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She uttered a shaky little laugh. She would tell Cutty. The real drums of jeopardy weren't emeralds but the roll of warning that prescience taps upon the spine, the occult sense of impending danger. That was why the Elevated went tumpitum-tump! tumpitum-tump! She would tell Cutty. The drums of fear.
As she broke an egg against the rim of the pan the nearby Elevated train rushed by, drumming tumpitum-tump! tumpitum-tump! She laughed, but it wasn't honest laughter. She laughed because she was conscious that she was afraid of something. Impulse drove her to the window.
This time she fell asleep. Her disordered thoughts rearranged themselves in a dazzling dream. She found herself wandering through a glorious translucent green cavern a huge emerald. And in the distance she heard that unmistakable tumpitum-tump! tumpitum-tump! It drew her irresistibly. She fought and struggled against the fascinating sound, but it continued to draw her on.
The chauffeur obeyed, but he stopped again directly behind Karlov's taxicab. He slid off his seat and opened the door. His face was grim. Tumpitum-tump! Tumpitum-tump! She did not hear the tocsin this time; she felt it on her spine the drums of fear. If they touched her! "Come with me, miss. If you are sensible you will not be harmed. If you cut up a racket I'll have to carry you."
The pouch was open, the stones about to trickle out. I dared not leave them in the apartment or tell anybody until you came home. So I carried them with me to the office. The drums, Cutty! The drums! Tumpitum-tump! Look!" She poured the stones upon the white linen tablecloth. A thousand fires! "The wonderful things!" she gasped. "Oh, the wonderful things! I don't blame you, Cutty.
But there was nothing singular in this fact. Johnny Two-Hawks would have sense enough to realize that it would be safer to move about in the dark. It was even probable that he was lying down. Tumpitum-tump! Tumpitum-tump! went the racing Elevated; and Kitty's heart raced along with it.
The Subway car wheels began to beat tumpitum-tump! tumpitum-tump! Fudge! She opened her evening paper and scanned the fashions, the dramatic news, and the comics. Being a woman she read the world news last. On the front page she saw a queer story, dated at Albany: Mysterious guests at a hotel; how they had fought and fled in the early morning.
And I'm going on being alive, forever and ever! Oh, those awful drums! They look like dead eyes in those dim corners. Tumpitum-tump! Tumpitum-tump!" she cried, linking her arm in his. "What a gorgeous view! Just what I'm going to do when my ship comes in live in a loft. I really believe I could write up here I mean worth-while things I could enjoy writing and sell."
Johnny Two-Hawks probably did it." "Bully for Two-Hawks! Kitty, you're a marvel. Not a flivver from the start. And those slate-blue eyes of yours don't miss many things." "Listen!" she interrupted, taking hold of his sleeve. "Hear it?" "Only the Elevated." "Tumpitum-tump! Tumpitum-tump! Cutty, you hypnotized me this afternoon with your horrid drums." "The emeralds?"
I have heard them calling a jehad in the Sudan. Tumpi-tum-tump! tumpitum-tump! Makes a white man's hair stand up when he hears it in the night. I don't know what it is, but the sound drives the Oriental mad. And that reminds me I've had them in mind all day the drums of jeopardy!" "What an odd phrase! And what are the drums of jeopardy?" asked Kitty, leaning on her arms.
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