Adventure Magazine Cover — page 122: what you’re looking at

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

‘ing his long beard, off to finger his beard again. he has done me. Aye, and Jahangir might also forget, for the Mogul has counted the swords I lead. Say this to the ferang——” “Howe” asked Krishna Taya softly. The woman of the harem was listening behind the hangings of the tent and heard what passed. “Tt is in my mind,” said Jani Beg, strok- “to send a® present to this ferang dog. He is'a merchant, and when did a merchant mislike the sight of gold? I will send a Persian sword with gold hilt, certain rubies and woven cloth- -of-gold. I will send—” he touched the long hair of the girl and Krishna Taya’s cheeks grew red— ‘“‘you.” The girl was silent, being afraid to speak. © “The ferang,” went on Jani Beg, “has a heart for fighting. But now thereisa truce. The men of Shirzad ‘He laughed and I have’ willed it so. Mir think I am weak.” -_ closed his hand on the girl’s arm so her fingers became numb. ‘As for you, be not so blind. .I am master of Badakshan, a frontier of the Mogul. I can ask and receive much, and I’seek much.” He broke “Win me the ferang; aye, win me Sir Weyand. I reward those who serve me.” He unwound a long string of small pearls from his turban, where he had placed it in imitation of the Mogul fashion. This he laid about her throat and peered at her _ curiously. “Can my words aid you, my lord?” she : said, feeling the pearls with a trembling hand. “Aye,” smiled Jani Beg. “Put this thought in his head and you will serve me well.” ‘ ‘How?”’ His brows knit together in a swift frown. He plucked forth his dagger and, so quick- ly that she had no time to draw back, - passed the blade before both her eyelids, which fluttered in alarm. So near came the blade that it touched the skin. So said the woman who saw. “Are you a begum—a wife of a noble— to question my words? So! Tell me in one word. Will you do this thing faith- fully? If not—” His glance strayed to the dagger. Perhaps he would have liked to slay her, for the blood lust was strong in him. I have seen Said Afzel, who was his son, ~ Adventure — \wring the neck of a white pigeon in order «to feel the life quiver out. through his “fingers. Nevertheless, Jani Beg was an excellent soldier and full of guile. He had stirred the girl. “Aye,” she cried, looking wide-eyed at the dagger, “I will sever the prop from him who seeks the throne of Badakshan!” “It is well,” he said indifferently and rose. “Say what I have told you.” He lowered his voice, so the woman be- hind the curtain did not hear. Presently he laughed in his beard. pe “So, Krishna Taya! Soon six men will stand alone toxether but, before they part, they shall be four and two.” This is what they said in the tent of Krishna Taya that night. I did not hear of it until long after—until what Jani Beg had promised had come to pass and ten thousand Uzbeks were storming the walls of Khanjut. II IT WAS a late watch in the after- noon fand I was drowsy, for the sun was warm on the stones of Khanjut and no wind stirred in the dried leaves of the poplar trees that fringed the garden of the castle. Past the corner where I sat on my heels one of the hillmen bore a jar. He had come from the cellars of the castle and I suspected there was wine in the jar, so I rose and followed silently. Truly, I was a follower of the prophet, but my thirst was great. wine, I knew there would be drinking. I Where there was - dogged the hillman past the battlements to. the center garden. He went down some steps and I did likewise. I came full upon my lord, Shirzad Mir and the Englishman, lying on some pleas- ant. carpets under the trees. The bearer was just setting down the jar between them. Said Afzel was near-by, lying at full length. “Ho, Abdul Dost!” cried Shirzad Mir, who had a quick eye. ‘“You have come like a dog at the smell of meat in the pot. Nay, do not leave us. Come, here is an- other bowl. Said Afzel will not need his. He is rightly named the dreamer; he has taken opium until he is like a full-fed snake.” I looked at the Usbek. His head was slack on the carpet, crushing -the white