Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-05-07
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XII
Teeth OF a wolf on a whitened bone.
What do the splinters say?
Scent OF sambur, up and gone.
Where will he stand at bay2
Sparks In the whirl Of a hurry!ng
wind,
Who was It laid the light?
Mischief, back OF a Woman's mind
Why do the thoughtless Eight?
Black smoke still beloved up-
ward from the Quilted House-of-the-
Observation-Disclosures, and although
there were few stars visible. a wa
terry moon looked out from between
dark cloudracks and showed up the
smoke above the Delhi roofs. Vas
mini picked the right smile as US
ual. 1t looked as il the biggest
genie ever dreamed Of must be
hurrying out Of a fshermans vase.
And who is the fisherman" she
laughed, for she is fond Of that
sort of question that sets those
near her thinking and DISCUSSES the
trend of her own thoughts as utter
ly as II she had not any.
"The genie might be the spirit Of
war;" venterued a Baluchi, forget
ting the one God Of his Koran In a
sententious effort to please Vas
, mini.
She flashed glance at him.
"Or it might be the god of the
Rekis," she suggested; and every
body chuckled, because Baluchis do
not relish reference to their lax re-
ligious practice any more than they
like to be called desert people"
This man was Rind Baluch of the
Marri Hills, and proud Of t.; but
/ pride is not always an asset at Yas-
minis.
They-and the police would have
dearly loved 10 know exactly who
they" were-stood clustered in
Yasmini's great, deep window that
overlooks her garden-the garden
that can not be guessed at from the
street. There was not one of them
who could have explained how they
came to assemble all on that side
of the room; the movement had
seemed to evolve out of the infin-
lite calculation that everybody takes
for granted, and Moslems particu-
larly, since there seems nothing
else to do about it.
1t did not occur to anybody to
credit Yasmini with the arrange
ment, or with the suddenly aroused
interest in smoke against the after
midnight sky. Yet, when another
man entered whose disguise was a
joke to any practiced eye-and all
in the room were practiced-it look
ed to the newcomer almost as if his
reception had been ready staged.
He was dressed as a Mohamms-
dan gentleman. But his feet, when
he stood still, made nearly a right
angle to each other. and his shout
ders had none of the grace that
goes with good native breeding:
they were proud enough, but the
pride had been drilled in and cult
waited. 1t sat square. And If ma
tive gentleman had walked through
the streets as this man walked, all
the small boys Of the bazars would
have followed him 10 learn what
nation his might be.
Yasmini seemed delighted with
him. She ran toward him, curtgied
to him, and called him bahadur.
She made two maids bring a chair
for him, and made them set it near
the middle of the window whence
he could see the smoke, pushing the
men away on either side until he
had a clear view
But he knew enough of the ma
tive mind, at all events, TO look at
the smoke and not remark on it. II
was so obvious that he was meant
to talk about the smoke, or to ask
about it, that even a German Orien-
talist understanding the east
through German eyes had tact
enough to look in silence, and. so
to speak, "eOrce trumps."
And that again, of course, was
exactly what Yasmini wanted.
Moreover, she surprised him by not
leading trumps.
"They are here" she said with a
sidewise glance at the more than
thirty men who crowded near the
window.
The Germau-and he made no
pretense any longer of being any
thing but German-sat sidewise
with both hands on his knees 10
get a better view of them. He
scanned each face carefully and
each man entertained a feeling that