Adventure Magazine Cover, December 18, 1919 — page 98: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

~ 23 — . ee & hot with the sun. In such places are = whirlwinds born, and in the moment’s - space that Mercedes was running along - the hill one came quickly into being; _ such a whirlwind as is only to be found - in the dry lands of the Southwest ; a wind and beyond it and little heat-devils kick- - ing up dust-clouds in its wake. ~The. dark wind-cloud lowered more and more. There was a great gap in its center through which a single ray of sunlight streamed, as light comes a through a hole in a blanket. lower fell the cloud; colder and colder came the wind. 3 Suddenly it began to gyrate, drawing up and into it all the light substances _ that were in its path—bits of stick and brush, clumps of tumbleweed and dry = grass—and still it turned and twisted, the - dark cloud above it, the smoking earth _ peneath that seemed united by that single _ twisting funnel of dust and wind and storm, and through it all came that & single ray of golden sunlight streaming == above. never heeded what was behind her. She ran and ran, but the whirling tornado _ behind her came yet faster. A few bits of stinging gravel warned her, and she flung a startled glance over her shoulder to see the threatening column of dust and storm about to break full upon her. She had just time to fling herself flat _ upon her face in the sand with a choking cry. It may have been that startled wind- borne cry that reached the cliff-face or it may have been pure luck, but something ; | 2 made the white figure straighten up. HE man came to the edge of the _ little cutting on the hill-face in which he stood and, seeing the dark swirling column below him, gave a loud whistle. Instantly two other figures above him on the rock-face clambered down to him and stood staring as he pointed. _ Slowly, very slowly, the storm passed down the valley, caught in its own eddy from the hillside, and swung*to the east along the range, eddying and bellying in ~~ the low -ground. The dust column 4 _ checked. and swirled as it veered to the like a tornado, with thé sun shining above Lower and - down from the rent in the black cloud Intent upon her discovery, Mercedes Adventure right. And- there, at the foot of the cliff, stretched out at full length, lay the figure of a woman, inert and motionless, her arms flung wide, her golden hair streaming across her face and on the red earth. The man above her gave a quick ex- clamation. quick jerk of his hand. —Instantly they clambered down the steep slope, one of them pausing long enough to pick up a water-bag, and went at a run to the place where Mercedes lay. The girl moved a little and the men stopped suddenly as if petrified. Very slowly she raised herself. Even more slowly her hands went to her head, gathering up the masses of her sun-. burned golden hair that flowed to her waist. Then her eyes met the eyes of the man, and she drew herself up to her full height in time to see him throw himself face down upon the sand, his hands out- His companions noted the stretched and twitching, his whole body © quivering in an ecstasy of fear. “Ari-zuna!’”” he called quaveringly, “Ari-zuna!” Ari-zuna was the sun goddess of the elder peoples. Vil ONDERINGLY. Mercedes gazed at them for a little space. Then, seeing the water-bag, she picked it up and drank a little. She had enough self- restraint to keep from drinking deeply at first. When she lowered the bag, the men were staring at her. The leader raised himself to his knees very cautiously and worked his way for- ward, inch by inch, till he was close enough to the girl to touch her gown. ae seized its hem and raised it to his ips. “Ari-zuna,” he said again, pointing to the sky, from which the single pencil of golden sunlight still streamed upon her. She nodded comprehendingly and made the sign of the cross. The men sprang to their feet with ex- clamations of pleasure, repeating the sign and adding to it others of their own. ‘Puzzled and perplexed she watched them, till one of them, taking a little stick, drew a cross in the dust, and added : CONNIE OOOL<S (E@