New Britain herald., 1930-09-30
DAGGER
 by Mary Dahlberg

Synopsis: Her love twice thwart- ed by death. Dagger Marley, niece :. of a Texas raschman, seeks peace on a trip abroad. Her first love, Blaine Howard, was killed on the Western Front in France. Her sec -ond, Captain John Naneering, war ace, whom she married, died in an airplane crash. In Paris Dagger meets the Due de Pontoise, a French nobleman who also falls in love with her. but she rejects his proposal of marriage. She cherishes the memory of Howard, even more than that of her dead husband, and resolves to follow around the world the route of a pilgrimage he made. seeking from friends in Africa, China and India the answer to the riddle of life. The first, Sidi -Marut, an Arab, she finds in Al giers. He promises to let her know soon whether he will comply with her request to be taken into the desert to learn the teachings of his people.
 Chapter 2S
 DAGGER JOINS A CARAVAN
 Dagger heard from the Sidi on the very next day. A messenger appeared at her hotel, and delivered this cryptic message in broken French: Abdul el-Bedawi, the swordsmith, sends word that the , blade the Lalla requested will not be ready until the chehere next coming"
 Plainly, whatever preparations he had to make would require this much time, and Dagger set herself to find entertainment and diversion for it's duration. Being restless, she soon exhausted the attractions Of Algiers, and journeyed hither and thither at will, choosing her dlrec- tion arbitrarily in accordance with what she was told she might expect in certain places.
 She whiled away the interval as best she could, visiting corners that had escaped her, playing bridge with a success which drew atten- ton she disliked, writing long letter to Uncle Jim. who had cabled petulantly, inquiring when she planned to come home.
 Don't hold it against me, dear' she wrote to the old man. but per haps I won't ever come back. have an itch for the out trail. l want to see all there is to be seen, live the dreams I dreamed on the range. You'd like this country. It's not so unlike Texas, except there's so little growth on the desert. The horses aren't bad, small, but pow erful. And the men are fine, first rate fighters, and honest after their own fashion. I expect to know few sheikhs before I continue East. Don't worry, though. Your Dagger is as quick on the trigger as ever II popped over a gazelle at fifty yards a week ago.
 Finally one day a hotel servant came to her with the announcement that an Arab waited below for her. The Sid, himself, she saw at a Gglance; but he was dressed more meanly, in a common haik and a burnous burned almost brown by the sun. He bowed to her before she could speak.
 That which the, swordsmith pre- pared is waiting, Lalla Mezrag," he said. Will it please you to pre- pare for a journey?"
 But what do I bring?" she asked.
 "All that you will, You have a ,maid?"
 "Yes"
 He stroked his beard collectively needless of the curious glances cast at him by passing guests.
 "She Is trustworthy? An. then bid her journey on to Alexandria with what you do not require for rough travelling - brooches, boots woman's garments for the tents But remember that over must gc burnous and haik, for it is not vel to invite attention to a Roum journeying into the desert"
 And when shall I be ready?"
 Tomorrow, at this flour, be al the first turn beyond the Ben Mansour' road. Salam Aleikoum."
 The remainder of that day Dag. ges spent in feverish preparation Her maid must be provided for money obtained, instructions Jeff for her mail, scanty wardrobe SC. lected -scanty, for she was deter. mined to travel light. One of the knives she had purchased from the swordsmith she hung by loopeG sheath from the belt of her auto. matic; brooches and boots were easily assembled; undeTelothing she selected with an eye to durability ot fabric.
 And aside from this sAe burdeneG herself with no more than a couple Of dresses, with shoes and stockings to match. The stout bags in which she packed her gear wouldn't have burdened Single camel. A few parting instructions to her maid who was disposed to be teary and rerturbed, and yielded reluctantly to her mistress's instructions tc maintain silence, and Dagger was ready. Nothing remaining to oc.