Adventure Magazine Cover, October 30, 1924 — page 128: what you’re looking at

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

118 how long will ye store up wrath against the hour of reckoning?’ ”’ ‘“Now the shoemaker,” said the lama. ‘Tell us how to collect our debts, thou saddhu! Tell us how to feed our young ones! To that we will listen!’ ” ““Now the tax collector.”’ | “Tell me how to get the tax money from men who declare they have nothing! Tell me how to conduct a Government without a revenue! Tell me what will happen if I fail, O mouther of mantras!*’” “The king,’’ said the lama, and Maitraya spoke with the scroll behind him to prove how swiftly he could memorize. “ Peace, all of you! Ye little know how fortunate ye are to have a king whose only will is that the realm shall ooze contenting justice. Day and night my meditation is to spread contentment through the land. Is this your gratitude? ’ ”’ The saddhu: ‘To whom? For what!” Ommony’s voice charged the line with sarcasm that made the lama glance at him. ‘“‘A farmer,” said Maitraya. ““‘The locusts spread through the land, and there is no ooze of dew, nor any rain. The crops have failed; and nevertheless, the tax gatherer! He fails not with his visits! Meditate a little on the tax gath- erer, O king!’ ”’ The saddhu: ‘ ‘Aye, meditate!’ ” ‘‘A camel driver,” said Maitraya. : “‘O king, they wait beside the mother camel for the unborn calf. They take from us in taxes at the frontier more than the freight is worth. We fetch and carry, but the profit of the labor goeth to the rich. Our very tents are worn until the women can no longer patch them.’ ”’ The saddhu: “ ‘Live in caves, O brother of the wind!’ ” “The shoemaker,” said Maitraya. ‘“‘ ‘And the owner of goats charges twice as much as formerly for goatskins!’ ”’ “The goatherd.”’ “‘ ‘Maybe. But he pays me less than half of what is right for herding them! ’ ” ‘’The soldier.” “Listen, all of you! Behold your king— a great king and a good one! Know ye not the nature of a king? Lo, ye should rally to him and support him! A realm is ruled by force of discipline, wherein is strength; and to the strong all things are *Mantra: A verse from the Vedas; any spoken charm or religious formula. Adventure possible! Rally to your king and bid him lead you to war on foreigners, who nibble at our wealth like rats and give us no return!’ ” ‘“‘A woman,”’ said the lama. “ ‘Tell us first, whose sons shall fight this war!’ ”’ “Another woman.” ‘And who shall console the widows?’ ” The saddhu: “ ‘The widows of the con- quered nation will console them. They will naturally see the justice of the war!’ ” “The soldier,” said Maitraya. shakes his sword at the saddiu.”’ “ ‘Peace, idiot! They will invade us unless we first attack them. ‘Then in which cave will you hide? If I had my way, I would send you in the front rank to the war to show us whether your sanctity isn’t really cowardice after all!’ ” “All laugh at the saddhu,”’ said the lama. “Now the king.”” And Maitraya postured splendidly. ‘¢ “Ve men and women, know ye not that I have neither will nor power to make war unless ye brew the war within you as a snake brews venom in its mouth?’ ” The saddhu: ‘‘ ‘Yet a snake slays ver- min!’ 99 Maitraya read on: ‘ ‘Peace, saddhul There is merit everywhere. Am I not king? And how shall I please all, who so unfairly disagree? Ye see these lines that mark my worried brow; ye see this head that bends beneath the burden of your care; and ye upbraid me with more tribulations? What if I should wreak impatience on you all? Am [ alone in travail? Is none among you, man or woman, who can offer me a counsel of perfection?’ ”’ “<TY ” Tt was Samding’s voice, resonant and splendid yet peculiarly unassertive. It was as if the tone included listeners in its embrace. All eyes turned to Samding in- stantly, but he sat motionless. “The crowd divides down the midst,” said the lama. ‘‘San-fun-ho steps forward from beside the well beneath the peepul tree. She speaks.” “OQ king!’ The chela’s voice was not unlike a woman’s, although its strength suggested it might ripen soon into a royal barytone. “ ‘I come from a far land where wisdom dwells and all the problems that can vex were worked to a solution in the birth of time. Well said, O king, that there is merit everywhere! Well said, ye ‘‘He micloool © inn