Show loop george percival SYNOPSIS val algernon jones zones vice president dent of the metropolitan oriental meg rug company of new york thirsting for romance ot nance ie Is in cairo on a business trip bryanne arrives at the hotel in cairo with a carefully guarded bundle bryanne sells jones the famous holy thi ordes rug which he admits having stolen from a pasha at bagdad jones meets major callahan and later Is introduced to fortune Ched soye by a woman to whom he had loaned IN pounds at monte carlo rome n oaths previously and who turns out to be fortune fortunes s mother jones takes mr ira Cheda Ched oye soye and fortune to a polo game fortune returns to jones the money borrowed by her mother mrs Ched soye appears to be err engaged in some mysterious enterprise unknown to the daughter CHAPTER VI vl continued some one was sitting down beside him it was bryanne in evening clothes immaculate blase pink cheeked there are some men so happily framed that they can don r ready eady made suits without calling your atten tion to the tact fact george saw at once that tha the adventurer was one of these fortunate ort individuals makes a rather good picture to look took at eh began bryanne rolling a flake tobacco cigarette dance no nc wish I 1 could you youve ve done quick work with admiring inspection not a flaw anywhere how do you do it thanks thanks to you I 1 might say I 1 did some tall hustling bustling though strange how we love these funeral tog geries we follow the dance and we follow the dead with never a variation in color the man who in vented the modern modem evening clothes must have done good business during the day as chief mourner why don t you send tor for your lug gage bryanne caressed his chin my luggage Is I 1 believe in the hands of the enemy it Is of no great import ance I 1 never carry anything orealue save my skin I 1 in not like the villain in the melodrama no incriminating documents no lost wills no directions tor or digging up pirates gold I 1 suppose you 11 soon be off oft tor for America 7 9 george asked indifferently y I 1 suppose so by the way I 1 sa saw w you at the game today no not where were you top row I 1 am going to osk ak a favor of you it may sound rather odd to spur ears but I 1 know those two ladles ladies rather well I 1 kept out of the way till I 1 could find some clothes the favor I 1 ask Is that you will not tell them anything regarding the ctr cir cum stances of our meeting I 1 am known to them as a globetrotter globe trotter and a collector that a too bad said george con you don t believe 7 my friend I 1 believe in all things that haven t been proved impossible you ve been knocking about here long enough to know something of the tenacity of the arab and the east in dian than given a just cause an idol s eye or a holy carpet and they 11 fol low you round the world ten times it if need be I 1 never worry needlessly but I 1 lay out before me all the points of the game there Is one man in bag dad who will never cease to think of me this fellow Is an arab mahomed el gebel by name the real article proud and savage into whose keeping the holy Yh lordes was given ma homed el gebel the pasha a right hand a sheik in his own right but you haven t got the rug now no mr jones I 1 haven t but on the other hand you have so here we are together when he gets through with me your turn george laughed bryanne grew thoughtful over this sign percival val algernon did not seem exactly wor ried arent you a little afraid I 1 why should I 1 bea inquired george innocently certainly what ever your arab friends friend s arguments may be moral or physical I 1 im in going to keep that Yh lordes was he bluffing bryanne wondered did he hd really have nerva nerve well within forty eight hours there would come a test say do you know I 1 rather wish you d been with me on mat trip that is if you like a rough game bryanne said this in all sincerity I 1 have never been in a rough game as you call it but I 1 ive ve often had a strong desire to be just to find out tor for myself what sort of a duffer duff er I 1 am bryanne had met this sort of man be fore the fellow who w anted to know what stuff he was made of and was ready to risk his hide to find out his experience had taught him to expect nothing of the man who knew just what he be was going to do in a crisis did you ever know mr jones said bryanne his eyes humorous that there Is an organization in this world of ours a company that offers a try out to men of your kidney what s that what do you mean meana what I 1 say there Is an established concern which will upon application for a liberal purchase of stock ar range any kind of adventure you wish what george drew in his legs and sat up what sort of a jolly la Is this 9 you put your finger upon the one great obstacle no one will believe that such a concern exists yet it Is a fact and why not arx 4 va ar 1 4 1 ak AW f and you arent afraid to admit it tritely but I 1 have already told them the devil you have bryanne drop per his cigarette into the ash tray it if t remember rightly you asked me to eay say nothing I 1 know said george visibly cm em barra barr seed assed 1 I forgot well the tat fat Is in the fire I 1 dare eay say that I 1 can get round it it was risky women like to talk I 1 expect every hour to hear bear of some one ar riving from bagdad there s no boat from that direction till next week informed george who was a stickler on timetables time tables a 4 there are other ways of getting into egypt know anything about tracing carels car elsa els S because it wouldn t be real it would be going to the moon a la coney island wrong absolutely wrong it I 1 told you o 0 that I 1 am a stockholder in this company company and that the adventure of the Ih lordes ordes rug was arranged for my special benefit what would you saya say say george turned a serious countenance toward the adventurer why the bhole thing Is absurd on the face of it As a joke it might go but as a genuine affair utterly imps sible no quietly I 1 admit that it bounds sounds absurd yes but ten years ago they d have locked up as insane a man vi nho he said that he lie could fly but U Y H SOU ML AO TN T N go of HEARTS AND cap TA JA THE BOX 4 ay iy maj art par P 1911 19 av y 5 ERRILL COMP COMPANY Ariy I 1 J I 1 think of last summer at paris at rheims at frankfort the continental air was full of 0 flying machines bah its pretty difficult to impress the av mind with something new why t we cater to the poetic the romantic side c man mana weve con cerns for everything else the fact Is mediocrity Is always standing be hind the corner with brickbats for the initiative believe me or not mr jones but this company exists the moot Is that you have the rug and I 1 have the scars but in these prosaic times mur inured george still skeptical prosaic times sniffed sniff ed bryanne there a one of your brickbats they sw swung ung it at the head of the first print er prosaic times my friend this Is the most romantic and bewildering age humanity has yet seen there s more romance and adventure going about on wheels and steel bottoms than ever there was in the days of drake and the spanish galleons there s an adventure lurking round the nearest corner romance too what this organization does is to direct you after that you have to shift for your self but like a first rate physical in tor they never map out more than a man can do they gave me the rug your bones on such a quest would have been bleaching upon the banks ot of the tigris what the deuce Is this company called george was enjoying the con vers atlon immensely the united romance and adaven ture company ltd of london paris and new york have you any of the company s paper with you youa george his laughter because bryanne s face was serious enough unfortunately no but if you will give me your banker bankers s address ill be pleased to forward you the knauth and kuhne kuhns I 1 am shortly leaving for home better send it to new york I 1 say suppose a chap buys an adventure that is not up to the mark can be return it or exchange it tor for an another otherl 7 no it its a all chance you know the rules of the game are steel bound we find you ou an adventure it a up to you to make good but once more suppose a chap gets a little too rough a game and doesn doean t turn up for his dividends what thena in that event answered bryanne sadly the stock reverts to the gen eral fund george lay back in his chair and let go hia his laughter you are mighty good company mr bryanne well well well we 11 say nothing more about it but a moment gone you spoke as it if you were game for an ex I 1 still am but if I 1 I 1 new the ad venture was prearranged as you say and I 1 was up against a wall there would be the inclination to cable the firm for more instructions rainne ily inne himself laughed this time that s a good idea I 1 don t believe the company ever thought of such a contingency but I 1 repeat our busl bust ness Is to give you the kick off after that you hae to fight for your own downs the stock again laughing scarcely one man tells another as I 1 tell you and so on you send me the prospectus I 1 in rather curious to have a look at it 1 I certainly shall do so replied bryanne with gravity ah ali here come mrs and her daughter it you don t mind ill make myself scarce I 1 do not care to see them just now after your hav ing told them about the stolen Yh lordes I 1 ru sorry said george rising eagerly its it s all in the game gallantly george saw him gracefully ma ne beiver iver his way nay round the crush to ward the stairs leading to the bar really he would like to know more about this amiable free freelance lance As the old fellows used to say he little dreamed that destiny one of those things from Pan pandora doras s box was pre paring a deeper and more intimate acquaintance and what has been amusing you mr jones asked mrs Ched soye I 1 saw you laughing I 1 was talking with the rug chap he s a droll fellow he said that he had met you somewhere but con eluded not to renew the acquaintance since I 1 told him that his adventure in part was known to you that is foolish I 1 rather enjoy meeting men of his stamp don t you fortune sometimes with a dry little smile I 1 believe we have met him mother there was something ta fa millar about hia his head of course we saw him only from a distance I 1 do not think there Is any real harm in him said george what made me laugh was a singular apropo he set before me he said be he owned stock in a concern called the united romance and adventure corn pany and that for a specified sum of money one could have any adventure one pleased did you ever hear of such a cried the mother merrily for tune searched her face keenly the united romance and adventure corn com pany panya he must have been joking what did you say his name isa Is avanne joking Is my idea exact ly george agreed the scheme Is to plunge the stockholder into a areal real ahe adventure and then let him pull himself out the best way he can sounds good he added that this rug business was an instance of the sue cess of the concern there goes the music do you miss ched soyea blittle A little fortune was acu pled she was wondering what lay behrnd mr air bryanne s amiable jest go along both of you said mrs Ched soye I 1 am too old to dance I 1 prefer watching people she sat down and arranged herself comfort ably she was always arranging her self comfortably it was one of the se crets of her perennial youth she was very lovely but george had eyes tor for the daughter only mn mr ched soye saw this but was not in the least chagrined it is so many years since I 1 tripped the light fantastic toe george con fessel reluctantly and nervously now that he had bravely committed him self it Is quite possible that the accent will be primarily upon the trip perhaps then replied the girl who truthfully was out of tune per haps I 1 had better get my wraps and well we 11 go outside the night is florl ous she couldn t have suggested any thing more to his liking and so after a little hurrying about the two people went outside and began to promenade slowly up and down the mole their conversation akas as deall tory george had dropped back into his shell and the girl was not equal to the task of drawing him out once he stumbled over a sleeping beggar and would have fallen had she not caught him by the arm thanks I 1 im in clumsy its it s rather difficult to see them in the moonlight their rags match the pavements the egyptian night that darkness which the flexible tion peoples with lovely and terrible shades or floods with mystery and ro mance and wonder lay softly upon this strip of 0 verdure aslant the des ert s face the valley of the nile the moon round brilliant strangely near suffused the scarred old visage of the world with phantom silver the stones of the parapet glowed dully the pave ment glistened whitely all things it touched with gentleness lavishing beauty upon beauty mellowing uell ness or effacing it the deep blue mie nile beribboned with the glancing lights from the silent feluccas curling musically along the s des of the frost like and steamers rolled on to the sea and the blue white arc ako lamps spanning the greatt great nile bridge took the semblance of or a pearl necklace from time to time a cara cars van trooped across the bridge into cairo do you care tor for poetry mr jur jones 19 f 1 I used to write it and you aren t afraid to admit ita anell ell I 1 t confess the deed to every one he answered frankly we all write poetry at one time or another but its it s generally not conati tut lonal ional and we recover I 1 do not see why any one should be ashamed of writing poetry ah ali but there is poetry and poetry my vy kind and byron a Is born of kin dred souls but he was an active genius whereas I 1 wasn gasn t even a pas sive one in all great poets I 1 find my own rejected thoughts as emerson says and that a enough for my slen der needs poets ire lre rather buncom foi table chaps to have round they are capricious irritable temperament al selfish and usually demand all the attention I 1 iff he little vocal stream died up again and once more they listened to the magic sounds of the night she stopped abruptly to look oter cier the para pars pet and his shoulder met hers atter after that the world to him was never going to be the same again moonlight and poetry not the safest channels to sail uncharted the girl was lonely and george was lonely too his longing had now assumed a definite form hers moved from this to that still indefinitely the quick ness with which this definition had come to george rather startled him his first sight of fortune Ched soye soyo had been but yesterday yet here he was not desperately but consciously in love with her the situation bore against all precepts it ripped up his preconceived ideas of romance as a gale at sea shreds a canvas he ile felt a bit panicky he had al always ways planned a courtship of a year or so meetings separations and cleasur able expectations little junkets to the aters and country places in brief to witness the rose grow and untold somewhere be he bad had read or heard that courtship cour thip was the plummet which sounded ded the depths oi of compatibility he ile knew nothing of fortune ched soye save that she was beautiful to his eyes and that she was AS different from the ordinary run of girls as yon der moon waa was from the stars stare again she stopped leaning over the parapet and staring down at the wa ter swirling past the stone embank ment he did likewise resting upon his folded arms suddenly his tongue became alive and quietly without hesitancy or embarrassment he began to tell her oi 0 his school life alte his life at a t home and the manner in which he spoke of his mother warmed her and she was strangely and wonder angly attracted of course the mother meant the best in the world when she gave me percival val algernon and because she meant the best I 1 have rarely tried to hid |