Adventure Magazine Cover — page 152: what you’re looking at

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

142. Time dragged. The party made slow progress along the eastern edge of the valley and presently even Severn was eying the sand-spouts uneasily. Large and small, those whirling vortices moved with an in- credible speed. Noses of men and animals were muffled in the wet cloths. When one of the smallest pillars shot toward them, a tiny vertex no higher than a mounted man, the riders eyed it grimly and awaited its coming without fear. It burst upon them. Severn, no less than the others, was profoundly startled by the frightful force of this tiny sand-spout. It was a perfect maelstrom of wind and sand that whirled on them, buffeted and wrenched them, nearly tore them from their saddles. ‘The sand cut through clothes and hairy pelts to the skin. When they emerged from it, they were gasping, staggered, stricken. The captured Mongol ponies broke away and fled, screaming shrilly. “My ——!” croaked Dayin dismay. “If one of those big fellows lands on us, good night! That was sample enough for me——’” Kilgore held up his hand and gave a sharp command. “Forward! At the whistle from Day sahib, break ranks and seek shelter along the rock-ledges. Forward.” They rode on, men and beasts sorely shaken by realization of the danger. To their right stretched abrupt ledges of the red Khangai granite. Kilgore explained to Sev- ern that, although there were no sand- spouts in the valley at night, precisely for that reason had he chosen to attack by day. The priests would be caught completely off guard at dark. “You have planned boldly,” said Severn. The eyes of Kilgore bored into him. “But not well?” Severn parried with his gentle seule “My dear chap, I certainly am no compe- tent critic. No two generals adopt the same tactics.‘ Let us await the event——’”’ Day’s whistle shrilled; a great whirling pillar had swerved and was sweeping straight toward them as if guided by some infernal intelligence. The horses snorted, broke in panic. Severn, like the others, dis. mounted and gripped his bridle, clinging close in against the rocky wall that would break the blow. But not all gained that wall. Two of the horses got the bits between their. teeth and with their riders bolted straight ahead, fran- tic with terror. Adventure As if they were standing still, Severn saw the whirling pillar rush for them—then the maelstrom. was shattered along the precipice; he found himself en- gulfed by a dun cloud of stifling sand and gripped hard at the nostrils of his trem- bling horse. The two fleeing men vanished. Sand covered everything. It was over presently. Buried to the waist, the men emerged. ‘The pack-horse with the gun was safe. All sign of those two men was gone; blotted out as if they had never been, even the place where they had gone down could not be discerned. The sand-waves, in level wind-riffied billows, had covered them over and were smooth again. To search for the lost men were folly; delay in this place were madness. “Mount,” ordered Day, and the staring ~ men obeyed. “By the right hand of the Lion,” spoke out the stalwart risaldar, stroking sand from_. his beard, “I think there are devils in this place!”’ “So there are, risaldar,”’ said Kilgore coolly. “Are we to fear devils, then?” The risaldar laughed ' fiercely, and after him the other nine. They spurred forward again; and as they passed through that vast city, buried under the sands of forgotten centuries, they beheld strange things laid bare by the floating sands. Yet they paused not. Severn, as he rode, wondered what would . happen to them if Sheng Wu and the sup- porting force did not show up. CHAPTER IV THE HUNTING OF THE RATS WO miles from the junction of the Y-arms at the upper end of the valley of whirling sands the party halted at mid-after- noon. jutting into the valley, was their last cover. Between them and the temple lay open sand, which Kilgore dared not cross until darkness came to shield them from sight. With his two companions Severn _ stretched out on the rocky ledge and trained the glasses upon the Darkan temple. Off to the left diverged the left arm of the Y, a nar- rowing continuation of the sandy valley. The right arm was hidden from their sight. In between lay a craggy wall of red granite running into the high hills behind. A long Here, sheltered by a long rock-ledge CORNICE OOOKS (Q) (E@)