Evening star., 1908-01-19

guile AS soon as the two quilted the hotel Roy
son saw that he was traverslng bypaths seldom
smelling alleys shut in by lofty houses that the
sun hardly penetrated their depths. He caught
glmpses of dun interiors when forced aside by
panier laden mule or numbering camel and the
knowledge thrust upon him in many ways that
his presence in this minor artery of the bazaar
resented by its inha bitants.
The few females he met Swathed from head
to foot in cotton garments that had once been white
Dark eyes glanced curousy at him the yash-
max which covered nose, cheeks, and mouth from
the gaze of strangers Orange tinted nails and finger
tips. visible occasionally when the loose fold of
robe snatched from the contamina ton of
touching him. suggested the taons of bird of prey
rather than the slender we'll shaped hand for which
the Arab woman is noteworthy. Every man, almost
without exception scowled at him. Naked children,
playing in the gutter. off, half frightened, yet
stopped to shrek words which he was quite
were not kindly greetings. Prowlng dogs, the
engers of the native quarter, shared the general
hostility and scurred of his path but sullenly
vstas he peeped into main streets in which lotered
numbers of Italian soldiers and civilians. Even
few carriages appeared, conveying women to the
shops public gardens that the intense heat of
the had subsidized Therefore, he found it scarcely
credible that in the fetid slums there should be
such covert hatred of the white which held
undisputed sway in thoroughfares distant not
stones throw.
And, in puzzling contrast to the evidences of
eye and ear he conscious of uncanny
sense of familiarity with his surroundings. Before
the Aphrodite brought him south by east he had
never been nearer Egypt than Paris Yet the
sights, the sounds, the nauseating smell, of this
dank bazaar appealed to him with the breathless
realism that the jingle of hansoms, the steady
crunch of omnibuses, the yelling of newsboys, and
the tar laden scent of the wood paved road might
convey when next he entered the Strand.
This entirely novel and disquieting concet re-
called his strange obsession when first he looked
out over the desert at night from the bows of the
yacht. and the memory brought with it the legend
of his house: that the Roysons descendants of
Coeur de Lion. He saw now that which he had never
of
that the Crusaders must have mixed with people
nearly identical in manner and speech with the
strange human miscellany of Massawa During
those medieval campaigns in an arid and poverty
stricken land, feudal pomp and regal glitter would
yield perforce to the demands of existence Rich
ard of England and Philip of France with many
another noble warrior of high repute, had doubtless
been glad enough times without number, to seek
the shelter and meager fare of just such tumble of
darkened tenementS that through which his
But why should he Richard Royson, acknowledge
occult acquaintance with this unknown scenes
And what the fascination which the squalid
life of the bazaar had exercised occasionally on
men of exalted rank at different periods of the
worlds history! The mere notion that he might
succumb to t-that he should even feel it's glamour
by the operation of subtle trait of heredity-
SO grotesque that he laughed aloud.
He happened to be crossing tiny square at the
moment and bearded molla entering mosque
which filled one whole side of it. The unbelievers
mirth doubtless disturbed pious meditation, and
the molla turned and muttered something The
words might be verse of the Koran but they had
the ring of maledicton.
Muai Hamed abashed and angry. He spoke
apologetically to the holy man, alluded to the
giaour more than once, and proceeded to give
Dick a voluble lecture, enlightening him, most
probably as to the exceeding Importance of polite
where Mohammedan priest concerned
Royson unable to explain that his harty
was not intended slight to the follower of the
Prophet. Yet dignity demanded that he should not
remain dumb; so he pointed ahead, and vociferated
with fairly accurate assumption of his shippers
voice and nner
Lead on, you swab and keep silent, or I'll alter
the shape of your face!"
1t sufficed was he wholly mistaken in his