Adventure Magazine Cover — page 70: what you’re looking at

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

64 all their arrows. Aruk, half-naked, was fighting desperately, swinging a simitar too large for his short arms. His broken body was streaked with sweat and shining blood; his teeth bared in a grin of rage. Suddenly he caught sight of the tall form of the-Krit. “Aid!” called Aruk. ‘Aid, my falcon.” For a space the clash of weapons had | stopped. The Kalmucks, ringed around the pagoda steps, were waiting the coming of more men. “Aid, my Krit,” urged the hunter. “Chase these wolves away before others come.” It simply did not occur to Hugo to draw his sword in a quarrel between peasants and common soldiers. He was already gathering up his reins when his eye caught the anxious face of Yulga. She did not call to him, but her clasped hands were eloquent of appeal. This made him ill at ease. Yulga had come daily to say her garbled prayer at the grave of his brother. She was a handsome little thing, and her eyes were tragic. “Pestel What is it to me?” he grumbled. Then he growled at the watching Kal- mucks: “Back, dogs! Back, I say. These Tatars are my prisoners.” The soldiers hesitated at the ring of command in the voice of the tall Krit. They eyed the feather in his cap, the accouterments of his horse, sullenly. Were not the Tatars their legitimate prey? Who was this tall bey they had not seen before? Aruk, Ostrim and his daughter and the other Tatars gathered about the horse of Hugo, fingering their weapons defiantly. “These are prisoners, to be questioned by the chiefs,’’ Hugo asserted, watching the Kalmucks. ‘Would you taste a stake, that you disobey the command of a bey? Be off, before Iam angry. Loot the tem- ple yonder.” Sight of the deserted doorway of the pagoda decided the Kalmucks. Here was easy spoil. The Tatars could still bite. Let the bey have them if hé wished. They made off. At a sign from Aruk, Hugo urged his horse toward the archway through which he had .come. The fires had not yet reached that quarter, and once in the dark- ness they would be reasonably safe from ciscovery. Adventure Abreast of the burning house he reined in with a muttered oath. Several riders paced out of the alley to confront him. He saw a stout officer in a fur kaftan and the round, white hat of a Turkish janizary. In response to the man’s question Hugo answered that he was escorting prisoners to be questioned. But the other stared evilly and shook his head. Prisoners with arms! They should be bound by the necks. He peered closely into Hugo’s bearded face and drew back with an angry hiss. “You are a Christian. I have seen you before. What are you doing here?” Without replying, Hugo edged his horse nearer the other. Suddenly the Turk snatched at a pistol in his belt. ‘““Caphar—dog!”’ he screamed. have fought against the believers. were at Zbaraj. JI was there——” Before the long pistol was fairly in his hand his words ended in a groan. Draw- ing his sword, Hugo had caught the Turk under the chin with the hilt while the point was still in the scabbard. The janizary swayed, choking and clutching his throat. Putting spurs to his mount, Hugo rode down another rider, his big bay knocking the small Arab off its feet. “Kall, kill!” cried the other Turks. Before they could put their weapons in play, the Tatars were dragging them from their horses, slipping under their simitars. One or two of the Tatars fell in the short struggle, but the rest were now mounted. The feel of horseflesh between their legs put new heart into them, for a Tatar is at sea without his horse. Under the guidance of Aruk, who knew every alley of Kob, they made their way unmolested to one of the gates. The sack of the city was beginning in earnest, and no guards had been posted as yet by the Kal- mucks. A drunken cavalry patrol fired shots after them as they sped away in the darkness. Some distance out on the quiet plain toward the lake, Aruk dismounted and came to Hugo. the Frank and bent his head. “Our lives are yours, my lord. Have I not said to these other jackals that you were a falcon and a wolf-chaser? Hai— they will believe me now.”’ Out of the darkness came the guttural answer of the other men. “Vou You COnmmicloool< He seized the stirrup of, (C@)