Page:Weird Tales Volume 7 Number 6 (1926-06).djvu/143

from their worshiping position, their eyes blinking, their feces grave and mystical. Silently they slid away from the crowd, below to the cabin deck. Close behind them pushed John Powell and after him Captain Brand and Mr. Hubbard. The Chinese turned into a stateroom on the main deck; the lock clicked shut.

Powell shook the door. "Open up, there!" he called. "The captain wants to see you. Open!"

There was no sound from behind the locked door. "Hurry!" pleaded Mr. Hubbard to the captain. "Don't give them time to hurt June if she's in there!"

Without more parley John Powell crashed his weight against the door. It splintered before the impact and he fell into the room. Instantly three Orientals were upon him; three more threw themselves on Captain Brand and Mr. Hubbard. But it wasn't a long fight. The three Americans had seen a white figure on the altarlike bed, the beautifully garbed, silent form of June Hubbard. They were fighting for a definite object now.

Blows, guttural exclamations, then the flashing of knives, the smack of fists and finally the bark of the captain's revolver,—all in a few seconds. Then a moment of silence, broken only by rapid breathing and smothered cries of pain.

On the bed, totally oblivious to the strange fight which had occurred, June Hubbard breathed almost imperceptibly. John Powell was the first to reach her side. The beauty of her, as she lay marble-white in her robe of cloth-of-gold upon silks of red and green, almost frightened him. She seemed a goddess of rare beauty, a queen of mankind. The long lashes of her eyes showed black against her white face; her hair was held back from her broad forehead by a string of many-colored jewels. A rope of pearls hung from her neck and were passed around her hands, which lay crossed on her breast. Her lips, contrasting vividly with her pallor, were opened in a slight, fixed smile. One foot, white and slender, was extended from the coverings. Lighted tapers surrounded it, revealing on the instep the odd, tooth-shaped mark.

All this John Powell saw in a moment. Then Mr. Hubbard was at his side, seizing June's hands, caressing her face with his fingertips. The more practical captain was already issuing orders. "Powell, take my gun and keep those three Chinese in the corner covered. Those on the floor won't bother anyone again for a while. They're badly hurt. I'll get the ship's surgeon and an officer with irons. Watch those birds, and if they move, shoot!"

The ship's doctor examined June while a deck officer and Captain Brand took charge of the Chinese. The examination was brief. It ended when the doctor forced open June's mouth and took from it a white, glutinous substance. "Hashish," he said, "or bhang. Something of that nature which made her happily unconscious. Lucky thing, too. She'll not remember the horror of what she's been through. . . No, she's uninjured as far as I can tell. . . She'll be conscious shortly. We'd better get her into another room, out of this incense cloud, and put her in civilized clothes. . . Mr. Hubbard, I'll send a stewardess. Mr. Powell and I will go up and have a bracer and he can tell me the story. I guess from the attitude of the Chinese that they have found a new goddess! . . . Come, Mr. Powell, we'll go. I've heard many strange things on this steamship, but this———"

John Powell turned to go. Then irresistibly his eyes were drawn to the white figure on the bed. His eyes caressed the girl's beauty; he felt a strong desire to take the slender foot in his hands, raise it to his lips and