| Show wj A 0 L IY e co 0 i THE FAR CALL synopsis apsie john levington a poet visionary and impractical and mary martin the daughter of 0 rich and worldly parents hear the call 0 of loe and unite their lives they go to a small michigan city where here john finds work in a stove factory and on sundays writes verses the martins try in vain to get at the happy wife to leave her husband mary begins to breathe for or two john loses his job lie ile appeals in vain to tile the martins mary goes to the hospital and never returns thus comes into the story cornelius levinton Levi nilton the father ather leaves town and the city tarnis farms out the child after two years the lather father returns and takes his little son with him on hll his woi wet id wide the father becomes addicted to a mysterious drug koresh with odors of wine and cinnamon and returns with little con to die on oil his iras grave con Is again farmed armed out grows grois up in the underworld and Is saved to better things by happy chance so much by way of introduction to the hero of the strange adventures of yellow men lien sleep these s be begin in when con takes by force a small leather sack from chee ming the chinese butler of an acquaintance 4 can you imagine yourself undertaking such a task as that given pi en con levington leanton a task from which you would probably never return CHAPTER 11 II continued 3 it was ivas andrew march who it had ad found him running wild I 1 one spring slight night in lower cincinnati with a gun speaking from ariell hand han d T the I 1 ie riot call was lit in andrew march had hy by the lie grace of god appeared beheld and understood the elder man hall had tile lie equinoctial madness of one whose hend head was filled with beauty the heart casslo passionate note for life and more inore of it the feet rebelling against the ugliness of payments pae ments march had hurried till ried him aw away ay anil and later inter at ills his leisure so soaked oil some of tile the deviltry out of tho the young frame steaming him clean and reasonable lie ile had find needed to be patient with levinston levington while the rioter found a new fenia tion called health presently the car turned in beneath an i vine covered archway and stopped nt at the door of a great house A lantern that was mellow t ind and friendly hung bung nt the step there was a terraced garden ging gently down to a pond far back from the road these terraces with lanes of roses and columbine columb ne were Leing tons respite from the wine bogged streets that wanted him marahs housekeeper mrs ames a cheerfully lazed dayed woman whose narrow body never recovered from the exer of yesterday opened the door to them they went directly to the stairs and uc ended to an open door from which firelight danced out into tile the hallway As they entered a very old man rut put down his book and turned to face them there were no glasses before ins ills eyes and through the pallor of age on ills his face showed yet a seasoned ell strength bength 1 I know it is epely tor for a fire I 1 was not cold he said smiling hut but there are certain thoughts one cannot think without a bank of coals to look into and my fire here has been out nearly four months yes and think of the people who can call always get along without an open grate said andrew lil march areli the very old man mail had the marine manner r of one who tins has found a vital peace filled with mith more than memories ills his bead was strangely long and something like nobility hovered about the wasted shoulders ne ile was vias the father of andrew march now the gray haired son closed the hall door and brought to his fathers the tiny leather packet ile HB said leving levington ton has done very well the father nodded and the light in his eyes meant long acquaintance with defeat Ie teat caught his features and turned them almost youthful the bit of leat leather lier was placed in ills hand and lie he drew from it a square of white silk it was mas tightly tr creased eased of firmest texture traced in purple upon one side as a line curiously crooked and trailing it was dotted and crinkled fanciful as some river of the moon along the margin of the silk certain chinese characters were etched this Is riot not a mantra as we had bad hoped at these words con felt a rush of disappointment lot but the old voice went on though thou it it may be of great help to us it Is a map the three men studied the purple line as it veered across the silk but only the oldest eldest could read the characters A mantra autra ro he haid bald would have been your passport with traders and thieves anti and they would try as always to deceive you direct you falsely it they wore were content not to murder whatever their hate of one al iother they longue against the traveler alio would pass their inner boundaries it would h hive lve been a bodily protection in ill th tt e desert tribes it if you lad managed to proc so fur far nu nut t or on this silk Is the route itself intended for lie file return journey of their messenger atiat what are the lie words all prayer signs save gave one which rends read shan sung you know the village age andrew stephen march s son knew it bitterly levington Lev lugton was trembling with eagerness the old man did not glance up from the silken map this begins at shan sung rind and runs westward each dot marks a days travel tr ael I 1 suppose in favorable circumstances no water is indicated until this point nearly a month into the west these faint stars show the lay of tile the hills len Ie ington N ans as asked to tell how he secured this treasure square you found the man for rne me replied con and that vias vas the most difficult part parl to nights ago I 1 waited on the kitchen roof of the wedgar louse until chee illig had finished reading his chinese newspaper ills window opens out upon the roof there are only treetops tree tops find and open spaces beyond and his privacy should have been perfect lie he neglected to drawl draw tile the curtain until after I 1 had seen the bit of leather hanging on ills his chest you hall had told me to expect something of the sort although he did not no raise it to ills his lips before retiring since this is not a mantra c ann cnn on cluder the old man here was tile the boundary of leving tons knonley knowledge oNlea e on the subject chee mo ming had been pointed out by andrew march and a task assigned con had reason to trust ills his new friend even if lie he felt that the march interests were remote and strong strangely ely secret the father leaned back in its his chair sighing ne he looked up lip at the grave face of ills bis son and said it may be the hand of god or it may be only the hope of our foolish hearts failure that at is never final but it seems andrew you have found another beginning the son bowed his head stephen ste p I 1 tell march added levington leving ton has indeed ili leed done do ne ery aery well ivell both father and son quietly regarded the young man before them it seemed as if they had known him a long ion while that he belonged to them they were aware of the quality that had been suppressed in a dasas disastrous arous trous childhood the old father was always at w ays searching for some sign of alo violence lence of which andrew had spoken and it seemed to please him to find in lev modesty and calmness a quick glint now arid and then a light that N or g 4 J 1 1 til 1 V both father and son regarded the young man before them ed cons eyes in unexpected moments a far line to passion reminiscent or of satyr and centaur and the wine dini dim slopes ot of abandon they felt ills his power and its many dangers to himself above all they loved a personal integrity aich they found perfect what further preparations asked stephen andrew turned to levington when v will ill you be ready to go tonight to night the anc figure in the chair looked thoughtfully into the fire ills his words lords made pooling floating pictures tor for con as it if the shadowy golden stories of chinky bill were we about to continue before his eyes you seek a country that may nener be known perhaps Ier haps it Is entirely a rumor a race old fancy arid and fear you yon have heard the tales that are told it if they be false or true and it if tin MID white man lias has ever passed beyond that borderland border land of pain no olle emu hi hal come buck back to us with proof I 1 have seen been the like look on the facts or of thi who had bad the pau KI cu and fair it was not pleasant my son the ne centers of the world have shifted many times yet that weird realm of the half true the half real has gone unchallenged I 1 think its life goes at too swift a pace for us something dizzy about it even the wild beasts avoid those boundaries the air will rise and fall about you like a living presence your sight will be whipped across with bewilderment and pain you tou have seen that their bravest tarry carry a map loop by which to return home if home it be in the silence that followed the old mans thoughts seemed to live in the air of the room and the glow from the hearth was oddly ilk like e desert sunlight CHAPTER III the far call although they supplied him with more money than any one needs levington was wag not inclined to stack worldly possessions ills his cry humble years in vo had taught him how little the human creature requires somewhere in a boyhood of neglect and frayed edges lie he had learned how to feel rich without tin an array of trinkets tonight to night his travel bag a black slouchy leather affair dear to his heart for having been through a great deal with him was nas packed with clean things and room at the top lie ile traNe traveled led light the distant draw of the sands sand was upon him now rousing the old loneliness that sometimes made trouble at such times con thought of at Us his mother the woman next door had told him enough to identity identify ills his fathers moved beloved with the nameless beauty in his own heart the hurt of this loveliness was often the starting point for a rampage in the gutters A sweetness was forever eluding him it swept near in the words of stephen march and at last there was a guidance ance upon ills his energies their talk of longer danger was only a courtesy as con regarded it for one who nho had known the red tangles of the underworld peril was no more to be feared than thunder in the night andrew lif march entered cons room it might be better to leave a dark house he suggested 1 I understand replied levington ill find a call cab over at the alie end of the park that ought to break any connection hect ion ni with ith 3 jou ou here you do riot not regret your acceptance far front from it declared con hastily do you mind roalnd going alone no it will to do nie me good I 1 have everything to think over its rather a sit strain ain y you on see such a novelty tills this strait and narrow they laughed you haat nt collapsed under it said mardi march it narrow the wily way youve brought it to me 1 I have told you continued the gray haired friend that probably you will never return their glances met rind and held a moment the elder sought a poz possible sible trace of fear but lid did not find it levington had the good taste not to utter brave words ile he had accepted ills mission there Is used in the orient a very cry thin parchment as grate gra fill to the fingertips finger tips ns as the cheek of a babe sill smooth as swans down and even more sacred to yellow men wear tills this over your heart said andrew march smiling A small folded parchment was placed in cons ila hand lid it was a duplicate of the map on oil the stolen square of silk this copy was lit in a soft leather sack the size ot of a visiting card to be secured about ills his neck by a leather cord andrew then gave liim him a sealed envelope and in regard to it said bald 1 I been very explicit with you con coil there are some things that are pot not mine to tell you now when you have opened and read it you will have committed yourself arid and you must not turn back the breaking of the seat seal Is your pledge but until then thell you are free you have no obligations of any kind to me or tiny any one else you will vill understand in shan sung I 1 mar march c h smiled faintly almost with solemnity levington bowed accepting tile the small sealed packet ile he packed it to tile the bottom of the bag presently they bent wc nt to the fathers fat liers room the old man stood up tip tall and steady tile light of youth fouth in ill his 1118 eyes there was a brief farewell firmly broken sIp again in LeOng tons room andrew march gripped the oung mans hand a little more cuore tensely thou than usual and the hie silence between beti veen these two was nas vital with enduring affection march then took liis ills leave it was riot not yet midnight con waited in his room widle tile the lights of tile the march house bouse were dini dimmed nied into a new clarity of mind came images front from ills his earliest dys abasta that beckoned tile the alley in memphis und and one humid evening in the harbor of elop ura con wanted ills his father forgetting that eliat lie ile was twenty five about one lie he turned out ills own light and left thu the endly room parsing town down tile the hall the black bag with him at the dour ot of andrew marces hs loom he an instant TIN his benefactor was nias ble sleeping ill the bedroom door partly opet open con 11 had ad not stopped front from sentiment but lit in tile the darkness lie he caught a curious ns as of el cinnamon linamOn and musty wine it whisked him back to 0 o a kitchen 11 in dory street and lie shuddered without lulO knowing winz exactly why it its like his eather shadowy ih bealy fated ns na it if march must lost share tills with ill tidal Leving levington tou its as a dellol quo lity uon coll sil mist bel belbel bed he III ine avei fill it was tile the byry ry odor alor oi of satiny ile he passed darkness soft and house through the darkened down on oa wishing find and sud suddenly deoly found himself the open before lie he had not paused door pie precaution caution in leaving tile the march house was part of cons colls instructions tile lie chinese cook might whatever wed edger and young have told ills his roaster communicated to the p in lice after the singular occurrences in felt levington the pantry it if safe for the he present he doubted chee ming would mould dare ghe an horest holiest I 1 account because of the nature of that which w lind biad been taken take n from him cecil would be annoyed an noyel puzzled even angry with his vanished vanla lied guest clice mida would probably obscure the matter further cori con recalled the energy of that slim oriental body not a brawny strength for the chinese was beyond an all age for but a silent uri writhing thing power over nerve driven cori con did not dot go down to the front gate but turned along the garden path across the fragrant terraces even the roses late blossoming bloss oming did not clear his nostrils of that spice in the open doorway upstairs up stairs the shock of that was inas just reaching him ile he had an impulse to turn back and ald sniff ng again a in to prove to himself chilt 1 ls stephens ears were shut to the cries of cold he tail had fancied tile the familiar odor then lie he laughed at himself and began to ride down liis ills fear ile he passed around tile the little pond where autumn had bad touched the shrubbery aud and ghen a drier music to its rustling beyond this was a barred gate in the wall levington drew it back glanced inc nce nt at the dark house on the hill an and emerged upon the lie street more than three score years bedora Step lien maich hall had faced tile the west A boy of seventeen he had taken the prairie wagon trolls trails to san francisco and here lie he had heard strange stories seamen blew upon the flame in ills his young henrt heart when they told of cathay and the indies |
