Adventure Magazine Cover, August 18, 1921 — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

40 “Pray God it be not more than you can bear!’ he answered. His voice shook. Though Margaret’s face was white, she was the more composed. “But for Geoffrey,’ her father went on, “T would have gone down in red ruin rather than consent. You and I, my child, are too proud to yield when we may die resisting. Never before has a Gislac known shame. “But if I had refused, what of Geoffrey then? We could not have given him the very food of life more than a few days long- er; he must have starved, or—if the Rotten Reiver had forced the castle over our famine-weakened bodies—-the murder that failed a month ago would have been carried through. It is in your hands, my dear, to save him.” ‘“What—how can he escape even now?” she faltered. “T have arranged with Umfraville to take with me a wounded man in a litter. Geof- frey goes with me. Ah, my dear, it is an unknown, a sorrowful journey that he and I must make together!’ Margaret hid her face in her hands. She was too strong to weep, but her supple body quivered with the force of her despair. At last. she looked up, white and shaken. “You have done well, my father,” she said bravely. It hurt to speak, for her throat choked, and her heart beat so hard she could scarce bear it. But her great eyes were steady, resolute, in spite of the sorrow she could not hide. “You have done well. Our shame is not easy to bear. But how much greater the shame and the heartbreak if we gave him over to death! Whatever life inflicts on us through the cruel years, we shall at least have saved him. I had hoped for happi- ness, but—thank God my love can give him life! He must not know—he must never guess the price we pay for him, not at least till he is strong enough to endure it.” ‘“‘Aye, we must keep all knowledge of it from him. But one thing he must know: that we have yielded, since tonight he must go with me. Ah, how can I let you depart from me, my child, whom I love so much?” They found Geoffrey sitting in his cham- ber. The young man’s eyes brightened as Margaret came in, nor was there any trace of her sorrow in the greeting she gave him. ‘“‘What news?” he asked eagerly. ‘Has my uncle returned?” Adventure Gislac shook his head. “He has not come, nor can he come in time, my son.” He strove in vain to speak with bluff good-humor. ‘We yield and go forth at twilight. Um- fraville grants us all life and freedom. Margaret goes free and safe, under escort.” And, indeed, save for the word “free,” he spoke truly. Geoffrey started to his feet and stood tottering with weak excitement. “You yield!” he cried. “Yield to Um- fraville? To de Born? Men you have beaten, men who dare not stand against you?” Gislac nodded. “There is no food,” he said calmly. For one instant Geoffrey stared at him; then: “No food? And all this time you have given me abundance, fed me with dainties? You have—tell me! Have you—has Mar- garet = Gislac interrupted him. “We have given you the best of what was ours. It was necessary, lest you lose strength and die. Forget that now; remem- ber only that we must make a long journey this night. You must not excite yourself. The leech will give you a sleeping-draft. Be not troubled; it will be well with us all. Umfraville is a man of his word.” } THE long English twilight gathered / gray about High Tower, clothing wall and camp and hill in its own neutral colorlessness. Umfraville and his escort waited by the postern, straight and silent on their horses, like glimmering stat- ues of blue steel. Below, the whole great camp was grayly distinct, clear-cut in that strange half-gloom, as objects are just be- fore the deeper night. Here and there watch-fires and cooking- fires already twinkled; but one whole sec- tion of the beleaguering circle had been cut out. To the left of this open space the trench and pavilion of Monrepaire were shut off by lines of horsemen, whose spears, held at the ready, faced inward toward the Reiver and his men. These silent, menacing ranks were the spearmen of de Born and the main host of Umfraville, holding the road clear for Gis- lac to escape. The Blue Boar had kept his word. MICLOOKS S|