The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1918-06-13

same us the one thnt had been stolen
from himself.
Memory prompted him. He felt its
outer edge with a finger nail. There
was the little nick that he had made
In the soft gold when he struck II
against the cell bars In the Jail ut the
Mir Khan palacel He touched the
gold. IL was warm. He repeated the
test on the woman's wrists. Hers was
warm, too. Both bracelets had been
worn by n living being within an
hour
He muttered and frowned In thought,
and then suddenly jumped backward.
The leather curtain near the bed had
moved on Its bronze rod.
"Aren't they dears?" a voice said In
English behind him. Aren't they
sweetT"
Yasmni stood not two arms lengths
away, ~lovelier than the dead woman
because Of the merry life In her. young
and warm. aglow. but looking like the
dead woman and the woman Of the
frtez>the woman Of the lamp-bowls-
the stGtue-come to life, speaking to
him In English more sweetly than II
II had been her mother tongue. The
English abuse their language. Vas
mini caressed II and made II do Its
work twice over.
salaamed low. Knowing him for what
he was, she gave him the senna.
stained tips Of her warm fingers TO
kiss, and he thought she trembled
when he touched them. But a second
later she had snatched them away and
was treating him to raillery.
Man of pills and blisters !" she said,
tell me how those bodies are pre-
served! Spill knowledge from that
learned skull OF thine!
He did not answer. He never shone
In conversation at any time, having
made as many friends as enemies by
saying nothing until the spirit moves
him. But she did not know that yet.
III I knew for certain why those
two did not turn to worms" she went
on. almost I would choose to die now,
while I am beautiful! What would
they say. think you. King sahib. II
they found US two dead beside those
two2 Speak. man, speak! Has kim
Jan struck you dumb7"
But he did not speak. He was star
Ing at her arm, where two whitish
marks on the skin betrayed that brace
lets had been.
"Oh. those! They are theirs. I
would not rob the dead. or the gods
would turn on me. I robbed you. In
stead, while you slept. FIe. King So
hlb. while you slept"
But her steel did not strike on flint.
II was her eyes that flashed. He would
have done better to have seemed
ashamed, for then he might have
fooled her. at least for a while. But
having judged himself. he did not care
n fg for her judgment OF him. She
realized that instantly and having
found n tool that would not work.
discarded II for a better one. She
grew confidential.
81 borrow them" she explained,
but l put them back. take them
for so many days, and when the day
comes-the gods like us to be exact /!
You were near death when I took the
bracelet last night. The time was up.
| would have stabbed you II you had
tried to prevent mt !"
Now he spoke at last and gave her
n first glimpse Of an angle Of his mind
she had not suspected.
Princess" he said. He used the
word with the Difference some men can
combine with %errontery, so that very
tenderness has barbs. "You might
have had that thing back II you had
sent q messenger for II at any time.
A word by a servant would have been
enough"
"You could never have reached
Khinjan then !" she retorted. Her eyes
flashed again, but his did not waver.
Princess" he said. "why speak Of
what you don't knowf"
He thought she would strike like a
snake, but she smiled ut him instead.
And when Yasmini has smiled on a
man he has eve been just the same
man afterward. He knows more. for
one thing. He has had a lesson In
M Of the finer arts.
Will sptuh VI WHAT i 10 KNOW,
she said. "No. there is no need. Look |!
Look I"
She pointed ut the bed-at the man
On the bed-ingers locked In those Of
a woman who looked so like herself.
He looked. knowing well there was
something to be understood, that
stared him In the face. But for the
life OF him he could not determine
question or answer.
what Is In your bosomT" she
asked him.
lie put his hand TO his shirt.
"Draw II out r. she said. as a teacher
drills a child.
He drew out the %gold.hilted knife
with the bronze blade. with which a
man had meant to murder him. lie let
II lie on the palm Of his hand and
looked from II TO her and back again.
The hilt might have been a portrait Of
her modelled from the life.
Here Is another like It," she said,
stepping to the bedside. She drew back