Adventure Magazine Cover — page 136: what you’re looking at

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

eae ae a = r bot ig ty Ee : f) if Je Phe aly went ey A Pa vs a) ‘ ‘ae a> /, The Grand Cham camp-follower of the Christian army driv- ing a loaded cart headlong through the fugitives. Clavijo had been that man. And the year of the battle of Nicopolis had been the year that Clavijo claimed to have been at the court of the Grand Cham of Tatary. Michael knew then what he suspected be- fore, that the Spaniard had not been in the East. His tale had been a lie. It was the decision of the council in taking Clavijo at his word that had struck Mi- chael’s grim sense of humor. It was, as he told Bembo, a rare jest. VI THE VENTURE AFE, for the nonce, in an odorous tav- ern hight the “Sign of the Sturgeon,” on the docks of Rialto, Michael reflected the next day on what he had learned and fell to questioning Bembo, for there was much that puzzled him. Bembo wondered somewhat, as he squat- ted on the table where their breakfast plat- ter still lay, how Michael could obtain the money to pay for their quarters because it was becoming apparent to him that they did not have a silver soldi between them. When he mentioned respectfully that the land- lord was chalking up their score behind the door and was growling for payment on ac- count, Michael assured him that something would turn up to yield them gold. Skeptical, but willing to believe in the _ good fortune of his new master—Bembo had attached himself to the Breton—the httnch- back answered the questions. “My lord Contarini must have money,” he asserted, following the trend of his own thoughts. “His large establishments have impoverished him sorely and he is deep in debt to Rudolfo, the leader of his soldiers, who has waged Contarini’s battles on the mainland. Methinks my lord can not ay——” ‘“‘And so has caught at the chance of riches wrung from Cathay,’ mused Michael. Egged on by his spendthrift mistress and his creditors, Contarini was planning to use his post as head of the Maritime Council to his own advantage. This was more than probable because, while Contarini had aided Clavijo in spread- _ ing the tidings of a mythical kingdom be- f 135 yond the Sarai Sea, he had been careful to have the council hear in secret the Span- iard’s testimony as to the possible spoil to be gleaned from the Cathayans. So Con- tarini must believe the tale of Clavijo. The Spaniard himself was merely posing as a voyager—an honorable figure in that age—and thriving on the gifts and hospi- tality of the Venetians. What of Rudolfo? The condoitiere had sought at all costs to keep Michael from hearing the tale of Clavijo. the coming venture into the East if he was in Contarini’s confidence. He knew, too, that Michael had been on the border of the lerra incognita, What did Rudolfo fear that the Breton would disclose? Rudolfo’s cowardice at the field of Nicopolis? Michael shrugged, and dismissed the problem. It did not matter, he thought— -and wrongly. What interested him was Clavijo’s mag- nificent, lie. Michael knew that there was truth in the well from which the self-styled voyager had drawn his tales. Fra Odoric had spoken truly of a powerful Khan of Tatary. But would the Khan of Tatary, of whom Michael had heard in the camp of Bayezid, prove to be actually the Cham of. Cathay? Michael would have given much, to know. For this khan was the one man Bayezid respected on the face of the earth. | “Tf I could know,” he began, and looked at Bembo. ‘‘Fool o’ mine, and withal, wise man, we must have more news. Go you to Why? Rudolfo must know of “ the plaza of the city and learn what you ~ may of preparations being made for a ship to the East. “Look you, wise fool,” the Breton con- tinued thoughtfully. “Is it not true that the natures of men will seek their proper end? Give a thief rope and he will halter himself; a miser will bleed others till there remains no blood in his own veins; a boaster will trip o’er his own tongue. I, being a wayfarer voyaging on behalf of five dead men, will see—the day of judgment, Bembo.” “And a fool, master?” “Will be happy, God knows.” Now in saying this, Michael Bearn voiced the destiny that was to shape his own life and the fate of several others in one of the strangest adventures that was ever recorded in the annals of Venice. Bembo found his master a queer mixture > COPNIE OOLKSsCO)