Show 1 I yellow men med slee by JEREMY LANE Cy Tight by TIC C CHAPTER IX continued 13 con had bad not known where his comrade was lodged ile he became sure of the voice the three guards perhaps athirst or tor for some like reason imely valid with trios of men nt at niem were not holding their post of duty for the stairway was empty A talk aith ith andrew march was worth a blk it was necessary if 1 they were to work together for escape they would rheed a policy to guide their remaining days in captivity anything was better than these brooding meditations alone flonc the fire in the young prisoners veins focused to some purpose lie he descended the stairs but at the foot of them discovered that they had br brought aught him no nearer the voice in facts fact there were other voices unpleasantly near lie ile went up again and leaned over his wall to learn how the monkey climbed up and down so readily quite certainly now he heard ills hl friend talking the stars were a cool faint light upon the lie walls which were rough hem lie could distinguish the ledge of a window below him halfway half halt way to the ground he knotted the lie silken cloths claths from the lie divan in n the first room and fastened one end ot of this soft rope to the stone bench it was not difficult to let himself dorn over the rim of wall casing the strain by pressing his knees into the depressions of masonry ills toes loes found the ledge edge ile he grimly hoped that he hild had hoard heard aright that march was really tear dear the window I 1 was as open the prayer stopped hello I 1 the stillness of the whole eaith to oi 01 legate just at this window ledge then a hand touched him oud and march whispered dont talk the elder prisoner moved back into the darkness while con came in at the window suddenly there began a scramble ecra nible with stormy blows and a rattle march was at grips with his guiard guard having taken for granted that levington meant to attempt escape con sensed this mistake but it was not a time lime for explanation ile he stepped forward uncertainly hs his hands feint az I 1 3 I 1 in 68 gloom he leapt at the larger form ferm a desert soldier whose arms anns whipped about like falling failing trees ing tor for battle in the gloom he leaped at the larger form a desert soldier arms whipped plied about like falling trees three throats strained tor for breath but it was waa the warrior who ho smothered under a white mans hand band ile he bit cons palm and that closed the brief battle for it angered levington and he be sent in its his free hand the huge SOU son tf tau xuan kuan collapsed colla the figure of 0 a woman darted from a shadowy cornor she was moaning softly and her ber robe fluttered as she ran out she will give an alarm said marcs march panting your kurdish fri friend enil 1 yei ye she hates me as much as they do because you refused 1 without further words the two prisoners mounted the window ledge glanced back through the darkness at the motionless guard a hulking silent figure in dense shadow and dropped to nie earth their tall fall was considerable it racked their legs but pain was over looked ook cd in haste they ran close under the western ettern rt wall of the palace turning it at the north end across the broad lawn to the lane beyond which were the he dwellings of the lighters fighters all was dark they met no P tinel the desort desert required watching they sped over the heavy dust of the street anil ant gained the high arched gate A wory worn ladder was looked hooked here for antique knittle tin atle uses from F rom the top of the they glanced down at an oil ti jump and took it IL side by side they ran following the trail of the pack camels behind them within the nalls nails the aged crier of the hours sent up his voice full to trembling with the news and arousing every soldier a bar of hollow brass clanged out into the sleeping city we tipped over the bumblebees bumble bees said con CHAPTER X gemmed gemmec eyes square patches of koresh lay on each side ot of the trail the mines were perhaps a mile or less to eastward and beyond that ridge an infinity of shifting dry naught the stars sent a pallor that was dilT diffused used in the fog from the ditches at night these lowlands about the city were cool the black i iague ague hill that was the palace was waa receding into the gloom as the two hastened on the net of distant cries was spreading do you suppose suggested levington that we can keep under rover cover and perhaps manage to get a beast of 0 some kind and then sprint for the water hole con realized very well that the nearest water hole was a matter of days once they left the zone of fertility food was yet to be considered and a city was rising to seek them out find and punish but he felt the need of cheering his friend we can get into the vineyard he continued with enthusiasm lie he did not feel and the fruit will serve for water too and lay for a carnel camel and you still have the guidebook on your foot andrew march laughed miserably ile he saw what his friend ans trying to do why not knock at the gates said march and demand water and provisions for our return trip well we blundered out here sald said levington and halt the planet was bucking us stones for rain and spinning dust instead of a breeze with a few robber giants on the side so maybe we can break away for home a again gaan 1 I dont mean to be sarcastic said march very humbly 1 I understand you you are trying to make me feel happier but I 1 do not dodge the responsibility I 1 was grossly selfish my work and all my hopes led me here and I 1 wanted a partner to face the gobi some one strong and young who take himself seriously some one with the ability to lose decently it had to be tin an artist you T w ere the one I 1 found but I 1 did not want it to mean sacrifice I 1 made myself believe we should not actually lose I 1 held certain dreams they were anere beautiful they baited you as they baited me long ago and always but I 1 am done with dreaming tau xuan kuan is death to all dreams except that yellow fantasy itself it is so cold do you linw N hati wean moan the hand that guides it is the archetype of inflexible purpose the empire is not contained within the walls it spreads beyond the gobi into dory street yes and further a web of horror it does not spring from life the only human being within those walls has been slowly find and fully poisoned she can never know life you have seen that march paused and levington shivered they into the darkness ahead one direction seemed as Is unprofitable as another far to the rear the base of the palace showed red in torch reflection and the brazen gong ceased its pulse of alarm march asked will you try to forgive me con spoke quietly you are forgetting something you tire are the difference between the past and future to me suppose I 1 had bad found my man that night away back in cincinnati I 1 should have far thicker walls bothering toe me tonight and all the rest of my nights why do you forget that you are the man who got me out of all that you were a federal of licer and ought to have jailed me instead I 1 owe every minute of my freedom to you I 1 dont know now I 1 why by I 1 wanted to shoot him up I 1 cant recall his name or his face but I 1 was out to get him and would have finished strong only you came in front of me and why I 1 never began to live until after you took me home that night I 1 1 I used to stand on rush street bridge in chicago and it I 1 was nas far enough gone I 1 could think I 1 was looking at the thames and the lights of the shipping or id think I 1 was an arabian caliph nosing about my own city at night only it needed a big thirst to shift the globe around that way and make a greek waiter look like the king of Abb amede in disguise ive looked over toward brooklyn and told myself I 1 was on the bund at shanghai but it be done that way I 1 was close to the tha rocks you seemed to I 1 know now what I 1 wanted you opened the world do you think I 1 would back up even if I 1 could you did not balt bait me it was understood that I 1 should probably die along the way in the gobi its been a grand passage thanks boy returned the elder man and in the twilight their h ands fiands met and gripped an instant whatever turmoil was imaginable the city the America nii were too far away to hear it and the secrecy of the dark gave them a kind of leisure with also a stimulation they continued rapidly beside the pray gray ditches not particularly heedful of direction they jumped over the intersecting arms of irrigation and nt at moments caught the low gurgle of springwater it occurred to con that his borrowed eastern garments were very practical the firm brond broad sash and twisted breeches gave support as he cleared the ditches the sandals were snug and curiously satisfactory ile he was ans not so sure that he was wholly a western person lie be no longer marveled nt at his blouse with its inner pockets and folds once he thought that an advance guard of the pursuers had overtaken en them they stopped short to listen but heard nothing march was uneasy con who felt that there was nothing further to be lost was almost indifferent ne ile could not think his way clear it was grimly unpleasant to remember what they had done to marahs guard but one crime more or less in the eyes ol of did not matter now there came the sense of some one behind them but were there was no sound in the pale breath of the ditches con noted a low shape like a dog across the nearest ditch quickly a second joined it two figures hurtled out of the gloom and landed at the white roans mans feet they were the hunched and deformed little men of the sand hills a dozen or more and they broke into talking their arms were like metal bands upon lenington the gong had bad readied reached them and brought them thein up out of their warrens it they were animated by curiosity and a natural malice more than by the idea of re reward Ivard struggle was unavailing these miners had terrible arms despite bodies that were shrunken and grotesque march was speaking in nathe dialect levington was borne off his feet lifted over the last ditch and then deftly stretched face downward upon the sand march was pleading ng the hills bills were near con did not understand the appeal march was making but was surprised at the force of 0 it they were listening reluctant like sonic soma blind evil tinned aside for a moment march went on fer fen antly points of light were low toward the city the torches coming out it seemed that the gray haired mans argument had an effect tor for levington was picked up tip as before and carried in the contusion confusion he saw that they were not going in the direction of the city the bones of their shoulders hurt ills back ne ile was unable to turn forty paces of this and they paused march repeated his phrases levington was allowed to stand upon his feet but ills hands were held then the group ran with him up the hill what did you say inquired con 1 I reminded them that they have no more love for the city than we and that our enemy is their enemy what made you think of that they tire are worse P tins this was cut short ns as the workers let go cons wrists and lie pitched feet first into perfect blackness the fall was giddy then a scramble down tin an incline of loose earth choking with naith the dust lie could not guess to what depth lie he was sliding something came down upon his head and this was andrew march you asked them to take us in yes it occurred to me that they do not love their masters I 1 referred to that and promised everything I 1 could think of if 1 they would not turn us over to the horsemen the center of the world gave forth a i speck peck of light that was a torch the party that had come up at the summons of the distant gong was close about the white men again at the base of the shaft which seemed endlessly large and other torches were coming nearer out of blaic biasness ness still it was not dot clear to cork con why the miners did not t take a ke them to the city the hovering figures in the cavern seemed half afraid half march was doing his best in chinese the torches threw a serried glare on the rock walls of the underground passage it was low but very wide in another chamber to which the prisoners were mere led the roof was higher of ragged sandstone and the floor had bad been swept here was the settlement of workers every one deformed below the shoulders out of the red lighted press of these came a figure but slightly more erect than his fellow fellon s lie ile was dark of skin but ills hn eyes were full and did not lant mant i or cindi pindi ills his bared bai pd throat was significant of atren strength th and poise from no mean ancestry but his knees locked and jointed pitifully as from some calamitous accident friend he said in a low voice it aias as music to hear beat the english Iu glIsh word the miners were waving a ving torches of bitumen over their large heads the length and agility of their arms was apelike ape like ille they looked to be a race or of asiatic chan chang changelings clings elings their liala calr colled into little caps one or two showing queues and all with the he peculiar malformation of oe spine every pye eye upon levinston Levi Levna naton lori amend refea OM they come for you said the dark skinned person who stood before the th crowd down here yes tes all where hide us give ns as protection friend yes you say bay you befriend us the speaker turned to march who answered yes teg we will it if you protect us now we come from the most powerful country in the world help us return to it no not no 1 said the dark faced man 1 I beg of you I 1 urged mareb march gobi too big too big talk of that later but hide 0 away now they see your footprints footprInt st and ask us ua what say that we were killed and thrown in the ditches yes tes said the speaker of english he turned to confer with several others in a rapid monotone con said to his friend what la 18 he looks arabian replied march the speaker had bad heard the word and lie he turned sharply with a smile parting ills his alps from the waist up he was a handsome man of forty yes res arab he be said fifteen big iwas I 1 was at sea I 1 know your country saint lawrence buffalo niagara magara falls offered levington ali ah besl exclaimed the bailor Fallor from araby he smiled more broadly at the recollection twenty year yes yea twenty that does she fall continue yes tes replied con joining in the smile how did you come here OCa caravan ravan the sea weary me fifteen years more now caravan from I 1 wf 6 0 I 1 y 5 friend he said in a low voice Dja robed ali ah I 1 she never destination never the riders appear one GUY day at evening you know 1 I know assured levington they spoil me said the arab glancing down humorously at his spoiled legs and con winced but come my two friends the relief was dreamlike to con ile he realized that no physical effort on ills his own part could help in fact he was perilously near to trusting in god and this seafaring arab who lie had alf teen scars ears ago answered the rail call of the sha 1 mo was the very land hand of providence con wondered how strong the hand might be the desert seemed further away to be under und andert ert jt hut but in memory lie could hear the trant singing of the hollow brass through the right night chee ming would tot cot give up easily there seemed a limitless multitude of the earth dwellers moving in quiet dl disorder order through the cavern everywhere levington had an uncanny sense of being under the crust of the earth they led him to an adjoining chamber as large as the entire palace the floor of this second cavern was riven across and a long greenish line of flame wit wavered verel in the file warn warm sir air through and between the gently leaping blaze he saw a great host of facek the gas hissed as it was consumed along the lips of the rock and cast an expansive glow |