The brief struggle that ensued taught him that he need expect no easy
conquest. The Jan was quick, active and the possessor of a science
peculiarly effective. The Thomahlians did not box in the manner of the
Anglo-Saxons; their mode was peculiar. Chick foresaw that he would
be compelled to combine the methods of three kinds of combat: boxing,
ju-jitsu, and the good old catch-as-catch-can wrestling. If the Senestro
were superior to the Jan, he would have a time indeed. Though Watson
conquered, he could not but concede that the Jan was not only clever but
scientific to an oily, bewildering degree. The Lucar paused.
“Enough, my lord! You are a man indeed. Do not overdo; save yourself for
the Senestro.”
Clothes were brought, and Chick taken back to his apartment. The time
passed with Rhamdas constantly at his side.
The Geos was not present, nor the little queen. Chick sought permission
to sit by the window--permission that was granted after the guards had
placed screens that would withhold any view from outside, yet permit
Chick to look out.
As far as he could see, the avenues were packed with people. Only, this
time the centres of the streets were clear; on the curbs he could see
the opposing lines of the blue and crimson, holding back the waiting
thousands. In the distance he could hear chimes, faint but distinct,
like silver bells tinkling over water.
At intervals rose strange choruses of weird, holy music. The full sweep
of the city's domes and minarets was spread out before him. From eaves
to basements the rolling luxuriance of orchidian beauty; banners, music,
parade; a day of pageant, pomp, and fulfilment.
He could catch the excitement in the air, the strange, laden
undercurrent of spiritual salvation-something esoteric, undefinable, the
ecstasy of a million souls pulsing to the throb of a supreme moment. He
drew back, someone had touched him.
“What is it?”
It was one of the Rhamdas. He had in his hand a small metal clover, of
the design of the Jarados.
“What do I do?” asked Watson.
“This,” said the Rhamda, “was sent to you by one of the Bars.”
“By a Bar! What does it mean?”
The other shook his head. “It was sent to you by one who wished it to be
known by us that he is your friend, even though a Bar.”
Just then Watson noted something sticking out of the edge of one of the
clover leaves. He pulled it out. It was a piece of paper. On it were
scrawled words IN ENGLISH.
The writing was pencil script, done in a poor hand and ill-spelled, but
still English. Chick read:
“Be of good cheer; there ain't a one in this world that can top a lad
from Frisco. And it's Pat MacPherson that says it. Yer the finest laddie
that ever got beyond the old Witch of Endor. You and me, if we hold on,
is just about goin' to play hell with the haythen. Hold on and fight
like the divil! Remember that Pat is with ye!
“We're both spooks.
“PAT MACPHERSON”
Said Watson: “Who gave you this? Did you see the man?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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