Charlevoix county herald., 1919-01-03
Hpsed the lurryInig crowds a

Hancied, would dream in their rou-
Tine round that the spirit OF adventure
was abroad in their midst.
They led their lives from day to day
In the selfsame manner They went
their ways and minded their business,
and saw only what was on the surface.
They couldn't see deeper to the soul
OF things.
To them, II they saw me, / was
Chinese driving in hired taxi. In
whimsical way. I paraphrased an old
voice once had heard:
A Chinese in taxicab.
Chinese was to him, by Grab,
And he was nothing more.
And / grinned. Since Dual and
had been friends, the spirit of adven-
ture had grown familiar to me. Peo-
pie said adventure was dead in these
commercial days.
Well, then, people didn't know. A
tingling thrill of impotence laid hold
OF me as in the old days of our early
acquaintance. and I mentally urged
the wheels of my cab as we climbed
the long hill.
Adventure dead! What a fallacy.
1t was no more dead today than a
thousand years ago.
II could not die as long as men and
women loved and gave life to their
children, and reared them with hopes
and aspirations of what they, too,
were to become.
Life itself was the great adventure,
and today Dual, and now !, were en-
gaging in the task of saving life.
What more could there be than that
to save life itself-the life of a man
and woman who loved, and IL / was
to believe the words of my paradox
speaking friend, would mate and give
yet another life to the world.
What an adventure! To save life!
And before Dual had left our hotel
he had known. He had read it from
the stars themselves, and told Sheldon
that Mercury and Venus were drawing
to conjunction.
He was a strange man, an odd man,
who spoke plainly in riddle-which
became plain after the things they pre-
dicted had happened, SO that you won
dered why you had not seen his deep
er meaning instead of being confused
by mere words.
Yet what chance did a man like
Connel, trained in the technical meth
DDS of the police, stand OF compre-
bending?
Poor Connel! He was worried.
felt sorry for him in his worry. be-
cause ! knew from his words, and
their tone OF this morning. that a sim
cere friendship for McKabe lay back
of the anxiety he felt.
Well. told myself, after bit now.
when Dual really went into action
Connel might give over worry and
take up rejoicing instead.
And surely, now, that the evening
fingers were feeling across the land
scape, Dual must be getting ready to
strike.
All the long day he had been laying
his threads of leading, knotting each
to the other to form a strong net OF
holding.
BY now he should be almost ready
to begin drawing up that net with its
catch OF poor, blind, distorted human
souls.
And when it was done. like the true
Oriental, he would say:
"Kismet! II is fate - debt or
Karma-a mans misdeeds have over
taken him at last"
And he would glory that the right
had triumphed, and that he had once
more been made an instrument to that
end.
The cab lurched to a standstill.
Here we are, John" called my
driver.
made no answer. merely opened
the door. climbed down, backwards as
q Chinaman will always leave vehi-
Gle, much as a woman leaves a trolley
against the rules; fumbled in my
baggy trousers for some coin / had
placed there when changing, and paid
him his fare.
He took 1t. grinned, and ratified
away.
l turned about and faced the great
store I had been told to enter. With
out hesitation or any effort at conceal
ment l went up its steps and pushed
open the door.
A small man hurried forward on my
entrance.
Prince Abdul" said to him soft
ly. He turned with sign to me to
follow. and led me back to a stairs.
(Copt;nuad Navf WaaLl