 CHAPTER 1 A fast train drew into Albany on the New York Central from the West. It was three-thirty of a chilled March morning in the first year of peace. A pall of fog lay over the world so heavy that it beaded the face and hands and deposited a ferried diamond dust upon wool. The station lights had the visibility of stars, and, like the stars, were without refulgence, a pale golden auriola perhaps three feet in diameter and beyond nothing. The few passengers who alighted and the train itself had the same nebulosity of drab fish in a dim aquarium. Among the passengers due to train was a man in a long black coat. The high collar was up. The man wore a derby hat, well down upon his head after the English mode. An English kitbag, battered and scarred, swung heavily from his hand. He immediately strode for the station wall and stood with his back to it. He was almost invisible. He remained motionless until the other detrained passengers swam past, until the red taillights of the last coach vanished into the deeps. Then he rushed for the exit to the street. Away toward the far end of the platform there appeared a shadowy patch in the fog. It grew and presently took upon itself the shape of a man. For one so short and squat and thick his legs possessed remarkable agility, for he reached the street just as the other man stopped on the side of a taxicab. The fool. As if such a movement had not been anticipated. Sixteen thousand miles, always eastward, on horses, camels, donkeys, trains, and ships, down China to the sea, and over that to San Francisco, thence across this bewildering stretch of cities and planes called the United States, always and ever toward New York. And the fool thought he could escape. Thought he was flying, when in truth he was being driven toward a wall in which there would be no breach. Behind and in front the net was closing. Up to this hour he had been extremely clever in avoiding contact. This was his first stupid act. Thought the fog would serve as an impenetrable cloak. Meantime the other man reached into the taxicab and awoke the sleeping chauffeur. A hotel, he said. Which one? Anyone will do? Yes, sir. Two dollars. When we arrive. No, I'll take the bag inside with me. Inside the cab the fare chuckled. For those who fished there would be no fish in the net. This fog, like a kindly hand reaching down from heaven. Five minutes later the taxicab drew up in front of a hotel. The unknown stepped out, took a leather purse from his pocket and carefully counted out in silver two dollars and twenty cents which he poured into the chauffeur's palm. Thank you, sir. You are an American. Sure, I was born in this burg. Like the idea? Huh? The idea of being an American. I should say, yes. This is one grand little gob of mud, believe me. It's going to be drying a little while, and then it will be some grand little old brick. Say, let me give you a tip. A gas in this joint is extra if you blow it out. Grinning the chauffeur threw on the power and wheeled away into the fog. His late fare followed the vehicle with his gaze until it reached the vanishing point. Then he laughed. An American cockney. He turned and entered the hotel. He marched resolutely up to the desk and roused the sleeping clerk, who swung round the register. The unknown without hesitance inscribed his name, which was John Hawksley. But he hesitated the fraction of a second before adding his place of residence, London. A room with a bath, if you please. Second flight. Have the man call me at seven. Yes, sir. Here, boy. Sleepily the bell-boy lifted the battered kit-bag and led the way to the elevator. Bawth! said the night clerk as the elevator door slithered to the latch. Bawth! The old dear! He returned to his chair, hoping that he would not be disturbed again until he was relieved. What do we care so long as we don't know? What's the stranger but a fleeting shadow? The oddities that pass us every day and we numb the wiser. The clerk had not properly floated away into dreams when he was again roused. Resentfully he opened his eyes. A huge fist covered with a fell of black hair rose and fell. Attach to this fist was an arm, and joined to that were enormous shoulders. The clerk's trailing, sleep-befogged glance paused when it reached the newcomer's face. The jaws and cheeks and upper lip were blue-black, with a beard that required extra-tempered razors once a day, black eyes that burned like opals, and a bullet-shaped head well cropped, and a pudgy nose broad in the nostrils. Since this second arrival wore his hat well forward, the clerk was not able to discern the pinched forehead of the fanatic. Not wholly unpleasant, not particularly agreeable, the sort of individual one preferred to walk round rather than bump into. The clerk offered the register, and the squat man scratched his name impatiently, grabbed the extended key, and trotted to the elevator. Ah! mused the clerk. We have with us a Mr. Poppy Popo. He stared to the signature close up. Hanged if I can make it out. Looks like some new brand of soft drink we'll be having after July 1st. Greek or Bulgarian. Anyhow, he didn't ask for a both. Looks as if he needed one, too. Here, boy. Yeah. Take a peek at this John Hancock. Gee, that must be the guy who makes that drugstore drink bull-zack. The clerk swung out, but missed the boy's head by a hair. The boy stood off, grinning. Well, you asked me. All right. If anybody else comes in, tell him we're full up. I'll be a wreck tomorrow without my usual beauty-sleep. The clerk dropped into his chair again and elevated his feet to the radiator. Want me to get a pillow for you? No back-talk, drowsily. Oh, boy, but I got one on you. What? This bull-zack guy didn't have no baggage, and you gave him the key without the little old three-per in advance. No grip? Nicks. Got a toothbrush in sight. Well, the damage is done. I might as well go to sleep. It was not premeditated on the part of the clerk to give the squat man the room adjoining that of Huxley's. The key had been nearest his hand. But the squat man trembled with excitement when he noted that it was stamped to 14. He had taken particular pains to search the register for Huxley's number before rousing the clerk. He hadn't counted on any such luck as this. His idea had been merely to watch the door of Room 212. He had the feline foot, as they say. He moved about lightly and without sound in the dark. Almost at once he approached one of the two doors and put his ear to the panel. Running water. The fool had time to take a bath. A plan flashed into his head. Why not end the affair here and now and reap the glory for himself? What mattered the net if the fish swam into your hand? Wasn't this particularly his affair? It was the end, not the means. A close touch in Hong Kong, but the fool had slipped away. But here, in the next room, assured that he had escaped, it would be easy. The squat man tiptoed to the window. Luck of luck there was a fire escape platform. He would let half an hour pass, then he would act. The ape with his British mannerisms. Death to the breed, root and branch. He sat down to wait. On the other side of the wall the bather finished his ablutions. His body was graceful, vigorous and youthful, tinted with a golden bronze. His nose was hawky, his eyes a Latin brown, alert and roving. Though there was a hint of weariness in them, the pressure of long, racking hours of ceaseless vigilance. His top hair was a glossy black, inclined to curl. But the four days' growth of beard was as blonde as a ripe chestnut burr. In spite of this mark of vagabondage, there were elements of beauty in the face. The expanse of the brow and the shape of the head were intellectual. The mouth was pleasure-loving, but the nose and jaw neutralized this. After he had toweled himself, he reached down for a brown leather pouch which lay on the three-legged bathroom stool. It was patently a tobacco pouch, but there was evidently something inside more precious than Saloniki. He held the pouch on his palm and stared at it as if it contained some gin clamoring to be let out. Presently he broke away from this fascination and rocked his body, eyes closed, like a man suffering unremitting pain. God's curse on them! he whispered, opening his eyes. He raised the pouch swiftly as though he intended dashing it to the tiled floor, but his arms sank gently. After all, he would be a fool to destroy them. They were future bread and butter. He would soon have their equivalent in money, money that would bring back no terrible recollections. Strange that every so often, despite the horror, he had to take them out and gaze at them. He sat down on the stool, spread a towel across his knees and opened the pouch. He drew out a roll of cotton wool which he unrolled across the towel. Flames. Blue flames, red, yellow, violet and green. Precious stones, many of them with histories that reached back into the dim centuries. Histories of murder and loot and envy. The young man had imagination, perhaps too much of it. He saw the stones palpitating upon lovely white and brown bosoms. He saw bloody and greedy hands. The red sack of towns. He heard the screams of women and the raucous laughter of drunken men. Murder and loot. At the end of the cotton wool lay two emeralds, about the size of half dollars and a half inch in thickness. Polished and as vividly green as a dragonfly in the sun. Fit for the turban of Shariar, spouse of Shariarazad. Rodin would have seized upon the young man's attitude, the limp body, the haggard face, hewn it out of marble and called it conscience. The possessor of the stones held his attitude for three or four minutes. Then he rolled up the cotton wool, jammed it into the pouch which he hung from his neck by a thong and sprang to his feet. No more of this brooding. It was sapping his vitality, and he was not yet at his journey's end. He proceeded to the bedroom, emptied the battered kit-bag, and began to dress. He put on heavy tan walking shoes, gray woolen stockings, gray knickerbuckers, gray flannel shirt, and a Norfolk jacket minus the third button. Ah, that button! He fingered the loose threads which had a four times snug the button to the wool. The carelessness of a tailor had saved his life. Had that button held, his bones at this moment would be reposing on the hillside in far away Hong Kong. Evidently fate had some definite plans regarding his future. Else he would not be in this room alive. But what plans? Why should fate bother about him further? She had strained the orange to the last drop. Why protect the pulp? Perhaps she was only making sport of him, lulling him into the belief that eventually he might win through. One thing she would never be able to twist his heart again. You cannot fill a cup with water beyond the brim. And God knew that his cup had been full and bitter and red. His hand swept across his eyes as if to brush away the pictures suddenly conjured up. He must keep his thoughts off those things. There was a taint of madness in his blood, and several times he had sensed the brink at his feet. But God had been kind to him in one respect. The blood of his glorious mother predominated. How many were after him? And who? He had not been able to recognize the man that night in Hong Kong. That was the fate of the pursued. One never dared pause to look back, while the pursuers had their man before them always. If only he could have broken through into Greece, England would have been easy. The only door open had been in the east. It seemed incredible that he should be standing in this room, but three hours from his goal. America, the land of the free and the brave. And the irony of it was that he must seek in America the only friends he had in the world. All the Englishmen he had known and loved were dead. He had never made friends with the French, though he loved France. In this country alone he might successfully lose himself and begin life anew. The British were British, and the French were French. But in this magnificent America they possessed the tenacity of the one and the gaiety of the other. These joyous, unconquered, speed-loving Americans. He took up the overcoat. Under the light it was no longer black but a very deep green. On both sleeves there were narrow bands of a still deeper green, indicating that gold or silver braid had once befrogged to the cuffs. Inside, soft, silky Persian lamb, and he ran his fingers over the fur thoughtfully. The coat was still impregnated with the strong odor of horse. He cast it aside never to touch it again. From the discarded small coat he extracted a black wallet and opened it. That passport. He wondered if there existed another more cleverly forged. It would not have served an hour west of the Hindenburg line, but in the East and here in America no one had questioned it. In San Francisco they had scarcely glanced at it, peace having come. Besides this passport the wallet contained a will, ten bonds, a custom appraiser's receipt, and a sheaf of gold bills. The will, however, was perhaps one of the most astonishing documents conceivable. It left unreservedly to Captain John Hawksley the contents of the wallet. Within three hours of his ultimate destination. He knew all about great cities. An hour after he left the train, if he so willed, he could lose himself for all time. From the bottom of the kit-bag he dug up a blue velour case, which, after a moment's hesitation, he opened. Medals encrusted with precious stones, but on the top was the photograph of a charming girl, blonde as ripe wheat, and a raid for the tennis court. It was this photograph he wanted. Indifferently he tossed the case upon the centre-table, and it upset, sending the medals about with a ring and a tinkle. The man in the next room heard this sound, and his eye roved desperately. Some way to peer into yonder room. But there was no transom, and he would not yet dare risk the fire escape. The young man raised the photograph to his lips and kissed it passionately. Then he hid it in the lining of his coat, there being a convenient rent in the inside pocket. I must not think, he murmured. I must not. He became the hunted man again. He turned a chair up end and placed it under the window. He tipped another in front of the door. On the threshold of the bathroom door he deposited the water carafe and the glasses. His bed was against the connecting door. No man would be able to enter unannounced. He had no intention of letting himself fall asleep. He would stretch out and rest, so he lit his pipe, banked the two pillows, switched out the light, and lay down. Only the intermittent glow of his pipe-cold could be seen. Near the journey's end, and no more tight rope-walking, with death at both ends and death staring up from below. Queer how the human being clung to life. What had he to live for? Nothing. So far as he was concerned the world had come to an end. Sporting instinct. Probably that was it. Could make up his mind to shuffle off this mortal coil until he had beaten his enemies. English university education had dulled the bite of his natural fatalism. To carry on for the sport of it. Not to accept fate, but to fight it. By chance his hand touched his spiky chin. Nevertheless he would have to enter New York just as he was. He had left his razor in a Pullman washroom hurriedly one morning. He dared not risk a barber's chair, especially these American chairs, that stretched one out in a most helpless manner. Slowly his pipe sank towards his breast. The weary body was overcoming the will. A sound broke the pleasant spell. He sat up, tense. Someone had entered through the window and stumbled over the chair. Hoxley threw on the light. End of Chapter 1. Chapter 2 of The Drums of Jeopardy. Reading by Mark Nelson. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer visit LibriVox.org. The Drums of Jeopardy by Harold McGrath. Chapter 2. When the day clerk arrived the night clerk sleepily informed him that the guest in room 214 was without baggage and had not paid in advance. Lave a call? No, I thought I'd put you wise. I didn't notice that the man had no grip until he was in the elevator. All right, I'll send a bell-hop captain up with a fake call to see if the man's still there. When the captain, late of the AEF in France, returned to the office, he was mildly excited. Gee, there's been a whale of a scrap in room 212. The chamber made let me in. Murder? whispered the clerks in unison. Murder, your granny! Nah, just a fight between 212 and 214, because both of them have flown the roost. But take a peek at what I found on the table. It was a case of blue velourer. The boy threw back the lid dramatically. War medals? If they are, I never piped them before. Date French or British. The captain of the bell-boy scratched his head remunitively. Gee, I got it. Orders! That's what they call him. Kings pay him out Saturdays when the payroll is nicks. Were you piped the diamonds and rubies? There's your room, Rence Montseer. The day clerk, who considered himself a judge, was of the opinion that there were two or three thousand dollars tied up in stones. It was a police affair. Some ambassador had been robbed, and the Britisher and the Greek or Bulgarian were mixed up in it. Loot! I thought the war was over, said the night clerk. The shooting is over, that's all, said the captain of the bell-boys, sagely. What had happened in room 212? A duel of wits rather than a physical contact. Hawksley realized instantly that here was the crucial moment. Caught and overpowered, he was lost. If he shouted for help and it came, he was lost. Once the police took a hand in the affair, the newspaper publicity that would follow would result in the total ruin of all his hopes. There was only one chance to finish this affair outside the hotel, in some fog-dimmed street. There leaped into his mind, obliquely and queerly, a picture in one of Victor Hugo's tales, Quasimodo. And there he stood, in every particular, saved the crooked back. And on top of this came the recollection that he had seen the man before. The torches. The red torches and hob-nailed boots. There began an odd game, a dancing match, which the young man led adroitly, always with his thought upon the open window. There would be no shooting. Quasimodo would not want the police either. Half a dozen times his fingers touched futilely the dancing master's coat. Back and forth across the room, over the bed, round the stand and chairs. Persistently, as if he understood the young man's maneuvers, the squat individual kept to the window side of the room. An inspiration brought the affair to an end. Oxley snatched up the bedclothes and threw them as the ancient Rhetarius threw his net. He managed to win to the lower platform of the fire escape before Quasimodo emerged. There was a fourteen foot drop to the street, and the man with the golden stubble on his chin and cheeks swung for a moment to gauge his landing. Quasimodo came after with the agility of an ape. The race down the street began with about a hundred yards in between. Down the hill they went, like phantoms. The distance did not widen. Bears will run amazingly fast and for a long while. The quarry cut into Pearl Street for a block, then turned to corner, and soon vaguely aspired the Hudson River. He made for this. To the mind of Quasimodo this flight had but one significance. He was dealing with an errant coward, and he based his subsequent acts upon this premise, forgetting that brave men run when need says must. It would have surprised him exceedingly to learn that he was not driving, that he was being led. Hawksley wanted his enemy alone, where no one would see to interfere. Red torches and hobnailed boots. For once the two bloods, always more or less at war, merged in a common purpose. To kill this beast, to grind the face of him into pulp. Red torches and hobnailed boots. Presently one of the huge passenger boats, moored for the winter, loomed up through the fog, and toward this Hawksley directed his steps. He made a flying leap aboard and vanished around the deck-house to the riverside. Quasimodo laughed as he followed. It was as if the tobacco pouch and the appraiser's receipt were in his own pocket, and broad rivers made capital graveyards. They too alone in the fog. He whirled round the deck-house and backed on his heels to get his balance. Directly in front, in a very understandable pose, was the intended victim, his jaw jutting, his eyelids narrowed. Quasimodo tried desperately to reach for his pistol, but a bolt of lightning stopped the action. There is something peculiar about a blow on the nose, a good blow. The Anglo-Saxon peoples alone possessed the counterattack, a rush. To other peoples, concentration of thought is impossible after the impact. Instinctively, Quasimodo's hands flew to his face. He heard a laugh, mirthless and terrible. Before he could drop his hands from his face, blows short and boring from this side and from that over and under. The squat man was brave enough, simply he did not know how to fight in this manner. He was accustomed to the use of steel and the hobnails on his boots. He struck wildly, swinging his arms like a Flemish mill in a brisk wind. Some of his blows got home, but these provoked only sardonic laughter. Wild with rage and pain he bored in. He had but one chance to get this shadow in his gorilla-like arms. He lacked mental flexibility. An idea getting into his head stuck. It was not adjustable. Like an arrow sped from the bowstring, it had to fulfill its destiny. It never occurred to him to take to his heels, to get space between himself and this enemy he had so woefully underestimated. Ten feet and he might have been able to whirl, draw his pistol, and end the affair. The coup de gras came suddenly, a blow that caught Quasimodo full on the point of the jaw. He sagged and went sprawling upon his face. The victor turned him over and raised a heel. No, he was neither Prussian nor a Sudanese black. He was white and white men did not stamp in the faces of fallen enemies. But there was one thing a white man might do in such a case without disturbing the ethical, and he proceeded about it forthwith. Draw the devil's fangs, render him impotent for a few hours. He deliberately knelt on one of the outspread arms and calmly emptied the insensible man's pockets. He took everything, watch, money, passport, letters, pistol, keys, rose and dropped them into the river. He overlooked Quasimodo's belt, however. The Anglo-Saxon idea was top whole. His fists had saved his life. The Drums of Jeopardy by Harold McGrath Chapter 3 Hawksley heard the panting of an engine and turned his head. Dimly he saw a giant bridge and a long drab train moving across it. He picked up the fallen man's cap and tried it on. Not a particularly good fit, but it would serve. He then trotted round the deck-house to the street side, jumped to the wharf and, sucking the cracked knuckles of his right hand, fell into a steady dog-trot which carried him to the station he had left so hopefully an hour and a half gone. An accommodation train eventually deposited him in Pukipsi, where he purchased a cap and a sturdy walking-stick. The stubble on his chin and cheeks began to irritate him intensely, but he could not rid himself of the idea that a barber's chair would be inviting danger. He was now tolerably certain that from one end of the continent to the other his presence was known. His life and his property, they would be after both. Even now there might be men in this strange town seeking him. The closer he got to New York, the more active and wide awake they would become. He walked the streets, his glance constantly roving. But apparently no one paid the least attention to him. Finally he returned to the railway station and at six o'clock that evening he left the platform of the 125th Street Station and appraised covertly the men who accompanied him to the street. He felt assured that they were all Americans. Probably they were, but there are still some stray fools of American birth who cannot accept the great American doctrine as the only error-rot visible in this present flood. Perhaps one of these accompanied Hawksley to the street. Whatever he was, one had upon order met every south-going train since seven o'clock that morning, when Quasimodo, paying from the gold hidden in his belt, had sent forth the telegraphic alarm. The man hurried across the street and followed Hawksley by matching his steps. His business was merely to learn the other's destination and then to report. Across the earth a tempest had been loosed. But Ariel did not write it, Caliban did. The scythe of terror was harvesting a type, and the innocent were bending with the guilty. Suddenly Hawksley felt young, revive-ified, free. He had arrived. Surmounting indescribable hazards and hardships, he walked the pavement of New York. In an hour the mutable quicksands of a great city would swallow him for ever. Free. He wanted to stroll about, peer into shop windows, watch the amazing electric signs, dally. But he still had much to accomplish. He searched for a telephone sign. It was necessary that he find one immediately. He had once spent six weeks in and about this marvellous city, and he had a vague recollection of the blue and white enamel signs. Shortly he found one. It was a pay station in the rear of a news and tobacco shop. He entered a booth, but discovered that he had no five cent pieces in his purse. He hurried out to the girl behind the cigar stand. She was exhibiting a box of cigars to a customer, who selected three, paid for them, and walked away. Hawksley, boiling with haste to have his affair done, flung a silver coin toward the girl. Five cent pieces. Will you take them with you, or shall I send them? asked the girl earnestly. I beg your pardon. Any particular kind of ribbon you want the box tied with? I beg your pardon, repeated Hawksley, harried and bewildered, but I'm in a hurry. Too much of a hurry to leave out the bark when you ask a favour? I make change out of courtesy, and you all bark at me, nickel, nickel, as if that was my job. A thousand apologies, contritely. And don't make it any worse by suggesting a movie after supper. My mother never lets me go out after dark. I rather fancy she is quite sensible. Still, you seem able to take care of yourself. I might suggest. With that black eye, nay, nay, I'll bet somebody's brother gave it to you. Venus was not on that occasion in ascendancy. Thank you for the change. Hawksley swung on his heel and re-entered the booth. A great weariness oppressed him. A longing, almost irresistible, came to him to go out and cry aloud, Here I am, kill me, I am tired and done. For he had recognized the purchaser of the cigars as one of the men who had left the 125th Street Station at the same time as he. He remembered distinctly that this man had been in a hurry. Perhaps this whole dizzy affair was reacting upon his imagination psychologically, and turning harmless individuals into enemies. Hello, said a man's voice over the wire. Is Mr. Rathbone there? Captain Rathbone is with his regiment at Koblenz, sir. Koblenz? Yes, sir. I do not expect his return until near Midsummer, sir. Who is this talking? Have you opened a cable from Yokohama? This is Mr. Hawksley. The voice became excited. Oh, sir, you will come right away. I alone understand, sir. You will remember me when you see me. I am the captain's butler, sir, Jenkins. He cabled back to give you the entire run of the house, as long as you desire it. He advised me to notify you that he had also prepared the banker against your arrival. Have your luggage sent here at once, sir. Dinner will be at your convenience. Hawksley's body relaxed. A lump came into his throat. Here was a friend anyhow ready to serve him, though he was thousands of miles away. When he could trust himself to speak, he said, Sorry, it will be impossible to accept the hospitality at present. I shall call in a few days, however, to establish my identity. Thank you. Good evening. Just a moment, sir. I may have an important cable to transmit to you. It would be wise to leave me your address, sir. Hawksley hesitated a moment. After all, he could trust this perfect old servant whom he remembered. He gave the address. As he came out of the booth, the girl stretched forth an arm to detain him. He stopped. I'm sorry I spoke like that, she said, but I'm so tired. I've been on my feet all day, and everybody's been barking and growling, and if I'd taken in as many nickels as I've passed out in change, the boss would be rich. Give me a dozen of those roses there. She sold flowers also. The pink ones. How much? he asked. Two fifty. He laid down the money. Never mind the box. There for you. Good evening. The girl stared at the flowers, as Alibaba must have stared at the cask with rubies. For me, she whispered. For nothing? Her eyes blurred. She never saw Hawksley again, but that was of no importance. She had a gentle deed to put away in the lavender of recollection. Outside Hawksley could see nothing of the man who had bought the cigars. At any rate, further dodging would be useless. He would go directly to his destination. Old Gregor had sent him a duplicate key to the apartment. He could hide there for a day or two, then visit Rathbone's banker at his residence in the night to establish his identity. Gregor could be trusted to carry the wallet and the pouch to the bank. Once these were walled in steel, half the battle would be over. He would have nothing to guard thereafter but his life. He laughed brokenly. Nothing but the clothes he stood in. He never could claim the belongings he'd been forced to leave in that hotel back yonder, but there was loyal old Gregor. Somebody would be honestly glad to see him. The poor old chap. Astonishing, but of late, he was always thinking in English. He hailed the first free taxi cab he saw, climbed in, and was driven downtown. He looked back constantly. Was he followed? There was no way of telling. The street was alive with vehicles tearing north and south, with frequent stoppage for the passing of those racing east and west. The destination of Hawksley's cab was an old-fashioned apartment house in 80th Street. Gregor would have a meal ready, and it struck Hawksley forcibly that he was hungry, that he had not touched food since the night before. Gregor, valing in a hotel, pressing coats and trousers and sewing on buttons. Groggy old world, wasn't it? Gregor, pressing the trousers of the Hoy Polloy. Gregor, who could have sent New York mad with that old Stradivarius of his. But Gregor was wise. Safety for him lay in obscurity, and what was more obscure than a hotel valet. He did not seek the elevator, but mounted the first flight of stairs. He saw two doors, one on each side of the landing. He saw it one, stooped and peered at the card over the bell. Conover. Gregor's was opposite. Having a key, he did not knock, but unlocked the door and stepped into the dark hall. Stefani, Gregor, he called joyously. Stefani, my old friend, it is I. Silence. But that was understandable. Either Gregor had not returned from his labors, or he was out gathering the essentials for the evening meal. Judging from the variety of odors that swam the halls of this human warren, many suppers were in the process of making, and the top flavor was garlic. He sniffed pleasurably. Not that the smell of garlic quickened his hunger, it merely sent his thought galloping backward a score of years. He saw Stefani, Gregor, and a small boy in mountain costume footing it sturdily along the dizzy goat paths of the rugged hills. Saw the two sitting on some ruddy promontory and munching black bread rubbed with garlic. Ambrosia. His mother's horror when she smelt his breath, as if garlic had not been one of her birthrights. His uncle, roaring out in his bull's voice that black bread and garlic were good for little boy's stomachs and made the stuff of soldiers. Black bread and garlic and the golden age. After he had flooded the hall with light he began a tour of inspection. The rooms were rather bare, but clean and orderly. Here and there were items that kept the homeland green in the recollection. He came to the bedroom last. He hesitated for a moment before opening the door. The lights told him why Gregor had not greeted his entering hail. The overturned reading lamp, the broken chair, the letters and papers strewn about the floor, the rifled bureau drawers. These things spoke plainly enough. Gregor was a prisoner somewhere in this vast city, or he was dead. Hawksley stood motionless for a space. And he must remain here at least for a night and a day. He would not dare risk another hotel. He could, of course, go to the splendid Rathbone place, but it would not be fair to invite tragedy across that threshold. A ball of crushed paper at his feet attracted his attention. He kicked at it absently, followed and picked it up. His thought on other things. He was aimlessly smoothing it out when an English word caught his eye. English. He smoothed the crumpled sheet and read, If you find this it is the will of God. I had been watched for several days, and am now convinced that they have always known I was here, but they were leaving me alone for some unknown purpose. I rolled this ball because anything folded and left in a conspicuous place would be useless should they come for me. I understand. It is you, poor boy. They are watching me in hopes of catching you, and I have no way to warn you not to come here. It was after I sent you the key that I learned the truth. God bless you and guard you, Stefani. Hawksley tore the note into scraps. Food and sleep. He walked toward the kitchen musing. What an odd mixture he was. Superficially British, with the British outlook, and yet filled with the dancing blood of the Latin and the cold, flechmatic blood of the Slav. He was like a schoolmaster with two students too big for him to handle. Always the Latin was dispossessing the Slav, or the Slav was ousting the Latin. With fatalistic confidence that never more would he look upon the kindly face of Stefani Gregor alive, he went in search of food. Not a crust did he find. In the ice-chest there was a bottle of milk, soured, hungry, and not a crumb. And he dared not go out in search of food. No one had observed his entrance to the apartment, but it was improbable that such luck would attend him a second time. He returned to the bedroom. He did not turn on the light because a novel idea had blossomed unexpectedly. A Latin idea. There might be food on some window ledge. He would leave payment. He proceeded to the window, throwing up both it and the curtain and looked out. Ripping! There was a fire escape. As he slipped a leg over the sill, a golden square sprang into existence across the way. Immediately he forgot his foraging instincts. In a moment he was all Latin, always susceptible to the enchantment of beauty. The distance across the court was less than forty feet. He could see the girl quite plainly as he said about the preparation of her evening meal. He forgot his danger, his hunger, his coat of ethics, which did not permit him to gaze at a young woman through a window. Alone. He was alone, and she was alone. A novel idea popped into his head. He chuckled, and the sound of that chuckle in his ear somehow brought back his resolve to carry on, to pass out, if so he must, fighting. He would knock on yonder window and ask the beautiful lady slavy for a bit of her supper. End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of The Drums of Jeopardy This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Lucy Burgoyne. The Drums of Jeopardy by Harold McGraw. Kitty Conover had inherited brains and beauty, and nothing else but the furniture. Her father had been a famous reporter, the admiration of clubs from New York to San Francisco, handsome, happy-go-lucky, generous, rather improvident, and wholly lovable. Her mother had been a comedy actress, noted for her beauty and wit, and extravagance. Thus it will be seen that Kitty was in luck to inherit any furniture at all. Kitty was 24. A body is as old as it is, but a brain is as old as the facts it absorbs. And Kitty had absorbed enough facts to carry her brain well into the 30s. Conover had been dead 20 years, and Kitty had scarcely any recollections of him. Improvident as the run of newspaper writers are, Conover had fulfilled one obligation to his family. He had kept up his endowment policies, and for 18 years the insurance had taken care of Kitty and her mother, who because of a weak ankle had not been able to return to the scenes of her former triumphs. In 1915 this darling mother, whom Kitty loved to idle tree, had passed on. There was enough for the funeral and the cleaning up of the bills, but that was all. The income ceased with Mrs. Conover's demise. Kitty saw that she must give up writing short stories, which nobody wanted, and go to work. So she proceeded at once to the newspaper office where her father's name was still a tradition, and applied for a job. It was frankly a charity job, but Kitty was never to know that because she fell into the newspaper game naturally. And when they discovered her wide acquaintance among theatrical celebrities, they switched her into the dramatic department, where she had astonishing success as a recontour. She was now assistant dramatic editor of the Sunday issue, and her pay envelope had four crisp $10 notes in it each Monday. She still remained in the old apartment, sentiment as much as anything. She had been born in it, and her happiest days had been spent there. She lived alone without help, being one of that singular type of womanhood that is impervious to the rust of loneliness. Her daily activities suffice the gregarious instincts, and it was often a relief to move about in silence. Among other things, Kitty had foresight. She had learned that a little money in the background was the most satisfying thing in existence. So many times, she and her mother had just reached the insurance check with grumbling bill collectors in the hall, that she was determined never to be poor. She had to fight constantly, her love of finery inherited from her mother, and her love of good times inherited from her father. So she established a bank account, and to date had not drawn a check against it, which speaks well for her will power, an attribute cultivated, not inherited. Kitty was as pleasing to the eye as a basket of fruit. Her beauty was animated. There was an expression in her eyes and on her lips that spoke of laughter always on tiptoe. An enviable inheritance, this the desire to laugh, to be searching always for a vent, to laughter. It is something money cannot buy, something not to be cultivated, a true gift of the gods. This desire to laugh is found invariably in the tender and glorious, and Kitty was both, brown hair with running threads of gold that was always catching light, slate blue eyes with heavy black fringe irish, colour that waxed and waned, and a healthy shapely body, topped by a sparkling intellect these gifts made Kitty desirable of men. Kitty had no bow after their adolescent days, bows ceased to interest her. This would indicate that she was inclined towards suffrage, nothing of the kind, intensely romantic she determined to await the grand passion or go it alone, no experimental adventures for her. Be sure that she weighed every new man she met and finding some flaw discarded him as a matrimonial possibility. Besides her unusual facilities to view and judge men had shown her masculine phases the average woman would have discovered only after the fatal knot was tied. She did not suspect that she was romantical, she attributed her weariness to common sense. If there is one place where a pretty young woman may labor without having to build a wall of liquid air about her to fend off a mattery advances, that place is the editorial room of a great metropolitan daily. One must have leisure to fall in love and only the office boys could assemble enough idle time to call it leisure. Her desk faced burling games and burling game was the dramatic editor, a scholar and a gentleman. He liked to hear Kitty talk and often he lured her into the open and he gathered information about theatrical folks that was outside even his wide range of knowledge. A drizzly fog had hung over New York since morning. Kitty was finishing up some Sunday special. Burling game was reading proofs. All day theatrical folks had been in and out of this little 10 by 12 cubby hole and now they would be quiet. But no the door opened and an iron gray head intruded. Will I be in the way? Lord know cried burling game, throwing down his proofs. Come along in Cutty. The great war correspondent came in and sat down, sighing gratefully. Cutty was a nickname he carried and smoked everywhere they would permit him. The worst looking and the worst smelling pipe encrypted him. You may not realise it but a nickname is around about Anglo-Saxon way of telling a fellow you love him. He was Cutty but only among his dear intimates. Mind you to the world at large, to presidents, kings, ambassadors, generals and capitalists. He is known by another name. You will find it on the roster of the Royal Geographical on the title page of several unique books on travel duels and drums in magazines and newspapers. On the membership role of the savage in London and the lambs in New York. But you will not find it in the story because it would not be fair to set his name against the unusual adventures that crossed his line of life with that of the young man who wore the tobacco pouch suspended from his neck. Tall, bony, graceful enough except in a chair where his ankles became conspicuous. The ruddy, weather-beaten complexion of a deep sea sailor and the sailor man's blue eye. The brow of a thinker and the mouth of a humorist. Men often call another man handsome when a woman knows they mean manly. Among men, Cutty was handsome. Kitty considerably rose and gathered up her manuscript. No, no Kitty, I'd rather talk to you than burly here. You're always reminding me of that father of yours, best comrade I ever had. You laugh just like him. Did your mother ever tell you that old Cutty is your godfather? Good gracious. In fact, I told your dad I'd watch over you. And the fat lot of watching you've done to date, Jude Burlingame, couldn't help that, but I can be on the job until I return to the Vulcans. Kitty laughed joyously and sat down, perhaps a little thrilled. She had always admired Cutty from afar, shyly. Once in a blue moon he had in the old days appeared for tea, and he and Mrs. Conover would spend the balance of the afternoon discussing the lovable qualities of Tommy Conover. Kitty had seen him, but twice during the war. Every so often begun Cutty. I have to find listeners. In fact, I used to hate crowds, listeners, but those 10 days in an open boat, a thousand miles from anywhere, made me gregarious. I'm always wanting company and hating to go to bed, which is bad business for a man of 52. Cutty's ship had been torpedoed. To Kitty, with his tired eyes and weather-bitten face, his bony, gambling body, he had the appearance of a lazy man. Actually, she knew him to be a man of tremendous vitality and endurance. Eagles, when they roost, are heavy-littered and clumsy. She wondered if there was a corner on the globe he had not peered into. For 30 years he had been following two gods, rumor and more. For 30 years he had been the slave of cables and telegrams. Even now he was preparing to return to the Balkans, where the Great Fire had started and where there were still some threatening embers to watch. Cutty was not well known in America. His reputation was European. He played the game because he loved it, being comfortably fortified with worldly goods. He was a linguist of rare attainments, specializing in the polyglot of southeastern Europe. He came and went like cloud shadow. His foresight was so keen he was seldom ordered to go here or there. He was generally on the spot when the orders arrived. He was interested in socialism and its bewildering ramifications, but only as analytical student. He could fit himself into any environment, interview a prime minister in the afternoon and take potluck that night with the anarchist who was planning to blow up the prime minister. Burlingame, an intimate, often exposed for Cutty's delectation, the amazing and colorful facets of Cutty's diamond-brilliant mind. Cutty wrote authoritatively on famous gems and collected drums. He had one of the finest collections of chrysoprase in the world. He loved these semi-precious stones because of their unmatchable translucent green, like the pulp of the grape. From Burlingame, Cutty learned that Cutty, rather indifferent to women, carried about with him the photographs, large size, the famous professional beauties and a case filled with polished chrysoprase. He would lay a photograph on a table and adorn the lovely throat with astonishing necklaces and the head with wonderful tiaras. All the while he's grown at work with some intricate political puzzle. And he collected drums. The walls of his apartment, part of the loft of a midtown office building, were covered with the most startling assortment of drums. Drums of war, of the dance, of the temples, of the feast. Ancient and modern, some of them dreadful looking objects, as Cutty had caused to remember. Though Cutty had known her father and mother intimately, Cutty was a comparative stranger. He recollected seeing her perhaps a dozen times. She had been a shy child, not given to climbing over visitors' knees, not the precocious offspring of the average theatrical mother. So in the past he had somewhat overlooked her. Then one day recently he had dropped in to see Burlingame and had seen Cutty instead, which accounts for his presence here this day. Neither Cutty nor Burlingame suspected the true attraction. The dramatic editor accepted their advent as a peculiar compliment to himself. And it is to be doubted if Cutty himself realized that there was a true magnetic pole in this cubbyhole of the room. Cutty, however, had vivid recollections, actually the first strange man she had ever met, but not having been visible on her horizon, except in flashes. She knew of the man only what she had read and what Burlingame had casually offered during discussions. Well anyhow, said Burlingame, complacently, the war is over. Cutty smiled indulgently. That's the trouble with us chaps who tramp round the world for news. We can't bamboozle ourselves like you folks who stay at home. The war was only the first phase. There's a mess over there wanting something and not knowing exactly what. Those millions milling cattle with neither shed nor pasture. The Lord only knows how long it will take to clarify. Would you mind if I smoked? Wow, cried Burlingame. Not at all, answered Cutty. I don't see how any pipe could be worse than Mr. Burlingame's. I apologize, said the dramatic editor humbly. You needn't, replied the girl. She turned to the war correspondent. Any new drums? I remember that day you were scared half to death at my walls. Small wonder. I was only 12 and I dreamed of cannibals for weeks. Drums? I wonder if any living man has heard a greater variety than I. What a lot of them. I have heard them calling a jihad in the sedan. Tumpty tump tump. Tumpty tump tump. Makes a white man's hair stand up when he hears it in the night. I don't know what it is, but the sound drives the oriental man, and that reminds me I've had them in mind all day. The drums of Jeopardy. What an old phrase, and what are the drums of Jeopardy? Ask Cutty, leaning on her arms. Odd, but suddenly she felt a longing to go somewhere thousands and thousands of miles away. She had never been west of Chicago or east of Boston, until this moment she had never felt the call of the blood her father's. Coconut palms and birds of paradise and drums in the night going tumpty tump tump. Tumpty tump tump. I've always been mad over green things begun Cutty. A wheat field in the spring leaping maples. It's nature's choice and mine. My passion is emeralds and I haven't any because those I want are beyond reach. They are owned by the great houses of Europe and Asia and lie in royal caskets, all dead. If I could go into a mine and find an emerald as big as my fist, I should be only partly happy if a chance to be a fine color. In a little while I should lose interest in it. It wouldn't be alive if you can get what I mean. Just as a man would rather have a homely woman to talk to than a beautiful window dummy to admire. A stone to interest me must have a story, a story of murder and loot, a beautiful woman, palaces. Brr! cried Berlingame. Why? I've seen emeralds. I would steal with half a chance. I couldn't help it. Fact! declared Cutty earnestly. Think of the loot in the Romanoff palaces. What's become of all those magnificent stones? In a little while they'll be turning up in Amsterdam to be cut, some of them, or maybe Mr Bolspickey's in a morata will be stringing them round her neck. Loot! But the drums of jeopardy said Cutty. Emeralds green as English lawn in May after a shower, Cutty. By the way, do you mind if I call you Cutty? I used to. And I've always thought of you as Cutty. 50-50. It's a bargain. Well, the drums to my thinking are the finest two examples of the green barrel in the world. Polished, of course, as emeralds always should be. I should say that they were about the size of those peppermint chocolate drops there. Have one, said Cutty. No, spoil the taste of the pipe. You ought to spoil that taste once in a while with Berlingame's observation. But go on. I supposed originally there was a single stone, later cut into halves, because they are perfect matches. The drums proper are exquisitely carved ivory statuettes of Hindu or Mojavean drummers, squirting the golden base of the drums between the knees and the drum heads, the emeralds. Lord, how they got to me. I wanted to run off with them. The history of murder and loot they could tell. Some Delhi mogul owned them first. Their Nader Shah carried them off to Persia along with the famous Peacock throne. I saw them in a palace on the Caspian in 1912. Russia was very strong in Persia at one time. Perhaps they were gifts, perhaps they were stolen, these emeralds. Anyhow, I'd never heard of them until that year, and I travelled all the way up to Constantinople to get a glimpse of them if it were possible. I had to do some mighty fine wire pulling. For one of those stones I would give half of all I own. To see them in the possession of another man would be a supreme test to my honesty. You old pirate, said Berlingain. But why the word jeopardy persisted kitty who was intrigued by the phrase. Probably some Hindu trick. It is a language of flowery metaphors. It means, I suppose, that when you touch the drums they bite. In journeying from one spot to another they always leave misfortune behind, as I understand it. Just coincidence, but you couldn't drive that into an oriental skull. This is what makes the study of precious stones so interesting. There is always some enchantment, some evil spell. To handle the drums is to invite a minor accident. Call it twaddle, probably is, and yet I have reason to believe that there's something to the superstition. Berlingain sniffed. I can prove it. Cutty declared. I held those drums in my hands one day. I carried them to a window, the better to observe them. On my return to the hotel I was knocked down by a horse and laid up in bed for a week. That same night someone tried to kill the man who showed me the emeralds. Coincidence, perhaps, but these days I'm shying at 13, the wrong side of the street, ladders and religious curses. An old hard-boiled egg like you, Berlingain threw up his hands in mock despair. I loved too, but I ducked nevertheless. The chap who showed me the stones was what you'd call the honorary custodian, a privileged character because of his genius. Before approaching him I sent him a copy of my monograph on green stones. I found that he was quite as crazy overgreen as I. That brought us together and while I drew him out I kept wondering where I had seen him before. Both his name and his face were vaguely familiar. It seems a superstition had come along with the stones, from India to Persia, from there to Russia, and made fortunate enough to see the drums would marry and be happy. The old fellow confessed that occasionally he secretly admitted a peasant maid to goes upon the stones, but he never let the male inmates at the palace find this out. He knew them a little too intimately, a bad lot, and this palace asked Kitty, not one stone on another. The proletariat rose up and destroyed it. To mobs anything beautiful is offensive. Palaces looted, banks, museums, houses, the ignorant toying with hand grenades, thinking them sceptres. All the scum in the world boiling to the top, after the red day comes the red night. Whatever will become of them, the little kings and princes and dukes, after all thought pity. They were human beings, they would not suffer any of the less because they had been born to purple. Maybe they'll go to work, said Cutty Dryly. Sooner or later all parasites will have to work if they want bread. And yet I've met some men among them, big in the heart and the mind, who would have made bully farmers and professors. The beautiful thing about the Anglo-Saxon education is that the whole structure is based upon fair play. In eastern and southeastern Europe few of them can play solitaire without cheating, but I would give a good deal to know what has happened to those emeralds, the drums of jeopardy. They'll probably be broken up and sold in carrot weights. The whole family was wiped out in a night. I say, will you take lunch with me tomorrow? Gladly. All right, I'll drop in here at half past 12. Here's my telephone number. Should anything alter your plans? If I'm going to be godfather I might as well start right in. The drums of jeopardy. What a haunting phrase. Haunting stones too, Kitty. For picking them up in my hands I went to bed with a banged up leg. I can't forget that. We occidentals laugh at orientals and their superstitions. We don't believe in the curse and yet by George those emeralds were accursed. People snorted Berlin gain mush. It's greed, pure and simple. That gives precious stones their sinister histories. You'd have been hit by that horse if you had picked up nothing more valuable than a rhinestone buckle. Take away the gold lure and precious stones wouldn't sell at the price of window glass. Is that so? How about me? It isn't because the stone is worth so much that makes me want it. I want it for the sheer beauty. I want it for the tremendous panorama. The sight of it unfolds in my mind. I imagine what happened from the hour the stone was mine to the hour it came into my possession. To me, to all genuine collectors, the intrinsic value is nil. Can't you see? It is for me what both sex, like who Deschagrin, would be to you if you had fallen on it for the first time. Money, love, tragedy, death. An interruption came in the form of one of the office boys. The chief was on the wire and wanted to cut it at once. And half after 12 Kitty, and by the way, added Cutty as he rose, they say about the drums that a beautiful woman is immune to their danger. There's your chance Kitty, said Burlingame. Am I beautiful? Asked Kitty demulely. Lord loved the minks. Shout a cutty. A corner in my queens. Rain or shine? After Cutty had departed, Kitty said, he's the most fascinating man I know. What fun it would be to jog round the world with a man like that. Who knew everybody and everything? As a little girl, I was violently in love with him. But don't you ever dare give me away. You'll probably have nightmare tonight. And honestly, you ought not to live in that den alone. But Cutty has seen things, Burlingame admitted. Things no white man ought to see. He's been shot up, mauled by animals, marooned, torpedoed at sea, made prisoner by old fuzzy wuzzy. An ordinary man would have died of fatigue. Cutty is as tough and strong as a gorilla and as active as a cat. But this dual superstition is all rot. Odd though, he'll travel halfway round the world to see a Ruby or an Emerald. He says no true collector cares a sink for a diamond. Says they are vulgar, except on the third finger of a lady's left hand. And then they are just perfectly splendid. Uh-huh. Well, when you get yours, I hope. It's as big as a kawano. Thank you. You might as well wish a brick on me. Cutty left the office at a quarter of six. The phrase kept running through her head, the drums of jeopardy. A little shiver ran up her spine. Money, love, tragedy, death. This terrible and wonderful old world, of which she had seen little else than city streets, suddenly exhibited wide vistas. She knew now why she had begun to save, travel. Just as soon as she had a thousand, she would go somewhere. A great longing to hear native drums in the night. Even as the wish entered her mind, a new sound entered her ears. The subway car wheels began to beat. Tumpety tump, tumpety tump. Fudge. She opened her evening paper and scanned the fashions, the dramatic news and the comics. Being a woman, she read the world news last. On the front page, she saw a queer story dated at Albany. Mysterious guests at a hotel, how they fought and fled in the early morning. There had been left behind a case with foreign orders encrusted with several thousand dollars worth of gems. Bolshevski said the place. Just as I said auto bandits a few years ago, when confronted with something they could not understand. The orders had been turned over to the federal authorities from whom it was known that they were all royal and demi royal. Neither of the two guests had returned up to noon and one had fled, leaving Albany's hat and coat. But there was nothing to indicate his identity. Loot, murmured Kitty. All the scum in the world rising to the top, quoting Cutty. Poor things, as she thought of the gentle ladies who had died horribly in bedrooms and cellars. Kitty was beginning to cast about the more congenial quarters. There were too many foreigners in the apartments and none of them, especially good housekeepers, always nowadays somebody had a washing out on the line. The odor of garlic was continuously in the air and there were noisy children underfoot in the halls. The family she and her mother had known were all gone and Kitty was perhaps the oldest inhabitant in the block. The living room windows faced 80th street, bedrooms, dining room and kitchen looked out upon the court. From the latter windows one could step out upon the fire escape platform which ran round the three sides of the court. Among the present tenants she knew but one, an old man by the name of Gregory, who lived opposite. The acquaintance had never ripened into friendship but sometimes Kitty would borrow an egg and he would borrow some sugar. In the summertime when the windows were open at night she had frequently heard the music of a violin swimming across the court. Polish, Russian and Hungarian music always speaking with a tragic note nothing she had ever heard in concerts. Once however she had heard him begin something from Porthias and stop in the middle of it and that convinced her that he was a master. She was fond of good music. One day she asked Gregory why he did not teach music instead of balloting at a hotel. His answer had been illumitative. It was only his body that pressed clothes but it would have torn his soul to listen daily to the agonized bow of the novice. Kitty was lonely through pride as much as anything. As for friends she had a regiment of them but she really accepted their hospitality realizing that she could not return it. No men called because she never invited them. All this however was going to change when she moved. As she turned on the hall light she saw an envelope on the floor. Evidently it had been shoved under the door. It was unsampped. She opened it and stepped out of the humdrum into the whirligig. Dear Miss Conover if anything should happen to me all the things in my apartment I give to you without reservation. Steven Gregory. She read the letter a dozen times to make sure that it meant exactly what it said. He might be ill. After she had cooked her supper she would run round and inquire. The poor lonely old man. She went into the kitchen and took inventory. There was nothing but bacon and eggs and coffee. She had forgotten to order that morning. She lit the gas range and began to prepare the meal. As she broke an egg against the rim of the pan the nearby elevated train rushed by, drumming tumpity-tump, tumpity-tump. She laughed but it wasn't on a slafter. She laughed because she was conscious that she was afraid of something. Impulse drove her to the window, contact with men. Her unusual experiences as a reporter had developed her natural fearlessness to a point where it was aggressive. As she pressed the tip of her nose against the pain however she found herself gazing squarely into a pair of exceedingly brilliant dark eyes and all the blood in her body seemed to rush violently into her throat, tabloo. End of chapter four chapter five of The Drums of Jeopardy. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Lucy Burgoyne. The Drums of Jeopardy by Harold McGrath. Chapter five. Kitty gasped but she did not cry out. The five days growth of blondish stubble, the discoloured eye, for all the orb itself was brilliant and the hawky nose combined to send through her the first great thrill of danger she had ever known. Slowly she backed away from the window. The man outside immediately extended his hands with gesture that a child would have understood. Supplication. Kitty paused naturally but did the man mean it? Might it not be some trick to lure her into opening the window? And what was he doing outside there anyhow? Her mind freed from the initial hypnosis of the encounter began to work quickly. If she ran from the kitchen to call for help he might be gone when she returned only to come back when she was again alone. Once more the man executed that gesture. His palms upward. It was Latin. She was aware of that because she was always encountering it in the halls. Another gesture. She understood this also. The tips of his fingers bunched and dabbed at the lips. She had seen Italian children make the gesture and cry. Ho-fane. Hungry but she could not let him into the kitchen. Still if he were honestly hungry she had it. In the kitchen table drawer was an imitation revolver. She pressed the trigger and a fluted fan was revealed. A dance favor she had received during the winter. She plucked it out of the drawer and walked bravely to the window which she threw up. What do you want? What are you doing out there on the fire escape? She instantly demanded to know. My word. I am hungry. I was looking out of the window across the way and saw you preparing your dinner. A bit of bread and a glass of milk. Would you mind? I wonder. Why didn't you come to the door then? What window? Kitty was resolute once she embarked upon an enterprise. That one. Where is Mr. Gregory? Kitty recalled that odd letter. Gregory I should very much like to know. I have come many miles to see him. He sent me a duplicate key. There was not even a crust in the cupboard. Gregory away that letter. Something had happened to that poor, kindly old man. Why did you not seek some restaurant or have you no money? I have plenty. I was afraid that I might not be able conveniently to return. I am a stranger. My actions might be viewed with suspicion. Indeed, described Mr. Gregory. Not of the klinging kind. Evidently he thought. A raving beauty. Diana domesticated. It is four years since I saw him. He was then gray, dapper and erect. A mole on his chin which he rubs when he talks. He is only a valet in one of the fashionable hotels. He is, or was, the only true friend I have in New York. Was? What do you mean? I'm afraid something has happened to him. I found his bedroom things tossed about. What could possibly happen to a harmless old man like Mr. Gregory? Pardon me, but your egg is burning. Kitty wheeled and lifted off the pan, choking in the smother of smoke. She came right about faced swiftly enough. The man had not moved and that decided her. Come in. I will give you something to eat. Sit in that chair by the window and be careful not to stir from it. I'm a good shot, lied Kitty, true sultantly. Frankly, I do not like the looks of this. I do look like a burglar. What? He sat down in the chair meekly. Food and a human being to talk to. A lovely, self-reliant American girl, able to take care of herself. Magnificent eyes, slate blue, with thick, velvety black glasses, irish. In a moment, Kitty had three eggs and half a dozen strips of bacon, frying in a fresh pan. She kept one eye upon the pan and the other upon the intruder, risking strabismus. At length, she transferred the contents of the pan to a plate, back to the ice chest and reached for a bottle of milk. She placed the food at the far end of the table and retreated a few steps. Her arms crossed in such a way as to keep the revolver in view. Please do not be afraid of me. What makes you think I am? Any woman would be. Kitty saw that he was actually hungry and her suspicions began to ebb. He hadn't lied about that and he ate like a gentleman. Young, not more than 30, possibly less, but that dreadful stubble and that black eye. The clothes would have passed muster on any fashionable golf links, a fugitive. From what? Thank you, he said, sitting down the empty milk bottle. Your accent is English, which is to say that your gestures are Italian. My mother was Italian, but what makes you believe I am not English? An Englishman or an American, for that matter, with money in his pocket would have gone into the street in search of a restaurant. You are right, the fundamentals of the blood will always crop out. You can educate the brain, but not the blood. I am not an Englishman, I merely receive my education at Oxford. A fugitive, however, of any blood might have come to my window. Yes, I am a fugitive pursued by the God of irony, and irony is never particular. The chase is the thing. What matters is whether the quarry be wolf or sheep. Kitty was impressed by the bitterness of the tone. What is your name? John Hawksley, but that is English. I should not care to call myself two Hawks, literally. It would be embarrassing, so I call myself Hawksley. A pause. Kitty wondered what new impetuous she might give to the conversation, which was interesting her despite her distrust. How did you come by that black eye? She asked with embarrassing directness. Hawksley smiled, revealing beautifully white teeth. I say it is a bit off, isn't it? I received it. A twinkle coming into his eyes, in a situation that had more abundant perspectives. More abundant perspectives, repeated Kitty, casting the phrase about in her mind, in search of an equivalent less academic. I am young and healthy and I want it to live, he said gravely. I am curious to know what is going to happen tomorrow and other tomorrows. Somewhere nearby a door was slammed violently. Kitty, every muscle in her body tense, jumped convulsively with the result that her finger pressed automatically the trigger of the pistol. The fan popped out gaily. Hawksley stared at the fan, quite as astonished as Kitty. Then he broke into a low rollicking laughter, which Kitty, because her basic corpuscle was Irish, for force had to join. To all her laughter she retreated furious and alarmed. Fancy, I say now, you're jolly plucky to face a scoundrel like me with that. I don't just know what to make of you, said Kitty, irresolutely, flinging the fan into a corner. You have revived a celestial spark, my faith in human beings. I beg of you not to be afraid of me. I am quite harmless. I am very grateful for the meal. Yours is the one act of kindness I have known in weeks. I will return to Gregor's apartment at once, but before I go, please accept this. I rather suspect you know that you live alone, and that fan is amusing and not particularly suitable. He rose and unspilingly laid upon the table one of those heavy blue black bull dogs of all, a regulation revolver. Kitty understood what this courteous act signified. He was disarming himself to reassure her. Sit down, she ordered. Either he was harmless or he wasn't. If he wasn't, she was utterly at his mercy. She might be able to lift that terrible looking engine of murder, battle, and sudden death, with the aid of both hands, but to aim and fire it, never in this will. As I came in tonight, I found a note in the hall from Mr Gregory. I will fetch it, but you call him Gregor. His name is Stephanie Gregor, and years and years ago he dandled me on his knees. I promise not to move until you return. Subdued by she knew not what, no longer afraid, Kitty moved out of the kitchen. She had offered Gregory's letter as an excuse to reach the telephone. Once there, however, she did not take the receiver off the hook. Instead, she whistled down the tube for the janitor. This is Ms Conover, come up to my apartment in 10 minutes. No, it's not the water pipes, in 10 minutes. Nothing very serious could happen inside of 10 minutes, and the janitor was reliable and not the sort one reads about in the comic week lease. Her confidence reinforced by the knowledge that a friend was near. She took the letter into the kitchen. Apparently her unwelcome guest had not stirred. The revolver was where he had laid it. Read this, she said. The visitor glanced through it. It is Gregor's hand. Poor old chap, I shall never forgive myself. For what? For dragging him into this. They must have intercepted one of my telegrams. He stared dejectedly at the strip of oilcloth in front of the range. You are an American. Yes, God has been exceedingly kind to your country. I doubt if you will ever know how kind. I'll take myself off. No sense in compromising you. He laid a folded handkerchief inside his cap, which he put on. Know anything about this? Indicating the revolver. Nothing whatever. Permit me to show you. It is loaded. There are five bullets in the clip. See this little latch? So it is harmless. So and you kill with it. It is horrible, cried kitty. Take it with you please. I could not keep my eyes open to shoot it. These are troublesome times. All women should know something about small arms. Again, I thank you. For your sake, I trust that we may never meet again. Goodbye. He stepped out of the window and vanished. Kitty, at a mental impasse, could only stare into the night beyond the window. This mesmeric state endured for a minute. Then a gentle and continuous sound dissipated the spell. It was raining. Obligately she saw the burnt egg in the pan. The thing had happened. She had not been dreaming. Her brain awoke, thought crowded thought, before one matured another displaced it, and all as putile as the sparks from the anvil. An avalanche of conjecture and out of it all eventually emerged, one concrete fact. The man was honest. His hunger had been honest. His laughter. Who was he? What was he? For all his speech, not English. For all his gestures, not Italian. More abundant perspectives. Somewhere that day he had fought for his life. John Two Hawks. And there was the mysterious vanishment of old Gregory, whose name was Stephanie Greger, in a humdrum prosaic old apartment like this. Kitty had ideas about adventures and inheritance, though she was not aware of that. There had to be certain ingredients, principally mystery. Anything sorted must not be permitted to wed gin. She had often gone forth upon semi-perilous enterprises as a reporter, entered sinister houses where crimes had been committed, but always calculating how much copy and eight dollars a column could be squeezed out of the affair. But this promised to something like those tales which were always clear and wonderful in her head, but more or less opaque. When she attempted to transfer them to paper, a secret society, vengeance, an echo of war. Johnny Two Hawks, she murmured aloud, and he hopes will never meet again. There was a mirror over the sink and she threw a glance into it. Very well if he thought like that about it. Here the doorbell tinkle, that would be the faithful janitor. She ran to the door. What do you want to see me about, Miss Conneva? What has happened to old Mr. Gregory? Him? Why? Some ambulance fellows carted him off this afternoon. Didn't know nothing was the matter with him until I runs in to them in the hall. He's been hurt, couldn't say miss. He was on a stretcher when I seen him, under a sheet, that he might have been dead. No, I asked them and they said a shock of some sort. What hospital? Gee, I forgot to ask that. I'll find out. Good night. The kitty did not find out. She called up all the known private and public hospitals, but no Gregor or Gregory had been received that afternoon. Nor anybody answering his description. The fog had swallowed up Stephanie Gregor. End of chapter five. Chapter six of the Drums of Jeopardy. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Lucy Burgoyne. The Drums of Jeopardy by Harold McGraw. Chapter six. The reportorial instinct in Kitty Conover, combined with her natural feminine curiosity, impelled her deceit to the bottom of a fear. Her newspaper was as far from her as the polls. Simply a paramount desire to translate the incomprehensible into sequence and consequence. Harmless of Gregor's disappearance and the advent of John Twohawks, the absurdity of that name. With his impeccable English accent, his Latin gestures and his black eye convinced her that it was political, an electrical cross-current out of that broken world over there. More abundant perspectives. What did that signify, save that Johnny Twohawks had fought somewhere that day for his life? Had Gregor been spirited away so as to leave Twohawks without support, to confuse and discourage him and break down his powers of resistance? Or had there been something of great value in the Gregor apartment? And Johnny Twohawks had come too late to save his friend. A word slipped into her mind like a whiff of miasma of an evil swamp. As she recognized the word she felt the same horror and repugnance one senses upon being unexpectedly confronted by a cobra. Internationalism, the scum of the world boiling to the top, a half-blind viper striking venomously at everything. Even itself, a destroyer who tore down but who knew not how or what to build. Kitty knew that lower New York was seething with the species of terrorism. Thousands of noisome European rats trying to burrow into the granary of democracy. But she had no particular fear of the result. The reacting chemicals of American humor and common sense would neutralize that virus. Supposing a ripple from this indecent eddy had touched her feet, the torch of liberty in the hands of a lark. Johnny Twohawks somehow, even if she never saw him again, she knew she would always remember him by that name. Phases of the encounter began to return. Fine hands, perhaps he painted or played. The oblong head of well-balanced mentality, a pleasant voice, breeding. To be sure, he had laughed at that fan popping out. Anybody would have laughed. Never had she felt so idiotic. He had gravely expressed the hope that they might never meet again because his life was in danger. What danger? Conceivably the enmity of the society. Internationalism. The word having found launchment in her thoughts took root. Internationalism. Utopia, while you wait. Anarchism and Bolshevism, offering nostrums for humanity's ills. And there were sane men who defended the cult on the basis that the intention was honest. Who can say that the rattlesnake does not consider his intentions honourable? The attribute lacking in the ape to make him human is continuity of thought and action in all things save one. He often starts out well but he never arrives. His interest is never sustained. He drops one thing and turns to another. The exception is his enmity. Sabbage and cunning, relentless and enduring. Kitty was awake to one fact. She could not venture to dig into this affair alone. On the other hand she did not want one of the men from the city room, a reporter who would see nothing but news. If Gregor was only a prisoner of publicity might be the cause of his death and publicity would certainly react hardly against Johnny Twohawks, to whom might she too. Cutty, with his great physical strength, he shrewd and alert mentality and his wide knowledge of peoples and tongues. There was the man for her, Kitty Conover's Godfather. She dumped the contents of a handbag upon the stand in the hallway, in her impatience to find Cutty's card with his telephone number. It was not in the directory. She might catch him before he went out for the evening. A Japanese voice answered her call, soon, but he is out. Where? No, tell me. How long has he gone? Excuse? Kitty heard the click of the receiver as it went down upon the hook, but she wasn't the daughter of Conover for nothing. She called up the University Club, no, the Harvard Club, no, the players, the lambs, and in the latter club she found him. Who is it? Cutty spoke, impatiently. Kitty Conover. Oh, what's the matter? Can't you have lunch with me? Something very strange is happening in this old apartment house, Cutty. I'm afraid it is a matter of life and death, otherwise I shouldn't have bothered you. Can you come up right away? As soon as a taxi can take me. Thanks. Kitty then went through the apartment and turned out all the lights. Next she drew up a chair to the kitchen window and sat down to watch. All was dark across the way, but there was nothing singular in this fact. Johnny Two Hawks would have sensed enough to realise that it would be safer to move about in the dark. It was even probable that he was lying down. Tumpy tump tump tumpy tump tump went the racing elevated and Kitty's heart raced along with it. Queer had the echo of Cutty's description of the drums calling a G hat. A holy war. She would adapt itself to that elevated. Drums. Perhaps the echo clung because she had been interested beyond measure in his tale of those two emeralds. The drums of Jeopardy. Mobs sacking palaces and museums and banks and homes. All the scum of the will boiling to the top. The red night that wasn't over. She uttered a shaky little mark. She would tell Cutty the real drums of Jeopardy weren't emeralds but the role of warning that prescience taps upon the spine. The occult sense of impending danger. That was why the elevated went tumpy tump tumpity tump. She would tell Cutty the drums of fear. He over there and she here in darkness both of them waiting for something to happen and the invisible drumsticks beating the tattoo of fear. If he were in her thoughts might not she be a little in his. She stood up. She would do it. Convention in a moment like this was nonsense. Hadn't he kept his side of the line scriptulously. Nonchalance It occurred to her for the first time that there must be good material in a man who could come through in a contest with death. Nonchalant. She would fetch him and have him here to make Cutty. This rather forlorn Johnny Twohawks with his unshaven face. His black eye and his nonchalance. She would fetch him at once. It would save a good deal of time. There were but 10 apartments in the building. Two on a floor. The living room formed an L. Cutty's butt rest Gregor's. The elevator shaft was inside facing the court and the stair head was on the Gregor's side at the elevator. The two entrances faced each other across the landing. As Cutty opened her door to step outside she was nonplussed to see two men issue cautiously from the Gregor door. The moment they inspired her however there was a mad rush for the stair head. She could hear the thud of their feet all the way down to the ground floor and every footfall seemed to touch her heart. One of them carried a bundle. She breathed quickly and she knew that she was afraid. Now the man was Johnny Twohawks. Something dreadful had happened. She was sure of it. Reinforcing her sinking courage with nerve energy she ran across to the Gregor door and knocked. No answer. She knocked again. Then she tried the door locked. The flutter in her breast died away. She became quite calm. She was going to enter this apartment by the way of the fire escape. The window he had come out of was still up. She had made note of this from the kitchen. In returning he had stepped on to the fringe of a snare. She hurried back to her kitchen for the automatic. She had the least idea how to manipulate it but she was no longer afraid of it. Bravely she stepped out onto the fire escape. To reach her objective she had to walk under the ladder. Danger often puts irrelevancies into the human brain. As she moved forward she wondered if there was anything in the superstition regarding ladders. When she reached the window she leaned against the brick wall and listened. Silence. An ominous silence. The window was open. The curtain up. Within what? For as long as five minutes she waited. Then she climbed in. Now as this bedroom was a counterpart of her own she knew where the light button would be. She might stumble over a chair or two but in the end she would find the light. The fingers of one hand spread out before her and the other clutching the impossible automatic. She succeeded in navigating the uncharted reefs of an unfamiliar room. She blinked for a moment after throwing on the light and stood with her back to the wall. The automatic wobbling and nothing in particular. The room was empty so far as she could see. There was evidence of a physical encounter but she could not tell whether it was due to the former or to the latter invasion. Where was he? From where she stood she could not see the floor on the far side of the bed. Timidly she walked past the foot of the bed and the transient paralysis of horror laid hold of her. She became bereft of the power to grasp and hold and the automatic slipped from her fingers and thudded on the carpet. On the floor lay poor Johnny Twohawks crumpled grotesquely a streak of blood zigzagging across his forehead to all appearances dead. End of chapter 6