The San Francisco call., 1908-05-10

Come, GOMEZ" laughed the Tartar,
shaking the little man like beanbag.,
If you cannot speak you can at least
give up your keys. and I will see for
myself if there is any money
Thereupon he seized the bunch of
keys which the secretary wore at his
belt, and wrenched it off with a pEll
that snapped the thong by which IL
hung. Again Giustina laughed, but a
little more nervously now: her mother
sat transhxed, open mouthed, with an
almost idiotic expression. Again the
two merchants glanced at each other.
and then both looked toward the door
Between his fright and the terrible
indignity OF having his keys torn from
him. Omobono had never been nearer
to fainting in his life
Robbery" he gasped. Rank rob-
beryi"
Tocktamish sent him spinning into the
nearest corner by a turn of the wrist
after which the ruffian took another
mouthful of meat, and slowly filed his
glass while he was disposing of it,
Omobono had steadied himself in the
corner, but his face was deadly white
and his lips were moving nervousIy in
delirium of terror.
'Messer Carlo needs 10000 ducats be-
fore sunset" observed the Tartar be-
fore he drank
Polo and Corner started to their feet:
to their commercial souls the mere
mention Of such a demand was more
terrifying than all the crooked weapons
that cleaned in Tocktamish's broad
belt
Ten thousand ducats" they repeated
together in breath.
fes' roared the Tartar, in a voice
that made the glasses on the table
snake together and ring Ten thou
taf
money in the house. you two must find
II In yours! Do you understand?"
Ihey understood, for his voice was
IKE thunder, and he had risen, too. and
lowered above them with his full glass
IN one hand and Omobono's KEYS in the
other. Then. being already to!erablv
drunk, he solemnly raised the KEYS 10
ms lips, thinking that he held the glass
IN that hand, and rolling his ewes ter
rlbly at the, two merchants; and he set
the glass down with an emphatic ges-
ture, as II 1t had been the bunch OF
Keys, and 1t broke to pieces and the
yellow wine splashed out across the
table and ran down and streamed upon
the mosaic floor.
terrific Tartar oath announced that
ethad realized his mistake, and as he
at once made up his mind that the
NenetianS were responsible for IL his
next action was to hurl the foot OF the
broken glass at Polo's head. and he in
sIantiy seized the empty silver fagon
and hung 1t at Corners face. The
lighter weapon missed its aim and
broke to atoms against the opposite
wall. but the jug struck Corner full on
the pridse OF his thin nose with awful
effect, and he fell to the floor ana law
there, a moaning, bleeding -heaD-
Polo looked neither at his wife Dor
at his daughter. but fed through the
open door at the top of his not very
great speed. His wife tainted outright.
and in real earnest now. and with a
hnal croak rolled gently from her chair
without hurting herself at all. ONO
bono hattened his lean body against
the wall, trembling in every Joint and
gtboering with fear, and Tocktamish-
seeing that he had so satisfactorily
cleared the field, proceeded to address
his attentions to Giustina, who had not
tainted. but was really too much fright
ened to rise from her seat or try to
escape
The Tartar drew his chair nearer
TO hers and suddenly smiled. as if he
had done nothing unusual. and was
only anxious to make himself agree
able. He had been drinking since early
morning, but he would be good
FOR at least another gallon of wine
before II made him senseless. He adj
dressed Giustina in the poetic language
OF his native country.
Come. pet parrot of my soulr' he
began. coaxingly. Fill me cup and
let me hear your ravishing voice! Took
tamish has cleared the house as the
thunderstorm clears the hot air from
the valley. Drink, my pretty nightin-
gale. and the golden wine shall warm
your speech in your little throat, as the
morning sunshine melts the icicfes in
my beard when have been hunting all
night in winter. Drink, my fawn, NV,
spring lamb. my soft wood pigeon. nv
white bunny, drink IT. Drink, sweet
oner'
The Tartar's similes were in hopeless
confusion. possibly because he trans
lated them into Greek. but he was
convinced that he was eloquent. and he
was undeniably as strong as a bear.
He had filed fresh glass and was
evidently anxious to make Giustina
drink out of 1t before him, for he held
it to her lips with his left hand while
his right tried to take her round the
waist and draw her to his knee
But this was much more than she
was prepared to submit to- In the
fairy story. Beast was less enterpris-
ing in the presence of Beauty. and col
lapsed into obedience at the mere lift
ing of her finger. Giustina was a big
Sicatuic, usually SIeepy and not IN
clined to move quickly; but she was
capable of exerting considerable
strength in an emergency. The instant
she felt Tocktamish's hand at her
waist she rose with quick serpentine
motion that unwound her. as it were.
from his encircling hold and almost
before he knew that she was on her
feet she had fed from the room and
slammed the door behind her
Tocktamish tried to follow her. but
he stumbled successfully over the still
unconscious dame and the still moan
ing Corner. so that when he reached
the door at last his purpose had under
gone change and, as he thought. an
. improvement. Women never ran out of
{ the house into the street he argued:
therefore Giustina was now upstairs
and would stay there; hence it would
be wiser TO finish the peacock and any
thing else he could lay hands on be-
fore going TO pay her visit For Tocl-
tamish found the food and the wine to
his liking and such as were not to be
had every day. even by a Tartar Of
fcer with plenty of money IN his wal
let. He was tolerably steady still as
he made his way back toward his seat.
His eye fell on Omobono, iattened
against the wall and still in a palsy
of fear. for all that has been told since
C0rnor had fa1lau and DoTo