Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-08-05
The Carpet
From Bagdad


was sick in soul and body. To have
walked blindly into trap like this,
lof his own making, too! Fool! What
had possessed him, usually so keen,
to trust the copper-hided devil? All
for the sake of one glass OF wine!
with an effort entailing no meager
pain in his side, he stilled the strang-
ling hiccoughs, swung round and tried
to smile reassuringly at the girl
"You are better?" she asked.
There was in the tone Of that ques.
ton an answer to all his dreams. One
nights work had given him his ticket
to the land of those weighed and
found wanting. She knew; how much
he did not care; enough to read his
guilt.
1t appeared to George that she was
accepting the situation with a philos-
ophy deeper than either his or Ry.
anhe's. Not whimper, not q plant,
not a protest 80 far had she made.
She was a Roland in petticoats.
och, I'm Dashed up Bit" said Ry-
anne. "Ill get my legs in q day or
so. Fortune, will you answer one
ques tion?"
as many as you like"
'TEow did you get here?"
Don't you know"
George wasn't certain. but the girls
voice was cold and accusing.
opp
"l-es. Wasn't 1t the note that you
wrote to me?"
Rranne took his head in his hands.
YEARLY. II wrote you no note. For
tune; 1 have never written you a note
of shy kind. You do not know my
handwriting from Adams. In Gods
namo, why didn't you ask your mother
OF your uncle? They would have REQ
ognized the forgery at once. Who
gave it to your
"tiahomed himself"
"Damn l:in:" Ryanne grew strong
under the J ,as'n:. il; OF rage. mo.
don't tell lnv % De silent. don't care
about m! 80. Il! TIC kind o. a man
who pulls tI:rougn, generally. But
this takes ia @.,:..c cut Of me. I'm
to blame; It's all my fault"
"say no more about It." She be-
lievcd him. She really hadn't thought
him capable Of such baseness, though
at tie time Of her abduction she had
been inclined to accuse him. That
he vas here, a prisoner like herself,
was conclusive evidence, SO far as she
was concerned, of his innocence. But
she knew him to be responsible for
the presence Of Jones; knew him to
be culpable Of treachery of the mean
est order; knew him to be lacking in
generosity and magnanimity toward
mar who was practically his benefac-
tor. What does Mahomed want?"
1.-THE bally rug, Fortune. And Jones
here, who had it. says that 1t is gone"
Vanished, magic-carpet-wise." sup
plen anted George.
end Jones would have given it up"
"h.id a thousand like it, If We, could
have bought you out Of this
Zones and l could have managed
to set along"
eve shouldn't have mattered."
end would you have returned to
Mr.. Jones his thousand pounds?"
Eyes, and everything else l have"
quite honestly.
Don't worry any more about the
rug, then. l know where 1t Is"
"You?" cried the two men.
Eyes. stole 1t. I did so, thinking
to avert this very hour; to save you
from HARM" to George, "and you from
doing a contemplate thing" to Ry-
anne. 1T Is In my room, done up In
the big steamer-roll. And now I am
glad that I stole It"
Ryanne laughed weakly.
Said George soberly: What con.
tenptib1e thing?" He remembered
Mahomed's words In regard to Ry.
anne as the latter lay insensible In
the sand.
Ryanne, quick to seize the opportu-
nifty Of solving, to his own advantage,
the puzzle for George, and at the same
time guiding Fortune away from a
topic, the danger Of which she knew
nothing. raised hand. 81 bribed Ma
homed to kidnap you, Jones. Don't
be impatient. You laughed at me