Evening star., 1924-10-06
THE OWLS HOUSE
: .'(~ A Thrilling Adventure Story
BY Crosbie Garstin
Copyright, 1924. By Frederick A Stoke, O.

| SldHu.
| Ortho, ever watchful, saw them the
| moment they arrived, brought his
! command into squadron column, black
troop to the fore, and marched past
| underneath
! They made a gallant show and
Ortho knew it. Thanks to the groom
ing, his horses were looking so per
| cent better than any other animals
in the Shereefian army; the uni
1 formity added another so. The men
| knew as well as he did who was look
| ing down on them and went by, sit
| ting stiff, every eye fixed ahead
The lusty sun set the polished hides
aglow. the FURNISHED Ianceheads
a-glitter. The horses, fretted by
| sharp stirrups. tossed their silky
names, whisked their streaming tails
The wind got into the burnooses and
set them tapping and billowing in
creamy clouds; everything was in his
| favor. Ortho wheeled the head of his
column left about, formed squadron
| line on the right and thundered past
the Magazine, his shop window troop
nearest the spectators, shouting the
imperial salute, Allah barek Amer
! Sidi" A good line, too he congratu-
| lated himself-as good as any Makh
zen cavalry would achieve in this
| world. If that didn't work nothing
would. 1t worked.
A slave came painting across the
| parade ground, summoning him to the
| powder house at once.
The Sultan was leaning against the
| parapet, sucking a pomegranate and
| splitting the pips at his grand vizier,
| who pretended to enjoy it, The
| fringes of the royal jellab were rusty
| with brick dust from the ruins OF
Bel Abbas, which Mahomet was re
storing. Ortho did obeisance and got
| a playful kick in the face: his sub
| Unity was in good humor.
| He recognized Ortho Immediately.
"Ha. The lancer who alone defied the
Bou Khari, still alive! Young man,
| you mast indeed be of Allah beloved
He looked the soldier up and down,
with eyes humorous and restless.
| What is your rank?"
"Kaid mai, sidi'
| Hum! Thou art kaid rahal now.
then" He turned on the vizier. Tell
| Ell Mechouar to let him take what
| horses he chooses; he knows how 10
keep them. Go"
He flung the fruit rind at Ortho
| by way of dismissal
Ortho gave his long-suffering men
| feast that night with the last ready
money in his possession. They voted
him a right good fellow-soidiers
| have short memories.
He was on his feet now. AS kald
rahal, with nominally thousand cut
| throats at his beck and nod, he would
| be a fool indeed if he couldn't black
mail the civilians to some order Also
| there was a handsome sum to be
made by crafty manipulation OF ms
| mems pay and rations. FL Mechouai
| would expect his commission out OF
this, naturally, and sundry humber
| folk-"big fieas have little fleas
ha N -
| He was clear of the financial thickel.
He went prancing home to his little
| house, laid aside his arms and bur
| moose took the key from the negress
| ran upstairs and unlocked the room
in which the Arab girl. Ourida, was
! imprisoned. 1t was a pleasant prison
with a window overlooking the
| Agueda1, it's miles of pomegrante,
orange and olive trees. 1t was the
| best room in the house and he had
| furnished it as well as his thin purse
would afford. but to the desert glre
| it might have been a tomb.
She sat all day staring out of the
barred window, looking beyond I'll"
| wide Haouz plain to where the snow
| peaks of the high Atlas rose, sheer
| wall of sun-lit silver-and beyond
| them even. She never smiled, she never
| spoke, she hardly touched her rood
Ortho in all his experience had en-
countered nothing like her. He did
| his utmost to win her over, brought
sweetmeats, laughed, joked, retailed
| the gossip of the palace and the
| souks, told her stories of romance
| and adventure which would have
kept any other harem toy In shlVerS
| of bliss, took his gounibri and sang
| Romany songs, Moorish songs, Eng
lish ballads. fiowery Ottoman kasIdas.
ghazels and gulistans, learned from
~ h l1 rod hgr
All to no avail: he might have been
| dumb she deaf Driven desperate.
| he seized her in his arms: he had as
| we'll embraced so much ice. 1T was
maddening. Osman Bahi. who watch
| ed him in the lines of a morning,
| raving at the men over trifles, twist
ed his yellow mustache and smiled.
This evening, however. Ortho was
| too full of elation to be easily re
pulsed He had worked hard and in
| trigued steadily for this promotion
| Three years before he had landed IN
| Morocco a chained slave now he was
the youngest of his rank in the first
| arm of the service. Another Few
| years at this pace and what might
| he not achieve? He bounded upstairs
| like a lad home with a coveted prize.
| told the girl of his triumph, stridlnS
up and down the room, flushed,
| laughing. smacking his hands to-
gether, boyish to a degree. He look
| ed his handSomest, tall, picturesque
figure in the plum-colored breeches.
| soft riding boots, blue kaftan and
| scarlet tarboosh tilted rakishly on his
| black curls. The girl stole glance
| at him from under her long lasheS,
| but when he looked at her she was
/ staring out of the window at the
snow wall of the Atlas rose-fushed
I with sunset, and when he spoke to
her she made no answer: he might
as we'll have been talking to him
| self. But he was too full of his sue
| cess to notice, and he ratified on and
on, pacing the little room UP ana
| down, four strides each way. He
| dropped beside her, put his arm about
her shoulders, drew her cold cheek
, to his flushed one.
| Listen, my pearl" he rhapsodized.
at have money now and you shall
have dresses like rainbows, gold
| tiara and slave girls to wait on you.
| and when we move garrison you shall
ride white ambling mule with red
| trappings and lodge in striped tent
like the royal women. l am kald
Rahal now, do you hear? The young
est of any, and in the Sultans favor.
will contrive and scheme. and a
| few years the Standard
eschkoun-i-araf? And then. my
honey-sweet. you shall have a palace
with a garden and fountains. Hey,
| lookr'
He scooped in his voluminous
breeches pockets, brought out
handful of trinkets and tossed them
| into her lap. The girl stared at him,
| then at the treasures, and drew a
/ sharp breath. They were her own,
! the jewelry he had wrenched from
her on that wild night of carnage
| three months before.