| Show yellow W men le on sleep P DY by JEREMY LANE copyright by the century company THE DESERT GUARDS synopsis john levington a poet visionary and impractical impractical ind and mary martin the daughter of 0 rich and worldly parents hear the C call it 11 of love and untie their lives they go ga to a small A michigan city where bere john finds work vork in a stove factory and on sundays writes verses the martins try in vain to got gel the lh happy wife to leave her husband mary alary begins to breathe for two john lobes his job lie he appeals in aln laan to the martins mary gos goos to the hospital and never returns thus comes into the story cornelius levington the father beales leales town and the tha city farms out oui the child after two years the father returns and takes hit his little son with him on his world wanderings the rather father becomes tile the slave of a mysterious drug koresh nith odors of wine and cinnamon and returns with ith little con to die on his bis wiles grave con is 1 again farmed out grows up in the underworld and is saved for better things by andrew march so much by vay nay of introduction to the hero of the strange adventures of yellow men sleep these begin when con coil takes by force a small leather sack from chee aling tho the chinese coole cook of an acquaintance tills this sack contains a chinese map of the gobi desert which is precious beyond price to andrew march eighteen years before armed mm men in the gobi had taken L marahs wife arid and in infant nt daughter ase from hith him now lie sends ads con in search of them on the voyage con finds chee ming a fellow passenger chee ming drugs con and steals ills his map but con presses on toward shan sung con is shot by a poisoned dart and while he Is in the consequent stupor its his map is stolen on the river boat to peking he acain a rain sees r ees chee ming and realizes they are seeking the he same destination con keeps beeps faith with ith andrew march and starts on oil his mission westward with a c caravan after weeks ot of difficult travel lie reaches tile the I 1 ittle settlement of shan sung and reads instructions from andrew march to the effect that con lias has been made a federal agent to search out cheo aling who has brought quantities of koresh a deadly drug to san francisco at shan sung con Is unexpectedly joined by march the two americans press fo forward rard into the desert CHAPTER V continued 7 when the night was well advanced near eleven by a white mans reckoning they went into camp and tile dryers were still sullen will they get used to it ask asked ed con march shook his head and at dawn before camp was broken roused himself from a light sleep to find the drivers in secret activity it rather looked as if they were tr trying ving to get away with the camels A gun cracked and march turned sharply to see con sitting up from his blanket blaa ket his carbine smoking ue he too bad been watching matching tile preparations he had shot in n the air air hut but both the yellow men fill fell face downward upon the sand march went to them at once paid them well lit it in gold gave the them in two big draws at tile water bags bagg and started them off together eastward shan sung was wag within walking distance 1 I should have known better lie he wd said they did not see the old chinese who would no do doubt mak p a wide ide dea dei I 1 i e 4 t I 1 I 1 gun cracked and march turned sharply to see con sitting up from his blanket his gun smoking tour before touching the I 1 real eal troll trail the ne country perfectly open and wit without holk trees was irregular front the fill of naked earth orn rould sn st e rr rt fit ieng its in the four il direr dons in ill n ellee dice they pae liv lf it 1 ning halkin mr a long iring noon riall nh into HIP fill ev avenill enill at tun still f i 1 1 ir f 1 i 1 illy ou the win bici rose with its menacing rattle of sand but it died before dark at dawn they started again the desert was less hilly billy but great rocks emerged from the sand and here were Flitt flattering flittering ering lizards in the morning light astill still asleep the heavens were glassy A wind held field from the northwest and tile the nostrils of the beasts were stung to bleeding by the sand grit had sifted into cons clothing next nest to his skin and riding was a hardship dust grated in ills teeth that night andrew march lit tile the watch fire and it was cons time for sleep their world was empty soundless infinite unknown march did not call levington at two lit in tile the morn ll fl lle e as agreed but permitted his young friend to sleep until dawn none could have known the reveries of this unusual man in the midnight hours thoughts as remote as the stars and aj ai liard hard to gage lie ile had loved life and the alie sweets of it had been talc taken en from him film long ago it had been difficult for him to pass through peking city of its his birth and earliest influence the quest that had drawn ills his father fathe r stephen as a boy across the american plains onward across the pacific ind and yet onward to china peking and the dread alia mo was wrought into the very texture of the mind and soul of the son andrew the yearning of his mother was woven there also as she had hoped loved prayed resented and finally mourned for stephen until he returned late by two years this gobi desert mastered him the he heart 1 I rt of china would not let him go ile he could not live down the terrors that peking had stamped upon him in infancy now lie he looked long at con sleeping beside tile the fire relaxed graceful breathing steadily something boyish and pure about him andrew gorchs eyes shut against sudden tears lie ile arose silently and walked walk ed out ut away from the camels so far that the fire was only a red spark to him the night spaces whispered in vague conspiracy at daybreak tile the whole world was without color only dead gray hills ind and gullies rocks and sha dOAs and vacant air leving levington lon wakened glanced up at andrew who was making the morning ten tea and it seemed as it if the air were powdered ed with the delicate rooty aroma tha that t con associated with john levington and all manner of evil fate then he realized that the faint spice of it was clinging about starch he said nothing but it was a black moment for him they studied their map and held a field compass beside it their difficulty was to hold a direction by reason of the twisted formation of desert surfaces each crooked line of rise or dip misled the eye arid the camels persisted in staying low preferring to pass around a hill rather than take the safe straight line across it march larch was nas watchful usually silent for their third camp they halted in a little valley wedge out of the gale all night the sand sifted in upon them like gray snow but tills was preferable to facing the whip of it on the levels above the fourth day they saw a different formation of rock closer it sho showed aci to be the collapse of a I 1 ity city yet one in no wise nise related vi k the villages villa they had left behind beli ind for these buildings had once been of solid gray rock strangely through a crack in the in middle 1 of a slab came the greenish yell yellow 0 W line of a flame it was mas gas as from tile the depths of the world and it ft burz burned wil slowly waving like a transparent plume in it tile the sheltered place ot of all that city of long ago tills this eternal flame remained tho the walls had been shaken down with terrible age every evert block of stone was rounded smoothly by the blowing IONI ug sand the original level of the city had been much below the present levington shivered lie ile felt around him the faded life of another time thile lingering human shadows tied to the stones march moved solemnly over the tumbled pile pausing before the languid green fire issuing from the rock in the emptiness overhead they saw a bird high up lip and black salling sailing steadily watching these two illee intruders upon ills his doria dominion lillon seeming to wait with perfect patience until they should perish and leave to him hit once more the crumbling forgotten empire now the black hag bag contained a saving grace the razor a holy instrument keen with decency con rubbed n 1 lilt bit of fat over his jaws and scraped with unction water nas as too precious to waste in lather the oil was tolerable and cleansing ills his cheeks frere taut the line or of chin and jaw mildly marked sometimes his talou thoughts is seemed about to surprise the ending nf if the story that bill tile cook ila had not finished that night in E bar harbor I 1 ar sometimes lie he talked to march of the mother alother he had never known yearning came to tile the surface vager eagerness nISS fur for rill trolls find and nameless des destination ion distance was to him like the t though of home to other men the h horizon shrouded afar drew him on in tills this rhythm of desert travel ill hi holly did not lot wear down own any further lint it went into ft state embling I 1 till I 1 of tho prairie wolf allo goes 0 01 aurl on in without change tile the silver haired friend so sometime hummed to himself ending with a shudder or stared into the living ethers of twilight tillight until his eyes would glow like sunset fire it seems to me saki said con that we are always near some one some other traveler riot not dice clice ming I 1 dont know how to explain it other travelers other kinds of travelers where are they going asked march are aou ou laughing it at me judge for yourself replied the elder man and his manner convoyed conveyed no pleasantry well what do you hear when the wind ind goes past pursued levington oil the dust I 1 suppose grating did you ever hear bear the rumble of wheels im not saying their path touched another smaller ruin more deeply sunken one of the great blocks of stone remained on top unbroken this ancient city had been upon a river for the course of it was still outlined between erosions ero A gray skull retaining all its teeth was perched upon a point of rock and I 1 q I 1 fa X jre I 1 w 0 riders were down upon them an avalanche of ferocity the dusty sockets stared forever eastward war andrew march larch regarded it thoughtfully this mongol was a good boy but hes a modern compared to tile the rest of tills this 1 I said we always alone only a few stones were here in view and a river bed long dry yet con p peered ee r C d I 1 out uncertainty uncertainly old violence lurked in tile the sunshine the sand was changing in tint as they rode we westward and to the north sh otting patches of rust color small cliffs ell effs raised above the shallows their strata bronze and a flaky lilue blue through long days L thy PY traced ced out if alic I 1 e route indicated upon the map the 1 e moon diminished dimini thed and darkened a again ain and still they vwe able to cross off the angles of the parchment only a bit at a time on certain evenings eien ings tile the northern horizon seemed to and crawl far flying shapes peopled the hills on the 1111 worlds rim smaller presences too darted aay front from the watch firo fire like shadowy butterflies con never quite saw these things they always moved loved just out of range of vision and lie could never turn sharply enough ellough they were like tile the nimble hands of old it chinese bill why tire you staring at a me 1 I he be asked of march what do you see countered the other nothing t said con what I 1 thought laughed march cut but his laughter was empty and it q scorned oddly to be caught up by the breathing of the camels and then tossed out overhead 1 I suppose that rushing cloud off there is tile the dust said levington after it a while no doubt replied march but I 1 dont see it in tile the fifth week they round found water a little reasy greasy marsh thus far there hud hid rl not ot been one glimpse apse of chee mine arid and there vere ere no signs here fight eight more d daan ayr westward some lines to tile lie north and they reachel n spring of clear water the beasts cast and sucked ind and trembled bled othar camels Os had beet been lie here re before e them recently bently v their marks idere it in t mud if the gnp dill hall had been I 1 properly rori erly con coll percell d that they were I 1 tile he end A starving wolf sidled in toward file waterhole water hole lie had never lear learned n ed roar lie Stal stalked keI tile IE led d camels lazily z I 1 I 1 yr olind found ills PARIt position lon to leap nhen ond and i illey hey shat him the camels were 1 in il frenz fron ZI bayona mere were mere no more boore baing above the surface the sl stcl to another world these pains and r ridges of red sand were tte the husks husk sot of the planet Leving tons eyes ac ached hed with the distances in the glare of day 8 sun on two of the camels were killed to provide sus sustenance cenance for the otters others and tile the two men shared with the beasts now the high winds came in a bruising torrents torrent as if the elements had t turned enemy and this was t their h e 1 r the beasts t s gave ave up and w acra e r a th threat a t g drive driven n artto into baab a r eos roaring i r id 9 gully where th tho a blast was broken somewhat it whined and rushed overhead and began bagan to bury them with sand in tills this choking confusion the capture came quickly a brief affair in which the white men were too late with their guns riders were mere down upon them an avalanche of ferocity the storm had obscured their c oming coming on horses demoniac and primal they had sped down through the sandstorm as if it were an april rain these were monster men with silvery eyes their beards were hanging mats of sand their mouths months caked with dust close fitting leather helmets enlarged their heads leather thongs whipped out and circled cons arms and lie he was helpless in a moment strong hands bands were nvere undressing the white alte men the frightened camels were being driven away the strangers worked in a nervous heat chanting a song or prayer their voices mingling with the savage wind everything was taken from the prisoners and dagger points were ere sent ripping through their garments march was shouting shooting pleading with rich offers offer 4 but he received no do reply only his ruined clothing then the remainder m of the party leaped and spurred their hairy bairy beasts up the slope the showering sand hid them again Leving tons face and shoulders were numb with the he pelting of little stones it was all finished in a moment are you all right asked T marsh larsh yes they leave anything with extreme difficulty tile the two to I 1 travelers stepped into an and adjusted their rags rag gs the map was gone qung with guns gold camels provisions water ind and all sense sensa of direction their eyes were red with pain the wind blustered in dry fury as it if the riders might materialize out of it a second time they must have bad biad us in view all lay day perhaps yesterday or they could DO not have found us in this weather sold said march hitching the ierna ins of ills his trousers to a bit of shirt those horses real said coo con and how did they get me all tied up lip with leather before I 1 could draw raw they spoke with levity that was not felt each hoping by his calmness to cheer the other the actual situation was too plain lenington added at least we seem to be in ule the right ne neighborhood 11 we can wait here until we get straight by the stars said march 1 I maintain that we lid did fairly well nel 1 to have come tills this far before they found 11 us s 1 yes larch pretended not to notice the trembling of ills his voice both were busy with new of assembling tattered garments then con saw that ills friend was smiling roy DOY said all march larch we mo roa ind find much cocat to eat or drink but we me are nie not quite done for levington nodded without comprehending and his companion added we are not altogether r lost |
