Adventure Magazine Cover — page 127: what you’re looking at

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

The Land of Ophir before Christ. hasn’t it?” “T am very glad, sir,’’ responded Sabah gravely, and, turning to a tablet he began wiping away the fungus and creepers. Presently when Billy and Fieldmorre were through they called to me. “Say, Phil,’ said Billy when I had joined them, keeping a weather eye on Sabah, who was still busy with the writing. ‘“Fieldy and I reckon that we’d better try to fix things with Sabah. I suggested putting a gun up against him and making him swear to our terms, but Fieldy reckoned he’d swear his head off to save his hide and go back on us afterward if it suited him.”’ “That's “right,” <1 agreed. -*‘He~ sure would, the rat!” “By merely shooting him—as he deserves, I admit—we are just where we were be- fore,’ butted in Fieldmorre. ‘My point is that only by appealing to his better side can we hope to get anything from him.” “Better side!’’ I scoffed. “He don’t own any sich animile! But gotoit. It’s as good as any other scheme.”’ “Anyway,” continued Billy, “if he gets the sultan’s job we shan’t’ run such a risk of being crucified. Are you with us?” “Sure,” said I; “but all the same, keep an eye on him.” “Well, I guess it’s that or nothing. Apparently we can stay right here indefi- nitely, but that won’t get us anywhere; or if we do break out—and we can’t without the boys—we’d never get through them, the desert and the Tuareg as well.” “That’s what I say,” assented Billy; “and moreover it’s no time to play for anything but getting our bunch free again. If we can do that and raise some guns, I reckon we may yet be able to talk.” Fieldmorre called Sabah and demanded what he intended to do. “If you gentlemen will stop here until you hear from me for two days,’ said Sabah, ‘‘you will hear surprizing news, for I shall be sultan.” “That’s all right,” said Billy. what about our pals?” “T will see after them, Mr. Langster.”’ ‘And Thorpe?”’ I queried. “T will cause many inquiries to be made to see whether he is still alive, sir.” “But how do you propose, Sabah,”’ in- quired Fieldmorre, “to become sultan with such extraordinary rapidity; eh?” Now that’s got you beat, “But 119 “Tomorrow night, my lord, there is a great festival at the temple this man has made, when this Gandhi person will call the sacred serpents from this wood.” “Thank the good Lord!’ I interrupted. ‘““Guess [ll have one night of peace!’’ “And then,” continued Sabah, “I will prove that he is an impostor, a man of shameful birth, and that I am the true king of surprizing power and might.”’ “How are you going to do that?” I queried, skeptically I suppose. “That, Mr. Tromp,” he retorted with a return of the haughty manner, ‘‘can be known only to the initiated of the brethren.” “Go to it!” urged Billy, squashing me with a look. ‘‘But where do we come in? We're to stop here while the show’s on. Is that the idea?”’ It was, according to Sabah. Fieldmorre again demanded to know how he proposed to protect our men from any atrocities the Gandhi might take it into his head to do. Sabah’s replies seemed mighty vague and wabbly. I watched him dis- appear into the forest with many mis- givings. As soon, thought I, as he’s got a whack of gilded pomp and ‘power in his nut, he’ll go just as crazy as the other guy to prevent news of his darned empire of gold and ivory, men and women, getting through to any of the big land-grabbers; and to do that he’d just have to adopt as murderous a policy as the Gandhi man. ‘What gets me,” remarked Billy, dis- cussing the situation as we fed on Billy’s loot from the Jews, “‘is how he reckons he’s going to turn the sultan trick in five min- utes. ’Smatter of fact, I reckon he’s as mad as t’other guy. And I surely would love to put him up against that wall over there and let him have what he’s asked for. To think of our fellows lying ’way back, and the whole expedition, guns and everything, in the hands of that little Levantine rat, as you call him, just because this other little runt went back on us, makes me hot in the collar.”’ “Well, Langster,” said Fieldmorre cold- ly, “I’ve already apologized for my error of judgment in engaging the man, but no one on earth could possibly have foreseen tha = “Oh, quit it, Fieldy!”’ retorted Billy. “Y’ve nothing on you. Good Lord, aren’t we all in the same boat? Wasn’t I as much to blame as you? Id have bet my shirt Conn DOOK S (© iin