Adventure Magazine, April 10, 1924 — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

The Making of the Morning Star horse was motionless on the black marble flooring. “Who is he?” Robert asked. “He is the scourge that has come out of the desert. Aye, the Great Khan, Genghis Khan.” The crusader glanced with quick interest at the conqueror, measuring the spread of the high shoulders and the sinews of wrist and forearm. Only the keen black eyes of the Mongol moved, and Robert fancied they glinted with amusement when they lingered on the grandees holding the horses. A touch of his arm made him turn, and he saw Chepe Noyon standing beside him; but a Chepe Noyon that no longer resem- bled Abdullah, the teller of tales. The chief- tain had cast back upon his shoulders the tiger muzzle, and Robert noticed that the hair on his head had been shaved except for a long scalp-lock that fell from his skull to the tigerskin. “Where are the Nazarene maid and the archer?”’ Robert asked him. Chepe Noyon chewed his lip reflectively, glancing from Genghis Khan to the imams who were tending the ponies. Throughout the mosque there was only to be heard the snapping of the torches and the munching of the horses that were feeding from the Koran boxes. “From that high place Nur-Anim was ac- customed to read the book of the Moslems.” Chepe Noyon nodded at a miniature tower, some dozen feet in height, that rose behind Genghis Khan. It was shaped like a minaret with a platform and cupola in which rested on a sandalwood stand a mas- sive Koran. “There is the book that no one but Nur- Anim might touch.” He looked at Robert reflectively. “Your archer slew Osman, which was a good deed. . I have him and the maid in man’s attire, in my tent. I came upon them when I followed the wazir. But Nur-Anim I have not yet unearthed. In all Bokhara there is no trace of his passing, yet he must have fled from the city.” He snarled in sudden anger. “What avails the capture of the city without Nur-Anim?” “The mullah? Nay, he is harmless 2 “As the fangs of an adder! You were slow to see the evil in these servants of the Shah. Osman was no more than a cup-shot fool, and he died like one, striving to put his 5 65 hand on a woman. Nur-Anim used him for a moment, no more. The mullah was the true master of Bokhara, for he had the trea- sure in his hands.” Chepe Noyon laughed grimly. “The mullah persuaded the Shah to leave the treasure in the hands of their god, Al- lah. I have spoken with one or two of his priests with a dagger in my hand, and I know that Nur-Anim wanted you to be ameer because he feared Kutchluk Khan, who was a wolf. Then he-overthrew you and whispered to Osman and Jahan Khan to lead forth the army, and they knew no better.” . He made a gesture as of gathering up sand in his fist and casting it into the air. “A little trick served to break their for- mation, and then the Horde rode them down.” “But why did Nur-Anim——” “O little son, you held the wall like a man and a noyon. But you know not the ways of snakes. Muhammad is already shaken, and his power grows less; Bokhara will be razed to the plain, yet the treasure is hid- den beneath it, and Nur-Anim knows the hiding-place. When we have passed on he will come out and dig it up again. A hun- dred thousand have died-that he might de this thing.” A warrior spoke to the chief, who took Robert’s arm. “Genghis Khan summons you.” Robert took up his shackles and stepped - forward at once, Chepe Noyon walking at his side. “T can not aid you now. Speak boldly!” A sigh of relief went up from the Mos- lems as Robert was singled out to face the man on the white horse, but he himself was too weary to feel either excitement or fear. For several moments he waited by the muz- zle of the Khan’s pony, while the eyes of Genghis rested on him. Chepe Noyon, after making his salutation, stood to one side to act as interpreter. “The Khan asks,” he said briefly, “if you are one of the heroes of the Franks who came over the sea?” “T am a Frank.” “Are you he who held the wall against our assault?” cs Ay ee’ The gray eyes of the knight sought the broad, lined face that looked down at him, utterly without expression. GO DOOLK (C@ S|