Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1917-11-15

Il dEF@us AS Ne 0uSts4 uAso, the Aihcke
i shadows ut the station baildinK, VII
h siich an IRON fingered wiasrawa.k
sahib should Sase made sacas q sral,
feeble showing ae the, end.
''ttaag it.-~couhin'e YOU hold ham
wera yoa afraid Of HIM. %. ~hasy' IL
/ rnaiidei hyde, beginning h. dress him
/ sasi7@ hsstsai Of answering King haas,
otts tnfo the hsmprta gapoas. aud In
/ uaititoe he eaagite sighs II serxsaa
- nastvs inkaatsy Pssstax aewA -
n orsisa Ere nlatise q sissa easa sseaas nj
| ei,e ulas to hiaa On eh& raaa
'ahsa yoa see snas rtaaa~aSs'' b
asked
"'esa.. sanas. saw enc raaainx, Shall
se1lesy'
NO THIS pfses Of his shirt viii
AaensSsS hhnI Take It. Hide il. When
. IMAM with torn shirt into which
that pseee ITS makes for the telegraph
cfse~ after this train has sene on. So
that he Is allowed to send any tele.
grams he wants to. Only. have copies
at every one of them wired to Captain
King. care Of the stationmaster. Delhi
Have you understoodr'
"Ha. sahib."
Grab him. and lock him up light
afterward-but not until he has sent
his kilograms
"Atcha. sahib."
make yourself scarce. theni"
Major Hyde was dressed. having per
formed that military evolution in some
thing less than record time.
"Who was that you were talking
tor" he demanded. But King did not
seem to understand until the native
sergeant had quite vanished into the
shadows.
The engine shrieked Of death and
torment; the heat relaxed as the en-.
CINE moved-lOOsened-let go-lifted
at last, and trainload of hot passen.
gers sighed thanks.
"What are you looking att" Hyde
demanded at last, sitting on Kings
berth.
"Only a knife" said King. He was
standing under the dim gas lamp that
helped make the darkness more un-
bearable. He slowed the knife away
In his bosom. and the major crossed to
his own side.
Within ten minutes Hyde was asleep.
snoring prodigiously. Then King pulled
out the knife again and studied 1t for
half an hour. The blade was Of bronze,
with an edge hammered to the keen
ness Of a razor. The hilt was Of near
~ pure gold, In the form of a woman
dancing. The whole thing was 50 ex-
Quisitely wrought that age had only
softened the lines. without in the least
lmpairing them. It looked like one of
those Grecian toys with which Roman
women Of Nero's day stabbed their
lovers. But that was not why he be-
gan to whistle very softly to himself.
Presently he, drew out the generals
package Of papers, with the photograph
on the top. He stood up, to hold both
knife and papers close to the light In
the roof.
1t needed no great stretch of imagi.
nation to suggest likeness between
the woman Of the photograph and the
other. Of the golden knife-hilt. And
nobody, looking at him then, would
have dared suggest he lacked magma.
ton.
II the knife had not been so ancient
they might have been portraits of the
same woman, in the same disguise
taken at the same time.
"She knew had been chosen to
work with her. The general sent her
word that am coming" he muttered
to himself. "There must have been q
spy watching at Peshawur. who wired
to Rawal-Pindi for this man to JUMP
the train and 60 on with the job. Why
should she give the man a knife with
her own portrait on it, Is she queen
Of secret society," Well-we shall
see 7"
He lay back with his head on the
pillow. and before Ave minutes more
had gone he was asleep. His mobile
face in repose looked Roman, for the
sun had tanned his skin and his nose
was aQuiline. In museums, where
sculptured heads of Roman generals
and emperors stand around the wall
on pedestals. 1t would not be difficult
to pick several that bore more than q
faint resemblance to him. He had
breadth and depth Of forehead and q
jowl that lent itself to smiles as well
AZ sternness, and throat that ex
pressed manly determination In every
nodded line.
He slept like boy until dawn; and
he and Hyde had scarcely exchanged
another dozen words when the train
screamed next day into Delhi station
Then he saluted stiffiy and was gone.
Ito be continued)