Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-01-06

! doubtful and the peccant; for In Cairo
I as in ancient Egypt. there Is every
class and kind of humans, for whom
1 the Decalogue was written, trans
scribed, and shattered by the turbu-
tlent Noses an incident more or less
! forgotten these days. From the tail
Of his eye he gave swift scrutiny to
| this chance acquaintance. and ne
found nothing to warrant suspicion. 1t
was not an unusual procedure for men
to hunt him up in Cairo, in Constant
inople, in Smyrna, or in any of the
oriental cities where his business
| itinerary led him. The house OF
Mortimer & Jones was widely known.
This man Ryanne might have been
anywhere between thirty and forty.
He was tall, we'll set up, blond and
smooth skinned. True, he appeared
to have been i'll fed recently. A little
more flesh under the cheek bones, a
touch of color, and the Irishman would
have been q handsome man. George
could read rug a league off, as they
say. but he was q child in the matter
of physiognomy, whereas Ryanne was
| a past master in this regard; it was
necessary both for his business and
safety, So.
Certainly, I'll take look at it. But
tell you frankly" went on George,
that to interest me it's got to be a
4 very old one. You see, it's little fad
Of mine, outside the business end OF
it. I'm crazy over real rugs, and
know something about every rare one
in existence, or known to exist. Is
| it copy?"
mo I'll tell you more about it
4 when we get to my room"
| Come on, them George was now
quite willing to discuss rugs and car
pets. " ,- -,'
! Having gained the room. Ryanne
threw of his coat and relighted his
cigar, which, in saving mood, he had
allowed to go out. He motioned
( George to be seated.
/ "Just little yarn before l show you
the rug. See these cuffs?"
! "Yes." r..'
''You will observe that have had to
reverse them. Note this collar? Same
thing. Trousers hens bit frayed,
! coat shiny at the elbows" Ryanne
exhibited his sole fortune. -Four
sovereigns between me and jail"
George became thoughtful. He was
|
those he knew intimately or slightly,
but he had the instructive reserve Of
| the seasoned traveller in cases like
! this. He waited, a-.
1.-THE truth Is, I'm all but done for.
And if l fail to strike bargain here
| with you. = = = Well. should hate to
tell you the result. Our consul would
have to furnish me passage home.
Were you ever up against it to the ex-
tent OF reversing your, cuffs and turn
i'm your collars? You don't "now
! what life IS. then.
George gravely produced two good
cigars and offered one to his host.
There was an absence of sound, brok-
en- presently by the cheerful crackle
Of matches; two billowing clouds OF
smoke foated outward and upward.
Ryanne sighed Here was q cigar
one could not purchase in all the
length and breadth of the orient, a
Pedro Murias. In one OF his doubtful
~ prosperous epochs he had smoked
them daily. +, How long ago had that
been? III. - - .. 49,.
"Yonder is a rug, aprayer 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 1t
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 more but sultan or q sultan 3
favorlte may kneel upon it. Bagdad,
the hundred mosques, the old capital
of suleilnan the Great, the dreary
Tigris> and the sluggish Euphrates, a
muezzin from the turret calls to pray
err, and all that, eh?"
| George leaned forward from his
chair, gentle terror in his heart.
THE Yhiordes? BY Jove! is that the
Ybiordes?'
Admiration kindled in Ryanne's
eyes. TO have hit the bulls eye with
so free and quick aim was ample
proof that Percival Algernon had not
boosted when he said that he knew
, something about rugs.
you've guessed it,
! How did you come by it," George
demanded eXcitedly.
"Why do you ask that?"
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 it lies there, wrapped
in butchers paper?"
! '4ught-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 a trousers
leg. disclosing battered shin. "And
there's another on my shoulder-blade,
the closest call ever had. A man
who takes his life in his hands, as l
have done, merits some reward. Mr..
Jones, I'll be frank with you. l am a
kind of derelict. Since ! was boy, l
have hated the hum-drum of Offices. of
shops I wanted to be my own man,
TO go and come as I pleased. To do
this and live meant precarious ex-
ploits. This rug represents one OF
them. l am telling you the family Sc
cret: l am showing you the shelton
in the closet, confidentially. stole
that rug; and when I say that the
To- 1f n1S frionH Inr.