The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1911-08-17
CHAPTER TX.
Pink Satin.

PINK satin.
Shaking with rage, Amber stood for
a long moment with pistol poised]hn
eyes wary; then, bewildered, heRslow-
ly lowered the weapon. well, he OBJ
served, reflectively, I'm e.ifamned."
For the glittering thing he had mis-
taken for revolver layPat his feet;
and 1t was nothing moysnor less than
shoehorn. While is for the babu,
he had dropped BECK into the chair
and given way toea rude but reassu-
ring paroxysm Of gusty, silent laugh
ter.
<I'm a fool" said Amber; ''and II
rm1 not mistaken. you're Laber
tovche'
with struggle the babu overcame
6is emotion. Il am, my dear fellow,
II am" he gasped. "And owe you
an apology. Upon my word, I'd for
gotten; one grows so accustomed to
living the parts Ia these masquerades,
after a time, that one forgets. For
give me-" He offered hand which
Amber grasped warmly in his unut-
terable relief I'm really delighted to
meet you," continued Labertuche, Sc
riously. ANY man who knows India
can't help being glad to meet the au-
thor OF The Peoples of the Hindu
Kush.'"
"You did brighten me-" Amber con-
fessed, smiling IT didn't know what
to expect-or suspect. Certainly, -
with a glance round the anonymously
| furnished room-'1 never looked for
ward to anything like this-or you,
in that get-up."
"You wouldn't, you know" Laber-
| touche admitted, gravely. Il might
have warned you in my note; but that
was a risky thing, at best. / feared
to go into detail-it might have fallen
into the wrong hands"
'sWhose?" demanded Amber.
"That. my dear man, is what we're
here to find outfit we can. But sit
down; we shall have to have quite a
bit of talk" He. scraped heap of
gaily-colored native garments off one
end Of the charpoy and motioned AM
Der to the chair At the same time
he fished a cigar-case out of some re-
cess of his clothing. These are
good" he remarked, opening the case
and offering it to Amber; II daren't
smoke anything half so good when at
work. The native tobacco is abom-
Unable, you know-quite three-fourths
filth"
AT work. questioned Amber clip
ping the end OF his cigar and lighting
| 1t. 'sYou don't mean to say you travel
round in those clothes?"
ssBut do. It's business with me-
though few people know 1t. Quain
didn't; only had chance, one day,
to tell him some rather startling facts
about native life. This sort OF thing,
done properly, gives a man insight
into a lot of unusual things
Labertouche pulled his cigar into a
glow and leaned back. clasping one
knee with two brown hands and
squirting up at the low, discolored
ceiling. And Amber, looking him
over. was amazed by the absolute
fidelity of his makeup; the brownish
stain on face and hands, the high-cut
patent leather boots, the open-work
socks through which his tinted calves
showed grossly, his shapeless, baggy,
soiled garments all were hopelessly
| babu-ish.
/ And IL it isn't done properly =
ssOll. them Labertouche laughed,
lifting his shoulders expressively.
mo Englishman incapable Of living
up to disguise has ever tried it
more than once IN India; few, very
few, have lived to tall 0f the expert
ment.' s..
you're connected with the police g
| Amber,e browa contracted as be -.