Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

md ag 20 _~ @ magnificent gang and quite aware of it. They were used, those fellows, to the middle of the road and the deference the physically weaker pay to athletes who know their strength and value it. They seemed to own _ the earth they stood on. _. There was a one-eyed man among them and one fellow much shorter than the rest, - who made up for lack of inches by prodigious breadth and arms like a gorilla’s, reaching nearly to his knees. Almost the last to .enter I recognized our old friend Mahommed ‘ben Hamza,. grinning good-humoredly as _ ever,-and swaggering with all the old “‘the world is mine oyster” manner that distin- guished him at El-Kerak, when he held Grim’s life and mine for a day or so in the — hollow of his hand. ‘They were a strong-smelling company, but otherwise comforting to meet, since they were not to be enemies. There was a vague - suggestion about them of a pack of hound- pups, ready to howl on a scent and tear - their quarry in pieces, or to wag their tails and play; whichever might suit the hunts- man’s mood. . I dare say the lot of them weighed a ton and a half, and if you had boiled them down for fat you might have harvested a dozen Eilat teva chee BAY PAW T Ape e cad) Tel" Ge: EE Bere yy 7 ws } ; nt wT Pile TL a SERN TS i Vy, TMNT i ein i era i ay, - ee pounds; but excepting that one characteris- ss. tic of hard condition the only strong family ~ resemblance that they all shared was a certain plastic serenity of forehead and breadth between the eyes. _ ~“Show your respect to the gentlemen,” So Al Baba ordered sternly, whereat they _ formed in double line across the hall and _.. bowed with great dignity. Pe. “Your father Ali Baba has a word to say _ to you all,” announced Grim. aon We listen when he speaks,’’ said the big = “Go on, Ali Baba.’ ae “The Jews are not to die tonight. Jim- grim has spoken. Between us and Jimgrim isa covenant of blood. See ye to it that our “fae honor is whole in this matter.” = “Then the fire-gift?. What of that?” > asked the giant. re “Use ye the fire-gift as before. Use it this —— == night. I come too, for Jimgrim has done am ‘me honor and set me free. But let it be Bo known that it is not written for tonight. =: Perhaps tomorrow night, but not tonight eas by any means may Jews be killed.” Ber There was a murmur of half-rebellion along = *Market-place. a = ? * Adventure both ranks, and an exchange of quick glances. “‘Jimgrim is our brother,” said the big man, “but who will listen now? They will smite us in the teeth and throw stones if we say now that what we said before was false! Moreover, they will draw their swords in spite of us.’ I rather expected Grim would j join in the argument at that point, but nothing of the kind. “This is your.gang, Ali Baba,” was all he said, and sat well back, rather ostenta-_ tiously at ease. And the old man took the cue from him. Never have I seen such fury—such sud- den change from patriarchal dignity to blazing wrath; nor ever more surprizing meekness in the face of it. The old man raised both clenched fists and the very hairs of his beard seemed to stand apart and stiffen with the intensity of his frenzy. “Shall I curse my sons?” he screamed. “‘Are these the men I got—the children of~ my loins that sneer'in my face like idiots and answer Nay to my Yea? Is my old age a mockery that sixteen louts should dare know better than I? Leave me! I will marry wives and God will give me other sons! I will find me better sons in the suk/ * Is it not enough to be jailed by an infidel for the sake of-a heretic Jew, that my own sons must come and mock my face and my gray hairs? Truly is Allah great and his judgment past discerning! All these years have I nurtured snakes, believing I was blessed in them. And so at last Allah clears my old eyes and shows me the poison in their teeth! Go! Go! Iama childless man! Better the dogs of the street than sons who mock their father! Go,I order you!” But they did not go. Nor did they take his terrific reproof other than abjectly. _ They closed up and fawned on him, more — than ever like hound-pups, looking more enormous than ever because of his age and comparative frailty—begging, imploring, coaxing him, calling him respectful names, making him promises that would have made - Aladdin’s eyes start, even after his experi- ence with the wondrous lamp. Finally the biggest of them put their arms about him and bore*him off in the midst of the sixteen, they still fawning and he protesting. ‘So that settles that,” said Grim, getting off the bench. “Call that a settlement?” asked Cohen. “All you’ve done, as far as I can see, is to. © MIG (6) (e(0) JOOKS