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Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips), 1866-1946

"The Black Box"

She turned suddenly to the Professor and spoke to him in her own
language. She pointed to the signs upon the tent, drew her finger along
one of the sentences, flashed a fierce glance at them all and disappeared.
"Seems to me we are not exactly popular with the young lady," Quest
remarked. "What was she saying, Professor?"
"She suspects us," the Professor said slowly, "of wishing to bring evil to
Craig. She pointed to a sentence upon the tent. Roughly it means
'Gratitude is the debt of hospitality.' I am very much afraid that the
young lady must have been listening to our conversation a while ago."
Lenora shivered.
"To think of any girl," she murmured, "caring for a fiend like Craig!"
Before they knew it she was there again, her eyes on fire, her tone
shaking.
"You call him evil, he who saved your lives, who saved you from the swords
of my soldiers!" she cried. "I wish that you had all died before you came
here. I hope that you yet may die!"
She passed away into the night. The Professor looked anxiously after her.
"It is a humiliating reflection," he said, "but we are most certainly in
Craig's power. Until we have been able to evolve some scheme for
liberating ourselves and taking him with us, if possible, I think that we
had better avoid any reference to him as much as possible. That young
woman is quite capable of stirring up the whole tribe against us. The
whole onus of hospitality would pass if they suspected we meant evil to
Craig, and they have an ugly way of dealing with their enemies.


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