Argosy, Vol. 120, No. 1 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

8 rounded by Naga warriors! You'd never see them; any more than you see the leopards that hang around camp waiting for a chance to grab one of your dogs. But Ill bet you that your every move is re- ported by runner to old Chief Mata-Pembe down at Danaghor!” CHAPTER III. JEHANNUM DESERTS. "THE two men were very obviously star- tled by the positiveness of this state- ment. The girl, too, was shaken from her equanimity; but only for a moment. She regained her poise quickly—it is always easier for a woman to disbelieve what is not pleasing. “I don’t believe that there are any men round us at all—any more than I believe there are leopards,” she said defiantly, looking squarely into Smith’s eyes. Her challenge was distinctly hostile. But hos- tility always exhilarated Smith. Under its stimulus he was suddenly able to assert his manhood. - His eyes narrowed—not humorously this time. The pucker below the lids and the crow’s-feet at the corners were just the same as when he grinned; but there was a hard glint in them, and his mouth set in a thin knife cut. “ H-m!”” murmured Smith quietly. ‘Well, now, for about two cents—if I thought it would hurry your decision any —I’d go out an’ bring you in a specimen of either inside of half an hour!” His hard eyes held them, and it was the girl’s turn to waver before his gaze. There was something in the glitter of those eyes and in the hard expression of that weather- tanned face, and in the aggressive forward - poise of the great shoulders that forced the conviction that this extraordinary boast was not just talk. For a moment the girl’s eyes dropped. “I beg your pardon,” she said soberly. Then she looked up again quickly, confi- | dent once more in a new explanation which had come to her. ‘“‘ But that doesn’t alter our decision. ‘Those men have probably been sent to act» _ was a surprise to me. THE ARGOSY. as a bodyguard, since you say that we are over the Lushai border.” “* Bodyguard—hell!”’ was Smith’s ex- plosive thought. But all he dared to say was: “Queer sort of bodyguard. Why do they hide from you, then?” “IT can’t say,” the girl defended. “I don’t know the way’ of these natives. But I’m quite sure that we have nothing to be afraid. of, because all arrangements were made beforehand, and presents were sent from Imphal to tHe chiefs.” Smith was a long way from being con- vinced that the stealthy, naked watchers were well-disposed guards; but he was non- plussed in the face of this argument. All that he could do was to shrug his great shoulders; and the two men now chimed in to follow the girl’s lead. “Quite so. Of course. A great deal of money was spent to propitiate the chiefs along the border. Smith. It seemed to me, in fact, that it was a profligate waste to pay these, ah— illiterate primitives a sum of money which would endow a chair in any institute of learning. Er, the fact, then, that we are watched does not to me convey any cause for alarm; though I must admit that it On maturer reflec- tion, however, I can well imagine that these A very great deal, Mr.. savages would be curious, for I understand . that they believe we are engaged in some form of magic.” . Smith had nothing to say. He was al- ways chary of making sweeping statements which he could not prove up by facts. Here he was faced with a mysterious situa- tion about the foregoing events of which he knew nothing. But he knew natives much too well to believe that silent spearmen would watch a party of white men with all the stealth of stalking tigers simply from an ultrasensitive desire not to be obtrusive. Yet his knowledge, after all, was an ab- stract sort of thing. He could put it to these people only as his opinion; and they were far too contented with their knowl-— -edge of their careful precautions which they spoke of with such cheerful assurance to be convinced of a possible danger on the word of a stranger who appeared out of nowhere. EO 1NOO S CO@