Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 1, 1922 — page 85: what you’re looking at

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

THE JU-JU MAN. of a litter. Then he and Fred Rushton strolled away together in a gloomy silence that neither cared to break. Fred mechanically drew his pipe from his pocket and commenced to fill it. His spirit was temporarily overwhelmed by this dis- astrous blow to the expedition, and his face revealed his depression. He was not aroused from his moody reflections until he felt M’Buli’s black hand on his shoulder. Rushton glanced at the friendly face of the native, who bared two flashing rows of white teeth in a smile of encouragement. The chief touched Fred’s breast and then his own, and waved his hand westward, where lay the Pallaballa Mountains. : “You an’ me!” he said. ‘ We fella good enough!” A wave of fresh confidence swept through ‘Rushton’s body as he caught the chief’s hand in a grip that hurt. “’ M’Buli,” he cried, “‘ you’re a brick!” The words meant nothing to the Bata- teke, but his smile grew even broader as he tenderly separated his aching fingers. CHAPTER X. THE CLAW OF A LEOPARD. HE momentary light that flashed from Burk’s eyes as he strode into her tent without warning would have been suf- ficient in itself to put Celia upon her guard, even if she had not already suspected the worst of her giant captor. All that was base in the man was revealed by that in- voluntary glance, which swept her from head to foot in an appraising fashion remi- niscent of the slave market. An instant later she might have thought herself mistaken, that she had only im- agined the brief revelation of his real char- acter. His twisted features took on an ex- pression that upon a more normal face would have been one of delicate sympathy, and his cavalier manner, losing its tinge of mockery, became almost deferential. “T’ve come to tell you some things you should know, Miss Celia,” he announced solemnly. He advanced toward her as he spoke, and the girl promptly backed away from him. Senses. 875 “Please don’t be afraid of me. Sure, I’m the best fried you have in the world, Miss Celia.” Her lip curled. ‘“‘T’m not afraid of snakes,” she retorted bitterly, “ but I don’t let them come near me.” He laughed, but winced, nevertheless. “IT only admire you the more when you talk like that,” he assured her airily. “‘ Give me a girl with spirit every time; ’tis no trick at all to break a jadded mare.” She listened with a grim tightening of her lips, her eyes holding his with a vigi- lant regard. Her hands were thrust with seeming carelessness into the side pockets of her shooting jacket, and the fingers of one were closed caressingly upon the butt of the ivory-handled revolver that consti- tuted her sole defense. The feel of the weapon gave her confidence, for she knew that if the worst came to the worst she could kill this man as easily as she could place her foot upon a white ant and crush out its life; in her present frame of mind it did not matter to her that a second bullet must find its lodgment in her own brain if she would escape the swift vengeance of his companions. But meanwhile— ‘‘ If you are such a good friend of mine,” she said in a low, hard voice, “ perhaps you will tell me the meaning of all this. Where is my mother?” “‘ She is with the saints, Miss Celia, where her spitit is at rest.” Her heart contracted and a cry of pain was wrung from her trembling lips. His words only confirmed her fears, but the -blow was still a heavy one. She sank de- jectedly upon one end of the pile of blankets that comprised her bed, temporarily off her guard and heedless of the man’s menacing presence. In that moment she was at his mercy, and he knew it, but he was in no mood to take advantage of her stricken His cunning brain had devised a network of falsehood for her trapping, and he had no desire to gain his ends by brute force if he could master her by lies. He seated himself quietly upon the other end of the roll of blankets, the very picture of sorrow and contrition. “ 1’d best make a clean tale of the whole comicloool C©