The Argosy, March 1907 — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

} y euba« eae | saa tte cat 7h 4 rks st tt Ay é tps! ‘7 rite PSNe) DA Dd ire. at hal’ Ds ake rial" t, t bd "os - 4 pretty imperiousness, “ _ neers, how their respective positions had for _the time become so completely reversed. And as he wondered a sense of shame awoke within him at his own past be- _ havior toward the girl. Madge at last found herself momen- tarily alone with Colonel Stewart, a big, soldierly man of the dragoon type, who had stayed close by her side from the first. “Tell me,” she commanded, with who are some of these people? I mean the famous ones, you know, I’ve been so busy talking all evening I’ve had no time to look around. That stout old gentleman in the pirate make-up, over there, for instance. Is he——” “Hush!” laughingly whispered Stew- art; “he is a very important being, and his uniform is quite correct. Not in the least like a pirate’s. That is Selamlik Pasha, the most powerful man in Egypt, next to the Khedive. See, he is speaking to His Highness the Khedive now. The heavily built fair man in the Guards’ uniform, next to him, is Sir Herbert Stewart. And there, just beyond “Oh, who is the giant over there?” She was nodding toward a youngish man who strolled across their line of vision. He was in the dress uniform of a captain in the British. Royal Engi- and stood head and_ shoulders above most of the natives about him, being at least six feet four inches in his stockings. He was lean, with the leanness of vast endurance ; his harsh face was burned brick-red by many months of desert cam- paigning, and between the sweeping sandy mustache and the shaggy sandy brows eyes as cold and as stern as a hawk’s blazed keenly forth on the world _ -at large. “That?” queried Stewart, following the direction of Madge’s gaze. ‘Oh, that’s Captain Horace Kitchener, one of her majesty’s officers out here on special duty. Odd chap, is Kitchener. Ideal soldier, but more lke a machine than a man. The sort of fellow who is likely to make his mark some day. But there, just behind him, is one of the ‘lions’ of the Tevee.”’ “That pompous-looking officer with the wooden features? The one who just THE ARGOSY. ignored the salute of those young sub: alterns? Who is he?” ““That=as~ Sir— Garnet Wolseley—or, rather, Viscount Wolseley, as he is now. You’ve heard of him, of course. He, like General Gordon, is merely making a flying visit to Cairo. He is the hero of Tel-el-Kebir, you know. There! those are all the real celebrities in sight just at this moment.”’ ‘Colonel Stewart,” asked the girl sud- denly, ‘did you ever hear of a man named Abou Saoud?”’ The soldier’s face darkened. ‘Where did you ever hear .of old Abou?” he inquired, surprised. ‘“I—I’ve heard the name, I think,” evaded Madge. ‘‘ Who or what is he?” ‘““He’s a number of things. But they can all be summed up in the one word ‘S8lackguard.” He was one of the most notorious slave-traders in the old days in the Sudan. Then General Gordon stamped out the slave-trade there, and on Abou’s solemn pledge of reform gave the man honorable employment on_ his staff. Soon he found Abou was betray- ing him, smuggling slaves through the lines, taking bribes, and extorting tribute in his employer’s name, and even con- spiring against the general’s life. A less noble man would have had the cur shot. But Gordon Pasha contented himself with dismissing him on condition that he leave Egypt forever. Wherever he is now, he is doubtless hatching some new deviltry. Pardon me an instant. The general is signaling me.’ -As he moved away, and before any of: a half-dozen waiting swains could take his place, Barry Clive strode across. ‘Miss Brant,’’ he said curtly, as the girl. looked up in surprised displeasure, “I wish to ask your forgiveness for my rudeness of last night. I was a cad. I should like you to give me‘an oppor- tunity to prove how sorry I am.” His tone was ungracious, and robbed his words of much of their contrition. Yet Madge could see that in a measure he was in earnest. — “Please say no more about it,’ she said quietly. ‘““T never apologized to any one be- fore,’ he went on, with the same sulky expression of face and voice, ‘and I hoped you’d meet me half-way.” ECOMIEDOOKS.CO