Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 73: what you’re looking at

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

THE STRANGER would doubtless tell her that she had walked in. her sleep. As for the globe itself, she combed her mind to recall all that she had ever heard of it. She only knew that it had been made to order for the commodore and that he had carried it on his travels in the cabin of his yacht. It had been so close a com- panion of his talks, indeed, that its name had been among the last words the hardy old sailor uttered. ““ Globe — Madras — Calcutta — Singa- pore—” he had said, and died on that word. Colorful names from his travels in the East had crowded into his mind at the last, to- gether with the mention of the globe. But why this globe should call for so much attention from the strafger of the tawny hair and midnight visits from John Hodge she could not tell. That mere chance had caused her to find both Logan and the historian examining it was too much for even a child to believe. But how could they have been attracted to the globe? Certainly, she decided, although John Hodge might have come with purpose to examine the steel globe, and although all his talk linking the Red Captain with Hal- lyt might be false, yet Logan and the man of the South Seas had certainly come to the house only by chance. It seemed, there- fore, that there must be something about the globe which was attractive to certain eyes, although others saw nothing in it. Of one thing at least she was sure—and that was that she could never be happy un- til she had examined that globe—and at once! It would take courage to go into that room while John Hodge might still be there conducting his explorations in the dark, but if she did not follow her impulse, she knew that she would regret it with all of her inquisitive soul to the day of her death. She decided to make the break for the house, no matter what eyes might see her run through the wall of moonlight before she reached the shadow. Accordingly, she rose, and running with all her might, she scurried up the front steps and into the darkness of the great main hall of the build- ing. There, pausing and controlling her pant- ing, she. discovered that the house, was full _ of an intricate system of murmurs and half- heard whispers. The place had seemed ut- terly silent when she first came down, but now terror had so sharpened her ears that it seemed to her guilty voices were mutter- ing up and down the hall; and there were faint squeaks as of men running up and down the stairs. She went slowly, slowly up the hall. ir she was prepared for flight either ahead or in retreat at the first really distinct sound. She reached the great dark stairs in safety. Somewhere to the side one dim globe was burning, but it cast only a faint, reddish light that filled the hallway with shadows. Up she went, step by step, but halfway to the top there was something like a catch- ing of breath just behind her. She glanced back and down in morgal terror. There was nothing but empty space below her, but when she looked ahead again it seemed that there was a terrible foe rush- ing up on her from behind. All control left her. She fled as fast as her trembling legs would carry her up the stairs to the hall above. When she reached the level, her head spinning with fear and her heart thunder- ing, some of her courage returned. She leaned an instant against the wall, gasping to win back her breath. Then, making sure that the stairs below were still utterly empty, she went on down the hall. But one burst of fear had unnerved her completely. She was ready to scream at the first imaginary movement of a shadow around her. But when something concrete actually took shape, she was too paralyzed to make a sound. She had turned the corner where the hall- way split in two parts at the rear of the house, and as she did so, the shadowy figure of a man loomed up, walking just before her. Half fainting, she caught in her breath, and that noise was sufficient to make the other whirl upon her. “‘'Who’s there?” snarled a familiar voice. “Who’s walking there?” There was a glimmer of metal in his hand. The form drew closer. The hand of her father fell upon her shoulder! In the same instant he recognized her. AT THE GATE. “ What on earth is this, Olivetta?” he com cboo ‘SixGOM|