Adventure Magazine Cover — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

The Witch of Aleppo into the mud and sand of the bar, at the same time that the keel grated over rocks and came to rest in the ooze. Slowly the deck inclined a few degrees toward the land, so that the starboard waist was nearly level with the water. Red flashes rent the darkness and thud- ding reports deafened the Cossacks who were scrambling to their feet. The corsair had raked the stranded galley with its can- non, and now checked its course. Its ram ripped slanting along the ribs of the galley, splintering the long oars, and bringing the forecastle abreast the poop of the galley. “Yah Allahl’’ howled a hundred throats. The Cossacks answered with a discharge from their firearms, and Demid sprang to the rail as lithe figures swarmed upon it. Togrukh and his men stood shoulder to shoulder with him and sabers rang against simitars. _ “Slash, slash!’’ roared the Cossacks. Arrows whizzed down from the higher after-castle of the corsair, and Ayub, run- ning aft, saw several of his comrades fall. The big warrior was in a seething rage be- cause the Christian slaves would not touch the weapons he offered them. Aware that the Cossacks were bound to lose in the fight, they sat passively on the rowing benches, choosing for the most part to go back to their lot as slaves rather than be cut down by the Moslems. Some jumped into the water and waded ashore with the ponies who stampeded as soon as the firing began. Barely half a dozen followed Ayub to the poop. He was met by Demid who had cleared a space on the after deck for the mo- ment, aided by the cavalier. The eyes of the young ataman were dark with excite- ment, and his lips snarled. The hot blood raced in his veins, and he longed to cast himself back into the thick of his foes and Strike with the sword that served him so well, until he could strike no more. Upon him, however, rested the fate of his men, and a quick glance fore and aft told him the fight was lost, on the galley. ‘The janizaries were shouting and breaking from their bonds in the waist, and behind them scores of bowmen were wading through the rushes from the corsair, to cut them off from the shore. “To the bank with the horses!”’ he ordered Ayub. “Hold the shore.” With that he sprang down into the after 31 cabin and darted to the lattice, sweeping aside the quivering negroes. Here was gloom, relieved only by a flickering lamp— gloom where smoke swirled around the form of Lali, erect beside the couch, and the wail- ing maid. Since the capture of the galley these two had not met, and now the fine eyes of the girl stared at him tauntingly. “Come out!’ Demid cried. “Nay, O captain of thieves, shall I flee when dogs are whipped? Said I not the hand of the Sultan would cast you down?” Demid stepped through the opening in the lattice and grasped at her waist. Lali evaded him deftly, and laughed as he stum- bled over the rug. Then his fingers caught her shoulder and she squirmed, beating at his throat and trying to set her teeth in his forearm. | Her veil was torn away and for the first time the young chief looked into the flushed face. The scent of musk was in his nostrils and the breath of the girl warmed his lips. Tears of sheer rage made her dark eyes bril- liant as they flew to his, questioningly. With the flat of his simitar Demid struck Lali in the side, driving the breath from her lungs. An instant she quivered, and her eyes widened, then half closed as he caught her behind the knees with his left arm, throwing her over his shoulder. He could feel the throbbing of her. heart against his throat. Turning back through the lattice, he raced for the steps, expecting to have to hew his way through the throng of Turks upon the poop. But here Togrukh still stood with one of the warriors, back to back. And Michael, who had seen Demid go down into the cabin, was poised over the stair- head, his rapier making play against three simitars, his lean face expressionless as a mask. Signing to him to follow, Demid made his way down to the waist. of the galley, struck the hilt of his sword into the eyes of a foe who was climbing over the wale, and leaped bodily down into the darkness and rushes. He went into water up to his waist, but kept his footing with an effort. Michael splashed beside him. Arrows whistled overhead, and once Michael went headlong into the shallows, just as the giant form of Ayub loomed up before them. “This way. We have the horses.” He pulled the slender Michael bodily oO Comicboooks CO