Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 4, 1925 — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

840 “Tf they kill us, Philip,’ she said to him, “ how will they kill us?” ‘“ What I want to talk to you about is a means of preventing them,” he told her. From the pocket of his shirt he took that leaf-wrapped bit of film. ‘“T want you to hold this for me,” he continued. ‘‘ You know, a lot of these chaps don’t like to have their pictures taken. They think it’s bad luck. And I know how to make them sure of it. I want it where I can lay my hands on it at a sec- ond’s notice—without the leaf.” She took it from him, but still persisted. ‘“‘T think it’s better for me to know what to expect,” she faltered. ‘ I’d rather not be taken by surprise. I have a dread—of that. Philip!” “ For us,” he answered, “there will be only sleep.” ‘Vou mean the little pellets. Yes, that —that comforts me a little. We won't know what happens, or grieve at seeing each other hurt—or—or suffer.” She lowered her chin to hide what was in her cyes. His own eyes swam as he looked down at the bowed and rumpled head. ‘‘ Marcia,” he said tenderly, ‘ you know, don’t you, that you are my first thought? There 1s danger, of course. You want to know how things stand. Also, we’ve got a chance. And you won't forget. will you, that in the eves of these brown fellows who are watch- ing you. you’re more than just an ordinary white girl? I’ve told them that you're as rich as the queen they’ve only heard about, and that you rule over an island longer than this river is long.” She lifted her head. ‘I shan’t give up,” she promised. ‘That would hinder me a lot. Just now the one thing I’d like would be to see Barker coming in between a couple of Dy- aks. And I’d go out and strangle him with my bare hands.” He laughed. “Tm at fault,” she confessed. ‘ You told me the whole thing was wrong. And vou knew. But I wouldn’t listen.” ‘““T knew for several reasons,” he re- turned. ‘In the first place, one good look at the Malays was enough. These days, you don’t see the better class of Malays chewing betel.” ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. “It's like you said,’ she went on. “A pit—do you remember what you said about that? They dug it, and they have gone into it, and we—you and I—” ‘But the meeting over yonder may not have anything to do with us,” he declared. ‘The point is this: The men of Moeara Koli know that the secret of the golddust is out. Some of the Malays must have got away, you see. Naturally the thing’s got to be talked over. I suppose they’ll decide exactly where the dust ought to go.” She had the curl of celluloid in a cup made of her two hands. “It’s strange how I cling to this wisp of pictures,” she said, with a little catch in her voice. He lighted a cigarette and walked up and down, thinking hard of the problem be- fore them, mentally rehearsing what he would say to their captors. ‘‘ Mavbe,” he answered, ‘‘ you have an inkling of what it can do for us. I’m going to play on the fears of this gang.” She turned the coiled film. Presently, as she straightened it out and held it be- tween her own eyes and a torch, the Dyak holding the light shrank back as if frightened. “Notice that?’ asked Lansdell. ‘There are shadows of us somewhere,” she said sorrowfully. ‘Won't all our friends wonder at the queerness of it all! Philip, do you believe in another life?—or, perhaps, vou don’t want to tell me how you feel, because you might cast doubt on any faith of mine, and I’ll need faith, won't I, if things go—go wrong?” “Yl put it this way,” he replied. ‘I shan’t mislead you if I say that I “ope it’s all true. I’m not afraid to die, but I don't want to, even if life hasn’t been any too sweet. Once I didn’t care what happened to me—I was so miserable. I’d had the truth handed to me, and the truth seemed worse than death. Well, if there zs a next life, and we’re headed for it, that ’ll be glo- rlous, won’t it? But if there isn’t, then we'll have a good rest.” She nodded. “ A lot of people think like that,”” she observed, and her voice was steady once more. ‘‘ You see, don’t vou, that it’s helped me, reasoning about it like this? But I haven’t any doubts about the Conn GIOok