Page:The Black Cat November 1916.djvu/55

Rh "You are no doubt surprised to see me here," he said, "but, you see, I met that young lady after the theatre the night you gave me the ticket and she has been a great help to me ever since."

"Have you found the camel bone?" I asked.

He told me that he had not and, to be perfectly frank, had not even been to the museum.

"In spite of your description, I got the wrong car and instead of going to the museum I landed in Fourteenth Street."

He was about to tell me what he had done in Fourteenth Street, when his female friend came over to the table.

"Say, Jennings," she queried, "are you trying to ditch me?"

He informed her, tenderly, that he had no such intentions.

It then developed that my cousin's blonde and Jennings's bony beauty were friends. They kissed and embraced and the two joined our party.

I took French leave and went home.

The next day Cousin Edward called me up on the 'phone and informed me that Jennings was an awfully good scout and although he had been very drunk he had told him all about the Modsahabat and the camel bone. For two days I heard nothing from Cousin Edward and I forgot about him and Jennings.

The third day, without knocking, Cousin Edward came in, sat in my most comfortable chair, lighted one of my cigars, and began to whistle.

"Did you ever see a real Salome dance?" he suddenly asked me.

I told him that I had not and was informed that I had missed the chance of a lifetime.

He then gave me a description of a little trip he and Jennings from Kalamazoo had taken into the tenderloin the previous evening after a good dinner with much wine, and how they had dropped into a place which advertised real Arabian dancers.

"It was not a very inviting place," he said, "and the drinks were awful. I didn't feel like going, but Jennings thinks there isn't a better chance to study life than in these places.

"It was too early for the crowds and two of the Arabian girls were sitting around in the half empty place. They joined us and started a conversation. One of them did not look very genuine and was quite old, but the other was great! Young, classy, with big black eyes, very black hair and teeth like ivory.

"The girls soon became familiar, the older first. Finally, the younger of the two proposed to give a special performance for twenty dollars; and she danced the real Salome dance. It isn't necessary to describe it, but it was the real thing, all right. And with the drinks, and the dance, and the heat, Jennings became very lively.

"He took a great fancy to the younger girl and she told him that her name was Zuleika and that twice as a child she had been in Mecca with her father, a respected Bedouin sheik of oldest desert nobility, and that she had in her personal possession one of those rare camel bones on which the Modsahabat is written.

"She did not brag about it. Jennings, clever as he is, just wormed it out of her by numerous questions.