Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 146 No. 4 — page 60: what you’re looking at

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ial 4 for I think you will tell the truth eat things.” So the man lied. Mistress Betty, sens- ing the lie from his very protests, went a shade whiter. There was no fear in her - answer, however. _ “ My lord, I am no wizard. To diagram the stars aright cannot be done in an hour or a day; I have no books to help me. Give 'me certain information, and in a week it ~ shall be done.” “A week!” repeated Ripperda. “ Well, have your way. I shall have two women slaves given you, and new quarters here. _ We leave an hour before the sunset prayer. I shall send a scribe to you at once; let him write down what information you desire for the horoscope, and I will send it to you ‘in an hour. Until night, rest, for we must travel fast.” So Mistress Betty went to her prison, and saw her friends no more. An hour before sunset Ripperda and his cavalcade departed. In the courtyard was riding and mounting; a horse litter was ready for Ripperda, another for Mistress Betty. Spence and Dr. Shaw, disarmed and bound, were dragged forth beside Rip- perda’s litter. From his curtained cushions, Ripperda glared out like some yenomous reptile at Shaw. “Smile on, fool!” said Ripperda acidly. “When the stake has pierced into your vitals and death is red before your eyes, remember Ripperda. Ho, there, amel!” The old governor came forward obsequi- ously. Ripperda pointed to Dr. Shaw. “When the muezzin cries for morning prayer, set this man upon a stake at the western gate. When he is dead, send his head to me in salt, that I may see whether he still smiled in death. Place the other man on a horse—forward, in the name of Allah!” Spence was tied into a high saddle. To eens re coece of Shae. " Scope, 4 : - ' ' oa ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Se take aioe, an Shaw the olive groves and the fields of gi “e a al- winding road that led north over the hori- zon to the sea. Thesea! How the of it pierced Spence at this moment! Himself tightly bound, destined to slay- ery; poor Shaw, impaled at the gate of Udjde; Mistress Betty, clenched in the grip of Ripperda and trusting to his treacherous word; and all these in the turn of a single day! “ A long score, Gholam Mahmoud,” mut- tered Spence thickly. “ This is your doing, somehow—a long score to settle—” So the sun sank from sight, and the day was done. CHAPTER XI. “ Fortuna—transmutat incertos honores.” little town of Adjerud, at the mouth of the Tafna River, was enjoy- ing a brief heyday of prosperity. Upon an eminence behind the village was camped the great Pasha Ripperda with his personal troops; he kept the roads busy with messengers to the camps at Oran in the east and Ceuta in the west. He had been here a week, and illness held him fast. Below the village, and by the deposition of fate camped between Ripperda and the shore, were a thousand wild Berber horse- men, come from Morocco to join the armies. Ripperda was holding them here, uncertain as yet where they were most needed. In the tiny port lay two ships. One was a small brigantine of Tetuan, Ripperda’s ship, manned by renegades like