FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149  
150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   >>   >|  
Make thee an ark of gopher wood,'" quoted the stranger. "'Rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.'" "Bitumen, eh?" exclaimed the slim young man. "Where did you get it?" "Do you ask, you who drill oil at Meidan-i-Naft?" "As it happens, I don't!" smiled the slim young man. "At any rate," continued the stranger, after a scarcely perceptible pause, "let me welcome you on board the Ark." And when the unseen jinni had made it possible for the slim young man to set foot on the deck of the barge, the stranger added, with a bow: "Magin is my name--from Brazil." If the slim young man did not stare again, he at least had time to make out that the oddity of his host's light eyes lay not so much in the fact of their failing to be distinctly brown, gray, or green, as that they had a translucent look. Then he responded briefly, holding out his hand: "Matthews. But isn't this a long way from Rio de Janeiro?" "Well," returned the other, "it's not so near London! But come in and have something, won't you?" And he held aside the reed portiere that screened the door of the deck-house. "My word! You do know how to do yourself!" exclaimed Matthews. His eye took in the Kerman embroidery on the table in the centre of the small saloon, the gazelle skins and silky Shiraz rugs covering the two divans at the sides, the fine Sumak carpet on the floor, and the lion pelt in front of an inner door. "By Jove!" he exclaimed again. "That's a beauty!" "Ha!" laughed the Brazilian. "The Englishman spies his lion first!" "Where did you find him?" asked Matthews, going behind the table for a better look. "They're getting few and far between around here, they say." "Oh, they still turn up," answered the Brazilian, it seemed to Matthews not too definitely. Before he could pursue the question farther, Magin clapped his hands. Instantly there appeared at the outer door a barefooted Lur, whose extraordinary cap looked to Matthews even taller and more pontifical than those of his fellow-countrymen at the oars. The Lur, his hands crossed on his girdle, received a rapid order and vanished as silently as he came. "I wish I knew the lingo like that!" commented Matthews. Magin waved a deprecatory hand. "One picks it up soon enough. Besides, what's the use--with a man like yours? Who is he, by the way? He doesn't look English." "Who? Gaston? He isn't. He's French. And he doesn't know too m
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149  
150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Matthews
 

exclaimed

 

stranger

 

Brazilian

 

carpet

 
Shiraz
 
covering
 

divans

 
beauty
 

laughed


Englishman

 

commented

 
silently
 

received

 
girdle
 

vanished

 
deprecatory
 
English
 

Gaston

 

French


Besides

 

crossed

 

clapped

 

farther

 

Instantly

 

appeared

 

question

 

pursue

 

answered

 

Before


barefooted

 
pontifical
 

fellow

 

countrymen

 

taller

 
extraordinary
 

looked

 
unseen
 

scarcely

 
perceptible

Brazil
 

continued

 
Bitumen
 
gopher
 

quoted

 

smiled

 
Meidan
 

oddity

 
portiere
 

screened