The Flying Legion

inking the coffee, pondering in deep silence. When the simple meal was ended, he plucked

n to only a few Coast Arabs. The plant now in the bowl was part of a shipment that had been more than three months on the way; yet st

g tours in Yemen. He could hardly remember just when and where he had first come to know the extraordinary mental and physical stimulus of this strange plant, dear to all Arabs, any more than he definitely recalled having learned the complex, poetical language of that Or

wandering up and down the world, khat, the wondrous, had always gone with him. The fortune he h

d his only vice-if you can call a habit such as this vice, that works great well-being an

rd-looking windows. The light was almost wholly gone, now. The man's figure, big-shouldered, compact, well-knit, appeared on

eeping out-were spying down at all this feverish mystery of human life. Some of the low-hung stars seemed

here! It's there, and I've got to have it. There-a thin

orth-west, crept a tiny, red gleam. The Master look

et aero-tower. And beyond Paris lies Constantinople; and beyond that, Arabia-the East! Men are going out that way, tonigh

a button at the base of it, waited a moment and as the question came, "Number, please?" spoke the desired number into t

thing's not going to g

stoppi

atural and audible as the living human tones, by means of a delica

called he. "That

know who you are. There's only one voice

pris

? For the L

even an adventure as exciting as that has happened to me. But cons

servatory thing of y

ann

I want t

he

yours. You can get to Niss'rosh even though it's after seven. Take the regular elevator to

ver passes, at night, are opened to you. It's very important. Be he

n again and rang off. He put the faun's head back o

notes in his voice. "What if-w

es slid across every window. As these draperies closed the apertures, light gushed from every angle and cornice. No specific source of illumination

e Croix de Guerre, with a palm, gleamed up at him. Another disclosed an "M.M.," a Médaille Militaire. A third showed him the "D.F.C.," or Distinguished

mused, "dead ina

wide, disclosing an ample closet, likewise inundated with light. There hung a war-worn aviator's uniform of leather, gauntlet

his face. Caressingly he touched the uniform, the helmet. He unhoo

e fell as he remained there studying the automatic-silence save for the faint, fa

e collar masked it. Gray hairs, beyond those of his age, sprinkled his temples. Strangely he smiled as he observed the nicks and deep excoriations

. "We thought it was all over, didn't we, for a while? But it's not! Life's not

ve him instructions about the guest soon to arrive. When Rrisa had withdrawn, the Master pulled

order to advance, the door swung. The Arab ushered in a guest

advancing with o

d, but I'm gl

chair. Bohannan threw his hat on the table with a large, sweeping gesture typical of h

t geniality pervaded him. His hands were strong and energetic, with oddly spatulate fingers; and the manner in which his nails had been gnawed down and his mustache likewise chewed, bespo

and blew a thin gray cloud toward the ceiling. "Something big, eh? by the way you routed me out of a poker-game where I was alre

e is,

ig

er

ction, all right. Hope to heaven it is! I've been boring myself and e

nge eyes on his companion. His muscular fingers fell to tapping th

s sake, man!

self-restraint. "Listen to me, and not a word till I'm done! You're dryrotting for life, man. Dying for it, gasping for it, ea

om

rough trench work, air work, life-and-death work on various fronts. Men of independent means. Men to whom office work and club life a

, his brow wrinkling with glad astonis

little Foreign Legion of our own, Bohannan-all battle-scarred men, all men with at least

e all done the conventional thing, long enough. Now we're going to do the unconventional thing. We've been all

er enthusiasm. He laid his hand on the othe

commanded. "What

or thirty more of our kind. The stuff, the backbone, the

ed, unheeded, in his fingers. The soul of him was thril

dly, as he answered

adise-o