Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-11-25

of the flat and paused as we heard voices
within. Damarilla's voice was easily recog.
nized, but the other was a strange voice,
apparently mans voice. They were quiet
voices which seemed to proceed from my
workroom and there was a certain air of
stealth and hurry about them.
l walked to my workroom door and
threw 1t open, surprising Damarilla and
some rather unkempt looking stranger with
a folded newspaper in his hand, who ap-
peared to be surveying my hats on the
wall. He was apparently an old clo'es man
whom Damarilla had called up from the
street during my absence and who-the
situation now flashed across me in an in
stant!-was at that very moment in the
act of offering n sum of money which he
described as "fi' cents" for the lot of them,
| declare even now am astonished by the
marvellous self-control which displayed.
give cents?" l repeated in the politest
and most casual tone I could muster He
began some vouble babble which inter-
ested me not in the slightest.
"a nickel?" Really my restraint sur
prises me even yet
"a half a dime?" And then fell upon
him. Selling him up bodily hurled him
through our fourth floor window the glass
bursting with loud crash and the wooden
frame enveloping him. Leaping after him,
l sought to catch him as he bounced from
the pavement far below, but he eluded me
and tore down Broadway like frightened
fawn. We passed Ninety-sixth street like
two shadows Times Square flashed by
before we knew it, Madison and Union
squares were blurred together, so rapidly
we flew. l assume that we passed City
Hall Park, but have no remembrance of
It, At the Battery he leaped and shot
skimming down the harbor and through
the Narrows like a bullet I remember how
the wind whistled in my own ears as
followed, reaching for his coat tails From
the lower harbor we headed out into the
open sea and the miles whirred past as If
we were standing still and the wild world
was whrling on its axis beneath our feet,
A blur of rocky green rose out of the
ocean and shot past us; the Azores I as
sumed. Two rocky coasts rose up from
the sea. came piling against each other
and fled into nothingness again. was
inclined to think it was the Straits, but
Sicily and Malta nearly collded with us
in quick succession and there was really
little time to think at the moment. l
finally caught him and banged him to the
ground, covering with fright and breath
less, just outside the Jaffa Gate at Jeru-
salem But / did not leap upon him. l
explained to him that l knew it was not
native to him thus to do violence to a
fellow human beings feelings. l told him
that New York had changed him from a
good Fastener into a nickel grubbing
Westerner. / reminded him sternly that
he would be far better off in the land of
his fathers and left him there abruptly
and came away.
That was yesterday. An hour ago a
little steamer came bobbng a howdydo
through short steep sea and Spilled me
onto the quay here And in time / told
my Turkish friend of the dreary necessity
which still appeared to confront me, that
of buying something to wear upon my
head. He, helpful soul that he was, ad-
vanced a suggestion Immediately, He con-
Quoted me up from the quay into the town
and we threaded the ancient cobbled pave
ments into the bazaar streets. Here he led
me to the house of his friend, Ahmed Aga,
a maker of lambsldn kalpaks a form OF
headWear with an uplifted flair and rather
a more striking poise upon the head than
is achieved by the humble hat Of the West.
Much as I love my hats, l took to 1t i'm
mediately; indeed, l felt as If lifelong
pilgrimage had come at last to its happy
ending. We soon agreed upon price and
I wrapped my hat in a page of Turkish
newspaper against the day when it joins
its seventeen elders on my worl1room wall
The price, it is true, was far beyond what
l had planned, but the thought of those
100000 American pounds uplifted me and
I fingered over coffee with my kelpak rest
ing as easily on my head as If it had rested
there for months and months and months.
But what will Damarilla say when she
sees it?