Adventure Magazine Cover, November 10, 1924 — page 121: what you’re looking at

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

Om over the paved streets of a fair-sized town, but there was nothing to show what town it was. At last squared stones rang under- foot, a great gate slammed, and a Tibetan opened the carriage door. Ommony found himself in a courtyard in front of what looked like a temple door, only there seemed to be no temple at the back of it—nothing but a wall and a dense thicket of trees on ground that sloped uphill for more than a mile. The Tibetan, taking him by the elbow, led him up steps through the entrance and down again into a cavern that was lighted with little imported kerosene lamps set in niches in the hewn rock walls. There was a maze of passages to right and left, and one wide tunnel that wound snakewise until it opened into a vault, part natural and part very ancient masonry, that would have held five thousand people. The Tibetan led him across this great crypt, or whatever it was, and down a short passage at the far end into a smaller one in which Maitraya, his actors and a number of Tibetans were sleeping on mats on a wooden platform. Opposite the platform was a door, which the Tibetan unlocked, leading Ommony through a short tunnel . into a shaft about fifty feet square at the base. Its sides sloped inward so as to be utterly unclimbable, and seventy or eighty. feet overhead was a patch of sky not more than twenty feet across. In the midst, exactly under the square patch of daylight was a tank, brimful of clean water that appeared to flow in from beneath and flowed over into a trough that disappeared somewhere in the rock wall. On every side of the enclosure there were square openings half concealed by curtains made by matting. Ommony was _ led through one of those into a cave about twenty feet long, very plainly but quite comfortably furnished, and there the Tibe- tan left him without a word. There was no restraint placed on him; no request that he should stay inside the cave; so he went and sat down in the opening, watching the dawn gradually fill the place with light until the clouds shone clearly reflected in the shallow tank. After a while the lama entered, followed by Samding and several Tibetans, or men who looked like Tibetans; they crossed to the far side and disappeared through one of the curtained openings. Not long after 119 that great quantities of- food—enough for twenty or thirty people—were brought in earthenware bowls; enough for two men was set down beside Ommony and the re- mainder was carried through the opening through which the lama had disappeared. Ommony was left entirely to himself. After a while he sent Diana to explore, but though she disappeared through the lama’s entrance and stayed within for more than half an hour, nothing came of it; she re- turned and lay down beside him with her head on her paws, as if she had no infor- mation to convey. So Ommony proceeded to explore on his own account, commencing by merely walk- ing around the tank. Nothing happened, so he peered into one opening that had no mat in front of it, walked in and found a cave almost exactly like his own, leading nowhere. He stayed in there a minute or {wo examing a very ancient carving on the wall, that bore no resemblance to any monument he had ever seen and yet was vaguely familiar; he could not guess its significance; it was extremely simple, al- most formless, and yet suggestive of an in- finite variety of forms; he tried to memorize it; for future reference, and then remem- bered that the glyph, with which the letter to McGregor in a woman’s handwriting had been signed, was almost, if not quite the same shape. He was on his way out when Samding met him in the entrance, his brown turban and cloak outlined in gold by the daylight at his back. More than ever the chela seemed like someone from another world, and as usual he spoke without preliminary, in a voice no man could quarrel with: “Tsiang Samdup desires you should not ask questions—” the words were English, beautifully spoken—“‘If anything is lacking for your comfort, you are to command me.” Ommony laughed. “All right, I command you. Explain what all this means!” Samding’s face became lit with sudden laughter—not irritating—friendly, wise, hu- morous. ‘“‘Tsiang Samdup says, ‘Knowledge comes from within, not from without,’ ” he an- swered. “As a man thinks, so are his surroundings. Tsiang Samdup says, “The eyes of curiosity see only what is not so, and it is not only a man’s lips that ask CoMmicbook (© 5}