Adventure Magazine Cover — page 155: what you’re looking at

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

The Temple of ‘the Ten The scheme of this infernal Esrun was plain to him now. Esrun had sent out the tribe under five novices, directing them by telepathy to destroy Kilgore’s caravan, yet not knowing that Kilgore had left that cara- van. The other five novices, no doubt, were bringing the virgin tribute from Urga. And Sheng Wu had been destroyed! In his agitation, Severn touched the cur- tain before him. It waved. From one of the Ten broke a cry—and the cry was lost in the crack of Kilgore’s pistol. What came afterward was a mad frenzy of destruction. The priests were armed— and were armed with automatic pistols. They dashed down the candles and scat- tered. The chamber had other doors. Kilgore’s little flashlight was of small avail. Severn yielded to the lust of the man- hunt—running after fleeing figures, shoot- ing, pursuing blindly with sobbing breath and emptied pistol. Dark passages, shots stabbing the obscurity, the stifling stink of smoldering candle-wicks, the tumultuous shouts and screams of fighting men—every- thing was pandemonium, sheer madness! Of what he did or where he went Severn could afterward remember little. He emerged into the open night, stagger- ing, gasping for breath, and found himself standing in the temple courtyard. The stone building behind was reverberating to shots, shouts, poundings. There welled up the same wild Sikh battle-yell that sounded when the foundations of Mogul mosques were washed in the bloed of swine by the hillmen. “Wah, Guru!” With swish of torn silk, a figure leaped out past Severn, darted across the open sand. Behind it, in the darkness of some doorway, clanged the echoing breath of a rifle; the figure spun about, tottered, went down. ° . “Wah, Gurul’’ The risaldar came forth, joined “Severn and. laughed wildly. “Ha, sehkib! There was the ‘last of the rats—we have hunted them down well, eh? By the brood of the Lion, this was good work! The women are under guard, unhurt; they were all old cat- tle, those women. And only two of our men wounded!” Severn felt suddenly sickened with himself. - “T)o not rejoice too soon,” he returned harshly. “Sheng Wuand the caravan have been destroyed.” 10 145 The risaldar uttered one astonished ejac- ulation, then fell silent. CHAPTER V “‘UNG-KHAN, THAT IS TO SAY,-PRESTER JOHN.” —M. Polo WENTY minutes after the last shot was fired, Sir Fandi Singh and five men came riding in at top speed, to find the temple already taken. The ten priests had fallen to the last man; stripped of their jeweled insignia, they were consigned to a burial party at once, and a swift search of the temple was made. The half-dozen Mongolian -hags who did the work of the place were confined closely in one of the rear chambers, for they could not be trusted. Except for these the tem- ple was empty. Traces of other inhabitants were found— gorgeous clothes and Jewels of women, for example; one of the hags confessed that ° these women had been taken to the lake of singing fish the previous night. What this meant was clear enough. Many rifles of Russian and German make were found, with ammunition; and the store-reom was filled with luxurious supplies of all descri tions. The main hall of the temple, the place of worship of the tribe, was gaudy with Buddhistic images, many of them the fine jeweled brasswork of Tibet. ‘“‘Where’s Severn?” asked Kilgore sud- denly, missing the scientist. “Down below,” said Day. wanted to see the dromedaries. nothing else to see in that place.” “Very well—post sentries and jein us there, immediately.”’ With Fandi Singh, Kilgore went to the lower chamber in which they had surprized the ten priests. Both men were calm enough. They had no doubt that what Severn had told them was correct—that the caravan had been destroyed by. the Darkan tribe. They knew that the tele- pathic powers of the priests were remarkable, and it was true that only five novices had been with the caravan ambushed by Sir Fandi. They found Severn- standing over that singular stone table about which the ten priests had been assembled. He had lighted “Said he There’s - more candles, and the chamber was dimly illuminated. It seemed some ancient place Eomichoo (Q) ON S) (E@