Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 146 No. 4 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

THE FIRE PEOPLE. They got back to Alan’s launch in a few moments. He seated her in the stern of the boat, where she half reclined with her wings spread out a little behind her. So assid- uous was she—and so facile—in her task of learning English, that before she would let him start the motor she had learned the names of many of the new objects in sight, and several verbs connected with his actions of the moment. There was a large tarpaulin in the launch, and this Alan wrapped about the girl’s shoulders. He did not want her vivid red wings to be seen by any one as they passed down the bayou. Finally they started off. Professor Newland’s home was some three miles from the village of Bay Head, on the shore of a large bay which opened into the Gulf of Mexico. The bayou down which they were heading flowed into this bay near where the house stood. Their home was quite isolated, Alan thought with satisfaction. ‘There was no other habita- tion nearer than Bay Head except a few negro shacks. With the girl’s wings cov- ered he could take her home and keep her there, in absolute conclusion, without caus- ing any comment that might complicate things. On the way down the bayou the girl showed extreme interest in everything about her. She seemed to have no fear, trusting Alan implicitly in his guidance and protec- tion of her in this strange world. She con- tinued her questions; she laughed frequent- ly, with almost a childlike freedom from care. Only once or twice, he noticed, as some thought occurred to her, the laughter died away, her face suddenly sobered, and a far-away, misty look came into her beau- tiful eyes. Alan sat close beside her in the stern, steering the launch and occasionally pulling the tarpaulin back onto ‘her shoulders when it threatened to slip off because of her im- petuous gestures. They saw only a few negroes as they passed down the bayou, and these paid no particular attention to them. Within an hour Alan had the girl safely inside the bungalow, and was introducing her, with excited: explanations, to his astonished fa- 497 ther and sister, who were just at that moment sitting down to breakfast. CHAPTER VII. THE MERCUTIAN CAMP. S I saw Mercer fall to the floor of the porch a sudden rage swept over me. I struggled violently with the three men pinning me down. ‘They appeared very much weaker than I, but even though I could break their holds the three of them were more than a match for me. The man who was standing inactive, and who I realized had struck down Mercer in ‘some unknown, deadly way, appeared to be the leader. Once, as one of my assailants made some move, the import of which the leader evidently understood, but. which I did not, I heard him give a sharp com- mand. It occurred to me then that if I offered too much resistance—if it seemed I was likely to get away from them—I might possibly be struck as swiftly as Mer- cer had been. So I gave up abruptly and lay still. They must have understood my motive— or perhaps they felt that I was not worth the trouble of taking alive—for immediate- ly I stopped struggling they unhanded me and rose to their feet. I stood up alsc, deciding to appear quite docile, for the time being at any rate, until I could comprehend better with what I had to contend. The man who appeared to be their leader issued another command. One of the men with whom I had been struggling imme- diately stepped a few feet away, out of my reach, I knew he had been told to guard’ me. He kept just that distance away there- after, following my movements closely and seeming never to take his eyes off me for a moment. IT had opportunity now to inspect these strange enemies more closely. ‘The leader was the tallest. He was about five and a half feet in height, I judged, and fairly stocky. The others were all considerably shorter—not much over five feet, perhaps. All were broad-framed, although not stout to any deeree approaching, fatness. yes PP con inoue conn