The Washington times., 1911-12-12
CHAPTER I.
The Dead Man.
.HE sun followed the silver-gray
dawn and shone on the city Of

-HE sun followed the silver-gray |
dawn and shone on the city of
Tangier till the whitewashed
houses, rising. terrace upon ter
race, glittered like q patch OF moist
snow on a hillside.
Here and there blue minaret rose
above a mosque.
The swallows-the first living things
to respond to the day-were circiing and
twittering above the low roofs, and
presently the Inhabitants began to wake
up and appear in the streets and on the
housetops-
In the squares the half-doors Of the
shops were opened. the merchants ar
ranged their wares; negro water car
rlers came to the fountains. and pro-
cession CT laden donkeys threaded the
long street that led from the main
One house in a fairly quiet quarter
was an exception In that 1t showed no
Il was a house built in the ordinary
Moorish manner-a blank wall abutting
on q narrow street, wall with one
small green door that boasted many
quaint Moorish design. The door opened
on a small passageway that led to an
inner court.
hsS four Ssrsa 0nsS Es.ry y
and was open to the sky. From all
four sides the rooms opened, while In
| one corner was q stairway !eaoihg 10
the gallery ana 50 70 nside tms there was
strong mingling of the European. There
were divans Of Eastern design and Eu-
ropean bedsteads: the doors were hung
sh ,sse 8ese "a spanish Gss sqa make ae
| In one of the smaller rooms on the
second floor q man lay on a bed. He He
lay as though sleeping res, restiessiy, ms
| arms sprawled wide, his legs drawn up
his face toward the ceiling.
| But he was not sleeping; across his
! bare throat was a long knife cash; the
blood had spurted from It dyeing @ @tne
In iumpy clots on his beard and In dry
stains on his white neck and the sheet
beneath him. =.
A biuebottle fly wakened by the
lmorning light, BUNDLED over to the deao
man and settled on his face. The noise
Of it's wings was the only SOUND In the
save for the man and the small scav-
enger 1t was untenanted.
The got hsass sos. tss pess
donkey brayed; women appeared on the
adjacent roofs and gossiped. From 9
neighboring mosque came the weird
tremulous voice of the muezzin calling
A little later two men stopped in from
of the green door, and, pushing 1t in
ward, entered. One was stocky little
man with a thread of black mustache
evidently a European, but wearing tht
full costume Of a Moor. ,hs,-
i The other was q nondescript person
age. He had the baggy trousers ant
short jacket of a zouave, while over hf
shoulders was thrown white burnoose
and on his head he wore turban.r Hi
attire, his gray mustache and imperial
, and his dry, brown skin suggested tina
he was a much-acclimated Frenchman.
But the noticeable thing about hin
A twitching upward and outward tina
4 gave an uncanny expression to his face
The two proceeded slowly into tn
I court and began to mount the stairs.
"Bompard sleeps late, said the stock,
= man as he listened for some sound
: from above
: "He always was lazy dog" said tn
e one with the wail-eye. "And now whe
i he should be alive and moving h
II know you don't like him, savary
but he is a good man and will tax
risks"
II not like him?'' protested savar,
1T have always deferred to him. He
j. a good leader and bold enough when
s comes to carrying out a scheme"
L They had reached thesupper CALLER
= now. and the wall-eyed man parted
curtain that hung before door TIL
= reflection from the white walls OF tn
II court illumined the room.
8 Still asleep" he muttered to h
r companion. uptoeing forward with
grim smile. The smile was cut short B