Adventure Magazine Cover, December 18, 1919 — page 63: what you’re looking at

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

fiery eyes on the giant recruit whom Tssou introduced with a mouthful of ora- tory as the “Strong White Man Learned in the Magic of Metals’ and one who brought the shehu a splendid dash. Certainly a Solomon would not have taken such an immense satisfaction in two bundles of old hoop-iron as did the shehu. He arose with'throaty gurgles of sheer delight and moved with_his court, Tim trailing the troubadour owl-eyed ‘with wonder, to a primitive open-air smithery. Tim laughed uproariously at the clay forge with human blowpipes for bellows, a stone anvil and unbalanced hammers. The smiths received the hoop- iron as if they had never dreamed of such a prodigious quantity” of the precious metal. Almost unbelievable had been the ‘story, sung in the market-place by the traveling troubadour, of the “iron road” which the whites were throwing over the _ Niger—the story that had fired the shehu and his patriotic servant Issou with visions of a greater’N’dele. They imag-. ined the soldiers of the faithful in in- vincible armor. The shehu eyed the giant smith as if he already owned him and mouthed his title with deep satisfaction. “© Strong White Man Learned in the Magic of Metals, what dash shall I give thee ?” True to his coaching by Issou and true ‘to the latter’s plot with the shehu, Tim asked for a try at sunrise-to-sunset do- main. Was it fancy or did a flicker of cun- ning satisfaction really cross the shehu’s fathomless eyes? There was no doubt, however, about the sentiments of a group of interested swarthy ruffians. “Oh-ho! The white man would en- compass sunrise-to-sunset domain,” they throated gleefully. Tim felt he was being laughed at and he was not used to being laughed at, but his faith in Issou—the feeling of real friendship was too strong for him to sus- pect a trick. There was some joke abroad, a joke aimed at himself. He scowled into the black faces. “Oh-ho!” they roared. ‘He is brave and strong. Grant him the ordeal, O Ali Burko, Defender of the True Faith.” Ordeal? Tim caught at the word. There was a nigger in the wood-pile, or were they trying to scare him off? He 4 The Shehu Wants an Armorer glared at Ali Burko. He had come a long way and he’d be hanged if he would be cheated of the prize. — “Yea!” bayed the shehu. “To the brave and the strong is sunrise-to-sunset domain. Tomorrow thou shalt essay it. May Allah be with thee,’ he piously chanted. That seemed fair and square, all in line with Issou’s promise. But why the outburst of derision from the ruffians standing around? “He is strong. He will succeed where others failed.” “Oh, yes, he will succeed. He shall not meet a slave’s yoke on the way.” They laughed uproariously. Tim’s fists clenched. He swung on Issou, not bel- ligerently so much as in pained wonder. He had trusted Issou as one trusts one with whom he has suffered. It was the shehu who explained: “Tf sunset catches you on the way you shall serve me as armorer for five years.” Issou had not mentioned any penalty for failure. Tim regarded him with the hurt surprize of one who has fallen for a new rendition of a confidence trick. Issou met the look sadly. Blithely had he insinuated the vision into the white man’s covetousness, blithely trapped him to N’dele for the glory of the prophet and the triumph of the faithful, but friendship had not entered into his calculations. He had wanted the white man’s magic in metals, but—he thought back to the trail; he remembered the hundred little tokens of affection, how the smith would slacken his long stride to suit his friend’s, then clap him heartily on the shoulder and call him “some little buddy,” which Issou understood was white man’s . way of saying “we’re brothers.” He re- called how Tim had taken him on his back to ford the creeks of the Lake Chad marshes—these and a hundred other little plays of affection. He met Tim’s look sadly and spoke as far as he dared in the presence of the shehu. “Tf the heart’s desire and the eye’s vision were no greater than the strength there would be no failures.” Issou was given to speaking in prov- erbs. Tim chewed it over and boiled it down to a friendly warning not to bite off more than he could chew—not to eye- Ss COMME NOC) 49 (E)