The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

566 To do him justice, it was just as natu- ral for him to pursue with delicate at- tentions an habitué of Grant Road as it had been, under kinder stars, to send flowers to a débutante in St. John’s Wood. The handsome face and the blond cleanliness that had made him -the arbiter elegantiarum of a certain exclu- sive Hussar regiment gave him welcome in all the treaty ports, though not al- ways among the most exclusive circles; for Hemingway was looked upon some- what askance by the better elements in the English colonies since the day when, on the eve of Younghusband’s advance into Tibet, being selected for detail with that party, he had sent in his papers and had resigned from the service without vouchsafing a word of explanation. It took just that to kill him effectually among his craft, for no one is quicker than a soldier to detect shirking in a comrade. There followed letters from home that, while supplying him with means of livelihood, barred him effectually from revisiting, during his father’s life- time, the long, green slopes of the Men- dips or the blue waters of the Axe, for which his very soul longed with a long- ing that is not understood save by those in like case. He had reflected long upon the sug- gestion that he had made to Oakes be- fore he made the proposal. Thirty thou- sand pounds, good English pounds —his share of it—- would mean ease and luxury along the edge of Asia till such time as he could in decency return home. Perhaps he might explain—he could explain it satisfactorily. He had sim- ply tired of the life, and he had made eut his resignation before he had been notified that he was to accompany Younghusband, and after that obsti- nacy alone impelled him to refuse to do what was demanded of him—explain. And then his father, too, had as- sumed that there was something dis- creditable in the matter, and had never even asked him for his version of the THE ARGOSY. matter. He longed to hear once more the soft slurring of the cabs through London mud. The voices of the night —London night drew him with hands of iron; and ” Roweled him afresh toward the devil and the flesh as he turned away from the glass on this particular night after he had said good night to Oakes. Oakes was moved by a different feel- ing. He had met Hemingway casu- ally from time to time, and as the meet- ings grew more frequent he had grown to have a genuine liking for the tall Englishman. He knew him to be a remittance man, but he had met them all over the East and had found them in the main to be pleasant, companionable fellows. Decent enough men, withal, but who were cursed with the curse of Reuben: “Unstable as water, they shall not ex- cel.” The proposition of seeking for the buried gems he took little stock in and did not seriously consider. Either they must have been discov- ered long before or else Hemingway was unconsciously making “the wish the father to the thought ” in saying that they were worth sixty thousand pounds. Certainly he did not propose to neg- lect his own legitimate business in or- der to go chasing a will-o’-the-wisp over all north China. Still if he could give Hemingway a permanent place with him, that would give him occu- pation and that would pay his expenses and give him the chance he wanted to get to Peking, and at the same time give Burton and Oakes the benefit of a man who was familiar with many of -the coast dialects, he was more than will- ing to do it. Burton looked very grave when his partner told him the next morning of his plan to take Hemingway with him. “You don’t know a thing about him, Jim. He may be and probably is what they themselves call a ‘ Bounder ’ for all you know—” COMicdoo S CO@