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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1924)
THE SEA-HAWK nrI?r&^p,Hu™. Part Two By Rafael Sabatini. N__J (Continued From Yesterday.) CHAPTER VI. The Convert. That tale of Othmani's being borne anon to Fenzileh by her son was gall and wormwood to her jealous soul. Evil enough to know that Sakr-el-Bahr was returned In spite of the fervent prayers of his foundering which she had addressed both to the God of her forefathers and to the God of her adoption. But that he should have returned in triumph bringing with him heavy spoils that must exalt him further in the affection of Asad and the esteem of the people was bitter ness Indeed. It left her mute and stricken, bereft even of the pow'er to curse him. Anon, when her mind recovered from the shock she turned to the con sideration of what at first had seemed a trivial detail in Othmani's tale as reported by Marzak. "It is most singularly odd that lie should have undertaken that long voyage to England to wrest thence, just those two captives: that being there he should not have raided in true corsair fashion and packed his ship with slaves. Most singularly odd!” They were alone behind the green lattices through which filtered the perfumes of the garden and the throbbing of a nightingale's voice laden with the tale of its love for the rose. Fenzilfh reclined upon a divan that was spread with silken Turkey carpets, and one of her gold embroidered slippers had dropped from her henna-stained toes. Her lovely' arms were raised to support her head, and she stared up at the lamp of many colors that hung from the fretted ceiling. Marzak paced the length of the chamber back and forth, and there was silence save for the soft swish of his slippers along the floor. "Well?" she asked him impatient ly at last. "Does it not seem odd to thee?” "Odd. Indeed, O my mother.” the youth replied, coming to a halt before her. "And canst think of naught that was the cause of it?” "The cause of it?” quoth he, his lovely young face, so closely modelled upon her own. looking blank and \ soft nt. “Av, the cause of it," she cried im patiently. "Canst do naught but stare? Am I the mother of a fool? Wilt thou simper and gape and trifle away thy days whilst that dug-de scended Frank tramples thee under foot, using thee but (is a stepping ytone to the power that should be ihine own? And that be so, Marzak. I would thou hadst been strangled in my womb.” He recoiled before the Italian fury of her. was duly resentful even, suspecting that in such words from a woman, were sho 20 times his mother, there was somethng dishon oring to his manhood. "What can I do?” he cried. "Dost ask me? Art thou not o I man to think and act? I tell thee that misbegotten son of a Christian i and a .lew will trample thee ill the ilust. He is greedy as the locust, wily as the serpent, and ferocious as the panther. By Allah! I would | I had never borne a son. Rather i might men point at me the finger ; of scorn and call me mother of the wind than that I should have brought forth a man who knows not how to be a man." "Show me the way." he cried. Set me a task: tell me what to do and | ' - - ---N ■ New York --Day by Day < _—J By 0. 0. M’lNTTRE. New York. May 7.—Gotham swir.is sluggishly up from its deep pool of deep. It hasn't the staccato snap of Paris or the boisterous rumble of Lon don upon awakening. It seems un certain whether to rise or to dream on. The first show of life is in the subterranean depths of the subway vhen the army of cleaning women | re rushed downtown to polish mo -aic floors and marble halls ip great skyscrapers. They are old, rheu matic anil toothless. They must arise at .1 in the morn ing anil their day is done when the office buildings open. Shortly before dawn Fifth avenue is dotted with the men who polish the big brass signs. Then rnme the window washers with :hclr tiny ladders. Broadway at 7 o'clock in the morn ing is as quiet as a churchyard. The only show of life is among the news paper carriers. The pot begins to bubble around 8 and 9, when the ste nographers begin to arrive, Broad way may be said to he awake. „ Fifth avenue sleeps longer. The big stores and smart shops do not show any signH of activity until 9:30. At 10 merchants anil brokers are howling to their work. The high peak of life on the avenue is around the luncheon hour at 1 o'clock. v The stranger who is used to 'early to bed and early to rise''— and perhaps other funny sayings—is surprised to find New York so de serted In the early hours just as he is surprised at the flurry of life after midnight. New Y’ork's flair for late sleeping is illustrated by the story of chorus girl who got an extra part in the movies. .She had to be at the Fort Iiee stu dios at 9 and had to leave her hotel at 8. "I wonder,” she asked the clerk, ‘‘if the subways are running this early?” In a Broadway barber shop window is a sign which rends: "Shaving in Silence.’’ The barbers are instructed not to talk except when they arc apoken to. * There ia a young New York lady who writes short stories dealing with red corpuscled men with primeval in stincts—men of unhewn force who thrill to the cosmic throb and treat their ladies rough. Recently she married. I rather expected her man to be a. swashbuckler with broad shouldern—a bit of breath from the "great open places.” Instead he la a typical fop with a tiny wisp of mua tache, pale blue eyes, spats, monocle and a drawling "My word!” He paints china for recreation. In the shrill bahble of the cafe luncheon crowds there Is always the bass clef of pathos. Despite the feigned gaiety there la the linpreselon that most of the lunchers are seeking relief from unspeakable boredom. The wine of life has aoured and existence la flat. Yet they seek some relief In fugitive cocktails and red tongued gossip. There are women tired of their husbands and men tired of their women. (After lunch they drift away to wait for another hour of rejuvenw tlnn—the afternoon tea. (Copyrltht, IIP.) thou shalt not find me lacking, O my mother, i'ntil then spare me these insults, or 1 come no more to thee." At this request the strange' wo man heaved herself up from her soft couch. She ran to him and flung her arms about his neck, set her cheek against his own. Not 18 years in the Basha's hareem had stifled the European mother in her, the passionate .Sicilian woman, fierce as a tiger in iter maternal love. "O my child, my lovely boy,” she almost sobbed. "It is my fear for thee that makes me harsh. If I am angrv it is but my love that speaks, my rage for thee to see another come usurping lhe place beside thy father that should be thine. Ah! but we will prevail, sweet son mine. I shall find a way to'return that for eign offal to the dung heap whence it sprang. Trust me, O Marzak! Sh! Thy father comes. Away! l.eave me alone with him.” She was wise in that, for she knew that alone Asad was more easily con trolled by her, since the pride was absent which must compel him to turn and rend her did she speak so before others. MUrzak vanished be hind the screen of fretted sandalwood that masked one doorway even as Asad loorfied in the other. He came forward smiling, his slender brown fingers combing his long heard, his white djellaba trail ing behind him along the ground. "Thou hast heard, not a doubt, 0 Fenzileh," said he. Art thou an swered enough?" She sank down again upon her cushions and Idly considered herself in a steel mirror set in silver. > 'Answered?" she echoed lazily, with infinite scorn and a hint of rip pling contemptuous laughter rim ing through the words. "Answered indeed. Saly-el-Bahr risks the lives of 200 children of Islam and a ship that being taken was become the property of the state upon a voyage to England that has no object but the capturing of two slaves—two slaves, when, had his purpose been sincere, it might have been 200." “Ha! And is that all Ahat thou hast heard?" he asked her mocking ftt his turn. "All that signifies." she replied, still mirroring herself, "i heard as a mat ter of lesser Import that on his re turn, meeting fortuitously a Frankish ship that chanced to be richly laden, he seized iA in thy name.” "What else?" She lowered the mir ror, and her bold, insolent eyes met his own quite fearlessly. "Thou It not tell me that it was any part of his design when he went forth?" He frowned; his head sank slowly in thought. Observing the advantage gained she thrust it home. "It Was a lucky wind that blew that Dutchman into his path, and luckier still her being so richly fraught that he may dazzle thine eyes with the sight of gold and gems, and so blind thee to'the real purpose of his voynge." "its real purpose?” he asked dully. "What was its real purpose?" She smiled a smile of infinite knowledge to hide her utter ignor ance. her inability to supply even a reason that should wear in air of truth. "Dost ask me, O perspicuous Asad? Are not thine eyes as sharp, thy wits as keen at least as mine, that what is clear to me should be hidden from thee? Or hath this Sakr-el-Bahr bewitched thee with enchantments of Babyl?” He strode to her and caught her " rist in a cruelly rough grip of his sinewy old hand. "His purpose, thou jade! Pour out the foulness of thy mind. Speak!" She sat up, flushed and defiant. "I will not speak,” said she. “Thou wilt not? Noj»r, by the Head of Allah! dost dare to stand before my face and defy me, thy I,ord? I'll have thee whipped, Fenzileh. I have been too tender of thee these many years—so tender that thou hast forgot the rods that await the dis obedient wife. Speak then ere thy flesh is bruised or speak thereafter, at thy pleasure." "I will not," she repeated. "Though 1 be flung to the hooks, not another word will f say of Sakr-el Bahr. Shall I unveil the truth to tie spurned and scorned and dubbed a liar and the mother of lies? Then abruptly chang mg Rhp fell to Weeping. "O source of my life!" she cried to him. "how cruelly unjust to me thou art!" She was grovelling now. a thing of sup plest grace, her lovely arms en twining his knees “When my love for the thee drives me to utter what 1 see, I earn hut thy anger, which is more than I can endure. I swoon beneath the weight of It." He flung her off impatiently. "What a weariness is a woman's tongue!" he cried, and Rtalked out again, convinced from past exper iences that did he linger-ho would lie whelmed in a torrent of words. But her poison was shrewdly ad ministered, and slowly did its work. It abode in his mind lo torture* him with the doubts that were its very essence. No reason, however well founded, that she might have urged for Sakr-el Bohr's strange conduct could have been half no insidious as her suggestion that there was a reason. It gave him something vague and intangible to consider. Some thing that he could not repel since it had no substance he could grapple with. Impatiently he awaited the morning and lhe coming of Hakr-el Bahr himself, but he no longer awaited it with the ardent whole hearted eagerness as of a father • awaiting the coming of a beloved son. Sakr el Bahr himself paced the poop deck of the carack and watched the lights perish one by one In the little town that straggled up the hillside before him. The moon came up and bathed it in a white hard light, t hrow ing sharp inky shadows of rustling date palm and spearlike minaret, and flinging shafts of silver athwart the peaceful bay. His wound was healed and he was fully himself once more. Two days ago he had come on deck for the first time since the fight with the Dutchman, and he had spent there the greater portion of the time since then. Once only had he visited his captives. He had risen from ills couch to repair straight to the cabin in the poop where Rosamund was confined. He had found her pale and very wistful, but with her cour age entirely unbroken. The Godol phlns were a stiff necked race, and Rosamund bore In her frail body the spirit of a man. She looked up when he entered, started a little in sur prise to see him at last, for It was the first time hh stefod before her since he had carried her off from Arwenaek some four weeks ago. To the expressions of regret—and they were sincere, for already he r* pen ted him his unpremediatRted art so far as she whs concerned—she re turned no slightest answer, gave no sign indeed that she heard a word of it. llaffled. he stood gnawing his lip a moment, and gradually, unreason ably perhaps, anger welled up from his heart, lie turned and went out again. Next he had visited his broth er, to considy In silence a moment the haggard. wildsyed. unshorr fiftek who ifer&nk tsd cowifid bt fore him In the consciousness of guilt. At last he returned to tti«= deck, and there, as I have aaid. h* ■pent the greater portion of the last three days of that strange voyage, reclining for the most part in the sun and gathering strength from its ardor. (To b# Continued Tomorrow.) THE NEBBS THE TOILERS. % V Directed for The Omaha Bee by Sol He»» i “ME wimmER or THE CONTEST FOR THE BEST NAME TOR THE wonder WATER WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN ABOUT Two WEEKS T /WHATS TWE MATTER TjprwATS ALL THC\ \VOU LOOK LIKE VOU \ STMPATWT A MAN \ V) WERE SINKING GETS WHO WORKS TOR. THE THIRD TIME LIKE A HORSE ALL l — IS THERE NO H*OPET OAT TO PROVIDE A COMPORT ABLE \MOME FOR TOU ( J (Copyright, 1924. by Th. Bell Syndic*!*, Tnc.) /what do sou meanV/well ir too Followeo\ A COMFORTABLE HOME \ ME AROUND ALL OAT FOR ME ? WHEN SOU’RE NOO'D WANT TO REST NOT EATING NOU'RC ) TOO WHEN SOU GET S»TT\NG VN THE SOFTEST HOME— I’M NOT OnlV CHAvR \N THE HOUSE y ATTENDING To MS' V°* SOU’RE »N BED IT REGULAR DOTES BUT I’M ESTABL\SH\nG I Tw\S NEW WATER — Y>Bus^ne.£»S ''A. 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