Argosy, Vol. 120, No. 1 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

- possible international significance, they’d be - NAKED MEN OF NAGA. ‘An’ he’s always smiling and shaking hands with himself, isn’t he?” Smith remi- nisced further. ‘“‘ An’ he’s as polite as a French cook. Yes. ‘Well, he always has good recommendations, too blasted good. Had one once from Sir Frederick Soule. The L. G. had never seen him, yet the sig- nature was genuine; so the whole staff is still guessing. He’s associated with a fellow by the name o’ Manook, Ahudi Manook, an Armenian rice trader—an’ they do busi- ness with the firm of Ichiya Fundoshi, of Nagasaki! So there’s your agent.” The pithy summing-up was a shock. Nicholson gripped the arm of his chair and sat silent. He did not need to ask ques- tions; the whole description was full of omi-_ nous suggestions. Finally he uttered, slow- ly and painfully: ‘Ts there any danger, do you think?” — Into Smith’s mind there flashed a vivid picture of the stage property camp with its two impractical and wofully helpless scien- tists surrounded by long-limbed, naked spearmen who faded from behind tree trunks like the ghosts of the evil jungle dead. _ But Smith had no surplus of sympathy for helpless men. His gruff opinion was that helpless men belonged in the cities, where they fought one another with péns and with legal injunctions. If such should venture out of their proper element and should, as a result of their unshakable stub- bornness, in the course of strenuous events be killed — well, that was a part of ‘the chance that men took in life. His anxiety was for the helpless girl— yet helpless seemed .to be no sort of ad- jective to apply to her—who would under no circumstance be killed. That picture was unthinkable; yet all that Nicholson saw was a suddenly very grim man who grunted impersonally and asked with ju- dicial gravity: “Well, now, this information that the professor is digging up, his notes and analy- sis an’ things, could anybody else use them?”’ | ‘“‘Commercially alone, aside from any very valuable to anybody who could get the dope and acquire a concession.” “SN 13 Smith scowled reflectively and grunted several times. ‘‘ Now I won’t say there’s actual danger right at this moment. But it’s easy guess- ing that they know what you’re after, in spite of your secrecy; an’ I'll tell you: If those fellows really want to grab your stuff theyll not be held back by such a little thing as a few lives.” . Nicholson groaned. “So that’s why no messengers came through. But I can’t imagine that this Pappadopoulos would ever be a man to have the nerve to do anything so desperate. He might well be a slick trader, but—”’ : Pappadopoulos hell!” snorted Smith. ““ Fundoshi an’ Company!” Nicholson sat suddenly stiff and white. The name opened up possibilities of a scheme of pitiless intrigue which stretched far beyond the plottings of mere business- men. Smith read the far-reaching ramifi- cations of the horror in his eyes, and he sat still, waiting. Nicholson whispered hoarsely: ‘“‘ How can we get them out? My God, how can we find them before the notes and things are taken from them?” _ Smith looked at him with a sudden cold- ness. . | “You seem to be a darn sight more ex- cited about your experiments than about your people,” he growled. “It "ll take me ten days to get down there. I'll find ’em on the tenth. I'll bust camp an’ I'll start for somewhere—I don’t know where, but I start—on the eleventh.” Nicholson. could not help finding comfort in the cold confidence of that statement. He was feverishly eager to make arrange- ments. “Tl rely on you, Mr. Smith. But, good God, man, tsme! We’ve got to hurry. Since they know what we’re after, there’s nothing to prevent them from getting the information independently and getting in first. We cannot permit any hostile—er— any unfriendly company, I mean—to ac- quire those rights. How soon do we start?’’ Rights and international complications did not interest Smith. He was thinking about two foolish men—and a calm-eyed girl. His growl was ungracious. cCoOMmilclooo (-) CO