We'll see you at dinner.” “Miss Belmont turned to Peggy Winton. “You'll come, won’t you?” she asked. “T’d love to,’ answered Peggy with an indignant look at her brother, which slid off him like mercury from a slanting board. “But I’ve got shopping that simply has to be done.” On the wharf, among the crowd of friends and onlookers, Addams noticed a man who met the man in the wheel-chair and seemed taken aback at his reception. Addams was too far away to catch the words, but the sound of the invalid’s voice was like a rasp as he answered the greeting. The man was a hulking figure in ill-fitting serge, his face repulsive in its low type, with the broken nose and shattered ears that mark the prize- fighter. He seemed to protest, but, at another sharp sentence from the paralytic, turned and walked beside the chair in silence. “So he was expected,” thought Addams. “T don’t think much of the reception commit- tee. He seemed to be unwelcome, to say the least of it.” | As the chair moved off he caught sight of Selim, gliding like a shadow in its wake, undistinguishable among the many Ha- come in, according to their idle custom. CHAPTER X THE SECRET OF THE CAVES fr tee dinner, at which Winton dis- played a quaint, emotional mixture of being at the same time ashamed of himself for leaving Addams in the lurch and pleased at how he had spent the afternoon, the three adjourned to one of the big semicircular lanais (verandas) of the hotel for a moment. “‘Let’s go over to the cottage,” said Ad- dams. They walked from the main building by paths bordered with hibiscus and stately royal palms to their bungalow, facing a quiet street, and sat on their vine-clad lanai, gorgeous with the orange trumpets of the huapla vine. The perfume of zhlang-thlang and plumaria was heavy on the air; the brilliant moonlight spread the lawns with an arabesque of light and shade, unshifting in the calm, breezeless night. Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile,’ ’’ quoted Winton, lighting his cigarette. ‘* ‘Man,’ standing for Henley. I’ve got a hunch he’s not out of the running somehow.” “‘That’s the way I feel about it,”’ declared Peggy. “I know men laugh at a woman’s instinct, but, like Jim, I’ve got what he calls a ‘hunch.’ So has Selim. He told me this morning that the omens were bad and we should not start on our trip tomorrow at all events. I wonder where he is.” “T sent him on an errand,” said Addams, “You two needn’t be ashamed of your hunches. I had one too. That nurse’s eyes were alive for the first time since we started, when she passed us wheeling that chair this morning. I sent Selim to trail them and find out definitely where they were stopping. He should be back by now.” “Vou don’t think that helpless old doodle- bug was Henley, do you?” asked Jim. “T don’t know, Jim,” Addams answered. “Tt didn’t look much like him, but they met a rough-looking customer who didn’t fit in with the outfit, and who, if ’m not mis- taken, was called down by the man in the chair for showing up at all. There was something in that woman’s eyes—but we’ll know more when Selim shows up. “Now then,” he went on, “I’m going COnmcoooks (F@)