Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-12-27

NlAltOI1ALLl ~,
yielded to him. but into the modicum
of space accorded between two stout
and glaringly srudging matrons, he
became aware from the hostile stares
that his entrance had not been SOL
itary.
Between his legs the Imp was COLL
ing.
II made d sneak With YOU" the boy
whispered II say | your dragoman,
bright boy in Assiout"
Billy thought it highly probable
that he would. But the ladies Meth
err needed nor desired him now, and
ringed in by feminine disgust the
two scorned intruders sat silent hour
after hour while the train went rush
ing south thru the increasing dark
ness of the night.
CHAPTER XVI.
Hour after hour the little boat held
it's steady course; hour after hour the
distant banks flowed past IN chang
ing scenes. Forward on the marrow
deck a girl sat in lounge chair
beneath u striped awning and gaZed
out over the water. Squatting in the
shade behind her an old woman
stared up out of half-closed eyes
with pupils as keen and bright under
their puckered lids as the eyes of a
watching hawk.
No disturbing consciousness of this
incessant scrutiny muffled the seren-
ity of the girls appearance. Her
hands lax in her lap, her blue eyes
quietly intent upon the view, she lay
back in her chair with as much con-
fident concern as she might have
shown in an opera box. AS Il matter
of inereduious fact she Was feeling
incredulously at ease.
The terrible tension OF those days
in the palace was over--for the time,
at least. She did not understand this
new move. she had been bewildered
ever since that early dawn. on sun
day. when the old woman and the
eunuch had rushed her into the
limousine driven her swiftly thru the
empty streets to n landing place on
the river beyond the bridge. and hur-
ried her on board this little boat, an
old dahabtyeh reconstructed and CIV
en- new engine.
The. Captain had not appeared ex-
cept for n brief interview in the
vestibule where he had told her that
the quarantine was prolonged and
that he was going 70 try to escape
out of Cairo where the authorities
would not be aware, and would first
try to smuggle her" out of the city.
too. She must do exactly as the, old
woman indicated and everything
would be all right.
And she had said. How exciting!"
and what f,ln," with lips that
smiled p1uckily in apparent accep-
lance of this flimsy excuse.
She had connected this flight with
the pandemonium she had heard in
the palace the night before. and she
guessed that In some wav her pres
ence there had become embarrassing
for the Turk. Perhaps her friends
had traced her. Perhaps Robert Fall
coner--for after all it would only be
Robert Falconer's ilouteo rs
she thought that WOULD interest It
self in her. e mistrusted kerissen:
he would-suspect.
r So hope rose high in her. and
hopeful, too. was this new glimpse OF
freedom. Somewhere, soon, she
thought confidently, the chance to es-
cape would come. The old woman
could not watch forever. The big
.eunuch was occupied with the boat.
She could hear him now muttering
angrily to the iittle brown boy at the
engines, white byer the sound ofbhis
muttering rose the rhythmic, uncon-
marching up>>and down the narrow
passageways OF deck outside the
little staterooms with scrubbing
brush under each left foot. Allah
Iileh Lessah," they chanted monoton-
ously, with a scrub OF the brush at
each emphasis. "Allah llleh Lessall."
Allah help me-" thought Arlee
Beecher.
All day Sunday she had sat there
I'm that chair watching the pyramids.
at first SO sharp-cut against the
cloudless blue, wane imperceptibly
and fade from sight, watching the
golden Mokattan Hills and the pearly
tinted Tura range slip softly from
the horizon and all the old landmarks
of the Egypt that she knew disap-
pear and be replaced by strange, new
sights. Other pyramids showed like
child's toys upon the horizon; dense
groves of palm trees appeared along
the banks, then the banks grew high
-er and higher and upon them, sill
,houetted against the bright blue sky,
showed a frieze-like procession of
country folk driving camels or donk-
ess or bullocks.
All night long they had steamed, q
search-light on the bow, and Arlee
had lain in the little stateroom try
ing to sleep, but continually aware of
the breathing Of the old woman hud-
died outside against her door, of the
soft thudding of bare feet about the
deck, of the pulse of the engine, beat
Ing, beating steadily, and of quick,
muffled commands, of reversals
grinding of chains as some treacher-
Gus shallow appeared ahead, then of
the onward drive and the steady
rhythmis progress again.
Where were they taking her?
South to some haunt where she
would be farther than ever from CIV
ilization which had flowed so I'M
heedingly past. that old palace OF
darkened windows, south toward the
strange native cities and tiny villages
and the grain fields and the deserts
But it was all better than that stiff
ling palace and the absence of the
Captain gave her sense of tempo
r0rV Sarnrity