Adventure Magazine Cover — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

Buried Gods S outcroppings of rock streaked with quartz peeped above the sparse grass. Soon they were traversing*open rolling downs. Ahead of them was a series of ragged escarpments and the blue of the mountain summits beyond. At this sight Dorsay had another strong instinct to rebel. But the recollection of the sardine-can and the inability to formu- late any feasible plan of action suppressed the desire. Instead of resting as usual the safari continued on through the heat. . About four he saw light smoke amid hummocky rocks. Presently they came to a village, a small one, but stockaded. As they conducted him to a hut he looked around vainly for signs of a white man. Toward sundown a drum began to beat, and after dark he saw the flicker of many fires somewhere in the center of the village and heard the natives chanting. He pondered for a while, and then decided to investigate. The village about him he found deserted. He made toward the light and sound. He could distinguish dimly in the night the silhouettes of men, forms prancing against the orange of fires. Within a few more spaces he came up against a heavy palisade of ivory tusks. In spite of the danger and the uncertainty of his fate the thrill of treasure smote him lightly. Dorkin, he reflected, evidently had known what he had been talking about. Then a new idea struck him. Could the writer of the message be imprisoned here? Was this the “‘buried goods?” The doctor had said that it would prob- ably turn out to be ivory. Yet these tusks could scarcely be said to be buried. But the man, where was he? And “goods” or “gods,” what had that meant? In the center of the enclosure he saw a solitary tree with great boughs, having either falling branches like willows or creepers reaching the ground, forming a canopy within which he could discern, dimly seated upon a stool, the form of a man whom he knew to be Tanka by the glint of the fire on his safety-razor earring. Around and about the fires in the front circled and capered three men with three feathers stuck in the wool of each head. AROUND the three witch-doctors, one of whom he iecognized by the ®cil peculiar tufts of hair upon his face as the man who had been present at the shauri with the supreme chief, Yamba, ‘shouted something which were the villagers and the members of the safart grouped upon their haunches, grunt- ing in chorus. Dorsay watched interest- edly. The three performers suddenly dropped flat upon their stomachs, facing the lone tree as simultaneously the drums ceased. A silence of several moments was broken only by the bleat of a kid. As Dorsay was wondering what the interruption portended, he observed that the eldest of the three was squirming forward toward something which had been placed, presumedly by Tanka, within thé tree, upon the ground. Mangu, the head witch-doctor, seized and raised the object in his hands. Dorsay caught the glint of light on metal, and then with a thrill recognized by the shape of the brass cylinder a compass which had belonged to the little doctor. But his first conclusion that Macnamara must be somewhere around was dissipated by the reflection that perhaps they might have got it from his body or from the Somalis. Evidently by the movement of the needle upon the disk it was taken by the savages to be alive, for, gingerly placing the compass in the full light of the nearest fire, the three crouched around it, and, pointing fingers, inspired the crowd with awe. During another silence the three men bent over the small cylinder as if consulting an oracle. Then, one, peering close above the glass, suddenly sprang to his feet and pointed in the direction in which Dorsay was standing outside the palisade. In- stantly half the squatting natives beyond the fires leaped up and, rushing to. the gate, raced around the ivory fence toward him. As he faced the advancing throng, rather uncertain what he should do, they set up a terrific howl at the sight of him, echoed tri- umphantly by the three doctors, who im- mediately began cavorting around the compass, which they evidently believed had revealed the presence of the stranger. With his hand inside his shirt upon the revolver, Dorsay, knowing not what else to do, suffered them to lead him around the palisade and into the enclosure. Ashe advanced toward the tree, to his astonishment the three witch-doctors ceased their howling and in unison with Tanka, who had remained seated within the canopy of the tree, threw themselves flat upon their faces before him. Bewildered at this ° \ a Gomichbooks (E@)