Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-26
THE MESSAGE
BY LOUIS TRACY.
Copyright. BY Edw.rdJ

fever. even while 1, the alchemist am
yielding to its ravageS."
The violet-tinted gloom that marks the
close of fine summers day in London
was filling the room with it's shadows
when Warden had written the last words
of a fair copy. He lit cigar placed an
easy chair so that he might sit with his
back to the window. and was about to
analyze the queer document which had
| fallen into his hands in such an extra
ordinary manner when he noticed that
the face on the gourd, though tilted on
the table exactly In the same fashion as
on the counter Of the luggage room at
Waterloo. appeared to be watching him.
Now. no man Of strong nervous power
likes to feel startled and that the
stealthy menace in those evil eyes was
startling he did not attempt to deny. He
had not noticed previously that-no mat
ter what the angle-SO long as the eyes
were visible they seemed to look f1xedly
at the beholder. Thinking that the wan
Ing light was deceptive. he sprang up and
built some books into a V-shaped support
In many positions. The varying tests all
| had the same result. The snakelike
glance followed him everywhere. The
very orbs appeared to turn in the head.
In the deepening twilight they seemed to
CLEAN with dull fire. and Warden was
absolutely forced to reason himself out of
the expectation that soon those brutal
lips would open and overwhelm him with
threats.
"Confound your he muttered. scarce
knowing whether to laugh or fly into a
rage at the foolish fancy that led him to
address carven mask, IF you looked
that way at poor Domenico Garcia it is
not surprising that he should use his
comrades skin vellum. You black
beauty! Are there any of your breed left
In Nigeria. ] wonder?"
1t demanded almost an effort to sink
into the chair and disregard the sinister
| object glazing at him from the table. He
picked up the sheet of note paper contai
ing the translation and set his mind to its
proper understanding While intent on
the intricacies of cases and genders-dif-
ficultieS intensified by the use of archaic
phrases and the Arabic script-he had
given but passing thought to the general
, drift of the words. True. the reference to
a river named Mother of Waters was
amazing. because that was the native
name for the Benue. while a search
seaport town of Rabat in Morocco was
famous for its ruined monuments. But
now, pondering each sentence, he became
alive to their tremendous significance
Their very simplicity was the best wit
ness to the underlying tragedy. A man
who dismissed the massacre on board the
Santo Espirito with the curt statement
that he "heiped in the staying of all the
ships company" was not likely to use
| unnecessary adjectives. six out of
4
nif1cent in its breyity. Garcia reached
the sheer apex of the direct narrative
style when he said that he and Rod
rigueZ and Manoel of Serpa were sent as
presents to the King of Benin "over the
caravan route" Those four words COW
cred a journey of $50 miles across
mountains. deserts and jungle-covered
swampS, where road there was none and
towns. even the most wretched COM
! munities of savages. were hundreds of
miles apart. The track probably led
| through Bel Abbas, Taudeni and Tim
| buctu, traversing the very heart of the
| Sahara, a region so forbiddng and in
hospitable that even today ii remains one
| of the secret places of the world
! And again, there was grim humor
discoverabe in a man who concentrating
| his lifes story into so few words could
| yet indulge his mordant wit by writing:
Il am many marches from Rabat bu. few
| from DEATH" and even poke bitter Jest
| at M'Wanga for his fantastic notion of a
| specific against backwater fever,
! 1t was a forcefu. picture that Warden
conceived, when. in his minds eye. he
| saw the ''artist and musician" and ex-
pirate. too. sitting In the shade of a giant
tree near the king hut, and o licking out
with needle and dyes. on parchment torn
| from the back of his dead comrade the
| record OF those terrible years. He could
| linn the hollow cheeks. the wasted frame
| the feverIght in the dark eyes and the
| melancholy smile that must have lifted
the cloud of suffering for a little while
| when the concluding lines were written.
Warden knew the scene intimately
that If he put pencil to paper and Garcia S
| lOng-forgotten shade were permitted to
| testify to the accuracy of the sketch.
there could be no reasonable doubt that