Adventure Magazine, April 10, 1924 — page 36: what you’re looking at

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

34 of warriors at the Gates. Shall we match the lion with a man-eating tiger?” “Nay, ‘twould take an elephant to crush his bones,’’ responded another lightly. “He is greater in bulk than the tallest of the Ethiopians.”’ 39 “Vou: are both wrong, my cup com- panions,” put in a third. ‘“The Frank, like the maid, is to be kept alive against the coming of the Shah.”’ Osman, who had been staring at the girl, frowned at this, and a slender boy with insolent eyes ceased tuning a lute long enough to murmur: “Allah ta yebarak filil May Allah not prosper is coming!” ‘“‘What words are these words, oO Has- san?’’ reproved the wazir. “Am I not the slave of Muhammad, and was not he——” “A slave himself, O most generous of lords,” quoth Hassan, bending ear to lute again, ‘“when he was my age and caught the eye of @ woman.” Somebody mouthed a gibe about the eyes of women, and the assemblage laughed. Osman struck upon a silver gong that hung by his side; and the overseer of the slaves bellowed to the rowers, who brought the barge about and headed down the river into the heart of the lighted city. Robert, utterly unnoticed, studied Osman curiously. It was the first time he had seen a Kharesmian of the higher classes, and it was difficult to believe that this was not the Shah himself. Osman had pallid, weak- muscled cheeks, surrounded by a narrow beard, and his jeweled turban would have bought a castle in Palestine. His dark lips curved like a girl’s, and his fine brown eyes had the blank stare of a dreamer or a user of drugs. From the instant that the demoiselle of Ibelin was seaied at his side he did not cease to pay her attention. “Let my counsel be as earrings in thy pretty ears, O damsel. Incline to me, and I will robe thee in samite and cloth of gold, and scent thy eyebrows with attar of rose— so that the Shah himself shall fall bewildered by thy beauty.” He seemed loath to believe that the cap- tive did not understand his praise, but when it was clear that she knew no Arabic the courtiers launched remarks that made the knight turn away so that they could not observe his eyes. It was wiser that they should not be aware that he could follow what was said. | Adventure “To the seller of perfume,” smiled the boy with the lute, ‘“‘what remains save the dust of the rose petal? How long, O treasurer, wilt thou labor to keep safe the treasure of the slave who claims to be thy master?” Osman glanced at him warnin gly, yet seemed to find food for thought in the idle words. He lifted a drinking-cup of pure jade, and from the waist of the barge cymbals and drums resounded as he drank. “Nay, Osman,” called out a stout man in purple silk who was being fanned by a Nubian slave girl. “Am I-not crowned king of the hour of pleasure? What royal honors are accorded me when I lift my cup?” “‘The dogs bay.”’ . Hassan displayed white teeth. “And spent hags pluck thy purse away——”’ “Out upon thee! Pfagh—you are rank of the dunghill that bred thee. Who but I bore to our master, this excellent fellow Osman, the news of the abing of Otrar by the barbarians?” “The tidings that sent Muhammad to the northern border,” nodded one who had something of the warrior about him. “It was three moons ago that the Manslayer took Otrar into his maw and sent the head of its governor to the Shah. Allah, he was angered!” “And I made a song about .it,”? quoth Hassan. “The imams and kadis wagged their beards and fouled the carpet of counsel with the spittle of quarrels,’’ nodded the wine- bibber unsteadily. “And I made a song about that, too.”’ “Yet the news. was good for us because it gave the reins of Government in Bokhara to our lord, Osman.” “O sharp-of-wit, canst thou truly see an ant-hill when the ants-bite thy toes?” ‘*The chief of the Kankalis who was leader of the garrison could not,” put in the war- rior, signing for a slave to fill his cup again. “At least he drank too much opium by mistake——”’ “Thy tongue wags!” whispered one of the courtiers. “Nay, he was a fine sight in his shroud. By Allah, it came to my ears that his favorite singing-girl slew herself with a dagger iz ~“And that was not so fine a sight,” broke Go DOO AMG S C@ 5}