Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/133

 slender body, lithe as a reed. Seven men closed in upon him, from as many directions.

Gargarin rushed across the dining room and vaulted the partition. Then the beggar moved, like a thin brown flash. Swiftly he crossed those shining spaces of sand and vanished into the yawning cavern of an alley. A naked man, the color of the night, like a night-bird he had disappeared. The chase vanished behind him, a silent chase of close-lipped men, darting as swallows dart into the black mouth of a chimney. They were gone. For one moment only Lykoff stood erect beside his table and watched those flying figures through the dark. Then he settled down quietly to his liqueur.

Old Reliable stood dazed: "Dar now! don't dat beat de Jews. Dat beggar nigger sho did arrive away from dis hotel in a mighty hurry."

There was no outcry, no confusion except the overturning of Gargarin's chair; which attracted no attention. Old Reliable chuckled to himself. "Huh! beggar swallowed dat pill; den lit out, same as a rabbit in a sedge fiel'. Dat must ha' been a runnin'  pill."

The British officers had gone inside the hotel. Colonel Spottiswoode strolled toward Zack, where he stood with mouth wide-open, "Well, Zack," the Colonel asked, "how do you like this town?"