The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-03
CHAPTER xvlll.-contlnued
The FIoht in the stateroom.


The Fight in the stateroom.
Dick was not interested in the crowd,
and would have walked gloomily on had he
not heard two men on the outskirts of
the group talking together in Spanish.
ut is the old bell dancer said one
of them. who had just elbowed his way
out of the throng. Have you never seen
him dance? But you are a newcomer
The Moors fear him. They told their chill
dren that he was centuries old and could
never die Now they will not say that
any longer. Poor wretch, he groaned out
before he was past speaking that he had
been poisoned because Of some secret that
he knew about an Englishwoman, and had
threatened to tell; that he had gone to
some house to receive his reward, was
we'll treated there, and given something
to drink. Soon he was seized with pains,
! and, guessing the truth. escaped to tell
his story, hoping to be saved, or at least
revenged."
HE will get his revenge, then, though
he dies for it," commented the second
Spanfa
E"But no. replied the first 1.-THE old
man fell down in the Sok, and his pains
overcame him. He cried out previously
to whoever happened to be passing, but
he had got no further than 1 have said
in his tale when his tongue swelled in his
| mouth so that he could no longer speak.
Before the doctor could be brought to
It'll IOpS was over. MOI THAT IL WOulQ
have been better if he had been attended
sooner; for what skill have their doctors?
Any old wife knows more than they. AS
for the secret and the poisoning, it is
| probably half lies and half imag nation.
All, well, Heaven knows the truth; the
old man Is dying, and he has at least as
good crowd to see him die as ever
| watched his dancing. 1 wonder if he ap-
preciates the compliment? I have seen
| enough Do you want to work your way
through and have peep at the black
bell dancers last show, or will you take
| my word for it that the games not worth
the candle. and come along with me?
II will go with you,'' said the other.
| But l suppose we shall hear more Of
| this, shall we not? There will be post
| mortem examination. and If this black
fellow has really been poisoned, there will
I be an investigation, and something will
be done. Or do not these things happen
in sTangier?'' -.-.,
"Many things happen in Tangier,'' re-
1 piled the man who knew. But very few
things are found out When the weather
4 is warm we are not fond of taking trouble
Witness the disappearance of the young
1 English heirness. We are all up in arms
about the matter, and every man is keen
to win the reward-or the lady; yet moth
ing is done, or. If anything is done, moth
! ing comes of it. But then, she has prob
ably eloped.''
Dick remained on the edge of the crowd
The Informative Spaniard had told his
! friend that the bell dancer babbed of a
secret which he knew concerning an Eng
lishwoman; and then. before he could
speak out the secret, and so snatch re-
venge on persons unknown, the dying man
had lost the power of speech.
| There were perhaps many Englishwo-
men still in Tangier though the season
was late. Yet. these words, "a secret that
he about an eEnglishwoman," echoed
| in Dicks ears. The woman who had come
to him in Gibraltar with Ewes letter had
been disguised in Moorish dress It was
certain that she had confederates in Tan
gler. Or Eve Markhams disappearance
could not have been contrived in her alb
sence Such a person this old bell
dancer, who was dying there in the middle
of a curious crowd, could hardly have re-
celved and answered the womans tele-
grams, but he might easily have been in
her employ. He was said to have been a
''sly and wicked old fellow and was evil
IDENTIFY Well-knoWn character in Tangier:
altogether, he seemed not an unlikely SER
want to hire If there We're secret work to
be done.
The narrator had gayly disclaimed be-
lief in the dying mans veracity, and prob
ably he was right. If there had been nc
talk of an Englishwoman, Dick would have
passed on and thought no more of the at
fair, since until this moment he had never
heard of Sidi Mahrez the bell dancer. But
he could not help asking himself, What !,
the story were true, and Eve Markham
were the Englishwoman concerned in the
secret?
Surprising, he thought, that the bel
; dancer had been deliberately poisoned by
! some one who was determined at all haz
edge Of poisons and the skill to use them
a secret was of life and death Importance
u 10 al 70 ft1o ic1Y
who took the risk must have been yer,
confident Of their poison, that it's actor
| would be both sure and swift It was no
! every Would-be criminal who had knowl
+ edg of poisons and the skill to use them
l Dick was absorbed in the mystery of thu
i Xenia, and his theory, whic hhad beef
4 built up on its first foundation into a soil,
structure now, as he was ready to tell ST
/ Peter Markham. If his deductions wer
+ right the man who was responsible TO
the mystery at it's beginning was a maste
Of poisons; and it was certain that confed
crates of that man were at present in Tan
Z gier. With those connecting links in hi
mind, Dick began to be exceedingly inter
ested in the dead or dying bell dancer. Il.
He forced his way into the thick Of tn
crowd and finally caught a glimpse O
distorted old visage, which once la
been black, and was now of blush as
color The bell dancer had just breathe
medicine Close by his head squatted
dark-faced boy in nondescript Europea
dress, who looked like cross between
Moor and q. spaniard. Dick addresse
him in Spanish, hoping that he might I'm
derstand. He began by asking simpl
question about the dead bell dancer, an
n rejoiced to be answered in queer, Span
ish patois which was mostly ineligible
4 Yes, he knew the old dancer said the box
they lived in the same neighborhood NJ
I Sidi Mahrez had no one belonging to hin
If he had had any relatives they had die
long ago. What is this story abor
poison?" Dick went on. The boy did nc
know there was anything in it, though h
had not arrived on the scene in time
hear the statement made by Sidi> Mahrez
own lips. He had heard those who ha
come earlier talking about it betwee
themselves and to the doctor, and-yes,
the senior wished it, he would come wit
him now and tell all that he knew of til
l bell dancer. This concession was becaus
of coin which Dick slipped into tt
young mongrels hand, with a wlispere
suggestion Of another to follow. The be
sturdily elbowed his own way and Dick
out Of the crowd, and walking proudly b
the Englishn1an's side talked of his az
quaintance with the deceased ST,
Mahrez. Who had known the bell dance
best? Oh, everybody knew him, but /
gave amusement to the foreigners WI
came. The English especially liked
see him dance. He made a good deal ,
money in the winter season, an
could have lived very we'll if /
III Nod 1l,1 1o,,+ L,