Achmed Abdullah

“ Meanwhile, in the outer courtyard, the Russian, Tartar and Manchu troopers and officers were assembling as a giant Circassian captain brought the army-whistle to his lips strapping on carbines and revolvers, others bringing out the horses, with a babel of cries in purring Slav and harsh Mongol. ”

“ On the other hand, by using the decidedly more worldly ‘Tathagata’ appellation of the same Lord Buddha, he endeavored to show that although in the shadow of death, he was still sufficiently interested in materialistic affairs to appeal to the living, not to all living things, but only to those who were ‘far-seeing, all-seeing,’ and by this he meant those who would see far enough to understand the thing which was all-important to him. ”

“ This, too, is couched in mystic, esoteric language of Chinese theology, so that it may only be deciphered by the initiated. It means that the writer is not afraid of death or of what the future may bring—‘consolation,’ don’t you see? While, ‘How marvelous Thy Understanding’ refers again to the Buddha as well as being another reference to the living, those among the living to whom he is making this appeal, in the shadow of death—of murder, as he knew it would be, as it did turn out to be. ”

“ She noted the bright crimson of their tunics and the blackness of their turbans, saw more men run up, carbines in hand, swing themselves rapidly into high-peaked saddles and gallop away in different directions. ”

“ And the last sentence contains the final appeal——”
“To the Buddha?”
“No, Miss Campbell; to one among the living—to you!”
“How do you know?” cried the girl.
“By one word in that last sentence: ‘Mara.’ It is the name of one of the feminine deities in the Buddhist heaven, comparable to Fate. But it is also——” He smiled. “Miss Campbell,” he went on, “doesn’t ‘Mara’ remind you of something?”
“Why——” She considered; then suddenly. “You don’t mean, by any chance, my own name—Marie?”
“Exactly! Marie—that’s what your father called you. But your mother’s name was Mara, and ‘Mara’ she called you. ”

“ He slipped the brace of pistols into his belt.
“Why the murderous preparations?” asked Marie Campbell.
“Events are developing rapidly, gravely. A moment ago, when Feofar Khan came in, he told me that the Chuen to yan and Judge Winchester have found out about how you fooled them. Listen!” He pointed through the window whence, suddenly, the artillery practice having ceased, there brushed in a great flourish of hoarse-throated trumpets—those three-yard-long, thin-snouted, straight-stemmed Chinese war-trumpets. ”

“ These troopers are being sent out to search the town for you, high and low. They will do their utmost. They must have the vase—and you. To-day, if possible. And there is little they will stop at. They may actually invade the foreign quarter, the Shameen, and then”—he shrugged his shoulders—“there will be trouble. That’s what Feofar Khan told me a while back. The Chuen to yan sent me orders to join them with a troop of horse.” ”

“ She laughed. “All for all—and each one for himself! And Mr. d’Acosta got there first. He chose his moment well. He knew that I owed a large hotel bill——”
“Oh, yes.” Kokoshkine smiled. “He is a shrewd Levantine—-a clever financier.” ”

“ And as to your being able to decipher the message, well, a dying man will clutch at a straw. Your uncle, the last few months of his life, was surrounded by enemies. He did not dare write. He did not dare express his final message in words which his enemies might understand. But everybody in China knew that he was one of the world’s leading authorities on Buddhistic legends and frequently made translations of them for English papers. ”

“ And one of my maxims is that, even if you are the most devout Christian in the world, you cannot attempt to save your life by reciting the New Testament to the tiger who is about to pounce on you—nor that you can keep faith with the jackal, who could not keep faith with you. Never mind—I’ll explain it to you some other time”—he kissed her hand—“when we shall be even greater friends than we are to-day.”
A Cossack, orderly entered, received an order in purring Russian and withdrew. Pavel Kokoshkine turned to the girl.
“About the vase?” he asked. “It is in the hotel safe, you said?” ”