Adventure Magazine Cover, December 18, 1919 — page 94: what you’re looking at

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

So Two more days passed; such days for the delicately nurtured Spanish girl as even Torquemada could never have de- vised, so terrible were they in their tor- ment of mind and body. Was she being carried off as a hos- tage? She knew better. Indians who lived near Spanish garrisons would have feared to bring down on their tribe th vengeance of their conquerors. . | Was it in hope of a ransom being paid? Her reason rejected that, too, for she knew that to claim a ransom the captors must get in touch with the Spaniard and one hint of her plight would set afire such a blaze of anger that no tribe would survive. Already all trace of her must be lost. Some more hideous_reason than that lay behind her capture. Her abductors had made her see that no harm was in- tended, but these new masters were very different, as she felt when they looked at her. Even self-destruction—and Merce- des realized that it might come to that— seemed impossible. She lacked the means. . Escape? How could she escape and where could she go? It was well-nigh impossible, for each night the men set a guard; each night her feet were care- fully secured. Yet—if it were to be tried it must be done at once. She felt angry with herself for not having real- ized long ago that there was but one means by which her escape could be made possible, and that was the,red stal- lion, and already he was nearly dead of exhaustion. She knew that if he failed her she would die miserably among these arid mountains, but the dread of worse than death at the hands of her captors made her make up her mind. ; HAT night, by instinctive use of the oldest means known of conveying thought—sign language—she made the Indians understand that the red stallion was slowly dying of exhaustion and that he must have feed and water. They nodded. She motioned to the water near which they had camped and asked permission to water the stallion in the pool. Two men accompanied her to the stream-bed and watched her attentively Adventure as she determinedly held the eager horse back, giving him only drop by drop at first from the hollow.of her hand. A little later she gave him a few small swallows and after two hours let him drink freely, after which she let him graze on the short grass and the suc- culent beans of the mesquite bushes. The Indians looked on with surprize. Apparently it had never occurred to them that the horse needed either food or water—as the Indian of today looks upon his horse as a machine to go for days with no care, so did they four hun- dred years ago. When Mercedes had taken him back to camp she carefully rubbed him down with a handful of grass and set about arranging her own bed. The attempt to escape must be made that night if it were to succeed at all. When the man came with the riata to tie her feet as usual, she motioned to the horse, making the man understand that he must be watered and fed again. The man looked his surprize. In answer she showed him that the horse was very tired and that he must be fed several times during the night and that she must not be tied till she had fed and watered him. He nodded comprehendingly, picked up his bow and followed her as she un- tied the horse and led him toward the stream. There was just one point along that stream from which an attempt could be successful, but her first difficulty would be in very quickly mounting the horse. A rocky point of ground overhung a deep pool where the bank was waist high. Standing on the bank, she could let the horse enter the pool below her to drink and then she could get into saddle by simply jumping from the bank. But first she must get rid of the Indian sen- try who would be with her. Trembling with nervousness that she could scarcely conceal, she walked slowly along by the horse’s head, talking to him as she went. “Tf you have brains and heart you will need them this night, Aldama: Bear me well this night and you shall have a golden manger and a silver trough! Oh, Aldama, do not fail me! Bear me to- night as you have borne a mailed knight COMME NOOK (E@)