Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 146 No. 4 — page 43: what you’re looking at

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oy, DOWN THE COAST OF BARBARY. Regaining his feet he hurled himself into the obscurity. From ahead he heard run- ning feet, then the slam of a door. Realiz- ing that his pursuit was folly, Spence re- turned to the Levantine, took the man by the throat, and shook him savagely. “Lead me to that man, Gholam Mah- moud!” he cried, hoarse with anger. The Levantine blurted out that he knew nothing of such a man; there were many in the tavern; how should he know which was meant? He knew nosuchname. Mis- tress Betty, who had caught up the fallen lantern, interposed. “We are in no position to seek trouble, Captain Spence. I pray you, let this matter drop, at least until our friends arrive!” Spence released the host. “You are right,” he said. “ Yet that man was watching us, and saw your face when you stumbled. However, let it be!” Disposing the girl in her quarters, Spence joined Yimnah in the outer chamber and wearily flung himself on his pallet. He could swear that he had seen the face of Gholam Mahmoud, the confidential agent of Ripperda, the man against whom Mulai Ali had warned him. Spence knew he had not erred. As he thought of how those distorted, coldly lustful features had peered at the face of Mistress Betty, those preda- tory and-malignant features, the American gripped his nails into his palms with im- potent rage. But finally he slept. In the thin grayness of morning Spence wakened to lie drowsily, eyes half closed. The drgne of Yimnah’s snores filled the room. Through this drone pierced a thin nasal cry from the minaret of the near-by mosque: “Come ye to prayer! Come ye to salvation! Devotion is better than sleep—”’ “ Here am I at thy call, oh, God!” mut- tered the eunuch, and stirred to his prayers. Spence rose, slipped on his shoes. He went to the balcony that overhung the street, opened the lattice, and stepped out- side for a breath of the morning air, t with mountain frost. | As he stood thus, drinking deeply into his lungs the keen air, he heard the creak of the tavern door from below. He glanced SA 513 idly downward, wondering who was astir at this hour of prayer. He sighted a figure —and started suddenly. A black burnoose! As though drawn by the slight movement above, the figure looked upward. From Spence broke a savage cry. “Ha, devil!” He was only ten feet above the street level, and unhesitatin@ly bestrode the bal- cony. The rotten wood crashed away be- neath him, yet he alighted on his feet and flung himself at Gholam Mahmoud. The latter, however, had already taken warning and was gone. Darting back into the doorway the man slipped through and slammed the door in the face of Spence. The American burst it open ere it could be bolted, and dashed into the courtyard. He saw the renegade ahead of him, leaping for the staircase. Sure of his prey, Spence gave no heed to the men around, but drove after Gholam Mahmoud, The latter reached the stairs slightly in the lead, took them two at a leap. Near the top he hurled a pistol under his arm; the heavy weapon struck Spence in the breast and threw him out of his stride for an instant. Aided by this respite the renegade gained the gallery and took to his heels. Pursuer and pursued were silent, for death lay be- tween them. ‘Three strides in the lead, Gholam Mahmoud sprang into a doorway, slammed the door, shot the bolt home. With a curse, Spence gathered momentum and hurled himself bodily at the wood. The door splintered visibly. Drawing back, he flung forward again. With a rending crash, the door was carried off its hinges, and Spence went staggering into the room beyond. He found it empty. Ahead Spence descried another door, through which the renegade must have gone. He did not pause, but flung himself bodily at it, and struck the door with all his weight in the blow. Where he had expected re- sistance he found none. The door drove open, lightly and freely. | This unlooked-for give threw Spence off bal- ance, sent him reeling into the room beyond, Something struck him a crashing blow be- hind the ear, and he fell in a limp heap— unaware even who had struck hin, | cComicbooks. com sae