Adventure Magazine Cover — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

46 So swift, so decided, was he in action that he had taken an unbreakable grip on the sultan’s beard with one hand and snatched up the great simitar with the other before even his own men had fairly grasped his intention. Then with the gleaming Jlade held across the hairy throat of the chief he barked out: “Stand back, you scum, unless you want to see the old boy’s throat cut. Tell ’em to drop their guns, Sadrash.” The keen edge touched the skin; the great bush of whiskers stood out straight as Saunders tugged the huge head backward to tighten the withered neck; and Sadrash squealed in terror to his men to do as they were ordered. The weapons fell to the floor with a crash, and then the skipper laughed grimly. “Herd ’em up, lads! Keep a lookout at the door, while [ have a little chat with this old monkey.” That first application of the keen edge of Sadrash’s big simitar to its owner’s throat had been so intimate as to leave hairs upon the blade. As the skipper put question after question to the ancient rascal he idly shaved more hairs from the withered neck, and as question after question brought un- satisfactory replies, so insistent as almost to convince, and the sultan’s befooled body- guard remained staring in genuine terror, a grimly humorous notion brought a sunny smile to the skipper’s face. He deliberately made a sweeping cut and sheared off a thick mass of bristly hair. “Be brave, little man,” he laughed while the sultan squealed shrilly with the excru- clating rasp of the dry shave. Another sweep of the blade sheared a big. ger patch, and another squeal announced it. “Now you tell up, Sadrash, old dear. Sure you know where Parchelly is. Didn’t he fetch you my jewel-case? No? Very well. The shave won’t cost you a darned cent.” Tugging Sadrash’s head back painfully, Saunders set to work to shear him in earnest. “Kill them! Kill them!” screamed the sultan in frenzy. A deep murmur rose from his men, and they involuntarily moved forward, forget- ting their own plight in their inherent fear of their chief. “Steady!” the skipper warned. “Stay where you are unless you want me to toss his ugly head among you for a football. Adventure Now, Sadrash, for the last time, are you go- ing to produce my boy and my valuables?” Swiftly he sliced away mass after mass of the terrifying whiskers, making the sultan writhe in real agony. For a minute Sa- drash was stubborn. Then when he was all but shaved clean he began to whine: “Your boy is not here. He has not come back. Heisaslave who hasrunaway. Go to your ship, and go away! Goaway!” Sincerity rang in every word, and’ Saunders released the big head and stood back in momentary perplexity. And ashe regarded his handiwork he laughed amused- ly, and the laugh found echo in all his own men and at least one of the white body- guard of Sadrash. . The reason was plain, even in the im- perfect light of the interior. Every bit of Sadrash’s terrifying aspect had been due to that monstrous beard, which, emphasizing vividly the black eagle eyes and the hooked eagle nose, hid entirely the weak, all but toothless mouth and the chinless lower jaw. But there was another side to the situa- tion now. ‘The sultan raved, and he might rave, at his mongrel crew to destroy the insolent intruder; and his men, no longer holding him in the awe that he inspired a few moments before, might ignore his rav- ings; but Saunders realized in a flash that any threat he held over the sultan’s head now could not prevent that gang of nonde- script white men from taking a hand for themselves if he and his crew gave the least opportunity. “Carter, take this,” he said quickly, handing the mate Sadrash’s simitar. ‘“Two of you boys come with me; the rest keep this gang in order. J’ll soon see if this place holds anything worth while to pay us for our trip.” Two islanders followed silently; they passed out by the two lookouts Saunders had posted when he entered, and searched rapidly for anything in the nature of a storehouse. There was a long, low go- down in the rear of the big chamber, whose barred door and grated windows seemed to indicate that the contents might be worth investigating. Toward the door they ran; but while the skipper’s hands were on the massive wooden door-bar the distant forest rang with grow- ing human sound, an answering howl pealed up from a mob of women who came running from the holes they had hidden in, and Eomichbooks:.co