Adventure Magazine Cover — page 167: what you’re looking at

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

The Edge of the Simitar he did not intend to jeopardize it by at- tempting an affair with a member of Abu Khalil’s household. It seemed more reason- able, however, that Sevier’s restraint was due to his fear of the political consequences, for no matter how close his association with Abu Khalil and his conspirators might be the Arab would immediately overthrow everything if a stranger made a scandal in his household. It was necessary, nevertheless, for Cohu- sac to act quickly. The next day he rolled his letter in yards of variously colored silks which he had pur- chased in the days of his wildness before the war to be used for shirting, and this he threw into the window where he knew Miriam would be expecting him. As he was about to turn away a beautiful white arm was suddenly thrust through the grill and a note flicked in the dust at Cohusac’s feet. His heart bounded as if the message were actually for him. With an effort he restrained his shout of triumph and delight, and shuffled awkwardly but hurriedly to a spot where he could read the message. Cohusac’s ability to read and write Arabic was far more than ordinarily good. In em- ploying the letter-writer in the bazaar it had been his intention to start a rumor and fan it well into a blaze regarding the Ameri- can and the woman in the house of Abu Khalil. Had secrecy been of first impor- tance, therefore, he might easily have secured it by getting Hamid to procure a go-between who would have handled the matter while Cohusac stayed in his quarters reading a book. Cohusac not only wanted to get Sevier in trouble; he wanted also to beat the bushes himself to see where the game lay, and the more he talked about Abu Khalil the more he knew he would learn. There was no doubt in his mind that the plump, affable Arab’s house was the center of intrigue involving Somaliland and Abys- sinia. Men of seeming importance from both these countries were constantly com- ing and going under the guise of merchants. The enormous godown extending for hun- dreds of feet behind Abu Khalil’s four-story house was crammed with hides and skins of all sorts—spongy camel hides, bullock, horse, even zebra hides; goat, sheep, leop- ard skins; yellow ivory; coffee from Mocha and Harrar; while scattered about in odd lots were pails of honey, sacks of dates, 157 boxes of wax. In the coffers within the divan were small boxes of stinking civet and ambergris and velvet pouches containing cloudy amber and the pink pearls that come from the Benadir Coast and the Bahrein Islands. Dealing in these commodities, it was a simple matter for Abu Khalil to receive in his house men of importance from places as remote and as distant from each other as Damascus in the north and Lake Rudolf in the borders of Uganda. He was a friendly man, generous to the needy and always ready to speak well of the Government and to subscribe to Government loans. Cohu- sac knew him well as one who purchased large quantities of soap from the Marseilles firm for which the Frenchman had had the agency in his days of vigor, and from whom Cohusac had bought in return coffee and hides. Nevertheless, Cohusac had no scruples about Abu Khalil. He knew that beneath the smooth, affable exterior there was a cal- culating and dangerous nature. He was a man who appeared virtuous in his dealings, because a good reputation was of more value to him than robbery. To every one who asked his charity he gave something, dusting his fingers after handing out the dole, murmuring piously— “Verily, from Allah comes bounty But in his heart he cursed at every profit- less outgiving. Intensely selfish, his method was not to demand what he required, but calmly to roll over it, absorbing it. His am- bition to possess was an Overpowering pas- sion; his passion was of that incredible sort that is capable of imprisoning the object of its desire in a solid block of masonry to pre- serve it thus eternally inviolate. Cohusac’s knowledge of men and the pas- sions that control men was sufficient to en- able him to understand Abu Khalil’s nature. The Arab had amused him. Cohusac might have despised him, had not Hickson opened his eyes to the political power that the Arab merchant was secretly building about him- self. Cohusac was astounded at the prompt re- sponse with which the woman of Abu Kha- lil’s household had responded to the Ameri- can’s pretended wooing. He marveled at her courage. The note which Cohusac opened as soon as he was certain that no one from Abu Khalil’s house could see him contained only |? COMICMOOOKS. C@