Arthur D Howden Smith

The Treasure of the Bucoleon Arthur D Howden Smith

The Treasure of the Bucoleon by Arthur D. Howden Smith

The messenger was looking at the card on the button by the entrance to the apartment when I went upstairs. "Chesby?" He said laconically, extending a pink envelope. "Live here," I replied. "I will sign it." The boy came down the stairs and I entered, never dreaming that I had the key of destiny in my hand, or rather, in the pink envelope. A samovar was bubbling in the study and my cousin Betty King called to me from the couch where she sat between her father and Hugh. "Here you are at last," he yelled. "Dad and I have come to say goodbye." "What happens?" I asked. "Can't you take Hugh anymore?" Hugh glared at me. "Always ragged," she commented. Betty laughed. "We are going to Constantinople to look for Greek manuscripts." "I have a theory," explained my uncle, Vernon King, "that the upheavals of war and the occupation of the city by Christian garrisons should produce great opportunities for bibliophiles like myself, as well as a greater opportunity for archaeological research." "Well, I wish you luck," I grumbled. "And I wish I wasn't tied to an architect's drawing board." "In fact, I'm sick of Wall Street," Hugh growled. "Nobody can make money anymore." "It's a lot of fun," Betty commented. "Both you and Jack announced when it was established after the war, Hugh, that nothing could ever uproot you again. All you wanted, you said, was good work and a lot of hard work." "I know," Hugh admitted. "I remember Nash, here, and Nikka Zaranko ..." "You mean the famous gypsy violinist?" interrupted my uncle, who, I must say, uses the millions he receives from his oil fields to sponsor the arts and sciences. -Yes sir. He was in the Foreign Legion during the war. We all come together in the last big push in Flanders. I went in with my battalion to help Jack's crowd and it was snowed with them. Then Nikka tried to escape both sets, and the result was that the Australians finally turned the trick. What a show! "Well the three of us became friends. What I was going to say was that the last time we met before demobilization we agreed that we never wanted to feel the threat of danger again. We wanted to become rich, prosperous, fat and satisfied. That is why I came to New York with Jack, instead of staying home and fighting with my uncle. "