Adventure Magazine Cover — page 79: what you’re looking at

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

Om sword above his head for a swipe that should finish the business. There was nothing for it but to let Diana go. Ommony yelled, ‘Guard! again and jumped for the saw-edged tulwar, which had clattered away into the shadow. His foot struck it, and he stooped for it as the swordsman swung. The blow missed. Diana seized the foe from behind and ripped away yards of his long cloak. Dawa Tsering struggled to his feet, more stunned by the blow on the back of his head when he fell than mangled by Diana’s jaws; he staggered and seemed to have no sense of direction yet. And now Ommony had the tulwar. He was no swordsman; but neither was his antagonist, who was furthermore worried by Diana from the rear. “Guard, girl!” Ommony yelled at her, and discipline overcame instinct. She began to keep her distance, rushing in to scare the man and scooting out of reach when he turned to use his weapon. The third man possibly had no sword, for he still lurked in the doorway. Ommony ran, calling Diana, who came bounding after him, turning at every third stride or so to bark thunderous defiance. The strange thing was that no crowd had come. The walls had echoed Diana’s barks and Ommony’s sharp yells to her, that must have sounded like the din of battle in the stone-walled silence. It was almost pitch dark now, and there were no lights from the upper windows, although the glow of street lights was already visible like an aura against the sky. The whole affair be- gan to seem like a dream, and Ommony felt his hip pocket to make sure the jade was still there. He paused in the throat of the narrow passage by which he had come, sent the hound in ahead of him and turned to see if he was followed. He heard footsteps, and waited. In that narrow space, with Diana to guard his back, he felt he could protect himself with the tulwar against all comers. But it was only one man—Dawa Tsering —holding a cloth to his throat and walking unsteadily. ‘““Give me back my weapon, Ommonee/”’ The words, spoken in Prakrit, were in- telligible enough but gurgled, as if his throat was choked and hardly functioning. Diana tried to rush at him, but Ommony is, I know a little. 77 squeezed her to the wall and grabbed her collar. ‘‘(Down!”’ he ordered, and she crouched at his feet, growling. ‘“‘Aye, hold her! I have had enough of that reincarnated hag! Give me my knife, Ommonee/”’ “You call this butcher’s ax a knife? You rascal, it’s not a minute since you tried to kill me with it!” ‘Aye, but that is nothing. I missed. If you were dead, you might complain. Give me the knife and be off with you!” Ommony laughed. “You propose to have another crack at me, eh?” “Not I! Those lamas are a lousy gang! They told me I could come to no harm if I obeyed them and said my prayers! Their magic is useless. That she-devil of thine has torn my throat out. I doubt if I shall ever sing again. Give me the knife, and I will go back to the Hills. I wish I had never left Spiti!’’ “T told you I am a friend,” said Ommony, speering about in his mind for a clue to how to carry on. “Aye. I wish I had believed you. me the knife.” “Do you know your way around Delhi?” “No. May devils befoul the city! That I can find my way to Give the te-rain.” Ommony felt in his pocket, found an en- velope and penciled an address on it in bold, printed characters. ““Midway. between ten and eleven o’clock tonight go out into the streets and get into the first gharri * you meet. Give that to the driver. If the driver can’t read it, show it to passers-by until you find some one who can. Then drive straight to that address, and I will pay the gharri-wallah.{ If your throat needs doctoring, it shall have it.” “And my knife?” “T will return it to you tonight at that address.” “All right. I will come there.” “T suppose, if I had given you the knife back now, you would have killed me with it?” “Maybe. But you are no fool, Om- monee/ You had better go quickly before those lamas find some way of making trouble for you.”’ __Ommony accepted that advice, although *Hired carriage. Cab driver. DOOK C@ in