Adventure Magazine Cover — page 73: what you’re looking at

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

A Son of Strife acceptable, this thin youngster, with the merrv brown face and squared shoulders of a man-at-arms. ‘“‘Now, do I know you for a very gentle knight!” she declared. ‘‘Come, you shall tell me of your exploits as we go.” CHAPTER V THE VENGEANCE OF ACHMET-IBN-MUROS T WAS already dark as Matteo spurred to the edge of the moat and hailed the warders of Nerak. Down the line of the walls he could descry dimly the scaffolding of the new tower which Messer Basil Kon- tades was building to strengthen the Squire’s Curtain. ‘“‘Who comes?” was the answer to his shout. “Messer Matteo!’’ The chains and pulleys clacked and whined. He waited, impatient, and leaped his horse upon the planks while the draw- bridge was still a foot above the coping of the moat. ‘Ho, Messer Matteo, you are late on your first lone venture afield,’ chided Sir An- tonio, the seneschal, as he trotted through the gateway. The warders, already at work winding up the draw, grinned good-naturedly. Ali Ma’akwaa, too, stepped from the shadows, with a look of inquiry. “T have ridden as far as Mardan,”’ swered Matteo. “No signs of “T saw naught save a Templar and some sergeants pursuing a man they called an Assassin—oh, and two who had ridden from Mardan to watch the chase.” an- “The lord of Mardan is no friend of ours,” said the seneschal grimly. “But your father sits at meat in the hall. Go, quickly, Matteo. He hath asked for you. But for Ali’s assurance we would have rid- den in search of you.” “T am thankful there is one among you knows I am past childhood,” rejoined Matteo with heat. “Ali, I give you He swung down from his horse as he spoke, and the blaze of a cresset shone on the huge ring with the insignia of the triple- bladed knife. Ali, who had been holding the horse’s bridle, leaped backward with a jerk. “That!” he cried. Messer Matteo?” 5 ‘“‘Where got you that, 65 “What?” replied Matteo. “Oh, the ring! Why, from the Assassin I spoke of.” Ali was trembling with excitement. He seized Matteo’s hand, and held it up to the light. ‘See,’ he appealed to Sir Antonio. “°Tis the signet of the Old Man—the Sheikh al Jebal!”’ “The Old Man of the Mountain!” ex- claimed the seneschal. ‘What traffic have you had with him, Matteo?” “None,” said Matteo, surprized. ‘But I helped the Assassin to escape from the Templar, and he gave me the ring.” “°Tis a splendid gift,” said Sir Antonio. “Never saw I the like. But, come, you must repeat the tale to your father.” They crossed the courtyard, and climbed the stairs which led to the big double doors that gave entrance to the great hall. At the high table Sir Gui and Horazahde sat side by side, Sir Gui dressed in a costume of red velvet and Horazahde wearing her tall, peeked hat of state and robes of pre- cious silks fetched by Saracen merchants out of Cathay. : On her feet were little shoes beaded with pearls that had been fashioned by a Genoese of Tripoli. Around her neck and in her hair were gems worth a king’s ransom. She was older than on that day she came to Nerak, but her face glowed with the proud happiness that mirrors no regrets. Sir Antonio took his place at the board, and Matteo bowed low and kissed his mother’s hand. “What, now, cockerel?’? demanded his father with mock anger. “I give you the liberty of manhood, and you shamefully abuse it.”’ “Nay, lord,” said Matteo. adventure.”’ ‘Adventure, forsooth! And what?” So Matteo repeated the story of his meeting with the Assassin, and his father’s eyes kindled with interest and his mother listened in a silent enjoyment too deep for words. ‘What say you, Antonio?” asked Sir Gui when the tale was ended with the disap- pearance of the Assassin—for Matteo added nothing at that time of his meeting with the boy and girl from Mardan. “T say ’tis an extraordinary tale,” replied the seneschal. ‘That is the signet of Sinan, himself, which Matteo wears. ’Tis a potent weapon, so men say.” “T have met GOMIIGooOoO S C@