Adventure Magazine Cover — page 121: what you’re looking at

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

Se ee part Cai osiees ak her oes has: made blind the eyes of warriors. Aye, itisso. I, Abdul Dost, the Ses dar, have seen it. And I watched the com- ing of Krishna Taya and harkened to her soft words, which were as artless as those of a child. Too late I saw what was in her heart. She was the one Sir Weyand named “Rose Face.” She was no taller than the armpit of my mail shirt and no bigger around than two small shields joined to- gether. She was not a common courtesan, for she was of the Rajputs, who hold honor higher than life. Nevertheless, what is written is true—the face of a fair woman holds a spell. I saw it all. It could not have happened had we and our men not been idle in Khan- jut after many labors. We had starved and grown lean in the hills. Now we ate and slept. At such a time a warrior grows sluggish and his wits become dull and the sight of a shapely woman is not unwel- come. 3 This is the tale. There be few to tell it, for many in Khanjut died quickly and - went to paradise or to the devil, after the coming of Krishna Taya. The days had became still and the warmth of the sun tranquil, as Autumn spread its arms over the hills of Badak- shan. The sheep from the hills were pas- turing in the valley as Jani Beg, in his camp at Balkh, sought out the tent of Krishna Taya. I was not there to see, but much I heard from one of the eunuchs of Said Af- zel, and more came to my ears from a wo- man of the Uzbek harem. Krishna Taya was no better than a slave. Said Afzel had seen her when he was with the Mogul, and Jahangir, the Mogul, had her carried off to please the prince, since Said Afzel’s father was Jani Beg who commanded twelve thousand swords and twice that number of horses. She was playing with pigeons in a pear garden when they took her. She had come from the Rajputs. There she had been a free woman and high born, yet Jahangir was Mogul of India, lord of the Deccan, Kashmir and Sind. She was given as slave to Said Afzel, who was well pleased, for she was fair of face and body. Many thought—so said the eunuch—that Krish- na Taya would slay herself, being of the Regpets, where no women may be slaves. me ee eR Er a fe Se re ee = J . fie ~ > ne - z 7 at . ~ Se Ss a See es ee ae ee — Sie "Whether it was because she was a child, Be or for another reason, I know not, but Krishna Taya did not thrust a dagger i in- to her throat. She became the property of Said Afzel and said little, waxing thin- ner of face as dark circles came un er-her calf-like eyes. Said Afzel tired of her swiftly. Those who eat much opium are not firm of pur- pose. He left her in the tents of the Uz- bek harem, where she was dressed in the white silk trousers and cap of cloth-of-sil- ver that the Uzbek women wear. Said Aizel’s eunuchs kept her from meeting with the Rajputs who sometimes came from the camp of Jahangir, fearing that they might do her harm. By the law of the Marwar, no high-born woman may be a slave to an enemy. : Krishna Taya had broken this law She. had not done as her ancestors, who dressed in their bridal clothes and followed the queen of the Rajputs into the funeral flames when Chitore fell to the enemy. Yet—so the eunuch whispered— she was but a child and might well fear the cold touch of death. Likewise, she ate opium, which kept her quiet and wrought upon her fancies. She had been partak- ing of it when Jani Beg visited her. He sat on the carpet by her and talked. He was a shrewd man and her brain was aflame with the drug. ) “The ferang is the shield.on the arm of Shirzad Mir,” he said. “He is like to a devil loosed from the Christian purgatory. Without him, Shirzad Mir would fare ill at our hands. He it was who took my son prisoner.” She lifted up her soft eyes at this and plucked at the cap which she wore instead of the veil of her people. “Yet he is his own man,” continued Jani Beg. “He serves himself. None other. What reward he seeks I know not, save that he has sworn to obtain certain trade con- cessions from the great Mogul. Jahangir will not see him so long as he fights with the rebels of Shirzad Mir.” Aye, Jani Beg, who was an Uzbek of low birth, dared to name Shirzad Mir, whose father and father’s father ruled in Bad- akshan, a rebel. “Mayhap,” whispered Jani Beg, “‘Sir Weyand does not know that I am allied to the Mogul. If he knew this—” Jani Beg smiled — “I enight forget certain wrongs —