Adventure Magazine Cover — page 68: what you’re looking at

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

So cha Oy eat vee ee a re ~~ in - > ae - - ce tae A, ans te er a Re SMe en ms ole a vy _— : ~ « — - ~> <=, ers WC ie ~<s —s . - =P ai hh steel . ts ~~ ta - i : Cea 8 r a provost marshal was laughing as if he had heard the wittiest story in the world. _ ~- “Ha, ha, ha, ha!” he laughed. “No _ more of that story, upon your life! It’s the __. most ridiculous thing I’ve heatd in France!” He threw himself forward.on the table and picked up a pen. : “Where were you going, young man?” he demanded. : “To Paris,” said the Merchant, looking _ him in the eye. The pen scratched over the paper. He handed the slip to the Merchant. “Show that to your commanding officer,” he said, “‘and tell him from me that he has no power to grant pass or leave of absence - outside the district where his outfit is billeted. I should send you back under arrest, for you’re A. W. O. L. right now. But, seeing that you’ve told a straight story, [ll let you go back by yourself. Have you read that?” “T have,” said the Merchant, looking up from the slip. “And now,” said the marshal grimly, “to settle the question hereafter, in case we get a complaint, what manner of man was it you found in*the thorns?” _ “Tt was getting dark,” said the Merchant, “and I didn’t get a very good look at him, but he was a little red-headed runt of a man no bigger than myself, with a mole F oa <> a . - — ie’ —— * — % — — pe - S < ‘ ~ 2 = ithe . Ss i ee —~ - ~ - - _ ~ =, a SO a Ps tes Y eos Se ae <— * = — y a = 9 over his left eye, a finger missing from his left hand and two gold teeth that only showed when he laughed. I think he was an officer of one of .those Siamese labor outfits and he wore se “Be on your way,” said the provost marshal, ‘and take this with you. If I ever lay eyes on you again or hear about you—good, bad or indifferent, coming or going—you’ll ‘find that every curse that man put on to you will come true! You’ve got the description of the Siamese officer, stenographer?” “Yes, sr.” The Merchant executed a snappy salute, placed his right toe about six inches to the rear and slightly to the left of his left foot and did a neat about face. He left the chamber at a cadence of one hundred and twenty to the minute, eyes directly to the front, head erect and chin slightly drawn in. It was a fine martial effect which was spoiled only by Kamerad’s being behind him. Ten minutes later a dark little man was kicking the kilometers behind him on the road to Paris. At his heels ran a brute with his tongue hanging out contentedly, and peeping from his pocket was a pass that opened all roads for forty kilometers around and commended the bearer: to the good offices of all M. P.’s. The pass was signed by Provost Marshal Lynch.