Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-07-20
ute willing to discuss rugs and car


naving gained the room, Ryanne
! threw off his coat and relighted his
cigar. which, in a saving mood, he had
allowed to go out. He motioned George
to be seated.
Gust little yarn before I show you
the rug. See these cuffs?"
yes"
"You will observe that ] have had
to reverse them. Note this collar!
Same thing. Trousers-hems bit
frayed, coat shiny at the elbows"
Ryanne exhibited his sole fortune.
-Four sovereigns between me and
JAIL"
George became thoughtful. He was
generous and kind-hearted among
those he knew intimately or slightly,
but he had the instructive reserve or
the seasoned traveller in cases like
this. He waited.
''The truth is, I'm all but done for.
And if fail to strike a bargain here
with you. Well, should hate
| to tell you the result. Our consul
would have to furnish me passage
home We're you ever up against it to
the extent OF reversing your cuffs and
turning your collars? You don't know
what life is, then"
George gravely produced two good
cigars and offered one to his host.
There was an absence Of sound,
| broken presently by the cheerful
crackle of matches; two billowing
| clouds of smoke fioated outward and
upward Ryanne sighed. Here was
cigar one could not purchase in all the
length and breadth Of the Orient.
Pedro Murias. In one Of his doubt
fully prosperous epochs he had smoked
| them daily. How long ago had that
been?
"Yonder is rug, prayer-rug, as
holy to the Moslem as the idols eye
is to the Hindu, as the Bible Is to the
Christian. For hundreds of years It
never saw the outside of the Sultan's
palace. One day the late, the recently
late, Abdul the Unspeakable Turk,
gave it to the Pasha Of Bagdad.
Whenever this rug makes It's appear
ance in Holy Mecca, 1t is worshiped,
and none but a Sultan or Sultan's
favorite may kneel upon It. Bagdad.
the hundred mosques, the old capital
OF Suleiman the Great, tho dreary
Tigris and the sluggish Euphrates,
muezzin from the turret calls to pray
er, and all that; ehT
George leaned forward from his
chair, a gentle terror in his heart.
"The Yhiordes? BY Jove! is that the
Yhiordes?"
Admiration kindled in Ryannes
eyes. To have hit the bull's-eye with
so free and quick an aim was ample
proof that Percival Algernon had not
boosted when he said that he knew
something about rugs.
you've guessed it.
GLOW did you come by it?" George
demanded excitedly.
"Why do you ask that?7
MAN, ten-thousand pounds could
not purchase that rug, that bit Of car.
pet. Collectors from every port have
been after it in vain. And you mean
to tell me that 1t lies there, wrapped
in butchers paper?"
"Right-O!"
Ryanne solemnly detached cuff
and rolled up his sleeve. The bare
muscular arm was Scared by two
long, ugly knife-wounds, scarcely
healed. Next he drew up q trousers
leg, disclosing u battered shin. "And
there's another on my shoulder-blade,
the closest call l ever had. A man
who takes his life in his hands, as !
have done, merits some reward. Mr..
Jones, III be frank with you. ! am a
kind of derelict. Since was boy, !
have hated the humdrum Of Offices,
of shops. 1 wanted to be my own man,
10 go and come as I pleased. To do
this and live meant precarious e.
ploits. This rug represents one of
them. am telling you the family
secret; l am showing you the skele-
ton in the closet, confidentially. !
stole that rug; and when I say that
the seven labors OF our old friend
Hercules were simple diversions COM
pared, you'll recognize the difficulties
had to overcome. You know some
thing of the Oriental mind. hand
led the Job alone. may not be out
Of the jungle Jet"
George listened entranced. He could
readily construct the scenes through
which this adventurer had gone; the
watchful nights, the untiring patience,
the thirst, the hunger, the heat And
yet, he could hardly believe. He was
4 trifle skeptical Many q rogue had
made the mistake OF playing Georges
age against his experience. He had
made some serious blunders in the
early stages of the business, how
ever; and everybody, TO gain some
thing In the end, must lose something
at the start
ITO hn continued.