Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-01-16

thing that had put him squarely upon
the wide, short road to perdition,
which had made of him first a spend
thing: sinister phrase! A thousand
times had he longed to go back, for he
wasn't all bad; but door after door
shut behind him; and now the single
purpose was to get to the end of the
road by the shortest route.
He did not deceive himself. His des.
perate mood was the result of an in.
fernal rage against himself, rage
against the weakness of his heart
Fortune Chedsoye. Why had she not
crossed his path at that time when he
might have been saved? And yet,
would she have saved him? God alone
knew.
! He heard Jones stirring in his room
next door, Presently all became still
To sleep like that! He shrugged, threw
off his coat. swept the cover from the
stand, found pack of cards. and
played solitaire till the first pallor OF
dawn announced the new day.
Reclining snugly against the parapet
wrapped in his tattered arbiyeh, or
cloak, his head pillowed upon his lean
arm, motionless with that pretended
sleep Of the watcher. Mahomed-El'
Gebel kept his vigil. Miles upon miles
he had come, across three bleak, cold
binding deserts, on camels in trains,
on camels again, night and day, day
and night, across the soundless yellow
painless. Allah was good to the true
believer The night was chill, but GER
tain fires warmed his blood. All day
long he had followed the accursed
lying giaour, but never once had he
wandered into the native quarters OF
the city. Patience! What was day, a
week, year? Grains of sand. He
could wait Inshalla
CHAPTER VII.
George having made his bargain
with conscience relative to the
Yhiordes rug. slept the sleep Of the un'
troubled. Of the just of the man who
had nothing in particular to get up
for. In fact, after having drunk his
breakfast cocoa and eaten his buttered
toast, he evinced his satisfaction by
turning his face away from the at
tracing morning light and passing of
into sleep again. And thereby hangs
this tale.
So much depended upon his getting
his mail as it came In that morning,
that Fate herself must have resisted
sturdily the desire to shake MIN by
the shoulder. Perhaps she would have
done so but for the serenity of his
pose and the infantile smile that
fingered for while round his lips.
Fate. as with most of US, has her sentl-
mental lapses.
The man next door, having no con-
science to speak of indeed, he had de-
rallied her while passing his twentieth
meridian., was up betimes. He had
turned in at four; at six he was stroll
ing about the deserted lounging-room,
watching the entrances. 1t Is incon'
ceivable how easily mail may be pur-
Joined in a large hotel. There are as
many ways as points to the wind.
Ryanne chose the simplest He s'aited
for the mail bag to be emptied upon
the hear porter's counter. Nonchantly,
but deity, while the porter looked on,
the adventurer ran through the buik.
He found three letters and cable, the
latter having been received by
Georges bankers the day before and
mailed directly to the hotel. The
porter had no suspicion that bold
theft was being committed under his
very eyes. Moreover, circumstances
prevented his ever learning Of 1T.
Ryanne stuffed the spoils into a
pocket.
"If any one asks for me-" he said,
SAY that I shall be at my bankers,
the Anglo-Egyptian bank, at 10 o'clock.
eyes, SIR replied the porter, as he
began to sort the rest of the mail, not
forgetting to peruse the postals.
Ryanne went out into the street
walking rapidly into town. Mahomed:
El-Gebel shook the folds Of his cloak
and followed. The adventurer did not
slacken his gait till he reached Shep'
heards hotel Upon the steps he
paused. Some English troops were
marching past, on the way to the rail.
way station: the usual number OF
natives were patrolling the sidewalks,
dangling strings of imitation scarabs;
caravan of pack camels, laden with
cotton shuffled by haughtily; blind
beggar sat on the curb IN front, MUNICH
ing piece Of sugar cane. Ryanne, as
sured that no one he knew was about,
proceeded into the writing room,
wholly deserted at this early hour.
He sat at desk and opened the
cable. 1t contained exactly what he
expected 1t was call for advice In
regard to the rental Of George P. A.
Jones mansion in New York and the
temporary disposing Of the loose
valuables. Ryanne read 1t over dozen
times, with puckered brow, and finally
balled 1t fiercely in his fist. Fool! He
could not, at that moment, remember
the most essential point in the game,
the name and office of the agent to
whom he must this very morning send
reply. Hurriedly he fished out the let.
tiers: one chance in thousand. He
swore, but in relief. In the corner OF
one of the letters he saw that for
some unknown reason the gods we're
still with him. Reynolds E. Reynolds,
estates. Broad street; he remembered.
He wrote out a reply on a piece OF
hotel paper. intending to copy it off
at the cable office. This reply covered
the ground convincingly. Renting for
two months. Old friends. Leave things