Petersburg High School - Missile Yearbook (Petersburg, VA)

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gleam of the green gem. He cast them about the room and for the first time was aware that only the guard and he were in the room. Ostensibly pleased, he approached the guard as if to speak to him. The guard halted, ready to answer any question that the man might hap- pen to ask him. Ah, sighed the visitor, beautiful-just like a gargantuan ca.t's eye,-oh, I say, I should like to take a few notes. He reached into his pocket and extracted a small black notebook. As he did so the guard tightened his hold on his riiie, but seeing only a writ- ing pad, he momentarily relaxed his vigilance. . And my pen, said the man in white, taking one slowly from his coat pocket. Holding it in his hand so that the end of the pen pointed toward the guard, he made a deft movement with his fingers on the lip of the pen. From the end of the pen shot a spray of nitric acid, hitting the guard full in the face. The surprised guard, dropping his gun from his grasp, stiifled his own cries by attempting to relieve the agonizing pain by in- stinctively throwing his hands over his face and mouth. The stranger, drawing back his fist, swung forward with all his weight, knocking the already half-insensible guard to the fioor, letting him lie there, the nitric acid slowly disfiguring his features. Now en- tirely unconscious from the last assault of his assailant, the guard was forgotten as the invader sprang nimbly toward the idol. Experienced hands, whose controlling body stood on the folded arms of the idol, dex- terously removed the verdant gem from its setting. Putting the stolen treasure into his pocket he leaped from the arms to the crossed legs and then to the fioor, and from there he sped to the door and stopped. Immediately resuming his pace, he walked out into the front yard of the temple, going even more slowly than before he had entered it. The stranger retraced his steps down the labyrinthian street, disap- pearing somewhere into the maze of squalid houses. Behind him- thousands of miles behind him-he left an idol, a bleak, bare, sombre idol whose only attraction was a forehead in which was a hole, that, the natives say, once held an oriental emerald, whose value was worth a king's ransom. II. NEW Yom: - isss Among the numerous gambling-dens and saloons in the Bowery, one particularly was noted for being a little better class than the average. Possibly it was because it was a well-concealed concern, possibly because smaller odds were required on the roulette wheels. This place was known throughout the underworld as the Dead Sol- THE MISSILE Page seventeen

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tourist would have been completely justified in thinking that he was going to the Temple of N aida, as he was walking toward it, and the temple was the only attraction to sightseers in that direction. The Temple of Naida was constructed directly at the termination of the cobbled street. At least it would seem so, but the street was the re- sult of the templeg for centuries the natives had gone to this obscure temple from miles around to worship the huge idol that it sheltered. Gradually they had settled along the sides of this path until a small com- munity had been established. They named this community Jaipur. The man's quick and deliberate steps gave evidence of the fact that he was well aware of what he wanted to do. After the lapse of a very few minutes he stood on the steps of the great temple, whose whole structure shimmered in the terrific heat. The man stood there for a moment mopping his brow, from which exuded moisture which flowed freely. The huge temple blended harmoniously with the similar buildings which en- closed either side of the narrow street. He stopped short in his mental appraisal of his surroundings as if he were in a hurry, then found him- self, after taking several steps, within the great hall of the Temple of Naida, the temple which housed the protecting god of the Jaipur ascetics. In the center of the great hall the immense idol immediately arrested his attention. It was the only inanimate object in the hall. A ponderous bronze masterpiece of Indian craftsmanship, approximately twenty feet high and seemingly nearly as wide, entirely dominated the room by the grotesque features of its physiognomy. The idol sat upright on its haunches, its legs crossed Turkish fashion. The misshapen arms were folded across its massive chest in grim defiance of all who entered. About two inches below a mass of serpentine curls there was set the object of all that the tourist population of Jaipur came to see. Emitting an incredible, greenish radiancy, imbedded in the bronze forehead was an oriental emer- ald. Its beauty and size alone were enough to attract the attention of even a novice in the knowledge of rare gems. The man stood motionless within a few feet of the entrance, awed. It was not the beauty or size that held his gaze thus, but an estimate of the mercenary advantages a stone that size could afford fiashed through his mind. Before the seated idol paced a native guard, on whose shoulder there rested an unusually modern rifle for such an obscure locality. The highly polished metal barrel reflected the rays of the sun that shone through the many holes in the ceiling, on whose shafts of light the dust particles slowly floated up and down. With apparent effort the man drew his eyes away from the hypnotic Pasesirteen THE MISSILE

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dier. It was owned by Juan Cortez, a Mexican half-breed who had .been a profiteer during the War Between the States- and had opened a small speakeasy on the waterfront. Now he was reputed to be the ringleader of several dope smuggling rings, ownereof various breweries and the great- est fence for stolen jewelry of anyone outside of Paris. It was to the Dead Soldier that Tony Sparta ordered a carriage. It was also to see Juan Cortez, as Tony knew that soon he would be a wealth- ier man than he was at the present. The carriage stopped before an apparently deserted alley, but never- theless the occupant of the carriage got out, paid the driver, turned, and walked into the gloomy darkness that enveloped the alley. After having walked about thirty paces he halted in front of a closed door and rapped several times. A small panel in the door snapped open, and, upon giving his name, Tony was instantly admitted. Striding through the vestibule he utterly ignored the hat check girl, and going into the ball-room he elbowed his way among the dancing couples to the farther side of the building. He again knocked on another door and was admitted as quickly as upon his entrance into the building. He entered the smoke-permeated room. Gathered around a desk perfectly bare but for a pair of iron book- ends were four big followers of Juan's laughing and talking. Juan was seated in the center of them, his features as set as if the skin on his face were made of marble. They say Juan had never smiled or registered any emotion on his face. As the gunmen became aware of Tony's presence they ceased to grin and hawhaw. Juan, said Tony, how about seeing you for awhile? O. K., answered Juan. Run along boysg I got business. The four henchmen filed out of the room into the dance hall. Following them out with his eyes, Tony waited until the door closed behind them before he addressed Juan. Juan, said Tony, I got something to sell you. O. K., drawled Juan. Flash it. Drawing from his hip pocket a cigar case, Tony opened it before Juan and removed a pack of ten cigars, held together by one band. Tony re- moved the band and holding the cigars in his hand over Juan's desk, he broke all ten cigars in half. From the middle of them there fell on the table an emerald that was nearly the size of a hen egg. Juan's eyes, in spite of years of beholding millions of dollars' worth of diamonds and other precious stones, blinked in response to the stabs of green light that the emerald reflected in them. Page eighteen THE MISSILE