Adventure Magazine Cover, December 18, 1919 — page 83: what you’re looking at

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

The Seven Cities of Cibola “Only as I told you, to pursue the man who carried the brazier that I wanted to warm my room.” “Senores’—one of the soldiers of the guard stepped forward—“I can say a word on this. I was in the patio of the house where the scoutmaster.slept. As I was about to leave I saw a man pass me who had his head and_ throat wrapped in a yellow cloak. If it was not the one that we found, it was very like it. The man walked low along the wall where the scoutmaster’s room was. I went on about mv business and_a little later came the cry that the fiscal had been killed and Senior Avilez appeared running. “Did the man you saw resemble Sefior de Avilez ?” _ The man looked steadily at Andres for a moment. : “All cats are gray in the dark. How can I tell? I only know that I saw a man in a yellow cloak. I saw the cloak as he passed the lighted window and ran through the patio—and they say that Sefior Avilez wears always a yellow cloak.” “And—’’Mendoza took the . word— “the cloak found about the head of the murdered fiscal was the cloak of Sefior Avilez. That, I believe, is unquestioned.” “While the dagger,” put in Coronado, - “was the dagger that Sefiorita Acasta owned and wore in her hair. She also had a great grievance against Fonseca and she has disappeared. Where is she? She can tell us much.” “T will have search made at once. She may have gone to any one of a half dozen houses of our friends. You—” he turned to his majordomo, who had joined them—‘‘send men at once to the houses of Castaneda, to Lupa—send to all my friends and ask that if the sevorita be there she be requested to return here at once on an important matter.” For an hour they waited, and as each messenger came back and told that the girl could not be found, Mendoza grew more worried. “There must be a _ house-to-house search then,” he exclaimed when the last man had reported. “Send the guard!” That was fruitless too. There was no sign of the missing Mercedes and the city was now very thoroughly aroused. “T can not fathom this. You can not , eet CP ee By * de = ° eat er Sal ee owe ee ee 69 go tomorrow, my friend. your scoutmaster till we adjust this matter.” ot “But, your Excellency, I depend on Avilez to lead my scouts.” “T tell you, Coronado, I must hold him for trial by the king’s commission. This is not as though a mere native had been killed. The man was a Fonseca. As be- tween ougselves I may frankly add that I owed him much. If he has been killed and none held responsible for it, mer will say that Mendoza found a short way to pay his debts.” “And if I be tried and found guilty ‘on the evidence as shown,” quoth Andres softly, “men will say that the great gov-~ ernor Mendoza who owed much money to the fiscal found a short way to pay his debts and then blamed the murder on—a better man.” Mendoza started as if stung. “A better man? A better man?” “T said a better man. Can you as governor find a trail on a starless night? Can you find drink in a waterless land? Can you live for days without supplies in a barren country? Can you induce masterless men to give up hard-won gold? We did all this in Honduras, Sefior Governor. I tell you more. I say that if any man, be he governor or horse-boy, says that Andres de Avilez I must hold I am the governor, | had any hand in this murder, he lies in» his throat.” The governor laid hand upon his sword. Andres went on: “I make you a proposal. Murder has been done. I claim that I did not do it and I will stake my honor that your fair ward had no knowledge of it. This is the last outlying Spanish town. After I leave here there is no other town to which I could escape. I can not escape to the Indians for protection. Death by the headsman’s ax would be preferable to life among the Indians. See now, senor, I ask that you allow me to ac- company Don Francisco de Coronado in his search for Cibola. There is no way by which I can escape from his control, even if I wished to do so, and by going I may be of use to him and to the king. Then too, who knows where the Sefiorita de Acasta is? It may be that I may find some trace of her. In the mean time, do EOPICLOOO CS / (E(0)