The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-04-20

wide eXpanSe of hooftrodden dust be-
fore it, and two rough-hewn, commem-
orative pillars before its wide, walled
pool. On crosbeam, resting on these
square columns, were these words in
the Mullah's hybrid Arabic: What
father closes his door-even at night
to his sons? or which fathers heart
even in sleep-but pities them?" This.
was a recruiting station of Islam
where men are won to war by words
of fervent tenderness.
Baltuk tapped the knees Of his camel
on the dusty space before the pool, and
the beasts 5nelt, athirst and docile
Sybil and Calvin dismounted. stiff and
Keeling. and Baltuk babe them heed:
Over the hill to the right" he said,
"is the N'gambo of Bandi. My place
is with these camels. who must drink"
They moved ever stiffiy, numbed hand
in numbed hand, up the hill rosetted
with low scrub, drinking from their
TASKS as they gained a painfully-won
resting place on the summit of sud
den illogical hillock, about whose min
or base a city of huts rested, like a
dirty crescent of kennels, under the
bright full moon. Beyond this make
shift city tom-toms beat and dancers
whirled amid the premeditated plenty
of feast. The great round moon i'm
personally and dispassionately lighted
each spare, active figure, until it stood
out from the blackness of it's back
ground.
'It can't be a religious feast" Gal.
vim muttered. / know their damned
calendar and there isn't the pretext
for 'pigeon-wing' in all this empty
month. What is it for which they
dance?" He strobe on down-hill. They
came suddenly on a precinct where
camels were tied to pegs driven deep
in the earth. Their legs were fastened
together with cruel thongs and there
we're hordes of them thus picketed on
that hillside; they raised their ugly
heads on long and writhing necks,
seeming like snakes about to bite poi
sonously. It was hard to tread ones
way among them, but Calvin pushed
: his road through long aisles of muzZles
/, unsymmetrically chewing, coming out
at the far end of the crescent formed
: by strangely struggling town, and
! sitting down on a stone, still radiating
: heat-for all 1t was night-catching
. SYPHILIS hand and his breath at the one
moment, while he considered his next
, step. A roof1ess stone house yawned
: skyward just at their feet, and not ten
yards below them-ten yards which
. stretched in sheer clay eXuding damp
: from the overflow of a well close at
i, hand which rippled audibly down the
|, steep to the town troughs.
"Sybil," Calvin commanded, stay
: here. More people than Bandi con-
J tains ordinarily are feasting and dane
, ing. Before | take you within the
, town, want TO know why"
Don't be long," she answered rather
! family as he started down the sheer
2 bank. He kissed her as he left her
and with his lingering handclasp came
/ the sense of parting; the night seemed
? to close over her and choke her with
! its blackness. She saw him plunge
: downward into the towns neither dark
{ ness and she knew that riot was
: abroad there, or some evil, patent to
. his decivilized faculties and undiscern-
| IDLE to hers. 1t was awful to be alone
{ there where a moment before it had
: been good to be with him.
: When she dared to look below her
the moon showed him to her as he
, scaled the wall of the roofless house
, furiously. Once within it he lighted
: many matches, bending over what
seemed to be dead animal. But pres
emily it stirred, she saw it's black bulk
shift while chains clanked distinctly
and Calvin prodded it, when it stirred
) again with the same cherries noise Of
/ bondage
After those second sounds he kicked
at a wooden door in the least lighted
/ corner of the roofiess building, and its
boards fell away from their fastenings
and opened a way out; she called to
: him and he called to her, Hush
) the hardest command a man may give
his anxious helpmeet. He left the
: house then and stole along the shad-
/ owed side Of a dusty track until he
was lost in the darkness, except for
one glimpse she had Of him emerging
= from the door of hut At last he re-
entered the roofess house, and by the
: apparently increased bulk of the inert
) thing within it she knew that he was
; beside ii and wondered what he did
that he could leave her alone in lions
country and Islam's domain.
In sudden anger she slipped to the
J edge of the cliff of clay, digging her
! heels into it as she had seen him do to
: retard her passage down its precipitous
slope. Breathless, she stole to the
broken door and entered its Jagged
opening his strength lad achieved at
alarmed at grating sound she had
not heard before.
Daring" he said. and she knew
from his voice that be eXulted, "see IL
you can work out his gag"
He put her hand on the protruding
part Of the dark bundle and Sybil
started back from a bearded, sweating
face. Calvin laughed at her wild re-
coil: Just like me-" he whispered,
"but it's Feeder. good old Fedderl Do
get out that gag; he's chained and I'm
filing my last link. Can't you see he's
the Mullah's prisoner? Cheer-oh, Sybil,
and tCorE,''
$50 that's what they're out dancing
about?" she Kissed fiercely, cropping for
his mouth with a sudden cessation Of
fear and hands which trembled from
the straining grip Of her ride. Calvin
grunted. filing valiantly at the metal
link while SYPHILIS fingers pulled at a
strange stonelike thing between Fed
deT's parted turning lips.
Strange sounds. unlike speech, came
from him while she worked but at last