Page:Weird Tales volume 32 number 05.djvu/16

526 mist had risen to dim all promises made in the past. All I know, all that perhaps I shall ever know, was that presently I found myself mumbling affirmations and agreeing to things of which I knew nothing, as I held the heavy ring she had handed me.

"I must hasten," she was saying presently. "Time passes and there is much to be done ere the dawning. It is agreed, then, that nine days hence you will board the Drockland for Tangier, from which port you can secure passage for Dakar. That ring"—and she nodded to the strange band I held—"will be your only credentials. Guard it well, therefore, and wear it on your arrival, as there will be one watching for it, one who will make himself known, and fly you inland to where I and a score of picked fighting-men will be waiting. Do you follow me?"

"Yes," I answered slowly. "Yes, I think I understand."

"I will not attempt to deceive you, Mr. O'Hara. From this moment on you are a marked man. It is a powerful enemy we oppose, one who will stop at nothing to reach that tomb before us. As his hirelings have found me, so they will also seek you out. A thousand dangers lie between you and Dakar, but you must not fail me. Once inland we will be in my own territory, and can resort to methods that may surprise even the wily Wolf himself."

A thick roll of currency had been tossed on the table. Now, at her last words, she turned as though the interview was over.

"But—but wait!" I called. "Your visit—it is all so strange. In the morning I shall believe I dreamed it."

"The ring should prove the contrary."

"Then—well, just one more question," I insisted, hardly knowing what to say. "You have said if a treasure is found I may keep it. Why should you go through all this expense and hardship for nothing? You certainly show a remarkable interest in a Queen dead two thousand years."

The bejeweled beauty had hurried to the door, and now stood in the open frame watching me as one might the awkward actions of a child. Far below us came the rumble of the great city and flashing of its countless lights. At my last words, however, for the first time that night a faint smile lit those wondrous features.

"A remarkable interest in Cleopatra? Well, perhaps, yes. You see, Mr. O'Hara—that is I—er"

The Midnight Lady paused in uncertainty. For an instant two dark eyes looked strangely at me. Then the door was swiftly shut, but before it had been fully closed I made out those three whispered words:

"I knew her!"

late the following afternoon when I met the second of the three strange humans who were destined to play such outstanding roles in my life.

Though I had been warned of Manuel De Costa, I knew that even without that warning I would have felt the sudden dislike for the polished stranger entering the room; a tall, smirking human, whose swarthy features seemed devoid of any redeeming quality. One felt, even at that first glimpse of him, that here was one who was bad to the marrow, his smile a sneer, his laugh a mockery.

"A little late, Señor, a few short hours, perhaps?" The parted lips flashed a row of white teeth. "Ah, well,