Adventure Magazine Cover — page 170: what you’re looking at

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

The Grand Cham his hunters’ falcons struck down a carrier- ‘pigeon that day with news of Tamerlane’s purpose to attackr So Bayezid laughed and questioned Rudolfo lightly as to which way the Tatar riders had passed from the camp. When Rudolfo replied that they had headed down the river, the sultan gave orders that a de- tachment of Mamelukes should ride down the Angora side of the Khabur and report if they sighted any Tatars. Meanwhile the two Franks were to be kept in attendance on him, for they would be useful. The scouts never returned. Quiet set- tled upon the Khabur. Some hours after dawn a Turkish war- galley was sent down the river to reconnoi- ter. So it was after midday that the vessel arrived at a point a dozen miles down the river and learned that here during the night _ the Horde had crossed the Khabur to the Angora side—the Tatars swimming their horses and the foot-soldiers holding to the beasts’ tails. Tamerlane, in fact, was now drawn up on the Angora plain with all his strength. XIII THE CONQUEROR EMBO had secured for himself one of those animals of the Kallmark Tatars, a beast that was neither horse nor mule nor ass. This steed he had caparisoned gaily. Thus mounted, he trotted at Michael’s side, discoursing cheerfully. “A fair day, my cousin, and a goodly steed between my knees—albeit it savors not of bull-stag or cameleopard. Alack, my wooden sword is broken; yet I have got me - another weapon which is a favorite among these barbarians.”’ Michael, clad in a mail shirt with a Tatar helmet on his head and mace and sword at his belt, glanced down inquiringly. He did not see that Bembo carried any weapon. “Nay, it is invisible, good my cousin,” _chattered the jester. “I learned its use in the Venetian fields and it likes me well be- cause it avails best at a distance from my foe—ha! Are devils loosed on the plain yonder?” A distant clamor of horns and drums came to their ears. Michael had taken his position among a regiment of Chatagai horse commanded by Mirza Rustem, the 169 grandson of Tamerlane—a_ strong-bodied youth in-rich armor. Directly behind them the standard of the Genghis family was raised, the yak-tail standard of the Mongols. “The Ottoman attacks,” explained Mi- chael, rising in his short stirrups. ‘“Bayezid has been maneuvering throughout the morn- ing, and now his front ranks advance upon the Horde.” The plateau of Angora was nearly flat. The field favored neither Tatar nor Turk, except that Tamerlane had his left upon the river. Michael could see the masses of Mos- lem spearmen that had acted as beaters the day before, and other brilliant groups of irregulars—archers on either flank. Be- hind these, almost concealed in the dust that floated up from the hard clay, were Mamelukes, closely packed, and_ beside them the glint of lances of the Sipahis. Bayezid, taken in flank by the swift move of the Tatar horde, had been compelled to realine his troops that morning and draw out of Angora, away from his galleys and trenches, to give battle. He had no other course open to him except to retire since Tamerlane refused to advance from the river. There was no outcry from the Tatars. They waited as they stood. They flooded the yellow plain like bees clustered upon a board. And like an army of locusts was the advancing host of the sultan, fatigued by continuous marching, and tormented by thirst, but high-spirited and conscious of a hundred victories. Michael’s dark face was grave as he scanned their ranks—a hundred thousand souls, hitherto invincible, moving forward in the shape of a half-moon to the sound of their horns, Seljuke shouting to Ottoman, Turkoman to Mameluke. He knew the fighting ability of these veterans and was more than a little surprized at the calm alertness of the Tatars, not knowing that every Mongol shared the reckless spirit of Tamerlane, and would rather fight than eat. “A thirsty sight,” murmured Bembo, quaffing heartily of one of his skins of water. The day before, Tamerlane had or- dered that each man be supplied with two such skins of water. Emptying the goat’s hide, Bembo dis- mounted to pluck stones from the ground, surveying each with care and throwing away all that were not round and of a cer- tain size. | Eomicbook (EO)