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"Well, I've Got a Rug Up In My i SYNOPSIS. George Percival Algernon Jones, vice president of the Metropolitan Oriental Rug company of New York, thirsting for ro mance, Is In Cairo on a business trip. Horace Ryanne arrives at the hotel In Cairo with a carefully guarded bundle. CHAPTER III.?(Continued.) George's romance gathered itself for a flight Perhaps It was love thwart ed and the gentleman with the mus tache and Imperial, in spite of his ami ability, might be the ogre. Perhaps it was love and duty. Pernaps ner lover had gone down to sea. Perhaps (for lovers are known to do such . things) he had run away with the other girl. If that was the case, George did not think highly of that tentative gentleman's taste. Perhaps and perhaps again; but George might have gone on perhapsing till the crack o* doom, with never a solitary glimmer of the true state of the girl's i mind. Whenever he saw an unknown man or woman who attracted his at tention, he never could resist the im pulse to invent a romance that might apply. Immediately after dessert the two rose; and George, finding that nothing more important than a pineapple ice detained him, got up and followed. Mr. Ryanne almost trod on his heels as they went through the doorwav into the cosy lounging-room. George dropped into a vacant divan and wait fed for his cafe a la Turque. Mr. Ryanne walked over to the head-por ter's bureau and asked if that gentle man would be bo kind as to point out Mr. George P. A. Jones, if he were anywhere in sight. He thoughtfully, not to say regretfully, laid down a small bribe. "Mr. Jones?" The porter knew Mr. juues wiy we?i. nts was generous, and treated the servants as though ihey were really human beings. Mr. Ryanne, either by his Inquiry or as the result of his bribe, went up sev eral degrees In the porter's estima tion. "Mr. Jones is over there, on the dlvan by the door." / "Thanks." But Ryanne did not then seek the young man. He studied the quarry from a diplomatic distance. No; there was nothing to indicate that George Percival Algernon Jones was in any way handicapped by his Arthuresque middle names. "No fool, as Gioconda In her infinite wisdom hath said; but romantic, ter ribly romantic, yet, like the timid bather who puts a foot Into the water, finds it cold, and withdraws it. It will all depend upon whether he Is a real collector or merely a buyer of rugs. Forward, then, Horace; a sovereign has already dashed headlong down the far horizon." The curse of speaking his thoughts aloud did not lie heavily upon him tonight, for these cogitations were made in silence, unmarked by any facial expression. He proceeded across the room and sat down beside George. "I beg your pardon," he be gan, "but are you not Mr. Jones?" Mildly astonished, George signified that be was. "George P. A. Jones?" George nodded again, but with some heat in his cheeks. "Yes. What is It?" The girl had just finished her coffee and was going away. Hang this fellow! What did he want at this mo ment? If P.yanne saw that he was too I much, as the French say, he also per ceived the cause. The desire to shake George till his teeth rattled was In stantly overcome. She haua't seen him, and for this he was grateful. "You are interested in rugs? J jaean old ones, rare ones, rugs that are bought once and seldom if ever sold again." "Why, yes. That's my business." George had r.o silly ideas about trade. He had never posed as a gentleman's pou in the sense that It meant ldle u?is. Room I'd Like to Show You." Ryanne presented his card. "How do you pronounce it?" asked George naively. "As they do in Cork." "I never Baw it spelled that way be fore." "Nothing surprising in that," replied Ryanne. "No one else has, either." George laughed and waited for the explanation. "You see, -Ryan is as good a name as they make them; but it classeB with prize-fighters, politicians and bar chemists. The two extra letters put the finishing touch to the name. A iewel is all rieht. but what tells is the way you hang it round your neck. To m<?, those additional letters repre sent the jewel Ryan in the hands of a Lalique." "You talk like an American." "I am; three generations. What's the matter?" with sudden concern. George was frowning. "Haven't I met you somewhere before?" "Not to my recollection." A specu lative frown now marred Ryanne's forehead. It did not illustrate a search in his memory for such a casualty as the meeting of George. He never for got a faoe and certainly did not re member George's. Rather, the frown had its source in the mild dread that Percival Algernon had seen him some where during one of those indisposi tions of the mornTTig after. "No; I think you have made a mistake." "Likely enough. It just struck me that you looked something like a chap named Wadsworth, who was half-back on the varsity, when I entered my freshman year." "A university man? Lord, no! I was turned loose at ten; been hustling ever since." Ryanne spoke easily, not a tremor in his voice, although he had received a slight mental Jolt. "No; no college record here. But I want to chat with you about rugs. I've heard of you, indirectly." "From the carpet fellows? We do a b^g business over here. What have you 'got?" "Well, I've a rug up In my room I'd like to show you. I want your Judg ment for one thing. Will you do me the favor?" Since the girl had disappeared and with her those imaginary appurte ronpoa thnt harl for a snaoe trnnn formed the lounging-room into a stage, George saw again with normal vision that the room was simply a common meeting-ground for well-dressed per sons and ill-dressed persons, of the unimpeachable, the impeccable, the doubtful and the peccant; for in Cairo, as in ancient Egypt, there is every class and kind of humans, for whom the Decalogue was written, tran scribed, and shattered by the turbu lent Moses, an incident more or less forgotten these days. From the tail pf his eye he gave swift scrutiny to his chance acquaintance, and he found nothing to warrant suspicion. It was not an unusual procedure for men to hunt him up in Cairo, in Constantinople, in Smyrna, or in any of the Oriental cities where his business itinerary led him. The house of Mortimer & Jones was widely known. This man Ryanne might have been anywhere' between thirty and forty. He was tall, well set up, blond and smooth-skinned. True, he appeared to have been ill-fed re cently. A little more flesh under the cheek-bones, a^ touch of color, and the IrtcVimon Ttrnulri VlJlVP hppTl A hanflsOITl? man. George could read a rug a league off, as they say, but he was a child In the matter of physiognomy, whereas Ryanne was a past-master in this re gard; it was necessary both for his business and safety. "Certainly, I'll take a look at It. But I tell you frankly," went on George, "that to interest me it's got to be a very old one. You see, it's a little fad of mine, outside the business end of it. I'm crazy over real rugs, and I know something about every rare one in existence, or known to ex ist. Is it a copy?" n ty hakulj> AvifKor of HEAP Uio a\an on Jll\i sfraliorv^ by Is COPYRIGHT 1911 by BOD "No. IH tell you more about It when weg'rt to my room." "Ccrtve on, then." George was now quite rilling to discuss rugs and car pets. HaT>ng gained the room, Ryanne threw off his coat and relighted his cigar, which, In a saving mood, he had allowed to go out. He motioned George to be seated. "Just a little yarn before I show you the rug. See these cuffs?" "Yes." "You will observe that I have had to reverse them. Note this collar? Same thing. Trousers-hems a bit frayed, coat shiny at the elbows." Ryanne exhibited his sole fortune. "Four sovereigns between me and a George became thoughtful. He was i | generous and kind-hearted among I those he knew intimately or slightly, but he had the instinctive reserve of the seasoned 'traveler in cases like this. He waited. "The truth is, I'm all but done for. And if I fail to strike a bargain here with you. . . . Well, I should hate to tell you the result. Our consul would have to furnish me passage L - TTT nn n (Tolnof if tfl IIunit?. VV CI O JKJU Ujy uguiiiub ?v vw the extent of reversing your cuffs and turning your collars? You don't know what life Is, then." George gravely produoed two good cigars and offered one to his host. There was an absence of sound, broken presently by the cheerful crackle of matches; two billowing clouds of smoke floated outward and upward. Ryanne sighed. Here was a cigar one could not purchase In all the length and breadth of the Orient, a Pedro Murlas. In one of hlB doubt fully prosperous epochs he had smoked them dally. How long ago had that been? "Yonder is a rug, a prayer-rug," as holy to the Moslem as the idol's eye Is to the Hindu, as the Bible is to the Phriotlon TTnr Vm-nrirortn nf vpnra It: never saw the outside of the Sultan's palace. One day the late, the recently late, Abdul the Unspeakable Turk, gave It to the Pasha of Bagdad. Whenever this rug makes its appear ance in Holy Mecca, it is worshiped, and none but a Sultan or a Sultan's favorite may ?neel upon it Bagdad, the hundred mosques, the old capital' of Suleiman the Great, the dreary Tigris and the sluggish Euphrates, a muezzin from the turret calls to pray er, and all that; eh?" George leaned forward from his chair, a gentle terror In his heart. "The Yhiordes? By Jove! is that the Yhiordes?" Admiration kindled in Ryanne's eyes. To have hit the bull's-eye with so free and quick an aim was ample proof that Percival Algernon had not boasted when he said that he knew something about rugs. "You've guessed it." "How did you come by it?" George demanded excitedly. "Why do you ask that?" "Man, ten-thousand pounds could not purchase that rug, that bit of car pet. Collectors from every port have been after it in vain. And you mean to tell me that it lies there, wrapped in butcher's paper?" "Right-O!" Ryanne solemnly detached a cuff ahd rolled up his sleeve. The bare muscular arm was scarred by two long, ugly knife-wounds, scarcely healed. Next he drew up a' trousers leg, disclosing a battered shin. "And there's another on my shoulder-blade, the closest call I ever had. A man who takes his life in his hands, as I have done, merits some reward. Mr. Jones, I'll be frank with you. I am a kind of derelict. Since I was a boy, I have hated the humdrum of offices, of shops. I wanted to be my own man, f/X ?-r /-? AM/1 T _ A ~ tu auu lwuio aa x picaecu. xv uu chlB and live meant precarious ex plolts. This rug represents one of them. I am telling you the family secret; I am showing you the skele ton in the closet, confidentially. I stole that rug; and when I say that the seven labors of our old friend Hercules were simple diversions com pared, you'll recognize the difficulties I had to overcome. You know some thing of the Oriental mind. I hand led the job alone. I may not be out of the jungle yet." George listened entranced. He could readily construct the scenes through which this adventurer had gone; the watchful nights, the untiring patience, the thirst, the hunger, the heat. And yet, he could hardly believe. He was a trifle skeptical. Many a rogue h.-id moHo the mintfilro r>f nlnvinc fJ^nre^'n age against his experience. He had made some serious blunders in the early stages of the business, how ever; and everybody, to gain some thing in the end, must lose something at the start. "If that rug is the one I have in mind, you certainly have stolen it. And if it's a copy, I'll tell you quickly enojgh." "That's fair. And that's why," Ryanne declared, "I wanted you to look at it. To me, considering what I have gone through to get it, to me it is the genuine carpet. To your expert eye it may be only a fine copy. I know this much, that rare" rugs and paint ings have many copies, and that some one is being hooked, sold, bamboozled, sandbagged, every day in the week. If this is the real article, 'i want you to take it off my hands," the adventurer finished pleasantly. "There will be a hue and cry." "No doubt of it." "And the devil's own Job to get It ??1!B > MACGRATH !TS AND j*\ASK$ THE BOX ctcs. 1.0.KjETT>feR-. 36 ~ MERRILL COMPAMY out of Egypt." These were set phrases of the expert, preliminaries to bar gaining. "One might as well carry round a stolen elephant." "But a man who is aB familiar with the game as you are would have little difficulty. Your integrity is an estab lished fact, on both sides of the water. You could take it to New York as a copy, and no appraiser would know the difference. It's worth the attempt. I'd take it to New York myself, but you see, I am flat broke. Come; what do you or I care about a son-of-a-gun of a Turk?" drolly. vvnai uu you warn lur ii, oupyuo ing it's genuine?" George's throat was dry and his voice harsh. His con science roused herself, feebly, for if had been a long time since occasion [ had necessitated her presence. Ryanne narrowed his eyes, carefully balancing the possibilities. "Say, one thousand pounds. It is like giving it away. But when the devil drives, you know. It is beyond any set price; it is worth what any collector is willing to pay for it. I believe I know the kind of man you are, Mr. Jones, and that is why, when I learned you were in Cairo, I came directly to you. You would never sell this rug. No. You would become like a miser over his gold. You would keep it with your emeralds (I have heard about them, too)-; draw the curtains, lock the doors, whenever you looked at It. Eh? You would love it for its own sake, ana nui jiMjcauoe xl ib wuuu bu iuauj thousand pounds. You are sailing in a few days; that will help. The Pasha is in Constantinople, and it ftill be three or four weeks before he hears of the theft, qr the cost," with a certain grimness. "You haven't killed any one?" whis pered George. "I don't know; perhaps. Christian ity against paganism; the Occidental conscience permits It." Ryanne made a gesture to indicate that he would submit to whatever moral arraignment Mr. Jones deemed advisable to make. , But George made none. He rose hastily, sougiit ms Knixe ana, witnouj so much as by your leave, slashed the twine, flung aside the paper, and threw the rug across the counterpane. It was the Yhlordes. There was not the slightest doubt In his mind. He had heard it described, he had Been a photograph of it, he knew its history and, most vital of all, he owned a good copy of it. Against temptation that was robust and energetic and alluring (like the man who Insists upon your having a drink when you want it and ought not to have it), what chance had con science, grown innocuous in the long period of tbe young man's good be havior? Collectors are always honest before and after that moment arrives when they want something desperate ly; and George was no more saintly than his kind. And how deep Ryanne and his confederates had delved Into human nature, how well they could read and judge It, was made manifest In this moment of George's moral re lapse. Bagdad, the Jlnns, Sinbad, the Thou sand and One Nights, Alibaba and the "Good night." George passed down the corridor to the adjoining room. And now, bang! goes Pandora's box. CHAPTER IV. An Old Acquaintance. That faculty which decides on the lawlessness of our actions; so the noted etymologist described con science. It fell to another distin guished intellect to add that con science makes cowards of us all. Ay. She may be overcome at times, side tracked for any special desire that de mands a clear way; but she's after us, faBt enough, with that battered red lantern of hers, which, brought down from all tongues crisply into our own. reads?"Don't do it!" She herself is not wholly without cunning. She rare ly stands boldly upon the track to flag us as we come. She realizes that she might be permanently aucnea. i>o,- u Is far safer to run after ua and catch Forty Thieves; George was transport ed mentally to that magic city, stand ing between the Tigris and the Eu phrates, in all its white glory of a Since Confetti Came Into Use, the Saying Has Mere Meaning Than at Former Times. The sexton of a fashionable New York church was sweeping into a large mound the bright purple, red jtnd yellow discs of confetti which lit tered the church entrance and steps. "This month," he said, "I have had already 35 weddings in my church. And at every one of these weddings paper confetti was thrown at the bride instead of rice. "The confetti fashion is very wel as a CI come to us sextons. When rice was used our churches were overrun with mice. The saying, 'As poor as a church mouse,' was then meaningless. Why, in my church, where weddings are so popular, several hundreds of mice?fat chapa they were, too? found an ample food supply in the rice that was sprinkled over the brides. "Now that rice has been aban doned for paper confetti, these mice have all disappeared. They were starved out They couldn't live on paper." thousand years gone. Ryanne, the room and Its furnishings, all had van ished, all save the exquisite fabric pat terned out of wool and cotton and K-uoitea wim toai mingling luve a.uu skill and patience the world knowB no more. He let his hand stray over ij. How many knees had pressed Its thick yet pliant Bubstanoe? How many strange scenes had it mutely wit nessed, Bcenes of beauty, of terror? It shone under the light llkeithe hide of a healthy hound. The nerves of a smoker are general ly made apparent by the rapidity of his exhalations. These two, in the several mjinutes, had filled the room with a thick, blue haze; and through this the elder man eyed the younger. The sign of the wolf gleamed in his eyes, but without animosity, modified as it was by the half-friendly, half cynical smile. "I'll risk it," said George finally, having stepped off the magical carpet, as it were. "I can't give you a tho\v sand pounds tonight. I can give you i three hundred, and the balance tomor row, between ten and eleven, at Cook's.'' "That will be agreeable to me." George passed over all the available cash he had, rolled up the treasure and tucked It under his arm. That some where In the world was a true be liever, walling and beating his breast and calling down from Allah curses upon the giaour, the dog of an infidel, who had done this thing, disturbed George not in the least. "I sayr" as he opened the door, "you must tell me all about the adventure. It must have been a thriller.'1 "It was," replied Ryanne. "The story will keep. Later, If you care to hear it." 1 "Of course," added George, moved by a discretionary thought, "this trans action is Just between you and me." "You may lay odds on that," heart ily. "Well, good night See you at Cook's in the morning." us. A disgression, perhaps, but more pertinently an application, f' Temptation then no longer at his shoulder, George began to have It Was the qualms, little chaps, who started buz zing Into his moral ears with all that maddening, Interminable drone which makes one marvel however do school teachers survive their first terms. lurch Mouse I? Bending with difficult? to collect a few obstinate pieces of the bright pa per confetti that stuck to the floor, the old sexton added: "Of course, these bits of paper are much more awkward for me to sweep up than rice. But, even so, I hope the confetti fashion has come to stay." Public Schools. In antiquity the masses of the peo ple grew up in ignorance of things literary. Public education?the educa tion that exists for the masses of the people?began, practically, with John Calvin's rule in Geneva, from which time popular education had steadily gained ground. The free school sys tem had its beginning In Great Brit ain, about the year 1780, with Robert Raikes and his Sunday school move ment. It was not until 1860, however, that the free public schools began to get itself firmly rooted in the British Isles. In this country from the start the idea of universal education was championed by Jefferson and other leaders among us, and the idea has never ceased to be fundamental with us, as absolutely necessary to the ^ '1 [ Among these qualms there was none that pleaded for the desolate Turk or his minions whose carelessness had made the theft possible. For all George ! cared, the Moslem might grind his ! forehead In the soulless sand and ! make the air palpitate with his points to Allah. No. The disturbance was due to the fact that never before had he been wittingly the purchaser of stolen goods. He never tried to gloze over the subtle distinction between | knowing and suspecting; and if he had been variously auspicious in regard to certain past bargains, conscienoe had found no sizeable wedge for her de murrers. The Yhiordes was confessed ly stolen. He paused, with his hand upon the door-knob of his room. If he didn't keep the rug, it would fall into the hands of a collector less scrupulous. I To return it to the Pasha at Bagdad would be pure folly, and thankless. Jt I was one of the most beautiful weuv ' ings in existence. It was as priceless I in Its way as any Raphael In the Vati can. And he desired its possession In ! tensely. Why not? Insidious phrase! Was it not better that the world ' should see and learn what a wonderful craft the making of a rare rug had been, than to allow it to return to the sordid chamber of a harem, to inevit able ruin? As Ryanne said, what the deuce was a fanatical Turk or Arab to him? Against these specious arguments in favor of becoming the adventurer's abettor and accomplice, there was flrBt the possible stain of blood/ The man agreed that he had come away from Bagdad in doubt. George did not like the thought of blood. Still, he had collected a hundred emeralds, not one of which was without its red record. Again, if he carried the rug home with his other purchases, he could pull it through the customs only by lying, which was as distasteful to his mind as being a receiver of stolen goods. He had already paid a goodly stini against the purchase; and It was not likely that a man who was down to reversing bis collars and cuffs would a wm Yhlordea. take back the rug and refund the money. The Yhiordes was his, hap pen what might. So conscience snuffed out her red lantern and retired. (TO BE CONTINUED.) . prevention of the liberty on which the government Id founded. Odd Case of Friendship. At the present time a most unusual case of affection between a domiciled and a comparatively wild animal is to be witnessed at the little English ham let of Spoonley, near Market Drayton. On the farm of Mr. William Woodburn for a week or two past, a small rough, somewhat vicious terrier from the farmstead has been noticed gambolling in the fields with a large well-devel oped hare. Such an attachment is most uncommon. Happens Sometimes. "Get off and let's go to the bah game." "I got off the other day. Can't re peat so soon." "Then we'll go to the theater to night." "Can't oo that either. The office plays a double-header and we work to night." lnge:nious Alarm Clock. A French jeweler has brought out an electric alarm clock that will ring a bell or perform other services one or more times a day at a set hour every day or only on designated dayB r mum Gin WITH HEAVY LOSSES THE BUL GARIAN ARMY RETREATS IN DISORDER. ? I THE ARTILLERY IS SEIZED A Dispatch to the Sultan of Turkey Says That the Troops Are Advanc ing and That the Enemy Has Been Completely Vanquished. Constantinople?The Turkish Army has recaptured the town of Bunarhifl sar from the Bulgarians in the vicin ity of Visa according to dispatches re ceived here from Nazim Pasha, com mander-in-chief of the Turkish forces. Nazim's dispatches declare the Bul garian losses were heavy and that all m the Turkish army corps have now been S'? ordered to advance. , ' The dispatch announcing the recap- * ture of Bunarhissar was sent b7 Nazim Pasha. It said also that the Bulgai^an column had been cu^ off. A telegram from Nazim Pasha said: "Our right wing has been advanc ing from Visa. Mahamoud Mukhtar Pasha's army has vanquished the Bui garian forces and all of onr army corps have been ordered to advance.',' A communication sent by Nazim Pasha to the Sultan stated that the Bulgarian forces gradually were\being hemmed < in on . four sides. It especially commended the conduct of bis troops at Visa who were said to be fighting with splendid devotion and courage., A still, earlier oispatcn rrom me Turkish commander-in-chief said the Bulgarians had sustained heavy losses % in fighting at Bunarhissa* and that a< quantity of artillery pieces, rifles, am- - munition and other' equipment. had been captured by the Turks. > v'j - . Whatever the issue of the terrible '' battle now raging ou the .western slopes of the Istrandia Mountains in Thrace, it will be reckoned among the world's great struggles. ' ' District Attorney Whitman Warned. New York.?District Attorney Whit- > man was warned again ofan alleged plot against his life and was told that with the conclusion of the Becker trial the "lid" was being lifted gradually and that gamblers were resuming bus- . v , vl iness, The prosecutor declined to dis cuss the warning except to admit hei .. -.-J had received a letter and a telegram saying four Chicago "thugs" were due here hy train "to get him." Seaboard Train Wrecked, Petersburg, Va.?The northbound Seaboard Air Line passenger train No. 66, was derailed between tyarfleid and Kress, the express messenger, F. H, Pegram of Hamlet, N. C., ,was killed outright The injured, Wallace Ste phens, (cplored) fireman and T. A. , " Williams (white) an express messen ger, were brought to the Petersburg hospital. The other injured-was Engi neer M. W. Tighe of Raleigh, N. C., ' ' " . . Acapulo Destroyed By Fire. San Juan, Del Sur, Nic.?The sea , r ' i port of Acapulco on, the Pacific coasi of Mexico w 3 virtually destroyed by . ' a Bfivere hurricane, according" to wire | less dispatches received here. Four fifths of the town was shattered and the American consulate was unroofed. No lives were lost but a number of natives were injured. 1 : Passenger Train Uumps Track. . Lexington, Ky.?A special from Jenkins, Ky., says that many passen gers were shaken and several injured when a passenger train on the Sandy Valley and Elkhorn railroad jumped the track and rolled down an embank ment . 'i 'i'4 J Trains Collide?Passengers Hurt Kansas City, Mo.?Sixteen persons were injured, several of them serious ly, when an open switch caused two Kniinri At/?hfann Tnnelra nnri Rati te Fe passenger trains to collide In the railway yards here. Flags at Half Mast For Thirty Days. Washington. ? Postmaster General Hitchcock issued an order that all flags on postoffice buildings through out the United States be at half toast for thirty days beginning November 2. German Cruiser Reaches Vera Cruz. Washington, D. C.?A German cruis er has arrived at Vera Cruz, Mexico. The vessel has lately been patrolling West Indian waters and the state de partment attaches no special signifi cance to her visit at the Mexican port. Shortage in National Bank. wasningiou.? llie Biiuiittge ui lmc first national bank of Wiiburton, Okla., which closed its doors a few days ago, is estimated at $63,000 in a tele gram to Comptroller Murray, from National Bank Examiner Wilcox. Germany Denies Report. Berlin.?The German foreign office denies the report from Punta Arenas, Chile, that the cruiser Bremen is sur veying the Magelian straits with a view to the acquisition by Germany of a coaling station. k Madero Breaks With Leaders. Mexico City.?President Madero hasj broken with the leaders of the Prg gressive party, which placed him the presidency. A high official of. Government admitted that the fj dent had severed his relationsi the group of politicians whose^ is his own brother, Gustavo since he believed they had to a large extent with the gr^ old regime known as the^ The break is regarded asj most important political^ of Madero's admlnistraS