Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 233, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1920 — Page 2

Yellow Men Sleep

CHAPTER IX— Continued. Con had not known where his comrade was lodged. He became sure of the voice. The three guards, perhaps athirst. or for some like reason universally valid with trios of men at night, were nbt holding their post of duty, for the stairway was empty. A talk with Andrew March was worth a risk; It was necessary if they were to work together for escape. They would need a policy to guide their remaining days tn captivity. Anything was better than these brooding meditations alone. The fire in the young prisoner’s veins focused to some purpose. He descended the stairs, but at the foot of them discovered that they had brought him no nearer the voice. In fact, there were other voices unpleasantly near. He went up again and leaned over his wall, to learn how the monkey Climbed up and down so readily. Quite certainly now he heard his friend talking. The stars were a cool, faint light upon the walls, which were rough-hewn. He could distinguish the ledge of a window below him, half-way to the ground. He knotted the silken cloths from the divan in the first room and fastened one gnd of this soft rope to the atone bench. It was not difficult to let himself down over the rim of wall, easing the strain by pressing his knees Into the depressions of masonry. His toes found the ledge. He grimly hoped that he had heard aright, that March was really near. The window was open, the prayer stopped. “Hello!” The stillness of the whole earth seemed to originate just at this window ledge. Then a hand touched him and March whispered: “Don’t talk.” The elder prisoner moved back Into the darkness, while Con came in at the window. Suddenly there began a scramble, with stormy blows and a rattle. March was at grips with his guard, having taken for granted that Levington meant to attempt escape. Con sensed this mistake, but it was not a time for explanation. He stepped forward uncertainly, his hands feint-

In the Gloom He Leapt at the Larger Form, a Desert Soldier Whose Arms Whipped About Like Falling Trees.

Ing for battle. In the gloom he leaped at the larger form, a desert soldier, whose arms whipped about like falling trees. Three throats strained for breath, but it was the warrior who smothered under a white man’s hand. He bit Con's palm and that closed the brief battle, for it angered Levlngton and he sent hi his free hand. The huge eon of Tan Kuan collapsed. The figure of a woman darted from a shadowy corner. She was moaning softly, and her robe fluttered as she ran out. “She will give an alarm,” said March, panting. “Tour Kurdish friend?" “Yes, she hates me as much as they “Because you refused —” Without further words the two prisoners mounted the window ledge, glanced back through the darkness at the motionless guard, a hulking, silent figure In dense shadow, and dropped to the earth. 5 Their fan was considerable. It yacked their legs, but pain was overlooked in haste. They ran dose under the western wall at the palace, turning at the north end, across the broad lawn, to the lane beyond which were the dwellings of the fighters. AU was dark. They met no sentinel. The desert scarcely required watching. They sped over the heavy dust of the street mA gained the high-arched gate. A worn tedder was hooked here for an«mie battie uses. From the top of the fortification they glanced down at anMwr naeeoaary jump, and took it

By JEREMY LANE

Side by side they ran, following the trail of the pack-camels. Behind them, within the walls, the aged crier of the hours sent up his voice, full to trembling with the news. And arousing every soldier, a bar of hollow brass clanged out into the sleeping city. “We tipped over the bumble-bees," said Con.

CHAPTER X, Gemmed Eyes. Square patches of koresh lay on each side of the trail. The mines were perhaps a mile or less to eastward; and beyond that ridge an infinity of shifting dry naught The stars sent a pallor that was diffused in the fog from the ditches. At night these lowlands about the city were cool. The black vague hill that was the palace was receding into the gloom as the two hastened on. The net of distant cries was spreading. “Do you suppose," suggested Levington, “that we can keep under cover, and perhaps manage to get a beast of some kind, and then sprint for the water hole?" Con realized very well that the nearest water hole was a matter of days, once they left the zone of fertility. Food was yet to be considered, and a city was rising to seek them out and punish. But he felt the need of cheering his friend. "We can get Into the vineyard,” he continued with enthusiasm he did not feel, “and the fruit will serve for water, too —and lay for a camel —and you still have the guidebook on your foot.” Andrew March laughed miserably. He saw what his friend was trying to do. “Why not knock at the gates,” said March, “and demand water and provisions for our return trip?” “Well, we blundered out here,” said Levington, “and half the planet was bucking us—stones for rain, and spinning dust instead of a breeze, with a few robber on the side—so maybe we can break away for home again.” “I don’t mean to be sarcastic,” said March very humbly. “I understand you. You are trying to make me feel happier. But I do not dodge the responsibility. I was grossly selfish. My work, and all my hopes, led me here. And I wanted a partner, to face the Gobi, some one strong and young, who didn't take himself seriously, sotne one with the ability to lose decently. It had to be an artist. You were the one I found. But I did not want it to mean sacrifice. I made myself believe we should noL-actually lose. I held certain dreams. They were beautiful, they baited you, as they baited me long ago, and always. But I am done with dreaming. Tau Kuan is death to all dreams except that yellow fantasy, itself. It is so cold —do you know what I mean? The hand that guides it is the archetype of Inflexible purpose. The empire is not contained within the walls. It spreads beyond the Gobi, into Dory street; yes, and further, a web of horror. It does not spring from life. The only human being within those- walls has been slowly and fully poisoned. She can never know life. You have seen that." March paused, and Levington shivered. They peered into the darkness ahead. One direction seemed as unprofitable as another. Far to the rear the base of the palace showed red in torch reflection, and the brazen gong ceased its pulse of alarm. March asked:

“Will you try to forgive me?” Con spoke quietly. “You are forgetting something. You are the difference between the past and future to me. Suppose I had found my man that night, away back in Cincinnati: I should have far thicker walls bothering me tonight, and all the rest of my nights. Why do you forget that you are the man who got me out of all that? You were a federal officer, and ought to have jailed me. Instead, I owe every minute of my freedom to you. I don’t know now why I wanted to shoot him ip, I can’t recall his name or his face, but I was out to get him, and would have finished strong, only you came in front of me, and — why. I never began to live until after you took me home that night I “I used to stand on Rush street bridge in Chicago and, if I was far enough gone, I could think I was looking at the Thames and the lights of the British shipping, or rd think I was an Arabian caliph, nosing about my own city at night. Only it needed a big thirst to shift the globe around that way and make a Greek waiter look like tiie king of Ashaniede in disguise. I’ve looked over toward Brooklyn and told myself I was on the Bund at Shanghai. But it couldn’t be done that way. I was dose to the rocks. You seemed to know what I wanted. You opened the world. Do you think I would back up, even if I could? You did hot bait me. It was understood that I should probably die along the way, in the Gobi. It’s been a grand paaaage” "Thank*, boy," returned the elder man And in the twilight their hands met and gripped an instant. - Whatever turmoil was imaginable within the city, the Americans were

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, END.

CwntAi tim e«Mv Ca

too far away to hear IL and the secrecy of the dark gave them a kind of leisure, with also a stimulation. They continued rapidly beside the gray ditches, not particularly heedful of direction. They jumped over the intersecting arms of irrigation, and at moments caught the low gurgle of springwater. It occurred to Con that his borrowed eastern garments were very practical. The firm, broad sash and twisted breeches gave support as he cleared the ditches, the sandals were snug and curiously satisfactory. He was not so sure that he was wholly a western person. He no longer marveled at his blouse, with its inner pockets and folds. Once he thought that an advance guard of the pursuers had overtaken them. They stopped short to listen, but heard nothing. March was uneasy. Con. who felt that there was nothing further to be lost, was almost indifferent. He could not think his way clear. It was grimly unpleasant to remember what they had done to March’s guard, but one crime more or less in the eyes Of Tau Kuan did not matter now. There came the sense of some one behind them, but there was no sound in the pale breath of the ditches. Con noted a low shape like a dog, across the nearest ditch. Quickly a second joined it. Two figures hurtled out of the gloom and landed at the white man's feet. They were the hunched and deformed little men of the sandhills, a dozen or more, and they broke into talking. Their arms were like metal bands upon Levington. The gong had reached them and brought them up out of their warrens. It seemed they were animated by curiosity and a natural malice more, than by the idea of reward. Struggle was unavailing. These miners had terrible arms, despite bodies that were shrunken and grotesque. March was speaking in native dialect. Levington was borne off his feet, lifted over the last ditch, and then deftly stretched face downward upon the sand. March was pleading. The hills were near.

Con did not understand the appeal March was making, but was surprised at the force of It They were listening, reluctant like some blind evil turned aside for a moment March went on fervently. Points of light were low toward the city, the torches coming out. It seemed that the gray-haired man’s argument had an effect for Levington was picked up as before, and carried. In the confusion he saw that they were not going in the direction of the city. The bones of their shoulders hurt his back. He was unable to turn. Forty paces of this and they paused. March repeated his phrases. Levington was allowed to stand upon his feet, but his hands were held. Then the group ran with him up the hill. “What did you say?” inquired Con. “I reminded them that they have no more love for the city than we, and that our enemy is their enemy.” “What made you think of that?” “They are slaves, worse —” This was cut short as the workers let go Con’s wrists, and he pitched feet first Into perfect blackness. The fall was giddy; then a scramble down an incline of loose earth. Choking with the dust, he could not.guess to what depth he was sliding. Something came down upon his head, and this was Andrew March. “You asked them to take us in?” “Yes. It occurred to me that they do not love their masters. I referred to that, and promised everything I could think of, if they would not turn us over to the horsemen.” The center of the world gave forth a speck of light that was a torch. The party that had come up at the summons of the distant gong was close about the white men again at the base of the shafts which seemed endlessly large; and other torches were coming, nearer out of blackness. Still it was not clear to Con why the miners did not take them to the city. The hovering figures in the cavern seemed half afraid, half spiteful. March was doing his best In Chinese.

The torches threw a serried glare on the rock walls of the underground passage. It was low but very wide. In another chamber, to which the prisoners were led, the roof was higher, of ragged sandstone, and the floor had been swept Here was the settlement of workers, every one deformed below the shoulders. Out of tiie red-lighted press of these came a figure but slightly more erect than his fellows. He was dark of skin, but his eyes were full and did not slant or pinch. Bls bared throat was significant of strength and poise, froqa no mean ancestry, but his knees locked and jointed pitifully, as from some calamitous accident “Friend,” he said in a low voice. It was music to hear the English word.

The miners were waving torches of bitumen over their large heads. The length and agility of their arms was ape-like. They looked to be a race at Asiatic changelings, their hair coiled into little caps, out or two snowing queues, and all with the peculiar malformation of spine. Every eye gleamed upon Levlngton.

“Friend," replM CHU “They come for yw,” mid the darkskinned person who stood before the crowd. “Down here?” “Yes. AU where." “Hide us. Glee us protection, friend.” “Yes. You say you befriend us." The speaker turned to March, who answered: “Yes. We will, If you protect us now. We come from the most powerful country in the world. Help us return to it." — —-j-- — “No, no!" said the dark-faced man. ' “I beg of you!” urged March. “Gobi too big, too big.” “Talk of that later. But hide ns away now.” “They see your footprints, and ask us. What?” * "Say that we were killed and thrown in the ditches.” “Yes,” said the speaker of English. He turned to confer with several others, In a rapid monotone. Con. said to his friend: “What is her “Looks Arabian,” replied March. The speaker had heard the word, and he turned sharply, with a smile parting his lips. From the waist up he was a handsome man of forty. “Yes, Arab,” he said. “Fifteen, big, I was, at sea. I know your country— Saint Lawrence, Buffalo—” “Niagara Falls,” offered Levington. “Ah, yes!” exclaimed the sailor from Araby. He smiled more broadly at the recollection. “Twenty year — yes—twenty—that Does she fall continue?” “Yes,” replied Con, joining in the smile. “How did you come here?” “Caravan. The sea weary me, fifteen years more now. Caravan from

"Friend,” He Said in a Low Voice.

Djarobed. Ah! She never destination, never. The riders appear one day at evening—you know?” “I know,” assured Levington. “They—spoil me,” said the Arab, glancing down humorously at his “spoiled” legs, and Con winced. "But come, my two friends.” The relief was dreamlike to Con. He realized that no physical effort on his own part could help; in fact, he was pe’rilously near to trusting in God, and this seafaring Arab, who had fifteen years ago answered the call of the Sha Mo, was the very hand of Providence. Con wondered how strong the hand might be. The desert seemed further away, to be under it. But in memory he could hear the penetrant singing of the hollow brass through the night. Chee Ming would not give up easily. There seemed a limitless multitude of the earth-dwellers, moving In quiet disorder through the cavern every* where. Levington had an uncanny sense of being under the crust of the earth. They led him to an adjoining chamber, as large as the entire palace. The floor of this second cavern was riven across, and a long greenish line of flame wavered in the warm air. Through and between the gently leaping blaze, he saw a great host of faces. The gas hissed as it was consumed along the lips of the rock, and cast an expansive glow upon the high walls, where were a number of black holes. In each shadowy pocket were human beings, looking down upon the strangers. Con distinguished women, who were gaunt and small but not so bro ken as their husbands.

In the limited '"hinese vocabulary of Andrew March, and the nearly forgotten English of the Arabian sailor, assurances were hastily exchanged. The telling factor was the Arab’s high opinion of Buffalo, the port of grain and hogs. March agreed to bring five hundred troopers to stop the production of koresh, and so free the workers, if they aided him to escape from Tan Kuan and the Gobi. Remembering the wealth of Buffalo, the Arab interpreter was ready to belleye that this could be done. “Come,” repeated the Arab. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

New Substitute for Gold.

What is said to a seviceable substitute for gold is obtained by combining ninety-four parts of copper with six parts of antimony and adding a little magnesium carbonate to increase the weight It 1s said that this alloy can be drawn, wrought and soldered very much like gold and that it also f* erives and retains a golden polish.

Frocks Express Personality

WOMEN are sure to approve of the new tailored dresses for fall, because there is no chance to tired of any one style in them. There is no monotony among them, no tiresome repetition of ideas in construction or trimming, but such a diversity of really good designing that there is a dress for every style, just as there Is a becoming hat for every face. They have one very good point In common, however, and that is their simple lines, and designers appear to agree on the neckline, which is rounded In front and low enough sometimes to admit of a chemisette, but higher than usual at the back. Two very smart tailored frocks for fall may be studied in the picture here and both present new features. The frock at the left has a severely straight bodice with long waist line, and sleeves slashed on the outer arm and curved upward to the three-quar-ter length.- They are finished with a flat band of satin and the neck, in the

Sweaters Follow Devious Ways

SWEATERS —that wora must have a broad interpretation to cover all the varied garments that are called by it —are going by many paths this falL • But all lead in one direction and their goal is to furnish more warmth and less color, apparently, than their forerunners of the past season. There are so many variations of the principal models that every one can be suited. Slip-over and coat designs find about equal favor, both in short and fingertip lengths and in smug-fit-ting or loose adjustment. Some of the snug slip-over sweaters are only a HUe longer than a blouse. They are usually knitted with a band about the bottom and long enough to extend about six inches below the waistline where they turn Jauntily upward in a narrow cuff. Another short model appears in the Splice sweater and comes in the brighter colors. This is waist length Ulan, open at the front with attached anittad belt extended so that it can

same way. These bands appear across the top of the skirt at the back, where it is plaited and at the bottom of the front portion which Is gathered. The skirt joins the bodice with a flat piping of satin and just above this piping satin bands reveal how cleverly they can be used when a designer seta out to do his best with them. Three rows of slashes in the bodice furnish them a chance to slip in and out and form a checker-board pattern that is charming for a cloth dress. The simplest of straight-line dresses in the second model ought to inspire gratitude In the hearts of plump women, for it Is destined to give them long lines. There Is an inverted plait down the front and decorations of narrow ribbon in groups of six each, finished with tiny steel buttons. The new collar is interesting, being a tie of silk attached to the neck and finished with a bow, and ends at the front. ‘

De brougnt round the waist and tied at the back. Knitted or braided belts and sashes of the same wool as the sweater are the rule. Colors are quiet with the exception of some strong blues and greens and In many coat models no contrasting colors are "introduced, but borders and bands are accomplished by varying the stitch in the knitting. An attractive slip-over sweater is ' shown in the picture. Its neck and sleeves are unusual, the former having a square opening at the front and 'the latter deep-knitted flounces. The border at the bottom is of the same color as the sweater and so is the long knitted sash. This model fits snugly about the hips and is a trifle longer than its forerunners. J I /